West-bound To Chicago

Go West, young man.

Atlantic City is now closed. Our travel bar looks a little bare, don't you think? There's been lots of speculation about why the sudden closing of Atlantic City. Does this mean Chicago is closer than we think?

Last month, we were told that it would be another three months until the release of the new city, but recent events seem to be pointing at sooner rather than later. 

All this corruption and jockeying for power sure makes a town a little rough ‘round the edges. Guess it’s true what they say; you can’t ever really go home again. But if you can’t beat’em, join ‘em.

Turning this dump into a class act will take work. And good hooch; the real McCoy. But paying for it is for saps. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

It’s amazing what power buys you in this city; all the dames, hooch and clams you could want. And respect. Cops are only too happy to look the other way, with all those greenbacks lining their pockets.

Soon my speakeasies were running at maximum capacity. We was runnin’ three trips a week to the border to pick up the booze. Sure I had to protect my investments, but life was good. Then the other families decided they wanted a taste of that good livin’...

I guess I should’ve seen it coming, but doesn’t loyalty mean anything in this business?! Must be time to assert myself. 

<Good question, Zynga, let me know if you find an answer to that one.>

When I reached Pantucci’s office, he was with a dame – a real plump bird wearing too much makeup. He was wearing it now too. His wife wouldn’t be pleased. But then red isn’t really Guido’s color... (Guido ain’t lookin’ so good in red...)

Plug Pulled On Atlantic City

This just in, from the Mafia Wars blog: ATLANTIC CITY CLOSES TONIGHT.

Mafia Wars bids farewell to Atlantic City very soon (as early as tonight), including via cell phones and http://m.mafiawars.com, as we make room on the Travel list for a much more exciting destination. Stay tuned!

The Night Before The Raven

Twas the night before The Raven, when all through the house

Not a peripheral was stirring, not even my mouse.

The Mystery Bags were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that Stamina Refills soon would be there.

The Yakusa were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of Bloody Knuckles danced in their heads.

And mamma with her Master Chief, and I in my Skull Cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long Mafia War’s nap.

Sorry... this feels like a fairy tale from the Brother's Grimm... and I mean the original book version... not the cutsie cartoon version!

Tomorrow the Raven will appear "sometime" should I choose to go fighting... I have tried several Serial Level test runs... and think that I am now ready to try and defeat this beast without wasting a single unit of Stamina searching for a Sniper Shot!!

Here are all of the things that I have done to be ready for battle:

• Sent out Blue Mystery Bags to my entire mafia (using the Chrome Extension FGS) asking that they send one back in return.
• I have 6 Stamina Packs in my ZMC (Zynga Message Center) just in case I try and open one too early or any have expired.
• Accepted all gifts that are not Mystery Bags, Brazil Crew Requests, or Stamina Packs.

Here are the things I have not done today... or at least in the last 12 hours:

• Brazil crew slots are empty, 10 people wait to be added.
• I have not collected the Brazil properties since this morning
• It has been more than 24 hours since I used my last energy pack.
• I have not even visited the Marketplace so no Fight Club Energy Refill was used.
• I did not visit Atlantic City today.
• I did not open my e-mail bonus.
• I did not post for help with any jobs.
• I did not open a single mystery bag.

Soooo... now I am ready... I will post my game plan in the morning... as you can tell from the above list... Some options are solid full refills... some are small energy or stamina adds... some are dice rolls trying to get refills.

I have the house to myself all day... and except for puppy piddle duty I am ready to serial level and battle my best to not use a single RP or combo to defeat this goon!!!

What tips and tricks do you have to make it through the session with a Raven body in hand?

PS - If I had found more than 4 Sniper Shots per 10,000 stamina I honestly wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to avoid RP... but if you make me use every bit of time for 8 solid hours just searching for parts to TRY and play... I'll change from Checkers to Chess... not a problem!! The 3-D board is 10 ft away... we can go THERE too! This is supposed to be a game and a challenge... not an 8 hour job for a year for a single skill point. /rant

'Hidden' Atlantic City District

Atlantic City Intro: Petty Crimes

For those of us who have completed the Uptown, Boardwalk, South Jersey and Camden County districts in Atlantic City you won't see the Intro: Petty

Crimes district in there at all. That is a total of 24 skill points that somebody who hasn't yet started Atlantic City will get because they can see the Intro district. Take heart though, there is a work around to get this.

First you will have to go to http://m.mafiawars.com/mobileweb?iframe=1

This will take you to how Atlantic City used to look before all jobs could be done from in the phone on the m.mafiawars.com

Once I was to the page all I had to do was paste this JavaScript code into the address bar of my browser and it opened up the Intro: Petty Crimes district for me.

javascript:(function(){loadPage('mobileweb?xw_controller=StoryMobile&xw_action=view&iframe=1&storyId=9')})()

In the image below you can see that I had already completed all the available districts in Atlantic City and there was no Intro district, yet on somebody else's account they have the Intro available to them with all other districts locked.

The loot that drops in the Intro: Petty Crimes district is really not worth mentioning.

About all this district has going for it is the 24 skill points you will get once you master it to Ruby Level. There is no Job Mastery Loot like we got from other districts in Atlantic City.

It is a good to note that the 2x Mastery Boosts as well as the Wheelman and Mastermind job bonuses count. If you have plenty of the 2x Mastery Boosts you will be able to zip through this district in no time. If you don't have any of those available to you, you are looking at this districts costing about 21,323 energy to master.

To make things a little easier try the District 0 bookmarklet:

District 0

District 0 Bookmarklet provided by Mr. Wizard
Click to load Mafia Wars Mobile unframed from anywhere, click again to load District 0 Jobs.