Poker Season 9 11/20

Poker Season 9 is on so be ready for the next flood of Poker Cards!

I am already seeing complaints about the odds of winning hands (as usual).

Mafia Poker Aces Low

Mafia Poker Season 8

It will take a lot of these to win the top rewards in this, and with so many events going on at once, I'm not sure if this is going to be one of my favorites to do this time.

The rules of the game appear to be the same.

The hand rankings appear to be the same.

The Reward: A Janitor, henchmen [varies]

As you may or may not know you can collect up to 250 cards a day or gifting cycle.  The amount of cards needed to progress through this may not be worth the effort for the loots item. Collectors, of course will want to watch the amount of cards they take in so that you do not miss out on the daily points and boosts from the mystery bags. Even one stat point is better than 1 loot item.

Mafia Wars Delayed Reality: Athletes Mystery Bags 8/13

The 2012 Olympic Games officially opened on July 27th, more than two weeks ago, and the Closing Ceremony was on August 12th, yesterday. As with *many* recent events, Zynga has been well behind the times, like back on May 4th, when we finally got April Fool's Foolproof Gift Collection Event (facepalm)

On Saturday morning Mafia Wars seems to have accidentally released the Athletes Mystery Bags You can see on that post that I did not get any of the lovely loot items that we normally get with Limited Time special Mystery Bags, like Pa Barker Mystery Bags had the Pa Barker. This morning these new Athletes Bags were back and with a banner to announce them.

Voila! And I was even able to get two of the new loot item released with this bag:

First Step, Weapon [120/160]

Not bad if you can get a few of these. 

Now that they have released this, and all the bogus purchasing events, maybe, just *maybe*, we can get them to open the third Family Property

I'm not holding my breath, and they're not getting me to purchase anything more for now.  My Mafia Wars spending diet continues.

5 Simple Fixes For Mafia Wars

I want to start by admitting that I play Mafia Wars all the time.  I've played the game for a long time.  

Quite frequently you can simply type "mafia wars" into the search box on facebook and come up with numerous posts by friends complaining about a new feature, a bug, a gift that did not go through, the new mafia invite that would not work, etc.  Well, after much consideration, I concluded there were 5 simple fixes that (I think) would make the game more enjoyable.

So, without further ado, here goes:

Fix #1 ~ PROPERTIES

If you are going to have us build so many properties, expand either the number of property gift/help clicks or reduce the timer.  And, please, give some thought to offering up periodic bonus days where you can build from every property you have at least once.

Fix #2 ~ GIFTS

Gifts.  Gifting limits.  Collecting Limits.  Gifting system.  Returning of Gifts.

It's simple: if we have to have 501 in our mafia then at least let us give and collect that many gifts per 24 hours.  Period.

Fix #3 ~ THE COMPLETE LACK OF BREAKS BETWEEN EVENTS

I understand the developers are bored.  Truly I do.  But it sure would be nice if they could suffer in silence for 1 day in between events every single time.  I'm not asking for much.  Just give us 24 hours to try to finish the old properties we did not get completed, etc.  One measly little day in between releasing events.  Put a banner up, let us anticipate the new, exciting event for a day.  It would not kill you, and I might just get to upgrade one of my Chicago properties one more level before I have to start collecting the next round of:

1. Secret District Consumables
2. Special Event Items (like the Incognito event)
3. Boss Fight Consumables
4. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Fix #4 ~ GET SOME VOLUNTEER BETA TESTERS TO AVOID ISSUES

Get some real, live, willing BETA TESTERS for the new stuff that's going to get released.  Trust me, there would be plenty of volunteers out there.  In fact, you could stick a silly pop-up ad in the game of a random number of people offering some RP for if they respond to a 5 question survey on a beta release of the newest property, event, etc. you want to try out.  Make it random and test stuff out before you release it.  It might just save you from the chronic roll-backs, delays, etc.

Botanical Garden is a classic example of why testing stuff might help.  It got rolled out too early by mistake and many people collected, built, etc. then got really irritated when it disappeared from their game.

Fix #5 ~ FAMILY PROPERTIES

(Not enough information or simply not worth it)

When you do release new stuff, like the family properties which got released today, try putting out a nice, clear, complete summary of what:

1. is the point or goal
2. needs to be done in order to get to that goal
3. is the bonus or benefit will be if we go through the hassle

I've pointed out #5 specifically because, while I typically consider myself smart,  quick to pick up why we have this new Event, Property, etc. I've yet to figure out why Family Properties will be worth my time, effort and just the overall hassle.

From my review of how the Family Properties works so far I say this:

GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.  

It bites.   

It wastes our gifts, uses up a ridiculous amount of stamina and just looks like a pain in the a^*.

And...that nifty issue with allowing all members of the family the option to issue or accept battle challenges...get it fixed right now.  You want us to encourage new players to play the game, buy RP, etc. - then don't let just anyone in the family have the option to make battle choices for us.

*Dusts hands off and says: enough already.  :Rant over:
~Anisty

The Don's Gift

The Don's Gift comes out and with it your opportunity to get a "Point 4"

At 92 attack and 64 defense, for some it will seem exciting..  

Well, it would - if it had actually worked.  A fellow {M} family peep saw it and decided to give it a shot...but as I almost expected - when clicked, it did not work.  Another {M} family peep received one successfully.  So based on the two that have seen it, it's running at 50% right now.  

As suggested before (many times), it would really be nice if ~Z~ would try these things on a *willing* volunteer beta group before just chucking it into the game so they can work out all the kinks.

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

Stamina Pack FAQ

Stamina with a Twist and Shout

Instant Increase = Careful Opening

Be very careful how you plow through your gifts... the stamina pack refills the meter as soon as you open them... Use FGS / JGrabAll / or other click savers at your own risk.

Your first warning might come in the Facebook gift area:

Or if you first notice it in the ZMC (Zynga Message Center):

Once you click "Accept Gift:

Your stamina will be filled to the top... but no extra.

There is a 16 hour timer... but not a visible timer... just an internal clock. If you accept another one too early it will turn to a Mystery Boost...

Spreading the Love

As soon as you enter the game you will see them on the free gift page waiting to share stamina happiness throughout your family...

This is a limited time gift with no announced end date. Time to send send send and ice ice ice!

Clickable Gift Links in FB Notes (again)

Due to recent changes in Facebook Notes where http links are no longer clickable by default and just appear as regular text. This tip is for all those who are posting their gift links in Note and using Link-a-Nator (v2.12 beta) to generate those links.

Normally, one would copy+paste the links from the second results window, labeled TinyURL Links. Just change to copy+paste from the last results window, labeled Notes Links instead. By making this small change your gift links in a Facebook Note will be clickable once again. This is because the Facebook Note still honours the <a href> html element tag.

You can even use the following template to make any http link clickable in the main body of the FB Note. <a href="http://your.link.here">Name.of.Link.Here</a>

Zynga's Q&A: #13 Do we really need the Gifting pop-ups?

13. I’m sick of the gifting page popping up whenever I enter the game. I know how to gift and if I have gifts waiting for me. I don’t need this annoying reminder!

How would you prefer to be notified that you have received gifts?

Please share your feedback regarding the Gifting Page Popup.

This is addressing one of the more annoying pop-ups from a long list of annoying pop-ups in the game in that it is guaranteed to appear while offering no benefit to player, their mafia or improve upon the gameplay. Below is the screenshot of this gifting page pop-up, which comes up every single damn time we enter the game and sometimes even when we refresh the MW homepage.

And right after that is our received gifts page. Again we do NOT need the constant reminder via pop-up that we have received gifts. The MW programmers have thoughtfully given us the Zygna Message Center, or otherwise known as the Gift Envelope at the top the of MW header.

It is small, unobtrusive and most importantly it doesn't get in the way of gameplay and that should be more than sufficient in notifying us of any gifts we have received and it leaves it up to the player when they want to process those gifts on their own time. Just to be clear, every single player who has played over 2 weeks time already knows how to get to the gift page and no one, I repeat no one, needs the constant reminder what that gift page looks like every time they load the game. If and when we want to send gifts to our mafia, we will go to the page and do so on our own time. There is no justifiable reason to constantly remind us to gift our mafia.

While I've got your attention, let me bring up a couple more from the long list of annoying pop-ups. Unlike the gifting page pop-up which affects everybody, these are more a recurring annoyance for someone like me that still plays the Las Vegas Tournaments.

On any given day when I go to play the Las Vegas Tournaments this is what I have to do.

1. Click [Travel]

2. Click [Las Vegas]

3. Click [Fight]

4. Click [Tournament]

5. Click [Vault] and then enter LV$ amount.

6. Click [Withdraw]

7. Click to select Heavyweight

8. Click [Enter]

9. Click [Fight]

and so after intentionally clicking 9 different times to get where I WANT to go, I get this:

Now if I were in grade school, my answer to this pop-up question would be a big fat "Well Duh!!!". But since I am not in grade school then I leave you with this...

"Thank you Zyna for looking out for me. Every day and sometimes twice a day by a very Massive Sheer Coincidence by "randomly" clicking I end up on this Tournament page and being quite unsure if I want to continue on or not, Zynga has put in this safety pop-up thereby saving me from "randomly" wasting my stamina on this Tournament thingy. Thank you again Zynga for putting in such a time-saving pop-up!"

Obviously that quote from me was tongue-in-check and since I have yet to find a Sarcasm Font that in translation is stop wasting my time when of course I want to fight in the Tournament, I did click 9 times to get there and do not need another useless pop-up asking me to confirm my choice.

Also a very useful Tip is when the Tournament countdown clock goes down to 00:00:00, that means the previous Tournament is over, finished, kaput, time to start a new one. We don't need the pop-up below telling us the same thing.

These are just the short list of certain pop-ups that just have to go because they do not contribute anything positive to the game but annoy us and slow us down.