trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

by shegeekster
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Original Post

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Novice

EA's explanation of why so many Vu items are for sale is actually scary. They are claiming it is because the Vu disasters now take fewer items to initiate. In other words, the Vu Tower is much better now and people don't need so many Vu items.

 

Wrong.

 

People are dumping their Vu items because the Tower now feels like a waste of time and resources. There are many things wrong with the Vu Tower but the worst is that you now have to repair many more buildings for the same amount of keys as previously. This does not seem to be fun for anyone and many have just stopped using Vu.

 

Vu items are being sold because the new design is very, very bad and not appealing to the players. I hope that the developers actually realize this and are just putting a positive spin on things while they fix the real root of the problem.

 

Edit: Writing the above few paragraphs made me think that I should try the Vu Tower one more time to see if I was off-base. Here is what I found:

 

I tried Meteor Strike I because I would only have to repair 1 property and there was a 50% chance I'd get a key. The cost to start the disaster was 2 Vu Gloves. (This doesn't seem to be significantly fewer than for the previous version but whatever.) The result is the nice new animations, a single RZ being destroyed (as promised), and a reward of 500 simoleans for repairing the building. Repairing the building will cost at least 4 hours of item fabrication time plus many thousands of simoleans. So, every 4 hours I can spend thousands of simoleans and tie up my production lines to earn 500 bucks.

 

I feel like I am being punished, not rewarded for using Vu. And that, of course, is not fun. And that is why people are dumping their Vu items.

 

A possible fix would be to increase the simolean reward to a minimum of 5000 but with the possibility of earning much more. Even as much as 50,000 or more. Make it rare enough that it doesn't upset the economy but common enough to get people interested in taking the chance. So you either get a key or you get a monetary reward that you are reasonably happy to get. This just seems like Game Design 100. Reward your players for properly using your game features. Don't punish them. So obvious.

Message 21 of 48 (4,522 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie

Trust me this isn't the first time I've encountered such stupidity with their team. After the update that forced a 30second refresh I let them know how bad this was.. here was my note:

 

"Congratulations… I was very excited when I saw there was a new global HQ in this most recent update. After dealing with the horrible interface and experience of trying to use it, I never imagined you could actually make it any worse. It must have come at a tremendous and painstaking effort to take something, and muck it up so bad that it is now utterly useless. Good job. Please pass these recommendations/UX's to the dev-team:

1) Remove the 30 sec refresh or give player ability to search. Ugh so ANNOYING, do you guys not actually PLAY this game or even TALK to a player before rolling these updates out?!?!?!? I use to be able to close then reopen to refresh now, I get to guess at what has already been purchased, then stare at it for 30 sec...brilliant!

2) WHY DO I HAVE TO CLOSE THEN REOPEN TO REFRESH?!?!?! It should automatically refresh… Or at the very minimum after the time expires show a refresh button.

3) Why do I need to travel to their city when trying to buy something? Nobody cares to see the other city!!!! Seriously… Why don't you sit down and watch how a power-user plays this game, you'll see that they click on the Global HQ, click on the product to buy, see that it's gone then IMMEDIATELY go back to the Global HQ. This is a stupid, unneeded and completely useless feature. (Not to mention that trying to load cities that are in a different language take far longer to load, and by the time it loads everything is been purchased....effing brilliant!!!) If you want to give the ability to "travel" to the "neighboring" city to see what other cities look like...then put in a map that shows by geo-location other local player's cities."

 

They were so kind to reply that was at length but this was what REALLY got me: "The timer cool down period has been introduced to reduce the frenzy, reduce the purchase failure rate (which we have already seen drop by over 60%) and to give those players with less powerful devices and slower internet connections a chance of buying items too."

 

Soooo by instituting a 30-sec "cool down" they've see a drop by over 60%....this is kinda like them saying HEY GREAT NEWS!!! We have reduced your need to go to the gas station to buy gas by 100% by taking your car away...Isn't that GREAT?!?!?! F* ING GENIUS!!!!!!!

Message 22 of 48 (4,491 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★★ Apprentice

pgsharpe,

 

Interesting thread to say the least. My opinion is that EA is trying to deplete the gamer’s resources to entice the player to spend real dollars on this game. The real deception here is their greed....

 

10 million plus downloads, 1-2 percent (or higher) of those people spending real dollars, say 5 or 10 bucks adds up to a lot of dollars for EA. You can tweak these numbers either way and it’s still millions for EA. If this is not the case then we shall see that in the "proof" and that is to fix this "freemium game" or a rebuttal reply from EA.

 

One thing I can offer is that raising Simoleans is not the real problem. I currently have: 1,203,000 Simoleans at level 34. But I have no place to spend my Simoleans in order to grow my city. At the Global Trade Headquarters? That's a joke.

 

This leaves me in a position of accomplishing just one thing: raising SImoleans, which is not the true intent of the game. The real intent of course is to grow your city. And to grow the city is where the problem lies. The GTHQ, City Expansion, Disaster Challenges and even upgrading buildings in the later stages of the game are all road blocks to being a successful Mayor.

 

Upgrading buildings is one point I want to make. Is the algorithm that generates the requirements for building upgrades flawed or did the programmers do this on purpose? From a business stand point: who would use an enormous amount of resources just to upgrade a building? You can sell them for much more. (that's how I got to over 1 mil Simoleans)

 

One could argue that "that's the way it is" - well remember when we all started out playing this game? Where you could upgrade a building for 3 Nails, 1 Seed and 1 Plank (total value $390) and receive these rewards: 1836 Sims, $868.00, Experience points 29? Great: we are on the road to success. But after having played this game for several months, level 34 uses 3-5 times the resource/value/amount - just to get the same amount of new Sims, a little more cash and experience points. This poor commerce plan started several levels ago and is EA’s way of resource depletion.

 

It is literally impossible to purchase items needed to increase city storage and city size even though I have enough Simoleans. They simply are not listed at GTHQ. While on this subject…. How is it that 66 items needed to grow a city do not show up at the GTHQ? It lists only 24 and most of them are duplicates. Throw in the competition of millions of players and the chances of purchasing anything useful are very slim. This is nothing more than pure frustration for the game player that might tempt them to spend real money.

 

Sim balloons are now very limited (above level 28???) and mostly give you; as you have stated and most have seen, Vu's items. So trying to wait out the very slow process of being given these items is another frustrating aspect of this game. Road blocks you bet that’s the real game plan.

 

So it seems that EA does not need to tweak the GTHQ to make it better; they need to scrap the idea totally and come up with something that gives the game players the ability to purchase these items without this frustration. A sense of satisfaction needs to be had by all players, a sense of accomplishment or EA’s philosophy of making money off a free game will not work. People will eventually walk away and play a different game.

 

This is really silly that we should have to complain in this way because this game could be fun, gratifying, give us a sense of control in order to accomplish building a society, a successful city in a way where everyone seems happy (Sims approval).

 

nw8240bp

Message 23 of 48 (4,468 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie
Yeah, it's ruined the game if they don't fix this in the next update I'm done. They are so stupid over at EA, why change something that was working well for everyone? I hope whoever decided on this update gets gang raped in the EA bathroom and will remember to not * up anymore games.
Message 24 of 48 (4,462 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie
Yeah, this is getting ridiculous. I'm about to stop playing this game. I mourned the loss of the original sim city game for years and decided not to even give this new title a chance.
Recently I decided to give it a try and was actually really impressed with how great the game is. Nothing compared to the PC version, but fun none the less.
This Dr. Vu shenaniganary is too much. It's no longer fun. Just a lot of work. I have a job that provides me the satisfaction gained from working hard and accomplishing things. I play games for enjoyment. This is no longer enjoyable. I'm done with this game until it gets fixed.
Message 25 of 48 (4,452 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie

I started playing the day it came out (just before x-mas last year) and within a week here were my in-app purchases:

 

iTunes Purchase History Total $239.94

12/26/2014 Nice Pile of SimCash $19.99 

12/26/2014 Big Sack of SimCash $49.99 

12/27/2014 Big Sack of SimCash $49.99 

12/27/2014 Briefcase of SimCash $34.99

01/02/2015 Big Sack of SimCash $49.99 

01/04/2015 Briefcase of SimCash $34.99

 

I discovered a bug in the game (the recycling center I purchased wasn't offsetting the demand) which completely wiped out the progress, as if I had never spent the SimCash. I waited weeks for them to release an update (which further hindered my progress since the happiness level fell to 60-something percent) to fixed the problem and requested that they credit my account all the SimCash that I had purchased because the bug negated the progress I made. They only credited enough SimCash for the re-purchase of the recycling center. I was furious and still am..*EA* directed ME to request a refund..so I called Apple and explained to them what I was told to do and Apple gave me a refund FOR EVERYTHING. 

 

Let's take it a step further...I even DETAILED allllll of my EA purchases to the support team. It would have literally cost them NOTHING to credit the SimCash...Instead it cost them loss of ALL of my business...to this day I have not purchased ANYTHING, and I will NEVER purchase another EA product again. Up to that point my total spend was $571.28 

 

Origin/EA Purchase History Total: $331.34

02/02/2014 Mass Effect 3 Order# 13XXXXXX46 $19.99

02/02/2014 800 Bioware Points Order# 13XXXXXX67 $10.00

02/03/2014 800 Bioware Points Order# 13XXXXXX96 $10.00

05/02/2014 Titanfall Order# 14XXXXXX94 $52.99

10/19/2014 Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare Order# 1001XXXXXX069 24.49

10/19/2014 Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $13.99

11/05/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/05/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/07/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/07/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/07/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/07/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/15/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/18/2014 Dragon Age: Inquisition Digital Deluxe Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $69.99

11/22/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/29/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

11/29/2014 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 200,000 Coin Pack Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $9.99

12/30/2014 Dragon Age Multiplayer 3300 Platinum Order# 1001XXXXXX069 $29.99

Message 26 of 48 (4,447 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★★ Apprentice

ub2shw,

 

I am really sorry that you got caught up in all of this. So much $'s spent for???? I have not a good word to say about EA. And now with this new update it seems that EA did not listen to us players and now I have discovered their servers "forgot everything" that was saved on the status of ones city let alone the past atrocities.

 

Here is what I have found so far in "City Achievements":

 

1) Even though my city has collected over 1,200,000 in taxes, (I surpassed the million $ level back on 4/27/2015) EA now says that in the category of "Master of Simoleans" that I have only collected $7,078.00 out of $1,500,000 in taxes collected. What a bunch of *. Are you really seriously kidding me EA?

 

2) Spend $500,000 when trading in: "Master Purchaser", EA says I have spent $2,255.00 out of $500,000. I surpassed the $250,000 mark in spending at least, I'm thinking 60 days ago along with the following.

 

3) Earn $500,000 in "Master Trader", really this is where I make my SImoleans at. I am at what EA says now; $16,735.00. Again I surpassed the $250,000 mark - 6 weeks ago.

 

My Simoleans account balance is at $1,276,206 and rising fast. Who is the master of Simoleans? EA you have not a clue. I have a master spreadsheet that I keep track of: Population Growth, Building & Roads, Simoleans, Total Assets, Wealth per Citizen, Tax  base, Tax base per person, Cargo and Air Shipments, max price per item, what to sell at and what is the most profitable item to make and on and on. Then I have six other spreadsheets that keep track of other necessary items in order to help me grow my city. All without hacking the game. And I am still handcuffed by EA in order to progress my city by their greed to "steal" resources.

 

Today I encountered a building upgrade that was worth $9,860 in my resources and the rewards were: 152 Sims, $1,780 Simoleans and 97 experience points. Again are you kidding me EA, from a business point of view, who would do this?

 

Incidentally when my population was at 231,000 Sims my tax base was $14,625 per 24 hours. Now that my SIm population is at 341,234 my tax base is at $16,339 per 24 hours. If you calculate this out: that's .0631 per person vs .0479 per person now. That means I am losing over $6,900.00 in a 24 hour period. Has anyone else seen this? Why is the tax base reversing? Need I go on?

 

You really should be ashamed EA. No conscience at all EA. Money is not everything.

 

nw8240bp

 

 

 

Message 27 of 48 (4,280 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie
I agree with everyone replying to this topic. The way I see it, this is just another POS that EA has released. Has anyone played the latest in the Battlefield series? :-P Two thumbs down. Anyone remember the first release of the latest Sim City? EPIC FAIL! The game required a connection to their servers, but, for some reason, did not think there might be a substantial load on them, causing many players to be unable to play the game.

Quit tripping over dollars to pick up pennies and hire some in-house talent to create a good game!
Message 28 of 48 (4,251 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie

nw8240bp I.am.impressed. Here I was the only one thinking I was working on figuring out an algorithm for maximizing production so that every factory was at max use...hats off my friend....And THAT right there is what I think EA's devs are missing: passion. They're not playing it, nor is it being created by a team that's passionate about releasing and even MORE enjoyable experience.

 

From what you've shared....I imagine a conference room of suits at EA sitting around with their spreadsheets detailing profit per customer and what it reserves they have and what changes can be made to increase profit per customer be eroding the in-game currency.   

 

In my situation what was MOST infuriating was that I didn't want a refund...I just wanted to be made whole...I had a horrible experience after spending $250 for a BUG that impacted MY GAMEPLAY..something that they were aware of...and I made a simple and reasonable request that did not cost them anything; I guarantee I would have continued to blow money on more SimCash had they had the common sense. Which is why I will never buy another EA product...if you don't have the common sense to know that it's not about that you messed up but about how you recover...especially when there's no tangible product, no hard cost involved with crediting my game account you're an idiot and I'm an even bigger idiot giving you my money.... no thanks...I think I'll for fund a few kickstarter campaigns (like https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/impellerstudios/starfighter-inc ) that will actually appreciate my investment and focus on making my game-play experience better 

Message 29 of 48 (4,238 Views)

Re: trade depot OVERWHELMED with Vu Tower items!?

★★★ Newbie

nw8240bp

 

Wow you're right, I just checked and passed the "Wealthy City" achievement for collecting 1M in taxes but the Master of Simoleons is at a little over 200k... so I guess the "counter" restarted after the update....OMFG dumb

Message 30 of 48 (4,235 Views)