New Release -- December 22nd, 2009 - UPDATE

[Franklyn]

I like the new way it is actually quicker if you know what you are doing. I think most of the complaints are from people who haven't developed effective ploughing/harvesting strategies.

As for limiting workers I think that should be left to each farmer to decide. I never hire more than 2 anyway and always give them the option to plough. Whenever I am employed to work on a farm that is already over run with workers I simply leave.

I don't think a fire button is necessary and think that could be open to abuse.

A happy farmer here please keep the changes!

[Skye9988]

I like your alternative. One hired to harvest and one to plow would be fine, or even two to harvest and two to plow. It seems like the more people who are hired, the crazier some of them get. I like the social aspect of working alongside others, chatting while we work. I've met some great people that way, but when there is a farmer who has hired more than two to harvest or plow, no one really gets to socialize--everyone is just trying to get a little something before someone goes nuts and starts that random clicking.

Thank you for your consideration in listening to our concerns and making changes to keep everyone happy. This game is fun, and I really enjoy all the little details that the developers have put into it . (The buildings, for example, have such realistic details, like the shadowing on the big farmhouse and the copperlike shingles on the big waterwell.)

Skye

[SunnyD]

I am one that hates to go to a farm with a ton of others being hired.... but on fun days i like to run around and see how many of the crops i can get .... to me that is kind of fun.... if your hired and there are too many people you can leave.... but then again there are the dorks that do come to the market and hire like 10 people and only have two trees on a 12x12 farm.... Perhaps you can hire so many people if your farm is a certain size or your level is at a certain rank? .....as for firing people I think that would be totally abused.... like I was hired for a job and I am working my fanny off and oops that persons friend shows up and wants all of them pineapples so they fire me and hire their friend.... see where I am going with that??

Originally Posted by Raul

Hi There,

We have been monitoring you feedback and most likely we will be reverting to the old version early tomorrow and try to find a better compromise.

One of the alternatives that we considered was to only allow one worker harvesting and one worker plowing on your farm at the same time. This was also suggested by several other users on the other thread, however we thought that was going to be even more problematic.

Please provide some feedback about this other alternative on this thread, or if you rather prefer the way it was before, unlimited hiring, faster work but more potential for collisions and lost coins/XP.

thanks

--Raul

[kdr]

Hi, I'd like to start by saying I have enjoyed playing Farmtown very much.

The update yesterday did not work very well for me. It took at least 2 and a half to three seconds on each harvested field or plowed field.

I am glad you are going back to the former system for harvesting and plowing. One reason I like that is that we can click ahead of our avatar and then be able to chat while the avatar catches up.

The main thing I want to request, though, is that you do not put an arbitrary limit on the number of people we can hire to harvest or plow on our farms.

I have a group of friends who have harvesting parties, and there will be a bunch of us all working together on each others' farms. It makes it such a fun cooperative game. If you limit the number of hires, that will spoil our ability to choose to do much of our farm work in that community spirit that we've developed.

Thanks for listening.

Karen

[sunray1028]

Dear Farm Town creators, I feel that you should have freedom of choice as to who you hire & how many ppl who you hire. If someone thinks that there is too many ppl on a farm than they can leave & go back to market to look for another job, until they find happiness & comfort. I farmed last nite 12/22/09 & it was awful. It was so slow & it took me so long to plow on my second farm. I have 3 farms, one in my husbands name. I have met soooo many nice ppl & sometimes we all farm together on one persons farm & we all chat it up and have a social party/gathering. To take that away would just be wrong!! FREEDOM OF CHOICE. To take that away would be like you (FT) are working for the Obama admin. trying to make changes & you are screwing everything up and not really listening to what the ppl want, just running a campaign to get what you want & BTW, I have heard it rumored that starting Jan of 2010 that FT wants to charge $14.99 per month to play!! I for one will not pay!! If this is to be true than I say to you , that you used us in your BETA stages & now you want us to pay!! Again, thats just wrong & unfair. In todays economy, we are all trying to find comfort and peace of mind and for some just getting food on the table or trying to make ends meet and with the unemployment rate being so high, that maybe, sad and very sad but for now the only job we have is to play farmtown.. Ya all can say get a life but you know what, I have been trying for over a year to look for a job & with the unemployment rate down so bad & major companies closing all the time, its very difficult for those who are really trying. SOOOOO you say what does that all have to to with FT?? Some ppl find there comfort zone where they can & to start charging ppl after all of there feedbacks for you and for some themselves, would not be right.. I would like to close by saying that I for one will not & can not afford to pay to play. One of the things I use the internet for (aside FT in my little free time) is to struggle to look for jobs where I can provide for my kids. I hope someone agrees & understands my thoughts & comments. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL & TO ALL, THIS IS WHAT I WISH FOR ALL OF YOU IS THE FOLLOWING:
MAY YOUR HAPPIEST DAYS OF YESTERDAY....BE YOUR SADDEST DAYS OF TOMORROW

MOD EDIT: I felt the need to add an edit here rather than respond and take a chance of it being missed...

We have heard NOTHING about an intent to start charging for the game and do need to ask members NOT to spread unfounded rumors on the forums. They have a way of taking on a life of their own - like the hoaxes going around.

Also... this forum is NOT the place for discussing politics and religion and although I have let these comments stand, this should NOT be seen as an invitation to have this thread deteriorate into a political debate if you don't happen to agree with this poster's political views. All posts debating politics and religion are removed without notice to the member posting them.

Now... back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[gcpntball]

it would be un feasable to hire one harvester for my fields, i have 2200+ trees on my farm it would take hours to harvest my crops. i also have full fields under my trees and that would take longer yet. still love farmtown and keep up the great work. pntball

[jolrnr]

Myself I liked the new way. What I don't like about the old way is having to wait to plow because of lag time. Everyone else is plowing away and I am sitting waiting to plow and sometimes there is nothing left.

[debharders]

i like the new way of harvesting & plowing. Please leave it for a few days, and let people get used to it. Some will complain about any changes. I think it's great!

[barneyboy]

Thank you so much Raul, I am so glad you are going back to the old way. This slow version of one plot at a time just took the fun out of the game because it is too slow. I personally never lost coins, I would hit save and they came back with me. I usually only hire one person to do a farm then hire them to plow, sometimes two. I like it that way, because it seems fair to that person and they have the option to plow after if they want too. I do not like to hire a plower while another is harvesting. I like to wait till all harvest is completed. Just works great for me that way and never had any problems.
Thanks again for listening to us. Have a blessed Christmas and New Year.
One more little note: FarmTown is by far the best farming game I have ever played.

[Dad11]

Originally Posted by Raul

Hi There,

We have been monitoring you feedback and most likely we will be reverting to the old version early tomorrow and try to find a better compromise.

One of the alternatives that we considered was to only allow one worker harvesting and one worker plowing on your farm at the same time. This was also suggested by several other users on the other thread, however we thought that was going to be even more problematic.

Please provide some feedback about this other alternative on this thread, or if you rather prefer the way it was before, unlimited hiring, faster work but more potential for collisions and lost coins/XP.

thanks

--Raul

Raul, sometimes, when I am plowing for someone, the target thing that looks like a field ( the one that goes red or green) is missing. This is wonderful. That little field jerks around so much that it makes it hard to quickly put my cursor in the right place. If there could be a setting in the preferences screen to turn this off or on it would help me a lot and grossly reduce the problems created by that last upgrade.
Anything that could quickly mark a field area in red (no detail like a crop, just a red block that all could see) Might help prevent accidental double plowing and harvesting.
Thanks for the work you guys are doing. Dan