Well, since she is on a well needed vacation, I'm going to fill in for her. Yes, it is true. The once laughable secret stashes that we all often have skipped on have been stocked with some real nice goodies. Gone are the days of Riot Gear, and other useless stuff we all used to skip on. Today, however, you should pay attention!
Upon getting a secret stash of Irish Flags (from the Saint Patrick's Day 2010 collection), I noticed on my wall other real good items. So, I did what anyone else would do. Run Stream Helper and scan for secret stashes. In an 8 hour period, I was amazed. Here is some of what I have found:
Yeak a day rider 2k fell for me Nyc haa
ReplyDeleteThankx Bossman
Thanks for this awesome article! I love it. You have talent and are welcome to post on this blog anytime you want. I got home early and was going to address this. I owe you many Wiki edits!
ReplyDeletePlz temme the config u did 4 it in stream hlpr. it dgdnt wrkd at all 4 me. ty
ReplyDeleteZynga is doing everything they can to kill trading and the game generally. Where's the challenge to become a stronger player and what's the point of building these items if you can get them for free? Yes, you get skill points. But so what - after you max on fighting loot, finish the fight jobs in vegas, and win 10 tournaments for the achievement, why add to stamina? To fight for loot that doesn't matter anymore? Or collect Victory Coins so you can buy a decent car, weapon or piece of armor once a week? It's not worth the time or effort at that rate. The game is being dumbed down significantly with this new development in secret stashes. So essentially Zynga is giving us a clear choice: Either (1) break out the credit card if you want the good stuff, because soon everyone - no matter how good or bad of a player they are - will have exactly what you have (2) deal with it or (3) Quit. I'll give Zynga a chance - there may be more changes coming soon. But if there's no challenge to the game anymore, I'm going with #3.
ReplyDeleteYou only get skill points when you build them . not gift/accept
ReplyDeleteIn response to the anonymous comment posted at September 22, 2010 6:49 AM.
ReplyDeleteThe introduction of the Chop Shop and Weapons Depot items into the Secret Stashes in no way makes everyone equal.
First, everyone does not have equal access to high-quality stashes; that is dependent on luck and the size and activity of each person's mafia. Also there is a stash cap in place, which forces people to choose between buildable loot and other tempting items. Although, one of these latter items, the Range Finder Rifle (best lootable defensive weapon and best combined weapon score), is very tempting. Of course, adding them to everyone's inventory doesn't make them all better attackers, it only helps them resist getting beat up or robbed.
While it is true that Railguns, Plasma Rifles and Day Rider 2Ks are at the higher end of the score range, there are a plethora of other readily-availabe items that dominate them. For example, there are at least 6 better weapons than the Railgun. They can be obtained by fighting (Zeus and Devastator), repeating Las Vegas jobs (Acturian Assault Rifle and Ripper Assault Rifle) or purchasing from the Fight Club store (SK7 Shorty and Silenced Sniper Rifle). The situation is similar for both the Plasma Rifle and Day Rider 2K, as well.
You describe a situation where an individual has topped out on fighting loot and completed all the Las Vegas jobs; anyone who has accomplished both is in a tiny minority. If a player has maximized his amount of fighting loot that suggests he was already a very strong player with a lot of stamina*. When you're at the top, there is nowhere else to go. At this point, there is no reason to stick to a stamina-heavy strategy. This is especially true now that the best loot is obtained by using energy to complete Las Vegas jobs. Otherwise, in anticipation of tradable Vegas loot, invest in attack and defense. Loot is ephemeral, skill is forever.
*Evidence that this is true: in order to obtain the maximum amount of superior Fight Club loot, a person would have to spend 21,075 Victory Coins a week. This amount is needed to buy 21 Nile Crocodiles, 1 Glance 32 SR, 1 Silenced Sniper Rifle and 1 Hazard Gear. I average about 150 Victory Coins for every 700 stamina I use to fight and win. That means it takes over 98,000 wins to accumulate enough currency to buy all those items.
To Tyrion -
ReplyDeleteYour mistake is assuming that everything - such as skill points - is forever. You used to get a reward point for completing the daily checklist - no longer. And 1-time events with collections used to be 1-time events - now the secret stashes have collection items dropping from the Easter Crime Basket, St. Patrick's Day, and others.
Let's state the obvious first - Zynga is trying to earn a buck any way they can. And this is America, so more power to them. But their actions in giving away high quality items has a serious affect on how you and I and other regular players play this game. And I'm just guessing here, but probably 90%+ of players have expenses for themselves or their families that are far more important than blowing disposable income to play this game.
So let's look at where we're at:
1) Right now, the best stuff is only available by spending money or wasting tons of energy or stamina trying to loot items in Vegas (oh, and by the way, of course more energy and more stamina are available for purchase).
2) The items that you had to earn and build over time by the playing the game, such as railguns, dayrider 2k, etc... are now free. Yes - it's "only" 10 a day. That's 10x more than you can build in the chop shop or weapons depot each day unless you spend reward points to build faster. It makes the chop shop and weapons depot pointless. And maybe that's the point in all this - because I have no doubt that Zynga will add additional levels of chop shop and weapons depot capable of building more powerful vehicles and cars than what's being given away. Hell, they'll probably be even more powerful than any item from Vegas loot dropping from jobs, bought in the fight club, or acquired through just regular fighting. The catch? You'll need to be Plantium in the loyalty club to build those items.
3) With regard to skill points, those are also available for purchase. And I'm very confident that soon you will not earn skill points for job mastery or achievement mastery or leveling up. Zynga isn't going to allow you to be a better player unless you fork over some greenbacks. But even if I'm wrong, I'll bet that Zynga comes up with something like "Loyalty Skill Points" which are only available to loyalty club members. And these skill points will beat yours and mine, since they'll no doubt be worth double, triple or even 10x the skill points of the "regular" players.
Now, again, I don't mind Zynga making a buck. And those who spend the most money probably should have at least some of the best stuff. But let's also be real here - for the 90%+ who choose not to spend $$$ or don't have the money to spend, the game has been dumbed down and net result over time will be that most players, regardless of how good or bad they are, will essentially be equal.