On December 21st of 2010, Zynga created a “giftable item threshold” [1]. All items in the inventory, regardless of how they were obtained, with stats of 50/50 were made giftable. In theory this was a nice move but the reality was at the time loot items with these stats of were considered junk. On July 14th, about 7 months later, the threshold was raised to 65/65 [1]. This wasn’t helping the trading community in any way, shape or form. It wasn’t even helping gifting groups that like to help newer players learn the game.
On September 27th, less than 2 months later, the final threshold raise of 85/85 happened. We haven’t seen an update in over 8 months [1]. We have seen the top loot scores climb at an accelerated pace.
The one exception to the 85/85 rule are the 4 of the 10 property items from the Chicago Warehouse. At the time it was cool for some players but now these items aren’t cutting it.
Zynga spent quite a bit of development time to create a nice Multi Gifter for the game [1],[2],[3]. The only thing it’s now good for is to clear all the crap out of your inventory.
Most on line games that do well, have some type of transferable virtual items. Diablo 3 is one example. When Zynga decided to kill off the trading market, they effectively caused the player base to start shrinking. There are many problems that would need to be worked out before trading could ever become viable again. Most blame the Black Market for the reason Zynga did away with trading [1]. If you look at the big picture, script abuse is probably more to blame. When items are transferable between accounts, many start farming loot with alternate accounts, building accounts through autoplayers and using other undesirable server jamming scripts to do so. Until Zynga can get a grip on their server situation, I don’t have much hope for better loot becoming giftable. If Zynga wants to increase the player base, this is one area they should work on.
I personally think items of 65-85 are good enough for the brand new player. They might not like the game or stay so why do they need the highest loot right from the start?
ReplyDeleteso that he become a great player according to his lvl.
Deleteso that he becomes a great player according to his lvl.
DeleteIt is not my job to make a brand new player "great". I will help them and get them started and if they like the game, they can build over time like everyone else.Say my best loot is giftable and I give it all to the new players and they quit or decide this is not the game for them, it was wasted. Loot of 65-85 is not bad to start off with and if given enough, will make them better than a lot of new players who have nothing.
DeleteI highly doubt Zynga will update this, to include any loots that may be useful for the average players. They are motivated & driven by greed, and they probably figure if they cut off our ability to gift (or sell by the loot sellers) decent loots; they will generate more revenue by selling loots in the Marketplace, VIP membership, and getting more peeps to play their "unlucky" slot to pick up some loots. They have had many chances over past 12 months, to stop the downward spiral of this game, and kept some of the active players. Have they listen to the players, or done anything really to help? Not really.
ReplyDeleteNew players biggest hurdle is when they meet with "Bandits". they just quickly decide not to play any more.
ReplyDeleteI was just wondering about this yesterday. If anyone actually traded anymore, used a wishlist (except when new collections are rolled out), or if mystery bags still gave wishlist items. I can't remember the last time I've used any of these features. Maybe ~2 years ago?
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if they would allow higher stat items to be traded between Family members so that we can help build up the stats of lower level players to help be more effective in family battles. They could set it up so that you can only gift item between members that have been with the family more than a month so as to prevent black market traders from using this feature.
ReplyDeletefunny how new fight loot comes out shortly after this post
ReplyDeletenew fight and bandit loots, 120's - 130's attack/def items.
ReplyDeleteThey need to open up all loot to be giftable to your own family. not sure how this would even work though with so many people that have multiple accounts. The game needs an overhaul IE: lucky stash wheel - pretty much a joke. gold treasure chests - same unless you are a new player. They need to get with the program on decent gifts in these. Also dumb stuff like the brazil "precious gems" collection that everyone is missing ONE gem on lol. I have at least 20 of all the others. So many things that no one even does anymore because the loot content sucks.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of gifting to only family is nice but too many times I have seen people in a family get a lot of loot given to them and then they just move on to another family or quit.
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