Hi Everyone, we got lots to cover so lets get right to it. The first thing I want to cover is my new podcast, The Facebook & Zynga Podcast http://www.blogtalkradio.com/john-sweeney-jr , if you didn't get to hear the show LIVE dont worry I have another LIVE show on Monday Aug 9th at 6 PM ET / 3 PM PT. All you do is wait till show goes LIVE and call this number Call-in Number: (347) 327-9074. You also have the option to talk VIA Skype by clicking talk and that is a free connection. I am sorry for my deaf fans I dont have an option for you at this time but I do have a LIVE Chat that goes on during show and I will see your questions and will try to answer them in the chat room during the show as well as say it on the show. You also have an option of buying a copy of the transcript of show but that is very expensive. You can still listen to my show in archives if you miss any you just cant call in to them LOL.
I have requests into both Facebook & Zynga to appear on the show to help answer your questions but to date they have declined. I will continue to try as I really want you to get answers direct from the horse's mouth instead of listening to all the rumors that go around.
So If you have questions about Facebook or Zynga Games dont be shy call in and I will try and get to you and answer your questions. Plus join our fan page on Facebook and you can leave your questions there on the wall. http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Facebook-Zynga-Podcast/145826638767230
Okay now Zynga has made some changes and nerfed & changed alot of stuff. The fighting has been changed again. This time in Cuba & Moscow.
In Cuba, you no longer fight with the 501 mafia most of you have. You take 50 others into the fight with you for a max of 51 fighting on each side. You used your top 51 weapons, armor, vehicles, and animals. To be honest their own moderators dont even know how this is supposed to work yet.
In Moscow, the power is in the skills. The higher your attack skills, the more damage you will inflict upon your opponent. The higher your defense skills the lower your damage will be when being attacked.
Fighting in Vegas, NY, and Bangkok remain unchanged at the time of this message.
New "Super Fight Loot" has been added to fighting. This loot will ONLY drop if you are attacking another person with a mafia of 501. Here is the loot that is considered "Super Fight Loot":
Also Mafia Wars has changed gifting AGAIN. This time they made it so you cant add any high end loot from Bangkok & Vegas to your wishlist. When you try it comes up as, "This item is not a valid selection".
I think this is their way to control the loot traders more than the everyday player but that does make me feel better about it, nor is it fair. If I have 200 extra Titanium Katars that I am no longer using then I should be able to gift them to my fellow players who need them to help make their character better and they should be able to add them to their wishlist so I can send them.
You can send them thru Arun's Chucker but I dont recommend the use of any bookmarklets as Zynga is cracking down on the use of them as well. I will get into that later.
Mafia Wars has nerfed the entire gifting system from the delay in between each gift sent to telling us what we can send it is just ridiculous. How about concentrating on fixing the bugs and glitches before doing stuff like this.
You know I really find it funny how they can fix this stuff and but when it comes to game play we get this as an answer from them, " This is a known issue and the developers are working to correct the problem".
Well I can go on forever with this but I digress let go on to our next topic. The use of bookmarklets and Bots.
The official answer I received from Zynga in regards to this is this,
"Anything that is not YOU playing the game, is against our Terms of Service. We do not allow bots or Scripts to be used.".
Will Zynga ever endorse the use of these things ??? NO they wont. Will they ever come out with their own??? I dont think so, at least not anytime soon. I know for a fact that by using these bookmarlets & bots it makes the game more enjoyable for a majority of us who dont have the time to sit there and play the game for 24 hours a day. But the bottom line is that Zynga does not endorse or approve of any of them.
Does this mean you will be disabled or suspended for using them. Not necessarily!!! I think it is fair to assume that if you use these bookmarklets you use them at your own risk. I would like to think that Zynga has more sense than that.
I dont think they will say much about you using Switch, the MW Analyzer or even Chucker if you are only sending a few items to a friend. They are going after loot traders and seem to be looking for unusual activity like bulk sends of gifts especially High End Loot. Here is what they send to them.
So they are going after them and it seems from all reports only them. Do I think you should use your Brawler, Chucker etc... I think if you do, you do it at your own risk. That all I will say as I will not endorse the use of them either. But I do like them.
And finally Mafia Wars has come out with a new sweepstakes "Mafia Wars Las Vegas Sweepstakes" and yes it is only open to US Residents over the age of 21. You can win a $25,000 Grand Prize just by visiting Las Vegas and having your mafia visit too. Plus they have a weekly contest where 10 people win an iPad agin you get entries when you and your mafia visit Las Vegas. Plus they will also blow up a Armored Truck when they get to 10,000,000 visitors to Las Vegas and stream it LIVE on http://www.mafiawars.com
So there you have it thats what I have for today I hope this helps. See you next time and make sure you listen to my BlogTalkRadio Podcast "The Facebook & Zynga Podcast" on Monday August 9th at 6 PM ET / 3 PT and you can still catch me on the Evil Ed Podcast plus coming soon a new podcast for a HOT new TV Show on American Movie Classics " The Walking Dead" and check out or fan page on Facebook for some really kool show happenings and exclusive behind the scenes news on the show http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evil-Eds-THE-WALKING-DEAD-Podcast/139906729360335
I actually agree with Zynga on the chucker. I know what it's like to be under 24-hr. attack. The chucker is the same idea.
ReplyDeleteChucker is a gifting program Trevor
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree on the chucker. It is not a cheat that you can use to get loot unfairly.
ReplyDeleteRather than making these illegal to use, they ought to figure out a way to adopt them into the game. They are going to end up driving off a lot of daily players. Me included.
i would love an answer from zynga on the vegas giveaway.... tried emailing them no response tried the official forum same....i am daily player in vegas but as of yesterday i have one and i repeat one entry in vegas giveaway but yet others in my mafia have hundreds lol typical zynga chit never works right prob rigged anyways zynga prog prob set it so thier friends win LOL
ReplyDeletezynga has gone way overboard on this one,i can not for the life of me understand why i can not give what i am not using to my clan mates and friends.as an occasional paying customer,they have ruined this game,im giving serious consideration to quitting all together.by doing what they did to the fight list and gifting,they are gonna lose a lot of people i feel.thanks zynga for all that you have done..(NOT)
ReplyDeleteZynga does not give a damn about bookmarklets, only facebook cares about them. FB is giving a bunch of crap to all of those that use these tools because they sometimes allow actions that resemble hackers or spammers to their filters!!! Zynga has tried to change some things to placate FB, but they have only managed to frustrate us game players, if you wish to complain or boycott anyone please feel free, only remember this, IT IS FACEBOOK, not Zynga or any other game maker, that is the real cause of the changes that Zynga is forced to do to our game!!!
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that Facebook is the real ones who care about bookmarklets. Most of them are used in an UNframed window, which takes away all of the ads. If there are less ads, there is less revenue.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of disappointed that the article above mentioned Arun's bookmarklets in particular. Both Spockholm and Josh Miller have fantastic bookmarklets without which I would not be able to enjoy Mafia Wars.
Please, if you do use any bookmarklets, give a donation to the creators. They deserve something for their hard work that makes our game so much more enjoyable.
Walt D in LV (aka "Vittorio")
I agree Walt they do and I work with Pete on the Evil Ed Podcast and they all make excellent Bookmarklets. They do a great job.
ReplyDeleteas for the vegas giveaway issue, let me clarify that, here is there official response as to those of us with 1 or 0 entries:
ReplyDeleteJason C.: Hi, my name is Jason C.. How may I help you?
ME: I am noticing that the sweepstakes entry is broken
ME: me and my wife and my brother have all played in vegas and are not getting the entry's we are due
Jason C.: Are you 21 years of age or older at the time of entry; and
are a legal resident in the 50 United States or District of Columbia or are a legal resident in a country or jurisdiction
where the Sweepstakes is permissible by law, rules or regulations?
ME: yes
ME: we are all over 21
ME: and all live in Michigan
Jason C.: ok
Jason C.: Unfortunately this issue. That you're experiencing is a known issue .
Jason C.: Our development team is working hard to fix this issue .
ME: so those of us that are having this issue are just out of luck until you fix it?
ME: and we loose our entries in the mean time?
Jason C.: yes
for all the past, present, and future issues is why I won't put real $$ into Zynga. Friends who've spent hundreds of $$ on RP's have been shutdown and lost their accounts for bogus reasons. No explanation and a "canned" response is just a slap in the face. Hit them back in their wallets, $$ seems to be all they understand.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember about two months ago Zynga solicited comments about their gifting routine in MW forum. I think there were some 20 pages of comments that mainly stated that the present system is too slow and that multiple gifting needed to be added.
ReplyDeleteSo what does Zynga do.... they add a delay to make it slower and crackdown on people using chucker. So typical
More changes in the game now. Its keeps getting worse. What we need is an en masse protest till Zynga restore some sense in the game.
ReplyDelete