Changes to the Games, Both Short and Long-Term

Hey all,

Over the past month we’ve had a huge influx of players into Mob Wars: La Cosa Nostra, after Zynga announced that it would be sunsetting Mafia Wars in early June. To give you some frame of reference as to how this has affected the goings-on in LCN, we’re seeing well over twice as many daily active players now than we were at the beginning of April.

This injection of new blood into LCN has brought more Mobs to ally with, more participation in events, and a surge in activity and excitement in a game that has had loyal support for seven years already.

This major change has given us the opportunity to collect new feedback and reexamine some things about the new player experience and beyond and what we can do to improve the game across the board.

A lot of these ideas have been brewing behind the scenes at Kano but as a small team our priorities are split across a lot of different projects. This has lit a fire under us and we’re excited to give these projects a boost and get them out sooner than we originally projected.

We’ve heard some troubling reports of longtime players threatening to drive newbies out of the game, which is definitely not the kind of community spirit we like to see. At the end of the day though, our longtime players have gotten progressively stronger over time and the environment for new players is tougher as a result, just as it was when we brought in 30 day protection a few years ago.

To help with that, we’re increased the time limit for new player protection out a little bit while we look at other ways we can make the player versus player combat more inviting — without losing the spirit that drew so many people to the game. We’re still working on what exactly will be changing, but our goal is to create less of a rift between different level ranges and help players of all levels enjoy fighting others of similar skill.

One side effect is that anyone who has disabled their new player protection will get it turned back on. You can still opt out again if you like, but since people didn’t know we’d be extending it this should give everyone a fair shot.

Don’t worry there are no additional rules being added to NPP, we’re just extending it out a tad.

This is an exciting time for the games and we promise there’s something for everybody coming down the pipe. Stay tuned for more news by watching the in-game feed!

 

Where are we with the possibility of adding more than 25 members to a syndicate?

 

Wondered where all the new requests were coming from. Welcome to the game, look forward to playing with all the newbies!

 

wow.... really mitch ? you're actually chastising us ? for what.... because if you play your game, you DO realize that the old guard cannot touch the newbies unless they touch us FIRST. so now you're forcing us to sit by while they take unprovoked pot shots at us ?

look.... for the most part, we've been welcoming and kind to all the newbies. as in all things, not everyone agrees on all things, but we manage to get around that. we've been mobbing them, assisting them in their questions, bringing some of them into our syndicates, and quite frankly, doing more to coach them along them KANO has been. but now, you wanna go and change ALL YOUR RULES because they're now here ? i'd actually consider that a slap in the face if i had been a newbie.. oh, let's say about when the hi5 players came here ?! gee, somehow, they survived, and thrived, with all of us big bad bullies and everything.

geez..... why don't you just give them a years worth of pampers ?

 

i have to agree with robbin .. they come at us on purpose now .. knowing we cant touch them .. so your simply giving them another tool to run mouths ..get vile ... provoke and create drama .. very silly if you ask me .. this will cause an even bigger rift now.. furthermore .. any valued player would not try to drive newbies out .. we are not stupid .. we have seen other games close down .. in fact i came here from a game that did just that 2 years ago .. we all know that with out new players this game would fail .. hence we would ALL LOSE out in the end!

 

We ran a survey that indicated that over 75% of respondents would like to see an increase to Syndicate sizes, but we also received some feedback from the other 25% that we want to take into account before moving forward.

Thanks Robbin, I do actually spend quite a bit of time in the game so I am familiar with how the rules around battle works. We are not changing all the rules, simply making an adjustment to an existing one to extend it out slightly. No chastising was intended, but for the health of all of the games and their continued longevity, we don't want to enable anyone of any level who's goal it is to drive new players out. Battling is one thing, and a large part of the game, but driving people out is another. If there is no new intake, then the game stagnates. Nobody wants that.

This change does not make new players completely invulnerable to anyone and they aren't able to attack anyone outside of their level range while under NPP. They are still beholden to the same rules and standards that the old guard are. If a player of any level range or time played is creating a toxic environment we want to hear about it so we can take action.

 

So all that happens now is I sit on my list of potential targets a bit longer and make the list even longer, I can wait, or will you extend the limit again and again

 

I want to know what changes your going to make to keep us long term players stay. How about put some focus on us!

 

We have no intention to extend it again.

This is a fairly minor change in the scheme of things, but for longer term players we have a new Location coming, War achievements and one that focuses on the amount of Stamina you get when leveling.

 

Then, perhaps another addition can be that only people who have been playing long enough that their protection is gone are able to join raids. Yes, there are lots of new accounts on the game but it wouldn't be ideal for 'new' accounts to come along, not heal and perish raids and people who have invested a lot of stamina and energy (especially energy for those who actually opened it) not be able to respond in any way. This was an issue with the 30 day protection, and increasing the protection would only compound the problem.

 

NPP can also be disabled early, so if there was a limit on joining Raids then they could just disable it and get in. I can still see your point and will bring it up with the team.

 

Actually many of the Zynga rejects are just trying to get accustomed to the new interface and some of the concepts introduced in LCN. We are used to being sat on, killed and even bullied. However we are used to larger groups of associated members (clans) that have more social and protective functions. There is also mistrust with the game operator, we have been abandoned after seven years of supporting, playing, and yes devoting significant amounts of time to the game.......Given a little time you might find some of us worthy players and even opponents to respect. And there are many still playing the Zynga game daily, refusing to walk away from their investment and friends of years....They may have started accounts here, but are not concentrating on it yet. Time will tell, and apparently the developers want to give it a chance. BTW if I hit you, I fully expect you to fight back...that is part of the fun,,, So I hope this relieves some of your concerns.

 

it's good you expect me to fight back.... sorta hard when all i can do to you is list you..... i can drive you down, but i cannot punch you. not YOU, but you in general. i don't go looking for newbies, but if kano wants to look at my feeds and see all the idiots who take pot shots at me, they're welcome to do so. i understand readjustment, and time to learn, etc. but do NOT tie our hands to sit by while you adjust to a learning curve. take your lumps just like the rest of us did, learn the hard way.

 

mitch, you're preaching to the preacher. i've been telling people that new members keep the game going, for years... and to be kind and welcoming. do not have to tell me about stagnation. i am asking for parity, and the opportunity to not be a punching bag, but to defend.

 

Hi Everyone,

We are not really new; believe me the most difficult issue is being a heavy attack fighter for over 7 years in Mafia Wars, helping new comers for many years, and killing bully's and enjoying a spirited game only to LOSE it now. There are many similarities in the game which most of us will be playing until Zynga dopes us out for the last time (and trust us we are not happy to be losing a game we dedicated to, and were insulted by being scandalized by the developer as 'money making first' and that is for over 7 million players) as we assimilate the best fit for our replacement.

Most of us tried MOB first and came here instead. I am proud to say that my tag on MW is represented here and we were one of the top 10 fighting clans in the game and assume over time we will dedicate to this also at MOB LCN. We also see that apparently Zynga had ripped off from MOB LCN to evolve MW so we respect all that has gone into developing MOB LCN.

When if ever do we or can we buy skill points. LOOT in MW becomes useless over time and for comparison your flavor points which were our reward points are more expensive and we cannot build our personal attack and defense on them (just saying). At times one of us great fighters from MW could hit a higher level for in our game many super high levels were what we called gamers not fighters meaning they had a high number level but not the attack and defense to fight for example and truly win. I believe we bring a lot of experience too for if you are a veteran MW player you have played as long as MOB LCN existed and then LOST an account that is worth thousands to many vested players, and then to those idle rich who wanted in many have bought accounts illegally of course over the years for the tens of thousands of dollars that is correct. What is FREE is not FREE as we know from Zynga.

I would ask that you reach out to established tags like the ones with the courage to set up immediately for they will make good allies for you in the future, and further we have been doing this with millions of enemies and friends for the same amount of time ok. We are not novices. We are like you human and we did not expect to lose our game without warning, and which is also running with huge glitches as we end this last month. I mean to get off my TSG 150 ices and duties due my tag I do arena each morning and I get off 150 kills in seconds well right now over half our population cannot do this and those of us who are dedicated do so with pride to the end.

We are not totally new if you could just imagine the same thing happening to your beloved game after 7 years then perhaps it will be easier to ease up on us. Further with all these things we did not do if we were tagged on MW for example hit list and ambush why use protection. We used to get in the shark tank at level 500 thrown in with all levels. If you keep same levels too close you lose the excitement of hitting a level 10,000 because you put your skills on attack and at level 1,000 you can fight off about anything. That is part of the game excitement.

Thank ya'll for having us and we are very glad there is the game that began our game here for us now. Peace out.

 

I dont play LCN actively Zombie Slayer here, but i did play ZYNGA Mafia Wars for quite sometime until they overhauled it and drove me away. I know some liked it, but it just wasnt for me. Welcome to Kano, Zynga Vets. Mitch, I understand games change over time. I have confidence that you guys wont "Zyngafy" it.

Zombie Slayer
Level 4692
Hitlist Kills 34,775

 

If you do not counteract that 30 day protection (21 on zs we discovered) you have a problem.

I have not heard any of this we are going to drive new players off crap you speak of, but we WILL go after the ones abusing the loopholes you've given them. AND THAT is a huge thing. While each of us are trying desperately to get the achievements for consecutive fights and honorable lists at a time when it's nearly impossible you have handed new players these skills. What are they doing? They are level sitting. You can't even punch them to warn them hey that's not cool. we have to sit by helplessly as they work the system y'all have put into place. 7day protection and level 300 was already more than adequate

FOR EXAMPLE.

I had one on my rivals that was just under my level. I couldn't even punch it back or retaliate why? It used events to level up to my level before the 7 day protection was up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? They can pk me but I can do nothing in return? Oh not just an oops once I didn't know. Repeatedly.

Talk about abuse. You want to condemn long term players for being mean, but not a one of you have looked at WHY we react the way we do. Folks troll. And you not only do nothing about them other than say naughty naughty but protect them on top of that?

WHATEVER. Is this a free game? Does this game have a large component that encourages fights?

Or is it a pansy game of whomever clicks the most times in a BA wins. No matter how one invests skills.

Is it now simply a oh wow someone actually signed up hand them the keeps to the corvette and cover your eyes.

ENOUGH.

Either let us fight. Or remove the whole component and term it crops instead of zombies.

Now let's explore the honorable. We can do nothing. We hunt we get cut off at 14 hl kills. So you try to dodge the 10,000 hits worth 100K that go up as to not get delayed. Then you try to dodge the puny un hits. Pretty soon a real one goes up and you are staring at it unable to process that OMG it's a REAL list. And LOOK it's not even to rig the hitlist leaderboard. What do I do what do I do. Meanwhile the script user has caught it and added it to their hoard.



You want honest real feedback? Or is this just so we can feel like we have any input. And like most, is simply ignored.

 

Looking forward to the "something for everyone"

As far as the influx of new people - I think it's great.
But this is a game, and there are some rules and there are community type of rules and there are rules that some people follow and some that don't/have their own agendas.

So if someone new punches me because I went for their bounty, I will attack/punch maybe even list them back.
That's part of the game.
But I agree with Robin, that Kano shouldn't chastise us long time players for that - it's no different than the "code" we have used all this time.

 

I cannot account for the actions of others...I and others try to be sensible..there are a**holes in every game, I understand your frustration, and I don't have a solution that is fair to all. I am level 140 ish and only see max of 5 levels above/ below so I don't know how they could be targeting you. I have read the Raid directions and choose not to participate at this time, others have not....i do think the messaging between non mob is lacking..there should be a way to explain errors to others other than the canned phrases available.

 

Welcome TSG. IDK if Zynga incorporated buying hired squad or not. And i feel for you having to start over. Just hope some dont get too discouraged with it. Zombie Slayer, Pirate Clan and Viking Clan are also fun games Kano offers. Zombies is the only game you dont need 1000 hired clan to be a strong player. Only 20 in hired squad and 5 pointmen in your top sqd for your 10% att/def boost. Zombies is more personal skill based than any of the other games. with max hired sqd and top squad you're only bringing in 41 weapons 41 gear and 41 vehicles. It's a nice change of pace. Hope you give it a shot sometime.