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| Christmas 2014 sale notification |
I near enough begged for such a sale over the Christmas period in last Saturday's Suggestions Box, and now it's become reality! The special offers are around for a good while too, with an 18 day timer attached to all the goodies. This is fantastic - assuming TeamLava have learnt from their mistakes on Black Friday, there's no need to rush into any decisions with regards to purchases, plus there's time to accumulate some extra gems before everything vanishes if you're running short.
As ever when we get a major sale like this, I like to include a graphic with all the items up for grabs:
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| Christmas 2014 sale items |
There are 30 decorations available in the sale. which is 10 more than Black Friday provided. Indeed I think this is the biggest sale in terms of quantity there has ever been in the game!
No special sale post would be complete without my customary list, so here's it is:
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Table | 6 gems | Discounted (normally 8 gems) |
| Candy Dispenser | 6 gems | Originally available in Oct 2013 |
| Flower Fairy | 28 gems | Second prize in Magic Bouquet |
| Swan Pond | 49 gems | First prize in Magic Bouquet |
| Reflecting Pool | 49 gems | First prize in Woodland Box |
| Romantic Mixer Lounge | 49 gems | First prize in Valentine Chest |
| Indoor Zen Garden | 35 gems | First prize in Asian Fusion Chest |
| Fall Garden | 49 gems | First prize in Autumn Gift Box |
| Gingerbread Kitchen | 27 gems | Second prize in Gingerbread Gift Box |
| Crystal Fountain | 13 gems | Second prize in Crystal Gift Box |
| Crystal Room | 13 gems | First prize in Crystal Gift Box |
| Petal Pond | 13 gems | Second prize in Action Chef Box |
| Stone and Tree | 13 gems | Second prize in Action Chef Box |
| Floral Tier | 16 gems | Limited time offer in May 2013 |
| Floral Settee | 17 gems | Limited time offer in May 2013 |
| French Cafe Bike | 18 gems | Limited time offer in July 2013 |
| Cider Bar | 27 gems | Limited time offer in Sep 2013 |
| Candy Stand | 12 gems | Originally available in Oct 2013 |
| Pie Table | 18 gems | Third prize in Horn of Plenty |
| Reindeer Stable | 28 gems | Second prize in Sleigh Crate |
| Snowy Fountain | 14 gems | Third prize in Winter Wonderland |
| Winter Clydesdales | 28 gems | Second prize in Winter Wonderland |
| Dogsled Team | 28 gems | Second prize in Winter Wonderland |
| Ski Lodge | 46 gems | Discounted (normally 65 gems) |
| Noodle Poodles | 21 gems | Discounted (normally 29 gems) |
| Wedding Caterers | 19 gems | Discounted (normally 26 gems) |
| Ice Cream Truck | 28 gems | Second prize in Ice Cream Crate |
| Ice Cream Stand | 28 gems | Second prize in Ice Cream Crate |
| Ice Cream Parlor | 49 gems | First prize in Ice Cream Crate |
| Holiday Gift | 18 gems | Originally available in Dec 2013 |
That's some collection! Unlike on Black Friday, the content is wide-ranging and includes a good selection of box prizes, old LTOs and removed items. I'm really impressed. Even the stuff which is a re-release is discounted from its original price - this is above and beyond the call of duty really as the gamemakers would have been praised just for bringing these pieces back at all.
So why are we getting this sale now? We've never had a Christmas sale at this particular time, nor one this long. The obvious statement to make is that this has been pushed through as a result of the anger and frustration which has come TeamLava's way in recent weeks after the Black Friday shambles. They certainly seem to have taken on board a lot of the feedback by giving a wider selection of stuff and providing a much larger window of opportunity.
However I'm not entirely convinced this wasn't planned all along. After all we've had some excellent limited time offers over the last couple of months, which does make me wonder if this is all part of a change in mentality over at TeamLava Towers. It's almost as if they've had nobody working full-time in the LTO department over the years but have got some folks employed specifically for that area now!
I best get my gripe out of the way first. I was disappointed to see the North Pole decoration included in the sale notification only for it not to be offered. I've made my desire for this particular item to be re-released well known of late, so the game's developers got my hopes up when it wasn't necessary! Don't worry, I'm not going to boycott the sale and claim a case of false advertising, but it was a little sad all the same.
Going into this, I'm fortunate still to have a major stash of leftover gems from Black Friday available, and have around 20 short recipes I'm within one batch of mastering so can break them out in an emergency! Will I need them? Let's find out!
The good news is there are some real bargains to be had. I'm especially looking at the run of four straight items for 13 gems which are all high-placed box prizes. I longed for the Petal Pond when it was first released while the Crystal Room may be a good buy ahead of Valentine's Day decorating early on next year. I've got a fair amount of content for the same settings as the Petal Pond already so will grudgingly turn it down and take the Crystal Room instead!
Christmas 2014
Also catching my eye are the Winter Clydesdales. Coincidentally I managed to attain the other two Winter Wonderland prizes on offer in this sale just the other week, and am very tempted to splash out for this one too. Once Christmas is over I'm going to have to store away my Reindeer Grove and drop something else wintry (but not festive) in the space it vacates - the Clydesdales most certainly tick that box. But what if we get some more quality Winter content in the coming weeks? There's an element of risk involved in investing in the Clydesdales, so I'll hold off for now.
There are a couple of Christmas themed pieces are included in the sale - the Gingerbread Kitchen and Reindeer Stable are both crackers, but I feel I've got enough festive decorations now and don't need to add any more. However for players who are experiencing the Christmas period for the first time in the game and don't have an extensive back catalogue this is a super chance to bag some premium seasonal stuff at a reasonable price.
On a smaller scale, I love the Pie Table. This box third prize is priced very competitively at 18 gems and would complement my Swedish Kitchen excellently. It's not the biggest of financial commitments, so I'll bite here!
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| Kitchen section of The Garlic Tree including Pie Table |
And the French Cafe Bike costs the same, but is an LTO from the Summer of 2013. I eulogised about this piece but couldn't afford it when it was first released so will now take the opportunity to buy it - it'll work nicely as a space filler in many an outdoor themed area.
The last collection of releases I'm pondering over are the three top prizes from the Ice Cream Crate. The Ice Cream Truck, Ice Cream Stand and Ice Cream Parlor are all well crafted and would fit beautifully into my beach section come the Summer, along with plenty of other outdoor themes. But I can't afford them all so have to be choosy. This is so hard! I'm going to opt for the truck since it's that little bit more substantial than the stand and the parlor is really out of my price range.
And with that I think I've covered all the items I'm really considering. It shows just how good this sale is that I'm having to straight up turn down the likes of the Fall Garden and Swan Pond which are such gorgeous decorations, but I've got to stick to my budget and that means making some tough decisions.
And by the way, how cruel to bring back the Swan Pond and Reflecting Pool for 49 gems when they were re-released recently as LTOs for 55 and 70 gems respectively!
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| Reflecting Pool limited time offer |
The latter is a particularly raw deal for those players who forked out at the time, but I suppose that's the risk you take when you buy any gem item!
So time to open up my gem bag and splurge! The Pie Table, Ice Cream Truck and Crystal Room are all joining the ranks of The Garlic Tree for a total of 59 gems. That leaves me struggling to afford the French Cafe Bike and Winter Clydesdales, but I'm going to break the glass and take some emergency mastery gems to fund the bike. That leaves the Clydesdales which I'll strive to afford by battling through the Christmas goal appliances and scrambling through some supplementary goals for other TeamLava games which have fortunately appeared this week.
What's for certain is that if there is another sale to come then I'll be a mere spectator! Since this sale is an 18 day event I think we're pretty safe with regards to another similar offering - it would be chaos if the gamemakers provided a second festive sale at the same time as this one! However that doesn't mean we won't see some more limited time re-releases in the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve updates, in the same vein as the added extras we had in the Christmas goals update.
Well that's all folks! A real unexpected treat this week to get an epic sale in addition to a top drawer regular update. I hope you've had as much fun as I have evaluating what goodies to buy up in this sale!
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