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| Notification for latest Spring update |
Tables:
- Herbologist Table - 15,000 coins
- Saffron Stool - 1 gem
- Drying Herbs - 18,000 coins
- Container Garden - 8 gems
- Loose Spices - 15 gems
- Aromatics Display - 65,000 coins
- Apothecary - 12,500 coins
- Garden Stones - 5,000 coins
In addition to this range of goodies there are FOUR new recipes on the go - we'll get to them shortly. For a glimpse of all the new content take a look at this image posted on the Storm8 Blog:
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| Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog |
Some of these items are adorable! Alongside last week's update and the Gardener's Chest we've now got a wide selection of gardening themed content which, when put together, would look fabulous. Since we get Spring updates every year it's impressive that the gamemakers have managed to come up with a new twist on the season which doesn't feel repetitive.
The downside to this update in my view is the pricing. The two standout decorations are the Container Garden and Loose Spices which are both gem buys. I love the woven baskets and labels of the garden but am not convinced about paying gems for it. The spices are beautifully put together, complete with pestle and mortar. However at 15 gems you have to really cherish it to make the purchase.
Maybe I'm being overly critical here, after all the prices are not astronomical like we've seen with some pieces. But then again these decorations are much smaller than those big buys tend to be. After seeing the teaser I was almost set on redoing my outdoor section as a garden, but am now not so sure.
At least the third floor decoration is for coins. The Aromatics Display is still quite expensive though at 65,000 coins, especially when you're only getting a 1x1 item. However it is a cool design with lots of mini jars stacked up in a tower. It's a quirky addition which I'd definitely add to my collection if I had somewhere to place it.
One of the new items which I have gone ahead and purchased is the Drying Herbs. Anyone want to guess what's hanging from the string? The middle one is almost certainly lavender, and I'm going to plump for sprig and basil as the others! This decoration looks right at home in my kitchen next to the Hanging Rake.
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| Kitchen section of The Garlic Tree |
And also taking it's place in my kitchen is the Apothecary wallpaper. I've managed to squeeze one of these in next to my Ticket Station and feel that it fits pretty well thanks to the White walls. I'm generally not one for placing single wallpapers but it works here!
Down to the floor and the Garden Stones doesn't fill me with excitement. We've already got the very similar Stepping Stone tile which was added last year, and this one just doesn't come close to matching it. This flooring is rather simplistic when it comes to the blades of grass as opposed to the Stepping Stone, and the colouring is different enough from the Summer Grass tile that you can't incorporate is seamlessly. Perhaps I'm being picky here but when we get a tile which is comparable with an existing one, I'm going to get picky!
The Herbologist Table is an interesting one. I cannot recall a previous table which was not actually produced with the dining customers in mind. Of course you can use it for that purpose, but with the drawers on one side this is a table more suited to acting solely as a decoration.
Closing us out is the Saffron Stool. In contrast to the traditional vibe of the Herbologist Table, this is a fantasy chair. A corked bottle, it doesn't exactly look suitable for sitting on! Sometimes I buy into the crazy stuff and embrace it, but on this occasion I can't bring myself to accept this stool. I suppose it may be like the table in that it's not really meant for use as a chair, but then why release it as one?
Time to check out the new dishes of which there are four, all heavily seasoned.
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| New recipes on Basic Stove and Basic Oven |
Credit should be given to those who called the Lavender Cookies ahead of time, including blog regular Whipped Cream! Here are the associated recipe ratings:
| Sage Mushrooms | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 6.0 |
| Rosemary Potatoes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 1 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 3.6 |
| Herb Crusted Pork | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Lavender Cookies | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 6.1 |
Lots to digest there. And we'll start the analysis with the big positive that all four foods provide 4 coins per plate. That was also the case with the latest goal recipes, but hasn't been the case with non-goal releases of late so that's a good sign.
Looking at the dishes comparatively, there are two distinct groups - the mushrooms and cookies are not quite of Hall of Fame quality but do come out very well, whereas the potatoes and pork are duds. This is partly down to the XP scores. All four dishes offer 60 XP, which is excellent news for the 1 hour cookies but becomes progressively less impressive as the duration increases.
The 60 XP figure seems to have become a go-to number for Storm8 these days, with almost every non-goals food in the last few weeks yielding the same XP. This is just pure laziness by the game's developers - I'm no programming guru but even I can tell you that it's not difficult to change a single number!
Spring 2015
15/04/15 Earth Day
07/04/15 Rainy days goals content report
01/05/15 Rainy days goals
01/05/15 Rainy days
07/04/15 Rainy days goals content report
01/05/15 Rainy days goals
01/05/15 Rainy days
None of these recipes flourish in the profit and portion departments, and that's really why the leading two can't quite challenge the pick of their respective durations. But that's okay - it's the strong profit per plate scores which matter to me at the moment!
So that is our second gardening themed Spring update in as many weeks. I don't think we've had back-to-back updates in the same theme since Christmas, so that's a notable fact. I'm hoping for more of the same in the coming weeks - once we get into May I'll be pulling out my Riverboat Ride so the scenery needs to be picturesque!
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