I'm going to start with some overall thoughts on the goals. The big talking point heading into the event was very much surrounding the Witch's Cat and its gem price tag. There was plenty of concern (myself included!) that purchasing this cat would be a requirement in one of the goals, a scenario which would have been damaging to the game's freemium status. But our fears were misplaced as it turned out the cat was not necessary for progression through the steps.
That leads me to wonder why Storm8 even decided to release the Witch's Cat last week. All it did was cause increasing panic, and with everything else introduced being for coins, I suspect many players were happy enough with their gains from the goals. So even economically the addition of the Witch's Cat is questionable. Adding it with the previous update may have been a wiser move, although I realise that its witchy theme clearly fits in better with the goal stuff.
Beyond the non-inclusion of the Witch's Cat, it was the fifth step of the goals that caused the most murmurs, with 22 items required to be collected from neighbour requests. We've never seen so many items called for in a single goal, and in this case it was particularly cruel. You can only have 20 requests accepted per day, meaning that to get past this goal was guaranteed to take more than 24 hours. Definitely a trickier challenge for those who try to finish the goals as quickly as possible!
To be honest I quite like the increased difficulty. I know the waiting for parts to come in annoys a good portion of players, but for me it adds to the experience, and forces you to be more vigilant when it comes to sending out requests for appliance parts. I'm sure a lot of folks had issues with clogged up request systems for a few days!
And as has become tradition, the challenge was further added to by the inclusion of two completely new parts.
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| Moon Knob and Star Knob |
The Moon Knob and Star Knob followed the usual trend of being used for the first and second of the new appliances respectively. And with their subtle designs (at least by Halloween standards!) it's very possible that they will be making more appearances in the future.
Meanwhile the Mallet and Brass Diverter were inevitably both involved, with the former needed for both cookers. I seem to be constantly replenishing my store of Mallets!
So let's get to some of the unlockables. The Witchy Stove is the first to be unearthed, losing its padlock after the completion of the opening goal. It's a pretty bog standard appliance in shape, with a moons and stars pattern all over. Within are three fresh recipes:
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| Witchy Stove recipes |
None of these dishes really stand out in appearance within the recipe list, but when served they do look impressive. The gamemakers have gone to the bother of designing a stand specifically for these foods, and they really help convey a Halloween feel. My only concern is the spider taking a good look at the stack of Cheese Pumps!
It's only as I write now that I realise that the 'pumps' in Cheese Pumps is short for pumpkin! That's a little embarrassing, especially as I was considering asking why the bots were being served up a flat shoe worn by women...
Let's get down to it with the recipe ratings:
| Cheese Pumps | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 4.7 |
| Party Peppers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3.0 |
| Batty Bean Dip | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3.1 |
I'm not going to flower this up. Numerically the Cheese Pumps is identical to the Classic Hot Dog, the Party Peppers is 1 XP short of being identical to the Chili Cheese Dog, and the Batty Bean Dip is identical to the NYC Hot Dog (all Hot Dog Stand). And all three of the hot dog offerings were themselves given a dodgy write-up and linked to older recipes. Such creativity Storm8!
Let's move on, and turn our attention to the Witchy Counter. Unlocked after finishing the last Witchy Stove related goal, this counter mirrors the Witchy Stove in that it's all about yellow moons and stars printed on a purple background. It doesn't really excite me all that much, but at the same time its a solid counter.
Next up is the second appliance. The Witch's Brew is a drinks machine, and again uses a purple colour scheme. On this occasion however there's more a spooky sense, with a spider perched on the top, which itself is marked with a spiky spider web. This is more like the kind of creepy stuff I hope for from Halloween décor.
Once again there are three recipes aboard the Witch's Brew:
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| Witch's Brew recipes |
Allow me to get my major gripe out of the way - I suffer with a fairly minor case of colour blindness, but even I can assure you that the Red Potions is not red! It's pink! Other than that though these three drinks do get a thumbs up with their shockingly bright contents and varied shapes of reciprocal. I particularly like how the Purple Potions seems to have smoke emanating from the goblet.
To the ratings, and things are going to continue in the same vein:
| Green Potions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3.1 |
| Red Potions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 3.3 |
| Purple Potions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 3.1 |
Those are again distinctly average numbers, and that's putting it kindly. The plagiarism is again rife with the Green Potions copying the stats of the earlier Batty Bean Dip and the Red Potions matching the Lemonade Pops (Tart Fountain) entirely. At least the Purple Potions is somewhat unique, although it is only one of 10 dishes of 9 hour duration we've ever had.
Nevertheless I should credit the game's developers for even adding a 9 hour recipe. It's the first introduced since the Mex Choco Milkshake (Drink Machine) in February, and adds to a surprisingly unpopulated duration.
Back to the goals then, and the Witch's Throne is unlocked after the Green Potions step. Here we have a chair that is very useful. It's purple tone and black frame make it a good fit for an eerie outlook, but it can also be read as a regal throne fit for royalty. There's certainly plenty of scope for using this chair.
All that remains is the final goal prize. I gave the Witch's Kitchen a positive pre-goals review last week, and I have to say I'm sticking by it! I really like the busyness of this piece with the witches all occupied by either cooking or the family cat. The attached floor is a slight let-down but overall this is still an excellent final prize. As of yet I've not added it to my own Halloween set-up, but I may yet try to incorporate it somehow...
Halloween 2015
Before I close this report, a quick word on the general costs in these goals. The pricing was certainly higher than normal, with the total cost of the quest running to nearly half a million coins if you buy the required wallpaper and opt for four of each appliance. And that's before considering the cost of the cooking needed to make it through to the end.
For an experienced pro like myself this doesn't really register as I am dirty rich, but for newer players still finding their way this goal set probably presents a stiffer challenge. It's interesting that Storm8 chose Halloween to up the ante, and I suspect that is largely down to their knowing of the popularity of Halloween. In other words, they are able to increase the costs without suffering mass complaints as players will want to get to the end of such a popular goal set.
That's it then. Considering we were on edge with regards to whether there'd even be Halloween goals this year, I think we can safely say that this was a good batch of goals. Unfortunately though I'm still of the opinion that Halloween is missing something on the whole. The shortage of truly scary items in the market is the main reason for this, and the best way for that to be remedied is for the gamemakers to offer up a limited time sale with some of the quality stuff from the past that really hit the ghoulish heights. However if such a sale doesn't come until in the week of Halloween, we won't be best pleased!
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