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| Notification for popcorn themed update |
That very same night a new quest was introduced, with this being a short five day event that will satisfy many a request from the players down the years. This is a goal set designed specifically to give everyone who wasn't able to complete a previous challenge an opportunity to get hold of an appliance that was involved as well as the final prize.
Specifically it is the carnival themed goals from July 2013 that are the subject of this short quest, with the Popcorn Maker utilised throughout and the Ferris Wheel the unlockable at the end.
I think this whole concept is great. And I speak as a player who was around four years ago to complete the original goals. There are scores of cookers which for those who are new to the game are out of reach and it has always felt like a missed trick by the gamemakers not to provide a method to obtain them.
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| Introduction to popcorn themed goals |
Re-releasing whole goal sets has always been high on the suggestions agenda, but does come with the notable downside that old timers would be repeating a collection of challenges that they have battled through before. By making this a shortened goal set, the game's developers will find those veteran players more likely to participate. It also fills an otherwise blank week which is no bad thing, and there is a little bonus for those old timers - there are three new dishes have been added to the Popcorn Maker in addition to the three already available.
The only grumble I have is that we are closing in on Halloween, and therefore it would have made sense to centre these goals on some spooky theme which brought back a Halloween appliance. Popcorn is a strange choice in the context of the season, but given that this is a new innovation my negativity is limited.
Since the brand new stuff in this quest only amounts to three recipes, I won't be publishing a separate goals content report. Instead I'll just give a quick overview of the recipes and final prize. So here are the now six dishes located on the Popcorn Maker:
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| Popcorn Maker recipes |
And here are the corresponding recipe ratings:
| Buttery Popcorn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 4.0 |
| Kettle Corn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 4.0 |
| Caramel Corn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3.4 |
| Hot'n'Spicy Corn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 4.2 |
| Pickle Corn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3.4 |
| Pink Candy Corn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 4.2 |
Well we shouldn't be too surprised that the three recipes have identical numbers to the existing entries on the Popcorn Maker. The Buttery Popcorn is a clone of the Kettle Corn, the Pickle Corn mirrors the Caramel Corn in every way, and the Pink Candy Corn matches the Hot'n'Spicy Corn. That's pretty disappointing but not unexpected given the high number of copycat foods we've seen in recent times.
Unfortunately there's not much quality among these recipes on the statistical front. Everything is what I would describe as mediocre, with no outstanding figures nor any atrocious figures. They're all steady across the board, and that means that there are much better options out there, even if you are a low level player.
Take the two four hour candidates as an example. They both provide 1,130 coins profit which is dwarfed by the duration leading Smores (Basic Oven) at 3,700 coins. The Smores isn't unlocked until level 75 though, but then there is the Hawaiian Barbecue (Basic Grill) which yields 2,250 coins (around double those two popcorns) and is available from level 26. Then with regards to XP the Jambalaya (Basic Stove) gives 99 XP which trumps the 55 XP for the popcorns, and it is unlocked within the first few levels.
Carnival goals 2013
Fortunately there are only positive reflections when it comes to the floor decoration unlocked at the conclusion of these goals. The Ferris Wheel is a 3x3 piece which is tall and imposing. It's colourful and cheery as a ferris wheel should be and makes for a showstopping inclusion in any festival theme. It is perhaps most regularly seen across the community during the summer months, but I've been known to combine it with another goal item, the Ice Rink, for a Christmas festival.
So a new and exciting goal concept which has plenty of potential. The idea of re-releasing content as part of a mini goal set but also including some minor new additions in the form of recipes to keep the veterans engaged receives my full backing. Hopefully we'll see plenty more releases such as this which can fill some of those barren weeks where there would otherwise be nothing to do.
The timing of this update suggests to me that there won't be any more Halloween stuff. That's a shame, although it would actually be the third year where there's only been one Halloween update bringing new content - both 2014 and 2016 only had the goals update and a sale of old items, so this would by no means be a first.
Now to crack on with the goals! You can get all the details in my dedicated post here.
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