Flowers and the Mine - I know beating a dead horse here

[Kerbyboo]

I took a break from the game due to the holidays and IRL matters. Upon returning, I was surprised to find that flowers and the mine systems had been unnecessarily reworked.
I’ve read nearly every post here and on Discord, and I’m genuinely curious to meet the people who found the previous flower system "confusing." Beehives still require red, yellow, and white flowers, yet the inventory no longer aligns with this requirement, making station planning unnecessarily complicated. (And please, developers, don’t adjust the beehives to match the new, overly complex flower categories!) There was nothing wrong with the previous system, which categorized flowers by color. WaagMan’s original color-coded idea worked perfectly. While it’s true that red flowers occasionally included orange shades, and white flowers had hints of pink, they’re flowers—natural variations are expected. SMDH I seriously doubt many players were truly "confused." If we’re being overscrupulous, let’s remember that trout aren’t blowfish either! /sarcasm
Now, let’s discuss the mines. While I appreciated the removal of the success chance mechanic, replacing it with consistent mining rewards, the new random spawn system for nodes has introduced unnecessary frustration. We now have no control over the layout of our mines. Every other aspect of the game allows for strategic placement and planning, but not the mines—we’re left at the mercy of RNG. This makes completing quests that require large amounts of ore unnecessarily difficult. I had the resources to open all available farms for additional mining nodes, but not every player has that option. For those with limited space, completing ore-related quests has become a near-impossible task.
Why fix what isn’t broken? Outside of the success chance mechanic, which I was indifferent about, the mine system was fine. Please give us back the creative freedom to customize our mines. Similarly, restore the original flower categories! The current system feels like a step backward.
Instead of making these unnecessary changes, developers could focus on implementing exciting player-suggested ideas, such as:
• Expanding the tractor’s functionality beyond a 3x3 range, for instance 5x5 or 6x6.
• Introducing a jetpack or speed boost, (that is not time based) especially for use in town.
• Increasing farm size beyond 7x7 (a 9x9 expansion has been discussed and seems widely supported).
• Farmhands that can manage 18x18, 20x20, or even larger areas (the current 17x17 setup drives my OCD crazy).
• Before making significant changes that impact players’ farms, consider gathering feedback through polls on Discord or social media, or by distributing surveys/links to surveys. Based on the discussions I’ve seen thus far, many players are unhappy with these updates. And if the players—the “cultivators” of this virtual world—aren’t happy, that should be a concern to the devs. As Thomas Jefferson aptly put it:
“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.”
While this is just a game, the sentiment applies. Let’s prioritize the happiness and engagement of the community.
Happy farming, y’all!

[WaaghMan]

Hi! While we're pretty much sure that the flower reorganization is there to stay, the mine isn't that set on stone, and we may readjust things in the future.

I'm thinking of adding back a few tables so players can still have some control, but maybe limit it so they don't control ALL pillars in the mine. And maybe adjusting growth times for those to compensate for high value minerals in some way.

[CatELyst]

Escrito originalmente por WaaghMan:

Hi! While we're pretty much sure that the flower reorganization is there to stay, the mine isn't that set on stone, and we may readjust things in the future.

I'm thinking of adding back a few tables so players can still have some control, but maybe limit it so they don't control ALL pillars in the mine. And maybe adjusting growth times for those to compensate for high value minerals in some way.

And this is why we give our feedback. Thank you for listening.

[Darkness Vortex]

Escrito originalmente por WaaghMan:

Hi! While we're pretty much sure that the flower reorganization is there to stay, the mine isn't that set on stone, and we may readjust things in the future.

I'm thinking of adding back a few tables so players can still have some control, but maybe limit it so they don't control ALL pillars in the mine. And maybe adjusting growth times for those to compensate for high value minerals in some way.

Maybe you can make the pillars in the main initial chamber customizable? Or maybe the corner chambers? Depending on how many you want the player to be able to control and when they are able to do it?

I feel like having both types of pillars could be good to provide a good experience for both the players that liked it the original way and for the players that like it the current way, so I think your idea is a good one.

[Shimizu]

It doesn't really make geological sense for them to all be mixed up anyway.

Why not just separate the mines - have an iron mine (cheap, fast respawning) and a topaz mine (expensive, slow respawning) and everything in between.

The main frustration (at least for me) with the mine in its current state is the lack of availability of minerals when quests require them, resulting in an often days-long backlog. When this happens with any other crop or commodity, you can plant more, or simply wait until the next ones are available (such as with flowers, animals, trees). With mining, you have to clear ALL the ores, even the common ones you have no use for, to try and free up columns to "maybe" get what you want. Its extremely tedious.

Separating the mines would fix this while still allowing rarer things to be more expensive to set up and less frequent to collect.

You could even go further and have "levels" in the mine, where you need to unlock all of level 1 (iron) to open up level 2 which has a different mineral, and so on. As with other crops and commodities, players wouldn't start seeing quests for things that they hadn't accessed yet.

Bulk collection would also make this less tedious.