September 18, 2009

Robbing to be removed; Mafia Wars Strategy Guide

Logged in to see this update listed on the mafia wars app:

Game Updates: Robbing will be removed for upgrades, beginning on Thursday, September 24. Thank you for your patience.

So, it looks like we are going to lose robbing after all as we are upgraded to New York Rackets. The developers have said that we can keep our property but they will "give us a good incentive to cash it in."

Under the beta test of the rackets system, a new stat known as influence was added and players received 6 stat points per level to compensate. This was a stupid change (I rarely say that) because with 6 stat points, you can practically level forever. This was reverted and now players under the new system only get 5 stat points per level, which is also ridiculous, because now there are accounts floating around with tons of extra stat points.

I wonder why Mafia Wars just does not run beta tests on a beta server? Is that really such a novel concept? There are plenty of players (i.e. me) who would be willing to test their content for free and report back to the developers with feedback, so why mess with live servers?

Since this update comes September 24th, I think it is safe to assume that Moscow will not be released beforehand. Less safe to assume (but I think is a real possibility) is that Moscow will not be out before October. Why do I think this? Well, when Cuba came out, about 10% of players (I think, don't quote me on that) had access to the Cuba beta test. This test lasted a solid 2-3 weeks before it was actually rolled out for the rest of the Mafia Wars population to play. We have not even seen Mafia Wars Moscow beta yet, so it is likely to be quite a bit of time before it completely rolls out. Who knows though, I could be completely wrong on the second part. Maybe beta will coincide with the September 24th upgrade, maybe there will be no beta at all. Only time will tell!

More important than the transient nature of acquiring virtual currency is the fact that robbing is really the only real action you can take to punish another player. Hitlisting helps most people since newbies routinely give out free XP for attacking high level players. Fighting and Declare War are also both two features that have no downside for the party being attacked. When someone beats up on your low level friend, the only way you can really annoy him is by robbing his property - and now that's gone. Hopefully the developers will create a new system (not something lame like Declare War) so that this game stays interactive and goes beyond the mere collection of pixels and pushing the proverbial rock up the hill so that the developers can roll it back down every 3 or 4 months.

And that's all I have to say about that.

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Posted by Mafia Wars Guide at 8:02 PM
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21 comments:

  1. I kinda figured that the boosts were another way of getting rid of robbing. You can add 100 dogs to your account and then someone has to kill all those dogs to start robbing you. It is too much for the casual player. You have to really have a hate on to go through that.
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  2. In response to your concern about "losing" whatever property a player already has:

    From what I read on the forum earlier (i dont have the link, sorry) the property won't just be completely erased. One of the game developers said that we will be able to trade our properties in and they will make it "worth our while". He didn't go on to say exactly what that meant, but from what I understand they plan on giving out some form of compensation.
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  3. they plan to give some sort of incentive for you to trade in your properties for this new racket thing. http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=184431
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  4. edited to include that information, but my original point still stands:

    As it stands, what is the point of fighting/attacking/etc? What can you do to damage another players stock and add to your own? Who cares about virtual currency and properties - the robbing dynamic was the 1 thing you could do to really interact with other players. now instead of collecting cuban business money we collect racket money, yipee
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  5. Removing robbing is a bad idea. It alienates those of us who have been robbing 10's of thousands of times to level up as a safecracker.

    Adding features and cities makes the game fun. Removing game elements like this destroys some of the fun and makes loyal players go to other games.
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  6. I started a new character that doesn't have property. The finish level 3 tier bonuses still have 5% off property and repairs. Hey, no fair!!
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  7. Once again, the Moguls get bent over and taken to town...


    ...don't get me wrong, I realize (now, mannnnny levels in) that being a Mogul wasn't a good choice at the start; even so, the ability to build up literally 1000s of properties was a small remuneration -- I felt like a virtual kingpin, lording over my empire...

    ...now even that is being taken from me... why doesn't Zynga simply allow moguls to change their type -- then we could all actually get something useful out of our character type...
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  8. I don't understand why I'm being robbed this much lately. I don't rob myself because I know I will be robbed back or at least put on the list to be robbed.

    But since a week or two, I'm getting robbed constantly... And now there's someone who has bookmarked me...
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  9. I think people are under the impression that once robbing is removed only those with 10s of thousands of successful robberies will be able to be 15% safecrackers.
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  10. Let's be honest folks: For higher level players, was robbing really worth your while? It was just a means to acquire plenty of cash for lower level players, but as you grow in levels, loot, especially consumables became much more important. Just my $0.02

    On that note, what's your take on this question: Since they are about to remove robbing, does it make sense to just load up on properties, before they do away with it?
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  11. I'm not much of a robber, but I like it for revenge. It's really the only way to hurt players. For instance, a lvl 49 just hitlisted me twice (after I killed him on the hitlist). I robbed him blind, 68times I think :) For that aspect I like robbing.

    RE loading up on properties: I've thought of that, but like the idea of having cash in hand going into the new system. The rackets don't produce much and I want to have a "rainy day" fund..
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  12. I never even got to buy a property. I started out with the crappy Rackets stuff :-(
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  13. What about those of us working towards a quadrillion? It could waste MONTHS of work....
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  14. IT COMES OUT TOMORROW!!!!! EVERY ONE GET READY!!!
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  15. HERE IS MY PROOF!!

    http://blog.games.com/2009/09/23/mafia-wars-moscow-exclusive-first-look/
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  16. Since some of the Job Tier Mastery gives specific rewards related to property purchase and repair, I guess we can assume the mastery rewards will change for Capo & Enforcer. I actually skipped mastering these because property rewards are lame.
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  17. New types of rackets just came out.. its no longer just cash rackets, they now have Attack Rackets, Job Rackets and Defence Rackets. Any new information about these new ones?
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  18. This is twice now since I start the game just 2 months ago that they completely changed New York. I made it just before the change to collecting property "takes" every day. That realy hurts players who don't play every day. And now my son started a week ago and we discovered this new "racket" thing - it doen'st look good. Now the skill points need to be spread in more ways.
    I also hate that my "mogul" type is now worthless in Cuba and Russia. I think they should have given us 10% more cash from the businesses. The money situation in Moscow is desparate because the required equipment is way too expensive. The return on energy is slso too low.
    The only salvation might be if they have "other" rackets for experience, attack and defense points. I wouldn't mind trading in ALL my worthless NY money for something good.
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  19. I just started the game 5 days ago. I've got a choice of rackets, but I do not see any property choices? Any help appreciated.
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  20. After mastering a couple of rackets (ie., the poker racket); I am now at the third level and get 39 million in just four hours. As I level up rackets, I am seeing the benefits. I just wish they did the same thing in Cuba.
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  21. If they planned on removing robbery before releasing rackets, and, if they came up with the job, attack and defense rackets after releasing the cash rackets, why did they include job rackets which make rob-defense boosts (political favors)?
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