Do you have to pay to use FarmVille live chat?

Rumors have been swirling for days around FarmVille's live customer support chat. Some players were saying the feature was only available to paying customers, others said email support was about to be phased out, while others claimed a player needed to spend $100 per month to be eligible for support. As with most internet rumors, most of this is simply not true.

Here are the facts:

• You DO need to be a paid player (meaning someone who has purchased Farm Cash) to receive live chat support
• ALL customers can e-mail customer support, whether they make purchases or not
• E-mail support is not being phased out
• Customers who are eligible for live chat may not be able to access it due to heavy volume.

These facts are confirmed in a post made in the Zynga Community Forums on Monday.

FarmVille: Free Heart Rabbit with any Farm Cash purchase for a limited time

Here we go again, farmers. Zynga has given us another reason to question purchasing FarmVille Farm Cash, as it has re-released the Heart Rabbit as a free-gift-with-purchase for a limited time. Remember this little cutie? He was first released back in the Valentine's Day event of January and February of this year.

The Heart Rabbit originally cost 12 Farm Cash to purchase in the store, so if you skipped on purchasing one then, think about this offer this way: You're receiving, at the very least, 16 Farm Cash in "prizes" all for $1, even if you just purchased the minimum 4 Farm Cash for $1 package during this promotion.

As for this particular animal's stats, first and foremost, it can be mastered (the first star comes at nine harvests). If you choose not to place it in your Pet Run Habitat, where it can be harvested from once daily, you'll need to wait two days in between harvests instead. Keeping all of this in mind, just make sure to purchase some Farm Cash within the next two hours, before the offer expires, taking this cute little rabbit away again, possibly for good.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Beagle, Pug, Maltese and more coming soon

While the Mystery Game in FarmVille won't technically update until tomorrow evening, we're now able to take a pretty good stab at guessing what will be included inside. Here's a clue: they're furry, have four legs and are often called "man's best friend." Of course we're talking about dogs, and it looks like a set of seven will be coming to the Mystery Game for your "winning" pleasure.

As for the actual selection of dogs, we see a Maltese, Chihuahua, Beagle, Shih Tzu, Boston Terrier, Yorkshire Terrier and a Pug. Unfortunately, we're not exactly sure which of these seven dogs will be the "bonus prize" for winning all six within the week that the game is available, but we can say that any of them would be stand-out prizes for your Pet Run Habitat on your farm. That's right - we believe many, if not all, of these dogs will be masterable as well.

Personally? I'm going for the Pug if it's not the ultimate, seventh prize, but what about you? Which of these dogs is your favorite?

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Book of XP will let you level up instantly

First came the ability to purchase blocks of XP in FarmVille for Farm Cash, but apparently that isn't enough. It looks like Zynga will be releasing a Book of XP to the game sometime in the near future, that will let you skip the hassle of buying multiple XP bundles and level up in a single purchase.

While pricing still isn't known for these Books of XP, we do see the following pop-up, that looks like it might appear right underneath your XP meter at the top of the screen. It's likely this large 999 number will be the calculation of how many points you personally need to level up in your own game, giving you the chance to purchase a Book of XP right from the menu, if you so choose.

The picture at right is also the right size for one to be featured on the Specials page of the FarmVille marketplace, so we'll likely be able to purchase Books of XP in bulk there as well. If you're wondering why someone would purchase XP and levels rather than simply play the game, well... the only logical explanation I can come up with are those lower-level players that might want to skip the leveling up process to unlock new crops and items that might otherwise be unavailable to them currently. If there's another reason this is necessary, it's lost on me.

Either way, we'll make sure to let you know when these Books of XP launch in the game / marketplace, and how much you can expect to pay for such a convenience. Keep checking back with us for more.

FarmVille: Free Party Cat with Farm Cash purchase for a limited time

Over the past week or so, it seems that Zynga has really been ramping up the frequency of "free gift with purchase" promotions in FarmVille. Not that I'm complaining, but today we've seen yet another promotion launch in the game, but only for a limited time. Specifically, this newest promotion will last for around eight hours. Keep in mind that this promotion's countdown timer is forever counting down, whether you've logged into your game recently or not.

For folks interested in earning a free Party Cat with their future Farm Cash purchases, you'll can earn just that for purchasing any of the Farm Cash packages available on the game's "Buy Farm Cash & Coins" page. This means you can score this Party Cat for as little as $1, and walk away with 4 Farm Cash in the process. The Party Cat was released originally during this year's Birthday event back in June at a price of 10 Farm Cash, so this is definitely the time to make up for not purchasing it then.

In addition, we'd expect that this cat can be placed inside your new Pet Run Habitat with other cats, helping you to master it even faster than otherwise. All in all, this is a fairly great bargain, if you're willing to simply purchase the cheapest Farm Cash package for $1. Taking into account the Party Cat's previous price, that's 14 Farm Cash for $1 - pretty good right? Just remember to take advantage of this deal quickly, as it won't be around for long.

FarmVille: 32x32 Land Expansion now available for both farms

If you've run out of land space on either your Home Farm or your English Countryside farm in FarmVille, you can now upgrade to the 32x32 Lush Spread (on the Home Farm) or Chipper Farm (in England) for Farm Cash. Actually, just saying "Farm Cash" doesn't really cut it - a LOT of Farm Cash is more like it. Seriously... a ton.

Starting with the Home Farm's Lush Spread, you can now purchase the expansion for a whopping 180 Farm Cash. But wait! If you fail to purchase this expansion within the next 30 days, the price will go up after that point to 200 Farm Cash.

The same can be said for the Chipper Farm, in terms of it being on sale. The starting, sale price is 195 Farm Cash, while waiting until after the sale period pushes the price to 215 Farm Cash. All of those prices range from around $34 to $40 each, depending on the Farm Cash package you purchase to get to that much Farm Cash on your account. I'll give you a second to let that set in... Again, these "sale" prices will only last until September 23 (to be exact), so that means that until that point, there's no way we should even think about a coin option, as it simply won't happen (that is, unless all of us suddenly boycott the game, which isn't likely to happen either).

The only good news that comes for this (for farmers on a budget, that is) is that the 30x30 land expansions might be released in a coin option sooner, rather than later (perhaps before the end of the year?). No word yet on how much those expansion will cost, once they are officially released for coins, but that's probably a good thing. These massive Farm Cash prices are enough bad news for most of us, I'd imagine.

FarmVille Unwither Ring back for another go around the barnyard

While we've had quite a few opportunities to purchase an Unwither Ring in FarmVille since the feature was first launched in early 2010, the price has been enough to ensure its rarity amongst the millions of farmers that still play the game. If you'd like to finally make the splurge on one for your own account, that opportunity has come around once again, but only for a limited time.

For the next seven days, interested farmers can either purchase an Unwither Ring for their own farm, or can gift one to a (very) lucky farmer in their lives. The price? 250 Farm Cash, or just under $50 US, depending on the types of Farm Cash packages you purchase to make your account reach 250 in the first place.

As usual, this Unwither Ring performs as the name suggests, and will allow you to never have to worry about withered crops, ever again. It should be noted that the ring, once purchased, will lock to your Home Farm, so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind the 5,000 XP bonus you'll receive for purchasing one. Sure, that 5,000 XP may not be worth the 250 Farm Cash you'll spend, but it's better than nothing... right?

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Pet Run Habitat and goals coming soon

With the launch of the Wildlife Habitat in FarmVille, we were told that the building was just the first of many that would be released in the future, allowing us to store all sorts of animals and breed them for new ones. While information about those future buildings was never announced, it looks like FarmVille Freak may have just found one of them anyway: the Pet Run Habitat.

There will apparently be a six-part goal series that will launch alongside the Pet Run Habitat, with the building itself looking to hold items like rabbits, cats and (apparently) other docile creatures. Along with this six part goal set, there are two new rabbits that will likely be given away either as rewards from these goals, or as Mystery Babies when harvesting a full Pet Run Habitat. These animals are the Seal Point Rabbit and the plain Black Rabbit.

Of course, all of the specific details about this new building and breeding habitat are unknown, but we'll make sure to let you know as soon as this building launches (potentially as early as tomorrow night), so keep checking back with us!

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Add neighbors without being Facebook friends

Back at the end of July, Zynga launched a fan survey concerning potential new features to FarmVille, many of which dealt with expanding our neighbor lists without having to add dozens of complete strangers as friends on Facebook. Well, it turns out that that specific idea is currently being worked on, as a new loading screen tells us just that:

"Coming Soon: Farmville Friends! Add neighbors without becoming Facebook friends!"

If done correctly, this new feature will simply allow us to add as many active, friendly farmers as neighbors as we'd like, without having to open ourselves up for full-on Facebook friend requests. While many players have secondary accounts they use just for gaming, due to the lack of privacy they may feel when interacting with these random players, if you're the kind that has blocked off certain areas of your profile to these sorts of people, you won't have to anymore, which is a great thing!

Again, in theory, this new feature will allow us to retain all of the friendship perks we enjoy now, but I do wonder how news feed posts will be handled. That is, if Jane Doe posts a free Mystery Seedling, but is only a FarmVille friend and not a true Facebook friend, how will I be able to claim it, or will I be able to claim it at all? There's still a lot up in the air about this new ability, but it looks like it could be one of the more positive updates to hit the game in some time (I hope). We'll make sure to bring you more details on this new feature as we know more.

FarmVille: Free White Porcupine with Farm Cash purchase

If you have just a short time to spare on Facebook games this morning, make sure to spend a few minutes logging in to FarmVille, as there's a new Farm Cash promotion available, giving all users a free White Porcupine for taking part.

Specifically, you'll see a large pop-up like the one below, offering you three choices for Farm Cash packages, but only for a limited time. You can purchase 4 Farm Cash for $1, 25 Farm Cash for $5 or 115 Farm Cash for $20 (presumably, you could purchase any of the packages and still receive the White Porcupine, but these are the only three packages listed). Honestly, these promotions are the best time to spend just a single dollar, as you may not end up with much Farm Cash, but you'll walk away with (normally) exclusive animals that would cost much more than a dollar if purchased in the store at normal price.

My own in-game ticker places this promotion at just one hour remaining, but your own game may differ slightly. Either way, make sure you login to your farm sooner, rather than later, to see if you can take advantage of this offer (and earn your free White Porcupine) before it's too late.

FarmVille: New Boar to unlock when 3 million Like Zynga fan page

In an effort to drive more attention and fans to its Zynga, Inc. Facebook fan page, the developer has announced a new promotion in FarmVille that will see us unlocking a new, mystery Boar once the page reaches 3 million unique Likes. We aren't told much more other than this, but I highly doubt that the plain Black Boar pictured here is a true indication of what our prize will look like.

Currently, the Zynga, Inc. fan page sits at over 2.3 million Likes, so while there's still plenty of room to climb, the number doesn't seem entirely unreachable. Either way, here's something else to think about: Zynga states that at 3 million Likes, the FarmVille team will "release a new Boar" into the game, but doesn't specifically say we'll all be given one for free. That being the case, this could just be an unlocked animal in the store that we'll have to pay Farm Cash for if we even want it. On the other hand, this could just be some confusing wording, and we very well may receive the animal for free: that's the risk we'll have to take when deciding whether or not to actually Like the page.

We'll keep you posted as the fan page climbs in Likes, and if Zynga reveals any additional information about what this little piggy looks like, we'll make sure to let you know.

FarmVille Super Orchard Expansions: Everything you need to know

If you're tired of waiting two days in between harvests of your Orchards in FarmVille, there's now a solution: Super Orchards have launched in the game this evening, giving you a chance to upgrade each of your individual, normal Orchards, to be able to hold up to 40 trees, and be harvested daily.

Let's say that again - each Super Orchard holds twice the trees, and can be harvested every day! Even if you just dabble in the world of tree mastery, this is a fabulous opportunity to earn more points, and fast! However, not everything is sunshine and roses concerning this new feature, as there's one touchy element I've left out: the upgrades don't come free, and in fact, they're incredibly expensive!

It doesn't seem as though the FarmVille team at Zynga has decided on a final price, so you may see anything from 95 Farm Cash to 120 Farm Cash as your price for a single Super Orchard upgrade. By clicking on an Orchard and choosing to upgrade it, you're also given the option to upgrade every one of your Orchards simultaneously, but this cost could be astronomical - ranging from a few hundred Farm Cash to tens of thousands of Farm Cash, depending on how many regular Orchards you happen to own.

Personally, I was incredibly excited to see the Super Orchard option launch in my game, but with those high of price tags, and no current way to upgrade these Orchards for free, I'll gladly save my Farm Cash and will get used to the thought of harvesting trees once every two days once again.

FarmVille: Third 'New Hampshire' farm may have these unreleased crops

Here's some exciting news, farmers! While we still haven't heard any official confirmation that FarmVille will be receiving a new, third farm (that is, in addition to our Home Farms, and that in the English Countryside), the rumors surrounding the New Hampshire / New England inspired farm have just gained a little more validity thanks to some unreleased crop images spotted by FarmVille Freak.

These images may look like a set of ordinary crops and mastery signs, but we'll take a closer look at them after this list:

• American Cranberry
• Chandler Blueberry
• Darrow Blackberry
• Butter and Sugar Corn
• Dandelion
• Kennebec Potatoes
• Dill
• Hay
• Tarragon

Here's a connection to get the ground rolling: Butter and Sugar Corn is one of the most popular varieties of corn in and around New Hampshire. For another, Kennebec Potatoes may be a great potato for home gardeners across the US, but they grow particularly well in the soil of Maine, making them popular in the state. An even clearer connection can be made when looking at the American Cranberry, which grows throughout the New England area, but rarely further south than North Carolina.

Can we pick out distinct connections between each of these crops and the New England area? Some might be harder to find than others, but I'm willing to make an educated guess that they'll all release at once. It's not everyday that we see this many crops, complete with mastery signs, being spotted in the game, especially in an otherwise limited edition capacity, so it only makes sense that they would be connected with the supposed release of a third farm.

We won't go out on a limb and guarantee anything at this point, so please remember that this is just speculation. Still, it doesn't hurt to get just a little excited, does it? We'll make sure to give you any other details concerning these crops or a third farm as we know more.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: 'FarmVille Friends,' or global matchmaking

You gotta' love the cute names given to features like these, though "global matchmaking" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Zynga announced recently through a FarmVille loading screen that a feature known as "FarmVille Friends" is coming to the game.

What it means is that, soon, you will be able to visit, help and be visited by FarmVille players regardless of whether you're Facebook friends with them. This intriguing feature was actually announced already with the debut of The Pioneer Trail, as it will soon arrive there, too.

This essentially opens up your pool of friends almost infinitely, meaning getting things done will take a fraction of the time. However, we just hope Zynga finds a way to handle the massive increase in game requests moving across Facebook. Color us excited for such a feat, but prepare for what should be a beautiful launch.

Super Orchards released in FarmVille

FarmVille has begun releasing Super Orchards into the game on Friday afternoon.

Super Orchards are new, suped up versions of our old Orchards with a twist - they can hold up to 40 trees (double the original space), and they can be harvested once a day. Regular Orchards can only be harvested once every 2 days in the game.

The Super Orchards come with a pretty heft price tag: Our farm showed a price of 50 Farm Cash to upgrade an existing Orchard, or 80 Farm Cash to purchase a brand-new one. There is no Farm Coin purchase option available for the Super Orchards at this time. Many players are reporting different prices, but everyone is in agreement - they're expensive.

If you've got extra Farm Cash laying around and you're planning on investing in a Super Orchard (or several), you can opt to upgrade all of your existing Orchards in one shot. The price of the upgrades will be displayed, along with the current number of Orchards on your farm.

FarmVille: 20% off Farm Cash for a limited time

If you've spent all of your remaining FarmVille Farm Cash on Wildlife Habitat ingredients or items in the Fairy Garden item theme, you'll be happy to know that your opportunity to earn some discounted Farm Cash has now arrived. For the next few days, you'll be able to take 20% off the cost of any of the Farm Cash packages, except for the $1 for 4 Farm Cash package that's always available.

While 20% may not actually make any of these packages a bargain (and it also should be noted that this sale doesn't apply to coin packages), you can still save some real-world dough, which is always a good thing. Here are the stats for the available packages:

• 25 Farm Cash - $4 (normally $5)
• 55 Farm Cash - $8 (normally $10)
• 115 Farm Cash - $16 (normally $20)
• 310 Farm Cash - $40 (normally $50)
• 650 Farm Cash - $80 (normally $100)

According to an in-game pop-up advertising the sale, we don't earn any special item with our purchase, but the discounted price itself seems to be the prize here. Remember, your own time limit on your farm may be shorter or longer than mine (which sits at 6 days), so make sure to login sooner, rather than later, to make sure there's still time on the clock for you!

FarmVille: Flying Squirrel available for Farm Cash

A new animal has been quietly released to the FarmVille marketplace, with this animal actually looking to be a permanent addition to the game's store, coming without any sort of branding or limited edition time limit. The Flying Squirrel costs 16 Farm Cash, which isn't exactly cheap, but remember: if it's available for life, you'll have plenty of time to save up enough cash to purchase one (or ten - just look at that face!).

As for the Squirrel's stats, you'll be able to harvest from them once every four days, which makes mastery a slow process. Luckily, the first star of mastery comes after just two harvests, so at least it seems like the FarmVille development team has taken the long harvest time into account here. Additionally, you'll receive 1600 experience points for purchasing the Flying Squirrel, as if we needed any extra incentive to actually purchase one.

Again, this animal looks to be a permanent add-on to the store, but you can find it front and center on the first page of the Animals section of the store when it is set to its default sorting. While this makes me think it might be a mistake that it isn't branded as limited edition, we'll just chalk that up to a deliberate design choice for now. I'll let you know if that changes in the future.

FarmVille Fairy Garden outfits come without wings... for now

As part of the current Fairy Garden theme in FarmVille, both male and female avatars can dress up in two Fairy Dresses. Actually, it's the same dress, technically, just available in two colors: Pink and Purple. It doesn't matter which color you choose (you can see previews of both at right, or by "trying them on" on your own avatar in your game), as they both cost the same: 10 Farm Cash each.

That's a fairly hefty price tag, in my humble farmer opinion, especially considering neither of the dresses come with wings. Aren't fairies supposed to have wings, or am I looking at things too literally?

Either way, it looks like that oversight might be fixed in the future, as FarmVille Freak has spotted pictures of Fairy Wings that we should be able to purchase for our avatars soon, including another outfit that comes with the wings intact.

Of course, I can only imagine that these two items will cost more than 10 Farm Cash, if a simply flower design cost that much. Here's hoping that we won't have to break the bank to purchase these lovely costumes; we'll make sure to give you the details about these items as they launch.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Bounty Packs offer cheap Farm Cash, coin and animal bundles

For once, I'm actually excited about something that Zynga looks to be releasing in FarmVille in the near future (that is, something that will cost real world money). FVNation has spotted images of items called "Bounty Packs," which are bundles of items including Farm Cash, coins, trees and even animals that normally cost quite a few real world dollars when purchased separately, but can be bundled together for a fairly large discount.

We're not sure if these bundles are slowly rolling out, or if this is all just speculation on Zynga's part (trying to find numbers they like), but there are (as of this writing) three presumed packages that we know about. All three contain a Dogwood Tree, Ribbon Flower Tree and what looks like a Black Gypsy Horse, while the differences come in the amount of coins and Farm Cash you earn, along with the price.

For just $2, you'll earn the three items above, along with 8 Farm Cash and 3,000 coins. When keeping in mind the prices that you'd pay for the two trees (5 and 7 Farm Cash each, if the Ribbon Flower tree isn't the giant) and the Horse (26 Farm Cash), that's far more than an 8 Farm Cash or even $2 value. Zynga actually claims the value is $14, if you're curious. Going from there, a $5 pack comes with 25 Farm Cash and 7,500 coins (an $18 value), while a final pack costs $19 and offers you $45 of goodies, including 110 Farm Cash and 320,000 coins.

You know, I've never actually purchased coins in FarmVille before, and normally reserve all of my Farm Cash shopping sprees for when Farm Cash is 50% off, but if these bundles are released as we see here, I just might have to break that streak. Will you join me? Note: All of these Bounty Packs look to still be unreleased, so they're stats and contents could change at any time.

FarmVille Fairy Garden Trees: Bell Flower and Big Bell Flower Trees

Continuing in FarmVille's Fairy Garden theme are two new trees that have been released this evening. The trees are the Bell Flower Tree and Big Bell Flower Tree, with this "big" version simply being a "Giant" tree, but with a different name. Unfortunately, these two trees come with the higher price tags that we've seen a lot of lately: 7 Farm Cash for the original (normal) Bell Flower Tree and 15 Farm Cash for the Big Bell Flower Tree.

Now, I've said it once, but I'll say it again - please farmers, don't feel the need to purchase this Big Bell Flower Tree, even if you want one in your collection. Remember, they'll be available through Mystery Seedlings, absolutely free, so there's really no reason to buy them outright unless you simply don't want to wait to earn the Mastery Sign that goes with it.

Speaking of Mastery, both of these trees earn their first star at 75 harvests each, but if you want a chance at the regular Bell Flower Tree's Mastery Sign, you'll need to make sure to splurge on one within the next two weeks. Miss that chance, and they'll expire from the store, perhaps never to be seen from again. Granted, we have seen plenty of items re-released in FarmVille's store over the years, but we'll just go with this assumption for now.

FarmVille Fairy Garden Animals: Fairy Ram, Pink Dragon and more

If you've taken a look at this week's Mystery Game in FarmVille, and wish that you could guarantee your way into winning the White Dragon available there, why not consider a pink version instead? If pink's your thing, you can now purchase a Pink Dragon, along with other Fairy Garden animals, in the game's store.

The Pink Dragon costs 24 Farm Cash and can be harvested from every two days. Its first star of mastery comes at 28 harvests, which may take a long time, but I personally think having a Dragon sign on my farm would be just as cool as having the actual Dragon!

As for the other items, a new Fairy Ram introduces a sort of sunburst pattern to the game's Sheep Breeding feature for 28 Farm Cash each, while a Fairy Mini Horse rounds out the available options at 29 Farm Cash. It too can be mastered, with the first star taking just three harvests to reach. In addition, don't forget that you can breed the Fairy Mini Horse to receive Fairy Mini Foals - they're definitely up there as one of the cutest animals in the game, at least if you ask me.

All of these animals (yes, including the Ram) will only be available in the game for the next two weeks. Some Rams and Ewes are normally available for a month or more, so you'll want to pay extra attention to the Fairy Ram's time limit in the store so that you don't miss out on one if you happen to need to save up some Farm Cash before purchasing it. Take it from me farmers - missing out on an animal you wanted isn't fun! Don't let it happen to you too!

Fairy Ram released in FarmVille

FarmVille released a new Ram pattern into the game Sunday evening!

The new Fairy Ram is available in the FarmVille Market for 28 Farm Cash. We've been seeing Rams released with a 30 Farm Cash price tag as of late, so it's nice to see the price drop a little bit (especially since the new Mystery Game darts now cost 22 Farm Cash).

Rams are the animals that can potentially pass on patterns in the game when breeding, so when a new type is released, it's a pretty big deal.

Releasing this new animal Sunday evening is a very nice gesture on the part of Zynga, because we're still on the tail end of Pattern Guarantee weekend. If you have a Fairy Ram and you breed it, it will pass its pattern on to offspring 100% of the time without having to pay for the guarantee with Farm Cash. Pattern Guarantee is turned on in the game until 9PM PST on Monday, August 15.

FarmVille Beehive now available in the English Countryside

If you've got a lot of Beehives in your FarmVille Gift Box, but don't have anywhere to put them, you'll be happy to know that you can finally put them to good use by placing a Beehive on your land in the English Countryside. It seems as though this ability is on a slow rollout to farmers, as I personally don't have access to this second Beehive, but many players on the game's forums have confirmed that they've purchased one (and an official moderator has all but confirmed its existence). It could also be that we're only allowed to have a single Beehive for both farms, but I simply don't see that being the case.

There's no word yet on how many bees it will take to fill this Beehive, but we can only imagine it will be the same as the original: a Queen Bee and enough worker bees to add up to 200. From then, you'll be able to have these bees pollinate your English Countryside crops, resulting in extra bushels coming your way. Use the bushels for crafting and voila! You'll be rolling in extra goodies before you know it.

If the stipulations change for the English Countryside version of the Beehive, we'll make sure to let you know.

FarmVille Vineyard Buildings: Lavender Cottage, Cheese Store and more

We normally only see two buildings released in every FarmVille update, but tonight we've been give three. Don't get too excited though - all three go for Farm Cash. Before we get into the discussion of whether or not this is fair, let's first take a look at the items themselves.

The first, and least expensive, is the Cheese Store at 20 Farm Cash. From there, there's a Lavender Cottage that will set you back 25 Farm Cash, and finally, the Vineyard Chateau is a substantial building that costs 30 Farm Cash to add to your farm. As for the prices, it will of course be up to you to decide whether or not one or all three of the buildings are worth their high price-tags, but I definitely am disappointed to not see a building marked for coins in this release.

In past circumstances, we've seen a system of "one for Farm Cash and one for coins," but as that seems to have disappeared, my only advice for the future would be to stock up on plenty of Farm Cash before every Wednesday and Sunday, just in case something exciting launches on those days. For these two, you'll have two weeks to decide whether they really are that "exciting."

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Wine recipes coming to crafting buildings

If some new (and unreleased) crafting recipe mastery signs are anything to go by (and they usually are), a set of new crafting recipes will be coming to FarmVille's four crafting buildings in the near future. To be specific, FVNation has found images of eight new mastery signs, and we presume that can only mean that two recipes will be released in each of the game's four crafting buildings (the Winery, Bakery, Spa and Pub).

It looks like the four recipe sets will come from the game's four wine crops. Currently, there are only two available: Zinfandel and Chardonnay, but it looks like two additional crops will launch as well: Pinot Noir and Semillion.

We'll make sure to let you know when these crafting recipes launch in the game, and which bushels you'll need to collect to actually craft them, so keep checking back with us!

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Summer Garden blazes with dragon's breath

That's all you need to know, really. While I could have easily filled this post with a reflection on my love for dragons, I'll be a respectable games writer and tell you about everything that's headed to FarmVille. Some new unreleased decorations and Goals have been unveiled, and aside from a blue, badass fire-breathing dragon there is a number of mythical set pieces.

This upcoming theme pays homage to the Enchanted Theme with a fairy sheep, magic wands and a tower that looks ripped straight from the pages of Rapunzel. However, the theme looks as if it will take on somewhat of a down-to-earth approach as well with a flowerbed truck a simple-looking acorn. More importantly, this new theme will be rung in with at least three new Goals, according to Goal icons that feature lots of pretty flowers and butterflies.

The list of upcoming items is rounded out with what looks to be a fairy godmother, a pond littered with fairies of a different variety and what looks to be a magical tome. Keep in mind, a lot of these items are recolored versions of previously released decorations and animals. Regardless, it looks like this will be an entertaining theme, though all I needed to see was a fire-breathing dragon to make my educated guess.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Will a third farm take us to New Hampshire?

So, our Home Farm and English Countryside may have us plenty busy in FarmVille, it looks like we might be able to travel to the Northeast - New Hampshire, to be exact - if a random menu image spotted by FVNation is anything to go by. We can see the game's travel menu (that you click on to travel between your Home Farm and English Countryside farm), which shows the New Hampshire farm as a location.

Now, this leaves me with a few thoughts. If this isn't a third farm that we'll be able to travel to, could it be that we'll instead be able to rename our farms, and this particular example shows a farm that happens to have been named "New Hampshire?" Perhaps that's reading too much into this, but New Hampshire seems like a bit too specific of a location to place a third farm. Heck, the very concept of already adding a third farm to the game seems out of place too! Still, the English Countryside expansion has gone over swimmingly well, so I can't really blame them for wanting to keep the train rolling.

Either way, this single menu screen gives us very little to go on, but we're excited about the possibilities that it could present. We'll make sure to stay on tops of things and will let you know if this image was a fluke, or if a third farm really is coming to the game.

FarmVille Bug Report: Animals disappear in the middle of mastery

So... FarmVille Animal Mastery. It's great, right? Actually... not really, at least so far. You see, in the long, sad history of bugs and glitches in FarmVille, a new Animal Mastery bug might be one of the worse we've ever seen. According to some (as of this writing) isolated examples, farmers are apparently losing their animals when they begin mastering them. You'll master different star levels of a particular kind of animal, and then refresh your game to find they've vanished - poof!

For specific examples, we look at a round-up posted by user "Kimmeruwp." According to Kimme, after mastering level 1 of Squirrels (presumably Brown Squirrels), they all vanished. For another farmer, after reaching level two of the original Horse mastery, all of those animals vanished as well upon refreshing the game.

Now, I hate to alarm anyone, especially when there aren't many other claims (as of this writing) of issues occurring, but as this was just reported within the last few minutes, I find myself erring on the side of caution. It isn't impossible or even unlikely that Animal Mastery has been released with bugs in tow (this is Zynga, after all), so if I were you, I'd keep an extra eye on all of your animals, especially if you're about to hit that next mastery star. At the very least, take the extra time to manually harvest each animal, rather than using a Farmhand, and keep refreshing while doing so, just to keep an eye on things. Better safe than sorry, right? We'll make sure to let you know if this does become a larger issue, or if it remains isolated.

FarmVille Animal Mastery is here, except for sheep and pigs

Well, it's slowly rolling out to farmers, anyhow. That's right! After two years of gameplay, and the coming of both crop and tree mastery, Zynga has finally flipped the switch in FarmVille, giving farmers a chance to master the animals on their farms, with the exception of sheep and pigs. Don't worry though - we've been told that pig and sheep mastery is coming soon, even though it isn't available right away.

All told, the difficulty each user has with mastering animals will ultimately come down to how big of a collector you are. That is, if you have five of the same kind of animal on your farm, you'll obviously master them more quickly than if you just purchased one. Still, animals like those seen below (on just the first of many pages of Animals in the new mastery menu) tend to reach their first star of mastery after just 3-9 harvests, depending on how long the animal takes to become "ready" again, or perhaps even depending a bit on its rarity.

Either way, it's interesting to see pigs and sheep acknowledged here, as it gives us something to both look forward to and be scared of for the future. On one hand, it would give mastery sign collectors more incentive to breed animals, but on the other, you're left with the potential for practically unlimited mastery signs, if each individual color shade or color/pattern combination is given its own sign. Hopefully, mastery is left to have each pattern have its own sign, rather than anything to do with color, but we'll make sure to let you know what ends up being the case just as soon as we know more.

Buy seven FarmVille Vineyard items, get a Flowery Fountain for 'free'

Or rather: Spend gobs of Farm Cash to get this exclusive item. Zynga has put out a limited-time promotion in FarmVille that will reward players who buy seven items from the new Vineyard with a Flower Fountain decoration. Normally, this would be business as usual, but it's all in the execution.

Zynga has created a Vineyard Collection page that displays a number of decorations from the theme. It's accessed through the Market by clicking a button on the Flowery Fountain decoration that reads, "More Info." This opens up a new page titled simply "Vineyard Collection."

Once you buy all seven of these items with Farm Cash, the Flowery Fountain will be added to your purchase. Just to be clear, the minimum you'd pay for this Flowery Fountain is 131 Farm Cash, or a little over $20. (Alright, that and seven other items, but you get the point.)

The promotion only lasts for another six days, so if you're into "free" item promotions, you better scrounge up that 20 or so clams quickly. However, we sense a trend brewing in FarmVille. Depending on how successful this promotion is, Zynga could soon release more promotions like this, offering arbitrary decorations only after spending so much Farm Cash. We're not sure which is worse (or better, depending on your stance on virtual goods): spending over $20 on seven items in order to get an eighth, or spending twice that for a bonus that will last forever.

FarmVille Raffle Booth: Everything you need to know

Tonight marked the release of the highly anticipated Raffle Booth in FarmVille, which will see players collecting raffle tickets with friends each week for chances to win some new (and exclusive) items, or just simple tools that can be used around your farm(s). For a clearer look at the feature, let's look at the steps you'll need to take to start entering into raffles.

First, you'll be given the Raffle Booth for free upon logging in. From there, you'll be able to immediately start collecting tickets. Of course, you'll need your friends' help in collecting raffle tickets, but there's a catch: you can only collect a maximum of six raffle tickets each and every day. If you help a friend with their request for a ticket, you'll earn one as well, and this does look to count as part of your six tickets allowed each day.

Once the feature gets up and going, the FarmVille Raffle Booth will be holding drawings once per week. Of course, the more tickets that you've collected with friends each week, the more individual entries you'll have to win that week's prizes. For instance, for this first week of the raffle, you'll have a chance at rare animals like a blue and green flower-patterned Ram and a flower-patterned miniature horse. If you do happen to win, you'll be happy to know that the friend that gave the ticket to you will also receive the same gift, and vice versa (should you give someone the winning ticket, you'll get the same prize as they do).

Ultimately, that's all this feature really boils do to: constant friend requests, as you all try to scramble together six tickets everyday, and an apparently ever-revolving set of prizes, similar to the way the Mystery Game currently works in the game.

If this feature becomes more complicated, we'll make sure to let you know, but for now, feel free to bask in the simplicity.

Zynga deals FarmVille players 20 Farm Cash for Mystery Game bug

Are you missing a few Farm Cash, by chance? If you used your complementary Mystery Game Dart in FarmVille over the weekend, then Zynga has something to return to you. FarmVille Freak reports that several players who used the supposedly free Mystery Game Dart doled out to players this weekend were actually charged 20 Farm Cash when they threw it.

Of course, it was a bug on the company's part, and Zynga in turn is crediting those affected with 20 Farm Cash. The fix comes in the form of the below pop-up window in the game, though we imagine this credit is only for those affected. So, no extra compensations for damages or emotional distress? (Hey, it never hurts to ask.)

While it's certainly nice (and expected) of Zynga to restore players' Farm Cash, this probably won't exactly get players hooked on the Mystery Game. And our guess is that this temporarily botched freebie was intended to do just that. Oh well, even a multibillion-dollar company can't win 'em all.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Raffle Booth raffles off Fuel, Farm Aides et al

"You mean we're getting an alternative to that blasted Mystery Game," players excitedly asked as they read the news. Unfortunately, it's not looking that way, but color us excited regardless. The Raffle Booth has been discovered in FarmVille, and it looks like a brand new building and feature.

Judging from these leaked images, the Raffle Booth will provide players with three different varieties of Raffle Tickets (red, yellow and blue) that can be turned in for enhancements like Turbo Boosts or resources like Fuel.

The Raffle Booth seems to operate much like a real raffle. Items will populate the screen, and random tickets will be drawn. The more tickets you have, the higher chance you have of your number being called and winning a prize.

Players will be able to either ask their friends for more tickets, or buy them with Farm Cash. However, we still don't know what each color implies. (Could each color stand for a certain grade of prizes?)


A new character will be introduced to the game as well with a beard that makes me jealous. He'll be your guide across at least three quests that will introduce you to the new feature and likely the building's three stages. I wouldn't expect super rare animals or decorations to come out of this feature like they do in the Mystery Game.

Luckily, there are a ton of sought-after resources--that cost lots of Farm Cash otherwise, mind you--and Boosts that will be available for free. Well, with a lot of work and a little luck, of course. Don't worry, you'll learn more as soon as we do, so stay tuned.

FarmVille Platinum Mastery Statue offers double mastery for life

First there was the 2X Mastery Statue in FarmVille, at its high price of 25 Farm Cash. Now, there's an even more ridicul --err, pricier version available in the store. The Platinum Mastery statue won't just offer you double mastery on all crops and trees for a few days - this one's for life. For the whopping price of 300 Farm Cash (more than $50 US), you'll be able to permanently double all mastery points you earn within the game, at least when it comes to trees and crops. Whether or not the eventual Animal Mastery points will be doubled as well remains to be seen.

Actually, a lot about this statue can be considered confusing. We know for a fact that you can only have one Platinum Mastery statue active on your farm, and that purchasing multiple will only result in a massive waste of Farm Cash. However, whether or not you can combine a 2X Mastery Statue with a Platinum Mastery Statue wasn't made clear. That is, would combining the two give you 4X mastery? With the 2X Mastery Statue expiring from the store in just a few hours, there will only be a short time for that confusion to remain, but here's something else to think about - what happens when Zynga has a double mastery weekend for holidays and other events?

Will those users with the Platinum Mastery statue earn three points for all crops and trees, or will they earn four? Or, worse yet, will the double mastery event skip them by entirely? We've reached out to Zynga for clarification, and hope to be able to straighten things out for you soon.

FarmVille: Llamas available as free gifts for a limited time (watch out, they spit)

While many FarmVille players have an overabundance of the Poncho Llama on their farms (as the animal is available for free from within the Animal Feed Trough / Barn), few players will likely have as many "regular' Llamas to accompany them. You can rectify that tonight though, farmers, as the regular Llama is now available to send (and receive) as a free gift from the game's free gifts page, but only for a limited time.

The Llama should appear in the top left corner of the screen, allowing you to send it with ease. As it is the end of the day, you may not have any friend requests left to send these out, but if you do, make sure to send some of these cute little fellas before they disappear from the page.

Speaking of little, we've included a picture here of a few Llamas on a farm, next to trees and flowers to show you scale. If you're anticipating an animal as big as a horse, or even a cow, you'll be greatly disappointed, as these guys are downright tiny in comparison. Still, if the rumors of individual animal mastery signs for each and every critter in the game come true, won't you want to stock up on some of these Llamas to make the mastery process a bit easier (at least for this one animal)? I thought that might get your attention. Now hurry - ask your friends to send you some Llamas before it's too late!