Sunday, November 27, 2011

FarmVille Winter Wonderland Chapter 1 Goals: Everything you need to know

While Winter Wonderland still hasn't launched in FarmVille (as of this writing), we're beginning to learn more and more about what will be required of us when we finally do make the trek to the North Pole. Namely, we're seeing a set of six goals that will likely be available to those users that pay Farm Cash for early access to the farm. This "Chapter 1" series will, in theory, only be available to paying players, and therefore so will its prizes. FarmVille Freak has discovered just what we'll need to collect and do in this new farm to score all six, but you'll likely only have a week to get it done once this farm launches.

A Winter Wonderland
  • Get 6 Jingle Bells
  • Harvest 45 Gingerbread
  • Harvest 1 Polar Train Station

The Train Station is like the Lighthouse Cove on the game's third farm. It will likely be available to harvest once every day. Your rewards? 100 XP, 2,500 coins and a Borealis Tree.

Snowy Trail
  • Get 6 Egg Nogs
  • Harvest 60 Iced Rice
  • Complete 1 Orchard

This Orchard comes complete with the theme, with snow around its fencing. How cute! Your prizes for this goal are 200 XP, 2,500 coins and a Holiday Ermine (animal).

Snow Blanket Bingo
  • Get 6 Arctic Beach Balls
  • Make 2 Ginger Smores
  • Harvest 1 Borealis Tree

The Ginger Smores will be created inside Winter Wonderland's eventual crafting building, the Sweet Shoppe (like the Pub in English Countryside or the Restaurant in Lighthouse Cove). Since the farm hasn't launched yet, however, we're not sure which kinds of bushels you'll need to use to create them (aside from perhaps Ginger). Finishing this goal will give you 300 XP, 2,500 coins and an Ice Geyser.

Something Blue
  • Get 6 Snow Shoes
  • Harvest 60 Candied Yams
  • Harvest 1 Holiday Ermine

The Candied Yams really do look like candy, with orange, yellow, white, green and pink stripes! Finish this goal and you'll receive just as colorful a prize: 500 XP, 2,500 coins and an Icy Horse that's bright blue!

Dances with Elves
  • Get 6 Holiday Tunes
  • Make 2 Candied Yam Pies
  • Discover one Small Snow Treasure

As we told you previously, Snow Treasures will be presents trapped in blocks of ice and snow, and for these smaller ones, you'll apparently need to collect hair dryers to thaw them out. Finishing this goal will give you 500 XP, 5,000 coins and an Ice Fishing Gnome.

Snow Day
  • Get 6 Perfect Snowflakes
  • Make 2 Candied Apples
  • Harvest 1 Polar Train Station

Finishing this final goal in the Chapter 1 series, which, again, will likely only be available for paying players grants you 500 XP, 5,000 coins and a Holiday St. Bernard.

While we're not sure if these quests will 100% only be for paying players, a similar situation has occurred with Lighthouse Cove in the past, so it's likely that these six goals will be added to the incentive list for players to pay to access the Winter Wonderland farm. We'll stay on top of things and will let you know exactly when these goals and the entire farm launch within FarmVille, which could be as early as this week! Stay tuned!

FarmVille Winter Wonderland Sneak Peek: Make Smores inside the Sweet Shoppe

As we draw closer and closer to the launch of Winter Wonderland in FarmVille, we've finally learned what the new crafting building will be called in the game. Where we've had Bakeries, Pubs, and even a traditional Restaurant in other farms, we'll now have access to a Sweet Shoppe in Winter Wonderland.

This building is highly decorated, with lights, snow and candy cane swirls at every corner. There are pieces of candy sitting outside on the ground, and even a friendly gingerbread man to greet us at the door. We're told that we can craft items like Ginger Smores, which will apparently be a pretty common thing in the game's Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 goals. Here's the full word from Zynga:

"Are you ready to make Ginger Smores, Rock Candy and other yummy winter treats in Winter Wonderland's Sweet Shoppe? Get ready for a tasty adventure on FarmVille's next expansion, coming soon!"

While we've already had access to growing things like Ginger in FarmVille, when we take into account other ingredients that are required for Smores, or even Rock Candy, it allows us to speculate even more about the crops that might be available to grow. Perhaps we'll get to grow Marshmallows or Chocolate Bars for the Smores, or blooms of colored sugar for the Rock Candy! We already know a few of the expected Winter Wonderland crops, but we'll make sure to give you all of the details about the final lineup, and this new Sweet Shoppe just as soon as Winter Wonderland launches.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

FarmVille: English Countryside and Lighthouse Cove land expansions now available for coins


It's that time again farmers. Time for you to bug your friends (or even strangers) and ask them to help you out in FarmVille so that you can expand your land. Here, we see a new land expansion being released for coins in English Countryside, along with two new coin expansion options in Lighthouse Cove.

First, for the English Countryside expansion, you'll be able to expand to the "English County," 30x30 expansion for 5 million coins. Yes, that's 5 million, which just so happens to be the same price for the previous expansion, the 28x28 English Domain. I mention it because typically expansions become more expensive as we go along. So, technically we're receiving a break here. You'll need to have 30 surveyors to unlock the option to purchase for coins, so you'll need to ask current FarmVille neighbors to help you out until you reach that number.

As for the Lighthouse Cove, the two expansions are the 24x24 Beachfront Property and 26x26 Shoreline Acres. If you want to purchase them for Farm Cash, they're currently on sale for 60 and 70 Farm Cash, respectively, but you can now purchase each for coins - Beachfront Property costs 2 million coins, while Shoreline Acres costs 2.5 million coins. Remember, you'll need to unlock these coin options too, by simply adding new neighbors to your game. For my own game, I only have to add a single neighbor for Beachfront Property, but you may have to add more than that (or even none at all), depending on your current neighbor count.

There's not a time limit on when these coin options will go away, so feel free to save up coins if you don't have that much on hand right now (or, if you plan on saving those coins for the many decorative items that are sure to launch during the Winter Holiday season).

FarmVille Thanksgiving Items: Pilgrim Cabin, Cow Balloon and more

As we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US, if you can spare a few minutes while baking / cooking to play some FarmVille, you'll see that a set of new items has launched in the game's Thanksgiving theme. There are new animals, trees, and decorations here, and there's even a building that's available for coins (I know, I was shocked too)! If you're a unicorn lover, you're also in luck with this update. Here's what's available.

Trees


Pecan Tree - 5 Farm Cash
Pistachio Tree - 10 Farm Cash

The Pecan Tree is the only one of this pair that you actually need to purchase, as the Pistachio Tree can come for free from Mystery Seedlings.

Animals

Harvest Unicorn - 30 Farm Cash
Chicken Turkey - 18 Farm Cash
Big Chicken Turkey - 18 Farm Cash
Frontier Duck - 15 Farm Cash


Yet again, the Chicken Turkeys are two different animals, so you'll need to purchase both if you're the kind that wants all of the animal mastery signs possible in the game.

Buildings


Pilgrim Cabin - 3 million coins

Yes, this building is available for coins - don't fall out of your chair! It's disappointing that it costs so many coins, but I suppose at that point, we can't really complain, as it can be obtained, technically, for free.

Decorations

Pig Balloon - 100,000 coins
Cow Balloon - 3 Farm Cash
Autumn Gourd - 2 Farm Cash

If you'd like to create your own version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in your farm, here are two more animal balloons to go with the Sheep Balloon that was released previously (also for coins). At least the Cow Balloon only costs 3 Farm Cash, which definitely shouldn't break the bank.

Avatar Costumes

Pilgrim Girl - 10 Farm Cash
Chieftain - 10 Farm Cash

Now, even your in-game avatar can get in on the fun of Turkey Day, by dressing up as either one of the Pilgrims, or a Native American. Remember that you can try on these costumes to see how they look on your avatar before actually spending that much Farm Cash on them.

All of these items will be available in the game's store for the next two weeks. It will be interesting to see if any of them are placed on sale for an in-game Black Friday sale, and if they are, we'll make sure to let you know.

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Chapter 10 quests guide

The tenth set of Lighthouse Cove quests were released in FarmVille on Tuesday evening! Players will have 6 days to complete these quests.
If you’d rather not know the tasks and prizes of FarmVille’s Lighthouse Cove Chapter 10 quests, you should head over to my other articles now, as spoilers are below!
Quest 1: A Different Kind of Boat
For your first quest, you will have to ask friends to send you 3 Gravy Boats, harvest Lighthouse Cove once, and harvest 110 Chandler Blueberries. Your rewards will be 100XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Cornucopia Cow.
Quest 2: A Loaf of Yum!
Your second quest will ask you to get 6 Fresh Breads from friends, harvest 110 Darrow Blackberries and make the Wild Blueberry Pie recipe twice. Your rewards will be 200XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Turkey Costume.

Quest 3: Fashion Statement
Your third quest will ask you to get 3 Warm Sweaters from friends, harvest 110 Hay crops and make the Black Raspberry Wine recipe twice. Your rewards will be 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Tourist Penguin.
That concludes the regular quests, but if you enjoy a challenge, you can also participate in the following BONUS quests!
BONUS Quest 1:
Your first bonus quest will ask you to harvest 160 Butter and Sugar Corn crops, harvest the Tourist Penguin once and harvest Lighthouse Cove once. Your rewards will be 500XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Seagull Wood Fence.
BONUS Quest 2:
Your second bonus quest will ask you to harvest 160 Dill crops, harvest 1 Wildlife Pen and make the Creamed Corn recipe four times. Your rewards will be 1,000XP, 5,000 Farm Coins and 1 Snow Crab Statue.
BONUS Quest 3:
Your final Lighthouse Cove quest will ask you to harvest 1 Aviary, harvest 160 Ladyslipper crops, and make the Boiled Dinner recipe twice. Your final prizes will be 1,000XP, 5,000 Farm Coins and one Candy Cane Lighthouse.
If these are indeed the final Lighthouse Cove quests and you'll miss them, don’t fret – FarmVille’s fourth farm, Winter Wonderland, is coming very soon! We’ll surely be questing every week with the big arrival.

FarmVille Arapawa Goat Lonely Animal: Everything you need to know

It's been a while since we've seen a Lonely Animal available in FarmVille, and while this newest version isn't anything particularly special (personally, I find it rather boring in appearance), if you're going for a complete set of mastery signs in your game, you'll want to lure this little fella onto your farm before he disappears (potentially forever)!

As with past Lonely Animals, you'll find this Arapawa Goat hanging out on the outskirts of your farm, on the far right side. There, you'll be able to hover over the animal to see how long he will be there, along with how close you are to luring it into your farm. As of this writing, you have just over a day to gather the help of five friends, and when you add all five to your crew, you'll finally be able to to coax this goat into your farm. Or, into your Gift Box, if we're being technical.

If you don't think you'll be able to add five friends to your crew in time, you can also unlock the animal outright for Farm Cash. Or, should you simply not care about the animal at all, you can also click on it, and then click on the "Ignore It" button to skip the feature altogether.

With Winter Wonderland quickly approaching in FarmVille, it will be interesting to see if any themed Lonely Animals appear, or if this will be the last Lonely Animal we'll see in the game for quite some time. Either way, we'll make sure to let you know.

FarmVille Penguin Escapade: Everything you need to know

In anticipation of the launch of Winter Wonderland in FarmVille, Zynga has launched a feature called Penguin Escapade - try not to swoon with cuteness as we go through it! I'll have a hard enough time refraining from it myself! You'll know that this feature has rolled around to you when you receive a pop-up like the one at right, asking you to help these penguins travel to Winter Wonderland, while receiving some great prizes in the meantime.

First things first, this feature is split into stages, with three stages being available in all, the first of which asks you to "distract the ticket inspector," so a group of Emperor Penguins can board the Winter Wonderland train. This train sits on the outskirts of your farm, and by hovering over it, you'll see your progress on the current stage, along with your time remaining to complete it.

For this first stage, you'll need to ask five friends to come help you out. This is done via individual gift requests sent to friends. If you can gather the help of five friends within three days, you'll receive a free Emperor Penguin for your troubles.

On November 25, stage 2 of this feature will open up, giving you a chance to disguise some Chinstrap Penguins so that they too can get on board the train. You'll need to ask friends for six disguises and will then receive a Chinstrap Penguin as a gift here as well.


Finally, on November 28, stage 3 will launch, asking you to construct a crate that can hold some Snares Penguins, which are the last ones to board the train. You'll have 12 days to finish this particular step, as it requires you to collect 30 building materials to actually build the crate. You'll need 10 each of Planks, Nails and Saws, all of which are new items, not to be confused with building parts you may already have in your inventory. By finishing this crate, you'll finish the third and final stage of the Penguin Escapade feature, and will receive - you guessed it - a single Snares Penguin as a reward.

All told, you're looking at an event that will likely be far less time consuming than it may initially sound. If your FarmVille neighbors are as excited about this feature, and the Winter Wonderland farm itself, they'll likely help you with very little delay, allowing you to earn these three penguins just as soon as the game will allow.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll be traveling on the train with these penguins back to Winter Wonderland, but we'll make sure to let you know when the new farm launches either way.

FarmVille releases 24X24 Cove expansion for Farm Coins

FarmVille released another coin expansion for Lighthouse Cove on Monday evening!
Players can now expand their farm space to a 24X24 Beachfront Property for 2,000,000 Farm Coins. Farm Coin expansions are important in Lighthouse Cove because players are limited on the number of plots for crops they can have on the farm space.
Expanding to the Beachfront Property will give you the ability to have up to 140 plots on your farm. It's great to see the expansion, but it would have been wonderful to have it a bit earlier in the release for questing purposes.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Free gifts from ice blocks in Winter Wonderland

As more and more details are discovered about FarmVille's upcoming Christmas-themed farm called the Winter Wonderland, this particular farmer gets more and more excited. Forgive me, then, as I gush over what will likely be a pretty exciting new feature in this fourth farm. As discovered by the folks at FVNation, we'll come across four different kinds of presents, all trapped within blocks of ice and snow.

The four sizes (small, medium, large and extra large) apparently represent different groups of potential prizes, and you'll need to ask your friends for items in helping you to retrieve them. How do you get rid of ice in a snow-covered, freezing land? You take a blow dryer to it, of course! This will work on just two of the sizes of ice blocks, while a more conventional tool - the Pick Axe - will be used on the other two kinds of ice blocks.

According to pre-release details, it looks like the larger the ice block itself, the better the potential prize inside, although we're still unclear on exactly what those prizes will be. Could we be looking at new animals, trees or decorations? Or, will these items be functional and come in the form of Farmhands, Fertilize Alls or Animal Feed? I hope my excitement isn't misplaced, but it really does seem like we're in for a treat when the Winter Wonderland farm opens up. And remember, just as soon as we find out what's inside these blocks of ice, we'll let you know.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove Chapter 9 quests guide

FarmVille released the Chapter 9 Lighthouse Cove quests into the game on Tuesday evening!
Players will have one week to complete these six new tasks, and as always, the Lighthouse Cove quests MUST be performed on your Lighthouse Cove farm space.
If you’d rather not know the tasks and prizes in the Lighthouse Cove Chapter 9 quests, you should head to my other articles now!
Don’t worry about losing your place – all of the links in this article will pop up in a new window for you. To easily find this article again, be sure to “Like” us on Facebook!
Quest 1: A Book for the Cook
Your first quest will ask you get 3 Cookbooks from friends, harvest 110 Kennebec Potatoes and harvest Lighthouse Cove once. Your rewards will be 100XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and one Pilgrim Cow.

Quest 2: Boil Them, Mash Them
Your second quest will ask you to get 6 Potato Mashers from friends, harvest 110 Cove Cranberries, and harvest the Livestock Pen once. Your rewards will be 200XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Bitternut Hickory Tree.
Quest 3: Bushel Bonanza
Your next quest will ask you to get 3 Corn Baskets from friends, harvest 110 Butter & Sugar Corn crops, and get 15 bushels from friends. Your rewards will be 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Turkey Dog.
That concludes the regular quests this week, but FarmVille is again offering players seeking a challenge three bonus quests! Here’s the info on them:
BONUS Quest 1:
Your first bonus quest will ask you to harvest 160 Tarragon crops, harvest 1 Aviary and harvest Lighthouse Cove one time. Your rewards will be 500XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Shagbark Hickory Tree.
BONUS Quest 2:
Your second bonus quest will ask you to harvest 160 Dill crops, upgrade Lighthouse Cove to level 10, and make the Clam Chowder recipe four times. Your rewards will be 1000XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Silver Fisherman Statue.
BONUS Quest 3:
Your final quest this week will ask you to harvest 160 Ladyslipper Crops, harvest 1 Livestock Pen and make the Boiled Dinner recipe twice. Your rewards will be 500XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Lobster Gnome.

FarmVille Bonfire released

FarmVille released the Bonfire feature on Wednesday afternoon!
The Bonfire is a place to add all those Scraps of Wood you’ve been collecting from your Harvest Hoedown, and several other giftable items can go inside too. You’re adding items to redeem for some pretty cool prizes.
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When the feature is available to you, you will be notified via a popup message on your farm. You will immediately go into placement mode, where you can set the Bonfire down wherever you’d like. If you want it on a farm other than the one you’re currently on, simply click your Gift Box and it will automatically go in there.
Once you place the Bonfire down, you will need to add parts to it! You can get parts as free gifts from friends, you can find some in your Harvest Hoedown, you can find them on your Facebook feed as neighbors share extras, or you can purchase them with Farm Cash if you choose. The more parts you collect, the more prizes you can get.
Here are all the parts the Bonfire will accept:
·         Scraps of Lumber
·         S’Mores
·         Weiners
·         Box of Matches
·         Plaid Blanket
·         Pile of Kindling
And now, here are the prizes you’ll be collecting parts for:
·         Corn Maze Fence for 5 parts
·         Railroad Tie Bench for 15 Parts
·         Iron Fire Pit for 35 Parts
·         Bare Tree Decoration for 75 Parts
·         Banjo Duck for 100 Parts
·         Flannel Cow for 175 Parts
You can also purchase each item with Farm Cash if you’d rather not collect the parts, but we’re all for the free stuff!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

FarmVille: Zynga confirms Winter Wonderland farm with new sreenshot


While many farmers didn't believe it, or perhaps just didn't want to think of all of the work it would bring, Zynga has officially confirmed that a new, fourth farm will be released in FarmVille. This "Winter Wonderland" farm hasn't been given an official release date, but we do know more about it, thanks to a screenshot posted by the big Z on the FarmVille fan page.

We've learned that this fourth farm will be incredibly similar to Lighthouse Cove, in that it will have a Train Station that needs to be "rebuilt," after what looks to be some kind of avalanche. While I wouldn't be surprised if you'll be limited to the amount of crops you can plant here as well, that also hasn't been confirmed / denied. Here's the full word from Zynga:

"Oh no! Winter Wonderland is covered in Snow! Help restore this icy magical escape: Rebuild the train station, master new animals and crops, and complete the ultimate snowy farming experience in FarmVille's Winter Wonderland! Coming soon!"

As for some of those new crops? Check out our sneak peek at a few we expect to launch alongside with this new farm - yay for Peppermint Candies and Frozen Strawberries! Personally, I think I'm going to have a pretty hard time containing myself once this farm launches. A Winter / Christmas themed farm? Where's my wallet!? Actually, a better question: Will transferable storage come to this farm, so that we can bring our Christmas / winter items over? Please, Zynga, let it be so!

FarmVille plush toys coming this holiday season

FarmVille, Zynga's popular Facebook game, is getting real -- well as real as it can with a collection of limited-edition plush critters sold exclusively at Best Buy starting Nov. 25.
Fans can chose among the pig, sheep, goat, duck, cow, chicken, horse and rabbit. Each of FarmVille's stuffed animals is priced at $9.99. They're 99 cents each with the purchase of a $25 game card.
The move to sell plush toys is not new for a hit online game.
Rovio, the company behind the global hit Angry Birds, started selling plush toys of the temperamental birds and pigs in December 2010.
More than 230 million people play Zynga games each month on Facebook. FarmVille is the company's global hit.

Each critter comes with:
  • Collectible barn-box that houses a surprise FarmVille animal in winter garb.
  • 10 free Farm Cash ($2) which is redeemable for FarmVille virtual items.
  • An exclusive FarmVille in-game version of the plush toy.
  • Players who fill their farm with all eight animals will receive a bonus in-game Super Orchard.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Ice Strawberry and Peppermint Candy crops coming to fourth farm?


Since the middle of October, we've had an idea that Zynga is working on something big for the Winter / Christmas season in FarmVille. It turns out that we're probably looking at an entirely new farm - the fourth to be released thus far. Why a fourth farm? If images spotted by the folks at FVNation are correct, it looks like we have a ton of new crops and trees that are currently unreleased, but in the game's files, that are all in a Winter / Christmas theme, and the last time we saw this amount of items being unreleased (but in the same theme), it was right around the time that Lighthouse Cove was launched.

We already know that Ice Tulips and Ice Roses are coming, but what about Peppermint Candies, Gummy Bears, Holly, Ice Carrots, Ice Rice, Gingerbread Men and Ice Strawberries? All of those crops, and more, have been spotted (the names might vary in their final forms) with completely new Market Stalls to match. There's even a mastery sign for what looks like the Ice Rice, so this proves without much doubt that we'll either A) see the biggest winter holiday theme in the game to date or B) be able to plant these crops on an entirely new farm. To be fair, it looks like the Gingerbread and Gummy Bear crops will likely be limited edition crops on our Home Farms, as the Market Stalls are similar to those already in the game.

Personally? I might fall out of my chair when the new Christmas-themed farm is launched (that is, if it is launched), and not because I think it's a bad idea, but because I'll probably need to tape my wallet shut to prevent a mass spending on Farm Cash! Whatever ends up happening with these crops / Market Stalls, we'll make sure to let you know.

FarmVille Sneak Peek: Christmas-themed trees offer more signs of a fourth farm


If you wanted more proof (or at least more evidence) supporting the existence of a fourth farm in FarmVille - one that's themed in a Winter Wonderland / Christmas theme - here's a massive batch of unreleased trees (well, their mastery signs anyway) to give you something to think about. As we pointed out in our look at another large batch of unreleased, Winter / Christmas - themed crops, the last time we had this many items that were all unreleased, all at the same time, was around the time that we were about to see Lighthouse Cove launched in the game.

This newest batch of tree Mastery signs was spotted by the folks at FVNation, and while we don't have specific names for each of the trees, we can at least tell what they'll grow (for the most part) by simply looking at the signs. There's a Candy Cane pair of trees (likely one large and small), what looks like a Pink and Purple set of Sugar Plum or perhaps Ornament trees, a set of Christmas Cookie trees (with snowmen, gingerbread men and Christmas tree cookies growing on them), some Stocking trees, a pair of trees sporting Silver and Gold bells, some Golden Jingle Bell / Ornament Trees, and even a pair of trees that look to be made entirely out of star-shaped cookies!

Of course, these trees could technically all come out within the game's regular store, and perhaps some of them will. But, with the very slow, and very modest rollout of Winter Holiday items that we've already seen in the game's store, could this just be a further indication that the bulk of the items will come out on this new farm instead? After all, there's a new design to these Winter Crops market stalls, so if we are looking at a fourth farm, you'll need trees to grow there, right? Either way, we'll make sure to stay on top of things concerning the new, supposedly fourth farm in FarmVille, so keep checking back with us!

FarmVille: Plush ornaments coming to Best Buy December 4


And the love affair between Zynga and Best Buy continues. On top of re-launching a cross-promotion within CityVille, Zynga and Best Buy have partnered to offer FarmVille players a chance at real-world ornaments for their Christmas trees next month, along with bonuses in-game.

A player named Theresa sent FarmVilleFreak pictures, and a bit of info, concerning these ornaments, which will be a sort of real world "Mystery Game." There will be eight different animals available to receive, and each animal ornament is purchased separately. You'll only know which kind of animal you've received after opening the package back at home. We know that along with each animal, you'll also receive 10 Farm Cash and an in-game virtual animal, which will likely match the one you've received in the real world.

As for new information, we have personally contacted Best Buy and have learned that the promotion is not technically live yet, either in the game or in the stores. However, that hasn't stopped players like Theresa from seeing them in her stores. Think of this as a sort of "breaking release date," that you sometimes see when retailers sell movies or video games before the street date. That being the case, you won't be able to redeem any codes or items you receive as of this writing, because the promotion technical hasn't started.

We also learned from Best Buy that the official start date for this promotion will be December 4. On that date, all Best Buy's should start carrying these animals, but if you're lucky, you can of course grab some now from those naughty Best Buys that have broken the date. The price point is expected to be $12.95 per animal, although upon further investigation at my own personal Best Buy, I was also told that they might cost $15.00 each. I suppose we'll just have to wait until December 4 to find out for sure.

FarmVille Crafting Silo Upgrades: Everything you need to know

With three farms constantly running in FarmVille, it can be more difficult to keep your Bushel / Basket count under control than it can to actually find (or receive) the Bushels that you need to craft in the first place. If you're like me, with a forever-full Crafting Silo, you're probably waiting for the day when the current maximum of items is increased. Well, wait no more farmers, as that day has arrived!

Crafting Silo expansions are now available in the game, and you'll likely be asked if you'd like to complete this process the next time you harvest a crop. Either way, this upgrade will see you earning 50 more storage slots in your Crafting Silo, and can be completed by collecting three building materials:

  • 20 Screws
  • 20 Red Beams
  • 20 Aluminum Siding

You'll be able to earn these items either by purchasing them for Farm Cash, or by asking your friends to send them to you via individual gift requests. Also be on the lookout for bonus parts being shared by your friends on their walls.
Of course, this expansion process is entirely voluntary, so if you'd rather skip it entirely, or at least put it off while completing other goals in the game, feel free to do that as well. If you want the option to expand, however, it's now here, making your life just a bit easier (I hope).

FarmVille Fairy Hollow Items: Gnarled Tree, Autumn Stallion and much more

With tonight's FarmVille update, we may have seen the game take a turn towards fall and Thanksgiving with the release of the Harvest Hoedown barn, but that doesn't mean that the Fairy Hollow item theme is going anywhere just yet. There are new items available in the theme in the store this evening, including trees, animals and all of the other goodies you'd expect. There's even a collection event, offering you a Fall Fairy Forest item for purchasing nine of the items released in tonight's batch. Here's a complete look at the new items.

Trees

Gnarled Tree - 5 Farm Cash
Giant Gnarled Tree - 10 Farm Cash
Labyrinth Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Labyrinth Tree - 14 Farm Cash

It's great to see a pair of trees with the older price tags of 5 and 10 Farm Cash, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was just price-matching, and the prices go up in the future. If you're skeptical about the prices staying put, you might want to purchase the 5 Farm Cash Gnarled Tree now, rather than waiting. As for the Giant versions of both trees, remember that you don't need to purchase either, as you'll earn them for free as Mystery Seedlings.

Animals


British Alpine Goat - 1 million coins
Dragonfly Boar - 16 Farm Cash
Big Fairy Dragon - 24 Farm Cash
Fall Fairy Chicken - 18 Farm Cash
Autumn Stallion - 26 Farm Cash
Butterfly Ram - 16 Farm Cash


Keep in mind that with the Butterfly Ram and Dragonfly Boar, instead of these being animals with wings, they instead add patterns to the game's Sheep and Pig Breeding features, respectively.

Buildings

Purple Pinecone - 15 Farm Cash

While the name is a bit confusing, this one is simply a themed home with a purple pinecone shaped roof. It's not an entire building shaped like a pinecone, although I'm not entirely sure whether or not that's a good thing.

Decorations

Dog Leaf Pile - 10 Farm Cash
Troll Gnome - 12 Farm Cash
Giant Toadstool - 30,000 coins

While there aren't many items here, at least the Giant Toadstool gives coin-only shoppers something to add to their farms, while sticking to the current theme. Personally, I'll have a hard time turning down that Troll Gnome, as it brings back so many memories from my youth!

For these items, you'll have the next 13 days to purchase them. If you're looking to complete the Fall Fairy Forest collection, however, you'll only have the next six days to get it done, as the free gift with purchase event simply ends after that time. Also, as a final note, these items might appear as shadows or broken for you in the store, depending on when you go shopping. That seems to be a recurring theme in the game as of late, but rest assured that the FarmVille team is probably working as quickly as they can to get things back to normal.

FarmVille Winter Holiday Items: Reindeer Horse and Eggnog Fountain

Continuing in the extremely slow rollout of Winter Holiday items in FarmVille are two new items that have been released in the store this week. One is an animal, that happens to offer a foal, while another is a decoration that you may already have on your farm.

First things first, the Reindeer Horse is available from the store for 26 Farm Cash. That's a hefty price, but I must admit that this is one of the cutest horses I've ever seen released (then again, anything involving Christmas puts a smile on my face). If you purchase this Reindeer Horse, you'll have a chance to breed it for the Reindeer Foal either in your Horse Stable or Horse Paddock. Either way, you'll gain 2,600 experience points for purchasing this adult to begin with.

The other item is the Eggnog Fountain, which is priced at 15 Farm Cash. It was originally released back in the Winter Holiday event last year, so if you've yet to decorate your Homestead for Christmas this year, make sure you don't have one (or more) lying around in storage, so that you don't accidentally waste Farm Cash that could be better off spent on other things! Like the Reindeer Horse!

Both of these items will be available in the store for the next two weeks, and we'll make sure to bring you even more coverage on the game's further Winter Holiday items as they're released.

Harvest Hoedown arrives in FarmVille


FarmVille released the Harvest Hoedown feature to players on Wednesday afternoon!
The Harvest Hoedown is a constructable building you can build on your farm to collect tickets from each day. You’ll be using those tickets in the upcoming Bonfire Basket to redeem for some great prizes!
Once the feature is available on your farm, you will immediately go into placement mode. You can place it down, or put it in your Gift Box to make room for it. Once it is placed, you can start asking friends to send you parts!
There are currently 6 levels of building to be done in order to fully construct the Harvest Hoedown building, and a 7th level will be added soon. Here’s how many parts you will need for each level:
Level 1: 5 each of Bowl of Punch, Bowl of Snacks and Buckets of Paint
Level 2: 8 each of Bowl of Punch, Bowl of Snacks and Buckets of Paint
Level 3: 10 each of Bowl of Punch, Bowl of Snacks and Buckets of Paint
Level 4: 15 each of Bowl of Punch, Bowl of Snacks and Buckets of Paint
Level 5: 25 each of Bowl of Punch, Bowl of Snacks and Buckets of Paint
Level 6: 50 each of Bowl of Punch, Bowl of Snacks and Buckets of Paint
As you complete each level, you can share extra parts with your friends via your Facebook feed.
You can also get parts as free gifts from friends, you can visit neighbor farms and harvest their Hoedowns, or you can purchase them for Farm Cash.
There’s no word on when the Bonfire Basket will arrive or what the prizes are, but we think they’ll be worth the wait (and ticket collecting)!

FarmVille Chapter 8 Lighthouse Cove quest guide


FarmVille released the Chapter 8 Lighthouse Cove quests on Wednesday!
Players will have 5 days to complete these tasks, and they all must be completed on the Lighthouse Cove farm space. These quests are running alongside the current Fairy Hallow quests, so you’ll need some careful planning to get everything done on time.
If you’d rather not know ahead of time what you will be doing on the next set of Lighthouse Cove quests, you should head over to my other FarmVille articles now!
Quest 1: Mermaid Tale
Your first quest will ask you to get 3 Mermaid Tales from friends, harvest Lighthouse Cove once, and harvest 110 Cove Cranberries. Your rewards will be 200XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Giant Pearl

Quest 2: Mermaid Tale
Your next quest will ask you to get 3 Spy Glasses from friends, harvest 110 Chandler Blueberries, and harvest 1 Horse Paddock. Your prizes will be 200XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 General Store.
Quest 3: A Tall Tale
Your third quest will ask you to get 3 Sea Shells from friends, harvest 110 Flower crops (your choice), and craft the Black Raspberry Wine recipe twice. Your rewards will be 500XP, 5,000 Farm Coins and 1 Mermaid Fountain.
That wraps up the regular three quests for the week, but in true FarmVille fashion, there are also three BONUS quests players can work on if they choose.
BONUS Challenge 1
Your first bonus quest will ask you to harvest 160 Daylilies, harvest 1 Pet Run and harvest Lighthouse Cove once. Your rewards will be 500XP, 5,000 Farm Coins, 1 Train Depot and 1 Mini Track (Straight).
BONUS Challenge 2
Your second bonus quest will ask you to harvest 160 Darrow Blackberries, improve Lighthouse Cove to level 9 and make the New England Lager recipe four times. Your rewards will be 500XP, 5,000 Farm Coins, a Mini Engine, East Track, and West Track.
BONUS Challenge 3
Your final challenge this week will ask you to harvest 1 Cow Pasture, harvest 160 Vegetable crops (your choice), and make the Cream Pie recipe twice. Your rewards will be 500XP, 5,000 Farm Coins a Mini Caboose and 2 Mini Track (Straight).

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

FarmVille Raffle Booth (11/6/11): Lily Pond and Harvest Pony up for grabs

If you're a horse collector, you'll want to pay special attention to the Raffle Booth prizes in FarmVille this week. Why? Simple! There's a new pony up for grabs, for free, if you're lucky enough to win one! That prize in particular is the Harvest Pony, a brown pony with a wreath of leaves around its neck. It definitely screams fall, and you'll probably be screaming (for joy) too if you're lucky enough to snag one.

As usual, there's more than just this pony up fro grabs though, and you're more likely to win some other items than this particular animal. Still, here's the complete rundown of available prizes, and their odds, for your reference:

10 Special Delivery Boxes - 1:5
3 Farmhands - 1:20
5 Love Potions - 1:50
Harvest Pony - 1:200
Lily Pond - 1:500

All things considered, the Harvest Pony's odds are fairly good (at least it's not the most exclusive item this week), but if you're like me, that won't matter much. I'm still waiting on the day when I'll win anything greater than the Love Potions from these Raffle Booth drawings, but perhaps that's just me and my own case of bad luck. Either way, we'll all have the ability to earn plenty of entries, or tickets, into this drawing for free, by simply asking our friends to send them to us, or purchasing them outright for Farm Cash. I've said it before, but it deserves repeating: there's no reason to purchase Raffle Tickets for these drawings, as you'll never guarantee yourself a prize, and these very well could cycle back around, being available yet again (giving you another, completely free, chance to win). Good luck!

FarmVille Winter Holiday Items: Ornament Reindeer and Santa Gnome

Just a few days ago, we saw a brief glimpse of the Winter Holiday theme in FarmVille, by way of the two Ornament Trees and a Candy Cane Pony being re-released in the store. Proving that that was in fact intentional, the FarmVille team has now released two more Winter Holiday items for those users who either want to stock up for the eventual holiday season, or go ahead and start decorating early.

The first item is an animal in the form of the Ornament Reindeer. While this one looks like the Clumsy Reindeer, which many of you probably have more than enough of from past free releases keep in mind that this animal is different, with ornaments hanging on its antlers, rather than lights. It costs 16 Farm Cash to purchase.

The other item is a decoration: the Santa Gnome. This too is a re-released item, first being available in 2009's Winter Holiday event (and again last year). The price has stayed the same from previous releases, at 18 Farm Cash, but make sure to check your storage for one of them (or even the Ornament Reindeer above) to make sure you're not spending Farm Cash on duplicates (I'm sure there will eventually be enough original items to spend it on as it is).

Both of these re-released Winter Holiday items will only be around in the game for 13 days. Of course, that gets us nowhere near the actual Winter Holidays themselves, and there's no telling if these items will come back around as the days draw closer. That being the case, your best bet is to purchase them now, if you're at all interested, just to be safe.

FarmVille Mystery Game (11/6/11): Winged animals take flight on the farm

If you've got 20 Farm Cash on hand in FarmVille, and also happen to like winged, limited edition animals, you'll be happy to know that this week's Mystery Game comes full of six such animals! Again, for this week's game, each individual dart will cost you 20 Farm Cash, which is up from the normal price of 16 Farm Cash (I suppose you're paying for the novelty that these animals could perhaps fly). If you're ready to throw some darts at the board, here's what you have a chance of winning:

Butterfly Cat
Butterfly Pony
Butterfly Unicorn
Dragonfly Dog
Dragonfly Pig
Dragonfly Unicorn

Here, the differences between the butterfly and dragonfly animals come in these animals' wings. The butterfly wings are more colorful and curved, while the dragonfly wings are more angled and rigid, all with the same color theme. If you're ready to spend enough Farm Cash to earn all six of these animals (keep in mind that you could receive duplicates along the way, increasing your final cost), you'll also receive the Dragonfly Pond as a free gift once you've earned the sixth individual animal (regardless of what that animal might be).

As usual, this week's items will only be available for exactly that: a week. If you're at all interested in adding these animals to your own farms, make sure to play fast and early to have your best chance of earning all six items before time runs out!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

FarmVille Item Requests take one giant step backwards


Depending on how many active neighbors you have in FarmVille, asking for building materials or other items from your friends can either be a painless or incredibly painful process. I'm sorry to say, though, that the gift request setup has become even more tiring with a new update launched by Zynga this week. While all users may not have this update yet, it comes with a new way of requesting items, with a slight pro and plenty of cons.

First and foremost, you'll see that this new gift request method allows you to send out gift requests without leaving the flash gameplay window itself. That is, instead of being sent to a new page, where the game may freeze or simply disappear in the process, forcing you to reload the game from scratch, you'll now be able to send out bulk requests to friends from within the game proper.

Sounds great, right? Well, take a look at this:

This is the way the new window looks. It's similar to the Special Delivery Box window that appears the first time you play FarmVille each day, but worse. You'll still have the option to see your friends in two groups: those that play FarmVille and those that don't, with single and triple parts being offered accordingly. However, every single one of your friends is checked by default. Granted, you can click on the "Select All" box to uncheck all of those friends just as quickly, but you're then left to scan through page after page of neighbors, with only a first name and last initial (along with a mini version of each user's profile picture) to go by.

What if, like so many other players, you've added Facebook friends that are complete strangers, just to play the game with them? What if you used their last names (which were perhaps unusual) to pick them out from the crowd, because you wouldn't be able to tell who they were from profile pictures as you've never met? Even better, what if your friends have changed their profile pictures to not be pictures of them, and what if you have two or three friends named Ashley or Bob on your list, both with the same last initial (you can see a Chris R. example in my list above - how am I to know which is which)? Needless to say, there are a ton of variables here, all of which seem to make this feature a step backwards, rather than forwards in terms of ease of use.

While that might be a lot of questions, it turns out I'm not the only one with those concerns. Multiple threads have appeared on the game's official forums questioning why this feature was released to begin with, along with documenting bugs that have already started to spread throughout.

Will Zynga listen to users' pleas and revert to the old system of item requests? It may be an archaic method, but at least it (for the most part) worked as designed. If users are already our Facebook friends, then why the secrecy of their last names? Right now, this feature seems to hurt more than it helps, and we'll make sure to keep an eye on things, to let you know if they go back to the way they were.

FarmVille: Buy an English License to swap items between storage sheds


If you're one of the many FarmVille players that wasn't able to unlock transferable storage between your Home Farm and English Countryside by completing the Storage Transfer goals in the English Countryside proper, you now have the ability to do so, but there's a catch. You'll need to purchase this ability in the store.

To be specific, an "English License" item is now rolling out to farmers, and it's available to find within the "Farm Aides" section of the game's marketplace. It costs 75 Farm Cash, which seems like a lot (ok, it is a lot), but as a player that already has this ability, I have to say that it's probably worth the purchase price. Not only will you be able to freely transfer items between your Home Farm and English Countryside, but you'll also be able to access crops from both farms to be planted on either one.

Specifically, this will become incredibly handy if you're required to grow a large amount of crops for a particular goal in the game, but don't have enough plots on one farm to get it done. If this was a crop that could only be planted on your Home Farm, for instance, you can now plant it in your English Countryside, allowing you to finish those types of goals in a much quicker time frame. As for transferring items, this will definitely help those item collectors that have already reached the 1,000 item limit on their Home Farms, but don't want to stop buying items (and hate to clutter up their farms).

Again, this English License is only necessary to those users that didn't complete the Storage Transfer goals (regardless of the reason), so if you already have the ability to transfer items, you will not need to purchase this one. It will be interesting to see if a similar license is released to unlock storage between both farms and the Lighthouse Cove, or if that will be released through goals as well. Either way, you can be sure we'll let you know.

Friday, November 4, 2011

FarmVille Winter Holiday items start the Christmas celebration early

If anything, we won't be able to say that we weren't given enough time to purchase Winter Holiday items in FarmVille this year, as a series of items has already launched in the game's store for your purchase. Granted, these three items - two trees and one animal - are all re-releases from previous themes, but if you're new to the game, or like to celebrate the holidays all-year round, you'll want to take a look at the three that are available now, as they won't make it in the store until December.

The two trees are the Ornament Tree I and Ornament Tree II. For the sake of argument, we'll call them Orange and Blue, respectively. The Blue tree is available for free as a Mystery Seedling when you have an Orange one in an Orchard, or claim them from friends, so there's no reason to pay the whopping price tag of 15 Farm Cash on one here. As for the 20 Farm Cash price on the Orange tree, well, don't even get me started on how cheap these trees were the first time they were in the game...

For the animal in this release, we see the Candy Cane Pony come back around. This one was first available during the Winter Holiday event last year, but wasn't seen until the beginning of December - that's a whole month early, all things considered! It can be purchased from the store for 24 Farm Cash - the same price we were given for the animal last year.

If we're already seeing Winter Holiday items released in the store, and Halloween is barely over, I have to admit I'm more than just a bit excited about the possibilities for this theme as the weeks go on. Will this be the biggest "Christmas-season" in FarmVille yet? We'll make sure to let you know either way.

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash in Jimmy Dean promotion

With the new Fairy Hollow theme that's available in FarmVille, and even Christmas items already being released in the game's store, the next few months look to be pretty expensive to users that like to spend Farm Cash on limited edition trees, animals and more. To help ease the pain on your wallet, a new free Farm Cash promotion has launched under the game's gameplay area, in association with Jimmy Dean.

This particular promotion asks you to watch a commercial for Jimmy Dean breakfast products, while answering a series of survey questions. They're all incredibly basic, and surround what you and your family (where applicable) do for breakfast. As usual, there are no right or wrong answers here, so simply answer these questions in any way you'd like to get it over with as quickly as possible (since, let's face it, you're probably here just for the Farm Cash, and I can't blame you).

Once you've finished these few survey questions (the commercial will likely have completed by that point), you'll see the expected "You've earned your Farm Cash" text appear in the top right corner of the promotional activity window. Only when that appears is it safe to close this out, and you should see your in-game Farm Cash total rise by two automatically. If not, simply refresh your game and that should be enough to set things right. While two Farm Cash may not be enough to buy.. well, anything incredibly interesting, if you combine this with other activities we've seen in the past (and will likely see in the future), you could eventually afford to buy yourself something nice. Well, at least something small. But it's free, which is all that matters, right?

FarmVille Fairy Hollow Items: Forbidden Gem Tree, Purple Pegacorn and more

With Thanksgiving and Christmas rapidly approaching in the US, it looks like Zynga is trying to cram as much content into the interim Fairy Hollow theme in FarmVille as possible. With that in mind, the developer has launched a whole slew of new items in the theme in the marketplace, with these items being available for the next two weeks. As usual, there are more items here that cost Farm Cash than not, so I hope you have a bit saved up for the occasion.

Trees

Forbidden Gem Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Forbidden Gem Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Purple Crystal Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Purple Crystal Tree - 14 Farm Cash

If you're a big tree collector, you'll recognize this pair of Purple Crystal trees as slight alterations on the pink and golden versions that have been released in the past. Either way, all four of these trees are new to the game, but you'll only need to purchase the 8 Farm Cash versions of either, as the giant versions can be earned for free from Mystery Seedlings (either generated on your own farm, or claimed from friends).

Animals

Fall Fairy Cat - 12 Farm Cash
Fall Fairy Duck - 18 Farm Cash
Purple Pegacorn - 30 Farm Cash
Fall Fairy Mini Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Blue-Winged Goose - 900,000 coins
Fall Fairy Cow - 24 Farm Cash


As with the original release of Fairy Hollow items in the game's store, many of these "Fall Fairy" animals are simply regular versions of cats, cows and ducks that just so happen to have wings in fall colors. As for the Purple Pegacorn, I suppose the high price can be explained by the fact that you're not only receiving a pegasus or a unicorn, but both in one package (how convenient).

Buildings

Leaf House - 15 Farm Cash

This Leaf House is a tall, slender building in some nice fall colors. If you're going for the pastel theme with your fairy items, this one doesn't exactly fit in, but it is unique in design if that helps sway your decision.

Decorations

Butterfly Gnome - 12 Farm Cash
Fairy Bird - 15 Farm Cash

Keep an eye out on this Fairy Bird in the store. It's labeled as a Halloween item, which is clearly a mistake, so you might accidentally overlook it when simply browsing through the store. It still comes with the same 13-day time limit regardless of the theme it has been placed in.

Avatar Clothing


Fall Fairy - 8 Farm Cash

The Fall Fairy costume is various shades of green, yellow and orange, and comes with a hair piece as well as shoes and (of course) wings. It's a cute costume, but with pale colors, so if you're looking for something brighter, this might not be it.

If you purchase eight of the items in this release (all of the trees, for example) within the next six days, you'll receive the Dragonfly Fountain as a free "collection" gift.

With these items, we see both tree and animal farmers being given plenty of extra content, but the same can't be said for those that simply like to use decorations to create miniature scenes or cities on their farms. We'll make sure to let you know if that changes in the future with a release more aimed at those users, so keep checking back with us.

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove: Seaside Farmland land expansion on sale for coins

At the end of September, we saw a few of the land expansions in FarmVille's Lighthouse Cove go on "sale" for select users. These sale prices only altered the (high) Farm Cash prices in the game, and didn't give users any other option than shelling out the big bucks for the extra space. As we've come to learn from many of this third farm's goals, land space is even more important in this farm than in perhaps any other, as you're only allowed to plow a specific number of plots relative to the size of your land. If that sale earlier this year still wasn't good enough, and you've held out this long, your patience has been rewarded: you can now purchase the Seaside Farmland expansion for coins.

To be specific, Seaside Farmland is the 22x22 land expansion in the Lighthouse Cove, available immediately after reaching the Oceanside Farm level that was also given a coin release just a short time ago. While the neighbor requirement is still here for the Seaside Farmland expansion, it seems that the requirement itself has been lessened drastically. For instance, I will only have to add two neighbors to unlock the Seaside Expansion for coins. Going back to our example of the Oceanside Farm, this now only requires me to add a single neighbor, when I was formerly asked to add 11 before. Since there's no knowing whether this lowering of the requirements is here to stay or not, you'll want to take this chance and upgrade as much as possible, as quick as your in-game wallet allows.

When you've gathered enough neighbors to satisfy the Seaside Farmland requirement, you'll then be able to purchase the expansion for 1.75 million coins. No one said land expansions are cheap, and if we want to be able to plow more land on that particular farm, it's a price we'll unfortunately have to deal with.

With this expansion's coins release, we're now left with five more expansions that are still only available for Farm Cash. As they too become available for coins, we'll make sure to let you know.

FarmVille Fairy Hollow quests guide

FarmVille released 12 Fairy Quests into the game Wednesday afternoon! These quests are currently on a slow release, so if you don’t have them yet, please be patient and refer to this guide to get a head start on planting!
The 12 quests are in celebration of the new Fairy Hollow Theme in the game, and there are some pretty nice prizes available for completing them. Plus, the names of the quests are pretty cool! Here’s what you will be working on! If you prefer a more visual listing of the quests, see them all in this slideshow!
Quest 1: A Fairy Good Start
Your first quest will ask you to get 6 Trays of Sweet Butter from friends, harvest the Aviary once and harvest 200 flower crops. Your rewards will be 100XP, 1 Duck in a Leaf Pile and 2,500 Farm Coins.
Quest 2: I Did It My Fae
Your second quest will ask you to get 6 Nectar Cups from friends, harvest 200 Red Tulip crops, and harvest 10 birds. Your rewards will be 200XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Fairy Hollow Hill.
Quest 3: Fairy Dust in the Wind
Your third quest will ask you to get 6 Cups of Honey Tea from friends, harvest 200 Morning Glory crops, and harvest 1 Chicken Coop. Your rewards will be 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Autumn Fairy Circle
Quest 4: This One Goes to the Elven
Your next quest will ask you to get 6 Jars of Saffron from friends, harvest 200 Grain crops and harvest 1 Livestock Pen. Your prizes will include 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 House of Autumn Leaves.
Quest 5: A Fairy Good Year
Next up, you will be asking friends to send you 6 Fairy Slippers, harvesting 10 Pigs and harvesting 200 Wheat Crops. Your rewards will be 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Animated Fairy Garden.
Quest 6: A Fairy to Remember
 At the halfway point, you will be asking friends for 6 Tiny Ribbons, harvesting 200 Soybeans, and harvesting 10 Sheep. Your rewards will be 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Fall Garden Statue.
Quest 7: The Fae We Were
Your next quest will ask you to get 6 Flower Petals from friends, harvest 200 Peppers, and harvest 1 Cow Pasture. Your prizes will be 400XP, 1 Fairy House Tree and 2,500 Farm Coins.
Quest 8: Send the Fairy Best
Up next, you will be asking friends for 8 Hand Mirrors, harvesting 200 Jalapenos, and harvesting 1 Horse Paddock. Your rewards will be 400XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Fall Fairy Zebra!
Quest 9: Just to Sprite Me
Your next quest will ask you to get 8 Twigs from friends, harvest 200 Rhubarb crops, and harvest the Fall Fairy Zebra one time. Your prizes will be 500XP, 1 Autumn Leaf Fairy Fountain and 2,500 Farm Coins.
Quest 10: Pixie of the Litter
Your tenth quest will ask you to get 10 Glitter Makeup from friends, harvest 200 Strawberries, and harvest the Fall Fairy Zebra one time. Your prizes will be 500XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and 1 Fall Fairy Gnome.
Quest 11: A Nymph is a Nymph
Your next quest will ask you to get 10 Thread Spools, harvest 200 Cotton crops and harvest an Aviary once. Your rewards will be 500XP, 1 Wood Nymph Tree and 2,500 Farm Coins.
Quest 12: Thank You Fairy Much
Your final fairy quest will ask you to get 12 Fairy Crowns from friends, harvest 200 Aloe Vera crops, and master the Fall Fairy Zebra to the first mastery star. IMPORTANT: The Zebra MUST be in your breeding pen for the entire harvest cycle – not dropped in when the pen is ready! Your final rewards will be 1,000ZP, 5,000 Farm Coins and 1 Fall Fairy Waterfall.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

FarmVille can teach engineering skills, too, Missouri professor says

FarmVille in classWe've heard of Zynga's iconic game teaching valuable lessons in addiction, design and even copyright law, but engineering? That's what Missouri University of Science and Technology professor Ivan G. Guardiola thinks FarmVille is capable of. Guardiola's 28 students enrolled in the Introduction to Operations Research course must play the game for one week. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

"The unique attributes of this game make it ideal for presenting the students with a problem that evolves, aims to define the student's decision-making rationale and allows the student to address conflicting and competing objectives in an environment of continuous change," Guardiola said in a release.

This week-long portion of the course, titled the "FarmVille Challenge," used to eat up a month of the students' semester. Within this week, eager undergraduates compete to see who can come away with the most coins and experience points. Students make plans at the outset based on mathematical models, but those plans can quickly change with shifting game conditions.

"It is up to the player to determine how much land to plow, which seeds to plant, how many seeds to plant, and when to harvest the plants," Guardiola said. "Decisions are completely up to the player. In engineering, we use data to make decisions, but that approach has limitations because situations are constantly changing. So you have to assess your situation continuously and adjust accordingly."

According to Guardiola, a majority of his students agreed that playing FarmVille has improved their critical thinking ability. (Really? Because I thought players log in to turn their minds off for a bit.) However, more than one-third of students considered FarmVille to be too time-consuming. Then again, who ever said college wasn't altogether time-consuming?

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove: Chapter 7 quests

FarmVille released the chapter 7 quests in Lighthouse Cove on Monday night. These quests, as usual, are on a slow release. That means if you don’t have them just yet, be patient! You can use this guide to plan ahead and get a jump start on things you’ll be doing.
If you’d rather not see the Lighthouse Cove chapter 7 quests and prizes, you can head over to our other FarmVille articles now.
We’ve got six new quests to work on this week, here’s what you will be doing in them:
Quest 1: Ship Shape
For your first quest, you will be asking your friends for 3 Buckets, harvesting Lighthouse Cove once, and harvesting 110 Dill crops. Your rewards will be 100XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and one Bait Shop.
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Quest 2: Fill the Hold
Your next quest will ask you to get 3 Life Preservers from friends, harvest 110 Darrow Blackberries and make the Dill Potato Skin recipe twice. Your rewards will be 200XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and one Neptune Gnome.
Quest 3: Set Sail!
Your third quest will have you asking your friends for 3 Strong Rope, make the Blackberry Ice Cream recipe twice, and expand your Lighthouse Cove farm to a Coastal Patch (which is available for Farm Coins if you have not already upgraded). Your rewards will be 300XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and one Rusty Anchor Tavern.
That completes the regular quests this week, but as always, there are three bonus quests you can work on if you choose to. Their info is below as well.
BONUS Quest 1
Your first bonus challenge will ask you to harvest 1 Aviary (on Lighthouse Cove, harvest 130 Daylilies crops, and harvest Lighthouse Cove once. Your rewards will be 500XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and one Tourist Cow.
BONUS Quest 2
Your second bonus challenge will ask you to make the New England Lager recipe four times, harvest 130 Darrow Blackberry crops, and improve your Lighthouse Cove to Level 8. Your rewards will be 1,000XP, 5,000 Farm Coins and 1 Lighthouse Cove Town Hall building.
BONUS Quest 3
Your final bonus challenge this week will ask you to harvest 1 Horse Paddock (on Lighthouse Cove), harvest 130 Vegetable crops, and make the Cream Pie recipe 4 times. Your final rewards will be 500XP, 2,500 Farm Coins and one Kite-flying Gnome.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

FarmVille Fairy Hollow Items: Butterfly Dog, Fall Ribbon Flower Tree and more

It's unusual for Zynga to launch a new theme in FarmVille right before a major holiday, but apparently, with Halloween being tomorrow, the developer has decided to launch a new theme now, so that it will be available in the time after, between Halloween and Thanksgiving. That theme is Fairy Hollow, and the first batch of items in the theme has launched in the store this evening. There are trees, animals, decorations and even avatar costumes available in this theme - here's a look at what's available.

Trees

Fall Ribbon Flower Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Big Fall Ribbon Flower Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Golden Fairy Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Golden Fairy Tree - 14 Farm Cash


While these pairs of trees are brand new, if they look a bit familiar, it's because they're re-colorings of trees we've seen in the game before. Keep that in mind, the rehashing technique is used throughout this entire theme. As usual, you'll only need to purchase the normal version of each of these two trees, as the Big Fall Ribbon Flower Tree and Giant Golden Fairy Tree can be earned for free from Mystery Seedlings.

Animals

Butterfly Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Butterfly Dog - 12 Farm Cash
Butterfly Rabbit - 12 Farm Cash
Butterfly Sheep - 20 Farm Cash
Yellow-Eyed Penguin - 1 million coins
Butterfly Pig - 18 Farm Cash

Here, many of these animals are, without the wings, just basic versions of animals you likely already have on your farm(s). Add the wings and you have these new animals, so ultimately, whether or not you purchase them will depend on how much you like their wings. As for the Yellow-Eyed Penguin, this one looks almost identical to the regular Penguin in the game, so you'll need to look closely at its yellow eye to really tell the difference.

Buildings

Fairy Mill - 20 Farm Cash

Other than the pastel colors, which go along with many of this theme's items, there's nothing really here that scream "fairy" to me, but I won't argue. If you're a building collector, you'll have to make the splurge either way.

Decorations

Wooden Gate - 10,000 coins
Fairy Godmother Gnome - 12 Farm Cash
Wooden Fence - 5,000 coins

The Wooden Gate and Wooden Fence were first sold back in the Fairy Garden event in August, and the Fairy Godmother Gnome was given away for free as a goal reward during that time. If you finished that goal then, you can save the 12 Farm Cash and just pull your old gnome out of storage to decorate for this theme.

Avatar Costumes

Butterfly I - 8 Farm Cash
Butterfly II - 8 Farm Cash

These costumes will allow even your avatar to join in on the butterfly / fairy fun, and could even work as a Halloween costume, if you've yet to choose one, but are willing to do so fast (that is, before Halloween proper passes). Just remember that you can try on these costumes to see if you really like the way your avatar looks with wings before you purchase them.

All of these items will be available in the game's store for the next two weeks. It will be interesting to see if this is a single-release theme or if more items are released in the future. If more items are launched, we'll make sure to let you know.