Saturday, December 1, 2012

FarmVille 2 Village Grocer: Everything you need to know

As most FarmVille 2 players have come to realize, many of the game's quests are level-based, leaving players without quests and objectives to complete if they complete everything before they level up and unlock new quests. In order to give players something else to work on, Zynga has introduced Cornelius, the Village Grocer, to our farms. We're here with a guide to this event, thanks to Zynga. Let's get started!

Cornelius will arrive on the road outside your farm, and his truck will immediately break down. He's stranded on your farm until the tow truck arrives, but you can also work on fixing Cornelius' truck as well. This is achieved via a timed quest which must be completed before you can unlock Cornelius's daily quests after that.

Cornelius's Quest
  • Fix Cornelius's Truck
  • Get 5 Traffic Cones
  • Make 8 Lemonades

The Lemonades are crafted using one Lemon Water and four Lemons each, with Lemon Water itself requiring two Lemons and one Water each. As for the Traffic Cones, these are earned by posting a general request on your news feed for help. Finally, Cornelius's Truck can be repaired by first collecting eight Wood Planks, eight Fire Extinguishers and eight Toolboxes. All of these are earned by asking your friends to send them to you. After that, you'll need to ask four friends to come help repair the Truck before finally finishing it off. Once you complete this quest, Cornelius will be "back in business," as it were, and you'll receive 40 XP and 2,500 coins.

After you complete this quest, you'll be able to start working on the actual Village Grocer partnership on your farm. Each day, he'll have an order for you, consisting of items that he wants to purchase from your farm. For instance, one order might ask for seven Parsnips, one Flour and one Cheese, and you would need to sell each of those items to Cornelius to be rewarded. Each specific item comes with its own point reward, and if you can sell all of the daily order items, you'll earn a special point bonus.

As you will have new orders each day, you will be able to collect more and more points in total, which work cumulatively to unlock prizes. There are nine prizes to earn as of this writing, with the first being a lovely Mosaic Bench for your farm. You can see outlines of the prizes via the Village Grocer menu, and it looks like we'll earn Baby Bottles and large packs of Unwithers as part of this event. Good luck completing these daily quests and earning all of Cornelius's prizes!

FarmVille Herb Garden: Everything you need to know


Are you running out of crops to master in FarmVille? I so, the new Herb Garden has been released with you in mind, as it introduces a series of Herbs to the game that can be planted and mastered over time. This Herb Garden may not appear immediately when you login to your farm, but you can find it available for purchase for five coins in the market. We're here with a guide on what makes this Herb Garden tick, thanks to Zynga. Let's get started!

Once you place the Herb Garden, its timer immediately begins counting down to the availability of Thai Basil seeds. You'll need to wait 23 hours to collect 20 Seeds, and in the meantime, you can work on collecting building materials to expand the Herb Garden and increase the amount of seeds you'll collect each day. The first expansion stage requires 10 Clay Pots, 10 bags of Special Soil and 10 Peat Pellets. All of these items are earned by asking your friends to send them to you through individual requests rather than news feed posts.
From there, you'll be able to complete four more upgrades, taking your Seed total to a whopping 900 Seeds per day. However, this is much easier said than done, as seen below:

Stage 3: 20 Clay Pots, 20 Special Soils and 20 Peat Pellets

Stage 4: 30 Clay Pots, 30 Special Soils and 30 Peat Pellets

Stage 5: 40 Clay Pots, 40 Special Soils and 40 Peat Pellets

Stage 6: 50 Clay Pots, 50 Special Soils and 50 Peat Pellets
As for unlocking more herbs, this is accomplished via "chained" planting. That is, you'll need to master one herb before unlocking the next, and so on. Here's a complete rundown of the different herbs that are available to plant and master as of this writing.

Thai Basil
Thyme (master Thai Basil)
Rosemary (master Thyme)
Marjoram (master Rosemary)
Parsley (master Marjoram)
French Tarragon (master Parsley)
Oregano (master French Tarragon)
Sorrel (master Oregano)
Shiso (master Sorrel)
Cilantro (master Shiso)

There's always the potential for more herbs to be released in this event in the future, so the upgrades really are worthwhile in the long run. Still, there's no time limit forcing you to rush through these upgrades or mastery levels, so feel free to work on everything at your own pace. Good luck!