There following was posted on the Zynga forums by AngelFiona, who is one of the new Community Managers [1]. The same message can also be found on the Official Mafia Wars Blog [1]. To learn more about the new Mafia Wars Team, go here.
The Mafia Wars VIP Program
Hello Mobsters,
The Mafia Wars team is constantly working on introducing new features in the game as well fixing existing performance issues that have been reported by the community to enhance the overall game-play experience. The VIP program is one such initiative that we are considering over the next few months. Some of you may have already seen the pop-up messages with the details about this program. However, at the moment, this program is not available, and you will not be charged for clicking on the confirmation messages. If & when the program is rolled out, you are not obligated to enroll in it, but you will have priority enrollment at that time.
We have also taken serious note of certain performance issues due to violation of Terms of Service, whether reported by the community or otherwise. While we work on introducing new features like the VIP program, we will always prioritize working on fixing performance issues that affect game-play. Please stay tuned for further announcements in this regard.
We would like to reiterate that we are constantly listening to you & working on improving the game.
Thank you.
The Mafia Wars Team
We got a sneak peek of the VIP Membership Program in the form of 6 different popups varying in rewards and prices. This was just a test and the final product will most likely be a combination of some of the the things we saw in these popups [1].
It’s apparent to many that there are performance issues when it comes to fighting. We haven’t seen a new Ice Season in a few weeks and most likely this is why. Many of these issues are caused by players abusing scripts and putting too much load on the servers. If you are using or manipulating scripts to fight faster than the recommended 3 attacks per second, your account may be at risk. To keep safe, only use fighting scripts that follow the guidelines and don’t promise to do things that is are not intended. Two examples of scripts that won’t go too fast are the Assassin-a-Nator by Spockholm and Battlefield by the MWAddOn. Both are free for all players to use and are designed to not put undue stress on the Mafia Wars servers.
Thanks to Mandy Rhoton for posting the link on our fan page.
yeah..."we will always prioritize working on fixing performance issues that affect game-play" until they drive all the players away and there is no game left at all....
ReplyDeleteI have in black and white Zynga stating fixing the game is not a priority. Adding more events are. We would be upset with them if they made fixing the issues a priority!
DeleteVery well said, and their issues are getting worse. Bottom line is they don't care. I also have it in black and white. Look at Farmville. Quit playing for two months only to be barraged by the same multitude of errors upon return. It is not only a Mafia Wars issue, it is Simply Zynga. The only certainty we all have is the uncertainty of what to expect every time we log in to play any Zynga game. They should fire the CEO, as a close look will show how the Award winning company has gotten worse every year since he became CEO. Add more fix less and screw the older players as "there will always be more" is his philosophy. (And it shows)
DeleteWe have also taken serious note of certain performance issues due to violation of Terms of Service, whether reported by the community or otherwise. While we work on introducing new features like the VIP program, *we will always prioritize working on fixing performance issues that affect game-play.
ReplyDelete*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Cheers!
DeleteWhat they are REALLY saying is....
ReplyDeleteWe're not satisfied with the current level of people leaving the game. So, we're going to think of new ways to really piss people off and force a mass exodus...
Anthony
How do u get a ice /win without using a Program nowadays???? almost imp
ReplyDelete"we don't want to offer faster fighting at this time, as we promised in our VIP offer, and things that allow faster fighting will get you in trouble with us"
ReplyDeleteI have a 5 SECOND delay in reaction time in my fighting. Has gotten worse as time goes on. I have been talking to Zynga about this for 10 MONTHS now! They tell me they are aware of it and I need to have patience!
ReplyDeleteIt has cost me 60 RP daily simply to make up for their failure to fix the issue. Not to improve my account, simply to make up for their failure!
I went from finishing ice seasons in 2-3 days to being UNABLE to finish them!
!50% WITH YOU ON THAT BROTHER. Been waiting for 2 years for a fix for m slots and i am owed for thousands of lost Rp from that and i spend 30 to 60 RP daily to get past the issues in the game. Pathetic is what it is.
DeleteFcuk! You are both pathetic! If you spend 60 RP daily means you are paying for a game that is not working for you?! How sick is that?!
DeleteIt HAD cost me 60rp to finish, now I no longer care as I once did. Ten MONTHS of being told i needed to have a little patience was more then enough. I stopped spending the RP on it a few months back.
DeleteThis game is no longer the game I started to play 3.5 years ago. I dont mind spending RP to improve my game, but to simply spend it making up for Zynga's failures... nope, no longer going to do that.
VERY OBVIOUS NOW ...THE ONLY PEOPLE ALLOWED TO PLAY THIS GAME, GET ALL THOSE EXTRA BENEFITS TO USE AGAINST ME ....ARE PEOPLE WILLING TO PAY PAY PAY MONEY ,,,FIRST,JUST FIRST 14 DOLLARS FOR VIP STATTUS, ANYBODY ELSE ...YOU WILLBE FIGHTING WITHOUT THESE PAID FOR BENEFITS. SO MAFIA WARS/ ZYNGA OUT RIGHT ADMIT LYING. OH ,,,THIS GAME WILL ALWAYS ...QUOTE ...ALWAYS ...BE FREE. LYING SACKS OF CRAP. 2ND... THIS IS NO LONGER A MADE IN AMERICAA GAME ...ITS BEEN MOVED TO INDIA ...TAKING AWAY AMERICAN JOBS AND DODGING TAXES. PLAYERS HAVE ALREADY DROPPED BELOW 2 MILLION. TIME TO TURN UP THE HEAT ON THIS ANTI AMERICAN COMPANY IMHO.
ReplyDeleteThe studio in India has been there for over a year now. The fact is Zynga games are played by people all over the world. India is a major hub of technology and the move of Mafia Wars has nothing to do with tax dodging or saving money. There are Zynga offices all over the world and in many countries. I would think players who live outside the US would take this move as a positive because we always hear people complaining that Zynga favors the US players over those from other countries. Zynga has many games, much way more popular than Mafia Wars. I would rather see the game move to a studio where more time can be devoted. The VIP membership program is something they have tested in the past and an option we may see in the future. The items listed aren't necessarily the ones that will be offered. Like the new team, we need to give that a chance as well. They are also working on measures to prevent abusive behavior so those who pay won't be able to use what they paid for to make a free players game impossible.
DeleteYou want to hate the game because it's moved to another country? You're an idiot pal. The company is Zynga and they're an American company so the tax will always be paid.
DeleteAnd when it comes to tax dodging... who are you? Are you the Tax dodger police? Oh, and where's your proof? Mafia Wars is an American product be proud!
i'm one of the people who has been put on one of those super fast auto scripts for over 2 months now and haven't been able to heal in the past 24 hours hardly at all, even with tripling my health. as someone who has been abused by a paid script, i really do hope zynga does do something to stop them.. I play by hand and click EVERYTHING, i do not use any kind of add-on or help from any kind of script.. i don't care if others do but when someone takes it too far and abuses it, i really do hope zynga does do something about it, but i don't hold out much hope for any kind of help from them, not after the way they treated us on myspace and the move over here to facebook
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly has Zynga foxed in any game? ever. I can not think of anything in my game that has been fixed. 4 years of playing mafia wars and support still gives me a few RP and nothing ever gets fixed.They want me to pay for a game that is always broken.Or just to get thru the Issues they have made in the game.Time to go back to my Wii and Playstation. Screw this Company let em sink.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean they're going to split the game into "paying" players and "non-paying" players? If that means us non-paying players don't have to compete with the paying players, I'm all for that.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is they wrap up all their "performance issues" as being due to people using certain scripts. By chucking their credibility out the window with that whopper - it is very hard to believe anything else they say or promise. The "move" to India wasn't a move at all. Absent any actual details, I am assuming "move" means "fire the existing team in the US who followed the instructions to implement lame game features (why does the daily Take still include Italy building parts?) and hire a new crew in India, which we'll give more latitude to and pay less to." Not the case? Prove it. Properties? I don't mind properties, but have noticed, no one responds to requests for parts. Which means a lot of people aren't playing that feature. Why? Not because they don't want, to but it's a waste of effort because of the deadline. The Irish Pub finally has some usuable loot and points at the end - but I'm not bothering because not even two of my mafia would respond to the first request for parts. So then they put a price on them that the overwhelming number of players can't deal with.
ReplyDeleteNobody was fired, at Zynga, employees get promoted or move to other games all the time. It's never intended for the same people to stay at the same game for extended amounts of time.
DeleteIt's never intended for the same people to stay at the same game for extended amounts of time.
Delete^^ thats what they said about players dont forget.
Sorry but scripts are not what is causing the major performance issues.
Deletei was in a FFA the other day, no one was allowed to use any form of play other then old fashioned clicking.
I had three targets open in three tabs. I clicked 200 times on one, move to the next, clicked away again. Went back to the first one... was still registering hits minutes later. That is massive server lag on Zynga's end. Nothing to do with my system. This is not isolated to certain players, this is an issue that is across the board.
As for the Timed Property. When it first came out, i built like crazy. Spammed the feed to get the parts. Then I stopped building two of them, just could not be bothered to work so hard on something i can not use daily without spending RP on. I am doing the current one and the one before that, but I simply no longer care if it gets maxed out or not. I post, peeps click. It ends up where it ends up.
I ran a test on one of the properties. 6 friends clicked both posts. All 6 friends took screen shots of the results, they all sent 2 parts... in my world that means i should have gotten 12 part increase. In Zynga's world, they increased my parts my ONE! 11 parts simply vanished... that is BS
As for firing folks, I don't know about that.. what i do know about is that Zynga basically gave the finger to all the Admins and members of GPS when Nate left. We had been told we would have a replacement for him and now so long after Nate left... not once have we seen, heard or spoken to anyone. I view that as a total disregard for the community and lack of respect on Zynga's part
First part is is relevant, but the rest was a waste of time and has nothing to do with the post.
DeleteIt is just a matter of time when this blog will be charged as well...
ReplyDeletelol thats just awesome, now if you actually get live support you wont be able to understand um .. great idea zynga move to india .. as for scripts how are you supposed to ice manually , it would take forever to get an ice on some of these people with 20000+ health clicking manually .. Zynga are the idiots who let all this health out there for a year. you could get like 65 health a day .. And one glitch gave 1 dude 5000 health with no roll backs.. Soon as I touch a glitch I get rolled and then some.. If it wasnt for skype and the people in my mafia family I would have quit long ago..
ReplyDeleteI agree with that.... without skype and the friends i have made over the years, would be long gone.
Deletein regards to the misunderstanding via live chat, been there last week. i was talking about timed property and they were talking to me about another thing. when i asked to speak to someone else (politely) they actually argued with me about it.
the roll backs in the past.. Zynga always claimed it was to maintain an even playing field, yet this VIP club will simply create a massive uneven playing field.
VIP loot, 40% increase in fighting speed and so on... spending RP on loot is one thing, but spending $ to have enhanced fighting... that is not even close to being right!
hmm, not sure if my original post posted... got forced to sign in.
DeleteZynga has always stated that rollbacks are to maintain an even playing field, yet this VIP club is going to create a very uneven playing field in a "free" game.
It is one thing to offer loot for sale and such things. But to offer a "VIP Club" in a "free" game that gives you enhanced fighting speed (many of us still have a broken fight list as it is) and VIP loot that is going to do nothing but massively uneven the playing field... will drive many folks away
i agree with you in regards to skype... if it was not for that and the friends i have met over the years, i would be long gone by now. it is no longer the game that keeps me around, but the friends i have made via the game.
As for live chat, been there already... went to talk about an issue with the timed properties and she was talking about something that had nothing to do with my question. when i asked politely to speak to another rep since we seemed to be having a communication issue... she refused and argued with me about it.
With all other call centers that are part of a US based company by law if you request to speak to someone from the "home" county they have to connect you... it should be the same here. Have not bothered checking on this with Zynga as most reps i have no issue with
What's that got to do with the post?
DeleteWell I dont think I want to pay for a game which has half missing/ removed!
ReplyDeletewhy anyone plays now i dont know i've given up for ages as have a lot of my family
ReplyDeleteYou've stopped playing the game? But, you are here posting about the game. Hmmm, something doesn't add up.
ReplyDeleteZynga talks a big game about stopping scripts, but they NEVER will and they let players use them openly as PROVEN by this post.. spockholm is not approved by the TOS of Zynga and never has been, nor are any other scripts... but ALMOST every high-end account uses some script whether they are willing to admit it on their personal or tagged profile or not. I would LOVE to see the day when they actually put code in to kick out the scripts and let us play fair and square!
ReplyDeleteI will NEVER EVER JOIN anything that puts my name in a VIP category costing me money to join ZYNGA as a VIP! It goes against my principles and politics. :)
ReplyDelete