Normally I think that having a lot of major drops (permits, trade tickets) would unbalance the game. Up until spring we didn't have much in the way of permit/ticket droppers, but now people want and expect them every time.
But this event took MASSIVE amounts of energy even making just 1 of each deco per the steps. ALL of my lower-level neighbors dropped out, not even knowing how much worse it was going to get.
The people who stuck with it and put in the time, gathering random gumdrops etc, deserve something major for their energy expenses.
I would like for a celebration event to be something minor, just a cute deco with NO DROPS, that newbies could finish in 3 days and advanced players finish in a few hours. Advertise it as an easy and quick event.
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If I was a developer, I would be releasing these new expansion squares just to give you 5+ year players something to do, a goal, lol. New players are never gonna get there. Maybe they'll add some more main storyline, like Search for Sabina, for the high level players. But there's no point in a mad rush to unlock all of these squares, in my opinion. I think ShibuyaCloth calculated that the previous expansion release was going to take a few months to acquire.
I recently heard something a game developer posted in 2011. "Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game." I played a game for 8 years until it deteriorated to constant grinding. People were watching movies to entertain themselves while "playing." When I found myself playing minesweeper to pass the time, I realized, "I'm no longer enjoying my main game. It's become work, and I'm not getting paid for it. Why do it at all?"
I advise people to just play the game and enjoy the journey.