Farmville Down again

Farmville is apparently down again. Farmvillefreak.com is reporting that farmville is down again. It appears persons cannot access Farmville via Facebook.com or farmville.com.

It appears Zynga today released a storage upgrade. The problem, it appears that everytime Farmville gets a update, their are loading problems.

note: At 9:30 PM EST. the problem appear to have been resolved.

Farmville CO-OP TIPS Part 3

Together each achieves more is an old adage for the acronym TEAM. For the Farmville CO-OP to run smoothly this is the key.

These tips were taken from a post on Farmville Freak. These are the management skills needed for a successful co-op project. Remember co-op farming is a TEAM project, you cannot do it alone.

I have seen too many jobs with one or two member planting away.

1. In order to ensure Gold, talk to neighbours beforehand and plan.
2. Find out how many plots they can put in and when. Count the plots if you have to but and estimate will do
3. Once agreed, start the job and invite only those people.
4. Plant crops only have you have joined
5. Follow up with them (you are the foreman). Monitor
6. Communicate progress

Remember, do NOT join or start co-op project unless you have available plots now. If you do, you will left with neighbors who are upset and feel cheated when you can't plant and harvest the crops in time.

Things to note.

• You have to be at level 20
• You can only join one job at a time
• You can't remove a non-preforming neighbour/co-op member
• Limited to 10 members only

Suggestions

• Rotate the foreman

I tried to allocate about 50-75% of the the farm for this purpose and use the rest for the other crops. Sometimes you will have to commit your entire farm to the co-op.

See

• Farmville Co-op, TIPS, The how to Part 1
• Basic Tips

Farmville Co-op, TIPS, The how to Part 2

Getting the Job done.

Once you have joined a job, you will need to plant the crop that the job asked for. Do not plant the crops before.

Given the time sensitive nature, plan to start at a given time, start on time and you might find an alarm clock useful.

• Select job that your schedule will allow you to meet.
  ( you don't want unhappy partners)
• If the job has already started make of note when you joined and see if it makes sense.
  For example. if you join a 16 hour Job for a Gold medal 3 hours after it has started you will only have 13 hours to contribute. You will not be able to plant and reap the crop in time.
• Plant the crops immediately after you have joined
• Meet your commitments and don't over commit.

When I started Farmville, one thing was clear. Neighbours was a must and you must find a way to get along.

In part 3 I will offer some more suggestions & pitfalls in the co-op. How are you finding the co-op? Got questions let me know.

See

• Farmville Co-op, TIPS, The how to Part 1

Farmville Emails Notification opens a can of nerves

Farmville on Monday started email notifications. For months the folk at Zynga has been trying to get users to give them their emails as a way to send messages and communicate. This appears to be part of the effort to decouple from Facebook.

The messages that can be recived are shown in the image below. They include, ready to harvest, comments from friends, special announcements, speack offers and promotions and reminder to feed the puppy.

You can adjust these settings easily at farmville.com by clicking on the below the settings header on the left.

User's response has been lukewarm and and launch has been greeted on some blogs with disdain and call for current complaints to be corrected before more new features are added.

Just a reminder as Lexilicous,farmville community manager, says, Farmville is still in BETA and that is another story.

Farmville Nursery Barns are here

The Farmville Nursery Barn is now here. This will allow calves and foals to be stored and taken care off and harvested quicker. The storage capacity at present will be 20.

To complete the barn you will need ten(10) of the following items.

• Brick
• Wooden Board
• Nail
• Diaper
• Bottle

As in other barn raising activities, you can request from and give these items as gifts to your neighbours. The items can also be purchased in the market for farm cash.

Remember to share your achievements as it gives your neighbors coins and opportunities to get materials themselves. Also remember to send gifts to your neighbours.

Analysis & strategic outlook
My take is that the barn might be worth your it given the benefits of other storage facilities such as the chicken coop, diary farm and horse stable. They will take up less space that the number of animals you put in. The barn will take up less that a 3x3 Farmville crop plot. The storage capacity however will have to increased as at current capacity comes out as disappointment.

Given the area that a foal takes up versus a calf, I would opt to put the foals in first, depending on the space available. They both harvest for 80 coins.

The barn is worth building compared to the French Maison but there are questions about the capacity.

Farmville Puppy Dog equals problems

The Farmville dogs or puppies are finally here. The dogs come with a heafty price tag of 65 farm cash. The puppies where expected before the co-op but somehow the co-op made it out first.

How do I get the Dog?

The puppies are found in the market under the category 'animals' then under category 'pets'.

One Dog can be purchased for 300,000 coins. This dog's color is Red and is a Border Collie. You can purchase only one dog with Farmville coins but as many as you want once you have the Farmville cash.

Further customisation of the 300,000 dog is allowed in terms of the following along with the related charges. Those purchased with farmville cash can be customised for free.

• Gender - Free
• Name - Free
• Color (chocolate or black) 65 Farm Cash

It should be noted that the "300,000" coin puppy comes with one day's supply of kibble and 14 days if purchased with 65 farm cash.

Dog Care

The puppies must be fed with kibble for 14 days daily. If you fail to do so, that the one purchased for 300,000 coins will run away. and so will your 300,000 coins. The ones purchase with farm cash will remain. The puppies will eventually become a full grown dog, if they are taken care off.

The Kibble can be available for 5 Farmville cash or as gifts from friends. If you dog runs away it will be seen behind bars. You can rescue the dog after paying a fine for 3 Farm Cash, i guess for puppy abuse.

I have not decided if I am buying the dog. Will discuss it with my wife, it is her farm after all.

There have been some problem as usual see, Zynga's Forum

Farmville Co-op, the how to Part 1

One of the biggest questions being asked in Farmville is exactly how do you join a co-op, how do you start a job, how does this work?

Requirements

• You have to be at level 20.
• You can't do it alone (unless you have multiple accounts

From there, the key thing is you have to jump in and try. Ensure you can find the co-op icon as shown in the diagram to the right. Click on it and you will be brought to the co-op board. This is where the fun begins.

How do you join or start a Job in Farmville co-op

First thing to note is that Farmville will provide the jobs. You can either start a job once you see it listed or join a job as invited.

1. When you click on the co-op icon you can see the jobs as soon as they are available. On the "all Jobs" you will see a list of jobs and you have the option to join a job. These are jobs that your neighbours are involved in and you have been invited.

Once you have joined a job it will be listed under "Active jobs" and you can "Request Assistance"

2. The next option is that you can start a Job and then invite a friends. This apparently seems to appear after you have joined an existing job. I did not see this option until I joined a Job.

In both cases you can request that other persons join in to assist. This results in a news feed being post as seen below. In this way, persons can also join the co-op and work on the project.

The details of the project is outlined. In the example above

Project: Pumpkin Pie O'plenty

Target 1400 pumpkins

Time left: 1 day and 12 hours

In part 2, I will provide some suggestions on getting the job done and it part 3 some pitfalls in the co-op. How are you finding the co-op? Got questions let me know.