What is required by friends.

[sld0728]

The biggest flaw to this game is what is required by friends. I need all of the building materials plus having friends help build my newest wonder from chapter 19. I have 70+ friends and cannot get the material i need to upgrade my buildings. I just added 10 new friends and still cannot get the materials I need or the wonder built. I gift when I am allowed by the game. We are limited to how often we can. I have been playing this game for months and still cannot figure out when i can send requests or gifts. I guess the answer to my aggrivation is to just quit, but is that really the answer ?i guess that if we could eliminate friends that we have for games that do not play, i might be happy. I have a facebook for family and friends. I have game friends that do not play. i don't know who they are or i would delete them. there has to be a solution. I would like to read posts from people i know but i cannot because my game friends take so much space. they should at least play. i am a graduate web design student. i know how to put counters into web pages that tell whether a person has been there. is that too much to ask?

[Jan1923]

The biggest flaw to this game is what is required by friends. I need all of the building materials plus having friends help build my newest wonder from chapter 19. I have 70+ friends and cannot get the material i need to upgrade my buildings. I just added 10 new friends and still cannot get the materials I need or the wonder built. I gift when I am allowed by the game. We are limited to how often we can. I have been playing this game for months and still cannot figure out when i can send requests or gifts. I guess the answer to my aggrivation is to just quit, but is that really the answer ?i guess that if we could eliminate friends that we have for games that do not play, i might be happy. I have a facebook for family and friends. I have game friends that do not play. i don't know who they are or i would delete them. there has to be a solution. I would like to read posts from people i know but i cannot because my game friends take so much space. they should at least play. i am a graduate web design student. i know how to put counters into web pages that tell whether a person has been there. is that too much to ask?

I sort of understand your pain. You seem to have so many issues! I'll try to address them as far as I understand it; it may take more than one post; if anyone else wants to chip in... feel free!

Up until the mass upgrades started I was a happy little bunny bobbing along in control of my inventory, able to count my wood, glass, etc and plan the next wonder. The Empire State building took only a day to complete to level 5, because I'd planned and reserved my 5 materials, and organized a reliable little ring of friends to help build.

Now I am on Chapter 19, I have a Garden of 31 by 31 and it is stuffed with buildings needing upgrades; I have only a vague idea how many of 9 materials I have, and I'm limited in what I can give and request. I have just added a score of neighbors, making approximately 100.

Now given all that, I still think the upgrade strategy is a good idea; I still think the neighbors are great, and I am no longer aggravated by all of the above.

The reason: I HAD A REVELATION! This game is progressing - just because I started early I have a ton of catching up to do. If I was a relatively new player I would have a Garden of maybe 16 by 16, and therefore about a quarter of the inventory that I have. I would be playing at a lower Chapter where the collections aren't a blast from the past, but appear naturally as I go along. I could upgrade my buildings on a chapter by chapter basis, as I needed to, and I wouldn't be as plagued by the relentless need for space that we suffered at those stages. (I suspect I'd have even less silver than I had then, but that's another matter...)

SO I'll CATCH UP! - but not immediately, and I'm not going to stress about it! I'll do the new ones as I go along, and I'll backtrack when I can.

[Jan1923]

The biggest flaw to this game is what is required by friends. I need all of the building materials plus having friends help build my newest wonder from chapter 19. I have 70+ friends and cannot get the material i need to upgrade my buildings. I just added 10 new friends and still cannot get the materials I need or the wonder built. I gift when I am allowed by the game. We are limited to how often we can. I have been playing this game for months and still cannot figure out when i can send requests or gifts. I guess the answer to my aggrivation is to just quit, but is that really the answer ?i guess that if we could eliminate friends that we have for games that do not play, i might be happy. I have a facebook for family and friends. I have game friends that do not play. i don't know who they are or i would delete them. there has to be a solution. I would like to read posts from people i know but i cannot because my game friends take so much space. they should at least play. i am a graduate web design student. i know how to put counters into web pages that tell whether a person has been there. is that too much to ask?

Second major problem: your Facebook posts.
As for your posts on Facebook, you are one of the people who can definitely benefit from the new Facebook set up:

1) go to Privacy Settings and set your default Privacy to Custom.

2) go to your list of Friends.
There should be a table of pictures, names, and a 'Friends' box. Hover over the picture of your neighbor and it should display the same Friends box and a Subscribe box.

My Friends box displays 3 subdivisions: top one is Close friends or Acquaintances - check Acquaintances. Second subdivision is a set of user defined lists: mine includes a list called Gardeners; there's a NEW LIST function if you want to create your own listname. Make sure the list is checked for this friend. You can have multiple lists - if you play other games, create a list for them as well.)

Third subdivision is for UNFRIEND - if you honestly think they're deadbeat neighbors.

3) My SUBSCRIBE box has 3 subdivisions: check UNSUBSCRIBE at the bottom.

4) go to Account settings/Apps/Gardens of Time: last question is WHo can see posts from this app, check your listname in this answer box and close.

5) and last!
Go into your garden and do whatever you want as normal. When you get to a Post to your Wall popup, there should be a list lookup mark next to the Share box. Click on it, and you should see your new list name among others on the list; check it and this post will ONLY go to your neighbours. (You can make this default if you click Custom above).

Voila: you don't spam 'real' friends, and they can't write on your wall, but you can all still play the game.

[goosnguns]

For those of you who are "limited" to 70 requests every 24 hours...and hopefully to help sld a bit too:

When you request materials or send free gifts (materials, hints, energy) try sending them out in groups of about 20 to 25. NEVER request materials that you can send, most neighbors are starting to "return the favor" so don't waste your requests on those, send them as gifts.
After you do a few groups of requests/gifts and the box pops up saying you can't send anymore (don't be surprised if you click on 20 and it only sends to 5 or 10, it takes some off for "70 per 24 hour limit") wait a little while...maybe 30 to 45 mins and try it again...in small groups. I do that all day long and 8 times out of 10 they get sent. I refresh my game a lot too, I think that helps with sending more than 70 and it DEFINITELY helps after you use materials for an upgrade and want to refill your inventory.

Also remember that Invites count toward your "limit", so if you get a new fb friend that wants to be your neighbor, invite them before you send out your gifts and requests or you'll have to wait until you can send more. I try to do my invites as soon as I accept the fb request.

[Jan1923]

The biggest flaw to this game is what is required by friends. I need all of the building materials plus having friends help build my newest wonder from chapter 19. I have 70+ friends and cannot get the material i need to upgrade my buildings. I just added 10 new friends and still cannot get the materials I need or the wonder built. I gift when I am allowed by the game. We are limited to how often we can. I have been playing this game for months and still cannot figure out when i can send requests or gifts. I guess the answer to my aggrivation is to just quit, but is that really the answer ?i guess that if we could eliminate friends that we have for games that do not play, i might be happy. I have a facebook for family and friends. I have game friends that do not play. i don't know who they are or i would delete them. there has to be a solution. I would like to read posts from people i know but i cannot because my game friends take so much space. they should at least play. i am a graduate web design student. i know how to put counters into web pages that tell whether a person has been there. is that too much to ask?

Lastly, the 'deadbeat' neighbor!

As previously mentioned I have around 100 neighbors, and I am such a sad person that I have a little list of them outside the game: I use it to check if I've left them a gift or whatever. When a new chapter comes out (usually a fortnight) I check the level each neighbor is playing on this list. It's not a special action, I can just do it when I'm visiting, or checking wishlists. I have noticed that most of my neighbours are moving up at least one, usually two levels in two weeks. Some that don't are up in the stratosphere levels 60-70, but a neighbor that hasn't leveled up in a month or six weeks has to be suspected of living a real life... I've got about 6 of them, (one of whom is my daughter), so I don't waste requests or gifts on them, but I will quite often hide a present on their garden. I suspect one of them has a pile of little boxes in the same place, that couldn't be missed!

The Facebook limit is 70 gifts OUTWARD - that seems to be the rule.

For each gift you accept, return the favor counts as one of your 70. If you return the favor, AND then request an upgrade material, they CANNOT return the item because you have already had your quota for the day.

ALL materials have an inventory limit of 10 (the new ones as well).
The mystery gift could be a material.
You can check the amount you're already holding by clicking on a building to upgrade it. If you try to accept more than 10 of anything you will lose it. If you use some of your inventory then try to go back to messages to get some more you will STILL lose it. You need to exit the game to refresh that total. (PLEASE FIX THIS!)
Gifts left in the message queues will expire and disappear in 30 days (check the date on the item).
The other items probably have a limit of 99.

Helpouts do NOT count towards the 70.
Incoming Awesome gifts do NOT count towards the 70; I can't tell if satisfying a wishlist request counts or not.
Requests from an upgrade screen do NOT count toward your 70.

Free Gifts: This is where they count.
You have three materials (out of 9), energy, a mystery gift, two hints and a flower to choose from.

IF you can communicate with your neighbor:-
It is possible to put a message on the gifts
eg A return gift of Iron would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
even if you're sending Granite.
I am lucky enough to have family on my neighbor list who have different gifts to send, so I can send Granite and get Iron back, or receive Wood and send Marble back.

Other than that, and the ability to count to 70 - you're on your own! Good luck!

[ekunasek]

That was helpful,Jan! Thank you. I understand that the devs are trying to give us things to keep us busy between chapters, and also to be responsive to our complaints about being unable to have enough rep to open new chapters, but it does seem as if they made it needlessly complicated. I'm not a programmer, so I have no idea what's involved in creating any of these features, but I can't help wondering if it was easier to create this whole new way of storing/exchanging materials than it would have been to just let us add the iron, nails, screws, etc to our existing inventory. They add new slots in our inventory anyway, every time new items come out, so why couldn't we have had new slots for the new materials? I don't think anyone is able to keep track of what they have on hand, and it's impossible to plan ahead for an upgrade, because you don't know what materials will be needed until you're actually at the point of using or requesting them.
Years ago, a computer geek I knew told me that the first rule of writing a new program is - "If it's not broke, it doesn't have enough features." Guess he was right.

[goosnguns]

I don't think anyone is able to keep track of what they have on hand.

The inventory is in the upgrade menu. I check mine all the time AND refresh (sometimes it takes more than one refresh) before I accept more materials.

[Remcamoli]

Just another way of keeping track of materials totals.

For the four newer ones (granite, screws, iron, nails) - appear on all upgrade shields so no problem seeing totals (agree with the refresh thing between accepting stuff)

For the older ones (wood, sandst, gears, marble, glass) if you're like me and pretty Type A then this method gives you reliable ongoing numbers.
Buy four cheap gazebos and place away in back of garden. Leave one at Level 1. Upgrade the other 3 to Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 and leave them at those levels.) Because it is a one square item this gives you materials totals on wood, sandst, gears and marble. To get the total on glass I have got a four-square item kyoto palace stopped at level 2 where the glass total shows). With a few clicks I can see all my materials totals for old materials and of course all the newer ones are on each shield anyway.

Just my system if it bothers you that materials are no longer listed in inventory.

[AngieDawn]

The reason: I HAD A REVELATION! This game is progressing - just because I started early I have a ton of catching up to do. If I was a relatively new player I would have a Garden of maybe 16 by 16, and therefore about a quarter of the inventory that I have. I would be playing at a lower Chapter where the collections aren't a blast from the past, but appear naturally as I go along. I could upgrade my buildings on a chapter by chapter basis, as I needed to, and I wouldn't be as plagued by the relentless need for space that we suffered at those stages. (I suspect I'd have even less silver than I had then, but that's another matter...)

SO I'll CATCH UP! - but not immediately, and I'm not going to stress about it! I'll do the new ones as I go along, and I'll backtrack when I can.

Like like like like I don't think anyone is wrong for being annoyed, aggravated, or frustrated, but if more people would think of it in those terms above I think there'd be a lot less steam coming out of ears ;-)