Zoo Redesign - General Discussion

[cdosr]

Cdosr: Regarding Zoo order expirations, I found this on the support tab:

“Please note that Zoo orders are time-limited—there is a timer at the bottom of the order window showing how long you have before the order expires. Try filling as many Zoo orders as you can to get more prizes!”

Yes, that's the page I linked to in my post. Nothing there about how long the orders are valid. The reference to the timer at the bottom of the order window is actually the countdown to the next order, not an expiration of the order you're looking at. So far, nothing has expired so I have no idea what they are talking about.

I'm doing some "controlled experiments" to see just how this works. I'm not finishing any orders and recording just what is on the order board at any given time. I am asking for help on items so I can give my teammates some clovers but that's the extent of my order activity at the moment.

The purpose of the experiments is because I'm assuming there will be a "fill X zoo orders" task in an upcoming regatta and I'm trying to see if I can come up with a strategy to prepare for it and pass that on to my team.

[Hilltop Valley]

Do we only get ONE new zoo order every 3 hours? I'm truly confused by how this works. I just downloaded the update this morning around 9:30AM my time and here is what has happened so far...

9:30 AM - 5 orders on my zoo order board. I filled one of them immediately during the zoo tutorial. Looking at my zoo board I saw the remaining 4 orders and one slot that said "Next order in 2H 59." I filled the other 4 orders within their time limit and those 4 slots completely disappeared from my board, leaving just that one slot with it's countdown timer continuing to count down.

12:30 PM - I watch the countdown hit 0:00 and was expecting my zoo order board to completely refresh with all new orders. Instead, just ONE new order appeared (9 trees and 5 fish). I filled the one order, and now I again just have a single message on my board saying "New order in 2H 59M"

Is this correct? How are people getting 8 orders on their board at once? Why did I start with 5 orders? Why am I getting only 1 new order every three hours instead of 5 new orders ever three hours?

For reference, prior to updating, my zoo was max level 45. All enclosures built but 3 of them were completely empty (so missing 12 animals total).

Attachment 36986 Attachment 36993 Attachment 37000

If I indeed will only ever get 1 new order every 3 hours, collecting animal cards will definitely be slow going...

That is correct ... it seems we all start with 5 orders as part of the "welcome to the new zoo," but all future orders only come after a 3 (or more) hour wait, one at a time. The 8 tasks mentioned is the most orders you can have pending at one time, but again, that's only after waiting 3 (or more) hours for each one to appear. I say "or more" because it's like the airplane ... once the 3 hour countdown ends, if you are not logged on, the game holds that order until you log on. Once you do, there's the new order and only then does the next 3 hour countdown begin. That means that if you logged off when there was only 1 hour left, and then come back to the game maybe 4 1/2 hours later, you may be thinking, "I should now have 2 new orders because that 1 hour plus at least 3 more hours passed," instead you come back to the 1 new order, and voila, another 3 hour countdown begins. Definitely going to be slow going ...

[Hilltop Valley]

...

The purpose of the experiments is because I'm assuming there will be a "fill X zoo orders" task in an upcoming regatta and I'm trying to see if I can come up with a strategy to prepare for it and pass that on to my team.

My understanding from past posts in this thread is that there will not be any zoo tasks in the regatta anymore, at least not in the near future. But only time will tell ... in 3 hour increments ...

[kitty4715]

That is correct ... it seems we all start with 5 orders as part of the "welcome to the new zoo," but all future orders only come after a 3 (or more) hour wait, one at a time. The 8 tasks mentioned is the most orders you can have pending at one time, but again, that's only after waiting 3 (or more) hours for each one to appear. I say "or more" because it's like the airplane ... once the 3 hour countdown ends, if you are not logged on, the game holds that order until you log on. Once you do, there's the new order and only then does the next 3 hour countdown begin. That means that if you logged off when there was only 1 hour left, and then come back to the game maybe 4 1/2 hours later, you may be thinking, "I should now have 2 new orders because that 1 hour plus at least 3 more hours passed," instead you come back to the 1 new order, and voila, another 3 hour countdown begins. Definitely going to be slow going ...

Thanks for the confirmation. That is what I was starting to piece together from yours (and others) previous posts but just wanted to make sure I was understanding correctly.

For me, this new zoo is a huge disappointment. As I mentioned before, my zoo was pretty advanced, but I am also failing to understand how those with low level zoos will benefit from this system. When my town was young, I rarely paid any attention to my zoo because I couldn't spare the resources to fill up my zoo baskets. However, when there was an easy and fast item (corn, milk, carrots) available, I would often spend a little time stocking the zoo with those items because they were easily re-harvested/collected in the town. It was a decent way to slowly level up your zoo without sacrificing anything in your town. When my town was finally done and I could focus on the zoo, I used the dealer to strategically stock up on high value hot products and fill the zoo boxes every couple hours. I leveled up rapidly in the zoo this way and benefitted greatly from all the gifts received from the zoo shops and tons of coins received from high value hot products (could net $20,000-$30,000 a day profit from the zoo alone).

With this new zoo system, it seems you get one new order every three hours and can have a max of 8 orders accumulate on your zoo board. If you fill each order as it comes and don't spend T-cash to speed up orders, that limits you to 8 orders a day which seems like it will lead to very slow progress in collecting animal cards. Also, most of the orders that I've seen so far have been very resource heavy (4 pizzas, 6 cheeses, etc). Even as a decently high level player, I cringe parting with those types of quantities of items - as a lower level player I would never even consider it. Also, the coins I received in exchange for filling these new orders was extremely low (no profit).

For those who hadn't put much effort into your zoo before who like (or are at least excited by) this new system, I would be curious to know what specifically you enjoy about it. How you do see it being easier or more enjoyable than the previous version? By the way, in case it doesn't come across, I am asking this genuinely with no condescension or judgement in the question. I've read a couple people say this makes them more interested in their zoo but not specific examples of why. Being so familiar with the advantages of the old zoo, I'd like find a way to enjoy this new zoo, but I'm not seeing any positives right now.

Edit: Also wanted to add a comment regarding the animals...In the zoo shop, I had an offer to buy 1 Epic Animal card (the most rare baby card) for 10 Topaz, 2 Emerald, and 1 Ruby gem. I bought it because I don't know how hard it is going to be to accumulate these cards at this point, but that seemed pretty outrageous to me seeing as it only gets me 1/10 of the way to this animal (you need 10 epic cards to get the baby). So looks like I'll still be spending lots of gems on my zoo.

And just a warning, there is NO CONFIRMATION WINDOW when you click on the card in the zoo shop to buy the animal with gems. It just takes your gems and gives the card. So be careful when clicking.
Epic Card.jpg Epi Card Bought.jpg

[Ron123]

I just want to say is if you are playing with real money you are a fool....many people paid real money to play and now it’s all gone.... i can understand why they are mad....

[barbguinn]

Kitty you took the words right out of my mouth. Spot on I worked on my zoo same way. I do not see any atavange of filling orders I don't need XP and no fair price for goods. I did get the first chest a saw oh well. I do love my zoo and had to move a few things the new building blocked my theater so that was fun. Until we get new animals it will just be there oh well.

[Magnolia Township]

If i’m reading correctly re: new orders, i don’t think i’m having the same experience...
The last two nights, i closed my game with no outstanding orders and the timer running. Both mornings, when i opened the game, there were three new orders waiting—which would be one for every three hour period i slept without opening the game....so, not like the airplane.
Sorry if i’ve misunderstood!

[Bessville]

Kitty, re your question, mostly I like the new zoo because it isn't the old zoo, I'm afraid. For some context, my town is level 99, all CBs and houses finished long since, one factory not bought, still upgrading islands and factories, zoo was only level 23/24, I think. I spend my time racing, helping, sending helis, trains & planes, and decorating. I like variety.

It always felt like what I was mostly getting for my trouble in the zoo was the ability to spend even more time in future engaging with a mechanic I just didn't like. To me, the clunky & repetitive back and forth for quick products (but what felt like little reward) was just a giant bore, and handing over more valuable goods just never felt like a priority compared to all the other demands on my microbarn. I could just never stockpile enough of anything to occupy my zoo properly during each hot product cycle. So it felt... inefficient and wasteful, for me.

Anyway, because I didn't use it much, progress was painfully slow and however many gazillion planks or whatever were needed next seemed impossibly far away. I had resigned myself to doing it once I ran out of anything else to occupy me, but in truth, with regatta and events and even just chat and redecorating going on, even after my building was finished in town I still couldn't rouse the slightest interest in the zoo.

Now, I admit, a certain amount of my initial excitement about the new zoo came from having beta tested it. The release version is quite different and I think it's going to go a lot more slowly than I'd hoped. But it kind of still feels like it's both more straightforward since the zoo-specific materials are gone, and also more ignorable if I just fancy a break at any time. It's still going to be quicker for me than the old zoo, I'm pretty sure. And much less monotonous, because you dont know what you'll be asked for.

So that's where I am with it right now. Much remains to be seen, obviously, and I reserve the right to change my mind completely and decide I can't be bothered with this one either, but so far so good, for me.

And I'm responding to Kitty's direct question, not trying to persuade anybody to my point of view.

[Catsalive]

I see we’re expected to spend many more gems with fewer means of accumulating them. A new offer to spend them in the zoo every 15 hours.

Had 3 new zoo orders accumulated overnight .

[Hilltop Valley]

If i’m reading correctly re: new orders, i don’t think i’m having the same experience...
The last two nights, i closed my game with no outstanding orders and the timer running. Both mornings, when i opened the game, there were three new orders waiting—which would be one for every three hour period i slept without opening the game....so, not like the airplane.
Sorry if i’ve misunderstood!

That was my first thought, too ... I was pretty sure I woke up this morning to a couple tasks, so I thought the countdown would keep refreshing until the board was full. But throughout today, whenever I logged in after each 3 hour countdown should be done, I noticed the new countdown was right at 3 hours. After happening a few times, I began to question it because surely I was not so lucky every time to just happen to log on right when the last countdown was finishing. That’s when I experimented by closing the game about 10 minutes before the next order would appear and waited about 45 minutes to open it again. But instead of finding the countdown already half an hour down, it started right at the 3 hour mark. Will be interesting to see how many I wake up to tomorrow.