I miss them and their funny names - okay, prizes, too (but not that much as I have not much luck at winning)
Hint: Easter is coming ;-)

Yes, please, snails, I love snails

We are trying to be patient!   Truly we are but as you can tell from the post in the Tavern Mike..........we miss our snails!!

Hi,
I'm wary of a situation where a small number of people are demanding something that is not the preference of the majority of players, so I just want to clarify before going ahead.

So the change I made was to remove snail racing and instead compensate the prizes that could occasionally be won with more generous gold purchase amounts and free food/sprinkle amounts. But the feedback received is that players still want to race snails every time they water a plant anyway, mostly because they like naming their snails (and reading the names in other gardens), and just for the fun/excitement of the race itself.

A few things to note:

1. There won't be any prizes, as these have already been compensated by free food/sprinkles, increased gold purchase amounts etc.
I guess an alternative would be to reduce the purchase gold amounts / free sprinkles etc back down again, and put them into snail racing as free sprinkle prizes instead. However that does feel a bit pointless as the net effect will just be the same. My preference is just to give more up-front, so players who find snail racing tedious still get the benefits without having to water snail racing gardens.

2. To ensure that people genuinely want snail racing, I will make it mandatory to race the snails and wait for them to finish before watering again, and it will also not be possible to automate the process with scripts (previously, I observed that a significant number of people found snail racing so tedious that they resorted to automating it with a script, so I'm wary that putting it back will just end up frustrating more players than it pleases.)

3. Putting snail races back obviously restricts what I can do in future development, as only one thing can happen after watering. Please confirm that you definitely want that one thing to be watching a snail race every time you water.

As long as there are not too many objections to the above and it seems like a large majority of players genuinely want this, then I am willing to put it back in as described above. However I should emphasize that it is not how I personally wanted the game to develop...

Thanks!

Hi Mike! thanks for your answer. It´s really great to have the possiblitiy to discuss things.
It will be interesting to hear the feedback of other players.
I really want the snails back.
For me - it´s a huge part of the social part of this great game. It´s always fun to read how much love and thoughts some people put in the names.
Without prizes - that makes not much sense. But it does a small prize (one gold, one sprinkle, one fairy dust) really hurt?

I for one like the way the game is now and would love to enjoy more in the future. The snails would not bring as much Gold as i get now buying it. Also waiting for the snails to finish would take much more time in the long run. I would like to see more done with the game as you say Mike and i am excited to see what you have in mind.

I don't miss the snails that bad. Especially if it is going to restrict your future developments. I like new stuff you come up with.

I agree with Kathy and lela

Much as I loved the snails, I don't want them back so desperately that I'd want further development of the game restricted.  New game developments are of far more interest to me, and presumably would be better for the game as a whole than hanging onto snail racing just to see the names people choose.

I doubt many people really wanted the snail racing brought back just so they could see the names or play the race.  If people are honest, the real reason for playing the snail races was the chance to win gold, not just for the fun of seeing names and clicking a snail.

@Mike, I don't know why you think the majority of people thought they were tedious.  I cant remember seeing that many negative posts re the snails. Maybe you have been receiving a lot in the background?

My tuppence worth;

I do buy gold, but there are times when I can't,The prizes gained from the snails helped bridge that gap and kept me 'active' for want of a better word rather than frozen..

I am one that used the scripts to do the snails for me.  Not because I thought they were tedious, or the prizes irrelevant.  On the contrary, I would let them accumulate for months until I was low on gold before I ventured in to see what stock I had,  I was always extremely happy with what I had and how much gold that could generate for me, it provided a 'lift'. Very appreciative in fact. 

I also liked the fact that we could all personalise them and we gained some information from that about other players and it led to conversations etc.,

Another reason for the use of a script is 'pressures of time', there are quite a lot of things that benefit you if it can be competed within certain time frames i'e.,  growing hours of seasonal plants,  quests spotting bonus etc., I have a full time job and unless through injury/illness I have time to go on and off all day long, I cant be on here for hours at a time. therefore I try to make each visit productive.  I am aware everyone game play style is different but we all do play in a way were we feel we are getting some satisfaction from the game. 

Using a script to do them may seem like like a lack of appreciation, but it was not in my case, anyway.

If you are to reinstate them, please do it because you think it will benefit the game and not because of a pressure group forcing it.  I miss the snails, and I can see you have made a huge effort to try to compensate for  what is lost there.  I suspect some people are only now appreciating the what a resource they were.  Whatever you decide will fine.  But let it be your decision.