June Progress Report

A little throwback to the olden days of multi game reviews. In this post, I'll cover my progress within the games of Farmville Tropic Escape, Hero Wars and June's Journey. This was a roller coaster of a month both inside the games and outside.

Farmville Tropic Escape

Did some re-organizing of plants and crops.

I made it to Level 36 and have my sights set on 37. We had some in between events, but I found myself liking the Big Foot hunt one. Despite the tedious ingredient grind and the horrendous drop rate of items, the rewards that were discovered during the hunt were quite nice.

The milestones along the way granted nice rewards that were put to use immediately. Of all the rewards, Eli the Pelican was my favorite. She's like Shelly but you can use coins to get your items.

She was a major help when it came to getting silver ore which drops in low amounts from the cave. Part way through the Big Foot event came the cruise. Even though I didn't participate, cruise items were collected with each visit to the landmarks.

Some milestones were reached where I earned some gems as a reward. After this, I scored the top spot in the Top Resort Tournament and was rewarded with a bonus seal (temporary gift).

Gripes This Time Around

Event items not dropping consistently from Landmarks. This is a pain in itself especially when it comes to crafting items for time sensitive tasks. The Wildlife Center tasks feel unchanging.

I'm getting more picture requests for the Arboreal and Beach Habitats when compared to the Jungle. Normally I wouldn't view this as an issue, but it's getting difficult attracting the animals I need to complete current tasks. It's a pain point due to the randomness of animal appearances and there are times when the same animal you don't need keeps showing up.

Silver Sand Dollars are another issue and rarely dropped when I started playing again several months ago. This issue has been slightly remedied with the Enchanted Grove, but you have to meet the requirements before being eligible to earn them from the designated inhabitant.

The Island Stage, while interesting, has it's own issues. As of recent, the requested items for show prep are duplicating themselves. I have received the Wire Protector, Superstar Pin, Stage Make-up, Concert Lighter, and Stage Backdrop several times too many.

The biggest issues with these items is the need for hard to get resources and the quantity requested. As mentioned earlier, silver ore is difficult to get in sizable amounts. Yes, there's the market but sightings are few and far in between.

Then there's the actual show. Preparing dishes for show attendants can go from being manageable to being impossible. Even when you're on top of everything, there are guests that will request multiples of items that take forever to make.

Yes, there are boosts but they're expensive. In addition to this, earning the needed amount for upgrading takes forever. Outside of that, I'm making steady progress toward the next level.

Hero Wars

Thea's new default appearance and skill icons
redesign. The other skins haven't changed.

Despite not doing much with my heroes, some progress was made during the last 2-days of June. Unfortunately, I ran out of materials almost immediately. Focus was still on my main three Osh teams followed by the somewhat newly formed teams four and five.

June also hosted another 30-day season event - Cosmic Season - with focus on the light and dark titans. I was able to get some soul stones for them on top of summoning super dark titan Tenebris - wasn't able to summon her during the launch event. The only titan that I'm missing now is the super light titan Solaris.

There was a titan brawl event that showcased the support titans Avalon, Ignis and Mairi with their new skins. Unfortunately, the skins were purchase only. On a brighter note, setting up successful defenses produced consistent rewards this time around.

Of course the downside of this is inconveniencing your opponents who are stuck with four open slots. Lastly, Thea's default look got a makeover. In other news...

Upcoming Events

We got some mini-events on the horizon for July. On top of this is another 30-day season event - Nature Season. I can only hope they did away with the summon heroes from Town Chest task.

Like always, I look forward to the resources. Also hoping that July is the start of me getting back on track with upgrading heroes.

June's Journey

Slowly, but surely a work in progress.

While a lot has taken place in game, I've been playing catch up with expanding my decorating space. I haven't been participating much in the events as some aren't worth the headache due to their tedious nature.That said, a major achievement was accomplished.

The Lighthouse is officially finished and I was able to start on the Chapel immediately after. Didn't do much with the wedding theme decoration store. The only items of interest were the fountain and twin trees.

I'm looking forward to July's themed set. Thanks to a sneak peek pic, I saw some interesting items I would like to add to my island. The main issue right now is expanding to make room for the newcomers.

There's also an album that I'm working on and hoping that I earn enough stamps to get the ship. It's a given at this point that I won't get the sea turtles. In addition to this, I've gone back to progressing through the story.

Current Gameplay Experience

There are times when progress is at a snails pace. Even worse are times when you know you're at the finish line for getting that final star only to have the progress bar stop at 99%. It gets even more annoying when you have the star booster active.

Secrets missions has a similar issue but this time it revolves around slow progress. The only way to speed up progress, more or less, is to get and keep the 2x bonus. To complicate one's progress further, you're only allotted 50 blue energy which goes quickly even with the energy discount active.

Another pain point is the inability to earn blue energy from playing hidden object scenes. The only thing we can earn is keys - used for unlocking new Secrets chapters. Next are the keys for Detectives Needed.

Though the options for earning them are there, the Help Wanted section is the best way to get a lot consistently after each completed task. The problem comes when you're given the same or similar tasks back to back. Collecting from the Estate, completing renovations, and serving drinks in the cafe tend to surface repeatedly at times.

The only time I don't mind repeating tasks is when it's something that doesn't have limitations - like the hidden object tasks for example. Then there are the ads. I would love the option to choose the types of ads that show up. 

The ones that irritate me the most are the surveys that are posing as ads. It gets even worse when said survey forces you to restart your game because it caused the game to stop responding.

Plans Moving Forward

I'll do what I can with Tropic Escape. Hero Wars is still a work in progress as I'm steadily building up heroes and trying to figure out the damage output varies every week with the Osh Fights. Focus is still going towards teams 4 and 5 as they're behind in terms of upgrades.

June's Journey is seeing lots of progress both with the story and expanding the main island. Still wish we didn't have to wait so long to do renovations on Landmarks. If I keep at the current pace I'm at now, I should have two expansions completed by the end of the month.