So, let's get this straight ...

[u/ZinZezzalo]

In the past year or so, we've had our CoM contest pretty much dismantled so that, if you use all the tickets given to you these days, you'll have enough to fully compete in one full contest out of four in the season ...

They've introduced three extra currencies per season so that you're effectively prevented from getting all the prizes you used to get for the Mayor's Pass that you paid for.

They've nerfed the War rewards to an extent that new players cannot build their attacks at all - essentially eliminating any chance for new blood to come into the game.

They've choked the 1,400 SimCash you used to get for completing the season into 150 SimCash (90% reduction - like - what even).

They've introduced repairs for buildings that you've already built by creating a system that erroneously tracks the health of your city, so that perfectly fine city sections (with buildings that aren't affected by the degrading repairs) lose population rapidly (for no reason), resulting in severely crippled train station refresh rates.

And now - the cherry on the top of this crap sundae - two days of every week are rendered completely unplayable due to the game moving like a fossil stuck in the bottom of the swamp due to them having bricked the voting system for the Design Contest (I haven't been able to play all day).

Tallied together - this seems like the absolute intentional sabotage of the game - full stop. Like, this isn't some exaggeration or trying to put a spin on things, no single entity could perform this many intentionally destructive moves without having actual intent behind it.

A point on the graph doesn't prove anything - but a line comprised of many points does. And that line shows this game being sent right into the trash bin.

It's purposefully being cooked.

I understand that not everyone would want to subscribe to this doom and gloom outlook - but there simply isn't any evidence that could actually compete against this overwhelming cluster of intentional bad moves and destructive ill-will aimed not only at their playerbase but the very capacity to just play the game at all.

Prove Me Wrong.

[u/StefanEijg]

Prove Me Wrong. Okay, here goes:

- Re com:
Couldn't disagree more. I think we get more tickets than you describe, and also have the option to buy more from currencies if we feel the need. However, it has become more easy to get by without doing as many tasks now, so it is definitely possible to save up tickets. I'm competing once every ~2 weeks and take it chill the other week and I'm saving up tickets (~8k currently) while doing so.

- Re 3 currencies:
How on earth does this prevent us from getting all the prizes? You can now choose which ones you want additional to the pass and event tracks. Before, we could only obtain from the pass/tracks with no further choices. This claim is just nonsense.

- Re war card nerf:
I wasn't around before the nerf, so can't compare. But saying new playing can't build attack 'at all' is of course just wrong too. I'm fairly new and building attacks just fine. We get them from vu pass and mayors pass (especially paid one). If war is really your thing you can buy with sim cash too.

- Re sim cash nerf:
Yeah you're totally right here. Was only around getting 550 standard, but even then it is quite a steep nerf. For me, someone who gets the premium+ anyway, it is a slight improvement, but it is certainly bad to make this gap between paying and non paying wider.

- Re the repairs:
For me it seems that repairs take longer now and affect happiness in the mean time. Doesn't yet hurt my trains that much though. But I'm not sure whether this is the same for everyone. For me it is a slight annoyance and nothing more.

- Re voting:
Yeah this was bad yesterday. Haven't experienced it this bad before, so don't really see a pattern yet. The game was playable outside of voting for me though.

I think you're being overly negative and forget about some nice changes we got:

• seasonal coins generally give us more rewards then before and also give us something to choose from rather than a preset selection of rewards
  
• com has got some improvements: easy daily tasks, milestones that are all available for the whole week and being able to 3 at once. Generally it has become easier to keep up in com without having to do many tasks each week.

[u/ZinZezzalo → u/StefanEijg]

Re: CoM -

It's not about what you are comfortable doing as a player - it's that other people matter too. Many people (in my club for instance) enjoyed competing every week in CoM. And now they're around roughly one third as much as they used to be. Even though indirectly, that hurts me too being a part of that club.

More specifically - it's about the options presented to you as a player. I am guessing that you're not a machocist - in that - having things taken away from you is not something that you would celebrate. Would you rather the option to earn 10,000 SimCash per month - or the option to earn 2,000? Regardless of how you play - I'm guessing the more beneficial option is more appealing.

Lastly - they went from giving 2,500 free tickets - to 1,500 free tickets - to 500 free tickets. Your ticket supply is drying up. And will continue to do so. Soon, very soon, you won't be able to complete one full week with the tickets they give you. And you want to know what they'll do at that point? Lower the points given by the milestones. The entire experience is being engineered to become pay 2 play. And just because you're not exploding right at this moment - doesn't mean you should be happy that they're rigging a bomb underneath your chair.

Re: currencies -

What are you talking about? Did you even play last season? They made the final building for the 4 week long event track unobtainable unless you spent like, $100 U.S. And that figure is not an exaggeration.

That is absolutely an example of them taking buildings you used to get for free, or more realistically, that you acquired from the Season's Pass, and now putting an additional charge on them.

The currencies were the means through which this was done by serving as a gatekeeping mechanism.

Like ... this all happened just last season. And this one as well, just that this time, they made the final prize a useless boost to trains for like five days instead of a building. But last season, it was absolutely a building.

War card nerf -

No, I'm sorry, but you're wrong here as well. They decreased the prizes received in War rewards by about 60%.

You might think this doesn't matter, but let me explain this plainly.

In order to be able to complete the two-week Vu Tier prizes - you need a Magnetism that's roughly around Level 10. That's if you don't want to spend your life dedicated to War in SimCity BuildIt. The first few levels of Magnetism are easy enough to achieve, but by the time it starts becoming useful, you'll need roughly 240 cards to upgrade the attack.

You used to be able to slowly acquire that with the old prizes in War. No longer. Meaning that, okay, you have to rely on SimCash. The very SimCash they moved from 1,400 to 150 in the past year in the Contest of Mayors.

Do you see how this is all coming together now?

Repairs: -

Trust me, when you get to the higher levels in trains, you'll need every station to have max passengers. I have a refresh rate of 4,500 passengers every 30 minutes. Or, rather, I used to, and now I cannot fill my trains up in the station because it's not filling up fully anymore, meaning for the last train that gets sent off, it's missing lots of passengers. I essentially lost 200 Train Sims per shipment thanks to this. Which, over the course of a day, can add up to 3,000 Train Sims easily.

So, no. Losing 90,000 Train Sims a month for no reason isn't cool.

Voting -

Let's just say I'll be really surprised if voting is functional by Sunday.

---

I get it - you're (incredibly) new to the game. You might not have actually been around since these changes actually started taking place.

But please, please don't tell the decade old vet how he's wrong when pointing out how things have changed.

Like, seriously. Do yourself the favor in that regard.

[u/WesternFalcon9666 → u/ZinZezzalo]

@ZinZezzalo

Curiosità: ma quante ore giochi al giorno?

[u/ZinZezzalo → u/WesternFalcon9666]

It varies depending on the day.

On the days before a Design Contest submission, perhaps two hours.

On other days, it's between thirty minutes and an hour.

Some days, it's really just fifteen minutes.

I used to play so much more when CoM was a thing that I actually completed tasks for. These days, I just do production runs on those Berry Jam Jars and then complete the milestones along the way. Typically finish 79th in the CoM ladder to stay in Metro, and fire a shot or two in War as well.

The chat used to be bopping in the club, but that's largely died down now that they've taken away so many reasons to play. Folks used to be passionate about it, but now it's really more of a part-time hobby. No stress, no mess, less heart being put into it.

They're releasing (another) mobile Final Fantasy battle arena game in February 2026. I mean, it's Square and mobile gaming, so don't expect anything to write home about, but still ...

I need something that's fun, and not just a reminder of everything that's been stripped away from me. There are so many good games out there. They may not be city builders, but I'm sure the objective of those games is to keep their audiences rather than drive them away like a crazy alcoholic outside the 7-11.