ChefVille Aftertaste: Here's a fix for Zynga's 'Ribbon' obsession
ChefVille players have all probably realized by now that the timed Ribbon events aren't going away. From themed events surrounding holidays like Christmas or Valentine's Day, to the newest event that's been released "just because," players are being asked to complete some pretty hefty tasks just to earn Ribbons and some limited edition prizes.
While these Ribbon events are technically voluntary, many players feel forced into completing them, or are otherwise frustrated once they learn that they won't have a chance to earn the game's limited edition rewards without doing so. Since it's unlikely that Zynga will ever actually stop releasing these events, there is something the development team could do in the long run to make them more worthwhile: Convert a portion of the game's Ribbons to Mastery Stars at the completion of an event.
We've spoken about this issue before, and Zynga has since added anywhere from 1-5 Mastery Stars to each Ribbon event. In the case of the First Date event, as an example, you can earn up to three Mastery Stars, but only if you earn all 27 Mastery Ribbons, which many players will simply never do.
While I'm not saying Zynga should increase the Mastery Star rate to a 1:1 ratio, where each Ribbon equaled one Star, increasing the rate of return on our investment would likely make these extremely difficult timed quests easier to tackle, even if only in our minds. Think about it this way: I know I'd personally be much more willing to "break my back" completing limited edition events in ChefVille if I knew I was going to receive half of those Ribbons back as Mastery Stars; that is, if we earned one Mastery Star for every two Mastery Ribbons that we earn.
Is that rate still too low? I'm honestly not sure, and while I would love to see a 1:1 return implemented in the future, I'm afraid it's likely never going to happen. If anything, all we can do is keep hoping that eventually Zynga sees the light and many flaws surrounding these events before we lose all of our neighbors to the frustration.
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What do you think of Zynga's continued use of Ribbons instead of Mastery Stars in ChefVille? Have you already stopped playing ChefVille because you felt the game was too difficult to keep up in? Sound off in the comments!
