Hi Wizards, besides the recent premium quest, we've been a little quiet lately about recent changes so I thought I'd do a quick recap and let you know what's coming up next.

The last week or so has been filled with lots of little changes. You probably noticed most of them by now, but a quick recap so you know what us Elders have been busy doing. :)

- Chat: added a second chat room
- Chat: wizards' names now allow spaces (used to be '_' )
- Chat: wizards' names show the full name rather than being cut-off
- Chat: a few players were unable to enter chat, it kept saying "chat full", this has now been fixed
- Gifts were frequently "lost": players would report that they received a gift in Facebook, but when they clicked to accept it wouldn't appear in EI. We know try to "detect lost gifts" and recover them, so this should occur much less often.
- Quest fix: there was a recurring issue with the Day of the Triffids quest that we tracked down and fixed
- Little green bug was appearing frequently when there was no actual issue, we've retired him for now
- If you had EI open in two separate browser windows, it was possible to sell a plant in the "old" window and it could cause you to sell the wrong plant, fixed this.

In addition to this, we're working on two bigger changes that aren't quite done. More about these soon, but a quick preview so you know what's coming:

1) A few players have pointed out that after they've completed all the quests it's too bad there isn't anything they can re-do. This led us to start testing some more replayability of quests--the Old Man quest was the very first one we did, almost by accident. But in the spirit of this we've started adding replayable components to most of our new quests: Gnomish Adventure and Crystal Snowflake as two examples.

And since this has proved popular, we've decided to take it a step further and add a *big* replayable component. We're going to add a new level of mastery for every seed we've ever released and this will apply to all new seeds as well. You'll be able to "complete" the seed by growing all the plants on the seed and you'll earn the Seed Completed badge for this (all your current badges will carryover). But if you want to "master" the seed, you'll have to complete 3 requirements: completing the seed, getting 3-of-a-kind of every item, and getting a certain # of consecutive sales of each plant. (Your existing stats will apply towards this).

Of course, this will be optional and we realize many players will be happy with simply completing the seeds, but we thought an extra distinction would be fun for those wizards who wish to "master" the seeds.

2) I've been doing some analysis of game-play by all the players and I've realized we have changed the game play balance a bit more than intended with some changes in the recent months. The ability to increase max magic has led to most players casting more times per day; plus the fact that green dragon potions increase all your energy (not just 2 casts like they used to) makes then increase your casts per day even more; and these two factors lead to very frequent leveling up.

I haven't concluded yet what, if anything, to change as a result of this, but I'm digging a bit deeper to see if the game needs to be rebalanced at all.

More details soon! And, as always, we welcome any feedback that you have.

Happy casting!

Keith, one quick question on the future quest of growing a three-of-a-kind of all plants. I've done that already, EXCEPT for the square seeds. It seems that once you've bought the gnomish shears, you cannot go back and grow the first five square seed plants. Will you be making a change so that we can grow those five plants, even after obtaining the gnomish shears?

Thanks for your hard work on this. Love the game!!!

interesting.....

@Melodramatic One: Good point! I'll bring this up with Dude so we can figure out a solution to this.

love the game.... very interesting..... good work

Looks cool

enchanting...

simply loving this game..................

Sounds like you have been busy beavers!

I look forward to mastering the seeds :)

Just a thought.... If you "rebalance" things so that we can't level up as fast, then you may just have a bunch of very grumpy Brimsonians on your hands! Especially when you release new gold quests! It would be a shame to lose people because they can't afford to buy gold, and can't level up fast enough to get the gold to do these quests.... Especially since it takes roughly 2 level-ups to be able to buy enough seeds to complete 1 gold quest!

I know of many who have either left the game already or are contemplating it simply because they find this so frustrating... So PLEASE consider this issue very carefully.

Sounds great .... but I hope we dont lose the number of casts per hour that we currently get .... that would be a pity. I like this seed mastery thing .... something to do in between quests.

Thanks for such a great game. I've had Enchanted Island open and running now 11 days, and play every half hour...my son got me into it, (he's 9) ITS AWSUM!

I hope you won't change the dragon potions as I don't have many friends so I doubt that I will get many more hearts than I do and I love the fact that the potions completely refill your casts.

there should be other ways you can get more energy than by just having to add people from your friend list.....

i have the same problem like The Melodramatic One with square seeds...
can u plz create some more pots?
i mean soon it is persian new year ( our new years starts with the spring, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz
it woud be perfect it u could also design some new pots n maybe some norouz seeds?

Thank you very much, I have a question though.. the holiday seeds like the festive grain, autumn, and snow seeds, will they be returning so people can finish this and even finish the dragon summons lists?

I agree with Esmirelda...if we have to wait longer to level up we can't do the gold quests, so lots of people will probably leave the game if this happens. Thanks for all your hard work!

I want to change my Silver for Gold, is it possible??

I'm with Esmirelda on the leveling thing. I just got started playing like a week and a half ago, and I love it, but I only have 4 energy and I just got that today. It takes half an hour to recharge, and it takes like 90 casts to get from Turtle to the next level. I sit on the computer playing this and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its taken me half a season to get this far in Turtle. I'll be at this forever. I really like this game, but I'm a college student and don't have alot of time or money. Please help. Also is there some way to bookmark this game? I really like it alot.

yo how do i get more gold

I will not be happy to wait longer for gold than I do now. The rest, bring it on and time will tell. Thanks for all the hard work.

If you make the leveling up take longer could we add exhanging some silver for gold? I think it seems pretty balenced as most people can barely (if that) keep up with the premium seeds on the gold they are getting now...also with the Mastering of the seeds becoming an option more people will want to buy more premuim seeds each time in order to Master those as well.

I think the length of time between castings should be shortened, so that people don`t have to wait so long, observed in the chat room far too many players both old and new complain about how long it takes, causing lack of interest and bordom resulting in them dropping the game completely, saw the numbers drop from 101K to 93K in a couple of days, I think with adding the new additional quests it will make the game longer to accomplish anyway!

I agree...there should be other ways to get extra energy. It seems like a waste to spend the gold on dragon potions since it takes so long to earn and it takes quite a while to get up to a level where you have enough casts. I have been on 7 for several days...probably a week or so.

Thank you, Keith, for the updates and for the hard work.
Thanks for making it more interesting and entretaining every time.
About what you say at the end: "I'm digging a bit deeper to see if the game needs to be rebalanced at all."
In my opinion it does need to be rebalanced. Doesnt really bother me that I have been playing here nearly from the beginning and there's many newbies that levelled up so fast they are at the same level I am, is not the level number but it seemed to make people more impatient.
This is not a passive game any more, quests are taking minutes to be solved. I do use green dragons too and I do tend to finish quests as fast as possible (Im no critizicing that), just pointing out that it really did change the game and not sure if in a good way.
As I said: my opinion.
Thanks!!!!!

Yes, I agree with Betsie the Brave! Allow people who have a lot of silver to buy gold with it.I have read many comments on this and think that many people would be very satisfied if you took this into consideration. Thanks!

Not sure if anyone has already asked or if i missed it in your update but when replaying the quests to master the seeds what will we receive in return? just some kind of gift? or will our badge change for each level of mastery we acheive?

i agree with everyone, i cant afford to buy gold an ive got half way through to gold quests an i cant complete them as ive run out of gold.
ive got 8 casts but id love to have more casts if you can sort it, an i cant bookmark the game either,
great game thanks

for me. this is the best game.: it makes me stop and do my work, and i have plenty of it, and i cannt get hooked sittinig hours staright onit like other games. and its fun too. i like the mystery of it all. thankyou for all your hard work.

Agreed. All the updates seem fair and needed. I concur with Yuka, Ellie, and Esmirelda in regards to the "rebalancing" or potential loss of leveling up faster. I, too, feel like I'll be working for days just to move up from Dragonfly. However, this game IS cute & addicting....so, for now, I'm still happy to play.

I like the fact that the elders are looking into other avenues of adventure but being here on the end of the island I would like to say that I would like to be able to get more free gold so I can improve and it would add more interest in the game.

I need faceted seeds to complete that quest - how can I get them?

I love the game even though it does require a lot of patience especially at the beginner levels.I wish there was something to spend the silver on,I'll soon reach $37,000!I haven't spent any real money on buying gold and have been able to finish most gold quests,it's a game and not a race after all and there are other ways of obtaining gold..Thank you for making this game so much fun!

Count me as another vote for silver to gold exchange option. I know you need to have an income stream from the sale of gold, but maybe something like 100 silver = 1 gold, but only in 1,000 silver lots(1,000 silver becomes 10 gold) would be fair.

Keith and Dude, thank you so much for all the changes and updates, it's wonderful how much time and energy you spend on this game :) I am really excited about your "plant mastery" plants, given that I have already finished my silver quests and am currently out of gold ;) I just wanted to say that I will definitely be sticking with this game until I'm level 50 because I really like it, even if you make levelling up difficult :)

Still waiting for wand upgrade. Any idea when that might be occuring.

the changes sound awesome.....you guys are doing a great job. i still would like some kind of checklist page for my own notes or an expanded wizards log so i can remember what the heck i was working on or things i want to do next....my little post it notes are not exactly cutting it...lol thanks again for a fun game and keep up the good work...

A lot of people seem to have a lot of silver they dont know what to do with - myself included, over 54,000 .... so it would be nice if something could be introduced for us to spend some of it ?

I am loving Enchanted Island. Of all the games on facebook, this is the only one I am tempted to donate to. However when I'ld get 1000 coins for 10 bucks and cannot be sure to even finish a quest with that. (Im a bit slow with tricks, loose with gold and more than generous with the owl). I cannot justify it. I do not want to undervalue your efforts either. Can we pay a certain amount per extra quest ($5) and be able to complete them? Or can I get LOTs more gold per donation? Or something?

I'll hang in here even as a lower class citizen - I am just a flower girl after all!

The only thing that I don't like about this game is that I have finished the "regular" quests, and even with buying Gold, cannot get enough of it to finish quests ... the Big Sea Quest cost me two level ups and a pretty big purchase and I still wasn't able to finish it .. (not certain if I can restart from where I was if the seeds ever become available again) ..
How about special silver quests?
Other ways to earn Gold (cannot sit with browser open at work!!) ... or maybe more things to do without Gold that will help earn some ...

Thanks for being open to listening ... and trying to make this game even better.

Ah - I have gold quests to do, so I have, in fact, been working my way through some of the seeds to do 3 of a kind in all plants. After all, lots of casts before the next level up!
Thanky muchly!

I'm with Rox the Wizard Family Baker on questioning whether some of the changes have done more than make the newbies even more impatient.

Like her, I joined 5 months ago. I worked my way thru the levels, having to wait for two casts to be available, and working my way from there. There was no extra energy, and you got gold by levelling up or purchasing it with real-world money.

To listen to the complaints of the newer wizards, who were given a much easier path up than the wizards who joined in the early days, is frustrating. I personally see nothing unfair about them having to wait for gold, or having to wait for their power. And I certainly don't support making it so that more casts are available in an hour. Right now, you get 8 casts per hour - I don't see a need to up that.

For those who are probably perturbed by my statement, I apologize. But, there's a rhyme and reason to the game, that seems to be bypassing many of our wizards.

for those who are still in the lower levels, don't worry about the gold quests, anyway - get through the silver seed quests first. Following this natural order will bring you through several levels of gold bonuses, and you'll be able to afford to participate in the gold quests.

For those in the upper levels, play smarter! You want to have more casts? Go thru the wiki and figure out how you can get more green dragons, cricket and fairy summonses. Make friends, and start sending gifts!

You want more gold? Again, go to wiki and figure out how you can do that. I'll give you a hint - there are 3 ways that I know of getting gold - and only one of them involves real-world money. The other two take time and patience, but they're there.

Oh - and I've heard a couple of complaints that those in the lower levels don't make as much gold as those in the upper levels. Absolutely untrue. Each level pays the same percentage of gold at level up. 2x however many casts it took to get through your just-completed level. Those in lower levels actually get gold faster, as they can level up with fewer casts.

My biggest beef is with those who are pushing to be able to store many, many hours of casts for use at once. This game was not made so that you could play 5 minutes a day and be the BMOI (big man on the island). Thanks to the generous actions of the developers, you can play just 5 minutes an hour now, if you work at getting that extra energy up. However, in my opinion, that doesn't do the game justice, either.

I know that we can't go backward with the power issues. But I implore Keith and Dude to not take it any further.

Sorry for the rant - but please remember, if you could rush thru this game at the speed it would take to make some of our wizards happy, Keith and Dude could never keep up with advancing it, and we'd lose wizards to boredom a lot faster that the amount we're losing now because they are impatient.

Last thing! If you can afford to spend real-world money on this game, buy yourself 1000 gold pieces or so. You can almost get yourself a 6-pack of green dragons with that, and you'll be part of the solution to getting more developing time for this game.

it would be nice to be able to do a few more casts a day ,and shorten the time it takes to replenish our energy.holly the ivy

Guys, count me in on the gold for silver trade - I am beginning to accumulate quite some silver too, and am a bit annoyed how much hard-to-get gold you actually need to complete a premium quest... I'd be satisfied with slower levelling up, I just try to do it as quickly as possible to get to some gold... if there was another possibility... like the above suggested 1000 silver for 10 gold or something! Hmmm, make that 500 :P Hahahaha! :)
Keep up the good work!

i agree with lisa the chef about some sort of checklist page. i posted 2 or 3 times for an elder to scroll me about where i am in the fun with color quest but cannot get a response. i think i have figured it out, but it would be nice to have a place to keep track myself. most of the other changes sound great..love the idea of something to do besides casting fire seeds!! love this game

Spring is on its way... could get rid of the snowman? what else could we have in the square?

How come when I grow three of a kind, the merchant never shows up?

If you did more silver quests, people wouldn't need to level up so fast and would have fun. I got up in the middle of the night several times at one point just to level up to get gold to finish a quest. It's all about the urge to get gold for that gold quests.
There are too many! They are too expensive and it takes the fun out of the game.

@Lisa & Luci - I believe you could use your "Hall of Legends" blog for that.

@Angie - you've been a member for 8 months, and are at level 13. I promise you - if you'd spend a bit more time playing, you'd see level up gold come your way, and you would have a lot more.

@IM - you should post this problem in the bugs section - the merchant should be showing up for you.

just keep up the good work.