News: “Flasher” Sheep Available Again

UPDATE: It seems there are some technical difficulties with these at the moment, according to our readers. We will update once this has been corrected.

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We’re an honest bunch here at FarmVille Post. We treat FarmVille very seriously, criticizing Zynga when they need a finger pointed in their direction, and writing scathing articles when we feel they’re required. On the flipside, it is important to tip your cap in their direction when they do something right, and we also do that just as frequently. This is one of those times.

You see, Zynga has corrected the majority of the “illegal” Sheep problems by releasing four brand new Sheep over the past two days, including these two brand new Sheep: the Rainbow Dots Ram and the Chameleon Ewe. These two Sheep are known as Flashers in the FarmVille community, where they shift the colors of their pattern (the Rainbow Dots, for example), or the solid color (the Chameleon in this instance). They’re available for 30 and 20 FV Cash, respectively.

Now, what does this mean for you, the broke consumer? It means that you can once again breed your “Flasher” Sheep and receive some really cool Sheep instead of fake ones. Sheep Breeders everywhere can breathe a little easier knowing that their time invested in Sheep Breeding is not for naught.

Are you happy to be able to freely breed the majority of your Sheep once again? Has Zynga redeemed themselves on this issue yet in your eyes the way they have in ours? Let us know your opinion.

News: Royal Wedding Tree and Majestic Rose Crop

As promised, here are a few tidbits surrounding some of the prizes in the Royal Wedding Party event!

The new Limited Edition Tree that will have everybody excited is the Royal Crystal Tree. It is exactly like the Wedding Trees that showed up on the Market during Sunday’s update, except solid gold in color compared to pink. We much prefer this royal version of the Tree compared to its original FV Cash-prohibited edition. This one has a very rare distinction amongst other Limited Edition Trees, in that is it a Level 2 Tree with no Level 1 equivalent. That certainly makes it stand out from the pack, no? This means you can also create more of it by sticking it in an Orchard and awaiting duplicates to come out via the Mystery Seedlings. You can unlock this Tree, which can be Mastered, with 8 neighbors accepting your party invites.

Elsewhere in the game is the brand new Majestic Roses. These are yet another addition to the ever-growing amount of Roses in FarmVille. Seriously, there have been a crapload of Roses in FarmVille, hasn’t there? Majestic Roses, Green Roses, White Roses, Black Roses, Pink Roses, English Roses, Fire & Ice Roses… Not that we’re complaining, mind you; we love Roses in FarmVille, and these resemble a champagne color, so they’re definitely unique and beautiful.

They will only cost you 30 Coins to plant per plot, and give back a very nice sum of 145 Coins, giving you a net profit of 115 Coins per plot. That’s pretty spiffy, and a nice sum compared to similar Crops. Plus, they can be Mastered, notching up yet another Limited Edition Crop on the Mastery checklist.

Do you enjoy these two freebies? Have you unlocked them yet?

Free Stuff Friday #11: Three 55 FV Cash Winners

We did not run a Free Stuff Friday contest last week, so we’re pleased to bring back Free Stuff Friday with a vengeance! You see, we normally pick one winner per week, but this week we are feeling particularly generous!

Above: Who has time to sleep with so many horses to click?

We are compiling real stories of how FarmVille has affected your life for a humorous article we’ve got brewing up, tentatively titled “You’re Addicted to FarmVille When…” So naturally, we want to hear funny stories about your addiction to FarmVille. Three lucky winners this week will win 55 FV Cash Cards! That’s right, three (3) different winners will win $10 in FV Cash!

In order to win this prize package, you must complete the following steps:

Step 1: First up, Like us on our Facebook page. You can find our Facebook page by clicking here. Be sure to Share our link with your friends, too!

Step 2: Leave a comment on our Facebook page telling us at what lengths you have tailored your lifestyle to play FarmVille. Surely, some of us have canceled our evening of going grocery shopping (yuck) in order to make sure our Strawberries get harvested before they wither, right? Have you ever found yourself Googling something like Amaranth to figure out what the heck it is? Let us know what ways you’re addicted to FarmVille and we may include your story in an upcoming article, as well!

Be sure to tell your friends about us by clicking “Share” on our Facebook statuses and links! We give stuff away every Friday! The cut-off date for entry to this contest is Friday, May 6th at 12:00am sharp, so make sure you enter before then! We will choose THREE winners on that same date, and they will be contacted by Farming Elsie on Facebook! If you get a message from Farming Elsie, it is 100% legitimate and you have won! We do not declare winners in public due to the fact that our readers’ privacy is very dear to us. Duplicate entries will result in disqualification, in order to keep things fair. Good luck!

If you are new to FarmVille Post, please take a look around! You can find our weekly in-depth articles on Crops by searching our Crop Spotlights, like this one on English Roses! If you’re into thorough research for various new features around FarmVille, take a look at our How-to sections, which is deeper than a copy and paste of Zynga’s own community guides. We also review every item that arrives on the Market, usually on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, like this review of the Mystery Game.

For the latest Contest we are running, check out our Contests page – even if this contest has expired, there is an active one every week! After all, every Friday is Free Stuff Friday!

How-to: Royal Wedding Party

In celebration of the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, FarmVille is throwing a Royal Wedding Party! If you recall the New Year’s Party from back in December of 2010, this should be a familiar affair.

Step 1: Upon logging in, you will be greeted with the above screen. You will be in placement mode once you’ve accepted your invite to host a Royal Wedding Party, so plop that Welcome Tent anywhere on your farm. Thankfully, this party is much, much smaller than that of the New Year’s Party, so do not expect for it to take up much space on your farm.

Step 2: Click on the “Go to Party” option on the Welcome Tent to head inside. Once here, you can see the prizes for inviting people to your party: Lover’s Arch for 4 Guests, Royal Crystal Tree for 8 Guests, Majestic Rose Crop for 16 Guests, and the coveted Royal Steed for a full party of 32 Guests. These are definitely worthy prizes! Yes, the Crop can be Mastered, and the Royal Steed produces a new baby Foal.

Step 3: In order to get all of these prizes, you will need to invite many, many neighbors to your Royal Wedding Party. In order for 32 Guests to accept their invites, you will likely have to send invites to more than the 32 required. Click on the “Invite Friends” button at the bottom of the “Go to Party” screen, as seen above. You will want to invite 50 friends, the maximum amount allowed at a time, to your party in hopes that they will accept.

As for the brand new Majestic Rose Crop, it is a 1 day Crop in terms of duration, and your license to plant the Crop will last for a full month once you’ve unlocked it. It gives 145 Coins back to the player when it comes time to harvest. It seems weird that we have seen just about every color of Rose except red at this point, doesn’t it?

No word has hit regarding the logistics of the Tree, but we will have more info as it springs up!

News: English Countryside Co-Op Jobs

Elsewhere in tonight’s update is a trio of brand new Co-Op Jobs for the English Countryside!

Now, we spoke briefly about two of these Co-Op Jobs – the Amazing Asters and the Cornflower Contingency – within our How-to write-ups on the new Quest chapters that were introduced tonight. These Co-Op Jobs are fairly straightforward, so let’s hop right into them!

The Amazing Asters
In this Co-Op Job, you must harvest 1,200 Pink Asters within 18 hours and 59 minutes for the Gold Medal, 1 day and 4 hours for the Silver Medal, or 2 days for the Bronze Medal. Your reward for completing the Co-Op Job will be a Love Potion, offering yet another way of obtaining the coveted item.

The Great Rabbit Caper
In this Co-Op Job, you must harvest 700 Turnips and 700 Radishes within 1 day and 10 hours for the Gold Medal, 2 days and 4 hours for the Silver Medal, or 3 days and 15 hours for the Bronze Medal. If you managed to get Gold, you will be rewarded with an adorable Brown Spot Rabbit.

The Cornflower Contingency
In this Co-Op Job, you must harvest 1,200 Cornflowers within 18 hours and 59 minutes for the Gold Medal, 1 day and 4 hours for the Silver Medal, and 2 days even for the Bronze Medal. This is probably the weakest of the three rewards, as you will be given a Cornflower Pot for succeeding. Hey, at least the Cornflower is a really beautiful flower.

Are you excited to finally see new Jobs in FarmVille? We certainly are.

New Items: Star and Camo Rams, and Welsh Corgi

We beat up on FarmVille pretty badly the other night in our article on the “illegal” Sheep Breeding cut-off, and we feel it was justified. However, it seems that Zynga is doing the right thing by correcting the majority of the issues caused by the blocking of breeding Star and Camo Sheep with this release…

On the Market as of late last night is two “new” Rams: the Star Ram and the Camo Ram. Now, this may not seem like noteworthy news, but hear us out: with the arrival of these two Rams to the Market, you can continue breeding Star and Camo patterned Sheep! No, you do not have to buy a thing, you can instantly begin making those two patterns once again since they are released and no longer deemed “illegal.” Should you purchase these Rams, they will cost you 30 FV Cash each, but if you’ve already got some of your Star or Camo Rams handy from their “illegal” phase, they will still work properly in your Sheep Pen.

The Knight Steed has returned to the Market for 26 FV Cash, but we have already covered that when we broke the exclusive news on its arrival to FarmVille. Instead, let’s talk about the other addition to the Animals tab, the Welsh Corgi. For those of you who are into the Dogs in FarmVille, this new addition does not require any Treats or any such similar item. It works exactly like any other Animal in FarmVille, in that it can be collected from upon purchase – in this case, for 18 FV Cash. We’re not sure why this one is not a member of the FV Dogs, though we are guessing it may have something to do with the fact that the Dogs’ purpose is a little archaic by today’s standards, what with the whole Farmhands being so readily available and all.

What do you think of these new additions?

How-to: Back to Basics Quest

That is not the only brand new series of Quests to come to FarmVille this week, as the second Quest to hit is Back to Basics.

Step 1: Aww, look how distraught this fella is. You can start out turning his frown upside-down by returning to the basics of farming: simply plow 200 fresh plots and then plant and harvest 200 English Peas out of aforementioned plots. Completing these simply tasks will award you with the above items, which are at least an improvement from the initial Quest of the night.

Step 2: Our goofy newcomer is in dire need of assistance regarding figuring out what all of the Buildings do across FarmVille, apparently suffering from virtual farming amnesia. First up is a long haul effort to craft the Duke’s Stout to Level 15, which we had thankfully already accomplished, as well as harvest both your Chicken Coop and your Horse Stable twice each. These will take a couple of days to accomplish. The crappy part? The rewards are exactly the same as the first portion of this Quest. Ouch!

Step 3: An array of new objectives will hit you in the third portion of this Quest, including the use of one of the other three Co-Op Jobs, the Amazing Aster Job. In this new Co-Op Job, you must complete 1200 harvests of the Pink Asters within two days, and of course you can ask your friends to pitch in and complete the objective faster for a Gold Medal. Beyond the Co-Op Job, you must also use your Combine 50 times, and Master the first level of Field Beans. You’ll receive the usual EXP and Coin bonuses, as well as some decorative English Rose Pot, for succeeding.

Step 4: Henry is still in need of figuring out the basics of being a good neighbor. Start off by immediately clicking on the “Get 6 Testimonials” objective, since you will need your neighbors to send in their written words commending poor ol’ dim Henry. Let’s face it, it’s sort of like giving a bad employee a positive reference; you know they’re going to be terrible, but you do it out of kindness, right? Beyond this, you will have to fertilize 40 plots on your neighbors’ soil, as well as expand your farm out to a larger piece of land.  Upon completion of these tasks, you will be rewarded with Lush Soil, a brand new bonus awarded to only the best of farmers, as well as the usual EXP and Coin bonuses.

Lush Soil works exactly like the Soil in the English Countryside, where you receive additional Mastery points and Bushels, but on your home farm! This is truly an awesome reward for those of you who love crafting or have a lot of Crops to Master.

How-to: Village Faire Quest

With tonight’s update brings the arrival of a few new Quests to the English Countryside!

Step 1: First up on the dish tonight is a Quest introducing us to the Village Faire, a magnificent celebration of all-things fun. This will require completing the brand new English Countryside Co-Op Job involving our favorite Crop from the English Countryside, the Cornflower. You will have to grow a stunning amount of these flowers – 1200 in total – within two days in order to succeed in this Quest. You can recruit friends to help you out, as well. In addition to completing this Co-Op Job, you must harvest 100 English Roses and 100 Foxglove. Talk about a lengthy Quest!

Step 2: The prize for completing this portion of the Quest is very weak, with four topiary fences, 100 EXP and 2,500 Coins. As for the second part of the Quest, Angus is back and wants us to breed three Lambs. With the arrival of several “brand new” Sheep patterns tonight, you can once again safely make most of the patterns you knew and loved from before, so hop to it! You will gain a few goodies upon success, like a brand new Fountain, 100 EXP, and 2,500 Coins.

Step 3: Olivia is the next of our favorite residents to require some assistance regarding the Village Faire. This one is all about crafting, so folks who love to make Crafts will get a kick out of this. First and foremost, you will have to ask your neighbors for Lemons. This is one of those “six click” objectives, meaning your neighbors must click on the request six times to give you six of the items, where you used to have to “Use” them in your gift box, but now they’re automatically deposited within the Quest window. Cool! Beyond this, you must make six total Crafts: three Lionhead Ale and three Barley Crumpets.

Step 4: Your reward will be a really cool Lemonade Stand, 100 EXP, and 2,500 Coins. The Lemonade Stand is incredibly cute. The final part of the Quest is to ensure everyone is full, so you will have to harvest 200 Cara Potatoes, which really do look delicious, and visit your neighbors to fertilize 25 of their plots. Upon completion of this task, you will receive a brand new costume, the Riding Outfit, and the usual EXP and Coin bonuses.

New Items: Romantic Cottage, Wedding Fountain, and More

There are a lot of returning items in FarmVille with the arrival of the Enchanted Love theme, as well as some new ones. Let’s take a look at both the Building and Decorations tabs in one post for a change, due to the smaller amount of new stuff.

The only new item in Wednesday’s Market update under the Buildings tab is the Romantic Cottage, a cutesy, homey addition to the Market. This is a very soft Building on the eyes, with easy browns and tans to look at, which blend nicely with the pink flowers that grace the topiary surrounding the Building. We particularly enjoy the threshold that sits at the doorstep, covered in beautiful roses. This is a plain Jane type of Building, and the price is too steep at 20 FV Cash, but it’s very cute. 2,000 EXP will be awarded to those who purchase this rotatable structure.

A pairing of returning Gnomes is also on the Market, but they are of the old sort. On the new side of Decorations, we have a new Coin item that is quite bulky: the Wedding Bouquet. This is a very large rendition of what we typically think of when we hear “wedding bouquet,” right? It is due to the excess flowers, as well as the podium they rest atop. This is a cute addition to your farm if you’re recently wedded or to be wedded, as well as if you’re just nutso about flowers. It costs 100,000 Coins.

Back to the FV Cash items for the week, the Wedding Fountain is easily our favorite Decoration of the week’s update, clocking in at 7 FV Cash so it can technically, by FV Cash standards anyway, be affordable. It is a white fountain that is held up with purple-lined pillars and adorned with a pair of lovebirds at the top. White roses line the bottom of the structure, as the animated water flows down the multi-tiered decoration. If you buy this one, it will give you 1,200 EXP.

If the Wedding Bouquet is too large for your farm, you can try the lesser-expensive option, which is the Wedding Flower Pot. It is a gold flower pot containing beautiful red and white flowers springing out of greenery, sitting upon a pristine pedestal. It costs 20,000 Coins. If you’re looking for something new to fence in your items, the Wedding Fence provides a solid white surface with big pink ribbons draped along it. Each piece of fencing costs 5,000 Coins.

What is your favorite item this week?

News: “Illegal” Sheep Producing Plain Lambs

It seems that Zynga has made some serious changes to breeding “illegal” Animals in FarmVille.

This was found in their blog update tonight:

We wanted to give an update to everyone regarding certain kinds of disallowed sheep that have been available in FarmVille as well as a similar issue that appeared with pigs this past weekend. Certain types of sheep and pig colors/patterns not yet released have been improperly distributed in FarmVille; we are currently going through the process of making sure this practice stops.

The steps that we have taken are:

* The methods by which players were able to breed unreleased sheep and pig colors and patterns have been closed.
* Players who bred sheep and pigs using illicit methods have had their animals revert to their original base colors and no patterns.
* Pigs and sheep acquired from feed posts (but at some point were generated using illicit methods) will get to retain their unusual colors and patterns. However, attempts to breed with these pigs or sheep will result in default colors and no additional pattern inheritance. Should we release these additional colors or patterns legitimately then players will be able to breed that animal in the appropriate, correct manner. This is not an implication that you or your neighbors have done something wrong. This is a breeding restriction of colors and patterns that as of yet have not intended to be released.
So what’s currently allowed to breed and what’s not?

* Most current colors are allowed but the “flashing” colors are definitely not.

* Currently Allowed Sheep Patterns: Plain, Spotted, Striped
* Currently Alllowed Pig Patterns: Plain, Spotted

Again, the intention is to stop the distribution of colors and patterns that are not currently intended but not to punish our players who have acquired these animals legitimately. When we do release these colors or patterns, you’ll be able to breed with them just as intended.

What this means is that the above two Sheep would have normally bred a Ram or Ewe that looked similar to themselves, but now they create this really unusual Sheep that we have never seen before:

Yeah, that was heavy sarcasm. While we understand Zynga’s frustrations in these hackers cracking their code and releasing the data before it is due, might we recommend finding a better way to protect said data so that aforementioned hoodlums cannot access it instead of nerfing (making an item inferior — pardon the videogame terminology, all of you non-gamers) all of our cool Sheep? For many, Sheep breeding is a community effort, and breeding them for neighbors is the majority of the fun, especially considering the harsh cap on the amount of Animals we can have on our farm.

Obviously, we feel like a solution needed to be had in order to restore the integrity of the system, but this will only agitate players by further constricting breeding in FarmVille. One of the key ways to remove the fun from anything is to enforce too many rules, and these actions – along with the trouble in receiving Love Potions for four Buildings, restrictions on how many Animals you can have per farm, and lack of Bottles has drawn us, personally, away from breeding. We love a lot of what FarmVille does, but not stuff like this.

How do you feel about all of this breeding hoopla? We would love to hear your constructive opinions for better or worse.

New Items: Wedding Tree and Giant Wedding Tree

It’s a grand wedding celebration! We had to run to the store for FV Cash cards, but we are back and ready to roll out our reviews of tonight’s items.

Let’s begin with what is sure to be a top seller this week, the Wedding Tree. It comes along under the guise of the Enchanted Love theme, celebrating the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. This particular Tree is one of much beauty, as it is a purple-pink hybrid in color and grows glorious beads of pristine white when it is ripe. This one is a fantastic make-believe Tree in the land of FarmVille, but we dislike the 7 FV Cash it requires in order to obtain it – this seems to be a new trend, and if there is one thing we dislike, it is higher prices.

Oh boy. If there are two things we dislike, they are higher prices and Giant versions of Trees. If you want to combine those two things we dislike, it is higher prices on Giant Trees, and this one falls under that category at 12 FV Cash instead of 10 FV Cash. We always put up a fuss, even if it’s over a measly 2 FV Cash — hey, it adds up! The Giant Wedding Tree shares the same statistics as its Level 1 counterpart, as they both give you 150 coins over the course of two days and require 75 harvests to reach the first level of Mastery.

We like the smaller one best, as always. Stay tuned for more reviews throughout the night!

Mystery Game: April 24, 2011

Here are our results from this week’s Mystery Game!

Not too shabby at all! We even hit three Rare prizes out of these Darts. This is an above average week for us, and the only thing that was a bit tricky to obtain was one of the Uncommons. The Mystery Game costs 20 FV Cash per Dart this week, but is it worth it?

The only thing lamer than the Black Shire Horse being the top Rare prize of the week last week is the White Shire Horse being this week’s top get. Seriously, we have seen many excellent black and white Horses over the past six months throughout FarmVille, we desperately need something else – and no, we do not mean a pink variation of the Shire Horse as the top prize for next week. This is a disappointing top prize for a second straight week.

On the other hand, it is hard to go wrong with a secondary Rare prize that’s in the form of the White Wolf. It has the feel of an Uncommon prize more so than one of the two Rares, but it’s still adorable if you do not have a Wolf up to this point (otherwise it would be redundant). The best part about this White Wolf is, of course, the animation where it howls at the moon, as seen above. This is the usual Wolf model, so as mentioned it may seem a bit pointless if you’ve already got a Wolf on your farm.

Get ready to say “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” as loud as possible, as the returning White Kitten has arrived in FarmVille as an Uncommon Animal in this week’s Mystery Game.  We were hoping for a separate feature on Kittens, sort of like how the Ducklings and Piglets became a small factor in the game, but we suppose this will make do. The White Kitten is fairly cute is an unorthodox way, as it closely resembles a big cat’s kittens compared to a domesticated cat’s babies.

We previously spoke of the Red Fox Kit, an Uncommon Animal from the Mystery Game on March 22, 2011, and mentioned how it was an improved repaint of an older Animal named the Arctic Fox. Well, now you’re staring at it. We always thought this design was stellar, but it seems a little strange to us that Zynga is re-releasing this one so close after launching the paint job just one month ago. Certainly a curious decision, and one that will be met with mixed views, we’re guessing.

Yeah, there are even more re-releases in this week’s Mystery Game, as half of the items that comprise the Mystery Game this week. This is the White Squirrel, which will cheer up the majority of our readers despite our hatred of this goofy-looking critter. As always, we’re here to slam the beloved Squirrels. We were shocked to see how many of our readers loved the Squirrels as their favorite Animal in all of FarmVille, so we definitely recognize that we are in the minority here, but yikes… We really dislike their design. Oh well, love it or hate it, it is a Common item this week.

To wrap up this week’s Mystery Game is our favorite item of the entire shebang and one of the two Common items to fill out the Mystery Game’s roster, the White Stork. This is a brilliant design that closely resembles the previously-released Baby Alpaca and Deer Fawn from older Mystery Games. We’re guessing the same, very talented artist designed this one, as well, as it certainly visits the slender, tall, and stylistic profile. Regardless, we love it because it really stands out. It ruffles its feathers occasionally by the twitching of its wings.

All-in-all, we recommend passing this week. It costs too much at 20 FV Cash per throw, it has a weak top prize and features not one, not two, but three returning items. Overall, this one is a bummer.

New Crafts: Love Potions, Bricks, Boards, and Nails

You folks asked for it, and you’ve got it: you can now make four new Crafts, including Love Potions, Bricks, Boards, and Nails.

Zynga has introduced one new Craft into each of the Crafting Buildings, with the English Countryside’s universally-owned Pub getting the one that everybody needs most: Love Potions, giving you no excuse not to have as many as your heart desires. Similarly, the Home farm Crafting Buildings each receive a recipe for one of the three key ingredients to building anything around FarmVille: Bricks for the Bakery, Boards for the Spa, and Nails for the Winery.

Here on the four new Recipes:

Love Potion (Pub): 4 Field Bean Bushels, 3 Pink Aster Bushels, and 5 English Pea Bushels

Brick (Bakery): 5 Coffee Bushels, 3 Pepper Bushels, and 4 Ginger Bushels

Boards (Spa): 4 Morning Glory Bushels, 5 Lilac Bushels, and 3 Sunflower Bushels

Nails (Winery): 5 White Grape Bushels, 4 Rice Bushels, and 3 Grape Bushels

While they certainly do not make a lick of sense, we are happy to have another way to receive the items we need in FarmVille. How about you?

New Item: Royal Palace

It really seems like Zynga is on a roll with unleashing the oversized Buildings as of late with the English Countryside, since the likes of the English B&B are quite vast in length to provide a nice structure that runs along the northern side of your virtual land. The latest oversized “Long John”-style Building to hit the Market is the Royal Palace, where the likes of the Royal Horse must certainly dwell, or so we’re guessing.

The Royal Palace is quite the regal dwelling, resembling that of a fancy museum where expensive art is held. It is European in design, with a lion insignia adorning the front entrance to the large Building. It will take up quite some space, as well, as it measures up to 2 x 8 in terms of plot size. The real treasure here is the various shrubbery found around the Building, which seems to take a life of its own.

Of course, the price is the true hang-up, as is the case with all of the long Buildings that have arrived throughout the game as of late. You will have to shell out a mammoth amount of FV Cash for this one, clocking in at 45 FV Cash once you reach the checkout. The upside to this is that it will give you 4,500 EXP, and it can be rotated in case you are rather partial to lining up your Buildings to the northeast rather than the northwest.

We cannot recommend anything this expensive, unfortunately, especially a decorative Building.

How-to: Pig Breeding

Due to some bad thunderstorms in our neck of the woods, Free Stuff Friday is on a break for this week while we reload our goodie bag with more stuff to give away next week! But fear not, as we have exciting news. On a more than rare Friday night update, we have a brand new feature to bring to you: Pig Breeding!

Step 1: Upon logging into your FarmVille Home farm tonight, you will be greeted with the above window, telling you that you have received a complimentary Boar. It seems that Slop is no longer needed to hunt for Truffles, as you will truffle hunt when you collect from your Pigpen from now on. You can trade in your additional Slop for extra Love Potions, if you like. Place the Boar into your previously-constructed Pigpen.

Step 2: You will now be greeted with this new window, which details every part of Pig Breeding with simplicity if you hover your mouse over each step. It works exactly like Sheep Breeding, as you will use Love Potions to increase the chance of success and use the Pigpen identically to the Sheep Pen from here on out.  The pop-ups go on to explain that the father and mother dictate the colors, while the father alone has the baby’s patterns.

Step 3: Once you’re inside the Pigpen, it is time to do some breeding. As you can see, we chose to breed these two Pigs three times to see what our results would be. If you are curious as to how you can judge a Boar from a Sow, they are distinguishable from Sows due to their little patch of hair atop their heads. You can only breed Sows with Boars and vice versa.

Step 4: Here are our results from breeding those same two Pigs three times in a row. We received one Boar and two Sows, and each one looked different. As you can see, our Boar wound up looking like a hybrid of blue and green, while our Sows turned out teal and off-black. In order to grow a Piglet up into a new Pig, you will need to feed it 10 Bottles, which you can now finally receive in Special Delivery Boxes! How cool is that?

Step 5: There are three total mating rooms that you can unlock in the Pigpen, though we suspect that many of you will have already underwent the painstaking task of adding Bricks, Boards, and Nails long, long ago when the Pigpen was first introduced. In case you’re like us and you did not max out your Pigpen previous, you can Look Inside the Pigpen and select the “Expansion” button. This will bring up the above screen, allowing you to Ask for More from your friends.
If you have ever bred Sheep, then breeding Pigs will be a piece of cake! Are you excited to see the new patterns that will surely turn up on the Market soon?

New Items: Wedding Cake, Wedding Carriage, and More

One last overhaul to the Market has come in the guise of Decorations, and once again it celebrates the upcoming marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

We suppose the best way to start anything off is with a little bit of cake, so let’s get to tonight’s premium Enchanted Love item that is available strictly for Coins. This is the Wedding Cake, and it’s a good thing that we are not attending the wedding, as we might just shove our face in this thing the minute we’d walk through the door. Hey, we do love cake. This is a standard, non-animated Decoration available for 100,000 Coins, which is good for 1,000 EXP for those of you who are looking for a quick boost to reach the next level.

As for the week’s premium FV Cash item, it is the latest in the long line of carriages in FarmVille’s history. We have never been huge on carriages, since they generally take up a lot of space and cannot be rotated due to the slight animations that they have, but this one’s done a decent job of exceeding our expectations. The Wedding Carriage costs 18 FV Cash and gives the usual amount of EXP you would expect in 1,800. We like the White Roses attached to the front of the carriage, as they provide a nice touch.

Elsewhere on the FV Cash side of things is the Wedding Swing, a brand new Decoration in the Enchanted Love theme. What is strange about this one is both the complete lack of animation (it is a swing, after all, so we assumed it would swing) and the fact that it cannot be rotated despite the aforementioned lack of animation. It is still quite pretty, with regal purple cushions and solid gold frame, and beautiful flowers strung around the decorative piece. It costs 7 FV Cash and will give you 700 EXP if you purchase it.

Finally, we have a couple of Coin items that can be used to decorate and spruce up your farm in various ways. The previously-launched Rose Petals are wonderful items to throw around your farm to give it a little added flair, and can be purchased for 2,000 Coins each. The Wedding Archway will go perfectly with the Groom and Bride Gnomes, if you managed to get and save them from Valentine’s Day. Otherwise, it might look a little out of place. It costs 50,000 Coins.

The Mystery Game review is coming up next!

New Items: Royal Horse and Royal Guard Duck

Tonight’s Market update brings several goodies along for the ride with the Enchanted Love theme, which is a thinly veiled theme surrounding the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

We are receiving some Horse royalty in tonight’s update, or so it seems. This is our favorite Horse in a long time, which says a lot since there have been some mighty fine Horses since the English Countryside arrived. This black and white marbled Horse is dubbed the Royal Horse, and features a royally embroidered saddle made of gold and red colors – it even produces its own Foal, which wears the saddle, too. We really love this one and give it our highest recommendation, even for 26 FV Cash. Our favorite part may very well be the furry legs on this one; it’s really cute.

Elsewhere on the Market pond is the one to protect the Queen and all of her glory: the Royal Guard Duck. This fella will make sure that nobody will interfere with nonsense, as you can tell by his stone cold face of intimidation… Okay, so probably not the best game face known to man, but hey, it’s certainly distracting with its cuteness, right? If somebody’s thinking of tackling the Queen, they might have second thoughts after seeing a Duck with one of those tall hats on, y’know? This one is a cute addition to the Duck Pond, but we are on the fence about paying 16 FV Cash for a plain Duck in clothing.

What about you, farmer? What’s your opinion on these items?