Mibbler – 29

Hello Mousehunt Heroes…

Last monday – yes now almost a week ago – we all gathered together to witness the Great Winter Star Ceremony …

But just as the Winter Star was being raised, a booming of steel drums drowned out the cheers! Our veteran hunter’s supply of spoiled eggnog from last year’s Winter Hunt burst open, disgorging an indescribable odor…  Well you all know what happened, you were there!

Oh dear: look at the ravage the mice have left for us when they banged in on the Great Winter Star ceremony and …

…and the Game went ‘down’ some more. This time with a perfect explanation:

“It would appear the mice are more foul and devious than we had previously anticipated. (…)
While the air is still dangerous to breathe we have closed off the area and MH will unfortunately be inaccessible during this time. Hopefully we can restore the air to a safe state soon!”

Dev Jacob in: DEV NOTICE: Biohazard Warning in effect!

Now, we were all expecting a Ceremony and an exciting Afterparty, while what we got was sort of a Slow build-up! The mice that are being released these weeks are no new mice as of yet, no excitement there. Lovely amount of Elves bringing Festive Gifts, nothing to complain about there! But a slow party this is, yes.

Less is more, so: Slow is very possibly better… we will see ^^
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Something serious happened to the Tree!

When we got back in we found the Tree and all had been ravaged:

When this happens at home, we would be impressed. How come no hunters are worried?! Do we all trust so much that something good for us will come from this?! We are even joking & jolly about it:

“Pow bang pop!! / Our eggnogs have finally blown their top / Freezing on the ice / The tree was stolen by mice”
– Melissa McG.
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Boss mice behind Coup & Slow Build-up!

Not all hope is lost! “A few of the bravest Mousehunters were so formidable they managed to tough out the eggnog stench … [and] they learnt that there are 12 mouse types working for 1 mysterious boss! All we know of this festi-villain is that he leaves eggnoggey footprints in the snow…
Now it is up to you, brave hunter, to enter the Great Festive Hunt of 2010, capture the 12 mice of winter, defeat their noggy master and restore our holiday!”

Take a close look at this calender to plan your festive Comet hunting strategies:

And don’t forget: As you catch these mice, lights in your holiday strand will turn on as you recover the ~ spirit ~ of the Winter Hunt.

Did you notice with the Toy and Candycane mouse that the light bulb flashes when you catch more of that particular mouse?

To be very clear on how you’d better plan your december-holidays around Mousehunt dev Andrew added this: “The boss mice is intended to arrive around the 23rd – we don’t want to hog people Christmas time with their families.”

source: Festive Disaster! – The Festive Comet is invaded!

ps: A cute & handy little calender has shown up in the Comet’s HUD. In the game it brings you very easy acces to the big calender (in pop-up)! Handy indeed!
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Winter Hunt Forum section… partly out of hand

A new section has been made in the Forum especially for this Great Winter Hunt: “Looking to meet and greet fellow festive hunters? In the giving mood and looking for new friends to share gifts with? Discuss everything festive here!”

As soon as the new Great Winter Hunt Forum section was put into place, it was swamped with trading-boxes-threads. The section of the forum for the Winter Hunt was filled with 1000s of trading threads and it was hard to get to the other discussions. What was happening in the Kingdom? Have we become the Kingdom of Trade? Is MH a marketplace-game?

source: New Forum: Great Winter Hunt >>
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Official Feedback-on-the-Winter-Hunt poll

Besides a lot of trading posts, the Feedback-on-the-Winter-Hunt poll is in that new section! Dev Jacob made this Poll and wants our opinion, and he wants it again in the coming weeks, while the Great Winter Hunt progresses:

“I would love to get your feedback on how you are liking the start of The Great Winter Hunt 2010!… So vote for this week and then give me an update next week when I post the next poll!

Go (still to) vote here: Feedback on the start of The Great Winter Hunt 2010 event

And keep an eye open for the new next-week’s Polls & Feedback-threads!
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Gift Boxes no longer Giftable/Tradeable

Some of the feedback expressed doubts whether it was a good idea to let hunters buy their way through areas in the game (1000 boxes for 1 hunter?! Ridiculous!). And there was a big problem with scamming (and nothing to be done about it) while the trading became such a huge affair.
So since sometime last tuesday, the Gift Boxes are no longer available to trade. A message from the King of Gnawnia appeared:

“Attention all hunters! Due to the intense demand and throughput of gifts the workers in the post office are fed up, to prevent a strike the King has decreed that all Winter Gift boxes dropped by elf mice are no longer tradable. All other gifts are fine.”

source: A message from the King of Gnawnia

As the Trading was very, very, very popular (meaning: done/used by many many hunters), it only was to be expected that there is much protest about this measure taken and the abruptness off it. A lot of pleas for making the Gift Boxes available through the Marketplace have arosen, mainly in short repeated threads and also in the above announcement thread.

Just to manage expectations: We do not expect the Gift Boxes to become tradable in any way again.

On the bright side: There are new promising uncollected Collectibles showing up in the Items-tab on your Profile! ;)
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Basic Advice on Trading & not getting scammed

In the midst of the turbulence that turned Mousehunt into a Boxes-marketplace-of-sorts, a much needed Guide to how not to get scammed was posted on the Forums. And it got stickied so that it is now easily to be found at the top of that Forum section:

sticky source: How to Avoid Getting Scammed

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Mousehunt Heroes pay attention: One of the tips that is missing from the Guide’s list is this one: Only trade with your trusted close mousehuntfriends!
Inside our group MhHitM you can arrange for exchange of gifts and goodies:  Trading Festive Comet Gifts 2010
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Jacob Paints Live in FBF!

Jacob announced last week that in this week’s Feedback Friday he will be attempting to do a live painting: “I’ve never done anything like that, so we’ll see how bad it goes, don’t miss it!”

As we speak i am still watching his drawing-process and it is amazing to follow his creaton of a mouse!

Before all the drawing a Feedback session was on:

The FBF review: “Art Feedback Friday” Review by MHCC 3rd Dec”

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==== Forum Features: What’s keeping hunters busy? ====
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Guides on the Great Winter Hunt

Many a helpfull thread has been written and put together since the Burst of the EggNog:

1) THE Guide: “ The event is upon us, and the Guide to Mousehunt is prepared with a dedicated page to the event! The page will be updated as the event continues. Enjoy!

2) A FAQ-Thread on the new forum, also promising to be updated while the Hunt develops: FAQ on Great Winter Hunt of 2010

3) Mentioned last week:
The Unofficial Guide to The Great Winter Hunt 2010!

4) And on the old forums a 15-points FAQ has appeared:
Great Winter Hunt 2010 FAQ
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In the mean time * drumrolls * Claws & EggNoggy Footprints…!

We are awaiting the Boss mice… On that i have found not much news, maybe only this: The barrels of Twelve Liters of Egg Nog have a new and promising description: “Oh dear. Well, the good news is that the eggnog is open. The bad news is that it seems to have opened on its own… almost as if something clawed it’s way out from the inside.”

Sadly the image of the Barrel is not yet updated. I would love to see how bad that clawed opening looks! How tough will that one or more Boss Mice coming from them Barrels be?! O.o
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Two Tickets… huh? Larry on a Horse?

Nobody can have missed out on the fun of last tuesday’s new Festive Gift Shoppe items. “On another note, the King wonders if anyone has two tickets to that thing you love?”

“What’s in your hand?”
Back at me.
“It’s an oyster to that thing you love.”
Look again.
“THE TICKETS ARE NOW DIAMONDS!!!”
Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady.

“I’m on a horse.”

Are you as clueless as i was? (Being mainland-European I had no clue whatsoever!) Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

Afterwards, it wasn’t a lady who screamed enthusiastically: “It is now the best.event.ever”! (It was Justin D.) And did we notice that the male hunters around the Kingdom seemed to rather like this! LOL And this is all about a Collectible changing into another Collectible you see, that’s how mad we hunters are! :)

== Explosiun! ==
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Hunters (hardcore collectors mainly) worry about: Frozen Fromage

Many a hunter has gone longingly mad for this rare item:

“This small morsel of frozen bait has been magically frozen and is unable to be thawed. The King has assigned the top scientists of Digby to investigate a way to thaw the bait. – Class: Convertible”

If you were lucky enough to get one morsel dropped (about an estimated 2% droprate there!), it is on your special tab. When you “Try to Thaw” one, it says that “It seems no amount of heat will melt the magical ice.”

Worries went through the Roof and the Collector’s Mind of many a hunter has grown more and more eager with every passing hour and no Frozen Fromage yet. Luckily dev Jacob has said:”The drop rate is extremely low on the early event mice, no worries, the later mice will have a much higher drop rate. Also as I have stated, the cheese will not be required, it’s just added fun.”

Well Jacob, you don’t know your average hunter very well. This is what’s happening to us:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=jccONkeGkZw

Two of many a discussion thread on this pain: Frozen Fromage = New Boss Cheese &  FRozen FRomage

One of the places Jacob has sought to ‘comfort’ us: The Feedback Thread post xxx

And if you are the more Analytical kind of Mousehunter, you can go & give your opinion in a Poll: Do you prefer rare loot or common loot? Paul H. has “noticed that we’ve been recently getting quite a few loot drops with a very low frequency of drops. This is currently the case with Frozen Fromage.”
But what do we actually think about that? And what do we prefer?

Go vote in the Poll: Loot frequency

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In MhHitM we are making good use of the Whine-thread, singing hunting chants together to get that much wanted lootdrop.
So if you are still in pain & longing for the Frozen Fromage, like many of us, do find some comfort and support: Frustrated? Have some Whine!
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Hunters (mainly lower ranks) worry about: Obtaining GB planks…

Another topic concerning the community at the moment is the difficulty obtaining Gingerbread Planks. That is, this is not difficult for everyone. But it is difficult for two groups of hunters: for lower rank hunters, as gold is a main issue of concern for them.

And it is difficult for hunters with little mousehunt-friends: At the moment the only way to get hold of these are to have them sent to you by a friend. Some people feel that this approach is the most suitable and should remain as it is, however others believe that the system should be altered so that hunters are able to buy their own Gingerbread Planks.

source: Devs,….Please let hunters buy their own Planks.
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Hunters (all and everyone) worried about: Elf Madness …???

And according to the Event-calender  the Thursday Elf Madness had started. Hunters wondered whether it had started for a long time. Still awaiting more Elfs to show up. Even starting to wonder maybe Madness was defined as 105% Elfs? Or whether the % had been turned the wrong way: down instead of up?

“So what they are really saying is that the “Elf Madness” is that there has been an increase (ha ha ha) of Elf’s but that they are really just watching us go mad trying to catch Elf’s.” (Carol R)

Finally dev Andrew brought us some revealing statements: “Hi guys, a few things to keep in mind with Elf Madness:
1) The elf starting population is definitely increased. But when the event started, there weren’t any other Winter Mice available to be caught – now that two of those have been released, your chance of catching an elf is not as high as it was at the start of the event.
2) There are more Elves looking for standard bait, but elves really like Gingerbread cheese and Superbrie.
3) Luck is fickle.”

Let’s go with no.3. Otherwise i can’t make cheese out of this (Yes: bad translation of a Dutch expression).

Dev Andrew. post  34 in Thread: Dear Devs – Is Elf Madness ON?
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Quick Thread-Tips for the New Forum

– Threads and discussions of old back on the New Forum: The Official Wiki Suggestion Thread

– Go ahead and Ask Larry! – He has come back to answer questions! And he did post the recipe to his famous sandwich!

– Everyday for the rest of this month, Shawn is going to make a chart showing the trend of the price of Super|Brie+: Super|Brie+ Trend
Be a trendwatcher & go to the spreadsheet directly >>

– And once more: How to Avoid Getting Scammed

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==== Rumors… Opinions & Stories ====
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CCB giveaway(s)

A big Thanks goes out to Nadine for hosting the CandyCane Base giveaway! Initiate rank player take a look here: http://tinyurl.com/2vk5bex

Nadine has been busy lately, as the Trebuchet Giveaway is also still up & running: DraGGun’s Kwakkel Trebuchet Trap Giveaway and more…...

The AN/AM has a CandyCane Base help programme, all members have been notified through pm.

Plus the AN/AM has been busy with a Festival of Lights Giveaway. Go join in if you like the idea of gold or sb+ prices:  AN/AM Festival of Lights Giveaway – Posting Closes Dec 7th @ 11PM GMT

And please direct all lower rank players you encounter to these Giveaways!
Now all we need is a Gingerbread planks program for lower ranks…
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Ronza speculations, a Summary

Last weeks FBF led to some Ronza speculations. For those who have never seen Ronza before in their Mousehunt-career, they are fearing and looking forward to meet her at the same time. And many are wondering whether she will ever come back again. I won’t mention any of the threads about this, only a summary of last week’s speculations after the FBF-mentioning her:

“Moustachio the Charmer = Santa Claus? Distant land = North Pole? But but…”

“She’s in a far off land? She’s away for a long time.”

“The name sounds like a loverboy. So Ronza may come in Valentines day? Bring some kind of Charmer Trap? About that Santa: I think he’s not much of a moustache guy, more like a bearded guy (tho he has a moustache).”

“Moustachio the Charmer” – This [can be] a big clue she will be coming for Valentine’s Day. Not Christmas. – Eric S.

No more for now. But i reckon the devs will announce her coming on beforehand though, and not spring her presence on us. (Like they promised to do in future cases, roundabout a year ago.)
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Elf mice coming in waves?

Chad M: “Anybody else notice that the elf mice seem to come in waves?”

George O: “As no one else is seeing the same pattern, I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is a typical case of confirmation bias.”

Pssst: Confirmation bias later in the discussion being explained as: “For every person who is experiencing streakiness, there are two others who are not and not talking about it on the forums or with their friends.” Chua Z.

And yes, that thread attracted more hunters reporting in with patterns, confirming the waves or streakiness. Reason tells us: “It is all easily explained by simple variance. End of story. We humans want and tend to see patterns where there aren’t any: Humans have hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary programming to detect patterns.”

* editor shrugs & spies another wave *

source: Elf mice in waves…?
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Decent Dress

Now we all want to wear a decent dress coming Christmas: “You wear your Decent Dress and feel a warm sense of confidence!”

So please hunt Elfs, get some goodies inside them boxes, buy yourself a pair of SuperBriefs and join the Club: The Super Brief Club!
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Last but not Least: The BountyHunt Mice Generator!

The Tavern Times had this first announced on their fanpage, but it is to good to let it slip: “Are you organizing or participating a spelling based bounty hunt? Use this tool by Amanda Ng. to help you out!”

Mousehunt BountyHunt Mice Generator

I tried to spell :Love: with it and it looks great!  ^^

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= = = = = Cookies & Credentials  = = = = =
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Thanks to Martin K, my MH-chatgroup, Animal & Carol in particular & the Girlies.

Todays cookies … are Eggnog cookies of course :)

# Anybody who has news or wants to write a (fluffy) piece, or maybe even a whole edition of the Mibbler, can send the copy, the idea, or even just the interesting thread-adress… to my pm-box :)

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