Mafia Wars update

Default The Game Design Perspective - Challenge Missions and Vegas
Hey Mafia Wars players!

I’m here again to give you a little inside knowledge about what you have we have in store in the game. We do understand that many of you are very dedicated to Mafia Wars, and we always strive to make sure that this game is one of the best social gaming experiences out there. Keep the comments coming, we will try to put as much of your constructive criticism to good use!

If you have played recently, you probably have seen our brand new feature – “Challenge Missions”! I’m here to answer some of your questions of this new part of Mafia Wars.

1. Are you ceasing to create new big cities like Moscow and Bangkok? What is happening to the Las Vegas city expansion?

The answer to this is a definite no. In fact, I’m sure that the new Vegas content is going to blow you away. With awesome improvements to jobs, fighting and some brand new ways to play the game, Vegas will take Mafia Wars to the next level. You’ll be able to run your own casino in the Las Vegas expansion, as well as bring your fighting skills to assist in completing jobs. Challenge Missions allow fresh content on a more regular basis, but “Big” cities such as Cuba, Moscow and Bangkok are here to stay, and they are going to be bigger and better than ever before.

We understand that many players love the old style of Mafia Wars, and they shouldn't worry - the core experience of doing jobs and fighting will remain unchanged.

2. Why did you choose Paris for the first Challenge Mission?

When choosing the storylines for the Challenge Mission, we wanted to go back to the core of the Mafia Wars experience, that of high stakes crime. Our team brainstormed quite a few ideas about what kind of heist would be considered the ultimate score. We came to the conclusion that the Mona Lisa had the immediate name recognition across the many different countries in which Mafia Wars players live. Paris was a simple decision after that, since the Louvre houses Da Vinci’s masterpiece.

One of the exciting things that Challenge Missions allows us to do is to visit even more exotic locales in the Mafia Wars world. So who knows, we might be heading to your home city next!

3. I don’t have enough maps! Aren’t you making maps hard to get so you can sell them?

We made sure that diligent players would have more than enough maps just through collecting them each day via the button on the main Challenge Mission: Paris page, and making sure that you don’t play while the heat meter is too high. So don’t fret if you aren’t getting too many from fights, jobs and robbing, as you’ll have enough purely from the collection button. The Challenge Mission was named to be just that, but we wanted to make sure that the rewards were worth it. The French Kiss and DaVinci Q415 items are amongst the best items in the game. On the other hand, we were careful to make sure that no player was forced to buy maps if they were dedicated players.

4. How often will Challenge Missions occur?

Challenge Missions are going to be an ongoing feature of Mafia Wars, to allow us to add depth to the game experience. It is also there to present a good experience for both new and old players. Each Challenge Mission will have a unique location and storyline, and even the requirements and gameplay will change from time to time. Challenge Mission: Paris is just the start of something big for Mafia Wars – it certainly won’t be the same thing twice!

That’s enough from me, but I’ll be back soon to give you more inside looks into Mafia Wars!

- TeeBS