Tips on Being a Good Neighbour

I have written posts about this before, but as I visited some of my Neighbours today, I realised a new post might be helpful to some of my fellow farmers.

First of all, there is a proliferation of cleanable Decorations that makes a visit a bit different from Neighbour visits in the past.   Cleanable Decoration are not all equal by any means.  The ones that deliver the best rewards on the original Seaside Farm,  generally speaking, are the ones that give Blue Gift Boxes.    Most of these come from items offered in special sales events as well as some of the Rewards for completing a Cooking Stand Event but there are a few that can be purchased in the Market.  These include the Market Stall and the Clothes Drying Rack.  Decorations purchased with Coins usually do not deliver the best Rewards when cleaned.  Most of the time-restricted Quest Rewards give Purple Cleaning Boxes.

I did write a post once that listed all of the Cleanable Decorations with the colours of Gift Boxes or other Rewards that they yielded, but it needs to be updated.  Meanwhile, though, from memory, I do know that the following yield Blue Gift Boxes:  Market Stall, Clothes Drying Rack, Mini Beach, Red Panda Habitat, Small Squirrel, Toucan, Sheep Table Set, Christmas Train, Mommy Duck, Thai Elephant, Japanese Garden, Flamingo, Boy Cupid, Girl Cupid, Teddy Bear Balloon, Panda Table Set.  There are a few more, but I have to make certain before I add them to the list.  I would imagine that, once earned, the Cow Table Set will as well as this is a Cooking Stand Contest Reward and so far, all Rewards from these Contests have yielded the coveted Blue Gift Box.

There are some that surprisingly do NOT give Blue Gift Boxes, including the Willow, yielding only a Silver,  Duck Swimming Pool and the Hammock. Nor does the large Swimming Pool.

There is a distinction to be made between Cleanable Decoraitons on the Island and those on the original Seaside Farm.  Island Decorations when cleaned tend to yield Gift Boxes that include items useful only to Farmers on the Island.  They do include items that can be used on either Farm but the tools used to fell Island Trees and so on can be found in these boxes as well.

There are two situations that can be frustrating to visitors.  One is when Farmers have an enormous number of Decorations jumbled together in such a way as to give a visitor no way of knowing how to tap on the ones that give the best Gift Boxes because they are placed so close together.  This is counterproductive not only for the visitor but for the Farmer who owns the Decorations because often they include the Decorations that yield only coins.  It is better to store Decorations now that give only coins, keeping out only the ones that yield decent Gift Boxes.

Second, very often one visits a Farm only to find that all the plots are empty, awaiting a new planting.  I do understand that Farmers who are involved in a quest sequence may wish to wait for the next task, but meanwhile, one always can plant Clover, taking only half an hour to mature or Pasture or Pineapple, both of which take only an hour to mature.  A visitor cannot earn any Coins or  XP from empty plots or from Trees that need to be harvested.  That is the third issue... too often, all Trees on a Farm are laden with ripe fruit and need to be harvested before a visitor can interact with them.

Again, these are not issues that affect only the visitor.  The Farmer who owns the Farm will achieve more if he/she makes certain to perform the tasks that will give both visitors and himself or herself the best results.

A final point is the speed with which any Farmer obtains his/her Gift Boxes from Decorations that have been cleaned by Neighbours in the course of any given day.  In my game, all Gift Boxes from Neighbour Visits appear on my Decorations at 8.00 p.m. each night.  I do not know if the time is constant irrespective of the Farmer's time zone or varies from zone to zone, but it is a good idea to find out when this occurs so that you can obtain benefits from Neighbour visits to your Farm again where your most valuable Decorations are concerned.

I know that I am not perfect in terms of my own Farm and my actions.  I keep far too many Irises on my field.  I hope that one day the developers will make this a permanent Crop but meanwhile, these are plots that can receive a Neighbour's interaction only once.

As far as Decorations are concerned, apart from those that appeal to me personally, I do try to load my Farm with those that yield the Blue Gift Boxes.  I have stored many of those that yielded only Coins.    (Many of the Christmas Decorations give Coins and it is the wrong time of year for those in any case!  The only Christmas Decoration on my farm now is the beautiful candle surrounded with angels and that is simply because I think it is enchanting.  Actually, the Train is a Christmas Decoration but it gives the Blue Gift Box, so I have two on the Farm for visitors to clean.

Note, however, that there are Achievements that require you to obtain specific totals of other colours of Gift Boxes, including the Golden Cleaning Gift Box. Silver Cleaning Gift Box and Purple Cleaning Gift Box.   Do not scorn the lesser colours, therefore, as every Achievement gives its own Rewards.

If you visit your Neighbours on a daily basis, it is more likely that they will visit you as one of the default list orders of Neighbours is your Most Recent Helpers.  Thus, if you visit a Neighbour, your place in the list will be higher than a Farmer who did not do so.

In this context, it perhaps would be helpful to discuss the Neighbour option.  At the top of the Neighbour screen (accessed either through your Menu or the icon of hands clasping) you will see on the left a pull-down box that gives different visiting orders.  There are:  Recent Helpers, Fertilisable, Facebook, Call Back, Level, Island Farm and New.  Each has its own advantages.  The 'Call Back' option usually is used only when you wish to delete Neighbours who no longer play the game.  This is important only if you have reached the maximum number of Neighbours allowed by the game.

On the top right of the Neighbour screen is an option to mark 'Island Farm First'.  This will take you directly to the Island of any Neighbour who has unlocked it.  Cleaning Decorations on the Island delivers different Gift Boxes than the Decorations on the original Seaside Farm.  There is only one problem with this option:  you will not have access to the Cooking Stand.  If there is no active Cooking Stand Contest, this will not matter, but if there is an ongoing Contest, you will miss the opportunity to obtain the Cooking Gift Bags that are available in addition to the 1 Cleaning Gift Box you can obtain from any Neighbour's farm per day.

You can toggle back and forth from one option to another.  Visiting 'New' Neighbours is a kindness, even if they are low level players who have not unlocked the Cooking Stand or obtained any Cleanable Decorations yet!  Furthermore, remember that doing so will alert them to your Farm and possibly a reciprocal visit.

In any case, I would urge my Neighbours to store Decorations that do not yield good Rewards unless they love those Decorations and to plant even Clover on their fields rather than leaving plots bare for hours.  I understand this is a game and real life must take precedence, but it makes sense to improve your own yields as well as those of your visitors if you can.

Daily Requests and Free Gifts
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A player who has over 300 Neighbours will be hard-pressed to distinguish between them in terms of gift-giving and usually will 'Select All' when sending a daily Free Gift item but it still may be worth mentioning the Trees that are in the Free Gifts Menu.  Today, when I visited a Neighbour, he/she had changed the name of the farm to 'Do Not Send Trees!'.  Trees make a great free gift for low-level players but a medium or high level player will have no use for them, where Wheat Flour, Milk, Honey, Cheddar Cheese and to a lesser extent, Wine, Blueberry, Red Rose, Glass Bottle, Glass and Earring Hooks always can be used.  White Rose Bouquets can be sold for a fair price, where selling an Apple Tree or Orange Tree yields next to nothing.  To access the FreeGifts option, you need to go to the Menu.  It is the first box on the top left of the screen.  Do not confuse this with Free Gifts on the lower right of your screen that gives you access to your own Gift Box.  Every player both can send a FreeGift and respond to one Request from every Neighbour daily. 

Magic Bunny
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I did not think this topic worth a post of its own but it should be mentioned.  The old 'Activities' pop-up no longer will appear when you access your farm.  Instead, go to Activity in the Menu and tap on it to be taken to the Market where you can purchase a Magic Bunny for 2000 Coins.  This Magic Bunny can be placed anywhere on your Farm, including the Building Plots area.  Tap on it to see the current Weekly Activity.  There is another tab now as well that will take you to the Daily Orders, which have changed to include an increased number of Orders.  Island Items now have been featured randomly as well, requiring that you transport them from the Island before you can sell them.  The Weekly Activity still earns the Farmer 10 Yellow Mystrons.  Somehow, the Daily Orders are connected with Blue Mystrons, but I have not encountered those yet.