Age of Ash discussion

[Chloe11111]

I haven't posted one of these in a while ... and I love this aspect of the game so here goes.

The Institute of Volcanology is based on the Paramount building in New York. Located at 1501 Broadway, it is identifiable by its clock. It was designed by brothers C.W and George Rapp and was completed in 1927. Unsurprisingly, the building used to contain a theater but it was closed in 1964.

The next building from this event is The Capitol which was awarded for event completion in 2016. Designed by William Thornton, the central sections of this building were completed in 1800! One of the most identifiable buildings in the United States, it is no stranger to pop culture having been "destroyed" in at least 10 movies including Olympus has Fallen, The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day and Logan's Run (image below), and of course 2012 along with several superhero movies.

This one is pretty fun. Who would have thought that we would find the Institute of Siesmology in real life? But we did - well mostly. The designers had a bit of creative fun with the Park Row Building - again in New York, designed by R.H. Robertson and completed in the very late 1800s. This is primarily a residential building and each of the cupolas at the top of the building houses an apartment.

In 1918, Harry Gardiner climbed (up and back down) the building to raise money for the American Red Cross before a crowd of 50,000 people.

The Institute of Tectonic Geology is based on a building in Mexico - The Innovation and Technical and Technology Transfer Park (aka PIT3) at Chihuahua Campus. Designed by Grupo ARKHOS, the building facets were influenced by stealth technology used in aviation and the aggressive lines used in sports cars. The roof of the building has a garden making it one of the largest green roofs in Mexico at about 2500 m2

The final building from this event that we found in the real world is an embarrassment to architecture in Canada. Well, not the whole building - just the crystal extension which is ranked Number 8 on the world's 10 ugliest buildings list.

Very sad though - the original building is lovely and the architect of the extension - Daniel Libeskind - has won many awards including one for his World Trade Center Master Plan. He has designed other buildings that show up in the game including the Showroom (Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre) and the Art Gallery (part of the Jewish Museum Berlin).

 

[BWAU96]

The buildings are interesting...the drops are terrible.

In four days, I've had just one item drop from the volcano. My first 1000 point task was to receive the Nitrogen Cylinder from a flight, and that took nearly two full days. And just a short while ago, I combined "A Plentiful Harvest" (2 hours of +50%) with "Big Score" (30 mins of +100%). During the first 30 min duration of the Big Score, I had just one item drop. The Plentiful Harvest now has one of two hours remaining, and that single Thermographic Camera is still the only item I've seen.

EDIT: and now I just got the "Receive the Apatite" for the next 1060 pt task. I'm guessing that should come along by Friday...

 

[Chloe11111]

The buildings are interesting...the drops are terrible.

In four days, I've had just one item drop from the volcano. My first 1000 point task was to receive the Nitrogen Cylinder from a flight, and that took nearly two full days. And just a short while ago, I combined "A Plentiful Harvest" (2 hours of +50%) with "Big Score" (30 mins of +100%). During the first 30 min duration of the Big Score, I had just one item drop. The Plentiful Harvest now has one of two hours remaining, and that single Thermographic Camera is still the only item I've seen.

EDIT: and now I just got the "Receive the Apatite" for the next 1060 pt task. I'm guessing that should come along by Friday...

That's because you posted about it. I have had slightly better luck - I've had 3 volcano drops

 

[BWAU96]

That's because you posted about it. I have had slightly better luck - I've had 3 volcano drops

Nah...has nothing to do with me posting about it...that's voodoo talk. It has everything to do with GI continuing to tweak their algorithm to get players to lose patience, become frustrated, and then spend a few more dollars to try to get the event progress to move along. I fully support anyone receiving financial rewards for their work, but I think GI has reached a point with this game where they are steadily making it less enjoyable, while trying to increase revenue. I don't know anything about GI's financials on this game. Perhaps they are making good money--if so, good for them. Just looks to me like they have set the stage for a slow erosion of quality.

 

[flyhores]

I've seen the film Independence Day
Aside from architecture, I think the terminator series starring Schwarzenegger is the best movie of this kind.
I remember when the first one was released in Shanghai, I watched it three times.

 

[Bob69bob]

I've seen the film Independence Day

Ummm 🤔, …nope. Got nothing 🫥.

 

[Westland Airport]

No volcano drops here also. It is the worst drop ever...

 

[Brian D]

Also no volcano drops. My last event task has been a volcano drop since day 1 and I have had none. So frustrating

 

[Sydney]

Same this year. Atrocious.

 

[Captain Iceman]

The buildings are interesting...the drops are terrible.

In four days, I've had just one item drop from the volcano. My first 1000 point task was to receive the Nitrogen Cylinder from a flight, and that took nearly two full days. And just a short while ago, I combined "A Plentiful Harvest" (2 hours of +50%) with "Big Score" (30 mins of +100%). During the first 30 min duration of the Big Score, I had just one item drop. The Plentiful Harvest now has one of two hours remaining, and that single Thermographic Camera is still the only item I've seen.

EDIT: and now I just got the "Receive the Apatite" for the next 1060 pt task. I'm guessing that should come along by Friday...

I totally concur with all you have said-I have been sitting & waiting for the same one as you “Receive the Apatite” since the start & still waiting today 😤😤

Response just received to my complaint from Gi 🥱

Hello Chris,
Thank you for contacting us.
Some items are harder to get, as they are quite rare, that's why you will get them with a certain drop rate. In addition, you can get the most points for this task, so it will take several attempts to receive the necessary items.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact me again!

 

[Pavolko_Gun]

Tranlation of GI answer: "if you are not patient, just buy box for greenies and preferebly many of them". But I agree with everyone, the drop rate is ridiculous.

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

It isn’t just the drop rate. It’s that, combined with a single structure with a 60 minutes waiting time. we could have the same drop rate and a 10 min refresh, that would be manageable. As others, I’m waiting for more than a day for one of those. yesterday I had 2 drops from the volcano, none of them the wanted one…

 

[Madge59230]

1 drop since the event started! Laughable 🤣🤣🤣

 

[xvblue]

The buildings are interesting...the drops are terrible.

In four days, I've had just one item drop from the volcano. My first 1000 point task was to receive the Nitrogen Cylinder from a flight, and that took nearly two full days. And just a short while ago, I combined "A Plentiful Harvest" (2 hours of +50%) with "Big Score" (30 mins of +100%). During the first 30 min duration of the Big Score, I had just one item drop. The Plentiful Harvest now has one of two hours remaining, and that single Thermographic Camera is still the only item I've seen.

EDIT: and now I just got the "Receive the Apatite" for the next 1060 pt task. I'm guessing that should come along by Friday...

I’m having the same problem. Only one drop from the volcano, and the drops from flights are abysmal even with boosts. So frustrating!

 

[Captain Iceman]

Crack open the champers, I have finally got my first volcano drop 🥂🍾

 

[Sydney]

The other side to all our complaining about volcano drop rate is that, firstly, we are all in the same boat - no one is worse off or better off than any one else* (unless the cheaters have worked out a way of getting volcano items 'illegally')(well, duh, of course they have), and secondly, if drop rates were high across all events, we would be complaining the events are all the same or are no challenge. This game is all about patience and delayed gratification (greenie and other hacks notwithstanding). Htfu or go play Bazooka Boy.

* yes, yes, assumes long run, large sample, randomness, dividing by the colour of the train driver's hair, etc., etc...

 

[Nounette216]

I haven't posted one of these in a while ... and I love this aspect of the game so here goes.

The Institute of Volcanology is based on the Paramount building in New York. Located at 1501 Broadway, it is identifiable by its clock. It was designed by brothers C.W and George Rapp and was completed in 1927. Unsurprisingly, the building used to contain a theater but it was closed in 1964.

View attachment 66168View attachment 66169

The next building from this event is The Capitol which was awarded for event completion in 2016. Designed by William Thornton, the central sections of this building were completed in 1800! One of the most identifiable buildings in the United States, it is no stranger to pop culture having been "destroyed" in at least 10 movies including Olympus has Fallen, The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day and Logan's Run (image below), and of course 2012 along with several superhero movies.
View attachment 66170View attachment 66171

View attachment 66172

This one is pretty fun. Who would have thought that we would find the Institute of Siesmology in real life? But we did - well mostly. The designers had a bit of creative fun with the Park Row Building - again in New York, designed by R.H. Robertson and completed in the very late 1800s. This is primarily a residential building and each of the cupolas at the top of the building houses an apartment.

In 1918, Harry Gardiner climbed (up and back down) the building to raise money for the American Red Cross before a crowd of 50,000 people.
View attachment 66173View attachment 66174

The Institute of Tectonic Geology is based on a building in Mexico - The Innovation and Technical and Technology Transfer Park (aka PIT3) at Chihuahua Campus. Designed by Grupo ARKHOS, the building facets were influenced by stealth technology used in aviation and the aggressive lines used in sports cars. The roof of the building has a garden making it one of the largest green roofs in Mexico at about 2500 m2


View attachment 66175View attachment 66176

The final building from this event that we found in the real world is an embarrassment to architecture in Canada. Well, not the whole building - just the crystal extension which is ranked Number 8 on the world's 10 ugliest buildings list.

Very sad though - the original building is lovely and the architect of the extension - Daniel Libeskind - has won many awards including one for his World Trade Center Master Plan. He has designed other buildings that show up in the game including the Showroom (Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre) and the Art Gallery (part of the Jewish Museum Berlin).

View attachment 66177View attachment 66178

Thank you so much for this post, very interesting!

 

[Paula]

I got this task on Friday morning:

I haven't gotten ANY drops from the volcano since I got this task (and only one before the task appeared). It's making it a bit difficult to earn 5400s every day from just 180 and 400 tasks...

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

I got this task on Friday morning:

View attachment 70388

I haven't gotten ANY drops from the volcano since I got this task (and only one before the task appeared). It's making it a bit difficult to earn 5400s every day from just 180 and 400 tasks...

it’s not that hard getting the 8 tasks done using only the first two. Said with experience: got that task 2 times already, the first one took me more than a day to have it done (and the second wasn’t much better).
but it does compromise the rankings, if you’re fighting for a place.
anyway, good luck with the task, try to pick the volcano every hour to maximize your chances

 

[BWAU96]

I totally concur with all you have said-I have been sitting & waiting for the same one as you “Receive the Apatite” since the start & still waiting today 😤😤

Response just received to my complaint from Gi 🥱

Hello Chris,
Thank you for contacting us.
Some items are harder to get, as they are quite rare, that's why you will get them with a certain drop rate. In addition, you can get the most points for this task, so it will take several attempts to receive the necessary items.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact me again!

It's worth noting this thread began during LAST YEAR'S Age of Ash event. So far, only received 3-4 items from the volcano--looks like nothing has changed.

Well, almost nothing. One thing I have noticed more of in events lately is the coding for mission tasks seems to actively look for and assign tasks that take more time and (potentially) greenies to complete. For example, I have received the "Visit a Country House (x10)" at least 3-4 times so far. Every time I have received that task, it has been shortly after I collected passengers, thus begins a 4-hour refresh wait. Yeah, you could use the daily ads videos, but who wants to spend nearly an hour doing a video every 5 mins (x10)? And now, just a moment ago, right after I used my last chainsaw, my new task is to study burnt trees in my city (x10). Sure, that task isn't as hard to deal with, but it does seem to suggest that GI has adopted a business model designed to maximize player spending by testing player's patience. From a business perspective, I think that might work if rewards for final event rankings were better for the #4 thru #25 finishers, but in the current construct, only 3 players out of 100 receive rewards that are worthy of 10-14 days of maximizing game time. Unfortunately, there are almost always 2-3 players who put up an insane number of points, so it's rarely worth trying. I've pretty much accepted that (at Level 80) it's best just to aim to finish the event and not worry about the rankings--no way I'm foolishly spending real $$ just to get 5 greenies and 2 gold chests. You have to either suck at math or be foolish with money to do that.