MHWiki:Current events

Let's Put Dev Updates and Everything Else Here (up to one month, archive anything older). We'll include the newest update into the main page, and we can exclude the others using the NOINCLUDE Tag.

For older updates, visit the Archive.

Notes for Editors

• Please always put the newest news post first (if there are two from the same day, use the timestamp).
• Keep dates in DD Month YYYY format; this is an internationally recognized date format.
• The MHP Template, User Template, and Trade Template are god-like.
• Use Template:Date so that if we ever change the date format, it'll auto-update.

Template

=== News Title ===
''{{date|DAY|MONTH|YEAR}}''
<blockquote>
<p>Paragraph 1</p>
<p>Paragraph 2</p>
<p>Paragraph 3</p>
-- {{MHP|ID_OF_POSTER|Name o'Poster}}
</blockquote>

News

Dev Q&A

17 July 2009

This week's feedback video covered five questions we asked players. At the end of the video we also answered three questions asked by players.

You can watch the feedback video here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=107582846253

The three questions we answered at the end of the video were:

* What do we think about more upgradable traps, much like the obelisks?

We definitely plan on adding more upgradable traps! You may just find a few sooner than later...

Would we ever consider a 'Greater Gnarled Cheese Potion'?

If Whisker Woods was expanded further and a greater need for Gnarled cheese was created then, yes, potentially.

* Do we plan on making additional use of fan ideas and submissions, like we did with the Hydra Mouse and NVMRC Forcefield?

Yes. We're always reading the ideas and suggestions forum and love to hear what creative ideas the players come up with.

Once again, thanks goes out to MouseHunter Dane Koster for organizing a list of questions both for us to ask players and for players to ask us!

-- Dave Vanderburg

Answers to Frequent Questions

10 July 2009

At the end of this week's feedback we answered some questions that are frequently asked. Thanks goes out to MouseHunter Dane Koster for organizing this concise list of questions, concerns and curiosities for us to address.

You can watch the feedback Friday video here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=99248164245

* Radioactive Sludge and Stale SB+

A use for Radioactive Sludge and stale SUPER|brie+ will be available in the next major update.

* Missing MouseHunt 1.0 Stats

Due to the radically different data structure between the old MouseHunt version 1.0 and the current game, old game stats were imported with a 4% margin of error. We apologize for any frustration this may cause. The statistics were imported as best they could with our budget and resources available.

* Hunting parties

The party cork board is currently lacking notifications for when a member posts to it. This was an oversight that is planned to be fixed for the next update. We are also adding additional token rewards for parties finishing in fourth to tenth place. These additional token rewards will not be retroactive.

* Tournaments for specific ranks

Some tournaments are for mice only available in certain areas which has the same effect. We asked this question during feedback Friday and received some mixed response.

* Uses for Champion's Chest and Tournament Tokens

Dev Jeremy is hard at work implementing items for both chests and tokens. The plans for these items include new bases and cheese. We also plan on adding new uses for these items over time.

* Some traps perceived as useful everywhere

Some players have expressed concern that some traps such as the Partybot and ACRONYM are useful against nearly all mice in all locations. The power of a Partybot is often exaggerated by those who own one. As stated in the past, luck is the absolute last stat you should worry about when trying to maximize the odds of catching a mouse. The ACRONYM is an incredibly hard trap to acquire and is meant to be an adequate reward of being able to hunt Physical, Shadow and Forgotten type mice. However, as future updates bring more powerful mice you may find that a more powerful Shadow or Physical trap will become more useful than the ACRONYM.

* Concerns with JavaScript links

Some of the links on the site rely on JavaScript for functionality. We try our best to usually have a non-JS version of the link that will provide the same functionality with a page load. Providing non-JavaScript support is not the most important priority because Facebook itself is very JavaScript-reliant and only a very small portion of players use outdated browsers with poor support for JavaScript.

* How we decide on storylines

What usually happens is one person has a basic idea and if everyone likes the idea it then slowly evolves with the input of the entire team.

-- Dave Vanderburg

Tournament Prizes

22 June 2009

Today marks the release of the much-antipated tournament prizes!

Members of the top 100 teams shall all receive a new unique item called a Tournament Token. This new crafting ingredient will be a multi-purpose ingredient for use in several new and existing recipes. We would love to hear from the community regarding the use of Tournament Tokens in recipes. We have a few ideas of our own but are also looking for fun ideas from MouseHunters! So, put on your thinking caps and swarm to the Ideas & Suggestions forums to have your suggestions heard!

Tokens are awarded to each member of the top 100 teams as follows:

(1st) 5 tokens
(2nd & 3rd) 4 Tokens
(4th - 49th) 2 Tokens
(50th - 100th) 1 Token

In addition, members of the team that finish first will also each receive a "Champion Chest". We would also love to hear from players regarding the contents of this coveted chest!

Prizes will be awarded within 60 minutes of the tournament's end.

We have also added these much asked for tournament features:

Party cork board on the "Organize Party" page
Basic date search function for the Tournament Scoreboard
New streamlined tournament join page
Clearer success and error messages

A big thanks goes out to Dev Jeremy for all his hard work in creating the prize system!

-- Dave Vanderburg

FB Credits and Boomerang

16 June 2009

We're excited to be one of the first three apps chosen by Facebook to implement the credits system!

This new Facebook credit system works by purchasing credits from Facebook and then spending them inside MouseHunt for Super Brie. These credits will soon be able to be used all over Facebook. To get started with Facebook Credits click the blue "Pay now" button on the donate page.

We have also partnered with a new offer system called Boomerang. The system works similarly to those many players have used in the past but with one special difference: The ability to rate and review offers. Help your fellow hunters find the best offers by providing feedback on those you have tried. We hope that Boomerang will make finding the right offer easier than ever!

We hope today's update has helped make SUPER|brie+ accessible to more hunters.

Good luck and happy hunting!

-- Dave Vanderburg

Nautical Happenings

4 June 2009

Ahoy MouseHunters!

Strange happenings have been reported from the Lagoon in Whisker Woods! Hunters have noticed their cheese being stolen by a mysterious silhouette with three heads. The King is calling on any hunter brave enough to investigate this new adversary.

Rumors have also spread of a nautical blueprint appearing around the same time as this new mouse. Some general store owners are quite excited to have a chance to sell this blueprint once enough have been discovered in the Lagoon. It's safe to assume that these blueprints will be sold at a general store in the future.

So if you're up for a challenge and are ready to boldly craft what's never been crafted before travel to the Lagoon and see if you can be one of the first to unlock the mysteries of this new mouse!

---

This update features the first ever fan art that has been added to the game. Congratulations to Neilson Cheng! We love the art work.

This update brings the first of many areas that will start a new story-line in MouseHunt. Future updates will begin to add to this story, unlocking new areas for Legendary, Hero and Knight MouseHunters!

DeathBot parts are now able to be reconstructed into a DeathBot. Simply enter the parts in the crafting screen and press combine to restore a DeathBot.

-- Dave Vanderburg

Gold Shield Update

25 May 2009

Hello once again hunters!

Over the weekend we were reading through responses and opinions surrounding the time frame of the Lucky Golden Shield. Some hunters wanted different time frames for different donation amounts while others liked the 30 day limit for all donation amounts.

One concern that we wanted to address was that with the larger donation amounts a player receives more SUPER|brie+ than they will likely consume in a month.

After carefully considering what our community has shared with us through the message boards and in mails we have decided to have the shield last 4 months for a $50 donation, 2 months for a $25 and a single month for all others. We hope these changes allow players to keep their shields for a more realistic time while they use their cheese.

We realize we will never be able to please everyone but we feel that this is the solution that the majority of players will be happy with. We are currently making the appropriate changes and plan have shields begin to expire towards the end of this week.

As always thanks for your feedback on everything we do! We love reading your ideas, opinions and constructive criticism so keep it coming!

-- Dave Vanderburg

Gold Shields begin to expire May 25th

22 May 2009

Hello MouseHunters!

We wanted to give a few days of notice that Donators' Lucky Golden Shields will begin to expire on Monday, May 25th. On the 25th, if you have donated or completed an offer within the past 30 days your shield will not expire.

We waited a few extra days before starting the expiry effect to give everyone some forewarning.

There have been a few concerns surrounding the shield that we would like to address. Some players have suggested different timeframes for different donation amounts, or that the shield should be permanent.

The lucky shield is meant to be a "thank you" for any player that is generous enough to keep the game running month to month. As the world of MouseHunt continues to grow everyday so do the costs of supporting the hundreds of thousands of players that play for free each month. Without the generous support of donators each month we would soon have to shut our doors. No matter what you can afford to give we wanted an equal thanks for showing your support and that is what the Golden Shield is meant to represent.

A final thanks to everyone who supports the game and allows us to keep expanding MouseHunt week after week!

---

On a separate note, this week's Feedback Friday asked the question "What do you like/do not like about giveaways and how can we make them more fun?".

We wanted feedback on one specific idea - a special "Giveaway" mouse that would drop in-game items and be abundant enough to give players a good chance of catching one during a giveaway. The mouse would be similar to the elf mouse or birthday mouse that dropped gift boxes to be opened at a later date.

The feedback was a unanimous "YES!" and so that is exactly what we will be doing for the next giveaway! Expect the usual Mobsters and Leprechauns worth cash and SB+ prizes along with a special giveaway mouse that will drop gift boxes, or some other special item, containing random amounts of in-game items. We will provide more specific details before the next giveaway.

Happy hunting!

-- Dave Vanderburg

Quick Update

20 May 2009

Hello MouseHunters,

Just a quick update today with regard to Hunting Parties and Tournaments.

After substantial discussion with regard to subbing and all the back and forth with how to deal with it, we have ultimately decided to remove it as a strategy for Hunting with a Party.

Additionally, the mandate and multiplier issues have hopefully all been resolved this time around as well as a few Organize Party interface tweaks.

The question I'm sure you're all asking is what about the PRIZES...
Until we have everything balanced and equitable we're going to hold off on the prizes. But they will come eventually!

Also, three instances of the Zombalicious Tournament will be starting in the next 24 hours. Good luck and thanks for all of your feedback!

-- Jeremy Mandel

Database Maintenance

14 May 2009

Hello MouseHunters. We would like to thank everyone for their patience today while the game was unavailable for database maintenance. Something came to our attention that would have negative effects on the game if left uncorrected and needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Due to the short notice of the significant downtime Glitchpaw mice have been released for the next 24 hours. Good luck capturing your first or adding a few more to your collection!

-- Dave Vanderburg

Hunting Party Adjustments

14 May 2009

Hi MHC,

There was some recent controversy about subbing people in and out of Hunting Parties to inflate the number of possible hunts. In order to level the playing field against parties using this tactic, you will now only be able to invite hunters to your Hunting Party post tournament start if your entire party has been inactive for 15 minutes. Thus, the captain invitation tab will disappear as soon as the first tournament horn is sounded and will only re-appear if no one in the party sounds the horn for 15 minutes.

Also, another tournament has been posted and it's called the Furoma Connection. Check it out!!! Only 10000 gold to enter.

Good luck to everyone in the upcoming Tourney!

Party HARD!

-- Jeremy Mandel

New Tournament Posted

13 May 2009

The Three Blind Mice Tournament is available to join and will start at May 14th 2009 - 20:00 GMT.

Get your Parties ready!

Good luck!

-- Jeremy Mandel

Hunting Parties and MouseHunt Tournaments

12 May 2009

Hello MouseHunters,

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we announce the biggest new feature addition to MouseHunt since MouseHunt 2.0: MouseHunt Tournaments and Hunting Parties! If you are of Apprentice rank or higher, you will now be able to form unique groups of hunters to hunt competitively in a series of regularly scheduled tournaments!

How do you sign up and how does this all work you ask? You can read all about how to join or create a Hunting Party and play in a MouseHunt Tournament by going to the Organize Party link under the Friends tab or following this url:
http://apps.facebook.com/mousehunt/organizeparty.php

We're going to start with a few short daily tournaments so everyone can learn how things work and get their parties together. These tournaments will be available shortly

Occasionally, there will be prizes given out for MouseHunt Tournament winners. Also, there are two new boards that we've added to the forums: Tournament Talk and Meet and Greet. The Tournament Talk board can be used to discuss all things tournaments and the Meet and Greet can be used to recruit other hunters for your parties.

A few quick words about MouseHunt Tournaments...
Some tournaments will be free to join, others will have an entrance cost of cheese, gold or some combination of the two. Tournament Scoreboards for tournaments your current party has hunted in may be found by going to the Tournament Scoreboard link under the Lore tab and are updated hourly.

Finally, a special thanks to all of the beta testers! You've been so unbelievably helpful in getting these features to where they are now.

We're all very excited about this new addition and really hope everyone enjoys it and demonstrates good hunting etiquette!
Good luck everyone and PARTY HARD!
-The HitGrab Team

-- Jeremy Mandel

Today's Updates

22 April 2009

Hi MouseHunters,

We released an update today that has been unpopular with some of our players. We always listen and want to address some of your concerns.

We want to make clear the reasons for the changes so we can better work together to find a solution that everyone can be happy with.

Some players are upset that the +7 luck bonus of the lucky shield gives too great of an advantage to donators. This is our own fault for never fully explaining how luck works. Luck is the least important stat your trap has and only provides a very small occasional boost to help catch mice. Seven luck on average equates to about one less miss a day. Luck also boosts your ability to get loot in a very small way. Traps with around 20 luck will increase your odds by less than 2% for most items in the game.

If you play for free it is because someone else is not and we wanted to give a small, unique token of thanks to those who allow hundreds of thousands of players to play MouseHunt for free everyday.

People who donate by completing offers will also now be rewarded with a Lucky Golden Shield. This should allow people who are not able to donate via PayPal to receive the shield.

The trade request system was starting to become unbalanced. The buyer's section was almost pointless, full of posts that were never responded to. Players would have to reply to dozens of posts to try and scrape together enough sellers to meet their needs. These problems all stem from the root cause that SUPER|brie+ is worth more than 1,000 gold a piece to a majority of players. One of our most requested changes has been to remove the price cap on SUPER|brie+ in trade requests. We remind everyone that 10,000 is not the minimum but rather the maximum. We tried to pick a number that we know no one would ever buy for. We in no way are trying to make a piece worth 10,000. That number is merely in place to avoid errors and scams.

Finally, we apologize for the oversight of the many board competitions when introducing a limit on how much gold a player can send to friends. The generosity and inclusiveness of the community is the most important factor in the success of mousehunt. By attempting to add some checks to prevent scams we inadvertently punished those generous people who are active in the community. This is major oversight by us and we are immediately reversing the changes to the supply transfer system. We are removing the transfer limit and returning the tax rate to its original value.

With the cap on SUPER|brie+ removed we are confident that the amount of players abusing the give to friends feature will fall dramatically.

MouseHunt started as a very simple game where there were no locations, special types of cheese or trading. As more rich content and strategy is added to the game it is sometimes necessary to rebalance some of the core features of the game. We apologize for the oversights we made while making these changes and any stress they may have caused. At times it may hurt, but the vocalness of the community is a great asset to the game. We appreciate everyones feedback and look forward to continuing to making mousehunt the best it can be.

-- Dave Vanderburg

Transfer Limit Increase

22 April 2009

We have just increased the new restriction on gold transfers from 30,000 gold every 24 hours to 250,000 gold every 12 hours.

The give gold function is the most abused feature of the game by dishonest players. The ability to give endless gold also introduces imbalances of newer players with wealthy friends skyrocketing through the game much quicker than intended.

On the topic of the SB+ trading cap increase our intention was to basically remove the cap and allow SB+ to find it's own fair market value. The 10,000 per piece limit is only in place to prevent players from moving large amounts of gold by trading a single piece of cheese. The price will come down as sellers realize what constitutes as a fair price.

-- Dave Vanderburg

New Map, Lucky Shields and Trade Changes

22 April 2009

Strange footprints in Whisker Woods

With the scent of Gnarled cheese in the air some hunters have reported strange happenings in Whisker Woods. Slightly dampened foot prints have been spotted around the tree heading to the west. The King dispatched hunters to investigate only to have them returned with their courage crippled by what they described only as a winged terror.

---

Luck changes and new lucky shields

Ever wish there was something you could do to help maximize your odds of finding a map piece, potion or other rare drop? The latest research by the King's diligent Royal Trapsmith has revealed that luck now provides a small boost to a hunter's chance to receive loot when catching a mouse.

Word has come from the King that any hunter that gives a donation to the MouseHunt kingdom will not only receive SUPER|brie+ but also be granted a special lucky shield for the following 30 days, which will add 7 luck to your trap! This golden shield will appear instead of the grey MouseHunt logo in the top left of the game as well as be displayed on their profile. The world of MouseHunt would not exist if it were not for the generous support of our players. We wanted to give something unique to everyone who supports the game and help us cover our operational costs.

For those who have donated before this update we will be giving a shield to anyone who has ever donated and been active in the last 30 days.

---

Changes to trading and giving to friends

The King has raised the 1,000 gold per piece cap on SUPER|brie+ to 10,000 gold per piece but has also increased the tax rate to 20% for both trade requests and gold transfers. This change is to help keep balance as the game progresses and to help players put their gold to better use.

A new limit for giving gold to friends has also been introduced. A hunter can transfer no more than 30,000 gold to other players every 24 hours. For example if you send two of your friends 15,000 gold each you will be unable to send anyone else gold for 24 hours. This new rule is to discourage players from using the give supplies page for trading purposes and reduce the number of players who are victims of dishonest players trying to scam gold. This change will help reduce the thousands support emails we receive to help us concentrate our time on developing new content for the game. We find that 30,000 gold is a healthy amount to help along new players.

-- Dave Vanderburg

Trap Check Fix

15 April 2009

We have just applied an update that completely re-engineers the way trap checks work.

In our old system we were no longer able to generate 24 trap checks per day due to the large number of players we have now reached. Writing all the journals, awarding points, gold and loot creates a lot of database activity that slowly but surely adds up and brings things to a crawl.

The new system now in place generates trap checks much more passively to spread the load more evenly. This new method of handling trap checks has also allowed us to once again give a trap check every hour on the hour.

Please keep in mind that due to the urgency of this update we did not submit through our usual vigorous and lengthy of testing as we do for most of our updates. If a few hiccups occur here and there please rest assured we'll be hard at work to iron out the kinks.

Happy hunting (with trap checks too)!

-- Dave Vanderburg