Mafia Wars Tips and Strategy Blog

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Here are the complete job descriptions for Bangkok Episode 1

Technorati Tags: Arrange An "Accident" For A Witness, Bangkok Episode 1, Blow Up Suchart's Warehouse, Bribe A Dock Guard, Intercept An Ammo Shipment, mafia wars bangkok jobs, Meet A Gang's Rep In A Go-Go Bar, Move Stolen Art Through Suvarnabhumi Airport, Pay Off A Corrupt Police Officer, Raid One Of Suchart's Gambling Dens, Show A Cocky Bilker Who's In Charge, Sneak It On To A Chinese Cargo Ship, Take Down Boss Suchart, Take On Local Motorcycle Thugs, Torch A Building For Insurance, Trash The Low-Rent Casino, Yakuza Faction Jobs

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Bangkok Arrange An "Accident" For A Witness, Bangkok Episode 1, Blow Up Suchart's Warehouse, Bribe A Dock Guard, Intercept An Ammo Shipment, mafia wars bangkok jobs, Meet A Gang's Rep In A Go-Go Bar, Move Stolen Art Through Suvarnabhumi Airport, Pay Off A Corrupt Police Officer, Raid One Of Suchart's Gambling Dens, Show A Cocky Bilker Who's In Charge, Sneak It On To A Chinese Cargo Ship, Take Down Boss Suchart, Take On Local Motorcycle Thugs, Torch A Building For Insurance, Trash The Low-Rent Casino, Yakuza Faction Jobs

I am progressing through the beta of Mafia Wars Bangkok and I wanted to let you in on something early so you can take advantage of it as soon as you get into the expansion.

Bangkok is like the Moscow expansion in that you have to choose between two factions and do jobs for them. The twist in this expansion is that once you choose a side each job that you do will raise your reputation for the chosen faction while simultaneously lowering reputation with the other.

As it stands I am very early into the expansion and cannot accurately report on which faction is best, but I do know that there is a way to raise both factions to maximum. Please note that this observation is not from first hand experience but I have seen screenshots that show both reputation bars at maximum. As soon as I learn how to do that I will get the information to you.

One thing that I do know is that purchasing and upgrading business are based on your reputation with either the Triad or Yakuza. In order to take advantage of all of the businesses you will need to have high reputation with both.

Another thing that is dependent upon your reputation with each group is the Mafia Wars store. In the beginning you can purchase basic items needed for jobs but as the episode progresses you will need to unlock more items by raising your reputation.

Bangkok is much like Moscow was when it first came out in that it takes large sums of money to progress at a rapid pace. One thing that you can do to start earning Baht (the currency of Bangkok or B$) is to keep an eye on your Facebook page for help postings from the members of your mafia who were lucky enough to get into the beta, especially for boss jobs. If you keep your eyes open and act quickly to each post you could very well enter Bangkok with a bank full of Baht. A buddy of mine told me that he earned over B$ 500,000 just for helping me on one of the boss jobs.

Bangkok thus far seems to be quite interesting and may be the best expansion to Mafia Wars thus far. New reputation based businesses, brand new collections, new loot drops and items mean hours of enjoyment.

With reputation based rewards, businesses and other features Bangkok should take much more time to master than either Cuba or Moscow. New twists on old features abound and I believe that you will enjoy it immensely.

Technorati Tags: B$, Baht, Bangkok businesses, Bangkok Money, Bangkok Reputations, Triad, Yakuza

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Bangkok B$, Baht, Bangkok businesses, Bangkok Money, Bangkok Reputations, Triad, Yakuza

With the beginning of the Bangkok Beta the folks at Zynga have of course come up with new crates to spend your Godfather Points on. Crates can be a very quick way of getting your hands on some decent gear in a hurry but in most cases the items that you can get simply by playing the game is better.

The cost of these crates is

1 Bangkok Crate: 12 Reward Points

3 Bangkok Crates: 35 Reward Points

Each crate has the same odds for rare items

• 10% chance for Rare
• 30% chance for Uncommon
• 60% chance for Common

Here is a break down of the items that you can get in the Bangkok Crates along with the rarity.

Some of these items are quite nice but as I said above you can get better just by completing jobs.

For those of you who love to collect things these crates give you even more items to add to your prized collection.

Technorati Tags: Bangkok, Bangkok Crates, Daisho, Fugama Kondoru, Hung Chu Enforcer, Lloyd-039s Archangel, Spitting Cobra, Sumotori Fighter, Titanium Keris Knife, Yin Yang

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Bangkok, Mafia Wars Crates Bangkok, Bangkok Crates, Daisho, Fugama Kondoru, Hung Chu Enforcer, Lloyd-039s Archangel, Spitting Cobra, Sumotori Fighter, Titanium Keris Knife, Yin Yang

The Beta of Mafia Wars Bangkok started last week and as I promised I am going to bring you as much information as I possibly can. Many blog readers have asked about the collections that will be available in Bangkok and I am happy to report that I indeed have some info on them for you.

Episode One Collection – Chess Set

• Chessboard
• Pawn
• Knight
• Bishop
• Rook
• Queen
• King

Vault Bonus: 5 Energy

Boost: Chess Master (-8 job energy cost)

Episode Two Collection -  Masks Collection

• Agat-Talai’s Mask
• Sukreep’s Mask
• Palee’s Mask
• Phra Ram’s Mask
• Indrachit’s Mask
• Hanuman’s Mask
• Tosakanth’s Mask

Vault Bonus: 5 Defense

Boost: Wet Paint (+32 attack skill)

While I do not yet know what the collections are called for episodes 3 through 5, nor do I know what the vault bonus or boosts are as yet, I do know what the items are for each level.

Episode Three Collection – Possibly Spices or Herbs

• Coriander
• Garlic
• Tumeric
• Green Peppercorn
• Holy Basil
• Lemongrass
• Thai Chili

Episode Four Collection – My guess would be carvings

• Wall Carving
• Floral Statue
• Dragon Statue
• Decorative Nightstand
• Lotus Bloom
• Rearing Elephant
• Stone Buda

Episode Five Collections – Flowers

• Marco Polo
• Grace Pink
• Misteen
• Jade Siam
• Bom Gold
• Bom Blue
• Fatima

This is what I know thus far and of course I will update you as soon as I know more. In the mean time have fun playing Mafia Wars.

Technorati Tags: Agat-Talai's Mask, Bangkok beta, bangkok collections, Chess Set Collection, Hanuman's Mask, Indrachit's Mask, Mafia Wars Bangkok, Masks Collection, Palee's Mask, Phra Ram's Mask, Sukreep's Mask, Tosakanth's Mask

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Bangkok, Mafia Wars Collections Agat-Talai's Mask, Bangkok beta, bangkok collections, Chess Set Collection, Hanuman's Mask, Indrachit's Mask, Mafia Wars Bangkok, Masks Collection, Palee's Mask, Phra Ram's Mask, Sukreep's Mask, Tosakanth's Mask

Zynga has been a staunch supporter of helping Haiti which is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and with the recent earthquake they have ramped up their efforts raising more than $1.5 million by allowing the players of their popular social networking games to donate safely.

I am an avid Mafia Wars player and even though I whack a few of my peers on a regular basis I am not cold hearted when it comes to helping a country that cannot help itself. Today I wanted to give you some information that may both save you some headache and provide some needed support to Haitians who desperately need it.

When there is a disaster somewhere in the world most countries rush to aid the stricken area as quickly as possible. There are also many charities which go into high gear to get some relief on the ground as soon as possible. However the misery suffered by the victims is a smorgasbord for scammers. It has been reported that there are over 400 websites, email campaigns and other scams working right now to take advantage of the plight of the Haitian people.

If want to give but are afraid of being scammed here is an excerpt from the FBI website regarding a Haitian Fraud Alert and how you can protect yourself.

HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FRAUD ALERT

01/13/10—The FBI today reminds Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause.

Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, to include the following:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.
• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
• Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit status rather than following a purported link to the site.
• Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
• Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.
• Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.

Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via www.ic3.gov.

If you have the means please help the people of Haiti but protect yourself in the process.

Technorati Tags: Haitian Relief, Help Haiti, Mafia Wars Haiti, Zynga Haiti

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars General Haitian Relief, Help Haiti, Mafia Wars Haiti, Zynga Haiti

On Tuesday Zynga released “Treasure Chests” for Mafia Wars. The chests are a way that players can get their hands on a number of fairly sweet items. There is a catch however, the feature is not free. It will cost you some Godfather Points.

To participate in the “Treasure Chest” event you must acquire a Treasure Chest Key. To obtain this item you simply need to complete jobs as normal and you will be presented with a popup that offers you the chance to purchase the key for 9 Godfather points.

One might wonder if purchasing the key and participating in the event is really worth it. It is not my place to tell you if it is or not but I can help you make your decision by giving you a glimpse of the items that you can get if you choose to.

The above are the items that I have seen so far but may not be a complete list.

The items are very nice and are a must for those of us who are serious collectors and want at least one of everything available in Mafia Wars. If you have the spare Godfather points and want to get some good equipment then by all means jump on the offer. On the other hand there are items in the game that are much better and are completely free. The decision is yours.

Zynga also announced this week that the Bangkok Expansion will be going into beta sometime this week. With as many accounts as I have it is likely I will be able to begin to give you some insight on the expansion early next week. Feel free to leave some comments detailing your experiences if you are part of the beta as well.

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Holiday and Special Events, Uncategorized

When you get right down to it Mafia Wars is a game of numbers. We concentrate growing our mafia to 500+, worry about our energy pool, attack and defense skill and much more. For those of you who are number crunchers (like I am) here is a list of all of the items that you will need to purchase when playing Mafia Wars.

Good luck in your criminal activities.

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Tips

Lately it seems that Mafia Wars and Zynga have been having problems with many of their accounts. This morning I logged in and found that even though I completely finished Moscow weeks ago I am somehow back to chapter 1 in episode 3 Brigadir. I find it odd that every other episode is completely done except this one. Has this been happening to any of you as well?

Recently Zynga released the following on their Feature Updates/Release Notes page.

“User Account Issues: Some players may have been affected by a technical issue that happened at about 2 am PT on January 5th. We are extremely sorry for the difficulty caused by this issue. We’ve identified the affected users and are working to appropriately compensate everyone touched by the January 5th rollback, and we hope to resolve this issue within 48 hours. We will update you on after we’ve resolved the issue. Please don’t hesitate to contact Customer Support about the issue at http://zynga.com/support. Customer Support will have the list of users we have identified that have been affected by this issue. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for the inconvenience.”

In this release they are speaking about a problem on January 5th. Evidentially the problem is not fixed since it is now January 11th.

On the release page they further stated the following.

“Bangkok Beta Coming Soon: We are happy to announce Bangkok will be going into beta very shortly. We will be asking some of our players to provide important feedback and make improvements for the final release. Please stay tuned.”

While that is all fine and nice it would seem to me that Zynga should be concentrating on getting the problems fixed in the current version of the game before shoving out another expansion. This has been a problem with many of the major online game developers over the years and many have suffered because of it.

Completing an expansion and then discovering that the developer has rolled back the game is a very frustrating experience. Zynga in my opinion needs to get the obvious problem fixed and restore all affected accounts to their previous state before they shove out the next expansion.

I urge anyone who has suffered a roll back to start a thread on the official Mafia Wars forums demanding that their account be restored before Zynga releases the Bangkok expansion.

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars General

I must admit that Zynga keeps the surprises coming when it comes to crates. We have had Yakuza Crates, Woodsman Crates, Wild West Crates and more. Recently Zynga has added Super Stuffed Crates.

If you have been playing Mafia Wars for any length of time you already know that one of the biggest pains in the butt in the game is gathering the consumables that are needed for some jobs. It never seems to fail that you run out of consumables before you complete a job requiring them and you have to back track to get more.

In the new Super Stuffed Crates Zynga has made it much easier. In these crates you can not only get an item but you also get consumables.

Like all crates the Super Stuffed version is purchased with Godfather (Reward) points. One crate will cost you 20 Godfather points and a package of three crates is sold for 55 points.

Super Stuffed Crates are guaranteed a 100% chance to give you 1 special item, 3 consumables, and 5 boosts in each and every crate. The special item is from the current crate set.

Here is a quick list of the consumables that can be found in these crates

• Blackmail Photos
• Computer Setup
• Concealable Cameras
• Illegal Transaction Records

The boosts that you can get include

• Boxer
• Extra Pair of Eyes
• Hot Coffee
• Injunction
• Sandbag Wall
• Sting Grenade

Personally I am not much on buying crates but if you are looking for a super fast way to get consumables and boosts they may be the way you want to go.

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars Crates, Mafia Wars Loot

Mafia Wars is arguably the most popular of the myriad of social networking games that are available today and it was only a matter of time until Zynga took a harder line when it comes to suspending or even banning accounts.

The buying and selling of intellectual property is one of the biggest concerns for internet gaming companies. While the practice has been around for years many companies turned a blind eye to it because of the expense in prosecuting those who traffic in currency, accounts, and items.

In the last year or so many of the bigger gaming companies have done one of two things. First they have cracked down not on the sellers of such items but those who purchase them. Second, many have opened up their games for free play while requiring players to purchase the top items or even the all but bare necessities with micro-transactions using real cash. Some have done both.

Zynga has not missed what is going on in the industry and has started to follow suit by targeting those players who participate in the buying and selling of intellectual property. Presently they are suspending or banning accounts quite regularly. If you are a player who has purchased items or entire accounts do not be surprised if you try to log in one day and discover that your accounts is no longer accessible.

Leveling and acquiring the best items in Mafia Wars is too easy to put your account at risk. With a proper plan you can level to level 200+ in mere days and will be rolling in cash along the way so there is no reason to participate in such shenanigans.

Recently I have come across a few Mafia Wars “information” sites that are blatantly trying to sell items and accounts right on their front page. While I will not name these sites for obvious reasons I find the practice to be unethical. It is one thing to write a guide or sell a report detailing how to master the game but selling items and accounts crosses the line.

All of the site that I have visited which are doing this are also making use of graphics and logos from Mafia Wars and other Zynga games. I predict that somewhere in the near future the publishers of these sites will receive a nice letter from Zynga which will in essence order them to cease and desist in using the intellectual property of the company.

I will make one promise to all of my readers right now. You will never see accounts, items or currency from any game for sale on my sites. The only disclaimer I will make to that statement are those sites that earn revenue from Google AdSense since the end user has no control over which ads are displayed.

In conclusion, if you are buying or selling the intellectual property of any company and get your account closed, you have nothing to whine about …you brought it upon yourself.

Phillip Scott Mafia Wars General