Missing keys from FarmVille 2: Country Escape

Photo Credit: Zynga

If you've recently updated your FarmVille 2 Country Escape game you may be in for a surprise. A number of players have reported that their farms are minus a few hundred to a few thousand of keys.

The Reasoning behind the Madness

.For quite a while players have been encountering mysterious County Fair Wagon contenders that rise to first place out of thin air. These strangers are no fellow gamers as morals and ethics of fair play are left to the curb. Their scores will be in the high millions and own a farm with very little machines or animals on it. Essentially they use less then scrupulous means to obtain their keys. Have you ever fought your way to a Gold Medal only to be beaten back to Silver over the course of a few weeks because the players in your tier seem to always have scores of over 1 million?  Yep,  same here. Been there, felt that, and it's not a warm fuzzy feeling.

Therefore one of the reasons why Zynga has issued a key wipe was to remove a good portion of cheaters that use a modded game or key generators. Not that this is a particularly good thing as it neither stops the cheaters and it also affected a few innocent players.

Photo Credit: Zynga

Sadly, the developers cannot accurately pinpoint every individual that uses a modded game or key generator. This is why the FVCE2 team relies heavily on players to report suspected cheaters. And this is also why some former CastleVille Legends players were also affected by the key wipe. When CastleVille Legends closed its doors, players were given a generous amount of keys in Country Escape as a final parting gift. The gift of keys is estimated to be from 1000 to 4000 keys. Although these were given by Zynga itself the decision to wipe keys across the board also took the gift away. There is also the note that Zynga support has mentioned the gift of numerous keys had upset the balance of the game itself.

The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few  

When it comes to making decisions of importance in regards to their games it seems the rule of thumb for Zynga is that the paying majority will always rule. However, it can be argued that for the most part, the FV2CE team wants their players to have fun. Slight exception here because in this particular case, the players themselves are being blamed for the missing keys.

Missing Keys Statement from Zynga Support
We are receiving reports that some of you are having issues with your keys. Here are a few reasons why your key balance could be down.
You're using your keys to speed up crafting your items for a task or for Eagle Eyed Eddie's request. Remember that you can instantly finish the items you need for a task but this will require a few keys. If your keys are down, you can always use your Speed Seeds. Just send a request to your friends in case you run out of it.
You're using keys to expand. Expanding you're land can be very helpful especially if you are planning on purchasing more crops or animals on your farm. Land expansion requires a certain level to reach and would also require you some coins for purchase. If you need to expand and you haven't reach the required level yet, your keys will be very helpful.
You're using keys to complete a task. Task can sometimes be challenging that you would want to eagerly finish them so you can proceed with the next. Task that requires you to craft an item can be instantly completed by using your keys.
You're using Keys to refresh the Farm Stand offers. This is actually a new feature that we added so you can skip the current items on sale and go with the next. This can be helpful if you are looking for an item that is needed on a task.
To avoid unnecessary purchases, we recommend the following:
Wait for your crafted items to complete. If you need to tap on it to check the progress, make sure to avoid tapping the "key" button.
When checking on the Farm Stand offers, just make sure that you don't tap the "skip" button.
On Land expansion, make sure to avoid tapping the required keys especially of you still have not reached that level.
For your information, a confirmation message will pop up if you are purchasing an item above 30 keys. However, you will not be seeing this message if your purchase is below 30 keys.

 If  you were not affected by the key wipe I can only ask to continue to be wary. Always be cautious of purchasing keys or special items/helpers/animals with Zynga. They are certainly in the business to take your money just as much as they are quick to blame a player for something they have purposely done. What they giveth so can they taketh away.

Happy Playing,
-Masaya