Snowtapult Open + New Poll!

The Snowtapult is open for business! While we hope to keep it open without any issues until Spring, something might happen during Survival because of how snowballs and hexes work. It's still some time away, but if it can't be fixed before then we will close it until after the holiday.

There is a new poll for you to vote in regarding the Throw a Snowball achievement. Please cast your vote by January 9.

February 3, 2022, 10:42 am by oceanserpent
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Throw

January 10, 2022, 10:38 pm by Snowwall
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Let's do some back-of-the-envelope maths.

So... ideally, you can buy every 5 seconds, toss every 5 seconds. 250000 seconds to buy 50k snowballs, 250000 seconds to toss 50k snowballs. Aka over 4000 minutes, just under 70 hours, about three days of non-stop buying, then about three days of non-stop tossing o_O

That is, a week, (unless you're very good at multitasking and do buying and tossing in parallel, managing to do it in under three days) for 50 000 000 sP. Assuming 8 hours a day, for a full working day, 3 weeks. At two hours a day, 12 weeks (easier on the hands, within the realm of "playing a bit in the evenings", still probably kills the mouse/keyboard and leaves no time for quests) - longer than the snowball tossing event continues.

All in all: Probably not an achievement to be done in a single year for most of us :D

January 10, 2022, 4:03 pm by Gauge
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When's Mystery Melody coming???????????????

January 10, 2022, 3:50 am by Alleigh
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Honestly, I dont mind it being such a ridiculous amount of snowballs to get the the achievement. I am nowhere near getting it and probably wont for some time but its interesting to come back to and throw a few snowballs here and there.

Maybe an idea tho….. Be able to like someones avatar after you hit them with the snowball.

January 9, 2022, 10:07 am by Chocolate
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I thought it was common knowledge that the reason the 50k goal was set was because people used autorefreshers during the snowball war when we could buy and throw in bulk. (And refresh the buy page.) The ... [I]discourse[/I]... is still available to read if you go back to Dec 2014 news posts.

I get that it's a lot of money spent to get to the goal, but "fair" never really factored into it. Either you know about the tools, or you're sitting at a fraction of the achievement, with little hopes of getting farther. And if you didn't make progress during the war during the bulk period, ha, good luck.

I think the tiers and prizes should be adjusted. Give the 50k folks a title, or something that won't otherwise affect the market. Adjust the tiers and prizes because 50k, especially now, is silly.

Staff can see how many people have obtained the tier, and they're probably looking at the abysmal rate from the last 5 years and shaking their heads.

January 6, 2022, 10:49 pm by Tammynoneed20
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Anyone can throw snowballs at me I dont care :D

January 6, 2022, 1:42 pm by Cornflower
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I'm okay with the 50k. I would appreciate this things more, please:

  1. buying more snowballs with one click OR select snowball and user and click on ''Fire your snowball for 1,000sP'' (similar to wrapping gifts in gift center)
  2. get event or see history of people, who hit me with snowballs, so I can hit them back (I had so many snowball fights with people, when I was on Subeta few years ago:D, I still had a funny comment from 2012XD.)
January 6, 2022, 1:12 pm by Camilla
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As someone that doesn't care about those particular achievements (because it just does not interest me), I agree with the previous comments about having an option to opt out of being hit by them. I don't want to have snowballs ruin my HAs, and the shield only does so much...

January 6, 2022, 1:06 pm by Chef
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I have more trade lots of 10 snowballs each for 10K. I'll put them up throughout the day as I'm able if they sell.

January 6, 2022, 12:29 pm by Evy
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In the same boat as a lot of others:

  • 5,096 / 10,000 snowballs thrown. Majority of those was when we were still able to refresh to buy/throw them quicker.
  • here for 15 years. I have the snowball shop link all year long in my notepad on the sidebar, to remind me to keep buying snowballs. Even that gets a drag quite quickly with the wait times, so I usually don't even bother.
  • last year I made an effort to get to 5k. I made up my mind to get to 10k after that. Gave up after another 95 snowballs.

It's just too tedious. There's nothing fun about it, and 50k seems always far away. Yes, achievements can be a challenge. But this is just stupid, and not worth a gazillion clicks or years of time spend just doing that. I actually wanted to vote for 15k/20k option, but the "I don't care" option summed up my feelings too well...

January 6, 2022, 1:51 am by Chef
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Is it me, or are snowballs not going away this year unless you go into your wardrobe? I had a couple of snowballs on me all day (more than 12 hours) and they just cleared when I went to my wardrobe. I am using the shield as well.

January 6, 2022, 12:33 am by bonecrivain
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Oh, and I'm one of the "just don't make me throw 50,000 snowballs" votes, but I actually find "Yes, make the last two tiers 15,000 and 20,000" the best answer. I've been on this site for FIFTEEN YEARS and have thrown 15,000 snowballs in that time, when certain auto-refreshing and bulk things made it a whole lot easier. The tiers as they stand now are absolutely wild, so I'm glad there's discussion about changing them, but dropping to 35k or 30k isn't going to help all that much. 20,000 snowballs is still a massive achievement most people on the site aren't going to hit.

January 6, 2022, 12:25 am by bonecrivain
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  1. Can we please just bulk buy and bulk throw snowballs. I don't see any reason we have to do it one by one by one by one. That change should be folded into the lowered goals; it doesn't have to be only one or the other.

  2. If the 50k stays, please move the book to a lower tier. I will never ever ever achieve 50,000 snowballs and don't want to destroy my wrists in the attempt. (Seriously, endless clicking is not actually healthy and shouldn't be the primary way to achieve things on this site.) But I am collecting all the books, and that one is currently an impossible goal.

  3. Everyone who's going "what about the people who already achieved this??" are missing the people in the comments who did achieve it and are fine with lowering the tiers now. This isn't like acquiring a legendary weapon or something....snowballs aren't meant to be one of the hardest parts of the site.

January 6, 2022, 12:00 am by CastlesInTheSky
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Throw a Snowball Earned for throwing snowballs with the Snowtapult! 1 5 10 25 50 100 250 500 5,107 / 1,000

Ya, somethings Not right there.

January 5, 2022, 11:32 pm by spiralgalaxis
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I just checked. Throwing a snowball takes 5 clicks, not including navigating to avalanche emporium and the snowtapault.

  1. Buy snowball, 2. Back (to buy another one),
  2. Choose snowball, 4. Throw it, 5. Back (to throw another one)

To get this achievement, you click at least 250,000 times.

If you're going for this achievement, be very careful with your hands. Please spread this out over several years, and take really frequent breaks. Shake your hands. Stretch your hands, fingers and wrists. Carpal tunnel, overuse injuries etc can be debilitating and permanant. No bragging rights achievement on a petsite is worth it.

January 5, 2022, 10:57 pm by DebiLee
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Yes, but a LOT of people are going to choose, and have chosen, that option (the "just don't make me" one) just because it's funny; I almost did myself until I actually read the comments and realized that lowering it wouldn't really be fair to those who have already achieved it, plus those of us who have really slowly been working toward it and would still really like the opportunity of achieving it. Perhaps it could have been that it would be being changed next snowball season, to at least allow those of us who are still trying for it the chance at perhaps still getting it this year. Plus, as others have stated, these are ACHIEVEMENTS; they should be difficult. An Achievement is something that is earned. I mean, look how difficult/expensive/time consuming it is to get all of the foods/books/plushies/Subeautique Achievements. No one is insisting that anyone try to get any of the Achievements; it's completely optional. I say let the 50K stand, at least for this season, since there is still a considerable group of us who would at least like the opportunity. I'm fine with giving the prize book at a lower level, such as 35K, and giving the 50K throwers a special Forums title or something, though.

January 5, 2022, 7:49 pm by teacup132
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I thought I had thrown a LOT over the years. I have disabilities that make it difficult to have screens change repeatedly, click often, etc. When I checked, I discovered that I had thrown less than 1k! For those that don't have disabilities, it's tough to reach 50k, for people like myself... it's impossible. In my case, I just accept that I can't do certain things but it would be nice to have an attainable goal.

By the way, will the site ever have the possibility of dark mode? It's really tough to change screens and be flashed with bright light... I do decrease the screen brightness to the lowest already.

January 5, 2022, 4:22 pm by Amber
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When there's no holiday stuff, I'll populate that bit with snowballs and the birds when they come out, but because they'll be around for months I'm keeping them under upcoming so you get the quick look retirement date + click the link for whatever is useful regarding the feature.

January 5, 2022, 4:04 pm by Avel
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Oh, I don't mean change anything in the upcoming section, just to have another link to the Snowtapult by itself in the "check out section" of that isn't too much of an issue.

January 5, 2022, 3:41 pm by Amber
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It links the news post because it has important information (the link to the snowtapult, retirement time, the chance it closing during survival, etc.)

January 5, 2022, 3:09 pm by Avel
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Can you out the link to the Snowtapult on the side bar? It's just the news post right now.

January 5, 2022, 2:35 pm by Chef
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I'm putting up Trade lots of 10 snowballs each for 10K for those who don't want to have to buy individually if anyone is interested.

January 5, 2022, 1:36 pm by Victoria
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I feel like those that got the 50k should get something special if it is changed. Like maybe a loyalty totem? Then maybe they wont feel so slighted if it does change. I will never see even 15k. It is just way too tedious for me. I do not even have the 2500 yet. I would love to see a change in the way it is done. Even just doing away with the 5 second timer between buying snowballs would help. Otherwise it is just something I probably will not bother with too much. I did vote for the lowest tiers(I think 15k and 20k?)

January 5, 2022, 1:08 pm by Trees
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I agree with people who say that if you keep 50K, the prize should be changed to something that most people won't need like a forum title (I like the idea of it just saying you threw 50,000 snowballs as a way of bragging) and the book should be moved to a different tier.

January 5, 2022, 12:46 pm by Snoopy
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Yeah the final tier is ridiculous, but not impossible, seeing as there are people who have reached it. I think its fine to add more tiers in between, but changing the final one just seems wrong. Those who have actually worked to get there are going to have that achievement taken away from them, and that's not fair. My initial reaction to this was "oh god please lower it 50k is too much" but after thinking about it, I dont want it lowered. Just more tiers between the final few.

January 5, 2022, 12:17 pm by Aimee
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When buying snowballs if you're too quick, you get a 30 second before you can purchase again error. But the wait is really only 5 seconds. Just a heads up to those who think there's too long of a wait between snowball purchases.

January 5, 2022, 12:11 pm by Amber
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There's a reason I included that. :p It will be used along with the other yes options. The poll is not going to be reset.

Yes, some achievements are meant to be hard, but this achievement was a little too ridiculous outside of the snowball war and I totally own up to that. That's why I'm taking feedback to see if it's worth changing or not. :)

January 5, 2022, 11:33 am by PinkPanther
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Buying snowballs is way to tedious too, lets be honest. Buying in bulk would help a lot with that. :)

January 5, 2022, 10:36 am by PinkPanther
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Thanks for the poll! 50K is wayyy to high. The time you have to invest is just too much. And even buying snowballs can be a big task. Please make the max way, way, way lower!

January 5, 2022, 9:51 am by Tucker
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Bleh. Every year I resolve to throw more and every year I make it only like a handful of times before I back out. This just isn't a fun thing. Maybe if the whole thing was revamped to be more streamlined, maybe.

I hate the wait time to buy and throw. Refreshing on the buy page no longer works, have to go back to the shop page to choose again. Let me buy and throw in only click instead of going back and forth. Too many clicks. And I have just over 16.2k which most was done during the event.

I'd have no problem with the count staying as is, if it was still the same as during the event. But now, pff, I think the site would end up closing and I'd still be under 20k thrown.

January 5, 2022, 8:50 am by StarShadow
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Congrats to those who have the 50K snowballs. I've been throwing them since it started, including the big snowball fight a few years ago, but I only have 19800/50K and it will take me years to get 50K because I work and can't spend every minute doing nothing but snowballs. It's OK if they keep the 50K achievement, I just know it will take me a very long time in the future to get it.

January 5, 2022, 6:22 am by Bliss
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I do not throw snowballs because 50,000 is ridiculous (some may say it's impossible while others say it's not). I threw 200 and that's good enough. If the snowballs were 1,000-1,500 for the last tier then I'd definitely be more willing to participate.

January 5, 2022, 4:56 am by DebiLee
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Also, I agree with , , and . It's also definitely NOT impossible; it just takes a bit longer. I, for one, would be sad to see the 50K go; I've been slowly chipping away at it every year now. Plus I currently have over 5K snowballs stored to go toward it this year, so there are some of us who really don't want to see it lowered. More tiers in between would be delightful, though. That last jump is an awfully big gap!

January 5, 2022, 4:46 am by Trees
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About the option to opt out of getting snowballs thrown, would it be opting out completely or just allowing yourself to get hit but not having the snowball show up on the HA? Because I don't want to tell people they can't throw snowballs at me but I really don't want to see them on my HA, so it would be good if people could still throw them at me but they just don't appear. I don't know how easy or hard that would be to code, though. Maybe this is another thing to have a poll about: "How would you prefer to opt out of having snowballs thrown at you?" "No one can throw snowballs at me at all" "People can still throw snowballs at me, just please don't show them on my human avatar" or something like that.

If it was possible to code snowballs not showing up as hexes when hit by them, that might also fix the Survival issue as well.

January 5, 2022, 4:44 am by DebiLee
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I believe that it's towards the bottom of Seasonal/Luminaire. Good Luck! :)

January 5, 2022, 4:39 am by DimDim
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where i can find the archivement ? is not at newest

January 5, 2022, 3:14 am by Dandelion
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I voted, but I decided once I got to 5k that I hated everything about the process of using this feature and wasn't going to bother any more. Unless we get a bulk-buy option and/or some other QoL improvements to speed up the grind I won't be doing it. I'm perfectly happy with monotonous grinding but not when it takes that long to progress.

January 5, 2022, 3:12 am by Jasper
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Quote
Yes, I don&;t care how to adjust them just don&;t make me throw 50,000 snowballs.
Okay, as funny as this option is, I would like to request for its removal and for the poll to be restarted. Why? Because too many people will let their frustrations do the talking and you won't get the feedback you actually need. Plus it's never wise to just tell those in power "yeah, do whatever, just make X stop." You don't want that. No one should ever want that. If it won't be removed, then I ask those who've yet to vote to please pick one of the other options.

January 5, 2022, 3:02 am by pumpkins
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I'm another user who has pushed through with the 50,000 - It was pretty insane to get, so totally understand re-working it. Is there anything planned for those who did have the old tiers? :]

Whilst we are at it, I think Squash bugs in Bug Guy Joe's game (cumulative) could also do with some tier adjusting n_n

January 5, 2022, 1:14 am by bunny
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there didn't used to be cool downs for buying snowballs, right?

January 5, 2022, 12:36 am by Shaman
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yay, snowballs!

January 5, 2022, 12:35 am by Theory
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I like the More middle tiers option. And as it is currently set up, the final tier should be lowered. That being said, the 50k tier might be less of an issure if throwing snowballs was a bit easier like it used to be. I uderstand that it's not on the table right now, but maybe in the future the bulk buy option could be reinstated for example.

Allright, Thank you for poll. Now I'm off chucking snowballs at people. Feel free to toss some my way as well, if you are worried about hitting random people ☃

January 4, 2022, 11:56 pm by Sirensong
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I guess I don't understand why it needs to be changed. Nobody is forcing anybody to do it all in one year, or even ever. I think you should just leave it alone.

January 4, 2022, 8:16 pm by Skolletta
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I already got my 50k so I really don’t care so long as no higher tiers get added (which I know is the plan already). Go ahead and reduce the requirements for future users. They don’t deserve to suffer.

January 4, 2022, 7:51 pm by Marlboro
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I was thinking more about an exclusive title like "threw 50k snowballs" or a special trophy to the user profile, because we still achieved it and it would be nice to still remember it and show it off, instead of just slash it to us like it never happened.

January 4, 2022, 7:42 pm by Snoopy
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I'd rather see more middle tiers added and 50k kept as the final one. It's kinda scary looking at the achievements going from 5k to 10k to 25k to 50k. Some more to break it up and make it feel like you're actually getting somewhere.

January 4, 2022, 7:31 pm by raul
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you get to keep the book

January 4, 2022, 7:29 pm by Marlboro
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I don't mind tbh, it's nice to see that achievements are getting some adjustments, I hope for more (that relevant to me haha)

I won't pretend that I won't feel a bit burnt, I mean, I spent sp and time on reaching 50k, so a compensation would be nice for whoever reached 50k.

January 4, 2022, 7:28 pm by Coraychi
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Hi, I'm a dumb-dumb and can't remember, is there a way to get snowballs without buying them from the Avalanche Emporium (or other users)? Like random events, or something - I wasn't active during snowball time last year so I can't remember. :(c ty! Also, agree that it would be a shame to remove the higher tier. It's crazy, but it's something to work toward for the players who like to go ham with achievement hunting. (also, also, feel free to chuck snowballs at me if needed - I don't mind)

January 4, 2022, 7:22 pm by Kushiel
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Anyone who needs a target and doesn't want to go random; feel free to bury me with snow balls

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