Mafia Wars Marketplace Now Live

So, the Mafia Wars Marketplace that has been mentioned over the last few days was just added into the game.


Essentially, the Godfather store has become flash-based. Note the menu bar on the side - you can scroll through for a variety of items of different sorts. This effectively lets Zynga sell more items in the Godfather store without making the page look cluttered.

There is no real significant changes except that now you can buy practically every type of boost and a large variety of limited edition loot pieces.

One of the more noticeable changes actually has nothing to do with the new interface, but rather the fact that there are now limited edition loot pieces which have a decent stat advantage over best-in-slot loot pieces.

Example of a few items you can buy:

Widowmaker (weapon; 27 attack, 52 defense)

Twin AK 47's (weapon; 52 attack, 26 defense)

Twin Garza 9s (weapon; 53 attack, 24 defense)

Love Birds (weapon; 26 attack, 53 defense)

Armed Doorman (armor; 51 attack, 24 defense)

Motorcycle Jacket (25 attack, 50 defense)

Mountain Goat (vehicle; 22 attack, 52 defense)

Crop Duster (vehicle; 52 attack, 28 defense)


While it was about time they made limited edition loot pieces worth while, the thing is that these higher end items now cost 35 godfather points. Ouch!

That seems like all with the Marketplace.. just expect 5-15 new limited edition loot pieces each week rather than the normal 3 pieces.

Class Changes Now Available!

After many months of pleading, players are now able to change classes for 15 godfather points! You can pick this your class change in the godfather tab:



Additionally, Fearless and Mogul accounts have been improved. Fearless characters now regenerate stamina in 2 minutes less time (so 1 stamina every 2 min 30 sec for those with the Chainsaw Bayonet). Mogul characters now receive +40% bonus payout from this.

Now, note that there is no cooldown for this, so players are freely able to swap between classes. Need money for Bangkok? Switch to a mogul for a few days, spend all your energy, and then switch back to Fearless or Maniac. Same thing could be done for finishing content - when you still have content to clear, you can be a maniac, but as soon as you finish that, you can go back to Fearless to fight more often.

Additionally, many of you know that Fearless is my favorite class, so the fact that they now regenerate stamina, in my opinion, leads me to believe that Fearless is now the best class in the game in the vast majority of situations. Before, most players picked Maniac, but now, I see no reason not to pick fearless.

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Oh, and there's 3 new property achievements in game (all are easy to get), will post them up later!

Chop Shop New York Property

For the first time in well over a year, there is a new property available in New York, the Chop Shop!


However, you can't buy it. You have to "build" it with free gifts:


Essentially, there are 5 different item types that you will need to pick up 10 of each from your friends (50 total items). The only thing is that each person only has access to 2 of the Chop Shop items, so you will need to collect from at least 3 different friends! To send these items to your Mafia Friends, simply go to the free gifts page and look for the items labeled "Chop Shop".


Here are the 5 items required to build your shop:

Acetylene Torches
Cement Blocks
Power Tools
Car Lift
Shipping Containers

You will need 10 of each! Alternatively, you can buy pieces for one godfather point.


Once completed, your Chop Shop is a standalone building that produces 1 random vehicle each day. The quality of the vehicle seems to be completely random as noted by the info in game - you can end up coming back for the day to collect a completely worthless vehicle or a good one. I see it as more of an incentive for people to check out this developing properties page.

Respect Gift Safe House

Looks like the Valentine's Day gift safe house has been replaced with the "Respect" Gift Safehouse.

The idea is generally the same as the previous gift safe houses - you ask your friend for gifts, and if they accept, you will get a gift in your safehouse. Additionally, the "Love Meter" concept has stayed (if friends send you a positive gift you get 10%), so when you get 10 good gifts, you will get a reward.

The difference is that there appears to be different levels of respect - you start off at 0, and when you open 10 gifts, your "respect level" will rise to 1 in addition to getting a reward.


The reward for hitting level 1 is a switchblade (weapon; 14 attack, 16 defense):

Thanks Jeremy for the picture!

..which is pretty poor. However, in theory, the rewards could increase in value as you level up. I will keep an updated list - if you happen to hit some of the higher levels that haven't been updated, leave a comment or send an e-mail, and I will update accordingly. Here is the list so far (items are awarded upon reaching level):


Level 1: Switchblade (weapon; 14 attack, 16 defense)

Level 2: Grach (weapon; 20 attack, 10 defense)

Level 3: Puggio (weapon; 17 attack, 23 defense)

Level 4: Zip Gun (weapon; 24 attack, 16 defense)

Level 5: Samurai Helmet (armor; 12 attack, 28 defense)

Level 6: Ma Barker's Machine Gun (weapon; 30 attack, 20 defense)

Level 7: Ghillie Suit (armor; 16 attack, 42 defense)


So it appears that the items are indeed increasing in quality as levels rise. It seems like quite a bit of work though to send out all those gift requests and get them all answered for an item that only has 42 defense.

Reaching level 7 is the cap at the moment - hopefully it will rise soon? Not sure what to think about such lousy rewards.

Free Mystery Bags and Chinese New Year Collection

The gift safe house is finally gone now been replaced by mystery bags, which are a free gift you can receive from your friends.

Rather than making requests for mystery bags, you can send them out to your friends and accept them in the Facebook friend request tab.

In addition to loot pieces, you can also get a collection and even get free godfather points!


There are a variety of pieces you can get for a new Chinese New Year Collection, such as the Baoding Balls:


Unfortunately, the entire collection vaults into String of Firecrackers, which is a pretty weak weapon at 28 attack and 36 defense (thanks Yogesh for the info).


Gift Options (thanks to everyone for contributing):

- 5x of an item off of your wishlist (assuming you have an item on your wishlist that is not the lotto collection)
- +10 free skill points (best IMO)
- 1 free godfather point
- Huey (new limited edition vehicle with 47 attack and 20 defense)
- Chinese New Year collection pieces
- other random loot pieces of all sorts, including collection items and boosts

Crisis Crates Loot List

The old Bangkok Crates were replaced by a new set, Crisis Crates, late last night in Mafia Wars.


And here is the loot list:

Weapons:

Fire Axe (common): 26 attack, 17 defense

Battering Ram (common): 28 attack, 14 defense

Shock Paddles (uncommon): 36 attack, 16 defense

Shaped Charge (rare): 51 attack, 25 defense - about time there was a decent loot piece from the crates


Armor:

EMT (uncommon): 18 attack, 35 defense

Ironside Tactical Vest (rare): 27 attack, 49 defense


Vehicles:

Hook and Ladder (common): 15 attack, 27 defense

Trauma Chopper (uncommon): 21 attack, 34 defense


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While the Shaped Charge might seem good, these are still a waste of GF points. It looks like they are headed on the right direction by making the rare items slightly better than the best-in-slot loot pieces. It's just not worth it right now though, especially since those pieces have such a low % drop rate.

Common items should be as good as uncommon items are now, uncommon items should be comparable (maybe 1-2 point advantage) over the best-in-slot pieces, and the rare items should be 8-10 points ahead of the best-in-slot loot pieces. This wouldn't create an unfair advantage for anyone, because it's not like anyone would buy the 3,000 crates needed to completely outfit their character, and even if they did, if they spent those 30,000 GF points that would be required on +4 stats, they would be unstoppable anyway.

Mafia Wars Property Change

The new property change is now live for everyone. Check it out:


Some of the properties have changed names. Furthermore, some properties need to be collected as often as every 2 hours, whereas others only need to be collected once every other day. For most players (myself included), the properties with a collect time of less than 24 hours just lost a lot of value. Here is the property list:


Louie's Deli (can not be upgraded) - needs to be collected hourly.

Flophouse - needs to be collected every 8 hours.

Pawnshop - needs to be collected every 24 hours.

Tenement - needs to be collected every 48 hours.

Warehouse - needs to be collected every 12 hours.

Restaurant - needs to be collected every 2 hours.

Dockyard - needs to be collected every 8 hours.

Office Park - needs to be collected every 12 hours.

Uptown Hotel - needs to be collected every 24 hours.

Mega Casino - needs to be collected every 48 hours.

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Undeveloped lots were automatically converted into cash for players; lots are no longer purchaseable.

Players also now upgrade their buildings rather than buy new ones. If you had 300 mega casinos prior to the update, you will now have a "Level 300 Mega Casino".

Overall, this appears to be a nerf as some properties need to be collected manually every few hours, whereas before, many people did not have to collect a take at all (myself included).

The real purpose behind this change (I hope) is to allow players to rob each other's high level properties for some big $ and also give property some unique features (hence the map that is "Coming Soon".

I'm looking forward to it, and will withhold further judgment until more information becomes available.

Episode 5B Yakuza or Triads

It's time for the final installment (unless they put out an Episode 6, hint hint) of Yakuza vs Triads, where you find out which side you should pick. Here we go:


Chapter 2

The Yakuza Tier


The "Make An Example Of A Wealthy Industrialist" job drops the Yakuza-only Lloyds Spectre (vehicle; 18 attack, 45 defense). This is the best-in-slot defensive vehicle. It also costs a Pirate (consumable from Bangkok business) to do this job.



The Triad Tier


The "Extort The Head Of The Hong Kong Polo Club" job drops the Triad-only Type-103 Machine Gun (weapon; 42 attack, 29 defense).



Conclusion:

Note that the Yakuza job drops a good item you will want but the Triad job does not cost a pirate. If you are short on pirates, consider picking Triad until the final time through the tier, and then switch over to Yakuza to give yourself permanent access to the Yakuza-only Lloyds Spectre. If you have plenty of Pirates, just pick Yakuza every time.


Chapter 3

The Yakuza Tier


The "Sneak An Industrial Spy Into Hong Kong" job drops the Yakuza-only Cleaver (weapon; 25 attack, 44 defense).



The Triad Tier



The "Kidnap One Of Wei's Trusted Advisors" job drops the Triad-only Monk's Robe (armor; 29 attack, 41 defense).



Conclusion:

The Monk's Robe (Triad) is garbage and the Cleaver (Yakuza) is not. Furthermore, there is no difference in consumables between Yakuza and Triad. Opt for Yakuza every time here.

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TLDR:

Chapter 2: It depends on your current number of pirates.

Chapter 3: Yakuza, every time.

Valentine's Day Massacre Collection

As the final piece of the Valentine's Day event, players have the opportunity to collect a brand new collection: the Valentine's Day Massacre Collection.


There are 7 pieces in the collection, but there are specific locations for each piece! The Heart Tattoo can only be received from doing the 5 minute version of the Valentine's Day limited time job. The Shoot the Moon, Stolen Heart, and Heart Locket pieces are found randomly when doing any job. The Box of Chocolates and Love Bear are found randomly when fighting. The Valentine is a free gift from fellow players.

After vaulting the collection, you will receive a Cupid's Arrow (weapon; 37 attack, 27 defense).


Items in the collection are giftable and you can not re-vault this collection for an extra bonus.

I really like the idea of this limited time collection - it is a shame the effort does not match the reward though!

Valentine's Day Massacre Limited Time Job Guide

The limited time job, Valentine's Day Massacre, is now available in Mafia Wars. It is quite like the New Year's Eve job in that there are 3 different jobs you can pick from, each with different cooldowns and rewards. Additionally, no matter which job you pick, you will earn some job mastery percentage points:


For doing the Trick Target to Attend Meeting, I ended up receiving the Heart Tattoo Valentine's Day collection item. I have ended up getting this collection piece several times, but no luck yet on the rare item. The rare item is the Senza Pari, a vehicle with 21 attack and 12 defense. No picture yet. This job appears to be the only way to get the Heart Tattoo Valentine's Day collection piece.


For doing the Scout Out the Location job, I received a Lookout (armor; 9 attack, 22 defense):

Yes, this item shares the name of a boost.

For doing the Procure Untraceable Sub-Machine Guns job (24 hour cool down, 100 energy cost) I received Purple Gang's Gun (weapon; 19 attack, 30 defense) as a reward:



For hitting 100% job mastery, I received a Highball (weapon; 36 attack, 24 defense):




Nothing too special here; not worth spending the GF points on this event by any means - much better to use them in Bangkok.

Valentine's Day Massacre Love Meter Reward

The Mafia Wars Valentine's Day Massacre event is now live! Among many features is the Valentine's Day edition of the Gift Safe House. By receiving gifts for the gift house, you can slowly increase your site meter. Once this is maxed, you are rewarded with a limited edition loot, Cupid (46 attack, 27 defense):

Thanks to James for the pictures!

Not a bad item at all considering the relative ease of getting it. Will have more updates on the Valentine's Day Massacre event later tonight!

Episode 5A Yakuza vs Triads

Outlined below is a loot and job list highlighting the differences between the siding with the Triads or the Yakuza. This is where it starts to get important as higher quality loot is on the line, so pay attention and choose wisely!


Chapter 2

The Yakuza Tier


The "Help Broker A Minato-Matsumura Peace" job drops the Yakuza-only Scalding Hot Tea (weapon; 26 attack, 35 defense)

The Triad Tier


The "Assassinate The Minato-Kai Family Head" job drops the Triad-only Kage Jet (vehicle; 27 attack, 42 defense).

Conclusion: Don't be fooled by the stats on the Kage Jet; it is the same as an Armored State Car which has little value on the market. Siding with the Triads here costs extra drug shipments for the "Frame An Enemy For The Murder" job, so pick Yakuza.


Chapter 3

The Yakuza Tier


The "Gather More Evidence Of A Betrayal" job drops the Yakuza-only Tanto (weapon; 43 attack, 28 defense). This item is tied with the Ubijca Assault Rifle (from Moscow Episode 5) as the best in slot weapon. Since this job has no consumable requirement, this is a good way to farm $B. Note that the first time through, this job only costs 71 energy; with the lotto collection, farming these items can be quite efficient.


The Triad Tier



The "Spread Distrust Among the Yakuza Families" job drops the Triad-only Optical Camo Suit (armor; 43 attack, 26 defense).


Conclusion: The Optical Camo Suit is garbage; the Shturmovik from Episode 4 of Moscow has 2 more attack points. Pick Yakuza here.


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Episode 5A belongs to the Yakuza. Pick them in both Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

Yakuza or Triads Episode 4

Since some of you have been asking, here is the Yakuza vs Triads post for Episode 4 (Commandent) of Mafia Wars Bangkok:


Chapter 2

The Yakuza Tier



The "Set Up An Opium Shipment" job drops the Yakuza-only Forest Scorpion (weapon; 25 attack, 37 defense).


The Triad Tier


The "Set Up The Import Of Illegal Chinese Arms" job drops the Triad-only Hung Fa RPG (weapon; 39 attack, 20 defense).

Conclusion: It makes no difference whether you pick Triad or Yakuza here; either way you are going to be using drug shipments.


Chapter 3

The Yakuza Tier


The "Pass On Information To The Thai Police" job drops the Yakuza-only Royal Thai Army Jeep (vehicle; 38 attack, 25 defense). This job also requires the use of a Satellite Phone.


The Triad Tier


The "Eliminate An Insurgent Escort" job drops the Triad-only BRM-38 (weapon; 23 attack, 38 defense).


Conclusion: By siding with the Triads in Episode 4, Chapter 3, you can get out of spending satellite phones. None of the loot is worthwhile here so that is a non-factor.

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Short Answer for who to side with in Episode 4: Does not matter for Chapter 2, and side with the Triads in Chapter 3.

Valentine's Day Massacre Limited Time Job; Mafia Wars Event

For Valentine's day, Mafia Wars will be launching a Valentine's Day Massacre Limited Time Job.

From the description and pictures on this official Facebook post, it looks like the limited time job will be set up much like the New Year's Eve event. There are three total jobs: Trick Target to Attend Meeting (5 minute cooldown), Scout Out The Location (8 hour cooldown), and Procure Untraceable Sub-Machine Guns (24 hour cooldown). Each job promises a "100% chance of a rare item", which is nice.

..but that is not all! In addition to the limited time job, there will actually be a new holiday surprise - a limited time collection just for Valentine's Day. For vaulting the items in the collection, players will receive a "coveted Cupid's Arrow" as a reward - probably a weapon with decent stats. To get collection pieces, simply do jobs and fight in game, just like with the old 8-piece item collections. One of the pieces will be a free gift, so you will have to receive it from a friend.

Finally, players will be able to send Valentine's Day items through the gift safe house. If you open enough gifts, your "love meter" will increase, and when it maxes out, you will get another limited edition loot piece. The only catch is that players can send you a "gag gift" which will actually lower your love meter if you open it. I foresee this function causing many wars!

Updates on loot to come whenever they put the event in!

Job Mastery Rewards for Bangkok Episodes 3 and 4

I now have the job mastery items for both episodes 3 and 4 of Mafia Wars Bangkok available for you all to see:

For mastering Pirate (Episode 3), you will get the Harpoon Cannon (88 attack, 51 defense):


For mastering Commandant (Episode 4), you will get the Armored War Elephant (96 attack, 69 defense):


At this rate, it looks like the rewards for Episodes 5A and 5B will be a weapon and body armor piece with 100+ defense on each. Will have more information soon.

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Other relevant Mafia Wars Bangkok information:

- After completing the first level of mastery on Episode 4, players will have access to both Episodes 5A and 5B, assuming they have the faction. Episode 5A requires Trusted with the Triads, and Episode 5B requires Trusted with the Yakuza. I can only see this being an issue if you paid no attention to faction in previous episodes and sided with one side the entire time, as you can rack up quite a bit of faction will earning enough $B to beat the earlier tiers. It looks like Episode 5B will be slightly more expensive in terms of consumable and $B needed to pass through. However, Episode 5B has no collection associated with it currently.

- If you are having trouble with the Bangkok frames (can't scroll around or click things), do this: Run Firefox as your browser, simply right click on the Mafia Wars background, scroll down to "This Frame" and then click on "show this frame only". That will load the Mafia Wars game in its own window.

- The Mafia Wars Toolbar appears to be issuing mini-energy packs once again. I just got a 25% boost.




- It appears that all of that Bangkok loot that was available in fighting a week or two back is all of the current new loot in game. There are no "new" items then with the release of Bangkok that you can collect large numbers of. I am a bit surprised by this as it makes the only clear upgrade over Moscow loot to be the two armor pieces purchasable in the faction store, and the cost of these items is so high it does not seem if these will be easily collectible in large quantities.


Up-and-coming Updates:

I will post the rest of the Yakuza vs Triad info, loot lists, job mastery rewards, and any other pertinent information that I may have missed. If you have any other requests for Bangkok information, feel free to ask in the comments section.

Bangkok Collections and Boosts; All Episodes

I am condensing all of the Mafia Wars Bangkok Collection and Boosts (for boosts from businesses, see the faction business post) from the first two episodes in along with the collections from the recently released episodes. Note: Currently, Episode 5B (Dragon Head) does not have a collection associated with it.


Chest Set Collection: Episode 1 (Brawler)


Reward for vaulting: +5 energy
Boost for vaulting again: Chess Master (-8 job energy costs)
Pieces in set: Chessboard, Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, King


Masks Collection: Episode 2 (Criminal)


Reward for vaulting: +5 defense
Boost for vaulting again: War Paint (+32 attack skill)
Pieces in set: Agat-Talai's Mask, Sukreep's Mask, Palee's Mask, Phra Ram's Mask, Indrachit's Mask, Hanuman's Mask, Tosakanth's Mask


Spices Collection: Episode 3 (Pirate)


Reward for vaulting: +7 Defense
Boost for vaulting again: Pepper Spray (+36 fight defense skill)
Pieces in set: Coriander, Garlic, Tumeric, Green Peppercorn, Holy basil, Lemongrass, Thai Chili


Episode 4 (Commandant)


Reward for vaulting: +4 Attack
Boost for vaulting again: Chisel (+34 attack skill)
Pieces in set: Wall Carving, Floral Statue, Dragon Statue, Decorative Nightstand, Lotus Bloom, Rearing Elephant, Stone Buddha


Episode 5A (Oyabun)


Reward for vaulting: +8 Health
Boost for vaulting again: Boutonniere (+10% payout on jobs)
Pieces in set: Marco Polo, Grace Pink, Misteen, Jade Siam, Bom Gold, Bom Blue, Fatima

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And that's it so far for Mafia Wars Bangkok collections. For some reason Episode 5B (Dragon Head) does not have a collection, if that changes, I will update accordingly.

All in all, I'm fairly disappointed with these collections and especially the boosts. They are definitely a step down from Moscow collections and boosts. The Boutonniere only gives +10% payout on jobs, which is essentially worthless - even if you got 10 of them from re-vaulting, it would only be an extra $B5,000 or so from even the best jobs, which is just over 1% of the cost of the best loot from the faction store.

Yakuza or Triads Episode 3; Bangkok Strategy

The battle for Bangkok rages on, and the ever present question still remains - Yakuza or Triads? I figured this would be good to post up as soon as possible, as there is a definite advantage of choosing one faction over the other in Episode 3.

I have broken this post down into two sections. If you want the short answer, in Episode 3, Chapter 2 - pick whichever side you fancy. In episode 3, Chapter 3, pick Yakuza every single time. For exact differences between tiers and faction-specific loot, read on!


Episode 3, Chapter 2

The Yakuza tier:


The "Truck the Cargo to Kuala Lumpur" job is Yakuza-only and drops the MalayMobil Helang (vehicle; 19 attack, 34 defense):



Alternatively, the Triad tier:


The "Ship the Cargo To Jarkarta" job drops the Triad-only Komodo Dragon (weapon; 34 attack, 22 defense):




Conclusion:

There is no real advantage to choosing one tier over the other here. Note that the "Hijack a Boat Load of Electronics" job will need to be repeated for consumables down the line, so consider finalizing the choice with your lowest faction.



Episode 3, Chapter 3

The Yakuza Tier:


The "Sink A Chinese Metals Freighter" job drops the Yakuza-only Seua Daao Sub (vehicle; 35 attack, 22 defense):




Alternatively, the Triad tier:



The "Steal Japanese Auto Shipping Containers" drops the Triad-only Fugama Kame SUV (vehicle; 33 attack, 22 defense):



Conclusion

The "Offload The Cars Onto A Waiting Barge" job is Triad-only and costs 1x Satellite Phone (a consumable dropped earlier in the tier and used in other episodes extensively) while the Yakuza-only version does not require a consumable. As a result, you always want to pick Yakuza in Episode 3, Chapter 3. There is no reason to pick Triad for this section.

Pick whoever you need faction points with for Episode 3, Chapter 2.