Don't force the player to do Ego Tech Tier challenges#38

Feature request: upon unlocking an Ego Tech tier challenge, make booking the challenge optional and remove the very intrusive flashing UI in the middle of the screen until you book it. (Maybe keep it for the first challenge or two so players learn the mechanic? Or find another way to signify that it’s been unlocked.)

I’ve found the Ego Tech tier unlock challenges frustrating for multiple reasons.

1. The call from the boss interrupts in the middle of player actions, for example if I’m halfway through building things. It should not interrupt until player actions are complete.
2. The ‘book your challenge’ UI is intrusive - I assume because some users don’t realise they need to do the challenge or that have unlocked them. However it’s really annoying and spammy for users that are later in the game, and forces you to book them when you don’t want to.
3. The balancing means the challenges unlock way before I actually want or need the content at the tier level it unlocks, so I’m only doing the challenge because the game is forcing me to, not because I have any want or need to
4. The challenge itself forces you to do random builds that you don’t want to do because it feels stressful and bad if you don’t and then fail the challenge. So for example I have a random gym and maintenance office sitting by themself in the eastern area of the game, just to make the challenge go away. This feels annoying and counter to the sense of ‘creative progression’ I want to have in this game. Let me build a gym when I want to, not when I’m being forced to!

This mechanic is probably the most frustrating part of the game for me. I feel like it’s rushed me through the Ego Tech tier system and made it stressful. I’m not unlocking Ego Tech because I want to, I’m doing it because the game is forcing me to, which also means I don’t get time to even look at the mechanics I’ve already unlocked before having to unlock more ones. I’m finding that I don’t want to return to playing this game because of this mechanic.

Other notes:

• The calls are repetitive and force you to tap through the same dialog each time. Please, once I’ve done it a few times, don’t make me tap through all the same dialog again!

Hi there! So being able to pause Boss’s calls was a big piece of feedback we got last year, and we changed it so that you can decline the phone call when boss calls. We added this in a Major Update a little while ago, so just checking - you’re playing on the most recent build? We can make sure that this is extra clear in Townpedia and places like that, but just exit the call.

Also if you don’t want the builds afterwards, you can just delete the building! As long as you’ve completed the challenge, you don’t have to keep the building in your city. But eventually you will be asked to build one of every type to complete all challenges so just keep that in mind

Steam says I last updated the game mid-April. Attached a screenshot of my version in-game. In-game menu shows the Spring Cleaning major update and Steam doesn’t show any updates available.

I play with a controller, could it be that the decline call prompt isn’t showing with controller input enabled? Not sure. But I’ve never noticed a decline call option.

Ideally I’d like to be able to take the call (when I’m not in the middle of build mode), unlock the ability to do the challenge when I want, then be given the space to do the challenge when I decide it’s useful.

WHOOPS! I mis-spoke! It’s not that you can hang up with boss, but you just don’t have to schedule the challenge when he says. (so sorry about that!) Open up the calendar, but you can just close out, and it won’t annoy you. Then whenever you’re ready, you can book it in

(sorry for the delay, just played through the beginning of the game to double check that the right inputs showed up!)