20: The Leveling Process

Chapter 20: The Leveling Process

In all of the talk we have had on the game the one thing that we have yet to address is the actual leveling process -- how much XP does it take? What title are you granted? Knowing that will give you a better idea about estimating times to level and, more significant, help you understand the process as the more advanced stages when you are leveraging the tricks you learned in this guide to pull in large amounts of Coin and transforming that into XP.

The first 30 to 40 levels are going to go a LOT slower than the last 70 or so, simply because you are spending the time during which you make them in building the infrastructure of your farm in order to be able to make massive progress later. Most of your friends and neighbors are not going to understand what you are doing -- they will see you slowly leveling while they rocket ahead, and think that they are just a little better at the game than you are. But you will catch up to them around Level 50, and then suddenly while they are plodding on at their "brisk" pace, you will shoot past them and rocket to Level 100 in what will seem like a blink of the eye to them, leaving them wondering just what in the heck happened here?!

There are several measures of Level in the game, including:

(20A) Leveling your Farmer

Level -- XP -- Title
----------------------------------------------------------------
1 -- 0 -- Field Hand
2 -- 15 -- Kinderfarmer
3 -- 30 -- Amateur Farmer
4 -- 70 -- Able Farmer
5 -- 140 -- Handy Farmer
6 -- 250 -- Nimble Farmer
7 -- 400 -- Savvy Farmer
8 -- 600 -- Fancy Farmer
9 -- 850 -- Sophisticated Farmer
10 -- 1,150 -- Splendid Farmer
11 -- 1,500 -- Farming Magician
12 -- 1,900 -- Farming Wizard
13 -- 2,400 -- Jolly Rancher
14 -- 3,000 -- Produce Professional
15 -- 3,700 -- Professor of Agriculture
16 -- 4,500 -- Hot Shot Farmer
17 -- 5,400 -- Super Shoveler
18 -- 6,400 -- Super Grower
19 -- 7,500 -- Professional Plower
20 -- 8,700 -- Green Giant
21 -- 10,000 -- Rockstar Farmer
22 -- 11,500 -- Barnyard Behemoth
23 -- 13,500 -- Magnificent Farmer
24 -- 16,000 -- Cream of the Crop
25 -- 19,000 -- Sensational Sower
26 -- 22,500 -- Sultan of Soil
27 -- 26,500 -- Thrill of the Till
28 -- 31,000 -- Master of Pasture
29 -- 36,000 -- Sensation of the Plantation
30 -- 42,000 -- Lord of the Plow
31 -- 49,000 -- Bastillion of the Barn
32 -- 57,000 -- Ace of Acreage
33 -- 65,000 -- Livestock Lord
34 -- 74,000 -- Practiced Farmer
35 -- 83,000 -- Skilled Farmer
36 -- 93,000 -- Green Ribbon Farmer
37 -- 103,000 -- Clever Farmer
38 -- 113,000 -- Great Farmer
39 -- 123,000 -- Smart Farmer
40 -- 133,000 -- Model Farmer
41 -- 143,000 -- Frugal Farmer
42 -- 153,000 -- Hot Shot Farmer
43 -- 163,000 -- Proficient Farmer
44 -- 173,000 -- Sophisticated Farmer
45 -- 183,000 -- Accomplished Farmer
46 -- 193,000 -- Brilliant Farmer
47 -- 203,000 -- Prominent Farmer
48 -- 213,000 -- Expert Farmer
49 -- 223,000 -- Genius Farmer
50 -- 233,000 -- Big League Farmer
51 -- 243,000 -- Master Farmer
52 -- 253,000 -- Grand Master Farmer
53 -- 263,000 -- Farming Authority
54 -- 273,000 -- Yellow Ribbon Farmer
55 -- 283,000 -- Farmer Cash Crop
56 -- 293,000 -- The Real Deal
57 -- 303,000 -- Killer Tiller
58 -- 313,000 -- Farm-o-saurus Rex
59 -- 323,000 -- White Ribbon Farmer
60 -- 333,000 -- I Can Haz Farm?!
61 -- 343,000 -- Old Mc-Who??
62 -- 353,000 -- Educated Farmer
63 -- 363,000 -- Red Ribbon Farmer
64 -- 373,000 -- Hay Roller
65 -- 383,000 -- Farming Virtuoso
66 -- 393,000 -- Blue Ribbon Farmer
67 -- 403,000 -- Purple Ribbon Farmer
68 -- 413,000 -- County Fair Champ
69 -- 423,000 -- State Fair Champ
70 -- 433,000 -- World Fair Champ
71 -- 443,500 -- Beyond Fairs Farmer
72 -- 454,500 -- Farm Fanatic
73 -- 466,000 -- Head Honcho
74 -- 478,000 -- Livestock Broker
75 -- 490,500 -- Tractor Tycoon
76 -- 504,000 -- Market Master
77 -- 518,500 -- Talk of the Town
78 -- 534,000 -- Plant's Best Friend
79 -- 550,500 -- Cow Whisperer
80 -- 568,000 -- Farm Hero
81 -- 587,000 -- Farm Idol
82 -- 607,500 -- Agriculture Aficionado
83 -- 629,500 -- Soil Sage
84 -- 653,000 -- Crop Connoisseur
85 -- 678,500 -- Dirt Disciple
86 -- 706,000 -- Big Ole' Boss
87 -- 735,500 -- Farm Fiend
88 -- 767,000 -- Plow Plant Reap Repeater
89 -- 801,000 -- High Harvester
90 -- 837,500 -- Farm Freak
91 -- 876,500 -- Veni Vidi Agri
92 -- 918,500 -- Incomparable Farmer
93 -- 963,500 -- Soil Savant
94 -- 1,012,000 -- Farm Overlord
95 -- 1,064,000 -- Stellar Farmer
96 -- 1,120,000 -- Transcendent Tiller
97 -- 1,180,000 -- Universal Farmer
98 -- 1,244,500 -- Paragon Farmer
99 -- 1,313,500 -- Epic Farmer
100 -- 1,387,500 -- Omnipotent Agriculturalist

(20B) Leveling Your Farm

In addition to leveling your farmer in the game, you also level your farm in the sense of upgrading its size and, thus, its capabilities. Getting your farm to the next level is a very important focus of your play during the first 40 levels of the game -- and you should always have that in mind when making decisions about spending large amounts of Coin early on.

While you will be taking in and spending obscene amounts of Coin from Level 50 onward, between Level 1 and 25 you will need to take extreme care in how you spend your Coin, and from 25 to 40 or thereabouts, your focus is going to be on acquisition not spending, as you build up the warchest that is required to make the final three farm expansions.

For the purposes of evaluation and quantification, we measure our farm land only in plot sizes. The following tables spell out in detail the important numbers for this process:

Regular (default) Farm                                                      
Farm Title                 --   Farm Size --  Neighbors   --     Coin       --   Buck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Default                    --     12x12     --        0   --         Free   --    0
Homestead                  --     14x14     --        8   --       10,000   --   20
Family Farm                --     16x16     --        9   --       25,000   --   20
Big Family Farm            --     18x18     --       13   --       50,000   --   20
Plantation                 --     20x20     --       16   --       75,000   --   20
Big Ole Plantation         --     22x22     --       20   --      250,000   --   30
Mighty Plantation          --     24x24     --       30   --      500,000   --   60
Grand Plantation           --     26x26     --       35   --    2,000,000   --   80
Farm Estate                --     28x28     --       45   --    4,000,000   --  120 

English (English Countryside) Farm                                                      
Farm Title                   --   Farm Size --  Surveyors   --     Coin       --   Buck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Default                      --     12x12   --        0     --        Free    --    0
English Homestead            --     14x14   --        2     --      25,000    --   20
English Family               --     16x16   --        3     --      50,000    --   30
Freehold                     --     18x18   --        9     --     100,000    --   40
English Plantation           --     20x20   --       12     --     200,000    --   50
English Holding              --     22x22   --       15     --     400,000    --   60
English Estate               --     24x24   --       20     --     750,000    --   75

When you upgrade your farm what happens is that two rows of plots are added to the bottom and left sides of the farm -- nothing is altered or changed on the farm, as your animals and buildings stay right where they are. The added land appears as expanded space along the edges so that does not require that the present contents be disturbed.

The first three expansions will come relatively quick, as they require only 13 neighbors to be added to your farm, and a total of 85,000 coin -- both of which are easy to obtain. After that it can be a bit slower, as most players have to look outside of their friend list to find neighbors to add beyond 13 -- so you will want to begin evaluating the neighbors of your neighbors to see who plays daily, and begin sending them friend invites.

-- Adding Friends and Neighbors --

The process of expanding your neighbor pool will be easier if you are up-front about what you are doing. When you sent the friend request, add in the comment box "Play Farmville please?" or something to that effect so that they know that the request is coming from a gamer for farmville -- as that will make it more likely that they will accept the friend request from someone they do not know.

Once they accept your request, you should promptly send them a Neighbor Request through the game, adding them as quick as you can. Being prompt is a good idea since they are more likely to be expecting the invitation from you and will be prompt in accepting that. Delaying could find you having added a friend but not a neighbor!

Efficiency dictates that you try to add more than you need -- if you are going for the Big Ole Plantation expansion -- which requires 30 neighbors -- go ahead and try to add 60 instead, so that you have the number needed for the expansion that follows, and thus will not have to do that all over again. Note that once you get to the level where you have 60 or more friends and neighbors you can expect to start getting the requests from people you do not know from THIER lists as well, making this all the more easier.

You will notice that in addition to the Neighbor/Coin listing in the tables above, I also list the amount in Cash (Farm Bucks) you would need to spend -- using Bucks eliminates the need to have Neighbors and spend coin -- it is an option -- but honestly I do not recommend it because it is both expensive and, more to the point, leaves you without the neighbors you will need for special event and other assistance as well as the Crafting System. You are much better off going the Neighbor/Coin route than spending cash.