We have seen that the "gain population" and "gain happiness" tasks from the Daily Challenges were counter productive for many, and have removed those as a result. The mysterious questgiver may now ask for donations of coins and supplies instead.
Talk about going from bad to worst !!!!
I do not find the "donations of coins and supplies" to be any sort of improvement.
- The "gain population" and "gain happiness" tasks from the Daily Challenges might have been a bit tedious, but they were easy, not that long and not very expensive (unless you happened to need the gain and made lasting changes to your city).
-The new "donations of coins and supplies" just makes the whole thing not worth it. When I saw the requirement the first time I was unsure because the questgiver asks for a lot .... but I paid... and really felt stupid because the chest wasn't worth anywhere near the amount "asked". The next time was easier, there was no way the chest I had selected could contain something worth as much as what the questgiver was asking for (AND the other harsh tasks). Now, I just drop the challenges when faced with those (or with the give XXX goods without alternatives. I don't usually have enough, I'm still a relatively new player)...
the frustrating thing is that with the -1 that means I loose everything I might have sacrificed to win the day(s) before (unless I 'm at 0)... (Yes, I do have the content of the chest I won... but most chest, given the odds, aren't worth that much unless you're lucky)
The -1 also seems especially frustrating if you can't (or don't want to) be online every day!!! ( Is there a -1 if you don't log in? I didn't check)
I believe the "-1" should be dropped, it's too much of a penalty in many situations.
To me, not having the daily reward and not progressing toward the Challenger's Chest seem enough.
I mostly liked the challenges before (maybe it was just the "new" factor) but now I'm thinking about giving them up... the cost is too high for low odds (of having a chest that interest you, having one of the "interesting" possibility in that chest, of not loosing your progress for challenger's Chest, that the requirements/tasks won't be too harsh/costly/damaging to your game in the long run, etc.)