# PSA: balloon gifts no longer spawning after 300 balloons popped achievement



## stellery (Mar 30, 2020)

Hi all! 

Since I couldn't find anyone reporting this issue at the time I completed the issue, I decided to do some more research to get to the bottom of this. Apologies for the wall of text but I love balloon gift hunting and have dedicated a huge portion of my game play to it since New Horizons launched. *TLDR at the bottom!*

On 3/26, I received the 300 balloons popped achievement for "It's Raining Treasure". After I received this achievement, I started to notice balloon gifts have completely stopped spawning for my character. At first, I chalked this up to bad RNG and stopped playing for the night. On 3/27, I ran around my island continuously but did not see/hear any balloons so this caused me to start to think this might not just be bad luck on my part.

I've chatted with friends and other players on discord to confirm they are still encountering balloon spawns but none of them have completed the "It's Raining Treasures" for 300 balloons.

I did some additional testing based on my theory that it's a bug/glitch linked to the 300 balloons shot achievement per character. I created a second profile on my Switch to enable local co-op and a new resident. I logged in with the new secondary resident and walked around the beaches to wait for the balloons and can confirm the balloon gifts started to show up once again.

I used the "Call Resident" feature on my NookPhone to get my main character into the game. What I discovered was the balloons will continue to spawn *ONLY IF* I am controlling my secondary character who does not have the achievement completed. 

My current work around to hunt for balloon gifts is to control my secondary character while my main character tags along behind them. As you can see, this work around is incredibly clunky and I much prefer staying on my main character while I play the game.

*I'd love to hear from anyone who also has the achievement about your experiences and whether or not you've also stopped having balloons spawn on your islands.*

*TLDR;*


Got achievement for popping 300 balloons. 
No balloons spawning after receiving achievement. 
Created second profile on the Switch to add another resident. 
Balloon gifts ***will*** spawn if controlling secondary character without achievement.
Balloon gifts ***will not*** spawn if controlling main character with achievement.
Current work around to hunt for balloon gifts is play second character.

*Related Issues*

No golden slingshot DIY recipe.
With the cherry blossom event coming up in April, players with achievement won't be able to pop balloons for the seasonal recipes. 
Players with achievement won't be able to complete Nook Miles+ goals relating to popping balloons; especially the 2x and 5x multipliers.

I also shared my findings on various other channels to boost signal and raise awarness. Other players confirmed this has happened to them after completing the achievement. Link to my posts to other channels below!

Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/IslaMousse/status/1244732198718263296
Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ac_newhori...balloon_gifts_not_spawning_after_its_raining/
Nintendo Support Forums: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/social/questions/detail/kw/*/qid/93055
GameFAQs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/248082-animal-crossing-new-horizons/78523182

*UPDATE 3/28: I called Nintendo Support to let them know about the error. The representative acknowledged this is not in their current database of known bugs/errors so they will make a note to pass this along to the appropriate parties. 

I highly recommend anyone who is currently experiencing this bug or is concerned this will affect them in the future to call Nintendo's customer service number @ 1 (800) 255-3700 (press 1 at the automated menu for Nintendo Switch and then press 0 to get connected to a live agent). 

The very helpful live agent told me that if more people report the issue, the bug/glitch will be put higher up in the priority for the development team to review. The call took less than 10 minutes out of my day and if it leads to a faster patch turnaround time, it's definitely worth the effort!*


----------



## Katie97 (Mar 30, 2020)

Interesting! Hopefully this is sorted by the time I pop 300 balloons! Thank you for raising awareness.


----------



## lilypadfrog (Mar 30, 2020)

Wow, what a catch! 

Hopefully Nintendo can patch this before the event ;3;


----------



## FaerieRose (Mar 30, 2020)

Thanks for reporting this. I hope Nintendo takes care of the problem quickly.


----------



## xara (Mar 30, 2020)

i really hope this is sorted by the time i get to 300 balloons - popping balloons is one of my favourite things to do ;u;


----------



## ForbiddenSecrets (Mar 30, 2020)

Yikes I hope they fix this. Thank you for the info.


----------



## Paperboy012305 (Mar 30, 2020)

Seeing this sounds painful. I want them to patch this asap.


----------



## DJStarstryker (Mar 30, 2020)

That's annoying. Thanks for posting your findings!

I haven't gotten to 300 balloons popped yet myself, but will keep an eye out for when I do.


----------



## Miss Misty (Mar 30, 2020)

Thank you for the info. I also hope this is patched soon.


----------



## Krissi2197 (Mar 30, 2020)

I'm almost to 100 balloons so hopefully by the time I reach 300 this will be patched, but this is so tedious and so close to the cherry blossom event too!! I hope they work out a fix for the next patch.


----------



## jiojiop (Mar 30, 2020)

Wow this is very serious. Thank you for posting this or I wouldn't have known.

I won't pop any more yellow balloons as I don't need money, I just need items. I'm sitting at 103/300 right now!


----------



## Red Cat (Mar 30, 2020)

You popped 300 balloons already? That's about 30 balloons a day! Is there some way to make them appear very frequently?


----------



## meo (Mar 30, 2020)

That's unfortunate. Seems to be a lot of bugs. Hopefully they resolve them quickly.

Tonight I had a villager house that was illuminated like they were home and I was able to enter like they were. But when I went inside no one was in there lol. When I went back out it finally showed the house dark and said xyz villager is roaming around lol.


----------



## Ossiran (Mar 30, 2020)

I'm still a ways off from 300, but if this is happening it definitely needs to be addressed.


----------



## oiwa (Mar 30, 2020)

Glad to hear you talked to Nintendo Support about this, hopefully they resolve this soon.


----------



## DJStarstryker (Mar 31, 2020)

Red Cat said:


> You popped 300 balloons already? That's about 30 balloons a day! Is there some way to make them appear very frequently?



They're not random anymore. The balloons spawn every 5 minutes. They spawn from the east from about 6am-6pm, then spawn from the west from 6pm-6am.


----------



## ThomasNLD (Mar 31, 2020)

Good find, I hope they fix it. This is an actual complaint I can sympathize with, thid seems like an oversight instead of a design direction/choice.


----------



## Allytria (Mar 31, 2020)

Oh my D: I hope this is fixed soon! Would be a shame if players missed out on the sakura items because of this ):


----------



## R. Planet (Mar 31, 2020)

It could always be that this isn't a bug but rather an intentional thing but I doubt it. The game as it stands seems to be a bit buggy. We have this error. The already mentioned error of lights being on at night and the door opening when nobody is home and others (myself included) have experienced load times of something like 10 minutes on at least one occasion as if the game is getting stuck when trying to load.

Patches needed. And upcoming I'm sure.


----------



## mermaidshelf (Mar 31, 2020)

Wow thank you so much for your thorough research! I really appreciate people like you, putting in time and gathering evidence to prove your theory. Amazing work! I haven't gotten close to 300 but it makes me think I should slow down a bit in case this isn't patched before the cherry blossom event. Kinda related but I currently live in Korea and the cherry blossoms have already bloomed so I'm excited to see them in the game as well!


----------



## stellery (Mar 31, 2020)

Hi all!

Thank you so much for responding! I called Nintendo customer support again because I wanted to add some additional findings to my previous call to include unable to receive upcoming seasonal items and completing nook mile+ goals. 

The representative (very very helpful and patient) has said if we want this to be fixed sooner rather than later, Nintendo will need more reported cases of this bug/glitch. I *implore * anyone who HAS the achievement or is concerned about this once they reach 300 balloons to call in instead of waiting around for a patch. If currently they only have my case reported on file, it will not be a high priority for them to fix sadly.

- - - Post Merge - - -



R. Planet said:


> It could always be that this isn't a bug but rather an intentional thing but I doubt it. The game as it stands seems to be a bit buggy. We have this error. The already mentioned error of lights being on at night and the door opening when nobody is home and others (myself included) have experienced load times of something like 10 minutes on at least one occasion as if the game is getting stuck when trying to load.
> 
> Patches needed. And upcoming I'm sure.



At first I thought it was intentional as well but as the days went on, I am beginning to doubt this is the case. It's one thing if Nintendo wants to time-gate people getting the Golden Tools recipes but people have already received the axe, watering can, fishing pole, and net (as far as I know from reading various reddit posts and discord chats). It would be incredibly cruel for them to single out the golden slingshot to time gate since balloon popping isn't game breaking in any way.

- - - Post Merge - - -



jiojiop said:


> Wow this is very serious. Thank you for posting this or I wouldn't have known.
> 
> I won't pop any more yellow balloons as I don't need money, I just need items. I'm sitting at 103/300 right now!



Hey! I want to let you know that I've gotten DIY recipes and even clothing from yellow balloons! Majority of the time they do drop bells but not always the case.


----------



## Neechan (Mar 31, 2020)

Wow, I didn’t realize this, I’m at 52 popped, they patched the dupe glitch real quick, this I hope will be taken care of as well, thank for the heads up.


----------



## Cheremtasy (Mar 31, 2020)

Thanks for the heads up! Hopefully this will be fixed sooner rather than later.


----------



## Mairen (Mar 31, 2020)

I'm not at the 300 popped (not even halfway, I commend you for getting that maxed rank so quickly! you must have some solid dedication to balloon popping), but hearing about a glitch like this is pretty alarming. Hopefully as more people start to get this achievement, we can have input  from more people and get this reported/figured out.


----------



## cocoacat (Mar 31, 2020)

Well this is concerning! I've been popping balloons lately to pass the time waiting for upgrades, but I think I'll stop for now. Not many people probably have the achievement yet... but it's something Nintendo should fix before it becomes an issue, especially with the event starting soon.

I would send feedback but I'm at 118/300.


----------



## stellery (Mar 31, 2020)

cocoacat said:


> Well this is concerning! I've been popping balloons lately to pass the time waiting for upgrades, but I think I'll stop for now. Not many people probably have the achievement yet... but it's something Nintendo should fix before it becomes an issue, especially with the event starting soon.
> 
> I would send feedback but I'm at 118/300.



Truth be told, if a lot of people are put off with getting the achievement, it may actually have the opposite effect since they won't be reporting this issue. 

I would recommend to continue to popping balloons if you see one just to keep the counter going. It may suck in the short run but I think the more people getting the achievement and experiencing this issue, the faster Nintendo will take action as it'll be in their best interest to fix something that is affect a larger group of people!


----------



## moulinette (Apr 1, 2020)

This just happened to me during the Bunny Day Event. The egg balloons were appearing every minute, so I was running around popping them all and then I hit 300 balloons. Now no more eggs are appearing, so I can't collect all the Bunny Day DIY recipes.

I tried to make a post on the official Nintendo support forum, but it seemed to vanish into thin air after posting it. I posted about it on reddit, so hopefully it gains some traction.

I think this issue will become more widespread now, due to how fast the egg balloons spawn. It's easy to hit 300 balloons within a day.


----------



## RoyNumber1 (Apr 1, 2020)

Im already at 200. Why would they do this?


----------



## OLoveLy (Apr 1, 2020)

I'm at 293 balloons... now i need to wait Nintendo to fix this... (i want my sakura set so bad!) ;-;


----------



## Spunki (Apr 1, 2020)

So, it stops once you hit 300 Balloons or only when you revieve the Achievement with the Miles?


----------



## Underneath The Stars (Apr 1, 2020)

mess at this being true omg.. these glitches i can't


----------



## Dewy (Apr 1, 2020)

yeah this is pretty disappointing...
how am I supposed to get more Bunny recipes? egg balloons aren't even spawning lol

- - - Post Merge - - -

It seems to be quite widespread!
Hopefully a patch will be out soon

https://www.imore.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-balloon-glitch-negatively-affecting-bunny-day


----------



## Bucky42 (Apr 1, 2020)

I was wondering why all of a sudden after getting the achievement my balloons stopped. Thank you for the contact info. I will be calling and complaining.  Hopefully it will quickly be fixed. I didn't want to add another person to my town. I am trying to keep a small island feel.


----------



## Hirisa (Apr 1, 2020)

Ugh, this bug hurts. And just when they made balloon hunting something I really want to do: no more yucky balloon furniture, decent loot variety, and special events that reward aggressive balloon hunting.


----------



## Red Cat (Apr 1, 2020)

DJStarstryker said:


> They're not random anymore. The balloons spawn every 5 minutes. They spawn from the east from about 6am-6pm, then spawn from the west from 6pm-6am.



Now they spawn every 5 seconds...


----------



## Krissi2197 (Apr 1, 2020)

Hopefully with more and more people running into this issue due to the increased spawns during the event Nintendo will fix it very soon. Just keep reporting it if it's happening to you!


----------



## Khaelis (Apr 1, 2020)

Considering how quickly people will experience this issue, I'm sure a patch will happen within the week, and they may extend the Bunny Day "event" a few more days due to it.


----------



## EvilTheCat6600 (Apr 1, 2020)

I haven't hit 300 balloons yet, but I do intend to call and report this.  I'm sorry to be so negatively critical of Nintendo but, due to the items being limited time and the possibility of new items coming next year AND the fact that affects game play directly, this should be a priority issue no matter what.

Therefore, I think we as a community should do our part by reporting the glitch even if it hasn't affected us.  And convince people we know in other Animal Crossing communities to do the same.  We need to force them to make it a priority.  The patch may not be ready in time to give people a chance to obtain the missing recipes and craft them, but at least it will prevent this issue in the future.


----------



## Raz (Apr 2, 2020)

EvilTheCat6600 said:


> I haven't hit 300 balloons yet, but I do intend to call and report this.  I'm sorry to be so negatively critical of Nintendo but, due to the items being limited time and the possibility of new items coming next year AND the fact that affects game play directly, this should be a priority issue no matter what.
> 
> Therefore, I think we as a community should do our part by reporting the glitch even if it hasn't affected us.  And convince people we know in other Animal Crossing communities to do the same.  We need to force them to make it a priority.  The patch may not be ready in time to give people a chance to obtain the missing recipes and craft them, but at least it will prevent this issue in the future.



No need to feel sorry for that. Let's be real, the game feels unfinished. It was delayed once and by the looks of it, it shouldn't be considered ready for shipping. There's a lot of bugs that directly affect the gameplay, like this one, the "amiibo into the void" glitch, the "empty house" glitch (with lights on), some strange loading glitches... Let's not forget about the lots of cuts. Also, for some very strange reason, the game feels like it pushes the switch's hardware a lot when you play it docked. Lots of people are talking about that (especially on gamefaqs). 

They've dropped the ball HARD with this game. 

I turned my 3dsxl on a few hours ago just to play the April Fool's event in New Leaf because that was a fun event that isn't present in New Horizons.


----------



## EvilTheCat6600 (Apr 2, 2020)

Raz said:


> No need to feel sorry for that. Let's be real, the game feels unfinished. It was delayed once and by the looks of it, it shouldn't be considered ready for shipping. There's a lot of bugs that directly affect the gameplay, like this one, the "amiibo into the void" glitch, the "empty house" glitch (with lights on), some strange loading glitches... Let's not forget about the lots of cuts. Also, for some very strange reason, the game feels like it pushes the switch's hardware a lot when you play it docked. Lots of people are talking about that (especially on gamefaqs).
> 
> They've dropped the ball HARD with this game.
> 
> I turned my 3dsxl on a few hours ago just to play the April Fool's event in New Leaf because that was a fun event that isn't present in New Horizons.



The island is so small I doubt new facilities like The Roost or Kicks could be added.  Probably not the six New Leaf exclusive fruit trees as well.  Furniture sets were cut and it feels like it was done to force the crafting as the main focus instead of making it just a new feature.  The lack of April Fool's in favor of extended events feels like more events will be cut for this system.  The removal of gyroids, the art wing of the museum (and the art work, of course).  Cut content, watering down.

Thankfully, I play on a Switch Lite (I keep my OG Switch around for local multiplayer with friends though), but I haven't noticed any heating issues so I wouldn't know what the hardware being pushed looks like, unfortunately.  The reason I gave this game a 5 out 10 is because of how smaller and watered down it feels.

I mean the Nook Miles furniture could've easily been actual PWPs and they could've brought back more old stuff then they did too.  I like the game, but I feel that all the 8s, 9s and 10s are way too generous.  I love me some Nintendo and Animal Crossing but lately it feels like they're dropping the ball.  I didn't even like Super Mario Party outside of River Survival and playing mini-games with friends.  It feels they're pushing for "make as much money as possible, forget about quality" and it feels like New Horizons pushes it.

I DO enjoy what little there is, but I could write a whole essay on how the game could vastly be improved.  Unfinished?  Yes.  Watered down?  Also yes.  I kinda wish they'd think about all the cut content and how much complaining has been done about Bunny Day, plus the bugs and glitches...and just do an enhanced remake adding a lot more content.  Plus some quality of life changes.


----------



## DJStarstryker (Apr 2, 2020)

Red Cat said:


> Now they spawn every 5 seconds...



The regular balloons still spawn at the same rate. It's just the Bunny Day balloons that are special and spawning a lot more often. They also move across the island a lot faster too!

- - - Post Merge - - -



Khaelis said:


> Considering how quickly people will experience this issue, I'm sure a patch will happen within the week, and they may extend the Bunny Day "event" a few more days due to it.



I worry more about the cherry blossom DIY recipes. Those seem harder to get and it sounds like we only have maybe 10 days total to grab them all. I just hope the rate of drops for them from the regular balloons was bumped up, prioritizing them over other DIY recipes for now.


----------



## Reginald Fairfield (Apr 2, 2020)

Can I ask if any of you are on update 1.1.1a or 1.1.1?


----------

