As we’ve already told you, the expansion process in CastleVille is a bit more complicated than in many of Zynga’s other games. Even in titles like CityVille, where you’re allowed to choose the specific square you expand into, there really isn’t any sort of negative consequence that can come from doing so; that is, all expansions require the same things and you won’t limit your progress in the game by expanding into one square over another (generally speaking).
In CastleVille, however, where and when you expand have a very real impact on your gameplay, as you may need to wait until your Castle’s Level is hundreds or even thousands of points higher than it is currently to access a particular square, or you may need to remove the Gloom over a very specific square to complete a quest. That means that if you just go expanding into any square that looks pretty, or that you currently are allowed to, you’ll end up wasting valuable Exploration Crystals, and will literally be stuck with story progression until you can earn more.
Thankfully, there’s a very easy to way to do just that. Once you build a Workshop in your town, you’ll be able to craft Exploration Crystals outright, using three Crystal Shards each. These Crystal Shards are earned as quest rewards, or can be earned by asking your friends to send you one. This is done by clicking on an area of the Gloom (that is, a square you’ve yet to expand into) and then clicking on “Post to Friends” to post a request for Crystal Shards on your wall.
