I'm with Big Fish Games also and yeah, big dry spell. I got VV on the presale and haven't turned it off since (since it keeps going on its own).

Until all the puzzles are solved, there are no goose chases. If it feels like a goose chase, it's either something that takes a lot time to complete (and there have been requests to LDW to put percentage done notes on the tasks that don't have them form others in the forum) or it's something that you don't have the proper tech advancements for yet (usually indicated by a villager being confused if you put them somewhere). Just keep retrying as you keep advancing and eventually, you'll figure it all out.
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My VV2 story, "A Twist of Fate"
And don't miss Krystal's stories, all three of them!
"Life is too fast... unless you're in traffic."