COMMUNITY POLL: Rare Monthly Pets

[frogfan]

Last year was my first year on cs and I decided I wanted to collect the full year, from Christmas 2021 to Christmas 2022. It was going really good for me until October. The stress of trying to get all the banner pets (I hit the banner limit and didn't get them all) and the dreaded October rat was extremely extremely frustrating and really disheartening

I managed to complete the month, but even with the event pets from earlier in the year it was extremely difficult. And from November to December I was so burnt out i just logged on to adopt the advent and monthly pets

I actually was super happy this valentines day, when I didn't have to worry about trying to find the lioness. Being new in this game is extremely frustrating.. yeah, it's great if new players were able to get a monthly rare! But what if they weren't? And what if that happened more frequently? It's not like people usually pull multiple rares anyway. If you're like me and trying to complete your first year on cs fully, you wouldn't have any trade fodder to get monthly rares, even if you already had some from previous months because chances are you only got one

I was equally happy that the rarity change didn't happen during my first year. It was difficult enough to find uncommons by swapping 2 commons. A lot of people are still using 2:1. If that pet went extremely uncommon, it would've taken 16 commons, if someone was even willing to make that trade in the first place.

I got where I am today with offsite trading and commissions, building up as a new user is already so hard, but this would've made it that much harder for me

It's okay to want this change, and I acknowledge that it could be really beneficial for some playstyles. But for others, its really not beneficial or fun to play

(Off topic but I reached the banner limit and didn't end up getting animal egg 100, which was also super frustrating as a newbie with no trade fodder and honestly still makes me sad)

[Blaubär]

[...] I mean, look at this bid for a Golden Gatcha dog that was from an auction literally this month.

Does this level of desperation/frustration seem healthy? Is it something you want to have resort to? Because you WILL have to at some point. And you WILL be on the side paying way more times than the side selling.


I understand that people want “chase” pets. My problem is that they already have those- old pets, events, banners, hordes, dreamies, etc. The “collectors” primarily rely upon monthlies, and use a “chase” playstyle if they want to complete older sets. I just don't think it would be healthy for the largely more casual player base to destroy the one casual aspect available to them. I can throw out old and expensive pets to speed run monthlies, but I don't want to, especially when that feeds the “demand monster” that makes being a new player hard.

I just had to quote this and I've highlighted one very important aspect that I think should be considered and hasn't been pointed out too often, if at all, before.

[MrScene]

[quote="Simon"][list]We've received mixed feedback on this topic and want to see where the community stands!

I absolutely love when a pet from one of the litters ends up being rare, and would be interested in trying to trade for some if I didn’t manage to snag one.

[Eryngo]

I have not read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been said already, but I did want to point out/suggest a few things:

1) if we have random unknown rares among the monthly pets, experienced and more committed players will have am easier time predicting which outcomes will be rare based on demand, and they may be able to scam lucky new/inexperienced/casual players out of their rares. Maybe there could be some flag on potentially rare pets like "this pet may grow into something unexpected!", or at the very least an explanation that some pets will turn out to be worth much more and to be careful trading them. I know a warning is only helpful if people read it, but at least maybe it will prevent some people from making that mistake. I just remember hearing so many horror stories about December 18 scams and newbies.

2) if this change gets implemented, I think there should be some way of making it more likely for newer accounts to adopt more monthly rares. It would at least give new players a chance to get ahead and start gathering pets to use for higher value trades. This does come with the obvious problem of "so what happens when old players create new accounts to get around this?", and, um, I'm not sure yet lol. I did not think that far ahead.

3) this is more of a fun/interest thing personally, not like the other things I mentioned, but I think it would be cool if the rares were completely different species from the litters they come from (ex: a dragon in a dog litter), or had some kind of transformation into another species (ex: a rat newborn grows into a rabbit, which grows into a cat). Just a whacky idea lol.

[Liliette]

I think this is a great idea! It would give new players (or returning old players) a chance to get rarer pets. When I was active, I barely even look at monthlies after I adopted them because they wouldn’t have significant change in rarity for a loooong time, I’m talking years.

99% of the appeal of CS, aside from art & roleplaying, is collecting pets & trading. Having a valuable, rare pet that is highly wanted has become an integral part of CS and what makes CS exciting to play for many. I have gotten to experience owning the most rarest pets— skelebun, sunjewel, raven dog, etc. Me being a older player put me at such an advantage, I always feel bad for new players because they’ve got a loooong collection to build before ever achieving dreamies like that

I don’t think this will necessarily “solve” the craze but increasing the amount of rare pets will definitely leave people with at least something.

[Thalassic]

I have not read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been said already, but I did want to point out/suggest a few things:

1) if we have random unknown rares among the monthly pets, experienced and more committed players will have am easier time predicting which outcomes will be rare based on demand, and they may be able to scam lucky new/inexperienced/casual players out of their rares. Maybe there could be some flag on potentially rare pets like "this pet may grow into something unexpected!", or at the very least an explanation that some pets will turn out to be worth much more and to be careful trading them. I know a warning is only helpful if people read it, but at least maybe it will prevent some people from making that mistake. I just remember hearing so many horror stories about December 18 scams and newbies.

2) if this change gets implemented, I think there should be some way of making it more likely for newer accounts to adopt more monthly rares. It would at least give new players a chance to get ahead and start gathering pets to use for higher value trades. This does come with the obvious problem of "so what happens when old players create new accounts to get around this?", and, um, I'm not sure yet lol. I did not think that far ahead.

3) this is more of a fun/interest thing personally, not like the other things I mentioned, but I think it would be cool if the rares were completely different species from the litters they come from (ex: a dragon in a dog litter), or had some kind of transformation into another species (ex: a rat newborn grows into a rabbit, which grows into a cat). Just a whacky idea lol.

1. would only work as a warning next to the litter you're adopting, but even then experienced traders will have a much bigger advantage in telling which pets are rarer in comparison. You can't really have a warning like that next to a still growing/newly adopted pet because rarities are assigned based on the total number of each outcome, so during the first hour of new adoptions, all the outcomes would be super "rare", and then the rarity would drop down significantly over the month as more peopl adopt them.

That is also one point that a lot of people in this thread seem to miss - for more people to get the rare pet, the pet would have to be less rare, and there really is no way around that.

2. As you yourself said, that would lead to lots of users making second accounts, as it would put new accounts at an unfair advantage toward currently releasing pets. I also feel like it might drive away some older members, or at least make them feel less valued than the new ones. Or maybe even make old members make new accounts to then discretely (try to) transfer their collection, to also benefit from the newbie advantage. Generally, giving users different odds at getting the same pets sounds like a really bad idea to me.

3. having a different species in a litter is fun, but it dips into the same problem as point number 1, where people will immediately be able to guess that this outcome is special, and try to hoard them/scam new members out of them. It would level the playing field a little, as more people would be able to Tell that the outcome is special, but I think that could be done in general, without making the dragon among dogs significantly more rare.

[Animall]

Just look at the hype and wild demand for the Halloween banner pets right now. Because that is what's gonna happen with rare monthlies. That is what has always happened when rare monthlies has dropped. Every single time. Do you REALLY want this on a regular basis? REALLY?
Cause I sure don't.

I do, lol.
Chicken smoothie is so damn boring otherwise. You're panicking because you demand the pets you want right away. When demand is high and supply is low, the value goes up. Wait a while and the banner pet demand always chills out. People are frantic because they demand instant gratification. That's so boring and stressful. You don't need every pet 2 seconds upon release.

[lucifer morningstar]

[...] I mean, look at this bid for a Golden Gatcha dog that was from an auction literally this month.

Does this level of desperation/frustration seem healthy? Is it something you want to have resort to? Because you WILL have to at some point. And you WILL be on the side paying way more times than the side selling.


I understand that people want “chase” pets. My problem is that they already have those- old pets, events, banners, hordes, dreamies, etc. The “collectors” primarily rely upon monthlies, and use a “chase” playstyle if they want to complete older sets. I just don't think it would be healthy for the largely more casual player base to destroy the one casual aspect available to them. I can throw out old and expensive pets to speed run monthlies, but I don't want to, especially when that feeds the “demand monster” that makes being a new player hard.

I just had to quote this and I've highlighted one very important aspect that I think should be considered and hasn't been pointed out too often, if at all, before.

I love that this was said and pointed out, as it describes it pretty accurately. trading for events and such is already difficult, I don't see the appeal of taking away the only casual trading left. it took me over a year to find the gacha dog which was incredibly annoying to finish my collection. I think it would negatively impact casual players who aren't looking for a ridiculous struggle every month on top of events and item collections, let alone the fact that most people can't or won't be able to overpay this much for a recent rare. now imagine this happening every month.


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2) if this change gets implemented, I think there should be some way of making it more likely for newer accounts to adopt more monthly rares. It would at least give new players a chance to get ahead and start gathering pets to use for higher value trades. This does come with the obvious problem of "so what happens when old players create new accounts to get around this?", and, um, I'm not sure yet lol. I did not think that far ahead.

2. As you yourself said, that would lead to lots of users making second accounts, as it would put new accounts at an unfair advantage toward currently releasing pets. I also feel like it might drive away some older members, or at least make them feel less valued than the new ones. Or maybe even make old members make new accounts to then discretely (try to) transfer their collection, to also benefit from the newbie advantage. Generally, giving users different odds at getting the same pets sounds like a really bad idea to me.

this would be incredibly unfair to older users. why would we punish older users, the ones who have been supporting the site since the beginning? I understand how difficult it can be for newer players, but this wouldn't be fair to give them bigger rewards just because they're newer. that's like paying a new hire more than the employee who has been there for 3-15 years longer and I would personally find that insulting. I feel December 18th is a very fair compromise for newer players to get older, more valuable pets and help boost the trading economy as it's random for everyone equally.

[BlossomTail]

[...] I mean, look at this bid for a Golden Gatcha dog that was from an auction literally this month.

Does this level of desperation/frustration seem healthy? Is it something you want to have resort to? Because you WILL have to at some point. And you WILL be on the side paying way more times than the side selling.


I understand that people want “chase” pets. My problem is that they already have those- old pets, events, banners, hordes, dreamies, etc. The “collectors” primarily rely upon monthlies, and use a “chase” playstyle if they want to complete older sets. I just don't think it would be healthy for the largely more casual player base to destroy the one casual aspect available to them. I can throw out old and expensive pets to speed run monthlies, but I don't want to, especially when that feeds the “demand monster” that makes being a new player hard.

I just had to quote this and I've highlighted one very important aspect that I think should be considered and hasn't been pointed out too often, if at all, before.

Yeah, this is a perfect example. To everybody saying demand will eventually die down for said rare releases - demand doesn’t die down. If anything it becomes higher due to age.

[Potema]

1) if we have random unknown rares among the monthly pets, experienced and more committed players will have am easier time predicting which outcomes will be rare based on demand, and they may be able to scam lucky new/inexperienced/casual players out of their rares. Maybe there could be some flag on potentially rare pets like "this pet may grow into something unexpected!", or at the very least an explanation that some pets will turn out to be worth much more and to be careful trading them. I know a warning is only helpful if people read it, but at least maybe it will prevent some people from making that mistake. I just remember hearing so many horror stories about December 18 scams and newbies.

Can confirm. It's been a few years since I actively traded, but back then, I was able to develop a pretty good feeling for which pets turned out to be uncommon or rare. You just need to keep an eye on (1) the monthly discussion forum ("Is anyone else having trouble finding this outcome?"), (2) the monthly trading forum (X people looking for the same outcome), (3) other people's pet collections (How many of the people online own this pet? How many people own a double?). If you can and want to put this time and effort into CS, you'll soon know which pets are going to be worth something.

Also, yes, as a consequence, experienced players have an easier time scamming newbies/casuals out of their valuable pets. There always have been people like that, and there likely always will be such people - a warning banner would not change that, unfortunately.

2) if this change gets implemented, I think there should be some way of making it more likely for newer accounts to adopt more monthly rares. It would at least give new players a chance to get ahead and start gathering pets to use for higher value trades. This does come with the obvious problem of "so what happens when old players create new accounts to get around this?", and, um, I'm not sure yet lol. I did not think that far ahead.

Nope, bad idea, sorry. This already happens on December 18th, plus (as already mentioned) it would be unfair to older players. Let's keep the odds on the same level for everyone, please.

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All in all, I'm against the idea of releasing significantly harder to find pets every single month. Back in my active years, I dreaded when a rare outcome dropped. So many people went crazy in an attempt to get their hands on those outcomes, so many people offered overpay - which, in turn, resulted in many people demanding overpay as well. For some pets, people put demand on top of demand. They were like, "This pet is highly in-demand now, trading for [insert absurd amount of pets] at the moment. I'm looking for at least the same value, if not more."

If the pets look fancy enough, their demand never dies down - quite the contrary can be true, actually. I've had enough of that already, and I'd really hate to see that revived on CS again.
A handful of litters throughout the year would be fine, though. Enough to spice things up, but not too much to be exhausting on the playerbase.

I also like the idea of releasing UR pets alongside regular litters, just like the zebras already do. This could potentially bring more valuable pets into circulation but without having to rely on December 18th. I assume people don't create multiple account for a chance to adopt a zebra, so maybe the same could work for other UR pets as well? I don't know, just my two cents.