The individual prices of the new Store pets aren't actually higher, they're still 20C$ each (so not any more than what we have seen in the past and cheaper than more recent rotations). However, by selling them in pairs, people who would only want one pet and not the other are having to spend twice as much. This mostly affects players using real life money to purchase these pets. Yes, they could sell the outcomes they don't want to other players for C$, but that's still at the cost of real money they might not otherwise have spent.
The discount for the bulk batch is also less than in the past. Saving 10C$ rather than 20C$. But I understand the decrease in discount considering the rate of real-world inflation in the costs of living and operating expenses around the world.
Even so, I like that there are more pets available in the Store and I hope it continues for future rotations. It not only gives us more pets to enjoy, but also addresses the C$ inflation on the site by draining the massive C$ reserves. Seeing super rare/high demand pets go for thousands of C$ or seeing people buy low rarity pets in bulk for hundreds of C$ at a time means C$ itself has been losing value. There's simply too much of it in the system.
Besides the possibility of allowing the individual sale of Store pets and their companions going forward, Gamezelle's idea is also interesting:
Gamezelle wrote:As for the price, as much as I love the PPS they are not worth 20$ IMO. So it's more of a 30$ pet (recent standard pricing) with an extra mandatory 10$ small pet.
Honestly, I would have loved if they were split in 2 different litters. Keep the alien cats together and price it as usual. Add a new store litter that's less expensive with tiny pets for people with a tighter budget or not interested in the cats.
The size of a pet in relation to its value can certainly be a subjective consideration. I firmly believe any pet regardless of its size requires effort and creativity. But even in a relative sense, a bunch of PPS pets are tiny - Otters, Rats, Caterpillars, etc. There's only so much detail an artist can fit on them without adding major elements or extensively transforming the lines. This may or may not fit an artist's vision for some companions.
Making the PPS Store companions separately available at a fixed price (no special offer discount) could be a viable counterbalance. I think 10C$ would be too low considering how distinguishable line edits are still possible on even the smallest PPS pets.
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