Something Needs to Be Done About C$ Inflation [POLL ADDED]

[Sashtato]

As a big C$ buyer I will always always advocate for store pet rereleases! That being said, I do agree it should be heavily limited to not break the entire trading scene out of nowhere. If they were put in a shop once a month then they definitely can't be bought more than once, and I think the price would have to be quite high so there aren't suddenly 1000+ of the same store pet suddenly circulating. I think a dec. 18th type situation would be perfect, but since there are so fewer store pets that vrs+ I think it can't be more than one box, and to keep the idea that they are store pets maybe you have to use C$ to open it (like above suggested). I used to think two would be good but some other users pointed out to me how unbalanced that may end up being. I honestly think this is the #1 easiest, most obvious way to help curb inflation right away.

I'm sad to think that just because staff once said they would never ever do it that they are really sticking to that all these years later. It seems absurd to be so adamant at this point. I understand where the sentiment comes from and I think at one time it made a lot of sense, but we are so beyond that now and players are desperate for some semblance of play-ability (via trading).

[shepheart]

As a big C$ buyer I will always always advocate for store pet rereleases! That being said, I do agree it should be heavily limited to not break the entire trading scene out of nowhere. If they were put in a shop once a month then they definitely can't be bought more than once, and I think the price would have to be quite high so there aren't suddenly 1000+ of the same store pet suddenly circulating. I think a dec. 18th type situation would be perfect, but since there are so fewer store pets that vrs+ I think it can't be more than one box, and to keep the idea that they are store pets maybe you have to use C$ to open it (like above suggested). I used to think two would be good but some other users pointed out to me how unbalanced that may end up being. I honestly think this is the #1 easiest, most obvious way to help curb inflation right away.

I'm sad to think that just because staff once said they would never ever do it that they are really sticking to that all these years later. It seems absurd to be so adamant at this point. I understand where the sentiment comes from and I think at one time it made a lot of sense, but we are so beyond that now and players are desperate for some semblance of play-ability (via trading).

100% agreed!!

Also, a "money sink" is generally what games do when their currency starts to grow out of control. In World of Warcraft, it's generally mounts, items, transmog, etc that cost a crazy amount of currency and go to NPC vendors, so the currency is spent and "vanishes". Not saying it has to be THAT crazy here, but having more things to spend C$ on would be huge. More than just items, if possible... I wouldn't even be opposed to them raising the C$ cost of the new store pets. If you can add currency, there needs to be somewhere for it to go, or else it starts to grow out of control.

Say every Dec 18th there, is one Store Re-release box that costs a couple hundred C$ or something to obtain.
And combining that with this idea:

I was going to make my own thread, but I think it relates too closely to this issue.

I've been a F2P Player for almost 12 years now, and recently decided maybe it could be fun to buy some C$ to help support the site and get some trading resources, and get some items if I see something. Due to conversion form USD --> CAD, I'm paying nearly $30 for what ultimately gets you next to nothing on this site anymore If I'm doing my math correctly, that's barely even 1MA (in discontinued units), and is the highest amount you can get in bulk at a single time.

At the very least, there should be higher C$ values able to be purchased for USD/any conversion to match with this inflation. I'm not saying to lower the price of course, as that would just make things worse, but having the highest amount you can buy at once not really get you that far in today's age isn't very helpful. I'd much rather spend a little bit more money for more C$ at once, and cheaper than just buying the lower option (being the current 380 C$ cap). This could also allow for more financial resources regarding the websites and relatively slow update/QOL fixes, since I'm sure not a whole lot of users actually pay for their C$ as compared to trading it.

With how much C$ is circulating in the trading world from who knows what, I feel like there should at least be a small benefit who chose to use their hard-earned money on the site, even if this game is "F2P". And personally, despite lots of people saying C$ is optional to play the game, it's not really if you want to start gaining more valuable pets/items over time. It's the most sought-after thing in this game, and the only guaranteed rare pets you can obtain through non-trading methods requires C$. Unless you'd like to count December 18th. And if you do, there's a high chance either the fodder you'll need or the UR pet you're looking to trade for regarding that event will require C$ too.


Apologies for the rambling, I'm just not sure if I've seen many people talk about the real cost of C$. Not to mention what conversions would be like for others, this is just my experience as a Canadian.

Being able to purchase more C$ per dollar spent as you buy more(discounted when bought in bulk), as well as being able to buy MORE at a time per purchase. I think they need to heavily tweak these rates. There's no real reason for a pet to be selling for over $500-$1,000 in actual real currency x.x

[nickjr]

I've only skimmed the last few pages, and after seeing some of the stuff discussed, I wanted to leave a little bit of food for thought.

Rare pets on CS are quite literally rare. This is in stark contrast to a lot of other games, where "rarity" isn't actually tied to literal availability or common-ness in the playerbase--for example, a high-"rarity" creature can be obtainable by anyone and everyone after completing a bunch of super hard tasks, or a high-rarity creature can be obtainable by anyone and everyone with like a 1% chance from a pool of creatures that refreshes hourly and the chance of getting it never gets removed ("but doesn't that make it actually rare?" Only if all creatures ever generated are forced onto people's accounts! If everyone decides to keep 5 copies of a rare creature and 5 copies of a common creature, then that rare creature is literally just as common as the common creature on people's accounts--it depends on how the site works, but generally, it's not like you're forced to keep every single creature you come across, so the vast majority of common pets that were available to be claimed will simply go unclaimed and disappear into the void). I've been out of the petsite and adoptable site scenes for a long time now, but this was the case for many--if not all--of the petsites and adoptables sites I played back in the day (mid 2000's to mid 2010's), and I'm still in the overall gaming scene, and it's also the case for pretty much all of the games I play today. (Hilariously, Genshin Impact actually calls it both "rarity" and "quality" in its English localization. Yes, "quality". Items in your inventory can be of 0-star, 1-star, 2-star, 3-star, 4-star, or 5-star quality. Not just rarity. Honestly I kinda like it despite how funny it sounds because it's more accurate but I digress)

The frustration over how difficult it is to get highly valuable pets that you really want is definitely valid, but I'm not sure if a solution to this particular issue is even possible, unless completely reworking CS's adoptables system and applying it to all pets that have already released is on the table.

(I know this thread is about C$ inflation, but that's tied to the above issue, as I've seen in the past few pages.)

[pax.]

I’m not a big poster here, but I’ve been part of the site since around 2012 and have adopted faithfully over the years. I didn’t really start taking trading seriously until the last few years when I began working toward some long-time dream pets. I have always casually traded mind you. Because of that, I’ve been paying closer attention to the current trading environment, and I wanted to share a perspective as someone who has been on this site for a long time as a more casual person.

One thing that’s become pretty difficult is how heavily the trading economy now revolves around c$ and how directly that tends to translate into real-world dollar values. When pets are commonly valued at amounts that convert to hundreds of USD, it creates a barrier where certain goals start to feel almost impossible without spending significant real money. I’m personally fine with the idea of c$ existing as part of the system, but even outside of c$ the valuations of some pets have become so high that, while I understand the supply-and-demand reasoning behind it, it can make obtaining them feel essentially unattainable for more casual players, even users that have been here more than a decade but did not buy into the hyper competitive trading market. Even when trying to participate purely through trades, the value expectations for certain pets can be so high that it becomes difficult to realistically work your way up to them through normal gameplay or casual collecting alone.

I completely understand that supply and demand play a role here, and I’m not criticizing anyone for valuing their pets however they see fit. At the same time, it can be disheartening to see situations where highly sought-after pets are extremely concentrated, sometimes with individuals owning dozens or even hundreds of the same type, while newer or more casual users are expected to meet very high c$ values to obtain just one. I understand that many people worked hard over time to build those kinds of collections, but from the outside it can still make the environment feel unapproachable for others trying to participate.

For someone like myself who has adopted consistently for years, it’s surprising to realize that I’ve naturally ended up with only a handful of ERs and high value pets despite long-term participation. When those same pets are now valued at amounts that translate to $200–$300+ USD through c$, it can make the system feel like the gap between casual collectors and high-level traders has grown so large that progressing toward certain pets is no longer realistically achievable without entering that higher-stakes trading environment.

I’m not claiming to have a solution, and I’m not at all trying to call out individual traders. I just wanted to echo the broader sentiment that the level of inflation has made the environment increasingly hyper competitive and difficult to engage with casually.

I’ve loved this site since childhood and still genuinely enjoy being part of the community as an adult. My hope is simply that the trading ecosystem can remain something that longtime casual collectors can realistically participate in and enjoy.

[BlueEyedKite]

I have to wonder what Tess thinks of the state of c$

From Tess's own announcement letter they quietly retired from cs. Are they even aware of how bad the role of c$ has gotten? C$ was introduced as a way to fund the website through store purchases. Pets and items in the shop were never meant to be necessary for a complete collection but were a fun bonus. For over a decade c$ wasn't that big of a deal. Users didn't have much of it. It didn't take much of it to trade for what you wanted on the off chance. Trading pet for pet was king.

C$ in 2026 is treated as a pay to win hack to the high value trading scene. Did Tess ever imagine users would sit on 15,000 c$ balances? Liquidating their pet collections for c$? C$ scripts so every pet can be converted to their c$ equivalent?

I see old account users come back to cs and are shocked at the state of c$. I wonder if Tess would be just as shocked if they took a good look around the website.

I say all this because, if there is going to be any change on the c$ front, it's going to have to come from where it started: Tess.

[Sashtato]

Kind of an insane, probably not generally accepted idea lol, but I wonder what putting a cap on C$ would do? Like, any one player can’t have more than XC$ in their account at one time? Idk what an appropriate number would be, but it makes me wonder if that would encourage stronger circulation and money sinking at the C$ store so that once a player has reached the cap, they have go spend some to be able to trade for it again? Maybe thats a bit far, but I am curious how that would affect things (and obviously people who already have more than the cap wouldn’t lose theirs, they just couldn’t trade for more until its spent to below the cap, idk)

[Darni]

I have to wonder what Tess thinks of the state of c$

From Tess's own announcement letter they quietly retired from cs. Are they even aware of how bad the role of c$ has gotten? C$ was introduced as a way to fund the website through store purchases. Pets and items in the shop were never meant to be necessary for a complete collection but were a fun bonus. For over a decade c$ wasn't that big of a deal. Users didn't have much of it. It didn't take much of it to trade for what you wanted on the off chance. Trading pet for pet was king.

C$ in 2026 is treated as a pay to win hack to the high value trading scene. Did Tess ever imagine users would sit on 15,000 c$ balances? Liquidating their pet collections for c$? C$ scripts so every pet can be converted to their c$ equivalent?

I see old account users come back to cs and are shocked at the state of c$. I wonder if Tess would be just as shocked if they took a good look around the website.

I say all this because, if there is going to be any change on the c$ front, it's going to have to come from where it started: Tess.

Tess actually came back recently to oversee some of the suggestions be implemented. I'd also be interested in her input.

[UzmaShroom]

The frustration over how difficult it is to get highly valuable pets that you really want is definitely valid, but I'm not sure if a solution to this particular issue is even possible, unless completely reworking CS's adoptables system and applying it to all pets that have already released is on the table.

(I know this thread is about C$ inflation, but that's tied to the above issue, as I've seen in the past few pages.)

That's the whole source of the issue though. Most pets on the site are on the table for re-release, from 2008 onward, except for the store pets. It's always worth bearing in mind the fact that the 2008-2014 pets need to have it taken into account that the site's population/C$ accessibility is not at the place it's at now. It's not just people complaining that "oh, rare pets are rare to find :'c", it's an economy that's currently being stifled and making the barrier for entry impossible unless you have a lot of disposable income, luck of the draw on Dec. 18th, and patience.

-----

At the end of the day, making a blanket statement like "we're never going to re-release store pets" feels like a very short-term method of thinking. Saying you're not going to re-release store pets on a website that only has a five or maybe even ten year lifespan isn't that big of a deal, but let's be real here, CS is 2 years away from 20 and still going strong. Those initial store pets that were released are just getting more and more rare, expensive, and frustrating to obtain. This is supposed to be a fun pixel pet site, not a second job that people need a major/obscene amounts of money for in order to get that really neat raven dog that they want.

[maliketh]

i'd support rereleasing store pets and another rare pet rerelease day. it can be very tough to build wealth in the game, the pound is so competitive, it's hard and i do wish we had a few more options and ways to gain wealth. i feel like helping the economy could only bring more players back and make people more invested.