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

[Infailia]

To add on: I don't think bumping up the prices of store items/pets will be a solution. It's just a bandaid and mostly hurts those who don't have a lot of C$ to spend freely, since most of us are probably using it to try to buy pets/items we want.

While increasing the price of the store items/pets may hurt those who don't have much C$, the store is currently the only money sink available in CS. One of the main reasons inflation is so ridiculous is that there isn't a good enough money sink to keep the amount of C$ available in the reasonable range. There is so much of it on the site (and, yes, I do understand that a lot of it is owned by a small number of players) that it causes it to be worth pennies as the ratio of pet to C$ isn't reasonable.

Increasing the cost of the things in the store, even if only temporarily, to clear out some of the excess C$ would help. Yes, it would hurt some, but, in my opinion, it would be more beneficial in the long run. The other options are to add other sinks (which have been discussed in other threads, and there are problems there as well) or remove the option of trading C$ outside of the store altogether (which I doubt people would be happy with).

[Cloverstream]

Definitely could see why people would disagree with me on this- but maybe instead of just increasing the store pet price, Do more additional sinks? Could be something like an occasional holiday one-off that isnt a set and costs a lot more (like I think cerberus did). I saw someone reccomend recolors of old stores once- maybe that. The bi monthly items are nice but the majority of players dont care much for items.

I know you could argue more CS sinks makes it harder for some players, but you could argue that about having store pets in the first place and there is so much cs in circulation. Im not mad at the increased price because something needs to combat inflation, but It would be nice to feel like you are at least getting more in exchange for the additional charge.

I also agree re releases need to be more frequent. Once a year is just not enough.

[Celozon]

I just wanted to drop my response on the other thread about the price increase here as this thread probably gets more visibility, and just as a reminder that the price increase is not something that is brand new. It was applied to the last 5 store pets sets (not including the current one) and has been in effect since mid 2022 (since the dragon snake set).

I just want to confirm that store pets have been at 25 C$ since mid 2022, so this isn't a new thing.

I don't have any say on the prices myself but my impression is also that it is just to help act as a C$ sink. 5C$ is a relatively small increase and the full set is still the regular 20C$ off. We just haven't see a store pet pack be 100C$ since the price increase because all the sets have been of 4 pets. The only other one that was 5 pets was the phoenix pack, but on that one the 5th pet was actually a free bonus pets you got when you bought the full pack, as seen here;
https://web.archive.org/web/20221206032 ... y.php?id=9

Before the price increase buying a full pack was usually 4 pets for 60C$ or 5 pets for 70-80C$, with 20-30C$ off being the norm. Its still the same 20C$ off now just with the 5C$ hike, so now the packs are either 4 pets for 80C$ and 5 for 100C$.

My impression is that it is just a small increase to help remove C$ from general circulation on the site since that has been a big complaint for a few years now. Its not meant to make it unachievable for those who don't have as much C$ or anything.

[This Kane U Speak Of]

Suggestion I just thought of for a sustainable sink: purchase a PPS
Rotating into the shop (on a monthly basis?) the PPS of a previous monthly design that didn't get a PPS version a la the 'pets you wish were pps' thread for maybe like 5+ c$ scaling based on the year/rarity of the adult version?
That way folks could get PPS versions that they liked, it would create a new c$ sink, and it wouldn't be extra work for the artists since the design already exists

[Audrey_Bee]

Suggestion I just thought of for a sustainable sink: purchase a PPS
Rotating into the shop (on a monthly basis?) the PPS of a previous monthly design that didn't get a PPS version a la the 'pets you wish were pps' thread for maybe like 5+ c$ scaling based on the year/rarity of the adult version?
That way folks could get PPS versions that they liked, it would create a new c$ sink, and it wouldn't be extra work for the artists since the design already exists

I like this idea! There's so many caterpillars I would buy with C$ 🥺 and it wouldn't take extra work to make the pets as their pps version would already be there. Even just for 5C$ I think people are more likely to purchase things in small amounts than new big sets that cost 80+C$
And it makes it affordable for people who don't get much C$

[LiuLu]

Support for making old shop pets repurchasable,and old pets can enter the store.
I think this can increase the revenue of the site,and curb inflation.
Players no longer need to buy from others at a high price to get the old pet they want,Because you can buy it later in the store,
You can limit the number of old pets that can be purchased each time,In this way, the transactions between players can also be circulated, but the price will no longer be so high.
Although I think this idea is unlikely,Because this site is really old,New features may break some things,And it's not fair to players who buy at a high price.
I really like three-headed dogs,but i can't afford them price.

[cuddlewuffle]

Support for making old shop pets repurchasable,and old pets can enter the store.
I think this can increase the revenue of the site,and curb inflation.
Players no longer need to buy from others at a high price to get the old pet they want,Because you can buy it later in the store,
You can limit the number of old pets that can be purchased each time,In this way, the transactions between players can also be circulated, but the price will no longer be so high.
Although I think this idea is unlikely,Because this site is really old,New features may break some things,And it's not fair to players who buy at a high price.
I really like three-headed dogs,but i can't afford them price.

yea doing this would immediately crash the market and make everything worthless
inflation would skyrocket b/c the market would be flooded with new copies of the only pets on the site that were guaranteed to become more valuable over time

[Franz Kromer]

Support for making old shop pets repurchasable,and old pets can enter the store.
I think this can increase the revenue of the site,and curb inflation.
Players no longer need to buy from others at a high price to get the old pet they want,Because you can buy it later in the store,
You can limit the number of old pets that can be purchased each time,In this way, the transactions between players can also be circulated, but the price will no longer be so high.
Although I think this idea is unlikely,Because this site is really old,New features may break some things,And it's not fair to players who buy at a high price.
I really like three-headed dogs,but i can't afford them price.

yea doing this would immediately crash the market and make everything worthless
inflation would skyrocket b/c the market would be flooded with new copies of the only pets on the site that were guaranteed to become more valuable over time

I think you are over exaggerating, the market wouldn't really crash if the limited stock for returning store pets is moderate. There many games I know that re-release old items/content through very limited way and while the price does stagnate, it never made the old items worthless.

There a lot of rare and old pets prices are so high and demand are high as well, re-releasing a couple or few copy back from the premium store won't effect the old and rare pets worth because you either have to race agaisnt other in the restock or trade your way up the classic way.

Re-releasing old pets in limited stock is a great ideal but many things need to be consider.

[Franz Kromer]

I'm gonna suggest maybe smth like FR skin/accent.
A premium items that let people submit custom user made appearance to already exist pets like poses and expression. There can be limitation like you can't dress up with them, you can't trade a pets with cutom appearance to other user, etc

I surprise that a platform like CS that all about creativity and with other, doesn't really have much in term of creative option for people to go nuts with making their pets truly their own. I would pay C$ for smth like this

[Wookieinmashoo]

Here's another thread that's 2-3 years old about inflation:
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4449704
I'm at work, so I just feel like coming up with some harebrained ideas. The prices for store pets and items can be raised, but most people are not spending C$ on these things. I spent around a year, trying to find store items. Not retired store items, just the ones currently available. Some of the items weren't too hard to find, but there were plenty I never found once. Even with the bi-monthly items, only certain people buy them. People are buying C$, not to spend in the store, but to buy UR and old store pets. It's being treated like an actual currency and not something you can get special pets and items with for supporting the site.
So here are the ideas:

1. Everyone has a C$ cap on their account. If you are above it, you cannot buy more C$. The problem with this is that C$ funds the site and makes the owners money. Doing this would mean they get less money

2. Scorched earth with pet/item rarity. Re-release everything. Introducing more reduces the rarity which will give less reason to purchase massive amounts of C$. The problem with this is that it won't work unless store pets are included and people are going to fight that.

3. Introduce a second premium currency and similar to above, have a cap. It would be a monthly purchase cap,to keep it in check and other things can be released specifically for it. A different currency may take some strain off C$ but still allow for people to spend money on the site. The problem with this is it's still another currency which I'm sure people would not want to see.

4. Introduce site activities that can gain a site currency with a shop for old pets. Make the pets a one time buy and have a daily cap. The shop doesn't have to be open all year. It could act like dec. 18th except people can spend a year working toward a pet they want.The problem with this is that price is going to have to be hefty to keep the pet's rarity.

5. This is probably the worst idea, but make C$ untradable again. You can't spend tons of money on an old store pet if you literally can't do it. The problem with this is that it will make people mad. C$ is the only way for some people can get certain pets.

Yeah they're mostly bad ideas, but I would rather throw some spaghetti at the wall than offer no solutions.

Went ahead and made another poll:
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4855829
+ other poll regarding C$
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4779062