We need your feedback on an update to the rarity system!

[Lex.]

My only qualm is that adding more rarity categories might cause more confusing rare pricing than there already is, or rather cause rare pets to lose the rarity they have (or have had for years)

I think adding more rarity categories would add clarity rather than take it away. And it's true that it's likely that rarity tags would then change across pets, but that would also be a good thing.

If, say, pet A is considered rare because there are 2000 of it in circulation, but pet B is also considered rare with 1000 in circulation. that's a very vague range, but then say an update in rarity tags indicates that pet A is "extremely uncommon" while pet B is "rare," that will technically make pet A "lose" it's "rare" tag, but will make trades concerning these two pets more fair overall and easier to determine/place along that value scale. we'll have better information and a better reflection of how the values of these two pets compare. I think it's more important to be more informed/have a better understanding of pet rarities than it might be to necessarily preserve the current rarity tags, because almost any sort of site fluctuation can change most rarity tags at any time.

Couldn't have even thought it better myself!

I think that this can only benefit trading. I understand those who say that it will make it worse though. It certainly can cause more stress because of all of the new rarities, but a middle man is cut out. Rare pets that were never really that rare to begin with will be able to be obtained more easily and be traded for more fairly. Pets that before weren't worth as much because of species could turn out to be much rarer than pets that were once worth more than it. It allows for more transparency, and so that demand can't so easily influence the market.
Demand made the shima longtail [1 single 09 RARE] worth 2-3 MAs [12-18 09 rares] worth.. so I think this will be a great change.

[♥kittyfaith2210♥]

I personally think this will complicate trading further, and create more issues. I don't have the breathe to explain it, but trading is so hard these days. Adding new categories to refine the groups, seems like it will make trading impossible at some point. I appreciate the effort, but it fills me with so much anxiety, I really reconsider my own interest in trading at all anymore. I barley do it, because I end up overpaying. Going forward, I see so much demand going into the "new rarities" that are being proposed. This just feels like an issue that will never be resolved. I don't wish to sound so critical, but the amount of anxiety I just got, was so thick.

I do want to trade, I want there to be a future for tading, but with the way users feel about rarities, I never see it being resolved. I see the whole list demanding users to obtain certain rarities. I would prefer we just leave pet values alone, as it's already so impossible to trade these days.

I only trade and buy between my friends, because there's some common feeling about worth there. But beyond this, I only see list owners benefitting, and older users from 2013 and older. I see newer users struggling.

I am a little surprised a lot of the event pets were uncommon, as I feel so many other events possessed more rare pets. I don't see this improving much, I really feel a bulk of the issue being in this list value and true date issue. But that's my two sense. I don't expect others to agree, and I don't know how to fix the problem.

But if you believe this will make things better, I really hope you think it through. Not that you aren't, but rarities have caused so many issues.

I just probably won't be trading going further.

I personally feel like pet rarity tags are not the issue but rarities and values themselves are.

Being an older user (I don't see myself as "old" but I'm also not new), people with certain pets basically run the entire trades system. When I came back from a 2 year break, it took like a year to find basic, monthly pets (most of which were uncommon and under). I had to offer pets from 2011 and I'd still get denied for no reason. I literally overpaid so badly for a few 2019 pets, and the reason I got denied was "sorry." I had to sell 2010 Malk foxes to afford 2019 Fae event Malk foxes. I coughed up so many old store pets because I needed the $$$ to afford pets from 2021. Older users are not exempt from these rates; if anything, we still have to cough up stuff for things that, a few years ago, would cost next to nothing. I don't want to sound like I'm picking a fight 'cause I'm not, but it seems true that if you have certain pets, you literally run the trades system (on site and offsite).

I remember the patchwork was barely valued at like a non and then literally within less than a week it suddenly jumped to 2 non value. You cannot tell people how to value pets, yes, but frankly everything is becoming valued by nons. Nons from a list that doesn't exist anymore but also still exists behind closed doors. I know of one user selling an orange cerb for $700 worth of USD bought currency. Others have ravens worth $600 of USD based currency. I say this as nicely as I can, but let that sink in more than a rarity tag. You have to pay $700 for a pixel that, otherwise, is a ghost in the pet market. You cannot change store pets, but new or not, no one can pay that much for a freaking pixel.

The rarity tags updating can help because people seem to value certain uncommons like they're rare (when they aren't) and etc. But at the same time, rarity tags are the surface problem and I think the real problem is not being addressed: pet rarities and circulation.

If you've ever seen pets in the pound, some of them are from accounts several years ago. Like last month I saw a Cheshire Cat from an account that was banned 7 years ago. It took 7 years to finally be put into the pound circulation. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm really not, but maybe change the going rates of some pets or at least focus more on that than adding a few more rarity tags.

Long term, adding rarity tags can help distinguish pets with one label that are going for a full other label. But also address the issue behind this issue: CS (and users on it) have unintentionally made the pet market a living nightmare. And what market we do have is being run by people with IRL $$$. I buy pets with USD bought currency, I'm not alone, but adding rarity tags isn't doing a long term fix.

This is also something I've noticed as well. I fear that changing the rarity system won't help the issues that are prevalent. I've had to overpay with 2009 very rares for newer event pets because otherwise I won't get them in trade swaps. I've been playing since 2015 and it was easier even then to be able to trade up but now it seems like everything is pretty much stagnant (unless you're lucky to get extremely good pets during December)

[Midnight Tails]

Most of what I think about this has already been said, so I'll only leave a comment about the actual design here: if something like notches is added, I hope it'll come with a toggle on/off button (just like how we can now decide between having the bars or text). :>

I agree!
I'd also really really like a few toggable options for colours, to be able to pick the gradient colour for ourselves (only shown to us) for those of us with vision issues or colourblindness.
I already really struggle with the current colours as it is, and instead rely on reading the text most of the time.
I'd really appreciate either some preset colourblind friendly options, or ability to change the gradient to whatever I need it to be. I understand the need for notches but yes having it be toggable would be amazing!!

And I do think adding more rarities will add clarity.
I've been around for a long time, including the upheaval that the 2012/2013(forget which year but when most of the site was uncommons and they updated everything and it was a messs for a while) but in the end that update did help a LOT with clarity. And we're getting to that same point again, when a lot of the site pets are UC, and we need an update.
It provided a lot of clarity, it was horrible to trade before that update, and yes many pets stayed uncommon but many became rare as well.
I am ESPECIALLY excited about the new rarity in between very rare and omg so rare... that's been needed for over a decade and I'm so glad it's being considered now.
Especially with the list being not supposed to be used, but most use the old list anyways, or using even worse pricing based off personal preference...an in between rarity is super needed.
I believe the in between uc and rare is also very much needed, mostly in that it'll be easier working out which pets are worth trading to get a rare.
Many users are scared to trade their rares for UC mostly because who knows what that UCs true value is. Having it be more clear will help people feel more confident in trading down or up I believe.
And yes it WILL be chaos for a bit, it always has been with any big change, but it's definitely needed and it'll make it better in the long run.

I still remember many older users being furious about the rarity update from 2012/2013, at the time I was a fairly new user and I was confused on why so many were so angry, when it was so beneficial. So do keep in mind it'd be particularly beneficial for newbies, who are really important to the site's future.

Am excited for all this either way, and thanks so much staff for listening <3

[This Kane U Speak Of]

Something that concerns me about adding additional common categories is the stigma that's already attached to things labelled common and under. I don't know how it would be worded but it almost feels like it would make more sense to me to add an additional category BETWEEN common and uncommon purely because of the linguistic connotations around the words and how they cause users to treat the pets. Like there could be pets on the line between being common and uncommon and they're treated as if they're from separate universes since it's common and not common linguistically. Meanwhile the lower rarities are seen as different variations of common for the same reason. I don't think that adding even more common rarities would necessarily clear it up at all for lower rarity pets due to the inherent stigma of the wording.

[50blessingzz!]

love the idea of adding 4 more rarities! some pets are currently a lot harder to trade than others in the same rarity category and year, and i think updating the rarity system with more sections would be helpful in distinguishing that

[FireBird1787]

I think expanding the rarities would be the best option. The naming is a bit hard to understand right now, but I think it would be easier with time. I like the idea of the notches on the rarity bar!
Two other suggestions related to trading;
-Item rarities:
Right now item trading is really daunting because really the only good way to make sure an item trade is fair is to either memorize the items and their values, or ask other players if they think it’s fair. And since items don’t have set rarities their worth is very subjective.
-Rereleasing old pets
Older pets are getting harder and harder to get as the years go by. And even with the December 18th rereleases it’s very hard for newer players to get older pets since most players don’t want to trade down. Maybe having two yearly rereleases for older pets would help. I think doing occasional pound events where all the pets are rares and above could be cool and maybe help as well.

Also it would be nice if there was a way to fix the current trading culture. Back when I first started playing people would try to edit a trade before canceling, and usually both players would walk away from a trade happy. Now when a trade is sent a lot of people cancel it without even trying to come to an agreement.

[Lex.]

-snip-
This is also something I've noticed as well. I fear that changing the rarity system won't help the issues that are prevalent. I've had to overpay with 2009 very rares for newer event pets because otherwise I won't get them in trade swaps. I've been playing since 2015 and it was easier even then to be able to trade up but now it seems like everything is pretty much stagnant (unless you're lucky to get extremely good pets during December)

Paying that much for a current event pet is pure demand, it's never advised. I assume it was a personal choice to overpay, as you will get the pet eventually through trading if you find the right person who will trade it away fairly. I'm sorry that you had to pay that much, and things like that can't [scalpers?] even be reported. </3

[Spaceinmyhead]

I think that the change to the rarity system would just be one of multiple things than can help the economy. nothing is every going to be a 100% fix, that's almost impossible. But, lots of different changes can help. This wouldn't be a fix all to the problems, but it would be the first step forward

[VortexDragon]

At first I preferred the second option (adding just one new rarity category, very uncommon) but now that I think about it I really like the idea of adding the four new rarity categories. This is because there are just so many pets on this website, and adding these new categories would help pet value become more precise (since currently, there are examples of pets that fall under “rare” or even “very rare” that are MUCH more common than other pets of the same category, if that makes any sense)
This would help organize pets further, so yes I am all for the third option of adding 4 new categories!

[tiredddd]

Thank you so much for listening to us! I think that adding four new labels would help reduce confusion and be a better distinction between value of pets, I’m so glad changes are being made and I love the notches idea <3