Returning to CS has shown how the bad the trade system is.

[Inactive.]

I stopped playing around 2013, only logging on for December 18th till recently, when i wanted to rejoin the game properly.

I've found it to be very very difficult to actually partake in the actual trading aspect of the game. I used to have a very good grip of the old Rares list, which I understand is subject to change, especially with recent rarity changes.

Now there is no cohesive guidelines for value of any pets, the ways people value pets are based on equations that are not easily accessible (i've been trying to find the 'non' equations for weeks now).

The beauty of the old rares list was every list was tiered into several sub tiers per list, but every modern list groups tens to hundreds of pets in the same tier, which makes it near impossible to trade with someone as they will value their pets higher/lower regardless of sharing a tier.

The inability to sort pets in groups by rarity/year/species is very frustrating, having to click through every page and specifically selecting pets page per page to move is tiring.

While the new rarity system is a step in the right direction, as a returning player, or a newcomer, the main aspect of this site is made almost unplayable. The FTT is flooded with people wanting help, with very few people being able to help due to what i can assume is due to the ambiguity/number of the lists.

If I were a newcomer I would be completely out of my depth, almost all the pinned guides are very out of date.

Trade rules while the idea of being customizable is to customizable, no one wants to read a 2 page block of text. Having select rules you can pick from a selection and maybe a few 'dreamies' you can pick to be displayed in your rules is all the information really neccessary.

I really think the site needs a overhaul to groups and group management. I don't know whats to be done about the mess that is the various rares lists. But its pointless to do any trading until something is done about it. Yes i am aware demand is a factor.

There is also no easy way to find other people to trade with, the forums and recent posts bar are slow moving, and repeat the same members.

These are just some thoughts. I would be curious for other peoples input.

[Cheyezzz]

i agree, while i wasnt here for very long at all there have been points where its just so hard to trade for something no matter if my pets and the other persons pets are worth the same or "on the same tier" as you said, i just wish somehow this was fixed

[Inactive.]

i agree, while i wasnt here for very long at all there have been points where its just so hard to trade for something no matter if my pets and the other persons pets are worth the same or "on the same tier" as you said, i just wish somehow this was fixed

I agree, and I'm sorry you didn't get to enjoy CS in its golden age. I think what gets me most is this is inherently emant to be a childrens game, but it is made near impossible for children to learn the ins and outs of demand/constantly changing lists/values, and having to learn subjective equations. I'm an adult and I'm struggling, i cannot imagine how children joining the game are dealing with it.

[Hearticorn]

personally, i find the rares list completely incomprehensible, and the fact people still use it as a guide after years of it being defunct only adds to my confusion. i think we both agree that other current systems are confusing, though. for example, i only barely understand what a non is, and i don't think i want one enough to understand the way they're valued.

honestly, i think that the easiest way to look at a pet's value is to weigh a pet's date + rarity, and i'm pretty sure that was always the intention. demand CAN play a factor, if both parties in a trade agree it should. people are always going to weigh their pets value is differently, and i don't think that should be such a bad thing? i'd rather trade someone a pet they really like for a pet i'd really like, then something strictly on the same 'tier' of value. maybe someone would consider x pet worth a lot more, but if both parties like the trade, and neither have the intention to scam the other, then i think that makes the trade fair automatically.

[Aaron✦]

personally, i find the rares list completely incomprehensible, and the fact people still use it as a guide after years of it being defunct only adds to my confusion. i think we both agree that other current systems are confusing, though. for example, i only barely understand what a non is, and i don't think i want one enough to understand the way they're valued.

honestly, i think that the easiest way to look at a pet's value is to weigh a pet's date + rarity, and i'm pretty sure that was always the intention. demand CAN play a factor, if both parties in a trade agree it should. people are always going to weigh their pets value is differently, and i don't think that should be such a bad thing? i'd rather trade someone a pet they really like for a pet i'd really like, then something strictly on the same 'tier' of value. maybe someone would consider x pet worth a lot more, but if both parties like the trade, and neither have the intention to scam the other, then i think that makes the trade fair automatically.

I agree with all the above, the original list had its flaws for sure. But with numerous different lists, now with hundreds of pets in each 'tier' its become impossible for any player needing a guideline to have even a general outline.

We all will always value our pets differently, but there has come a point where the main aspect of the game is nigh impossible to play.

I've had several players message me during trades expressing not understanding values, and feeling embarassed that their trade may not be accepted or negotiated due to the difficulty understanding the values.

We have a subset of players who use equations to determine value of their pets, some who don't understand/know of the equations, and some who don't know the lists exist at all and are berated by other players for making trades 'unfair' when they have no knowledge of the 'hidden standards' of trading.

While the original list was flawed. It had one benefit the new lists do not. Every main section of the list had numerous sub tiers, which only required a minor amount of difference to be made up between the sub tiers. All current lists have blocked hundreds of pets into one 'block'.

I don't think this is a issue CS will ever be free of, there are alot of changes that would need to be made. But as of now, a huge portion of the player base is alienated due to subjective/difficult to understand/find standards.

Thank you for your input, happy to discuss further ~

personally, i find the rares list completely incomprehensible, and the fact people still use it as a guide after years of it being defunct only adds to my confusion. i think we both agree that other current systems are confusing, though. for example, i only barely understand what a non is, and i don't think i want one enough to understand the way they're valued.

honestly, i think that the easiest way to look at a pet's value is to weigh a pet's date + rarity, and i'm pretty sure that was always the intention. demand CAN play a factor, if both parties in a trade agree it should. people are always going to weigh their pets value is differently, and i don't think that should be such a bad thing? i'd rather trade someone a pet they really like for a pet i'd really like, then something strictly on the same 'tier' of value. maybe someone would consider x pet worth a lot more, but if both parties like the trade, and neither have the intention to scam the other, then i think that makes the trade fair automatically.

I would also note, the refusal to account for demand in various lists has led to further confusion. I do believe incorporating the demand value based on recent trades would allow any list to be much more useful,

[☆Darlene☆]

I've been a regular player/collector since 2014. I have tried and tried to " get" it, but it just makes my head swim. I honestly rarely try to initiate trades on my own for wishlist pets because most that's left on my wishlist are all those older, rare, hard to find pets and lists..I could never come up with a fair trade for any of those, unless it was from same year/rarity and I have a hard enough time finding any available to trade, much less actually have more than one I could actually trade for them. So, unless I find any available for $CS, I doubt I will ever be able to complete my collection.

[Inactive.]

I've been a regular player/collector since 2014. I have tried and tried to " get" it, but it just makes my head swim. I honestly rarely try to initiate trades on my own for wishlist pets because most that's left on my wishlist are all those older, rare, hard to find pets and lists..I could never come up with a fair trade for any of those, unless it was from same year/rarity and I have a hard enough time finding any available to trade, much less actually have more than one I could actually trade for them. So, unless I find any available for $CS, I doubt I will ever be able to complete my collection.

Thanks for your input! I definitley understand how you feel. Back when i was playing hours a day I had a pretty decent grip on the values, but even then it was a bit convoluted. From what I've seen the last few years have been much much worse.

The game was designed for children/young teens and should be easily accessible to that core demographic. Right now you have to scour the forums for some specific post in a random thread that a bunch of players have collectively agreed is how trading has to be done. And if you don't your not going to be able to trade for anything worthwhile.

I've always loved this game and its concept, but the years have proved that its not adapted with its increased player base and the system thats been created regarding values, at the detriment of the players.

I do love the game, and its something I would invest money in if it wasn't for the fact that its become impossible to play.

[Dizzywing]

i absolutely agree with this. i've been playing for nearly a year now, and i've tried to get a grasp on this site's trading system, but every guide is incomprehensible. the "tiers" and names make little to no sense (non?? could we not come up with a better name? september?? mid advent??? huh? whuh??), and it's almost impossible to figure out what something is worth when everything is named and categorized so badly.
oh, i found a cool pet in the archive! i wonder what it's worth? you'll never know! its name is something along the lines of scrimblydimbly meowmeow, and it's in a tier called christmasoweenvember which means it's usually worth about 2.7 scrumblo rats or 1 djiawsdhlkajwhdog and 0.3 galactic rats. you will have to go on a mystical journey through an incredibly cluttered and outdated list to find this information. all of that instead of "oh, that's very rare pink-pattern/trait month-year species and it's high demand." and that's just pets, from what i've seen the items are in an even worse situation.

everyone knows this, i think. it's almost inevitable in trading-heavy games like this. but is there a solution? i've seen threads like this before, but there's never an actual solution. cs staff can't do much here, and unless the community wants to change after so long nothing will happen. maybe it's just too late to change things, the game is old and not much can be done

[Kouriander]

Yeah as a 2018 player (quit in 2020, back since 2022), I've never completely understood the trade system here. I still have zero idea what the heck a list pet is or what non's and ma's are. I literally never trade for them and only buy these 'high value' pets with C$ if I find them for a reasonable price. On that note, I also personally find it ridiculous some of the prices people even list the pets at, though. Like, I've seen more than a few people want upwards of 10k C$ for a list pet, non, ma or whatever. Given that $1 (USD) is worth approximately 19 C$ (going by C$ 80 costing $5), that would make 10k C$ worth about $526 (USD). Like, you're expecting me to pay over five hundred dollars essentially for a virtual pet? No, lol. I've even seen some people wanting ridiculous amounts of FR gems for these same pets. I'm talking 10k - 50k gems for a SINGLE pet. 50k gems on FR will cost you upwards of $450 - $500 (USD). Like, can we stop being absolutely insane with these prices, please? It's extremely greedy and unrealistic to expect anyone to pay that much for a virtual pet.

Trust me, I understand when things get rare and valuable, but let's please keep in mind this is a website intended for children/teens and this virtual currency economy exists because of real currency keeping it flowing. I know people often trade pets and art for C$, not always buying it themselves (cause again, children and teens who normally do not have money), but even then it can take a long time to save up all this currency (especially sometimes for just ONE pet). Idk I just find these prices unrealistic at times and highly inflated, especially when people put personal values on things and you take more in demand pets into account. I'm glad they've revamped the rarity system for pets, it's nice seeing some new ones and whatnot being in the mix at least, but I wish the trade system in general could get an overhaul.

I'd also like to say the cost of C$ in general needs to be more reasonable. Not to mention FR again, but even they give you a reasonable amount of gems over there for $5. You literally get 500 gems for that amount, but CS gives a measly 80 C$ (and they even had the NERVE to raise the price of the store pet bundles from that exact price to 100 C$ while not adjusting anything else, lmao).

Like, I'm an adult that gets on here to have fun and trade silly pets with people. Why does trading have to be this serious??

[Inactive.]

i absolutely agree with this. i've been playing for nearly a year now, and i've tried to get a grasp on this site's trading system, but every guide is incomprehensible. the "tiers" and names make little to no sense (non?? could we not come up with a better name? september?? mid advent??? huh? whuh??), and it's almost impossible to figure out what something is worth when everything is named and categorized so badly.
oh, i found a cool pet in the archive! i wonder what it's worth? you'll never know! its name is something along the lines of scrimblydimbly meowmeow, and it's in a tier called christmasoweenvember which means it's usually worth about 2.7 scrumblo rats or 1 djiawsdhlkajwhdog and 0.3 galactic rats. you will have to go on a mystical journey through an incredibly cluttered and outdated list to find this information. all of that instead of "oh, that's very rare pink-pattern/trait month-year species and it's high demand." and that's just pets, from what i've seen the items are in an even worse situation.

everyone knows this, i think. it's almost inevitable in trading-heavy games like this. but is there a solution? i've seen threads like this before, but there's never an actual solution. cs staff can't do much here, and unless the community wants to change after so long nothing will happen. maybe it's just too late to change things, the game is old and not much can be done

Thanks for your input!

I agree, in a trading heavy game some of this is bound to happen.

In my personal opinion, one huge step would be eliminating all lists/value discussion threads. This allows players to be resorted to trading based on what people are willing to pay, not based on arbitrary guidelines they have found in a random thread. It prevents demand from being known/spread. It also allows new pets a chance to become desirable.

The Fair trade thread should be nuked at this point. 1/50 people ever are able to offer help due to how convoluted trading has become. It becomes flooded with people who don't understand the trading system asking for help and waiting for hours for a response that may never come.

The game is fundamentally broken, and if the longevity of the game is to survive, its going to have to change.