COMMUNITY POLL: Rare Monthly Pets

[softpaw]

I just want to say I would like every month to have at least one 'rare' pet and a VR/OMGsr a few times a year. Would make the monthly adopts way more interesting imo. I don't really trade for monthlies but when I have adopted a 'rare' outcome in the past it has always been so exciting. I've even kept them on my account for 10+ years since I personally value pets that I have adopted myself more then ones I traded for. I think this would be great for new players, these kind of experiences are what makes CS special.




Glad to see this is being considered by CS staff!

[Finch Fry]

I'd love to see this! I think it would give newer players opportunities to be more involved in trading and the community more than just during holidays! I remember how hard it seemed to get that first rare pet back in 2011 when I joined. Plus I'd love to have more motivation to trade monthlies, right now I don't really get involved in monthly trading at all.

[Thalassic]

Just look at the hype and wild demand for the Halloween banner pets right now. Because that is what's gonna happen with rare monthlies. That is what has always happened when rare monthlies has dropped. Every single time. Do you REALLY want this on a regular basis? REALLY?
Cause I sure don't.

Came to say the exact same thing. I would like to see which newbies are benefitting from the release of a rare banner pet or two, because the vast majority my trade attempts for banner pets have been auto cancelled overpay and I hate it. Still yet to get this events banner pets. :D
It makes sense to have a pet like that for an event, but I would never want this to be a regular or common occurrence.

[frogfan]

Last year was my first year on cs and I decided I wanted to collect the full year, from Christmas 2021 to Christmas 2022. It was going really good for me until October. The stress of trying to get all the banner pets (I hit the banner limit and didn't get them all) and the dreaded October rat was extremely extremely frustrating and really disheartening

I managed to complete the month, but even with the event pets from earlier in the year it was extremely difficult. And from November to December I was so burnt out i just logged on to adopt the advent and monthly pets

I actually was super happy this valentines day, when I didn't have to worry about trying to find the lioness. Being new in this game is extremely frustrating.. yeah, it's great if new players were able to get a monthly rare! But what if they weren't? And what if that happened more frequently? It's not like people usually pull multiple rares anyway. If you're like me and trying to complete your first year on cs fully, you wouldn't have any trade fodder to get monthly rares, even if you already had some from previous months because chances are you only got one

I was equally happy that the rarity change didn't happen during my first year. It was difficult enough to find uncommons by swapping 2 commons. A lot of people are still using 2:1. If that pet went extremely uncommon, it would've taken 16 commons, if someone was even willing to make that trade in the first place.

I got where I am today with offsite trading and commissions, building up as a new user is already so hard, but this would've made it that much harder for me

It's okay to want this change, and I acknowledge that it could be really beneficial for some playstyles. But for others, its really not beneficial or fun to play

(Off topic but I reached the banner limit and didn't end up getting animal egg 100, which was also super frustrating as a newbie with no trade fodder and honestly still makes me sad)

[Blaubär]

[...] I mean, look at this bid for a Golden Gatcha dog that was from an auction literally this month.

Does this level of desperation/frustration seem healthy? Is it something you want to have resort to? Because you WILL have to at some point. And you WILL be on the side paying way more times than the side selling.


I understand that people want “chase” pets. My problem is that they already have those- old pets, events, banners, hordes, dreamies, etc. The “collectors” primarily rely upon monthlies, and use a “chase” playstyle if they want to complete older sets. I just don't think it would be healthy for the largely more casual player base to destroy the one casual aspect available to them. I can throw out old and expensive pets to speed run monthlies, but I don't want to, especially when that feeds the “demand monster” that makes being a new player hard.

I just had to quote this and I've highlighted one very important aspect that I think should be considered and hasn't been pointed out too often, if at all, before.

[MrScene]

[quote="Simon"][list]We've received mixed feedback on this topic and want to see where the community stands!

I absolutely love when a pet from one of the litters ends up being rare, and would be interested in trying to trade for some if I didn’t manage to snag one.

[Chibi-chan]

I have not read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been said already, but I did want to point out/suggest a few things:

1) if we have random unknown rares among the monthly pets, experienced and more committed players will have am easier time predicting which outcomes will be rare based on demand, and they may be able to scam lucky new/inexperienced/casual players out of their rares. Maybe there could be some flag on potentially rare pets like "this pet may grow into something unexpected!", or at the very least an explanation that some pets will turn out to be worth much more and to be careful trading them. I know a warning is only helpful if people read it, but at least maybe it will prevent some people from making that mistake. I just remember hearing so many horror stories about December 18 scams and newbies.

2) if this change gets implemented, I think there should be some way of making it more likely for newer accounts to adopt more monthly rares. It would at least give new players a chance to get ahead and start gathering pets to use for higher value trades. This does come with the obvious problem of "so what happens when old players create new accounts to get around this?", and, um, I'm not sure yet lol. I did not think that far ahead.

3) this is more of a fun/interest thing personally, not like the other things I mentioned, but I think it would be cool if the rares were completely different species from the litters they come from (ex: a dragon in a dog litter), or had some kind of transformation into another species (ex: a rat newborn grows into a rabbit, which grows into a cat). Just a whacky idea lol.

[Liliette]

I think this is a great idea! It would give new players (or returning old players) a chance to get rarer pets. When I was active, I barely even look at monthlies after I adopted them because they wouldn’t have significant change in rarity for a loooong time, I’m talking years.

99% of the appeal of CS, aside from art & roleplaying, is collecting pets & trading. Having a valuable, rare pet that is highly wanted has become an integral part of CS and what makes CS exciting to play for many. I have gotten to experience owning the most rarest pets— skelebun, sunjewel, raven dog, etc. Me being a older player put me at such an advantage, I always feel bad for new players because they’ve got a loooong collection to build before ever achieving dreamies like that

I don’t think this will necessarily “solve” the craze but increasing the amount of rare pets will definitely leave people with at least something.

[Thalassic]

I have not read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been said already, but I did want to point out/suggest a few things:

1) if we have random unknown rares among the monthly pets, experienced and more committed players will have am easier time predicting which outcomes will be rare based on demand, and they may be able to scam lucky new/inexperienced/casual players out of their rares. Maybe there could be some flag on potentially rare pets like "this pet may grow into something unexpected!", or at the very least an explanation that some pets will turn out to be worth much more and to be careful trading them. I know a warning is only helpful if people read it, but at least maybe it will prevent some people from making that mistake. I just remember hearing so many horror stories about December 18 scams and newbies.

2) if this change gets implemented, I think there should be some way of making it more likely for newer accounts to adopt more monthly rares. It would at least give new players a chance to get ahead and start gathering pets to use for higher value trades. This does come with the obvious problem of "so what happens when old players create new accounts to get around this?", and, um, I'm not sure yet lol. I did not think that far ahead.

3) this is more of a fun/interest thing personally, not like the other things I mentioned, but I think it would be cool if the rares were completely different species from the litters they come from (ex: a dragon in a dog litter), or had some kind of transformation into another species (ex: a rat newborn grows into a rabbit, which grows into a cat). Just a whacky idea lol.

1. would only work as a warning next to the litter you're adopting, but even then experienced traders will have a much bigger advantage in telling which pets are rarer in comparison. You can't really have a warning like that next to a still growing/newly adopted pet because rarities are assigned based on the total number of each outcome, so during the first hour of new adoptions, all the outcomes would be super "rare", and then the rarity would drop down significantly over the month as more peopl adopt them.

That is also one point that a lot of people in this thread seem to miss - for more people to get the rare pet, the pet would have to be less rare, and there really is no way around that.

2. As you yourself said, that would lead to lots of users making second accounts, as it would put new accounts at an unfair advantage toward currently releasing pets. I also feel like it might drive away some older members, or at least make them feel less valued than the new ones. Or maybe even make old members make new accounts to then discretely (try to) transfer their collection, to also benefit from the newbie advantage. Generally, giving users different odds at getting the same pets sounds like a really bad idea to me.

3. having a different species in a litter is fun, but it dips into the same problem as point number 1, where people will immediately be able to guess that this outcome is special, and try to hoard them/scam new members out of them. It would level the playing field a little, as more people would be able to Tell that the outcome is special, but I think that could be done in general, without making the dragon among dogs significantly more rare.

[Animall]

Just look at the hype and wild demand for the Halloween banner pets right now. Because that is what's gonna happen with rare monthlies. That is what has always happened when rare monthlies has dropped. Every single time. Do you REALLY want this on a regular basis? REALLY?
Cause I sure don't.

I do, lol.
Chicken smoothie is so damn boring otherwise. You're panicking because you demand the pets you want right away. When demand is high and supply is low, the value goes up. Wait a while and the banner pet demand always chills out. People are frantic because they demand instant gratification. That's so boring and stressful. You don't need every pet 2 seconds upon release.