COMMUNITY POLL: Rare Monthly Pets

[Solloby]

^ I agree Shadowpixie, those are good points.

I'm also surprised that a lot of people want this, and so many are claiming it will help newbies when it will actively make things harder for them. Newbies won't have anything to trade for them, and these outcomes are going to be rare, so they simply won't be able to get them. If they do get one, they will quickly be relieved of it by a more knowledgeable player. In the scenario that they adopt a rare outcome and recognise it for what it is, they will have to decide if they keep it or trade it out because they won't get a spare.

I think some people are voting yes to this because they think it will get them a rare pet. They perhaps haven't stopped to realise that they won't be lucky enough to actually adopt this rare pet, or what their plan will be if a pet they really want is released and they miss out on it. If they release 3 rare outcomes next year, the vast majority of players will get 0 of them. The older players will have to throw overpay for them, and the newbies will have to go without. Complete monthly collections will no longer be a thing newbies can achieve.

The only way a newer player will be able to acquire these pets is to buy C$, at a time when C$ inflation is already a big problem.

for the sake of discussion, i think i want to understand exactly what staff were attempting to address when opening this poll in the first place - what was their intention for this to be a thing? is it to close that gap, or something else entirely?

turning that on it's head, for monthly rares to be a thing, what about the site and/or its trading system needs to change to facilitate it? if the staff are deadset on monthly rares being more common, how do we make that happen?

i know i dont need to defend myself either but i want to clarify i voted for monthly rares with the explicit interest of wanting something to chase :] i guess im technically a 'newbie' since i had to start over, but i would like something closer to home and more achievable to chase after than the increasing unreachable legion of OMGSRs and <09/ex-list pets. i have absolutely terrible luck and i know i absolutely would not pull one, LOL, i just genuinely think it'd be fun. i think the idea is rough around the edges and needs a lot of refining from its previous examples (keep in mind august pps lion and golden gatcha dog were around a decade apart, making them inherently way more interesting and high demand because of sheer novelty) but i dont think the idea has no merit. i still stand by my opinion it should be trialled and then after a year everyone can decide if they absolutely hate the idea into oblivion, and then we can never have to think about it ever again.

I have no idea what prompted the community poll, so can't answer that one for you.

I like the idea of "easier" rare pets to chase than the near unobtainable pets you mentioned, but given how wild CS has traditionally gone for these rarer outcomes, my concern is that people who do get them and put them up for trade will be demanding said unobtainable pets in exchange for them. So they won't be easier at all. It only takes one person to throw an 09 VR at a new outcome and everyone else will share the trade link and demand the same payment.

I think a trial is a good idea if the idea has to go ahead. People may change their minds. If they are easier to trade for than we fear, I think more people will support this. But if they turn into the nightmare they have previously been, I think a lot of people will not want them anymore.

[TANKMEN]

I have no idea what prompted the community poll, so can't answer that one for you.

I like the idea of "easier" rare pets to chase than the near unobtainable pets you mentioned, but given how wild CS has traditionally gone for these rarer outcomes, my concern is that people who do get them and put them up for trade will be demanding said unobtainable pets in exchange for them. So they won't be easier at all. It only takes one person to throw an 09 VR at a new outcome and everyone else will share the trade link and demand the same payment.

I think a trial is a good idea if the idea has to go ahead. People may change their minds. If they are easier to trade for than we fear, I think more people will support this. But if they turn into the nightmare they have previously been, I think a lot of people will not want them anymore.

of course, i dont mean for you (or anyone!) to literally have the answers, but moreso the hypothetical of why we're even discussing this in the first place. with all the talk of rarity going on lately and the recent change, i can only guess this is supposed to be bridging the gap between players, and thinking about that might contribute to the greater (much more complicated) discussion of what about this site needs to change to facilitate that. if that makes sense? sort of a 'greater picture' situation of where monthly rares would fit into an 'ideal chickensmoothie', so to speak.

i do agree with you that this site's playerbase has a generally bad problem of rabidly chasing anything new and shiny, but i suppose that's just the nature of a site like this. if there was truly a way to reach that idea of an 'easier' rare pet, i think that'd be exactly what players are voting yes for, but how we actually get there seems way more difficult than most people are aware.

sorry, i hope that makes any sense ^^;; im not the best at expressing complicated things like this, haha. i appreciate the support on my trial suggestion! seeing how the poll's going, i think it's the best step forward from here. that way we can get an actual real-life realization of the idea. if it turns out horrible and agonizing, then players like me will rightfully eat our foot and back down on the idea. but if it turns out to actually be alright, then we may have found just one of many solutions for the compounding trading problem. a year of monthly rares (in whatever increment. monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, biyearly, etc) probably wont kill us and it seems CS is in it's 'throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what fixes the problem' era and hey, im all for it. we know we're never going to get exact pet numbers (unless a miracle occurs, or something) but i appreciate the staff's continued effort to try and change things as of this year.

[ShadowKatto]

People here are saying they hate trading and already get upset that they don’t just get every outcome automatically. I’m sorry but cs is a game… You have to do stuff. If swapping a common or two is already too much for you and you don’t like rarities or trading I’m not really sure what to tell you.

Exactly. Chicken Smoothie is a game, and games always have some sort of challenge. An easy game with no challenge would be boring.

[Squecca]

People here are saying they hate trading and already get upset that they don’t just get every outcome automatically. I’m sorry but cs is a game… You have to do stuff. If swapping a common or two is already too much for you and you don’t like rarities or trading I’m not really sure what to tell you.

I haven't seen anyone express a disdain for all trading or the RNG system in general. But I can agree with their sentiment that CS is already challenging enough with getting past pets, we don't necessarily need current pets to be extremely challenging too, like an august PPS several times a year.

[Panne]

I don't really understand the argument that it will make trading harder for newbies - right now, their only avenue to get rares is wait for an event or December 18th once a year. I guess I'm having trouble understanding how an extra chance at a rare pet is worse than not having that chance at all? While yes, not every newbie will be getting the rare outcomes every month, they will likely get one eventually. And I said this in my post before, to address more knowledgable players taking advantage of newbies for these rare outcomes, I believe there could be a warning or a note of some kind to let players know that "Hey, this litter has a possible rare outcome! Be careful when trading!" or something along those lines. We have that for December 18th, which, to be fair is a much bigger deal, but the risk is still there for rare monthlies. We as a playerbase are pretty good at figuring out which outcome is rarer than others before rarities come out, so it wouldn't be impossible to help new players figure out if they did get the rare outcome.

Additionally, I don't get why the dilemma of what to do with a rare pet is a problem? I, as an older user, have this dilemma with a lot of pets I get regardless. Should I keep this rare pet for collections, or should I trade it off for something else/get quantity for it to fill out more of my collection? That's kind of the point of trading. You can't have everything; you need to decide what you want to do. Weigh your options. Do you like the pet design enough to keep it, or are you chasing a different pet and want to use this one as fodder?
If a newbie misses a months rare outcome, there's always next time. It gives something more to look forward to instead of waiting for the next event in a few months. By the time the next rare outcome rolls around, the previous one will likely drop in demand. So if they still want one they missed, they can trade one they did get for it. This goes back to the idea that you can't have everything, especially when starting from scratch. As with everything, you need to work your way up if you want to have value. But if theres very few chances to actually do that, it can be very frustrating.

I just think overall its healthier for the economy of the game to introduce more rare pets to newer accounts instead of having all the value on older accounts that were just in the right place at the right time to adopt the now rare pets.

I also think its a little... odd that a lot of the negative opinions of this change are driven by fear of demand. I completely, 100% understand and agree that demand is way out of hand. But that's just never going to change, regardless of what changes the site makes. It's a community creation and it's not something even admins can address. Even monthly and event outcomes that don't turn out rare are sometimes overpayed for like crazy. I don't think it's really fair to dismiss this suggestion solely on this basis, as it happens and will happen regardless of whether or not this change is implemented.

That being said, I'm all for a "trial period" to see exactly how it affects trading and the economy, though It seems like a happy medium!

[Hearticorn]

hmm, i initially voted yes, but after reading the thread a bit, i'm much more conflicted

basically, i agree that a slightly greater amount of variation in monthly litters would be good. more uncommons + occasional very uncommons.

ultimately i think it comes down to some sort of misunderstanding of how rarity works, exactly, because my initial thought was "oh, it's just about the chance this pet grows up into this pet", which i don't think that's exactly incorrect, but rarity as a whole is about how many active accounts have the pet, which is a different thing. i think.

i think the gacha dog litter was absolutely adorable. and i think if you do that sort of gimmick once a year or something like that, that'd be okay.

i DO think that increasing the amount of anything-but-commons a new player each month would be able to obtain is good. but i also understand the concern that some have that a new player might get conned. i also understand the concern that people might do less monthly swaps for essientially speculation.

i think the idea of a trial period of this sort of system would be best! my one concern is- if it's decided it's bad for the game, a lot of pets those months will be very hard to get.

[Squecca]

I don't really understand the argument that it will make trading harder for newbies - right now, their only avenue to get rares is wait for an event or December 18th once a year.

That's not their only avenue. There's the pound, giveaways, gifts, and the free adoptions thread. I managed to get a few rares plus a very rare within a few days of making my account. It's not super easy though.

And I said this in my post before, to address more knowledgable players taking advantage of newbies for these rare outcomes, I believe there could be a warning or a note of some kind to let players know that "Hey, this litter has a possible rare outcome! Be careful when trading!" or something along those lines.

I can see an issue with that where people could be more stringent with their doubles because they know that one of them could be rare. And then when people notice that a pet seems to be more difficult to get, they know that it's likely one of those "august PPS" equivalents and so they inflate the heck out of it. Also CS is vehemently against transparency so they may not consider putting a warning anyway.

I also think its a little... odd that a lot of the negative opinions of this change are driven by fear of demand. I completely, 100% understand and agree that demand is way out of hand. But that's just never going to change, regardless of what changes the site makes. It's a community creation and it's not something even admins can address. Even monthly and event outcomes that don't turn out rare are sometimes overpayed for like crazy. I don't think it's really fair to dismiss this suggestion solely on this basis, as it happens and will happen regardless of whether or not this change is implemented.

That's true but unreasonable demand is what makes the game suck sometimes, and people are afraid of it getting worse. We already have to deal with greedy demand for old pets, but to have to deal with it with monthlies more often would add more stress.
The update would definitely make things more interesting though, but I think there should be a weighing of pros and cons.

[Solloby]

I have no idea what prompted the community poll, so can't answer that one for you.

I like the idea of "easier" rare pets to chase than the near unobtainable pets you mentioned, but given how wild CS has traditionally gone for these rarer outcomes, my concern is that people who do get them and put them up for trade will be demanding said unobtainable pets in exchange for them. So they won't be easier at all. It only takes one person to throw an 09 VR at a new outcome and everyone else will share the trade link and demand the same payment.

I think a trial is a good idea if the idea has to go ahead. People may change their minds. If they are easier to trade for than we fear, I think more people will support this. But if they turn into the nightmare they have previously been, I think a lot of people will not want them anymore.

of course, i dont mean for you (or anyone!) to literally have the answers, but moreso the hypothetical of why we're even discussing this in the first place. with all the talk of rarity going on lately and the recent change, i can only guess this is supposed to be bridging the gap between players, and thinking about that might contribute to the greater (much more complicated) discussion of what about this site needs to change to facilitate that. if that makes sense? sort of a 'greater picture' situation of where monthly rares would fit into an 'ideal chickensmoothie', so to speak.

i do agree with you that this site's playerbase has a generally bad problem of rabidly chasing anything new and shiny, but i suppose that's just the nature of a site like this. if there was truly a way to reach that idea of an 'easier' rare pet, i think that'd be exactly what players are voting yes for, but how we actually get there seems way more difficult than most people are aware.

sorry, i hope that makes any sense ^^;; im not the best at expressing complicated things like this, haha. i appreciate the support on my trial suggestion! seeing how the poll's going, i think it's the best step forward from here. that way we can get an actual real-life realization of the idea. if it turns out horrible and agonizing, then players like me will rightfully eat our foot and back down on the idea. but if it turns out to actually be alright, then we may have found just one of many solutions for the compounding trading problem. a year of monthly rares (in whatever increment. monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, biyearly, etc) probably wont kill us and it seems CS is in it's 'throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what fixes the problem' era and hey, im all for it. we know we're never going to get exact pet numbers (unless a miracle occurs, or something) but i appreciate the staff's continued effort to try and change things as of this year.

It sounds like we both want the same thing, but you are being optimistic and I am being pessimistic about it haha. If these do turn out to be easier rares, that people can trade for with rare event pets for example, then I would be very happy with that outcome! It would add a bit of challenge to trading while still being accessible to newer players. I guess I'm just worried that players who get the rarer outcomes will not accept recent rares for them, and demand much older ones or higher rarity tags instead which locks newbies out of trading for them.

It looks like there is a lot of support in this thread for a trial period from people on all sides of the discussion, so that's a really positive thing c:

[ShadowKatto]

I don't really understand the argument that it will make trading harder for newbies - right now, their only avenue to get rares is wait for an event or December 18th once a year. I guess I'm having trouble understanding how an extra chance at a rare pet is worse than not having that chance at all? While yes, not every newbie will be getting the rare outcomes every month, they will likely get one eventually. And I said this in my post before, to address more knowledgable players taking advantage of newbies for these rare outcomes, I believe there could be a warning or a note of some kind to let players know that "Hey, this litter has a possible rare outcome! Be careful when trading!" or something along those lines. We have that for December 18th, which, to be fair is a much bigger deal, but the risk is still there for rare monthlies. We as a playerbase are pretty good at figuring out which outcome is rarer than others before rarities come out, so it wouldn't be impossible to help new players figure out if they did get the rare outcome.

If a newbie misses a months rare outcome, there's always next time. It gives something more to look forward to instead of waiting for the next event in a few months. By the time the next rare outcome rolls around, the previous one will likely drop in demand. So if they still want one they missed, they can trade one they did get for it. This goes back to the idea that you can't have everything, especially when starting from scratch. As with everything, you need to work your way up if you want to have value. But if theres very few chances to actually do that, it can be very frustrating.

I just think overall its healthier for the economy of the game to introduce more rare pets to newer accounts instead of having all the value on older accounts that were just in the right place at the right time to adopt the now rare pets.

I also think its a little... odd that a lot of the negative opinions of this change are driven by fear of demand. I completely, 100% understand and agree that demand is way out of hand. But that's just never going to change, regardless of what changes the site makes. It's a community creation and it's not something even admins can address. Even monthly and event outcomes that don't turn out rare are sometimes overpayed for like crazy. I don't think it's really fair to dismiss this suggestion solely on this basis, as it happens and will happen regardless of whether or not this change is implemented.

^^This.
Yes, there's other ways to earn rares, and yes, events usually give a lot of rares, but there's still a lot of people who have those rares and wouldn't trade them for something else because they already have them.
I love trading for hard to earn pets. It's part of what makes CS fun in my opinion.

[kivr & fireflii]

I voted for yes occasionally per year, but then I changed to yes every month. I was thinking it would be nice to spice things up a bit, but also it's often frustrating to try to trade for them when they pop up. However, if we had one every month, it gives everyone a chance for recent rares and would be easier to swap those monthly rares I think? Versus like... the most "recent" rares being the time between events (like easter to summer). I just think having more variation would be nice, and despite any frustrations, for someone who is pretty much done with the pet collection, it gives me another thing to do.
-fireflii