by sel » Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:04 pm
so i'm finally getting around to addressing the customs issue ;u; i apologize that it took so long, i was busy this week; but i promise i was reading all of your concerns/suggestions as you posted them! i just wasn't able to get to the computer to reply until now ;u;
so, like i said, i read all of the concerns/suggestions about how to make getting customs more fair; and trust me, i do notice that they are unfairly difficult to get at some times (which is why i made the recent rule change to how many customs you can order to try and limit it). unfortunately, i can't completely limit it. users pay for stardust, which is used to pay for customs; so i wouldn't be able to deny someone to use the stardust that they paid for. however, some of y'all made some suggestions that i would like to look into in the future, but i can confirm that there will be no big changes until i can fully think them through (which will be sometime over the summer). in the meantime, i have some short-term fix ideas that could help alleviate the frustration of how fast custom slots go.
firstly, a very small thing but still wanted to let it be known, i will try my best to open customs at different times of day and on weekends. i don't remember who suggested the different time zones idea, but that's what i'm playing off of with this one. my custom codedrops will now always be on sunday at various times (which i will announce head of time), because i am a night person and i'm okay with staying up that late anyway cx
another small change but i believe it was @200765 that suggested that (in addition to the current rule about ordering customs) you can't have more than one custom order placed at a time? which is another good idea, and i will be adding that to the already standing rule asap.
finally, while a permanent item for reserving custom slots is definitely off the table, i would like to offer up an idea that i think would help those who don't already have a custom get one. as the calendar states, we have an easter/spring event coming up during the week of april 16th-20th. i originally had a lightly drafted plan of this event that went somewhat like an easter-egg hunt and, after realizing what i could do with that idea, i've decided to go ahead with that plan. as of right now, the easiest way to explain what is going to happen is that i (and possibly some of the other staff) will hide a bunch of little easter eggs throughout the various asteria walkers threads (this includes both archives, the chat thread, and the main thread), users will be able to 'hunt' for them and let me know when they've found one, and will be rewarded with randomly-selected items/stardust/and event-themed walkers. and then i got to thinking (and this is where i really want your opinions) what if i made a specific item that would only be available as a random-select for users who have one or less custom asteria walkers? anyone who falls into that category will have a chance of getting it if they find an egg, while everyone else will not. the item (if all the planning works out) will be listed in the bank with the rest of the items and will allow users who have them to post a custom form when they open, and (if they state they have said item within the time frame of customs being open), will get their custom order tacked onto the batch. for example; if i opened slots and four people ordered a custom, but one of them used that item, then the batch would contain four walkers instead of the regular three. that way, users who don't have a custom can guarantee themselves a spot on the list as long as they post their form before the artist claims and closes their spots.
this could be a regularly event-released item in the future too, if all goes well with using it in this event.
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there were some comments that i can outright deny will never happen right now, firstly that staff should not be allowed to order customs. as of right now, only three/four (because i can't exactly remember what dates some of the more recent staff were hired) of the 31 listed customs were made from custom batches after the user was made a staff member. all of the other's that belong to staff were either self-made and didn't ever take up a slot, or were bought when the user was a regular adopter. since that comes out to only 13% of current completed customs that physically took up slots, i don't think this is yet an issue that needs to be addressed. perhaps it will in the future, but for now it's not a pressing matter. another idea i'd like to stop before it starts/while it's still around is reserving slots/waitlisting. in my opinion, allowing a large group of people the means to reserve a heavily sought-after thing would be a nightmarish idea, and waitlisting would be even worse. a long list of people lined up to get a custom would be horrible for those waiting in line, and those who show up after the line gets long and are deterred by the mass amount of users they'll have to get through to get their custom.
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anyways, sorry this post was so long ;u; i just wanted to let everyone know where i am on this subject and what i plan on doing in the near/farther off future. i'm still also open to suggestions (and especially comments on my own idea) so that i can make a plan for fixing this issue when i come around to it c:
x
They really look like an even mix of both parents- its very cool. I'm a sucker for the middle one, just because I prefer to brown to the lighter pink colours. But the first ones markings are amazing too. ^.^ 
