Ask the Staff!

[.Aurora.]

To: anyone involved in Dec 18 decisions

Is the current rarity of the pets a factor in deciding how many of them can be released on Dec 18? Like, "there are (say) 120 sunjewels on active accounts, and (say) 150 would push them from OMGSR to VR, so we won't release more than 20 this year"?

Does anyone control which/how many pets are adoptable from the Dec 18th box? Or is it totally randomised?

thank you!

Interesting question, I don't think many people consider that it is almost completely random, but with a few exceptions

Instead of there being a hard limit (e.g. 20 sun jewels limit) it'll be a probability (so you might have a smaller chance of getting a sunjewel but you never lose the chance even if people have already adopted a bunch of them). We estimate how many people are likely to adopt and predict which pets will probably change in rarity as a result. We don't want pets to drop down in rarity too much. And for some extra rare pets we want more to be released so they're not impossible to collect. But about 95-99% of the pets in there have an equal probability of being adopted, we only have to tweak a few.

Usually the most probable outcomes are the brand new UR pets, since they would be SUPER rare if we didn't give out a bunch in their first year. It might not feel like it since URs are so rare, but when you adopt from the box you actually have about 4 - 8 times the chance of getting a new UR compared to any other outcome. That's why you sometimes see lucky people getting more than one UR at once

to Tess

will we ever see the cs buttons and stickers return? I never got to buy any last time they came out and ive been waiting awhile now, just curious

probably yes, but not this year I don't know when they'll return, but we'll post in the news next time they're in stock

Thanks for explaining that in mathmaticle terms! Extremely helpful!

[evilpineapples]

To: any staff

I was just curious about why december 18th was chosen for the big adopt day and not the last day of the event, is there a reason or is it just a random day?

[Shinryu]

to anyone:

if you didn't have to sleep, what would you do with that extra time? <:

I'm a terrible insomniac and spend those extra waking hours online, usually.
Beats rolling around in bed in the darkness for hours on end, if you ask me.

to anyone ; favorite holiday or winter time song?

Amid the Falling Snow by Enya

dear any staff -
which year did you have the best december 18?

In 2009 I got a Moonswirl from the re-release :)
Which was kind of funny because I had been hoping for the nonswirl.
I also didn't actually know which I'd get until a month later, because I didn't see whether the pup grew at 8 days or 9. Such suspense!

to anyone:

what's your favorite band/singer?

My favourite band is Scar Symmetry, and my favourite singer is Christer Andresen of Keldian.

To any staff:
Are you taking part of any Christmas activity on CS, like secret Santa or holibombs?

I'm participating in the Hoarder's Secret Santa! It's fun to hunt for someone else's hoardies for a change.

To: any staff

I was just curious about why december 18th was chosen for the big adopt day and not the last day of the event, is there a reason or is it just a random day?

It was just a random date that we've kept using every year :) it works out quite well being a week out from Christmas though, before a lot of people go away to stay at Grandma's or whatever it is people do for Christmas :D

[Romeo Montagu]

To: Any Staff

What is your favorite thing in CS?

[Tess]

To: Any Staff

What is your favorite thing in CS?

The staff

[calculator]

dear anyone –
what’s ur favorite small thing cs has that not many people know about and/or use?

[WalkingContradiction]

dear anyone...

do you get a lot of fan mail from from players??

[Galaxy Wolves]

To Staff:

What, in your opinion, is the hardest pet to get?

[w a t e r c o l o r]

To Staff:

What gave the idea for staff pets? How do you decide which staff design pets for the litter?

[TzatzikiTheLeg]

To basically anyone who knows:
Are staff applications closing for good, or just for the time being?