[urgent] this site really is actually dying

[AlphaLex]

I just thought of an idea, what if in our pet archive it marks pets we've already owned so people would only need to own a pet to check it off their personal completion list, instead of always having to keep pets in your collection forever.

i think we already have this ive been checking off pets i own from my wishlist for a while now? im unsure what ya meant if different

[plot]

Hi all.
Briefly went over every page and post to see the general discussion and suggested improvements. Thought I would add some input as well.

I definitely agree that a new user is automatically off to a late start. If my account suddenly disappeared one day, I would not create a new account. It is a daunting task in my mind to collect all the pets on the site. The completionist in me, however, pushes me towards that goal. I cannot even imagine how this must feel for a new user since there are literally thousands of pets on the site. There are great methods of getting mass amounts of older pets, such as from quitting users, adoption threads, giveaways, etc., but then one must know how valuable the pets they get are or they run the risk of getting scammed. A few months back there was a giveaway for a full store pet collection that went to a newly joined player. I wish I could have seen the trades they were getting for those pets not knowing how valuable all of them were. People are prone to take advantage of the ignorance of others for their own gain. It is a sad, but very real, thing when we are protected behind the anonymity a screen provides. I see it all the time since I frequent the "Is this a fair trade?" thread. I do my best to respond on that thread when I have some extra time since I know that sinking feeling of trading certain pets away for less than their worth.

To combat the issue of new users starting off way behind the rest of the community, my first thought would be to implement some sort of new user adoption. It could be similar to the Dec. 18th re-release box. The only problem I see with that though is the very real possibility of them getting scammed of it immediately. With that, I would probably suggest a pet trade lock that will prevent the pets from being traded away for at least a month (till full grown). That would at least enable people to hopefully learn the value of the pets they got and get decent returns for it if they decide to sell it. The same could possibly apply to the real Dec. 18th boxes, but that would probably frustrate older users who already know the value of the pet they have. I am also not sure how much code this would take to implement, so that is another factor to consider as well. In general, if CS wants more users, the site needs better retention of users. If a new user joins, immediately feels like there's no point due to how confusing trading is or the inflated value of pets or getting scammed, then they are not going to stay. Simple as that.

I also 100% feel that store pets need to be re-released. The values at this point have simply gotten way out of hand. 12+ nons for a Skelebun? C'mon now. There is the argument of: well, you should work towards your goals and then when you get the pet you'll feel so much accomplishment for all the effort you put in. That is a part of it, but there are always ways to increase difficulty on CS. One could simply go for certain species completion, a full monthly collection, a full event pet collection, a complete collection of re-released pets... the list goes on. It could be a fun extra Dec. 18th box that only gives one re-released store pet from any year. It would at least help to bring down values a little bit.

As for the general atmosphere of CS, I haven't really had many problems recently. I try to treat people how I would like to be treated. I go on here to unwind after a long day. It gives me peace of mind to go on CS and have good conversations with the friends I have made on here. I enjoy helping people learn the site, trade values, etc. It makes me feel like I can serve a purpose. Sometimes I'll just go to the online users and randomly click a few profiles to gift. I personally love the feeling of being randomly gifted, so I like to return that feeling to others in turn. Getting gifts, having good conversations, helping others, trades that benefit both me and the trade partner -- this all makes me feel good inside. However, I have definitely had situations where I get rude messages from declining a trade. I struggle with anxiety, so one little bad comment like that can completely ruin my night. I usually just go off of CS for the rest of the night and come back tomorrow with a fresh mindset. There's not much that can be done about rude people unless they are breaking the rules, harassing you, etc. You can, of course, block them, but usually there is a catalyst (like a rude message) before you get the idea to block them. That is just a fact of being online. People can say and do what they want within the confines of the rules. There is no consequence to them in real life to treat someone online poorly. As for solutions to this... all I can say is find your people. You'll find those one or two or more individuals that make playing on here super fun. If any of you need a friend on here, shoot me a message. I will be there for you!

Overall, this ended up being a bit longer than I intended. I really like the idea already suggested of a daily sign-in bonus of some kind. I think a way to earn C$ other than through buying or trading would be pretty beneficial to the inflation as well. Perhaps the sign-in bonus could potentially give C$ every now and then. Similar to how you can earn gems by keeping your dragons fed on FR.

I hope you all have a lovely day and thank you for reading.

I agree with everything you said. I do feel like new users are at a disadvantage. I’ve worked hard and got lucky because back when I started, people did trade down a lot of the older VR pets that now have demand. I have seen a ton of people that only do trade-ups, but won’t even consider trade down’s. But I feel like that is almost non-existent. For a lot of my old grey-tag husky dogs, old VR advent list 7th tier pets, that was 7 09 rares, but I don’t think you’d find many people trading down for just a handful of 09 rares now. I think trading has actually gotten significantly more difficult.

That’s why when 18th pets come out, I will admit that I do go looking for some of those rats, but I always ALWAYS tell the user what rat they have, if I’m on my laptop I will link them to the page showing it, and I tell them what it’s roughly worth. Only then do I feel comfortable asking if they want to trade it. Because I would want someone to do that for me. https://www.chickensmoothie.com/trades/viewtrade.php?id=91690449&userid=141942&signature=-Av_UP25OLN7ksYppqbiqg figured I could show some of what I’ve traded before. https://www.chickensmoothie.com/trades/viewtrade.php?id=91624380&userid=141942&signature=7oNWxs5JUFgbBCkI_pIK8Q I try to trade fair and try to take the opportunity to tell people what they’ve got. That way they can make an informed decision on what they want to do based on what’s fair to them.

I will shout out some users that have edited my trades to make them more fair to me, like I’ve tried overpaying and asking is that okay, and they edit it back down to what’s fair - that’s great, I wish we had more people like that. I’ve tried to do that.

Sometimes I overpay just because I want to. I’ve got 5000 some pets, if I’ve got a lot of the same thing and you want it or need it, why am I going to hoard it? I’ll throw in something if I’ve got extra just to help people out where I can. There’s no need to be rude or mean over a trade, in my opinion. I know I’ve been blocked for sending a trade suggestion asking them to add or remove from my side to make it more fair for them. And just canceled and blocked because of a suggestion they have to edit. It’s mindblowing

[Burning Memory]

I just thought of an idea, what if in our pet archive it marks pets we've already owned so people would only need to own a pet to check it off their personal completion list, instead of always having to keep pets in your collection forever.

I've seen this mechanic used in multiple other games and I have to say I am all in favour for it. It would make collecting much easier for those who don't wish to have a "living collection" and only wish to have it logged in their archives, leaving room to trade away any pets they may want to be rid of without worrying about ruining their collection.

[Infailia]

I just thought of an idea, what if in our pet archive it marks pets we've already owned so people would only need to own a pet to check it off their personal completion list, instead of always having to keep pets in your collection forever.

i think we already have this ive been checking off pets i own from my wishlist for a while now? im unsure what ya meant if different

I believe they are talking about a system that notes if you've ever owned a pet before. So if you were to trade it, there would be a note saying that you did own it at one point, thus letting there be another way for a 'complete' collection without having to hold onto everything.

[TheWranglerDani!]

I just thought of an idea, what if in our pet archive it marks pets we've already owned so people would only need to own a pet to check it off their personal completion list, instead of always having to keep pets in your collection forever.

i think we already have this ive been checking off pets i own from my wishlist for a while now? im unsure what ya meant if different

theyre talking ab ones youve had before i think that you no longer have

[darkrune37]

I just thought of an idea, what if in our pet archive it marks pets we've already owned so people would only need to own a pet to check it off their personal completion list, instead of always having to keep pets in your collection forever.

i think we already have this ive been checking off pets i own from my wishlist for a while now? im unsure what ya meant if different

Aah forgive me if im wrong, but I think if you give away a pet theres nothing in the archive that says you ever once owned it in the past? but if it did do that then you wouldn't need to hold onto your pets to prove you collected them and could trade them to someone else who needed it??

[AlphaLex]

I just thought of an idea, what if in our pet archive it marks pets we've already owned so people would only need to own a pet to check it off their personal completion list, instead of always having to keep pets in your collection forever.

i think we already have this ive been checking off pets i own from my wishlist for a while now? im unsure what ya meant if different

I believe they are talking about a system that notes if you've ever owned a pet before. So if you were to trade it, there would be a note saying that you did own it at one point, thus letting there be another way for a 'complete' collection without having to hold onto everything.

ah okay! then yes i would agree with this mechanic ^^ it would be helpful

[PeepinBones]

New player here just for a quick input,

Yes, trading is difficult and hard to learn, but if you take the time to read the guide forums you can get a quick idea of how it works. Second, free adoption is a huge play for new players. Super easy to get some great pets and find out what you want to collect in the long run. Events are huge too because it's easy for a player to get a bunch of pets during the event and then use the extra to trade up later. Using these strategies and finding people willing to do small trades that you can get uncommons with, then trade up, is fairly easy at least from what I've experienced.

[Wysterinka]

Can't agree sadly...there are players who build their entire pet folders and collected the opd stores for years so releasing old stores again would just upset lot of old users making them quit and it wouldn't change a thing. Suddenly people would ask 10n for UR tiger etc.
This is just not solution for anything and it would change rarities entirely too.

What I don't understand is - there are so many amazing new pets and new stores released! Why is everyone being unhappy about not getting some old pets if you want to collect it can be frustrating sure, but that's how it is for every single kind of collection in real life too. People trying to collect coins, stamps, cards etc. will get it.

I feel like everyone feels like it is unfair now. I think there could be more events to participate in, daily rewards or points are great idea to get people more active, but if everyone has everything, what would be the point.

[faerah]

At least make store pets extremely rare on dec 18, I still fully support adding stores to dec 18, itd still keep them at nons worth, it would just keep them at a balance instead of raising to 30 nons