Woah this became a text wall. Sorry about that lol.
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Personally, I feel extremely strongly about store pets increasing at a higher rate than regular VRs, or at least making a very big initial jump and then following a similar increase.
Regular VRs will be rereleased and store pets will not be. If we end up with a guide that values regular pets similarly to store pets, simply put: I will not be trading away my store pets for their 'fair' valuation. I just don't think that the way we separate that valuation should be a decrease in the value of 2023 VRs.
Its funny because it looks like we've swapped positions here, initially I was the one saying "I wouldn't trade a store pet for a current year VR" but I would- just one that's in the store right now, making it easy to get more.
The event VR Halloween Dragon mentioned was a banner pet, I don't think its "just an event pet that wasn't considered that much rarer than its littermates".
I'd consider that like, a token pet. I think banner pets are worth more than token pets. I also think that the "Rare Monthly Release Pet" would be worth less than a Banner pet.
Subtracting demand, I think a pet like the
Gold Gacha Dog should be worth less than a pet like the
Banner Dragon that came out later that year. Despite them being the same rarity, one was a pet released during an event and one was a pet released that entire month. I think event pets are worth more than regular release pets as a baseline. In a less-severe demand sense, I'd even put the EUCs from the banner as higher-value than the Gold Gacha Dog.
I also think that Banner pets are worth more than token pets, so for me, the standard value, subtracting any super special looking pets (though event pets tend to look better than standard release pets in general so there will likely be some kind of sway there no matter what) it looks like this:
Event Banner Pets > Event Token Pets > Rare outcome of monthly releases > Regular outcome of monthly releases that has since turned rare.
Ex:
PPS Lion here is worth more than the rest of its litter, even if it stays a regular Rare when the rest of its litter goes Rare, and even if the rest of its litter was both rare right now, and had the same demand as it. It'd still be worth more because it was the "rare" release of its litter when it was released.
This is how I feel about all pets, and is something I want to take in mind when trading, my problem is I don't know all of the old rarities, and I don't know how those numbers have changed since release, my lack of knowledge here makes me upset and I wish each pet came with an extra tag that told me what rarity it was on-release.
Ex: The Sunjewel was much more uncommon than the Sunback when it was released. In my ideal trading guide, it would still take that into account
to this day.-
A few problems I have with the thought process of making 2023/2024 Rares/VRs cheaper, since we're trying to make the C$ chart calculate-able:
1: Setting a non-store VR at 15-20 C$ makes 09 VRs 60-80 C$ at the 1:4 Ratio I use.
The lowest I'd go for an 09 VR is 90 C$ (Low-demand), with my preferred value for a regular-demand one at 100-120 C$. At 15 C$ for a 2024 VR, that makes the ratio 6 2023/2024 Very Rares to 1 09 at minimum value. Which I think is 1.5x of Overpay on the 2023/2024 Side.
2: I think that, as they're being released actively, a store pet is equal in value to a VR from that year, but they increase drastically as soon as they are no longer available since they won't ever be released again.
Meaning that, I value a current to last-year VR the same as a store pet in the store right now. I would trade one of the current store butterfly wolves for a centipede dragon, and I would kind of feel like I'm ripping off the
banner pet, I'm not going to lie.
To me, that suggests that a current VR similar to the dragon might be worth
more than a current store pet. Heck- I would offer a current store b-wolf for the pps coccoon currently on the banner right now, and its value is to be determined.
3: I enjoy the 3:1 R:VR method. Meaning if a 2023/24 VR is worth 15 C$, a rare is only worth 5. Making an 09 Rare 20 C$. Which is frankly insulting, and I'd never trade an 09-10 rare for that.
It's less than it was before the rarity update.
I think, 2009-10 regular rares should be like 40 C$
minimum if we're doing 3:1 R:VR, and like 45-50 C$ if we're doing 2:1 R:VR.
Making a regular 2023/24 rare 11.25 C$, which brings us right back to a 22.5 C$ VRs at 1:2, and a 33.75 C$ 2023/24 VR at 3:1.
Math like this makes me agree that a Pet -> C$ chart is not going to work for all trading. Because if it wasn't for the kind of ratios I'm talking about using having to match up with the C$ Value, I'd have no problem pricing 2023/2024 Rares and VRs lower. Especially since we have quite a few people who like the 1.5 method, making it 3 2023/2024 rares for an 09, which prices them even lower, which I super disagree with.
The next best thing I could see would be a 5:1 2023/2024:2009/2010 thing where a 2023/24 VR is worth 20 C$ and an 09 VR is worth 100. (That would put an even bigger gap between me and the people who want 3:1 2023/24:2009.)
Which means a 2023/24 R is worth 6.67(3:1 R:VR) to 10 C$ (2:1 R:VR), and a 2009 regular rare is worth 33.5 (3:1 R:VR) to 50 C$ (2:1 R:VR) and in this case I like 2:1 better, I don't think 2010 rares should be worth any less than 40 C$.
It's one of those things where I look at it and go "If somebody offered me less than 40 C$ for my 2010 rare, I wouldn't even have to think about it, I would immediately decline. That is unfair to me." and the same thing for 09 VRs, "If someone offered me less than 90 C$ for my 09 VR, I wouldn't even have to think about it, I would immediately decline. That is unfair to me."
I don't like hitting the minimum C$ value for pets in a guide. I don't want it to be so unfair that it's an immediate decline if we go 5 C$ under in offering when it comes to older pets.
It was an unfortunate side-effect of my last chart, personally, but I'd have loved to put 2009-10 rares at 50 C$ and 09 VRs at 120, but that's a weird ratio (2.4:1). Because it leaves room for under-valuing, demand, and error. The C$ value should be the average pet, not including low-high demand. To me, a 2009-2010 low-demand pet is like 35-40 C$. If I was selling an average demand pet it'd be more like 45-50. And if it was a high-demand pet it'd be closer to 55-60. So my "Range" for an 09-10 Rare is "35-60 C$" Similar to what it was before.(I think it was 35-55 C$ with the old guide?)
Similarly:
I'd sell a low-demand 09 VR for like 90-100 C$.
A mid-demand 09 VR for 105-120
A high-demand 09 VR for 125-150
A regular-demand ER, if we're going by similar values, would start at 150 C$.
I just don't know how to reckon those kinds of values with my current chart, while keeping similar ratios and not making it feel unfair to the 2023/2024 side. The last time I used 5 C$ as the base for 2023/2024 it turned out like this and I was unable to calculate the Uncommons and below because 5 C$ was just way too small of a value to start out with.
5/2 = 2.5 C$ EUC
2.5/2 = 1.25 C$ VUC
1.25/2 = 0.625 C$ UC
Which is ridiculous and I don't think an EUC should drop below like 3-4 C$, we'd have to totally ditch 2:1 to make that work, which I also completely disagree with.
I'd feel personally insulted if somebody offered me 1 C$ for 2 Uncommons. I don't foe people over trades, but that would make me come close.
We need to keep in mind that it won't be 2023-2024 forever, and we can't keep stretching out the numbers. In like 2025-2026, the 2023-2024 pets being worth what they are is going to make a lot more sense when we have to make them less valuable than them.
Old Chart:

^ This thing is going to be outdated immediately come 2025. We'll need a new chart entirely by then if we use something like that. I want a chart that's at least a little bit designed with the future of trading in mind. In 2025, if it's okay to swap a pet currently in the store for a 2023 VR, I think that will still be fair.