pound rarity odds.

[Wookieinmashoo]

Nick just let me know that we accidentally ran out of Very Rare pets because they were being given away too quickly (we still have pets for higher and lower rarities, this issue is specific to VR pets), we are going to need to adjust the rarity distribution in the pound openings to prevent this from happening again, so expect a change to the rarity distribution in future openings.

The reason there were 18 of the same dog is because the system registered those as being the closest pets to VR it had available. Apologies for the recent awkward pound openings.

Thank you for posting about this. the last few pound openings I have been to have been strange in that the oldest pets were no older than 2017 releases. The first time, I thought it was weird. This last pound opening was the same. I just came here to look to see if changes were made. I don't think the rare changes is what I am seeing, there should still be plenty of 2012-2016 pets because a lot of them are still EUC or under. The first two refreshes I see about 400-500 pets gone and I can just assume it's the older ones

On the topic of scripts, it could be possible that people are using them
1. People are turning off images and javascript for pages and blindly clicking, hoping to get a rare (this was common on dragoncave to get new releases). I don't know how that would work on CS since I've never tried it, and Firefox has now made it to where it requires multiple steps to do. People may be using something similar to reduce page load times.
2. People ARE using scripts and they are programmed to go after dates, not rarity. An older date makes it a higher chance the pet could be rare and the pets date is displayed right underneath it.
3. Another option, will take some explaining. Before dragoncave had a trading system, people "traded" via the AP and use the individual code of the dragon/egg and used it on an a successful adoption page. Constantly refreshing that page will cause the adoption to be successful if there's no competition doing the same thing. For CS it's possible for people to get the ID code of a pet they want since they're visible before adoption. I've looked at the CS adoption page and the URL generated looks unique to that adoption instance and doesn't look like it has a connection to an individual pet, but I also don't know how the adoption code on CS works.

Someone mentioned snaplinks and I wanted to mention it's still on Firefox. I've had it for a long time and I originally used it on the dragoncave AP to sift for lineages I liked. Attempting to use it on new release on the cave made it very clunky. You still have to click and drag which can easily cost more time than just clicking. It's great for sending out a lot of trades using the online list I couldn't imagine using it on the pound because it just wouldn't work.

[SkywardtheDragon]

I also have noticed that the pound seems to open a lot more frequently than I remember, but maybe I’m wrong? I think a longer cool down period or something that stops you from adopting from 2 openings in a row is a good idea.

I feel sometimes the pound opens a few times in a row close together and then switches to the Lost and Found for a few times and vice versa. It's not opening more per se, just in phases where it's more frequent(?)

But the pound openings aren't so close together that I am denied adopting because I've adopted too frequently, I can't really imagine this happening with the current timing of things... I agree, the adoption limit of once every 3 hours means nothing if the pound is gonna open 3.5+ hours apart each time (I could use a factcheck on that)...

my main point is if the pound could open more than once within a time frame that you can't adopt twice (whether the pound opens more often or this time limit is increased), then this should limit the amount of users (most likely the same users with scripts or fast internet) getting to every pound the first time.

I think if the pound cooldown is raised, it should only apply to the pound and not Lost & Found. We already have enough problems with the L&F overstaying its welcome with free store items/free event items released in batches of 10 or more

[Sixx O'Clock]

Honestly, I think a limit needs to be implemented where someone can only adopt from the pound once or twice per day (resetting at CS rollover time). That would put a damper on anyone who might be using scripts or bots to get pets, and also somewhat slow the amount of pets leaving the pound over time. It's not a huge fix, but maybe a step in the right direction.

[cswolf.]

Honestly, I think a limit needs to be implemented where someone can only adopt from the pound once or twice per day (resetting at CS rollover time). That would put a damper on anyone who might be using scripts or bots to get pets, and also somewhat slow the amount of pets leaving the pound over time. It's not a huge fix, but maybe a step in the right direction.

I agree

[ButterflyChaser]

The thought about "transferring" pound pets via the pet's id is very possible.
Im thinking in line that it is either that or by dates. This is my observation. It is pets from 2013 and earlier that seem to get auto adopted regardless of rarity. This is especially frustrating for me because I moved that year and missed all of Halloween and many months after, so trying to complete these months is all but impossible.

But the transfer pet thing used to be common in neopets too. I would use that method to move pets.

Alt accounts here aren't allowed, but people may be doing it anyway or as a means to NFT the pets for other sites or currency.

I mentioned snaplinks as an example, but if someone was skilled enough, they don’t need to click and drag to open the links. The script would automatically do so as soon as the 1 second hit the first two rows would be open all at once and all those pets harvested.

The result: older pets get scooped and what are left are re-release rares+. I got a mint ur horse and I suspect that was because it was re-released. Had it been true date it would have been collected. But it didn't. It lasted till the 3rd page. The people doing the harvesting, just trade the high value pets they harvest and delete/ give away the rest.

[candee1501]

That’s very interesting, thanks for letting us know Simon. I actually think that’s great news that the pound ran out of VRs! It means that the pound is doing it’s job to get them back in active accounts rather than just sitting in the pound.

Is it though? The pets go so fast, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had wrote some sort of a script. So they can sell the rarer pets for C$ or art. I’ve never seen pound act like it has recently and I’ve been here since 08. Before people didn’t used to grab anything because they didn’t want to be locked out of the next pound. With the adjustment you’re never locked out of the next one with the cool down.

I am very certain there are scripts used, bots, or browser extensions. For me it isn't just the rare+ but anything on the top two rows. I can refresh at my desktop, no lag, have the mouse hovered over the adopt button before it even loads, click as soon as the button is visible, and still missed. Not just the one I clicked for, but that whole row.

Seriously, Opera used to have an extension called snaplinks. I never used it for the pound, but I did use it on pet sites that required massive adoptables to be clicked on. The result was 100+ tabs opened at once and each adoptable "fed" one point.

Couple with the fact Opera had a setting you could set the page to refresh at whatever time you gave it. Set it to 1 second. The second the pound loads therewith be a higher chance of that computer getting first "dibs"

I believe this can easily be done to the pound if paired with fake accounts and VPN. So yes something needs to be done.

I suggest a second window, to be "are you sure?" And then click okay to get the pet. That way if someone is automating the adopt, they will get a series of tabs with this "are you sure?" To force player interaction.

I don't think users would like the are you sure? Thing. Because then you could be wasting your time trying to get the same pet as someone else like before the adopted tag was added.

[ButterflyChaser]

I know the are you sure additional click would not be desirable, but since everyone has to do it, there is still a fair chance of adopting. I feel like having to click twice to get a pet is more desirable than missing all the "good ones" because someone figured how to automate the system and harvest them.

Also I seem to remember a time in 2009 or 2010 the pound did have this feature. It popped up the rules or something I had to agree to to get the pet. That is what I remembered anyway.

[DragonSnake]

I know the are you sure additional click would not be desirable, but since everyone has to do it, there is still a fair chance of adopting. I feel like having to click twice to get a pet is more desirable than missing all the "good ones" because someone figured how to automate the system and harvest them.

Also I seem to remember a time in 2009 or 2010 the pound did have this feature. It popped up the rules or something I had to agree to to get the pet. That is what I remembered anyway.

There were also farrrr fewer users on the site then. I kinda agree that it might seem like a good idea in theory but in practice it would probably cause more frustration and especially affect people with laggy internet, having to load an extra page.

[incognito!]

Honestly, I think a limit needs to be implemented where someone can only adopt from the pound once or twice per day (resetting at CS rollover time). That would put a damper on anyone who might be using scripts or bots to get pets, and also somewhat slow the amount of pets leaving the pound over time. It's not a huge fix, but maybe a step in the right direction.

So there used to be a 24-hour cooldown. It reset from when you last adopted from the pound vs at rollover. I remember it vividly haha, I feel old
I wonder if there's a compromise there - maybe a 12 hour cooldown?

[cswolf.]

Honestly, I think a limit needs to be implemented where someone can only adopt from the pound once or twice per day (resetting at CS rollover time). That would put a damper on anyone who might be using scripts or bots to get pets, and also somewhat slow the amount of pets leaving the pound over time. It's not a huge fix, but maybe a step in the right direction.

So there used to be a 24-hour cooldown. It reset from when you last adopted from the pound vs at rollover. I remember it vividly haha, I feel old
I wonder if there's a compromise there - maybe a 12 hour cooldown?

I remember that cool-down. I agree with a 12 hour cooldown