The state of the economy... Overblown or a real problem?

[Shian]

There's quite a bit of unrest from this year's advent. I don't know what went on this year, but the ratios of R/VR pets released are speculated to not be enough to carry CS through to next year.

I realize not everyone is going to get a July 08 pet, but I adopted thousands of pets offsite and I found.... commons?
Numerous 2nd gens. Are people really having trouble getting these that they needed to be in the box?

I got one moon dog, three suns, quite a few toxics and 5 UR lions.
1/1700 for a moon dog is near zebra-rarity territory.
Maybe I was just unlucky, but I see other people are having the same results as I. CS depends on the flow of new R/VR pets to keep its economy circulating.

There's been numerous fights over staff 'scamming' to get pets- a topic that has never come up before, yet now I can see why. The new UR pets are in EVERYBODY's signature as a wishlist meaning people are having to take more drastic measures to get them as there are very very few of these pets in circulation.
There's currently only one in the auction boards and it's going for a UR tiger dog+

Last year when offsite adopting I had to adopt maybe 200 to get them all. This year I got over 1700 and didn't get them all. (missing cucumber and two- the RBM and the UR rat I got at the very last minute.) Maybe there should have been more than two adopts out of the box if this is to be the ratio? Especially when there are common second gens in the box. Some people wait all year for this event. Getting a common 2nd gen for Christmas really is a kick in the teeth. I've even seen people posting they they feel guilty because they got a half decent pet (09 rare) and the posters above them got '10 rats making the whole feel of this year's advent really despondent.

Those of us in the VRH club are participating in SS where we gift each other VR hoard pets. I signed up for this because I was depending on this year's advent to replenish my stock by having these types of pets in circulation. Didn't see a single galaxy dog when I was offsite adopting so now I'm all but forced to give away a pet I can't replace because no new pets have entered the mix.

Discussions:
December 18th Discussion 2011
Very Rare Hoarders; Hoard 'till they notice.

Was it really that bad?? In that case, I count myself incredibly lucky to have gotten a toxic and a VR '09 butterwolf...especially since I'm a newbie. Also, was the adoption limit two in past years?

You are incredibly lucky, so a huge congrats to you ^^ Last year there were people that were able to obtain four Moondogs/Sundogs and heaps of people got VR pets. The adoption limit was still two, but there was a lot more people posting about the extremely valuable pets they adopted. This year I've come across one Moondog, a couple of Sundogs and Toxics, no Sorbets, one Zebra, and only two UR pets.

I've actually seen a few moondogs scattered about(besides mine), and maybe 2 or 3 sundogs.
I've seen kind of a lot of toxics.
Also, I've seen a few zebras as well.

I've only seen maybe 3 people with the UR Lion though.

This is my first Dec. 18th...I really didn't expect it to be such a...well, sad event. Everyone just seems sad about what they got...

I think we were supposed to wait until Christmas to give our SS their stuff, but I already gave mine to them. I think they--and everyone really--needed something to cheer them up from the let-down.

I feel really bad about all this complaining... even though I'm not meaning to sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not. I'm grateful for this re-release and happy for those that did get good pets. It's just a bit of a let down after the previous years and all the excitement has just gone down the drain with people's hopes of getting dreamies.

I'm also kinda disappointed... I've been collecting pets for my nephew, and I told him about today, he was so excited to 'get a pet barely anyone has!' and he ended up getting a stone dog that's only an uncommon:

and some other dog, I don't even know what it is:


I feel bad that the poor kid got so excited, only for him to get some 2010 uncommon.

[leays]

I support what you've just said. Thanks for speaking out about it.

[softpaw]

I also support. The 2nd gens being re-released is just insane.

[Icesky]

I do agree that this year was certainly surprising, no doubt by the amount of new pets each year gives us and the large number of new members too. However, it was really shocking to see how little people were getting nice pets. I sat off site for about fifty minutes trying to snag an unreleased lion, but I didn't manage to in that entire time. In fifty minutes the best pets I got were two tribals, two toxics, two unreleased butterflies, and a cucumber.
I'm not complaining either, I love this day and I don't hope our "sadness" over this year doesn't make it so it is discontinued, but I do think that it was very stressful for those of us who are finding it not only impossible to FIND the UR pets but to be so unable to trade for them against those members that already had great stashes of nice pets whereas a lot of people, especially the newer members, couldn't compete.
I've been trying very hard since last year's advent to get the UR tiger dog and thought I wold get it for sure this year, however I only found one, maybe two, that had been adopted and neither were for trade.
I do love this event and wish for it to continue, but I do think some changes need to be made for it to be a little more successful. After all, very few people would be able to complain from an excess of very rare pets as opposed to the opposite.

[softpaw]

I do agree, there still was a decent amount a goodies pets, but they mostly were snagged by the rich users with 500+ in their rates trade group, not giving the newe members a chance at all.

[Imzadi83]

I thank you for bringing it up Firestar, I know it's a touchy subject.

I was dissapointed to mainly becuase the day didn't live up to it's hype. I thought the giant "big" gift was a letdown when you could only adopt two. I could see the limit if we all had a very good shot at getting a rare but that clearly wasn't the case. The new URs are so rare newbies will prob never get them unless gifted which is unlikey since no on will have extras to gift.

Though I was hoping for a rare, even one for trade, the main thing was I wanted something I didn't have. The one cat I already had (09 uncommon, for those who are curious) and the lion has a 50/50 shot (10 uncommon) of being one I need. So while it's nice to see older pets being released into the economy the event didn't live up to the hype of being the greatest day on CS ever which is what I've been hearing since I joined in Janurary. It certinally wasn't a boost for new users like people said it would be. Actually I'm a lot happier with the rest of the advent then I was with yesterday.

I'm sorry if it comes off as ungreatful but it's like recieving a coloring book when all your friends got bikes. If that's my gift then I'll take it and am greatful but, this event was a special gift to CS users but seems so unbalanced. Maybe next year needs a revamp? Up the adoption limit (even to five would be nice)? Only release rares and above? Maybe only a year at a time like one year release 08 pet, next 09, etc.

[skïttles]

Thank you for posting this-
I was thinking the same thing, but it seems like such a touchy topic that I didn't want to say anything anywhere (I'm mainly just a stalker on the forum anyway :P)

I almost felt cheated this year when I saw what I got because I saw what beautiful pets were being gathered last year and hoped I would be lucky this year, but after reading the 'what pet you got' thread, or whatever it is called, I consider myself highly lucky for getting an '09 rare gerbil and an '09 b-wolf that could be the PPS cocoon or a rare b-wolf (he's in my siggy :3 -I adore him XD-) I am pretty much content as a cucumber that we get pets at all, but I was really crossing my fingers and praying for a UR cat for my bestie and a sunback for me (we've both been searching avidly for the UR since before last December, I've been meandering around every now and then adding sunny to my wishlist off and on) - or at least something of tradeable value

I don't know about the part where you are talking about some people saying that the staff scam good pets away- if I am perceiving this right, I'd say that yes, the staff always seems to have the new URs, no they very rarely got it themselves, but I don't know about the scamming. It could be gifting or fair trading *shrug*

The statistics that you came up with are very interesting. I had no idea about them before, but then again never really looked into them
it is ridiculous that the fraction is so minute. I also agree about the economy of CS. I've been seeing it decrease ever since I got here. Yes, the people with sundogs and URs are still asking just as much, but they are getting offered so much less. Many people, it seems, have either resorted to attempting to scam or assume that they are sending a fair trade when, quite honestly, it is ridiculous
People that didn't join in '08 or '09 are very unlikely to get rare pets unless they strike it lucky on the 18th or they are gifted. Which, quite honestly, rarely happens.
Now, I know it is due to the large population that CS has drawn, but we rarely get rares unless they are storepets. This is a major sag in the economy. If someone were to put the time into creating some sort of graph, I am sure that it would stun many people

The rare pets were the main draw for me when I started the game. When I found out how difficult it was to get them, that was a different story. I was so excited back when I joined for the 18th, and even last year I didn't get very decent pets, although that was probably just bad luck. This year, I think otherwise. Last year, you were unlucky to get an uncommon, this year, it was quite the opposite, by what people are saying.
Many were upset about getting '09 rares until they started to see what other people were getting.

I hope this isn't too confusing, it's like 2 AM where I live so I'm a bit groggy :P
If there is anything insulting or inappropriate to anyone, please let me know and I'll fix is ASAP :)

[Nick]

The intention was for that present to be adopted 110,000 times, and that's what we based our numbers on. It turns out that it only got adopted 45,000 times in total.

The box has always had commons/uncommons in it. If it only had rare pets, the adoption limit would have to be lower, potentially lower than 1 pet per person, which would mean that we could not run the event. We can either release rare pets that few people get, or less rare pets that everybody gets. We cannot release rare pets that everybody gets.

[skïttles]

The intention was for that present to be adopted 110,000 times, and that's what we based our numbers on. It turns out that it only got adopted 45,000 times in total.

The box has always had commons/uncommons in it. If it only had rare pets, the adoption limit would have to be lower, potentially lower than 1 pet per person, which would mean that we could not run the event. We can either release rare pets that few people get, or less rare pets that everybody gets. We cannot release rare pets that everybody gets.

that makes good sense :)
thank you Nick :)

[Snook22]

I never managed to get the last few pets to complete my collection, so last year I decided, to heck with it! I'll just get some accountless pets with my name on it and feel like I have a complete collection.

Last year, I spent maybe an hour adopting logged out. In that time I managed to get all the new URs and past URs multiple times, and probably about 50 or more various moondogs, sundogs, and white julys, which was all I was missing from my collection (except the nick unicorn, but that wasn't included).

This year I spent... perhaps about 5 hours logged out adopting (and I can't even imagine just how many I adopted in that time). My goals were the Nick unicorn, cucumber, and UR lion. Managed to get a few of the nick eggs, got 2 cucumbers, and never saw one single UR lion. And as for the July '08s, I recall seeing just a couple sundogs, couple moondogs, and one white july. I saw a couple other URs, one cat, one BW, one each of the UR horses, a couple apples, one UR tiger, one UR dog, and no banana that I recall. And lastly I saw 2 zebras, both different variations.

A lot of what was in the box surprised me, like the 2nd gens that were available for adoption for ages. I still have a bunch in my trades, no one ever asks for them. I've even offered them up for current uncommon outcomes I've missed in the past and been turned down.

I realize that in a year, there are a lot more pets released. But... I was very surprised at my lack of success adopting logged out.

I honestly didn't expect anything good when I adopted logged in, and I didn't get anything impressive. But I wasn't disappointed, that's par for the course.

I was however very disappointed that I couldn't get that gosh darned UR lion logged out. Now I have to wait a year to try again. But if it gets even harder to get the URs next year, I might be out of luck.

I'm certainly not complaining, getting a chance at older pets is great. And I use it as a chance at a complete collection, even if it isn't actually true. I just wish it was easier to get those new URs adopting logged out, rather then wasting a whole day trying.


Anyway, that was just my opinion of it all. I think maybe the amount of new URs that were released might have been a tad on the too few side, seeing as they seem to be the absolute rarest pets on the site now. Especially compared to the UR apple and UR purple horse, that had, and still have, a rather low trade value. Even on the Dec. 18th they were first released, no one seemed to really want them, as they were rather easy to obtain.