Hello and welcome to Sylestia!

I hope you've had some good sleep - that was indeed quite an early post there, haha.

As for the guidance or the tips, you might want to look into the Guide section of the forums, there's a lot of guides for a lot of things there.
If you want to know something specific you can also create a Q&A thread, Scatheroite is fast and knows the answer to nearly everything!
(I also try to help as best as possible, I'm just not made of as much knowledge as they are)

You've joined in the middle of a site festival, so you might be able to get your hands on a few avatar outfits and winter themed pets, a good way to start the game!

Do you have a favourite species yet, or do you still look at them and try to decide?

Thank you! Wasnt sure if anyone would reply to this, happy to see someone did!

I did, thank you, and yeah, it was like 1-2am my time haha, oopsy.

I have had a quick scan of things there, but theres an awful lot to read and getting the time is hard, but I do plan on reading them more thoroughly when I get the chance! That is good to know, hopefully I dont ask anything thats already been covered haha, but its likely, Im sure to miss something.

I did notice that, not too sure how to exactly progress in the festival, Ive done some exploration for it, got my sign in bonuses from it, not sure how to do the rest haha.

I really like Puffadore so far, as well as Nyvene and Ryori, but I think Puffadore is my favourite of the three.

Oops, indeed very early - but who am I to judge, my sleep schedule looks somewhat the same. x'D

It really is a ton of things to read and it's also hard to figure out what exactly you even think is useful for your playstyle, since it all depends on if you'd rather like to breed, battle or just play around with everything.

No worries about asking something that might've been covered elsewhere, though.
I think I did so myself - either because I was blind and didn't see the other post about it or because I wasn't sure where to even look to find an answer.

Oops, yes. There's a lot that comes with festivals...

Right now there's a contest ongoing, but trying to get some last minute points in might be impossible depending on what you aim for.
Nurture Boards require you to go to the Nurture Grounds and click a ton of eggs to get points, while Battle Boards require you to have a Pet (or like... 3) of the species you want points for in your group aaaaand kill a ton of enemies in the Festival Zone.
While it is possible to still get to the participation pouches on the Battle Boards, the Nurture Boards might be impossible to still climb on. You only have a specific amount of points you can get each day and, well, it's day 5/5, so most people have had quite a headstart there.

Chucks, I don't have a Puffadore to give out, haha. These 3 are all fabled species - meaning they're rarer than others, have a higher breeding cooldown and might also be a lot more pricey.

Yeahhh, my sleep schedule isnt usually this bad, but we just got out of the Christmas holidays so its kinda all over the place right now, which I think is to be expected, right? XD I wish we had emojis haha

Right now, Im more interested in the prospect of collecting pets, breeding them and the generator feature, I like entering contests with my designs haha, hopefully one day I can generate my own! Though I suspect thats far off for now.

Okay, I had a feeling due to me coming into it late I wouldnt get very far, but good to know Ive been doing what I can in it, and to keep pushing in the festival zone.

And of course I would go for the more rarer species! Its rather typical of me to naturally gravitate to the harder to get pets haha, but if you have any spare pets of any species, Id love one! I currently only have 2 pets in my team and that is kinda slowing me down in the battle grounds. Of course you dont have to feel obligated to send me one!

Yes, some emojis would be truly something. I miss my discord ones for example xD

Mhh, a good goal! There's theme contests for every festival that is coming and you can enter them once they're posted, maybe even get a theme picked! :D
You'll get a forum ping from Krinadon once there's new ones I assume, so you don't have to worry to miss out the announcement of them. Next ones to come up should be the Spring Theme contests for the next festival - but that is probably 1-2 Months away, depending on when Krinadon decides to start it.

Never wrong to run around in the festival zone to collect treasure chests and bonk a few bosses.
Bosses respawn once every 4-6 hours, so you can get multiple kills in for the chance of avatar items and every step you take gives you a chance to encounter a Themed Pet that's only able to be encountered within the festival zone.

I've been a little "luckier" with the pick of my favourite species I guess, haha. It's a little easier to get your hands on regular species then on fabled ones.

And no worries, I was already looking through my pets and tried to find some with decent stats that I can give away - I just don't own any Puffadores (except like...2) I could give out.
But I have those:
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=7321243
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=7451444

They're not Max Stat - which would be 2000 Health, 200 Mana, 100 in each base stat - but they're also not the worst pets to start out with.
The Ny'vene is still fertile so you can breed her, but the Ryori is not... Mainly because the Ryori is of a Project I am working on and people don't really give out their project pets fertile because it takes like a year to complete it. :'D

I love discord, does Sylestia have an official discord channel?

I have already had a few pings from them, was kinda confused as to why I was at first, but good to know they do contests like that, Im sure itll be tough but I look forward to being able to participate in it! Even just to see what others come up with!

Ooo, I didnt know you could get avatar items from the bosses! Thats good to know, I feel rather underdressed in the forums right now - I do have to say, I love your avatar, very pretty and fitting for the season!

What is your favourite species?

Ooo, may I have the Ryori? They appear to have the better stats of the two, doesnt matter that she cant be bred, I feel like I need good battle pets right now, even if it isnt my main goal for Sylestia, just to get myself started.

And project? Like a breeding project?

I *think* Sylestia has it's own Discord, but I don't have a invitation link to that right now, I'm not using it myself.

There is contests for a lot of things... If you can draw, you can also participate in avatar or pet trait contests, these are also very common and you always get a participation prize for it, even if your ideas don't end up in the game.

Yes, yes! The avatar items are a little rare from the bosses, but they all can drop the set they're wearing. I also think that you'll get double the chance for items from them once you're fighting them with a level 60+ team. It'll take a bit to get there, tho.
Thank you very much for the nice words, haha. I'm quite happy with how my avatar looks like, matches the season and my deer hoard. xD

My favourites are Faelora, Kelpari and Ryori. But I do collect other species - mostly depends on how their themes look like and if I'm able to make a project out of them.

As in breeding project - yes. There's a Codex that contains all available Themes for each species and the person to get a pet of said theme to 6 visible traits first will get their name and pet entered into it.
Quite motivating for me, personally, as I love breeding for a target.

Also: Both pets are set for you, so you can buy both or just one. It's up to you! :)

Okay, I may look for it online then, see if its still active, thank you!

I used to do quite a bit of digital art on my art tablet, but it got broken so now Im stuck using my laptop, which I can not get the hang of when it comes to drawing and the like, very hard for me to get the line I want, etc, maybe if I ever get my art tablet fixed, then Ill have a go!

Well hopefully I get some avatar items then, they do look very nice I have to say, and I did see your profile too, very pretty too, love the deer art at the top of your About Me section, did you draw that?

Ooo, I quite like Kelpari, kinda make me think of a prettier version of the Loch Ness monster haha

Oh wow, thats really cool! Never played a pet sim where they make breeding a goal oriented activity, it kinda just is there to breed and thats it, Ill have to check the codex out!

And thank you! I took both if thats okay haha, I need a stronger team in the battle grounds haha

Oh no, I'd die without my graphic tablet because I'm also a digital artist.
So: Yes, I did draw that deer piece in my About me, thank you!! :D

I don't think I've ever tried to do art without a tablet - wouldn't want to think about doing it with just a laptop and a mouse or something, maybe you'll get a new one someday? I'd love to see the art you create!

Yes! I like many of their traits and think they're very pretty, too. There actually *is* a Loch Ness Monster theme for them, making it even funnier

Enjoy both of them then! :))