As Krinadon has stated in this forum which caused mass panic and distress, the pet economy isn't exactly doing too well.

Some players take it upon themselves to manually go through and buy all of the unwanted 1-1000 gold pets to clear the market, often to the distress of those who set them up for sale in the first place. But it doesn't take long for more of these super-cheap and unwanted pets to pop up, making this temporary solution serve as a band-aid that still doesn't make everyone happy.

While the admins' own suggestion may have put a dent in the problem of mass-breeding and countless "free" pets clogging up the market, it would also have left project breeders devastated in the long term.

As a community, this problem affects everyone, and it shouldn't be solely up to the admins to figure out what to do about it. So bring your thoughts, your suggestions, whatever idea may have crossed your mind even if it seems completely insane and farfetched.


Below I'm going to try and keep things categorized for different types of suggestions. Because of this I'll be taking up the front page for reserve posts which will subsequently be filled with the various ideas that the community brings. This is to keep things more organized and simplified with the main points all featured with a generalized and objective perspective.




Simple format for easy use:

Suggestion:


Pros:


Cons:

Release Alternatives

There are many reasons why players feel badly about releasing pets into the wild.
But I can sum it all up in a single gif.



Getting over the emotional attachment players have to their pixel pets is hard, for some it's not even possible. The idea of heartlessly throwing a pet into the wilderness, the dark red "Release Sylesti" button on their profile, the even bolder blood-red "RELEASE" button to confirm... Players love this site for the pets, and throwing one away just doesn't feel right.




Suggestion:
Add an adoption center - not one for players to acquire pets, but for the unsung NPCs. On the surface we only see the NPCs that are relevant for missions, sales, and storyline, but a king must have his subjects to rule over. Instead of keeping these pets in the open market for players, have the adoption center give pets to the world. Lonely old ladies who love Vulnyxes, establishments needing Lighira and Lupora as guards, farmers wanting Aeridini and Lunes to help pollinate their fields. Players get to feel that their pet is still out there somewhere they can be happy, as opposed to feeling like they've been left to fend for themselves and probably starve or fall off a cliff or something equally horrifying.

Pros: Less player guilt for releases.

Cons: Players may still prefer to try and push cheap unwanted pets to other players anyway.



Suggestion:
"Release Tokens"
Add a new system of currency in the game for pets that are released.

Potential items that can be bought with tokens:
Pet dyes (to promote player projects)
Pet traps (for those who like to capture pets)
Health potions (for those who like to adventure, and to assist struggling newbies)
Armor pieces (to assist struggling newbies.)
Genetic Testing Kits (to promote player projects for newer players.)
Genetic Scanners (for players who like to capture pets)
Essences (promotes new projects.)
New types of genetic mutators that add something to a specific slot (G1, G2, etc), or ones that turn a recessive trait into a pure visible, or remove a recessive trait and make a visible pure, or that raise a carry to a visible. (assists players who are working on projects)

Possible restrictions:
Tokens ONLY awarded for pets that originate from the player. (They caught, made, or bred it.)
Limited number earned per day. (no limit to releases, just the reward tokens.)
Items purchased this way are non-tradeable

Pros: New ways to gain items, room for new items to be implemented, reward for releases to alleviate the guilt.

Cons: With proper restriction, none. Without restriction, pets could be bred and released just for endless tokens.

Scale Ideas

Suggestion:
Scales for Releases. Even 1 scale would be a simple reward that would alleviate some of the guilt of releasing a pet. If the pet itself gives the player the scale as a thanks, then that would be even better.

Pros: If the pet thanks you with a scale, there's no more bad stigma on the release.

Cons: Players might mass-breed so they can mass-release for scales...

Additional thoughts:
Daily limit for earning scales. (Not a release limit, just the scale reward.)




Suggestion:
Make pet dyes more accessible. "Dishwater" pets with messy coloring dominate the unwanted buy-me-please pets on the 1-1000g market.

I did the math: in about 1 minute on the nurturing page I was able to get roughly 30 scales. To dye a pet to a project it usually takes 15 regular dyes. (10-12 slots depending on AC1 and AC2 use, and giving a margin of error since regular pet dyes often give failed results) Calculating at 30 scales per minute and needing 15,000 scales, it would take 8.3 hours (500 minutes) of nurturing to get the dyes for ONE pet. For a simple breeding pair of one male and one female, that's 16.6 hours. For a project foundation with the minimum 3 pet requirement, that's 24.9 hours (just over a DAY) of straight nurturing to get the dyes required.

Pros: With pet dyes more readily available, more players will be interested in making projects which will raise the overall quality of what's available on the pet marketplace.

Cons: The market value of pet dyes will be affected with the influx of availability, and despite having a better way that's easily obtainable, some players out there may still mass-breed "dishwater" pets.

Alternative:
Create a mega-dye that lets players change all colors on one pet. (Maybe for 5,000 scales or something, just to make it more cost-efficient.)

Alternate Methods of Sales



Suggestion:
Sales Stable. This would limit the number of a pets that a player can have for sale at one time. Separated from the other stables, a pet can only be placed in the Sales Stable manually and it must be set for a public sale price.

Potential Setups:

1-to-1 ratio: A player with 25 stable slots has 25 slots in their sales stable. A player with 500 stable slots has 500 slots in their sales stable. Simple math.
Pros: If someone was to leave the game, they could set everything for sale so it doesn't go to waste.
Cons: May be too lenient. Could be abused with 999,999,999 pets just to serve as free doubled amount of space to hold pets. :/

5-to-1 ratio. 25 slots (1 stable tab) = 5 slots (1 row) for the sales stable. 125 stable slots (5 tabs) = 25 slots (1 tab) for the sales stable. 625 stable slots (25 tabs) = 125 slots (5 tabs) for the sales stable.
Pros: More restriction on how many pets a player can have for sale.
Cons: Could still be abused for free slots, but it wouldn't potentially double someone's space.


Additional thoughts:
Pets in the sales tab could have a "shelf-life" of x-amount of time until they are returned to the regular stable, or perhaps released. (Please exclude themed pets; we don't want those unintentionally being released or being taken down if a player leaves >_>)

Put a cap on public sale prices, maybe around 1 million gold, and add a single "up for offers" tab to lower the risk of potential abuse, and still keep an option for pets beyond that threshold of value such as the tagged nephs which can go for 15 million gold. Any player wanting to put more pets for offers beyond the offers tab can go to the forums.

Hatchery Limitations

Currently a player can breed as many pets as they want without restriction, and all of those pets can be put for sale. Once they turn adult, they can be automatically released. This means that anyone with the gold for it can theoretically breed 10,000 pets in a day and put them all for sale at 1 gold before they even hatch.

Condition to avoid outrage if any hatchery limitations are placed: Allow hatchlings, possibly even egglings, to be moved into stables. If a player breeds a pet with a purpose, that pet will likely have a predestined location where it will be moved to. Age and maturity of a pet should not be the prerequisite priority for stable space. (Honestly I would LOVE to be able to move my hatchlings and eggs; the 1-week wait to be able to move pets makes it tedious to keep them organized...)

Limitation Proposal 1:
Limit the amount of hatchery space according to the number of stable spaces a player has. (No additional charges; it scales as stable space is purchased.)

1-to-1 ratio: Players can have as many pets in hatchery as they can in stables.
2-to-1 ratio: Players can have 1/2 the number of pets in hatchery as they can hold in stables. (So 50 slots for 25 breeding pairs in stables, and 25 slots in the hatchery; players can breed everything they have in one sitting.)
5-to-1 ratio: one tab of stable space (25 slots) gives one row (5 slots) in the hatchery.


Limitation Proposal 2:
Simple: hatchery pets cannot be sold. (Refer to the condition of hatchlings and eggs being able to move into stables for this one; if you have an egg or hatchling to sell to a player, it just goes into the stable first.)

Pet Holding Alternatives


Suggestion:
Pet Portfolio / Retirement Stables
A place to keep pets without being able to use them for anything. No battle, no breeding, no sales, no missions, this does nothing more than "hold" a pet in a suspended state. Similar to releasing, but in a designated place where the player can look through and still feel like they "have" the pet. Like a limitless pseudo-stable that does nothing more than show the image and link to the pet's profile for the player to look at.
*Like releasing, have a 50 diamond fee to return a pet to the stable for full use.

Pros: Guilt-free way to remove pets without the negative stigma of cruel, heartless release.

Cons: Some players may still breed "dishwater" pets and try so hard and desperately to get someone to buy them...

*Technically players can do this now by searching for pets they released on the advanced search, unless they're like me and there are too many results to list. >_>;

Monetary-based changes

Suggestion: Breeding Fee
For every pet that is bred, the player pays a small fee (ie 10 or 100 gold so it's newbie friendly.)
Pros: Small restriction on breeding that will make people think more about what they breed and if it's worth it.
Cons: Newbies may not like it, and having to pay for failed results that will only be released doesn't sound fun for project players.

Additional thought: To off-set the price of projects, add some sort of compensation or reward for released pets as listed in other posts, mostly for situations where a pet is bred, hatched as a failed result, and booted. Preferably equal. (Breed a pet for the cost 10 gold, release a pet for a reward of 10 gold.)



Suggestion: Vet Fee
Before a pet can become a breeder, the owner must pay a small fee in gold.

Possible formats:
Lasts x-number of charges; could have multiple tiers of charges (for example: 1 breeding for 10 gold; 15 breedings for 100 gold; 250 breedings for 1,000 gold; infinite for 10,000 gold.)

Lasts x-amount of time; could have multiple tiers of time. (for example: 1 month for 100 gold; 6 months for 500 gold; 1 year for 1000 gold; 2 years for 1500 gold; infinite for 5,000 gold.

Pros: Controls the number of active breeders a player has.
Cons: Newbies may not like it. Could eventually cause trouble in the themed pet department if a pet's owner no longer plays and it runs out of breedings or time.

Additional thought: exclude themed pets from breedability restriction?




Suggestion: Vendor's Fee
For every pet that is put up for public sale, the player pays a small fee (ie, 10 or 100 gold, so it's still newbie friendly; private to userID sales excluded.)

Pros: People will have to put a little more thought into what they put up for public sale, and it doesn't put anything extra on those who breed for themselves.
Cons: Newbies may not like it.

reserve~

reserve~

reserve~