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Search Options ►March Madness - Part I!
Site Update
Welcome to the first part of March! Are you excited to see what we have underway for you? You already got a taste of some of the fantastic new stuff we've brought out for this month, but we're going to make it even better! Put your seat belts on, and we'll begin our ride!
New Jeweled Pets
As with every month, the new Jeweled Pets have arrived. This month's artist is Hikaru (LLs) (#15577)!
If you would like to become an artist for the Jeweled Pets, check out the application thread. There's a new incentive to encourage artists to apply!
New FauxBox Theme
A new month always means a new Faux Box theme! So let's see what theme we'll have for March... how about Easter? Adorable rabbits, candies, eggs, chicks... let your imagination go wild with this month's edits!
Premium Item
Wow! You really cleared out the FauxBox! We're really proud of all of you, and happy to see that all those designs now have loving homes in your lairs. So to celebrate those 2,000+ fauxes finding homes, the premium item for this month is the Fox Pen!
If you don't remember what this item does, it allows you to add 10% edits onto your faux to make it more unique. Have fun!
New USD Bonus
There's a new item available as a bonus for purchasing GP or USD Items! That would be the Metal Trinket Box. You can get one Metal Trinket Box for every $5 spent in GP or the USD Shop. Keep scrolling to see why this is going to be extra fun!
This bonus will last until March 19, at 11:59 PM Aywas Time.
Goodbye, Paintbrushes!
After checking out the usage and popularity of the Commissions feature, we have decided that we will be retiring Paintbrushes from the USD Shop. The Commissions feature is easier for the Aywas Team to manage over Paintbrushes, and it also allows artists to collect more cash for less of a fee.
The Paintbrushes will officially be leaving the USD Shop on March 13, 11:59 PM. If you have any lingering Paintbrush transactions to complete, be sure to grab your necessary item before that date.
Despite leaving the USD Shop, existing Paintbrushes will be available to redeem indefinitely. The supply of them will simply cease as we encourage artists to move toward the Commissions feature.
Free Silver Art
We announced a few weeks ago that we were in the process of revamping the "Free Silver Species Artwork" part of Silver Custom Crystals. We will be revamping it to be similar to the GCC and MDT features, where artists can apply for the team and players can submit an item and select artists they want to take their commission.
While this feature is not ready to release yet (consider this an informational update), this is the plan for it and you can start to decide whether you want to join the future team! We hope this will streamline the feature and allow you the ease and accessibility of the existing ones.
Some Voting is A'Comin'!
We teased you earlier in this post that those Metal Trinket Boxes would come in handy near the end of this post... well, here's what's going to happen! We have a number of different pet genus lines that we have hoarded. YOU are going to be voting for your two favorite from the big batch!!
The First Place winner, with the most votes collected, will become the newest FAUX BOX pet! Though, it won't be called a Faux Box. It'll have its own separate box from the existing one.
The Second Place winner, with the second most votes collected, will become a brand new TRINKET species! So if you really, really love that second place winner, you can color it and upload with those trinket boxes to your heart's content.
When's this vote taking place, you ask? You want to see all the pets stockpiled? How's tomorrow sound? Yes, we'll hold our vote tomorrow and allow it to go for forty-eight hours.
And even the losing linearts will show up later as Raw Crystal pets, or for some other project. How's that for excitement?
Let us know which part you're most excited for in a comment below!
Posted by JAK
(#15) on Sun Mar 6, 2016 2:36am
- Conium
(#39365)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:06pm
Noiverd {LL&HL} (#7493) first, calm down yourself. Second, I understand why slash is taking the paintbrushes away, and I'm not affected by this change, but a lot of people are going to be. As it is a major issue with the game is the divide between the haves and have-nots, and while a few of them leaving won't hurt the site, a lot of the playerbase leaving out of an opinion that the game's become "pay to win"? Oh hey look, there went a lot of the in-game economy. When the in-game economy goes, the haves pick up and shift their stuff to other venues that are more profitable. if they're sentimental they might stay on for awhile, but a low activity/"stagnant" game just doesn't hold peoples' attention for long.
The have-nots are vital to any games' well-being, as are ways for them to get out of that situation, and them not having any outlet to purchase one of the core features of the site is a major issue on multiple fronts.
-commissioned work can end up being a species, or psds that they finish or resell, this brings in money for them. Not only does the site having no paintbrush options keep people from paying for things, but it keeps them from receiving payment as well. This hinders that bit where the site tries to keep a major economic gap from forming in the player base.
-It codifies in systemic form "are you from a country that doesn't accept paypal? are you unable to get an account? you don't get this". I've seen this at work time and time again on other sites, and it always leads to this really toxic environment where you get people... well, like you saying in short "BE GREATFUL YOU LOWLY PLEBS". We don't need that.
In the end I get that the paintbrushes need to go, but in return we should also try to look at options that makes it easier for non-usd players to engage with a major feature of the site.
- Oiseau
(#1570)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:25pm
Conium (#39365) Very well said. Thank you!
My goal on this site is to own a OOAK of every genus, and as a non-USD player, that goal is going to become impossible unless the staff offers us an alternative to the paintbrushes.
- Verd
(#7493)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:43pm
lol "calm down yourself"
this issues doesn't effect me at all, so not sure what leads you to believe my undies are in a bunch.
The sites focusing on the benefit of the majority rather than the aesthetic pleasures of a few. If you can't commission people anymore, sorry, but it really isn't the point of the site. If you're only here to commission there may be better alternatives anyways. Just seems a bit ridiculous people expect them to continue to support a feauture that doesn't help the site grow.
- Ville
(#69565)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:48pm
Forgive me if I'm just not fully understanding the complaints, but can't design tickets still be bought for GP the same way paint brushes could? Seems like you could still commission artists that way, if OOAK designs are what you want. The Water Deer (#1570) Conium (#39365)
- Creature Collector
(#72649)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:49pm
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh if my sick self reads this right
new pets entirely?! i just started collecting haha
now imma have to probably collect these ones too
- Frid
(#28513)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:58pm
I agree with the removing of paintbrushes is a bad idea... :( My first syncline commission I got by saving enough GP to buy 6 SPB. :/ Without that option I wouldn't be able to get the commission... Ofc now we could pay a random person with GP to buy the commission for you, but at the same time that's even more work than to just leave the paintbrushes there. :/ Please reconsider leaving the paintbrushes.
- Conium
(#39365)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 1:32pm
idonno, the fact that you were being kinda rude? Also hon if you look at the majority of people on the site? they don't back the game with usd, or if they do, only sparingly at best. However the talents they bring or the bit they throw in adds value to the game. Supporting them now leads to a situation where if in the future they can throw in money (or designs that then get sold in the gp shop for a cash-backed currency), they will. Like if you literally banned every user who hadn't paid into the site with usd in the last month or three, most of the playerbase would be gone. While the traffic costs would go down, the funds to pay the artists, coders, and other paid members of the staff would either dry up in under a year, or to keep the site afloat usd costs would skyrocket. This is how businesses work, you either cater to an elite few who can pay the costs, or you court a wide range of customers and potential customers, and provide services/goods on multiple tiers . If you can't think of it ethically, think of it economically.
Ville (#69565) design tickets only allow a theme. you can specify a theme and a palette, but you can't do a full commission through the system. A good workaround to the paypal issue would be to have "commission tickets" for a higher cost.
- Ville
(#69565)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 1:46pm
Conium (#39365) Ah, I see what you mean. Commission tickets actually sounds like a pretty good idea. Perhaps you could take it to the suggestions board as an alternative to paint brushes? ^^
- Phantom Butterfly
(#14055)
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Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 1:46pm
Paintbrushes being removed don't affect me so I don't really have anything to contribute to the discussion. All I can say is that this seems to be an unwelcome change. I've seen from Jak that there behind the scenes problems with the brushes. Why was that simply not mentioned in the post that PB's are being retired for that reason?
Posted on: Sun Mar 6, 2016 12:02pm
I love that Reebu! I now know what I'm going to do with that jeweled crystal in my inventory. I will be applying for the new team, that's for sure. Eager to see what the contenders for the voting will turn out to be.