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Site Update
Good evening everyone! It is with a heavy heart that I come to you now. Unfortunately we have to make several financial changes rather quickly. I want to be completely open about everything, so I am going to try to address all of the points that I feel need to be discussed.
I was discussing finances with Slash recently and he discovered a major source of the financial issues that we have been having are due to the site making 30% less income these past few months than in previous years. This is understandable, as many have noticed the active user count has gone down substantially last year, and many countries are in a pretty bad state economically and people are nervous about spending. There is a lot of concern about the stability of the site with how behind several aspects have become.
We have been working on catching up on these things to try to earn your faith back. We are in the process of more changes to help streamline background productivity (such as getting breeding helpers, the commission panel fees, etc). We know that it won't happen over night, and that many of our changes will also upset the user base. We do not want to disregard your feelings, but please understand that everything we do is to benefit the site in the long run. We have a lot of damage to repair, and it is a very long and tedious process. I personally spend almost every waking moment when I am not at my offline job, investigating options and discussing changes with the staff to keep pushing forward.
That being said, some of the changes we are making are:
- Alidae Egg, Transitional Fossil Egg, and Grand Edit Potion are having their Prediction Payout dropped to $10. When an Egg and a Grand Edit Potion are combined they will pay out $15. Any breedings submitted before Tuesday February 14th at 11:59 pm will not be effected by this pay change.
- Offering different payment options for USD breeding teams.
- Shrinking some of the larger USD breeding teams. (However, if we end up with enough artists taking different payments we won't have to do this!)
- The GCC and MDT teams will be shrunk. If you are on one of these teams and are interested in receiving GP or working out another payment system please pm me, Kaiyo (#489). If there are enough people willing to accept different payments I won't have to shrink them.
- The monthly site contests are going to have the USD pay dropped starting next month. It will still be offered but it will not be the same amount.
I appreciate everyone reading this, and I apologize again for these changes. Many of them will be temporary, such as the artists adjustments. Over time we may be making more adjustments, but we hope that these changes will be enough to cover the expenses, and we may be able to bring on another artist or two with the new payment methods for some of the backed up breeding teams.
If anyone has questions please feel free to ask, send me a PM if you would like, I will try to answer whatever I can. I want to be completely open about this situation, and withholding information does nothing for any of us. However, due to certain restrictions, there is some information that I am not permitted to share.
I do not come to you today with only bad news, however! The Commission Fee Panel is now live! You are now able to pay your own fees, select which ones you pay and when. There is a minimum of $5, so if you don't have that much in owed fees you won't be able to pay it yet!
It will work the same way it currently does in regards to dates, and all fees of the prior month must be paid within one week of the new month. So January must be paid within the first week of February, February within the first week of March, etc. Of course, this month is an exception since the feature is new and did start late, however please make sure January fees are paid quickly!
If you have any questions regarding your fees, please send me a pm! Only ping to the news comments if it is a general question about how something works.
Posted by 🐼Kaiyo🐼
(#489) on Fri Feb 3, 2017 2:19pm
- bd84
(#2783)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:00pm
Pssst: Release the Portable X-Ray for USD .... >.> .... <.< SO many people want that dang thing!
- Voluspa is on Hiatus
(#67552)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:00pm
Moons (#71383) - you might be able to find people in the US who are willing to pay for the USD items and get paid in e.g. GP by you... If that helps? It means you won't be sending money to the site, but maybe somebody else will be willing to spend more than they otherwise would.
🎁❄Kaiyo❄⛄ (#489) - not sure if it's an option, but maybe USD shop items could be used instead of actual USD, in some cases? I know it's what you get money from, but at least you wouldn't need to send money out... Just a thought, I don't really understand how all the backstage and financial stuff works anyhow :)
- 🐼Kaiyo🐼
(#489)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:01pm
Fiery [<3] (#10722) That is also on my plans :3 Once we get through the transition I do want to do another recruitment event. I do love the idea of a front page overhaul! I am going to add that to our list and see if we can at least change the HA's to the new NPCs.
bd84 (#2783) Lmao, that is still just a bandaid fix, we need some more stable things <3
- 🐼Kaiyo🐼
(#489)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:02pm
♑ Voluspa ♑ (#67552) That is one of my options for the artists who message me :3 I have already had one artist on that pay for a lil while and it works out quite well.
- Voluspa is on Hiatus
(#67552)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:03pm
I remember when I first joined - before signing up I wanted to check out the site, but since it's "closed to the world" I could only see that front page. Some more info on what actually goes on in here would be nice :)
- bd84
(#2783)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:05pm
Can't say I didn't try XD I've been waiting years to get ahold of that dang thing! It could still be a good emergency booster thing if needed though. ;)
But seriously, I hope it all gets worked out for the better for everyone!
- 🐼Kaiyo🐼
(#489)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:10pm
♑ Voluspa ♑ (#67552) Yeah I just logged out and it is super ugly lmao xD
bd84 (#2783) Lmao xD maybe later on we'll see about it, so keep some funds on hand. It may come into the next sale once I check it out a bit more.
- Hikaru
(#15577)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:11pm
I think what the USD shop needs is more items that don't require artist payout. And I know right now the site is too artist-focused and thus the deficit of income. We've been so focused on custom pets/breedings...
Things like Adventure and other games should be explored, maybe even set up a thinktank to see what users would love to see that didn't require art (at least not art all the time) so the site had some income not tied into payouts, given how taxes affect the income before it becomes a payout.
Some sites have things like forum/site 'vistas' that can be bought with money, the site already has the option for changing the css, and adding forum perks would be fun for many.
I can't think of other non-art sourced income atm, but I think that's what Aywas has been lacking the most.
- Detective Butt
(#1403)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 3:12pm
Just tried out the new invoice system, I'm definitely liking this! The email receipt I get is perfect, lists out all commission numbers paid, how much each was and then the total I paid. I think this is the best update the site has done in a long time!
Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 2:55pm
Maybe we should try more user recruitment events? And I think our front page needs a bit of a facelift...maybe use some of that gorgeous NPC art or something? It's just rather old, and the art, while nice, seems a bit dated compared to a lot of the new stuff on site, and the layout isn't as appealing as it could be...maybe designing a new front page layout could even be a user contest so we wouldn't have to spend money on it? I dunno, just thinking of things that could buffer our declining userbase...
The commission fee panel is amazing though - thanks for your hard work, guys!