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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
- Zenis
(#32877)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 9:04pm
I've been on the site since 2011, and have noticed a decline in some regards. Some thoughts;
I ABSOLUTELY agree with the idea of a front-page (and UI) overhaul. I've tried getting a number of friends into the site, even referred some, and every time they're put off by the overwhelming or confusing interface. Of course, I'm used to it now after so long, but can understand why new people would be put off. There's also the fact it more or less hasn't changed in well over 5 years; it's kind of outdated for 2017. I also feel the application process is kind of outdated and off putting too; it obviously doesn't keep out bad eggs, and if you DO get bad players, just ban them. If nothing else, I feel like it would be worth a shot to take away the application feature for a month or two and test the waters.
I also agree with some comments I see about the current site economy. Again, since I've been around so long, it doesn't affect me much, but for a newer player it could be extremely daunting to try to do... anything. Not to mention 2011 site was a different ballpark from 2017 site. There were already a lot of great ideas for remedying this mentioned though, but I do wanna reiterate that it does put newer players off.
I saw something about updating the HA section of the site to fit in line with the newer NPCs? I absolutely agree with that; people love dressing up avatars, and this alone could bring in a lot of new players. Side note; I love the new NPCs, the art is good and the concept charming. I think a more unified aesthetic with good art would help interest people. Especially on such an art-based site. Keep an option for the Old Base or the New Base.
Really, I think it's just a case of getting new blood and KEEPING those new players interested, so whatever can be done to get them into the game should be done. I also think that if a feature isn't popular with users, or has been left to collect dust, it should be cut; it'll save everyone a headache, and clean up the UI.
Anyways, I only say all this because I really am fond of the site at the end of the day, and I've never stuck with a pet site this long in my life.
- ♑ Kat & AK ♈
(#80)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 10:38pm
Keep going guys. You all already helping to fix up issues. That's awesome. As long as Aywas stays. I am sure we will make it. <3 <3 Kudos to all who helps in one way or another to help keep Aywas going!
- Grace
(#31172)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 10:54pm
And once again I'm reminded why I love Aywas so freaking much. Thank you for being so open and laying everything out for us, so we aren't left guessing as to what's going on!
Firstly, breathe, Kaiyo! Just so you know, you are a spectacular human being, and we all love you!! <3 This can't have been easy, and I can only imagine how stressful it must be on top of a normal day job! D:
That being said, as a person with an education in economics, it is worrisome that we're essentially implementing an austerity plan, which will not promote growth. And it sounds like we *need* growth. Cutting down on breeding teams seems the most risky, because the queues are so long already, so we risk losing more people (and having fewer purchases), because I'm pretty sure the breeding aspect is one of the most popular parts of Aywas.
Wouldn't we want to speed up queues to incentivize people to submit more breedings (and therefore buy more coins, etc)?
🎁❄Kaiyo❄⛄ (#489) I have an idea that will hopefully increase growth without adding to expenditures:
Let the userbase take on some of the burden. Hire a team of less-high-quality artists to pay less/with GP/whatever alternative method. Give users an option to select the lower-quality-but-faster queue, maybe with an "I <3 Aywas" trophy so we can show off our support. This site is awesome, and I would imagine quite a few users would be happy with this arrangement if it means Aywas stays afloat and we all get to keep our internet home.
I, for one, would be willing to do art pro bono for more breeding teams if this arrangement would be acceptable to people. I might not be as talented/proficient as the usual breeding team quality, but I could manage, and I'm sure there are other artists who are better than I am who feel the same way.
And maybe take a few of peoples' suggestions that you feel might wok and throw together a poll, to see what would be most/least popular.
- Gone x2
(#550)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 11:02pm
Kyria (#31172)
Another thing that may help is answering breeding enails. I understand the breeding administration is very busy, but myself and many others have applied for gp positions.... and heard nothing, for months on end.
- Gone x2
(#550)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 11:04pm
Wow a+ phone. Your idea is good, great, and I agree with it whole heartedly, but it will only work if people hear back about applications instead of being left in the dark for months or forgotten about
- TyBox
(#25507)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 11:17pm
I for one would gladly, for some coins at least, take a lesser quality baby if it ment getting it faster. I also know Scav was a huge thing that made people leave, one of my friends refuses to come back because that was cancelled, but I understand how much of a strain that was on the admins.
- Hikaru
(#15577)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 11:33pm
Broken (#1464) PBC is prolly one of the fastest queues now, if you select artists with no/short queues. It all depends on what artists you pick, really!
Oiseau (#1570) You should try ~Py~ (#48446) when you need escrows, she's usually able to help =P
- Grace
(#31172)
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Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 11:56pm
Opaline Dragon (#550) I think Kaiyo mentioned in an earlier response that the admins were having difficulty with lost emails, which is probably part of the issue. Hopefully once things stabilize a bit, more energy can be directed towards figuring out that problem and going through applications and such.
- Oiseau
(#1570)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:09am
Hikaru (#15577) Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely keep that in mind next time I need an escrow.
Posted on: Fri Feb 3, 2017 8:57pm
I understand... I, for instace,used to purchase at least 10$ every month, not counting the premium. But economy on my country is pretty messed up and I was not able to purchase online for the past 2 years :c
I hope everything gets fixed soon, to everyone..