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Search Options ►Breeding Pendants: Discussion and Poll
Site Update
We said we would be back for your input on some big changes, so here we are.
We've been making many short-term changes to breeding lately, namely in the withholding of Coins until the queues die down. However, there was one aspect that we didn't touch on at the time as we were still working to gather ideas on how we could compromise between fairness to the userbase (you guys!) and to everyone working behind the scenes on the breeding panel.
So now, let's discuss breeding pendants.
Unfortunately or not, depending on where your opinions lie, Breeding Pendants are going to have to change. However, we wanted to let everyone share their voice and opinions on the matter. We've come up with a few ideas that we think you'll like!
Pendants become predict-only, but the regeneration time is reduced. This means that Pendants will work as Half Breeding Coins, but will have a faster regeneration time than they currently do.
Pendants have their regeneration time doubled. For instance, Breeding Pendants currently have a 3-month cooldown. If this option wins, that time will be doubled to a 6-month cooldown, and so on as applicable for each Pendant.
Pendants take more time to regenerate but can be traded in for a predict-only version that retains the original regeneration rate. The new rate will be discussed among staff, but, as said, the Pendant could be traded for a version that works as a Half Breeding Coin with the current cooldown.
Pendants have a longer regeneration time but owners are compensated with a regenerating custom-making item. This will vary between Pendants, but if, for instance, a Pendant that could be used 4 times a year was changed to having a regeneration time that made it so it could only be used 2 times a year, then the custom-making item would have those 2 lost uses per year. As Eve put it when we were discussing it, " 4 uses reduced to 2, custom maker gives 2 uses a year"
The 2nd most voted-for option with the addition of turning in the Pendant for another item. This one is fairly straightforward -- if this choice wins, we'll take the option with the 2nd highest vote count and then, later down the line, release a second poll with options for the turn-in.
We understand that some of you are going to be upset, that you feel like your Pendant isn't worth what was paid for it, but we also need to maintain a balance on the site to ensure our breeding artists don't get burnt out almost before they begin. Staff hopes that these options, or at least one of them, will appeal to you!
Posted by Juke
(#7625) on Fri Jul 17, 2020 5:01pm
- Juke
(#7625)
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Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:48pm
DelennDax7 (#67503)
Users are allowed to join a team and not have the Breeding Artist name or color, or anything other than access to the breeding panel to do the babies. They're able to take any amount of breedings per list aside from RBC, as that gets rolled per mutant/metal so 5 is the minimum. As long as they can pass the application process then they're fine to work at their own pace as long as they meet deadlines, with up to a month between breeding lists in most cases.
- wolfcat
(#177)
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Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:30pm
I don't really like any of the options. But, it would be nice for there to be a predict only version people could trade in for and keep the site artist usable ones for people who cannot get predicts. Some compensation for missed breedings, if regeneration times are doubled, would be great! I have a metal pendant and a platinum one and have been saving for a holiday or bc pendant for awhile.
Also, I know at one point Slash allowed people to trade in X number of lower pendants in exchange for a higher pendant. I think that really reduced the number of lower pendants. I am not sure if that would help.
The site is having an issue of not drawing enough artists to maintain the quality people enjoy to spend more money. I wish we had a way to draw more artists in.
- Quit
(#10084)
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Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:29pm
DelennDax7 (#67503) -People can join as many teams as they want as long as they pass the applications and can do the work. There are no restrictions.
People value their time and abilities. Taking virtual currency is all fine, but a lot do art as a side financial option.
- wolfcat
(#177)
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Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:59pm
What if there were an option to get a payout of GP or SP for skipping a breeding? Maybe a button we can click on. Then, the pendant would disappear and regenerate at the normal time.
Something that bothers me is that many of us spent actual money getting these pendants. Money that went towards keeping the site going. Yet, some users seem to think that they just grew on trees and are disposable. Back in the day I would spend close to $5,000 a year on the site.
Many of the site money issues stemmed from losing quality artists like MagnusVale who pulled in the big $$$. One custom would got for $75-$150 dollars! Another major pull for site money were seasonal coins. I would spend hundreds on Holiday Breeding Coins every year until they stopped coming.
Restricting the site seems to just chase more and more people away. The site pulled in far more money when it was simpler, more relaxed, inspiring, and easier to keep up with. My kids are old enough to use the site now, and they are interested, but it's become too difficult for many newbies to come in and just enjoy. I remember how much fun I had doing metal and LBC predicts for friends until the rules got to be so much that I just could not be bothered to try anymore.
A real fix would be to find a way to inspire a new generation of players and artists to join. That has been the solution for years. I would happily hand my account over to my kids and give them an allowance to use on here if it were more friendly to young teens new to the site. My daughter is an artist, she is amazingly talented at drawing. But, if kids her age see the site and have to pass it over because it has not managed to evolve to meet user needs, then the site will continue to keep dying. That makes me very sad.
These fixes are bandaids and not real solutions. I cannot even keep up with the incentives, rules, and many, many add-ons and crazy bit even though I have been here since the start. You almost need a degree in Aywas to do anything anymore.
I hope I am making sense. The site does not have to die, and with some advertising and changes it could be just as lively as it ever was.
- Sevryn
(#57182)
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Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:06pm
If I ever needed any proof that a lot of users on this site don't care about artists making actual money, money that actively supports them, even, here it is. Y'all are unreal. "But we can't do predicts and artists usually charge SO MUCH USD!"
Ah yes, because charging USD for skill, time, and effort, and a skill that mind you, takes thousands of hours to master, is sooooooooooooo bad.
What a great reason to quit, honestly!
- Sevryn
(#57182)
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Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:09pm
"Why would anyone pay that much money for pixels they can only use on this website?!"
I just cannot.
- Broken
(#1464)
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Posted on: Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:04am
I don’t like the predict only option & here’s why. I have a HBP & finding anyone that’s willing to do predicts is nearly impossible let alone finding someone to do them for GP. Even during the PPP event there’s only one or maybe 2 user’s doing them at all. So all the hard work and money I put into getting my HBP it will be rendered useless to me if we go to strictly predicts with the pendants. Does something need to be done, yes but I really don’t see how restricting pendants will fix anything when your still gonna release breeding coins. Not sure about the rest of the pendants but my regens every 90 days so that’s only 1 breeding added to the queue every 90 days. This site is all about unique breedings and unique offspring. You take that away and what’s left? Considering your talking about restricting pendants to make the breeding queues less are you eventually gonna move ALL breedings predicts since I don’t really see how just restricting something that regens every 3 months will solve any problems. The only thing I see happening is we will be here a few months or maybe will be lucky and it will take a yr or so and we’ll be back here again with the same issue only on regular coins. Like some else said this is supposed to be a FREE to play site with occasional purchases of items with USD now it seems like you are quickly moving it to a pay to play site. I remember spending some money here and there to get some rare limited items but now with the direction the site is going I don’t even do that because of the direction the site is going. I liked this site a lot better when you had to work to gain stuff on the site and take the time to earn a lot of rare things. Now no work is required you just spend a crap ton of USD and boom!! Your good, no hard work, no site currency (which is currently all but useless). IMO there is no reason to play on the site much as site currency has been rendered obsolete. BP has become worthless and GP is currently heading the same direction. So if site currency is useless what is the point of even playing the game? Now you are talking about taking away one of the best features left on the site, breedings and restricting them so the only people that can do them will be those that can spend a lot of USD on some worthless pixels or those that can do their own predicts. So please tell me what is left and how just restricting pendants that regen every 90 days and still release coins is gonna solve any problems???
- itzel
(#50548)
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Posted on: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:14am
Silvers (#1464) - people have to buy regular breeding coins. that takes site money (and sometimes usd) out of circulation which stimulates the economy, as people have to either buy more site currency, sell things to get more site currency, do work for the site to get more currency, etc.. you do not have to buy a pendant regen with anything, let alone usd, which allows site currency to accumulate while also adding to the queue. site currency feels like it's not worth anything because there is SO MUCH of it available (among other reasons), and artists don't want to be paid a worthless currency.
aywas also does not get any profit from pendants, yet they take up time and effort from site artists and refill the queue almost faster than artists can handle the breedings. additionally, the site can remove/restrict regular coin purchases (like they are right now!) to get the queues into a healthier position, but cannot do so with pendants. once things are in a more reasonable spot they can release more coins. also consider- there are VERY FEW hbc/bc/ebc artists, and i can't imagine that the queue is even moving at a speed where one breeding per 3 months is negligible, especially if there are artists doing 1 - 2 breedings a month. i think this issue would be lessened if the site was able to financially justify paying artists usd, but as it stands even artists that DO get paid usd have to go through the wringer just to get that right. art takes time and effort, and wanting to get paid in real currency for that time and effort is understandable (and expected!), especially since the site does not offer THAT MUCH for site currency that breeding artists aren't already able to just. get. by being artists.
this is a multi-faceted issue that will require a lot of change, time, and effort, and i think that changing how pendants work is a good first step.
- itzel
(#50548)
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Posted on: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:23am
wolfcat ( T-4-T ! ) (#177) - danny is still an active member onsite at #808.>
DelennDax7 (#67503) - piggybacking on what's already been said- i can pick up breedings from any queue that i pass the application on.
"Why aren't more people willing to take site currency for pixels that can only be used here??" - because art takes time and effort, and artists would like to be paid real money instead of a site currency that they most likely already have a lot of. artists can generate enough site currency for themselves by doing breedings/taking artist credit/doing the occasional premade that only getting paid exclusively in site currency is a waste. there are very few items on site that i really, really want to get that i am unable to get just by doing a few breeding lists.
aywas is only free-to-play in the sense that you're investing time, effort, and your own skills to get things onsite. people spend years building up artistic talent to be able to do breedings/make customs/sell art. if you don't have time, don't want to grind/do art/etc., then spending usd on the site is the easiest way to get things done. people will always be willing to pay for the things that they want/enjoy/etc. as long as they are comfortably able to. that's just how hobbies/interests/etc. work.
sorry if i rambled a bit there, i'm a bit scatterbrained rn but some stuff just really needs to be addressed lol
Posted on: Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:00pm
I've got some ideas that haven't been expressed yet.
One thing that has always baffled me is that once you are hired to work on one particular breeding team, that's the only team you can work on. If you were willing to do the occasional breeding on a different team, that's not allowed. Also, I know of at least one person who isn't on any breeding team, but they'd be willing to do the occasional breeding in one of the super-backed-up queues, but that offer was boohooed. I'm sure there are others who'd be willing to do the occasional breeding, for GP, without having to be an official breeding team member.
Instead of increasing the cool-down time or anybody having to give up their pendants....why not just limit how many breedings from 1 particular pendant is active at a time..only 1 breeding at a time per pendant? It wouldn't take care of breedings already in queue, but just say you can't use this Pendant again until your previous breeding is finished?
If the site is moving more & more into User Predicts, it seems to me that having pre-existing PSDs people can use would benefit those who aren't artists, but can possibly learn to color and use the Edit Repository or one of the other pre-existing PSDs available on-site for every breeding that doesn't want to wait for the site artist to get to it. Yes, the Rusted Breeding Coin already has this ability, but open it up to other coins.
Many of us come to this site cause it's free. In my mind, this site is supposed to be a free site that one "occasionally" can pay for minor things here 'n there. But, as more Artists join the site, they see a way to make real money while having fun and despite the fact that it's still free to play here, it seems to be turning into a Pay-to-Play site. During my 5 years of being on this site, I've spent $10 or $15 in the USD shop a few times. I think the most that I've paid at one time was, um, more than I care to admit during one of the bi-annual sales.
Why aren't more people willing to take site currency for pixels that can only be used here?? Why on Earth are people willing to pay real money for pixels that can only be used here?? On the other hand, since the site allows people to charge real money, why not take advantage of it if you've got great art skills?? And if you've got extra money to spend friviously, why not treat yourself??
I think Aywas wanted to do something unique....have the ability to make one of a kind pets via breeding that no other site was offering. Over time, this has lead to the confusing situation we're in today....is this a free site or a pay-to-play site?