(I'm not sure if we're supposed to ping??? oh well, it's not terribly important)

I'd have to agree with everyone else. Being that I'm not yet old enough to have my own financial freedom, these mini-fests don't really provide me with a whole lot to do aside from forum contests. I think a festival currency is a great idea, especially for the week of love since there's an actual zone. For this festival however, I can see how it would be hard for people to earn enough for an entry. In addition to nurturing, I'd suggest a little leprechaun guy hidden around the site (like santa and jinxie) who awards the currency in slightly higher quantities than usual, and maybe lower the amount needed for entry if necessary? Like Fox said, I don't think this would be too much since these features already exist (unless there's something I'm missing, I don't have experience in programming so sorry about that). This way mini-fests can still include everyone and keep the "Sylestia" feel by using money as a shortcut rather than a requirement.


Also- I used my free play and got a 2 vis egg, and I scratched 3 of the "pie/prisma" spots but received nothing for that? I'm not sure if I just did something wrong or if we were only allowed one prize, but I thought I'd bring it up.

Edit: With what Anna said- I agree that there isn't a whole lot to do between seasonal events, but I don't mind waiting ^^" It just reminded me of something I'd been wondering, will monthly avatar sets ever return?

Even if I had the kind of money it takes to play the Lucky Pot, I wouldn't spend it on that. I'd be more likely to spend it on leveling and gearing up my pets, or on diamonds to get more stables, essences, and other things. The chance for a themed pet is too low for me to want to spend that much.

I like the idea of earning points to play by releasing unwanted pets. This would encourage people to buy more traps to get pets to release, plus it would free up space on the servers if people are encouraged to not hoard pets (which could save Sylestia some money). Leaving the Lucky Pot like it is just encourages people to ignore it.

Again. This is an event. Not a festival. Yes, if there were a festival zone, there would be other things to do. I guess it's our fault in naming the event the "Fortune Festival". That is what we just went with when we first did this event back in 2013 and we've just stuck with it. We will probably just change its name in the future if it's not going to be a festival to avoid confusion.

As we have said previously, not only are we and our artists focused on the upcoming MegaZone, Spring Festival, and Kelpari revamp, but Faiona and I also were unable to do hardly any work for the two and half weeks prior to this event beginning. Real life happened. It sucked. It wasn't planned. But that's how life is sometimes. Creating features, zones, named, items - it all takes time and artwork. That was not available to us.

So we instead did something just small and simple in the form of this event. It was not meant to be a big comprehensive thing. That is what is planned for the Spring Festival. And then the MegaZone after that in the form of a more permanent feature.

Also... for those saying that Sylestia is no longer free to play... that just isn't fair at all to say. We have always been 100% free to play. There is not a single thing in this game that you must pay real life currency to obtain. Even features like The Lucky Pot... you can play with Gold directly. You don't have to have Diamonds. And the exchange rate we used was less than the average on the Currency Exchange.

Alternatively, you can buy the things you want from other players because virtually everything in this game is tradeable. Or... you can just buy the Diamonds from other players with your Gold. Literally, the only thing in this game that you can't do for free is disable the advertisements lol... which has nothing to do with gameplay. So please keep that in mind.

As we said before, if The Lucky Pot is not for you, then I am sorry to hear that and my suggestion would be to have fun with the Forum Games, decorate an Egg, and take advantage of the things that we do like Pick a Door and the Eggling Auction.

At this point in time, the Spring Festival is probably a little more than a month away and it will include a festival zone with named, new avatar items, new traits, the return of Sylesti Gardening with a new twist, and much more. And then shortly after the Spring Festival, we're hoping to finally release the MegaZone which will probably provide hundreds of hours of content if you want to max everything out and accomplish everything.... and it will be entirely accessible to everyone.

I also agree with what everyone has been saying - I'd consider myself somewhere in the middle, in terms of being rich or poor, and already I can barely afford things like a Lucky Pot play (in my current case, I can't afford a single play at all). At least in the past you could find wheel tickets, and you could either save up to try for a wheel pet or sell it to recuperate some of the costs of the rest of the festival. For many people, 500 diamonds (or gold equivalent) is a huge sum, and we can only afford to play it once - and we end up with something like a Philter of Genderswapping (~235k) and, say, a Magical Pie (~50k). That's a huge loss that will take a long time to get back. Even for those who are lucky enough to win a wheel pet, the value of the pet is so terribly high simply because of the high stakes that only very few people on the site can afford to buy one.
To be honest, I think I liked the winter fest's idea (was it called the Winter Wonderland? The one where you cut open the wrapping of presents at the last level) and the Maze (something about choosing different rocks or whatever which would determine if you move on or not) the most. I may have just been more lucky with those, but the payouts were closer to what I put in.

Thanks for your consideration and for all of your efforts. I really appreciate it and I know everyone else does, too. I just wanted to put in my two cents and post about how I feel, as a fellow Sylestian :)

I am going to try to word this very carefully because I absolutely do not want to offend anyone or appear to be criticising the views of others - everyone is entitled to their own point of view. However, I do not believe that it should be left entirely to Krin to put forward the positive side of this event.
Now I know that some of you will look in my hatchery and think, 'Easy for her to say...she has lots of Fortune pets', so I feel I should start by saying that I have bought about $250 worth of diamonds, mostly to buy scratch cards and some to buy pets from others. I could not have done this as a teenager or when I was at college or in my first few years of work, nor if I went on expensive holidays or ate out a lot etc. Now that I am a fully-fledged and fully-employed adult I can choose my own spending priorities.
Krin and Fai need some people like me on the site. As Krin explained before, this is their full-time job and they have to make a living from it. In order to keep people like me spending money there have to be some things that have a better chance of success if you spend more. With any gambling you might just get lucky on your first attempt but probably you won't. What is great about the scratch cards for me is that, if you carry on and fill up that pet bonus bar, then the chances of getting a pet are very high. Yes, it takes a lot of diamonds or gold, but there is a reward almost guaranteed for those who can afford it.
The four full festivals, spring, summer, fall and winter, have lots for everyone - zones to find themed pets, exclusive pets that can be earned, bosses to defeat that can drop great items etc. These smaller, between festival events, are more a source of revenue. Yes, they favour those who spend real money, and no, there is not much to do, but as Krin says there are the forum games, contests for designing Sylestis, Pick-a-Door etc. and these are accessible to everyone.
So I want to thank Krin and Fai for all the work that they put in to all of the activities on the site and I want to thank them for these special events that benefit those who can afford it.
I can't wait for the Spring Festival and even more so for the Megazone!

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=33918&page=17#170 Author: Ciolin Time Posted: 3/20/2016 at 7:46 PM well... I feel like the wheel worked, and should be back. Just my opinion ^-^

Yes. The wheel is missed even though it spews out philters. D:

It does seem like this caters the rich more often and doesn't allow people who just can't simply afford it to participate in most any way.
Also, I tried at this with forty dollars, and the only good thing I managed to get out of it was a Stained Glass Background. Forty dollars and an extra free try. :/

Krin, do you think it will be a thing where there will be like one free spin for every one of these events so maybe at least a new player can say they got to spin once? I though one free spin was a great idea

It just depends on the feature. Since this feature has no attaching zone or ticket or anything - we decided to do this.

I found the whole thing to be a waste of time and effort: It was also rather boring. I'll wait for a real festival and hope you manage to get the lag out of the zone. Not really counting on it but it'd be nice, I suppose.

Personally I think this was a fun little event, more than other game makers put into for a smaller holiday and I really appreciate the free play at the lucky pot. I only got a greater dye but it's something.. As much as I've had bad luck in the event I've loved seeing how happy it made my in game friends. I wanted to say thanks, even if it wasn't perfect, it was something to be thankful for! And I enjoyed it.