I already addressed these issues in our private conversation, but I thought I'd bring forth an idea I shared with you that I haven't shared on this post yet:

Piggybacking off of what someone said about having penalties for not keeping pets fed... What if pets can only be bred if their hunger is above a certain level? Like if the bar is below half full, they are unable to breed until they have been fed. That might also help crack down on impudent breeding.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=8927&page=3#22 Author: Thunderorb Time Posted: 12/30/2013 at 5:24 PM I already addressed these issues in our private conversation, but I thought I'd bring forth an idea I shared with you that I haven't shared on this post yet: Piggybacking off of what someone said about having penalties for not keeping pets fed... What if pets can only be bred if their hunger is above a certain level? Like if the bar is below half full, they are unable to breed until they have been fed. That might also help crack down on impudent breeding.

I like the idea of not being able to breed starving pets. It would not only prevent a lot of breeding, but it would make it so that people actually cared for their pets.

I can say that I LOVE the idea of limiting the number of pets in a hatchery. I've seen some hatcheries with nearly 100 pages full of breed pets, which is more than a little overboard. I'll admit that when I was new to the site I enjoyed breeding pets just to see what I could get, but after the first month I started to set focus projects. And now? I'm planning to limit myself STRICTLY to projects. The only excess pets I'll keep are those that were gifts from friends on the site.

As for upping the cooldown for a breeding female? Uh uh. No way.That would FAIL. Certain people, such as myself, have actual projects and goals that they're working for. With mine, I've ensured that ALL pets from the projects, even the 'failures,' keep a high level of appeal. Even the no-vis have a smooth color scheme that's nice and easy on the eyes, and every last visible trait looks gorgeous all on its own, in pairs, and with all three. *I don't mean to sound arrogant, but that's the feedback I've received from multiple people.*

Adding onto that, I have over TWENTY requested pets on some of the waiting lists from my pairs! Some people didn't mind giving specifics, but others are wanting certain traits and genders. Already it'll take me HALF A YEAR to complete those orders. And in that half-year, there are bound to be even more orders tacked on. So INCREASING the cooldown...? My task will be nearly impossible.

I am, however, extremely eager for the NPC pet-buyers to be implemented. And personally, I think SCALES would be the best currency! Scales would allow a player to purchase pet dyes, which can be used to IMPROVE pets that they already have. I myself used over 150 pet dyes for ONE of my project ideas. I have 8 pairs of griffi, and 15 of the 16 pets were captured and once made a rainbow of mismatching color. Before even considering breeding them, I mutated them for matching traits, and recolored them. It took a lot of trade deals and negotiations for the supplies, of course, but the end result was WORTH IT. My Mountain Pass Griffi are just as beautiful and majestic as my other Griffi pairs that were made with enhanced essences. So, yes, I think scales would be perfect currency for selling pets, as it can lead to better colored pets, that will lead to a higher market value to other players.

I thought that was already implemented within the system.

I agree, scales seem the perfect currency to trade pets for to the new NPC. I don't mind nurturing, but especially as a new player, having to literally nurture 1500 pets to get the mutator or dye you want is mind numbingly boring. The first time I saw that, I pretty much closed the window for nurturing random pets I was using and went on to something else. Having another way to earn a few scales I think would help immensely in that regard. I do wonder a bit if you need to limit the number of pets that you can recycle this way per hour or something though? I mean, what is to stop a mass breeder from deliberately breeding hundreds of no use pets, precisely to shove them all into the NPC for the handful of scales or gold he will get? But then, if this is the main way to get dyes and mutators, I guess in a way that just becomes part of playing the game.

I don't think we need to have a special newbie sales area for pets either. Once the NPC is in place, 1 gold pets will likely be automatically scooped up to feed the npc player, so that would likely pretty much change that part of the game overnight, especially if there is a search engine that is at all easy to use. No need to make rules banning 1g pets either- if you want to put a whole stable full of pets at 1g, my guess is if the search engine is working properly, most of them will be sold before the next one can be priced.

I have been thinking it might be nice to have an area where the released pets go, where someone with an interest can go "catch" released pets before they run off into the wild. A grotto or something where there are simply abandoned pets wandering around, and an interested newbie or oldie player can go in an catch what was just released. This would help those constantly strapped for gold, to at least look for cool pets without having to fight if they don't want to, and without having to have huge amounts of gold either.

I hate limits as much as many here have expressed. I think limiting the number of times a particular pet can breed is arbitrary and, after all the work to get your six vis pair done and going, a slap in the face for the hard work you put into getting there. The only way I could see this working is to do what Dragoncave has done, and make it so that each breed has a limited success rate, based on their rarity. I can already hear some of the dedicated breeders screaming... but basically, if you have a common pet, 9 times out of 10 you will get an egg. The genetics would be the same, just there would no longer be a guarantee of getting an egg each and every time you breed. For rare pets, it might be a 50/50 shot at getting an egg. For the legendary pets, it might be one in three chances you get an egg, or as with the Griffi and Ryori, maybe they are only breedable during their respective festivals (in which case, because of the limited breeding time, they really should have a high success rate, maybe even 100%, to make up for the short breeding period.)

This kind of limit would eventually just turn into part of the game, and part of the puzzle of breeding, as it has become on Dragcave. Initially it would be painful, especially for those with complicated breeding projects they want to get done in a hurry, but it would definitely make it more difficult for people to breed unlimited numbers of pets, and could potentially keep rarer pets rarer, as it has done there.

If there are truly no limits on breeding pets like the Ryori and Griffi, then over time they will be the same as the Ny'vene, and become common as grass themselves, even the 6vis ones. There is just no way to keep mass breeders from doing what they do, and flooding the market with cheap imports, lol. I suppose that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It will keep the market for captured pets of these species relatively high, and cool multi vis pets will be readily available to newbies. But most bred pets will have little to no market value over time.

One other thing I would like to see is a trading post, where you can literally trade one pet for another, or pets for items and gold or other currency too if that is what is offered. I really get nervous having to trust that someone else is going to send me their pet the way they say they will, more or less on the honor system. I would like a trading post where I can go in, see exactly what pet they are trading for, and be able to trade my pets and/or items to get it. Most games like this have something like that, and it is exactly to help cut down scams (though dedicated scammers always seem to find a way, but that is another discussion.) Anyway, I would love to see a trading post implemented where you could say, put up Arctic Storm Griffi for trade, and get multiple offers to choose from, which may include other pets, avi items and gold, maybe even diamonds, or all of the above in one trade. People are offering this kind of thing on the Auction board, but when it comes time to pay, they are assuming that the other party is going to follow through with it and honor the agreement, especially when multiple items or currencies are involved. That doesn't always work for a number of reasons. A dedicated Trading Post would help with that. The board would then be a way to advertise and drum up business for your breeding projects or recent catches, but would not need to be the way you sell your pets or other items.

Incidentally, this would also make trading nicer pets with newbies more secure, as you can see exactly who is bidding, and accept whatever bid you want, even a screwy lowball one that would be insulting from anyone else.

Honestly, economics being what it is, there is no one solution that will work for everyone, but there may be a better system than the blind market economy we have now.

This would not be easy to set up, I realize, but there is plenty of precedent from other similar sites like Neopets, which is much larger than this one, so I am sure it could be done.

If you have a combination of a good search engine to search for pets, an NPC to buy up unwanted pets, and a trading post to trade pets for whatever you can trade, I think then the market in pets would get much more varied and vibrant. Many of the "muddy" and boring (gene wise) pets would get recycled through the NPC, leaving the more interesting pets to be traded or sold. I personally think this sounds like a reasonable combination to help the "economy" of pet sales here.

You can't adventure, battle, or send a starving pet on missions, however they CAN be bred. I've seen several people that only feed their battle and mission pets and let all their other pets starve, but still continue to breed tons of pets.

You can't breed malnourished pets. Just to make sure in case there was a bug, I just went and tested with two malnourished pets...and the breeding grounds gave me an error.

Oh. Must have been fixed when I wasn't paying attention. >.< Either that or I REALLY need to take some cold medicine and go to bed because I'm imagining things.