I want to start out this post by saying that in no way am I against the site being monetarily supported by users, or having certain things that encourage users to support the website. I think it's wonderful that Komodo is able to make money off Pixpet and should absolutely monetize the website! These are just my concerns as a mostly free-to-play player. I believe that a majority of my issues come down to a lack or breakdown of communication between administration and the player base. In my eyes, a lot of these issues and concerns would be easily elevated with reliable and consistent communication on certain topics. This is also probably going to be kind of long, so I apologize in advance for that! I am happy to section things off in spoiler tags if a moderator would like me to.

As much as I love Pixpets, due to my current situation IRL, I am unable to financially support the website. As much as I wish I could, and without getting into the personal details of my place in life, it's just not something that I can do for Pixpet, or for any other website or game. I am okay playing through games completely F2P (I play many, many gatcha style mobile games), and am usually fine going without or having to work harder towards cosmetic items that are made available through currencies that must be bought with IRL money. However, I feel that some recent updates have started to cater more towards users who are able to donate money, consistently or not, in a way that directly influences gameplay. I completely agree and understand the desire to have incentives to encourage players to donate to the website, and I do think that it is important to have rewarding incentives for donors and patrons. I think it's important to provide more things to spend PPT on so people are encouraged to donate, but not things that give a gameplay advantage. Some of my other issues aren't necessarily related to donations and free-to-pay vs play-to-win, but they also relate back to my concerns with communication. The key word to this post is: Communication.

And please understand that I get it, Komodo is extremely busy and probably doesn’t have a ton of time to include a lot of the communication that I feel is needed. I don’t fault anyone for that, but I think a solution needs to be found. As another user that I’ve been talking to suggested, maybe there could be a staffing position exclusively for this, a Public Relations/Community Director kind of person that can work with Komodo and understand what he has planned, so it can be relayed in a appropriate manner to the userbase.

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Again let me start with positives! It's so wonderful to see that we are starting to get ways to expand our inventory, after many people had suggested this in the suggestion topic. I was super excited to see this as a grouping in my inventory and then the update... revealed that they're money gated (PPT). I was really disappointed by this because I feel that it's a very important gameplay mechanic to be able to have additional inventory space. As I've said before, I don't really believe that having a larger house really helps with this in the long run as we're currently unable to place stacks of items on a single square, and there is no way to place additional walls/floors that you don't wish to use. Also having to place items in your house to store is... not intuitive to say the least. And this isn't a solution for Pixpet inventory. I understand that PPT can be traded for with items, but this must be done with other players (and I don't necessarily agree with the ability to trade PPT for items due to the issue of the over abundance of legendary eggs). Because storage boxes are and will become such a major item, I have no doubt that trading for PPT will become very difficult and I'm sure that it's unlikely people would sell their storage boxes (if they can be sold/traded), due to the way the price increases with each box purchased.

So I feel that inventory space issues were only really fixed for people that have access to PPT. I would be more okay with this particular update if there was any information on F2P (free to play) methods that would become available in the future. I'm in no way saying that the plan was to only make this feature available for PPT, but with no information... it makes me nervous and I don't know what else to assume. I'm more than willing to wait and see what happens, but this is just one example of something along these lines and I'm desperate for more communication. Especially when it relates to gameplay. I would also be more accepting of this particular update if the PPT option was merely an easier or alternative option for expanding inventory, rather than the only option. While I would prefer that the PPT/money options of the website are mostly cosmetic, light gameplay aspects can work if a free-to-play option is also offered. Again, this may happen but I really need that communication.

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This is in regards to the recent nerfing, and then reverting, of the Rarity Excluder and other potions.

I think it's important to start out that when I saw the update, I had no idea why the change was being made. I was extremely confused and pretty disappointed to see how ineffective the rarity excluder was being made, along with the others. It was explained to me that legendary eggs were becoming extremely common due to the excluders, and this was to be a fix to that issue. It made a lot more sense, had me agreeing with the need to nerf something, and me wishing that this had been mentioned in the news post. I believe that a lot of other players were probably in my shoes, or at the very least saw the update as a direct negative because Rarity Excluders are already somewhat difficult to make if you're not buying Voxels constantly. While gameplay balances/changes don't have to be justified to the player base, communicating that there IS a problem and that this change is a solution, will help people understand these changes better and not think of them as a negative or "bad" change and result in less immediate backlash. This directly goes back the beginning where this problem could have been resolved with more communication.

I also don't believe that Rarity Excluders are the only culprit behind legendary eggs becoming so common, and this goes back to my issues with PPT on the site. Currently you can buy PPT, convert it to SPC and buy Hoard Return and Instant Recover Super Potions. You can then also trade PPT for food (pumpkins), ingredients for rarity excluders, etc. Which allows you to hunt for legendary eggs extremely quickly, sell for profit and repeat. So while Rarity Excluders do need some kind of nerf, either making them prizes, changing their ingredients, making them only work with decorations (and making different ones for eggs that are prizes), they're not the only issue. This is another example that I feel that players with PPT do have a pretty significant advantage over players without.

To a normal player, that doesn't do this method of farming, they might feel that they're being negatively impacted by players who are spending IRL money, because an item they have access to is being nerfed rather than the IRL money part of the equation being nerfed. And if there are plans to also or instead nerf the IRL money parts, this hasn't been communicated, or that there is an awareness of this issue.

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Part of this has been brought up many times already, but I haven’t seen or heard anything on it happening or not happening, so I’d like to reiterate it. There really needs to be a separate sub-forum for suggestions instead of it all being shoved into on topic. Quick bullet points since a lot of these have already been talked about:

Easier to see if something has already been suggested.

Easier to comment or discuss suggestions, how to improve the idea, what others would like to see instead or additionally, etc.

Less likely for suggestions to be buried under others, or under discussion.

Can make a sticky topic for “Don’t suggest these, they are being implemented/will not be added/etc” that include commonly suggested ideas.

The part that goes back to my concerns of communication, is with the lack of direct/immediate response to user suggestions. I’m not suggesting that Komodo isn’t responsive to suggestions, because he is! A lot of updates to the site have been as a result of people talking about or suggesting things, and I’m so super happy with that. My issue, though, is that we don’t get much feedback when suggestions are initially made. Of course, not all suggestions are created equal, economic/gameplay improvement suggestions aren’t the same as cosmetic suggestions, but it would be nice to get some kind of feedback that our suggestions are or aren’t being considered.

I’ll use the request of an egg sink as an example. Several people, myself included, made multiple posts about how the value of eggs were sinking (haha) and that an egg sink would improve this by creating a demand for eggs. This relates directly to the economy and concerned a lot of people that the value of eggs was so low, but… we didn’t hear anything about this suggestion being taken until it was actually added to the site. Keep in mind this is also a bigger issue in my opinion than most suggestions, because it again relates to the economy. The site's economy is still really new and evolving, so fixing issues within it are important and probably have people concerned more than other suggestions.

While it’s wonderful that it was added (although I wish it was less of a sellback feature and instead something more like a prize shop or quest to create demand rather than a base price), I really wish we could get a “This is a good idea and it’s already planned/it will be worked on being implemented.” or a “This isn’t something that I want to do, and this is why (or something)”. That way it feels a little less like we’re talking into a void, can understand why certain suggestions won’t happen or are taking a while to come (because things take time, not all of us are coders and understand how time consuming certain features may be to create), and that way it won’t be posted over and over and over again, unaddressed. Heck, I’d be happy with even a “yes” or “no” kind of answer, just any kind of feedback is really desired. Creating a sub-forum for suggestions will make this infinitely easier to address user suggestions.

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This is another thing that gets brought up a lot, both onsite and in the discord server. And I think it comes up so often because it hasn’t really been officially addressed in a way that everyone can see. Keep in mind, not everyone is in the discord server, or is online when statements are made. I’ve been told that the plan by Komodo (citation needed, not saying this was actually said just that I was told this!) is that houses are supposed to restock. And they’re limited to create demand for a housing market. While I don’t really like this system if that’s the case, my main issue is that I haven’t seen this addressed on site, or somewhere that is easy to reference back to for users who have questions or concerns. The lack of communication makes it so this issue is brought up a lot, people worry about what will happen if houses become horribly expensive because they joined late and couldn’t buy one in time, and no one can really give a good answer to someone. This would be a great topic for a sticky somewhere on frequently asked questions about the future of gameplay, or in the suggestions sub-forum.

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This might be a weird one, but I’ve started to not really get the point of SPC anymore. To me it comes across like just an extra step to getting Super Potions. You can’t turn SPC into PC or PPT, you can just buy Super Potions. So why does the currency exist? I think it would make more sense to just have a “Super Potion Shop” where you can purchase these potions for either PC or PPT. As an example:

Instant Cook Super Potion - 25 PC or 1 PPT.

Converting either of these currencies into SPC just seems like an unnecessary extra step? My opinion on this may change if there are other plans for SPC (as an event reward, or it being obtained through other means than just converting), but as of right now I’m starting to not really understand SPC as a currency. If you could buy SPC and then turn it into PPT (with perhaps a different ratio so PPT isn’t so cheap to purchase with PC essentially), I would get it more, but then again, why have the middle man? This doesn’t really connect with my communication or PPT/donation concerns but I’ve been thinking about it recently and figured I’d include this.

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As I’ve stated multiple times, I know how important it is to create rewards that will make users want to donate to the site. Money keeps the site going, and Komodo and the other artists for the website deserve to be paid for their hard work. So here are some of my suggestions on things that would be better as PPT items or patreon rewards, instead of heavily gameplay affecting things.

More cosmetic options! The plushies are a great start, and while they are good items for increasing your SLVL (so they are a gameplay affecting reward), it is possible to still obtain 100 SLVL without them.

As a cosmetic reward - Maybe allow for uploading of custom artwork for our pixpets? Tons of people have recoloured the site sprites to fit their characters, I think a lot of people would be interested in uploading to be seen directly on their pets! If quality control is a concern, guidelines and an approval system could be made similar to “Painties” on Furvilla or skins on FlightRising. Vouchers to upload custom sprites/edited sprites could be sold for PPT.

Ad space blocks. On another website I play, Subeta, they offer ad space in their forums purchasable in “impression” blocks. Impressions are how many views an ad gets. So if you purchase an ad with 2500 impressions, your ad will stay up until it has been viewed 2500 times. Additionally, the ads rotate between all user bought ads. So if 15 people have bought ad space, only one ad will appear at a time but they rotate between all 15 on a timer (or with a refresh/new page visited). These would be a more limited version of the Patreon Tier 5 reward, as they would only be visible on the forums (or wherever designated), only show one at a time, and only stay up for a determined period of time. Meaning if someone wants an ad up for longer than 2500 views (just as an example), they would need to keep purchasing ad blocks with PPT. Compared to the Patreon reward that are visible all over the website, all display at once, and only have to be purchased once a month (aka keeping their Patreon donor tier)

As a cosmetic reward - Maybe the ability to create/upload custom furniture? Purely cosmetic and wouldn’t increase SLVL. There are just some seriously talented pixel artists on the site that I think would take advantage of being able to make a specific piece of furniture that fits some of their pet characters! As with the previous cosmetic idea, a guideline and approval system could be implemented to ensure quality control.

Disallow PPT for in-game item trades (for reasons stated above, I believe it contributes to the issue of the abundance of rare/legendary eggs and gives paying players a big advantage).

Disallow PPT purchase of Hoard Return and Instant Recover Super Potions. Or place a limit on how many can be purchased

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This was a super long post and I’m extremely grateful to those that stuck through it and read all of it. I know I repeated myself a lot in some places, but I wanted to make my concerns really clear. Communication is a big part and I think with even just a little more, it could absolve a lot of concerns that myself and others have currently with the game. I know Pixpet is a very young website, but in my eyes, that just means that it’s important now more than ever as it gains its foothold online and forms a community. I really, really hope that I don’t come across harshly or that I hate the website for trying to make money. In essence, I really want to be able to play the website, now and more importantly in the future, without feeling that I’m at a huge gameplay disadvantage because I can’t afford to donate to the site.

And again to reiterate, in no way am I suggesting that Komodo should be responsible for all these additional communication needs, just that I feel there is a need for more communication. Having someone there who can assist with this would be a huge quality of life improvement overall, I believe.