February Monthly MiniPets
Posted by Mat on 1 Feb 2017, 2:30 am
February has come, and with it, the introduction of a new round of mini-pets for the FurDollar Emporium. These new monthly mini-pets follow a new system with the goal of retaining their value!
We have heard the concerns of customers who purchased FD mini-pets in the past and their disappointment that breeding has resulted in their purchase losing its value increasingly over time. We want our customers to feel confident that their purchase will retain its value, even potentially increasing in value. Therefore, we have decided that starting with the February mini-pets, FurDollar Emporium mini-pets will be unbreedable species, ensuring that the investment a customer makes will not decline in value due to breeding. Any past mini-pets released through the Emporium will remain as they were, as this change affects only new and future Emporium mini-pets.
Players can now obtain rarer colors for an Emporium mini-pet species by opening a box, found for each new mini-pet species in the Emporium. The boxes for each respective mini-pet have a 40% chance of opening into a common, 30% chance of opening into an uncommon, 20% chance of opening into a rare, or a 10% chance of opening into a super rare. Boxes are also priced at 250 FurDollars, a reduction from past prices.
The Aquaticat species is the first of the new Emporium mini-pets, shown from common through super rare. 
The Rapti species is the second of the new Emporium mini-pets, shown from common through super rare.
The Moth species is the third of the new Emporium mini-pets, shown from common through super rare.
The Chipmunk species is the fourth of the new Emporium mini-pets, shown from common through super rare.
The Caterpillar species is the fifth and final of the new Emporium mini-pets, shown from common through super rare.
These new boxes will not entirely disappear at the end of the month. We plan on putting all Emporium mini-pet boxes inside of a larger box called the Retired Box, which will dispense one random box from a past month. The Retired Box will be available at a higher price, but gives players the chance to obtain mini-pet boxes from past months if desired.
Save up your weapons, armor, and unwanted mini-pets, because the Serpent Festival is coming to town on February 14th. The Serpent Festival is Quetzal Palace's yearly special event. During this event, the serpent that carries the Quetzal Palace village on its back will land on the mainland of Furvilla. During this period of time, villagers from all over are welcome to make offerings to the serpent in hopes of being rewarded with something cool.
The upcoming festival will involve some new mini-pet species from the serpent, a special shop to purchase festival related items, new villager colors, new villager costumes, and last but not least... a mystery! Will you be one of the first one hundred people to solve the mystery and earn a trophy from the festival?
But that's not all! We have two weeks before the festival starts, and some other cool activities are coming down the pipeline. Sources say that Crafters will be getting a new type of item to craft, one that should keep all of you crafters busy! What could it be? Hm... we'll find out soon! ;)
@Admin-Deinmaar The fact that who does the plushies and who does it villagers is a moot point in this issue and an easy one to solve for the staff who can actually make the change. The best way to solve it? Hold a monthly contest that lasts 2 weeks long. For what purpose? For the user base to submit their own colorations, costume edits, etc.. What good would that do? Have a group of voters (user base, staff, or both) to vote for the top X amount. Then for a week long run a poll in a news post for the user base to vote on their X amount of favorites from the listing (Not just bubbles to choose one, but a numbering system with the highest number being their top pick and the lowest with their bottom pick. This creates a fairer voting system that shows true mass preference). The X amount with the highest votes would then be the next months set of magical plushies. As a thank you, the creators of the chosen magical plushies get 1 free one for their-selves to do with as they please and credit for the creation in the plushies tooltip.. What would this solve? The current fiasco with the monthly FD minipets for one, but also it wouldn't put more pressure on Kiwi who already has enough on their plate (unless they would like more.)
@Admin-Deinmaar I mean, I realize that I meant for the interest of the site as a whole. If you don't want user feedback then....? I get you can't directly hire new artists or something I was just...providing input to someone who actually works for the site.
Winchester
I have no control over hiring anyone other than my MODs.
I don't have any say in hiring artists, programmers, etc.
@Admin-Deinmaar Maybe its time to consider hiring another artist who can style match as close as possible with Kiwi to work on minor recolor projects. Seriously, limited availability villager color blindboxes would be SO much more profitable for you guys because its actually something functional and tangible AND still comes with the collectability aspect (non-magical plushies)
Even Flight Rising had to start hiring new artists to keep up with a reasonable amount of updates. Now they're adding new content like apparel and familiars at least once a month. I'm not saying yall should be up to that consistent of a schedule for new content yet, but I do think hiring a new artist who can also work on more minor villager artwork projects would be in your best interest currently.
Argent
The artist for the mini-pets/items is not the same artist as the Villagers/Costumes. Kiwi is still working on things, but she has a lot on her plate.
I agree with Omosky this blind box functionality would've been MUCH better suited to magical plushies. Once used, they will still retain collectability by being a non-magical plush and the whole userbase isn't completely fucked And it wouldn't make An Entire Career completely redundant in a profit setting. Everyone saying "there's still other pets!! FD pets aren't the only ones!!!" seems to be ignoring that breeding said pets is Not very profitable anymore, which is the root of this entire issue. The best way to make a profit on the AH career was to invest in some FD pets every month and breed for profit.
Like everyone else has been saying, you haven't even let the last mechanic play out long enough to see where it was going to go. Why change it now? Because you weren't making enough money on FD sales? Seriously WHY make this functionality pay to win especially when its so transparent in that you literally ignored the AH career entirely. For Minipets. Which's whole POINT was to be breedable via the AH career.
If you want blind box sales, sell something else. People would probably spend a FORTUNE on limited rarity magical plushies.
..I honestly was excited about this game. However, as it's progressed, it has become more of a cash to win game. The Animal Husbandry career was created as another function for the minipets and a way to have varieties exclusive to breeding. You have just removed that function from many future minipets not only with this update but also with out the festival minipets are ran. Worst of all, the user base was asked for opinions on how to stabilize the AH career not just once, but several times. Each time the solution is an off the wall slap in the face for those who would like to enjoy the AH career and collecting aspects while very promising ideas were ignored and flushed. Most sites that die have a fatal combination. An over abundance of items requiring a user to pay cash to get for a function/collection and the abundance of the players' opinions being completely ignored especially when asked in the first place by staff. This cash grab idea would have been better suited to magical plushies that changed each month and retired to a box where each monthly set would retire to (as the current Feb pets do). Of which, was already suggested by the way.
I like that they don't retire at all, but I'm unsure about the breeding. Thank you though, for addressing retirement concerns for players!
this is the worst idea ever. im usually not this harsh or judgmental here but what a money grab. people would probably have to spend like $30 for the grab bag pets.
@ Blichacz They're not breedable at all.