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| Cool Down options: |
| Leave it as it is. |
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41% |
[ 24 ] |
| Just increase the time. |
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24% |
[ 14 ] |
| Move to a number of tries [read the first post] for the cool down. |
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29% |
[ 17 ] |
| Cool Downs don't matter, why not just get rid of them. |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| I have another idea [Post in thread]. |
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3% |
[ 2 ] |
| I have no opinion on cool downs. |
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1% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 58 |
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 Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:19 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:25 am
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Kamiki But look at the people who DO have huge herds. They usually some combination of the following traits:
- they are CONSTANTLY in the Soq thread and/or the Soq thread takes up most or a significant amount of their online time
- they have been part of the Soquili for years and have developed a huge network of friends and RP partners
- they put tons of effort and creativity in their contest/event entries
- they have tons of gold to throw at auctions/raffles
Basically, you seem to be implying that people who don't put as much effort and energy into Soquili should have equal chance at people who put a LOT of effort and energy into Soquili and I have to respectfully disagree.
I know the shop can be daunting - but those newbies who jump in and really muscle past the intimidation and put a lot of effort into learning to rules and participating in events and making friends usually get heavily rewarded for it. There are people who are actively LOOKING for newbies who are starting to get interested in the shop to co-own and get their feet wet. To be honest...getting a co-own in Soquili is easier now than its EVER BEEN. I don't see many newbies having to hang around and chat more than a couple of times before someone offers to co-own. It may take longer before they get their OWN Soquili, or win an event, but they can cut their teeth and get their feet wet pretty easily. (And if there are any newbies out there who are reading this and think I'm wrong and really want a chance - let me know. I'll be happy to help).
Not everyone WANTS to only be dedicated to one shop. And that's okay - you can't be a jack of all trades AND a master of all to boot. If you're not giving Soquili 100% of your Gaia-dedication there's nothing wrong with that. But at the same time you're going to have to just accept the fact that you're not going to be getting as many Soquili as the people who DO dedicate all/nearly all of their Gaia time to Soquili.
I have no problem with certain parameters in place. I love the LL breeding slots, I agree there should be LL customs and even a longer custom cooldown.
But, overall, I think the desire to spread the love shouldn't come at the expense at punishing those who do choose to make Soquili a significant part of their online world. While most people with big herds, myself included, don't go after pets unless they really like them- people shouldn't be frustrated in events when people who are very dedicated and put a lot of effort and time into their herds get rewarded for it.
Agree with everything said here.
I am one that is always looking for newbies to co-own with, though, I haven't lately because I haven't gotten any new Soqs in over a year. Had a lot of things going on the past year and just didn't have the time to really deal with events or paid any attention to when breedings were going on. I love helping newbies out. 8D For the longest time, whenever I was gifted a basket, it always came with the stipulation of "Do not share! D< Keep one for yourself darnit!" because I was always co-owning with newbies.
I have a relatively large herd, and while I didn't get any new pretties over the last year, I'm not going to whine about it. Life sucks. But life comes before a bunch of pretty pixels. When I have time to play with the pixels, I will. But I'm not going to complain that other people who have more time than I to play on Gaia and in Soq, have snagged all these pretties. If they put in the time and the effort than so what? Many people do spread the love. One just has to be patient and keep trying. Soq is huge. And Soq can be daunting. But it doesn't mean you won't ever get a huge herd. It just may take longer for you, than it does for someone else.
Personally, I think breeding cooldowns are just fine, and the way they are run are perfectly fine. Though I did love that one "Throw everything you want into one ticket." thing Mind did. I just don't see it happening as a normal breeding thing.
Customs, with the sporadicness of them, cooldowns should be changed to every 2-3 custom openings instead of 2 months or whatever it might be now. I'm kinda eh about adding on a cooldown to the superrare spot though.
And sorry if I rambled and jumped a bit...trying to get this all written up before my ride gets here in just a couple of moments. Ugh. Work. Hopefully it makes some sort of sense. @___@ |
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:30 am
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But you can look at people who don't have huge herds and say a lot of the same things.
I can't speak for everyone, but I can say this:
Almost all of my time online is spent on Gaia - I don't facebook - I don't twitter - or any of the other things people do online. Almost all of my time on Gaia is spent on Soquili.
I don't post all the time because I believe that one needn't fill the air with meaningless words just to be seen. I don't shmooze people with huge herds just to get more ponies, I don't think that's something that should be expected either.
Every time I get an RP tag I reply as soon as I can. Every one of my soquili has had at least some RP. But I don't hound people all the time to get RP, I don't chase my rp partners down and I don't start fifty different threads for each of my characters - I am consciousness of the realities of my time and I am careful to not take on so much that I'll either get burnt out or lose track.
I put as much time and creativity as I am able into all kinds of contests and events. I don't put in as much as some people - but I put in more than others. I do often feel as though it doesn't matter how creative or intensive my entries are - there is no good gauge of what someone is looking for in any particular contest and in the ones that are not luck based, there is always someone who is more what the people running the event is looking for. And that's okay - I don't mind, that's the way things go.
I do have tons of gold to throw at auctions/raffles - I can do that, occasionally I will. Or I'll throw it at someone who doesn't have the gold so they can have a chance too. I spend more gold on others sometimes than I do on myself. I don't say this because I'm trying to win some kind of popularity thing - but because I think things like that are part of what make this community worth the time/effort/gold I spend on it.
I don't want to punish those who choose to make Soquili a significant part of their online world. I make Soquili a significant part of my online world. But I don't understand that argument.
We're talking about making things just slightly more even for everyone. And sometimes that means that those who are always here and always winning aren't always more catered to than those who can't put in as much. I don't want to take things away - but this came from the argument that in events people who enter more things should get extra chances in the final 'you didn't win something' raffle. Not doing that isn't spreading love at the expense of punishing those who make Soquili a significant part of their online world.
And increasing cool down times to something that makes sense in the current environment of the shop isn't punishment either. It's trying to balance things. Cool down started [I believe] from that desire. It's current structure isn't doing what it used to do, so I'm suggesting we look at that again.
Not all my ideas are going to work. But I would love to see this discussion return to that.
Longer custom cool down [with possibly a custom LL - that discussion is in another thread] seems like something that is needed. I think we all agree on that.
I would love to see a change in breeding cool down - but I have not yet seen something that works for everyone. For the most part, I feel as though there is little to no purpose served with the current breeding cool down - it so very seldom actually comes into effect for anyone. But every adjustment anyone is thinking of seems to hurt someone else. I don't know how to fix it - but I think a meaningful discussion on the issue might not be a horrible thing.
Cool downs for freebies, raffles, events . . . I accept the arguments raised about that. I still think that something could be implemented, I just don't know what.
But I do know that some people are luckier than others and it has nothing to do with effort.
I don't want to punish anyone or take anything away, I just want there to be honest suggestions and discussion on making the playing field just a little more even. I don't feel like I'm attacking those who have. I don't feel like I'm trying to take away from them. I adore Sya to pieces, one of my soquili I co-owned with her because I she has more time and more contacts for making sure that character has RP than I do. I don't mind that she got more than twice the number of soquili that I got in the same time period. She spends more time in the shop and she works hard at the community. I wasn't pointing an argument at her saying she should have less. But I was pointing out that while the two of us had herds that grew, there were people who were here and trying, who didn't. And I want to try and address that.
I'm sorry to anyone who feels I have attacked them, or their chances at getting more soquili with this, I am only interested in trying to make the shop a better place for everyone.
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:42 am
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I think what you guys are never going to change is just pure luck. I became active in Soq in 2010 slightly before the WoW event. My herd is at 19 currently. I have never been CC'd in any custom, breeding, game, contest, or even had one of my CYO plushes converted. I've never been gifted a basket, and the only Soq I've been given was my very first one, which was a co-own from a very close friend. The only time I've been picked was for a bribe, which I am extremely grateful for because I love Cthulhu (an unhealthy amount).
I participate in every event that doesn't involve art or writing (because I suck at art and writing), but I have missed every surprise game that's popped up. I spend a lot of time in Soq and looking at Soq, but I wouldn't consider myself one of the core members of the shop by any stretch of the imagination. I have a super busy RL, and sometimes I only log onto Gaia once a day, and for less than 10min (pretty much just logging on to check for Soq raffles and games). I make a heavy effort to do as many events and raffles as possible.
That really is a lot of preamble to say: subtracting the first co-own, the bribe, and I'll subtract the auction I won also, I have gotten 16 Soq in 3 years by persistence and pure ******** luck.
Yes, you see a lot of the same people winning things, but you also see a lot of the same people entering everything. There are times where I get frustrated and go, "so and so won again?!", but I'm sure there are people who see my name rolled and are like, "another one of Michie's eyerape couples won?! Unnnnng." So, you know, I can't be too upset at repeat customers.
I'm sure my situation is not the norm, but my guess is that people who don't have a lot of Soq don't have a lot of Soq because they're not actively participating as much as possible. And if people are saying "I haven't won any Soq at all in X number of years," then I would ask them if they are even checking for raffles, flaffles, events, and games in the guild. Because checking the guild regularly is stupidly simple. Again, it's all I do and I've somehow gotten a decent herd.
THAT SAID, I still think that the custom cooldown should be changed to a number of raffles instead of time just because customs are so few and far between. But I would not change the system of "one auction, one raffle, one freebie, and one familiar" or whatever for events.
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:33 am
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I guess... I'm a little confused, Lyda?
I wasn't sure if you were coming from a personal standpoint or not with this discussion to begin with, but with your last post it sounds like you are. Yes, you're active. I don't think anyone argued that - but... like you said yourself - you got your first soquili in 2010 in the WoW event, which was about halfway through the year. SInce then ... what, two and a half years? it looks like you've gotten about thirteen soquili. I don't think that's half bad? It's not as many as some, granted - you used Sya for an example - but Sya is also on staff, and has access to staff credits for the work she puts in.
And like you said yourself, also, you don' thave the time to participate in all the games and events - and that's fine too - but I guess... I'm not seeing the connect here.
Ultimately, I dont' think the people with HUGE herds do so purely through luck in the freebies. Luck certainly plays a part, but I don't think anyone is that lucky where wining the flaffles (since if you're talking about events for soquili that don't involve large time commitments, that's essentially what you're talking about) is going to tip the scales that much. Kamiki brought up a list of ways that tend to cause large herds.
I also disagree with the point that having entered more contests is in itself a reward granting more opportunities. Try entering twelve or more games during the events that require a lot of time - be it stalking and trying for quick reaction things, or elaborate games, or more specifically a lot of writing and/or art contests that require a lot of that time and walk away empty handed - It's happened to me during several of the big events - and I'm not complaining about that. THe end-of event raffles are kind of supposed to be a way to help people who weren't able to get a soquili from one of the other free methods during the event, and it can be discouraging to see it go to people who only poked in for that raffle rather than people who have been consistantly trying throughout the event and walked away with nothing - even when I am sitting on the outside and am not eligible for that myself. I think that the weighted tickets based on how hard someone tried during the event isn't a bad idea - and certainly wouldn't elimiate people who did only go for the quick events/simple raffles/etc.
SOrry if this doesn't make a lot of sense -woke up feeling pretty miserable this morning.
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:01 am
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About the weighted tickets... I was around for a big portion of the Splash event this summer, but I did not enter every event because I did not lovelovelove all of the Soquili in it. They were all nice and all worth having, yes, but I didn't want to try for omgallofthem because I didn't want to win a Soquili I felt 'meh' about, when it might be someone's absolute favorite, just to win a Soquili. I picked events to enter based on how much I liked the prize being offered, and passed over some games in favor of trying for a prize I really liked later. Yes, it lowered my chances of winning a prize in the event but I didn't mind because it was still a lot of fun to play and I was glad I was willpowering enough to be picky instead of grabby. Being awarded tickets based on how many games and raffles I participated in would punish me, and everyone else who does that, for not trying to win everything just to have another pet. It would be like taking away a flaffle or raffle chance because someone put a 're-roll' in their post. And what about the people who wanted to participate but didn't have the time, or just didn't know enough about Soquili to come in to the beginning of the event? They also didn't win any event Soquili, and are probably pretty darn sad about having missed the chance.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:07 am
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I'm trying not to make it about myself, but the only person I reliably can answer about is myself. So I gave myself as an example.
And I believe I have been pretty lucky. I don't see myself as someone who hasn't been winning. Yes, I haven't won as often as I would have loved to win, but I think that can be said for everyone.
I understand the frustration of not winning and not winning and not winning in events - while I wasn't able to be around for the Summer event, I have been around for others in which I participated heavily and still walked away with nothing. And I understand that it hurts to have put forth so much effort with nothing to show for it.
I think Fallen just made a beautiful argument about end of event raffles, and I agree with what she said.
If there was to be a 'you participated more, you have extra chances' thing, I think it should be separate from end of event. Either before or after that last raffle. But that means needing even more event pets. And I don't think it will happen.
But, ultimately, my point isn't 'I've been unlucky' because I haven't I've had decent luck. At the same time, some people have had better luck and some people have had worse luck.
I know we can't completely change the pure luck quotient - and I don't really want to. But at the same time, that's part of what cool downs are for. Cool downs are there to help with the luck. To slow down those who have somehow bribed the RNG [that's a joke folks] and spread the opportunities for luck around just a bit.
If I were worried about everyone having equal soquili, I'd have a completely different argument. I don't think we should all have equal herds. I just think it would be nice to help the luck portion be just a little more spread out.
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:07 am
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I have to say I agree with Lyda's standpoint about being active in the shop. I have been in soquili since winning my first custom in 2008, but I do not hang out in the main thread all the time because, in truth, most of the time I am ignored or skipped over so it really isn't fun for me. I go on there to talk to people and hang out but it either moves to quickly or my name is not recognized or whatever so I am left in the dust to ponder over why I posted there in the first place.
I am incredibly active in soquili to my own thinking and I still don't have a 'huge' thread. Many of mine came from breedings from my first couple. I just don't think it is very fair to state that only those who are 'active' are the ones with huge herds. I have entered contests since being here and have lost pretty much all of them, am I bitter about it? Not really. I get that is how it goes and I am fine with that.
My only issue is customs and that is because I do believe the cooldowns need to cater to the current number of customs in a month. I do get a little bitter about this only because, yes my luck is rotten, and it has been for four years BUT I have hung on and continued trying for those four years. I feel as though there should be a little incentive or hope that I will eventually be rewarded other than...Well yea...Luck happens.
I also agree with Fallen, I do not enter a ton of contests anymore because I am content with the nine soquili that I currently have. I just want my customs so I have been staying out of many of the contests to give others a shot at winning something they really like or enjoy. I love all soquili and they are gorgeous, but I really just want my twins and am ready to pretty much call it good after that.
I know this is a ton of rambling, forgive me, things are a little fuzzy at the moment. XD
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:17 pm
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XBlind-DarknessX I have to say I agree with Lyda's standpoint about being active in the shop. I have been in soquili since winning my first custom in 2008, but I do not hang out in the main thread all the time because, in truth, most of the time I am ignored or skipped over so it really isn't fun for me. I go on there to talk to people and hang out but it either moves to quickly or my name is not recognized or whatever so I am left in the dust to ponder over why I posted there in the first place.
I am incredibly active in soquili to my own thinking and I still don't have a 'huge' thread. Many of mine came from breedings from my first couple. I just don't think it is very fair to state that only those who are 'active' are the ones with huge herds. I have entered contests since being here and have lost pretty much all of them, am I bitter about it? Not really. I get that is how it goes and I am fine with that.
My only issue is customs and that is because I do believe the cooldowns need to cater to the current number of customs in a month. I do get a little bitter about this only because, yes my luck is rotten, and it has been for four years BUT I have hung on and continued trying for those four years. I feel as though there should be a little incentive or hope that I will eventually be rewarded other than...Well yea...Luck happens.
I also agree with Fallen, I do not enter a ton of contests anymore because I am content with the nine soquili that I currently have. I just want my customs so I have been staying out of many of the contests to give others a shot at winning something they really like or enjoy. I love all soquili and they are gorgeous, but I really just want my twins and am ready to pretty much call it good after that.
I know this is a ton of rambling, forgive me, things are a little fuzzy at the moment. XD
I would consider that as being Active. I myself don't post in the main thread a whole lot for the same reason. However, I do have a bunch of soquili friends over AIM. However, you can be 'ACTIVE' and not post in the thread. So long as you are actively trying in a good majority of the contests, raffles, etc. I myself have skipped over ponies I couldn't find muse for simply because I think someone else would appreciate them more. So I understand why some people wouldn't be keen on the 'ticket' idea. However maybe you could only get a max of so many tickets so that if you put forth the effort you get better chances but don't HAVE to enter EVERYTHING.
Also I think as far as 'activity' goes we/they're talking about people who barely pay much attention to soquli except when a big event comes around and then they only enter for the flaffle and free raffle. Or something of the equivalent.
I have actively been a part of the shop since late 2009. Before that I was trying for a soquili but not very actively. I only entered in big events and just a few. I had more of a life back then and found the thread daunting. Since then I've managed to accumulate 20 Soquili thanks to my persistence and my friends. To me that's a LOT of soquili. I'm still not sure how it happened either... but I made friends in the shop. I roleplay, I enter almost everything I can. I also frequently check the guild to see if there are any raffles, flaffes, breedings, customs, etc.
In any case I thought this was about cooldowns? |
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:31 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:09 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:24 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:32 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:22 pm
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I don't know about a complicated system of cool downs.. I think that would serve to make things too difficult to understand and enforce.
However, I was thinking the same thing about a need for cool downs concerning customs and breedings. I get that people that are "active" are going to end up with more ponies b/c they will enter more events and get ponies as gifts. (I don't think gifted ponies should count for cool downs). However, being "active" in terms of non-gifting pony acquirement really just means how frequently you enter events. If you RP/hang out in the shop/etc shouldn't/doesn't have any effect on non-gifted pony acquirement.
However, the fact is that the dice/RNG tend to favor certain people (obviously not of their own doing) and every month I see one person getting breedings and customs and flaffle/raffle winnings... and it just seems really unfair that one person can win so often, when there are so many other people that enter and get zip. For example, I was really frustrated that one person can get 2 breedings slots in 1 month... when there are literally HUNDREDS of entries for breeding slots. That's essentially like being allowed to win the lottery twice. Yet on top of winning 2 breeding slots, they can also wing a raffle, a flatsale, a custom, and anything else open that month.
Given how huge this shop is, I think there really does need to be limitations on how many non-gift ponies you acquire each month (like.. 1) and longer cool down for customs and breedings (and when I say breedings, I don't mean breedings for a certain couple, I mean breeding slots period), in order that more people get to enjoy the shop and the pets. Share the love~
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Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:45 pm
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I have to agree with the comments made urging for a longer cool down time or since, for example, customs are so infrequent, having people who won the last custom round from being able to participate. I've been around in Soq since it's beginning (though taken short hiatuses from Gaia) but I was here when Sirenz made the shop and followed her over from Nikko Pups Lodge. While I have 10 soq, they were all obtained (minus the co-own I had, who I was given full rights to last year) after 2011. Anyways, back to my point, it's a little frustrating to see the same five people winning customs and events when throughout the whole year they are winning every other event that rolls around and because the cool down doesn't really affect them (because events aren't frequent enough) they get to enter every time one rolls around. Not only are they winning these events, but as Kamiki brought up--they have the connections to colorists in some form or another. And I'm not really saying that's a bad thing, but considering the cool downs aren't affecting anyone because of the infrequent events (which isn't really anyone's fault) they can get a soq every time an event rolls around, or when there isn't anything going on in the shop. That would be what's frustrating to me. If we could make cool downs by an event basis instead of a time basis I think everyone would be a lot happier because other people with less soq and even some that haven't gotten a soq in years can finally start winning events and other such things.
Edit: Because I just woke up and can't apparently type a cohesive paragraph, I bolded my main point.
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