Suggestions

I'd prefer a new set of prizes. I like the quest idea, but it would ruin the thrill of questing for things when you already have purchased all of the sprites.

[quote name="Sherushi" date=2016-06-17 14:42:50] I'd prefer a new set of prizes. I like the quest idea, but it would ruin the thrill of questing for things when you already have purchased all of the sprites. [/quote] This is dominantly to help new players who won't have a shot at purchasing Sprites with the current inflation and market, while rewarding players who may already have them with a second one they may be able to sell for profit without losing their Sprite. Also, more than Sprites would be available -- such as other Retired Items and Apparel, perhaps Skins and Accents, and prizes unique to the quest. :)

@McAlli
Ah, I didn't think of the post-crash stabilization.. It would be so nice to see sprites at a nice mostly-steady price. Anyway, for the moment, it's a roughly fifty-fifty shot between happy and unhappy people if your idea were to be implemented right now. Although I'm pretty sure that as the year goes on and more players come in, that the unhappy people will slowly become the minority...

You're very welcome! I'm glad you thought of the idea and hope the staff will see this and consider adding it! :D

I honestly really like this idea. I spend a decent portion of each day just kinda forum browsing and passing time, but I feel like something like the proposed quests would actually give me a reason to spend more time online.

Also, speaking as someone who has put money into the site and currently owns a fire sprite, the second most expensive one, I don't think it's bad that other players would be able to get them for a lower price in the future (be it through months of effort into the quest or more stabilized sprite prices giving them a sprite). I know people who joined before me were definitely able to get them at a lower price, and I'm not mad about that. That's just how markets work, they fluctuate and there's natural inflation over time.

As well, I can near-guarantee that this wouldn't crash the sprite market; if implemented correctly. If the quests are designed to me major treasure sinks; time consuming, (and potentially grind-heavy depending on their build) then there are plenty of players would would still much rather say "oh screw that" and just buy one; whether through treasure or gems. Not to mention, this sort of quest system could encourage small gem purchases, as people will be buying the materials for the quests off the AH, and hey if you've got a spare $5 and you could either gather grind for 2 weeks or buy the stuff right now, why not just buy now?
(it's a similar psychology to microtransactions for pay2win (which i am firmly against) but the gems go to another player, who in turn may see "oh i'm pretty close to X amount needed for y item, maybe i could buy gems... but that's for a different discourse xD)

This is one of my preferred methods for eventual sprite reintroduction.

A suggestion I would have, is perhaps implement the system first, have exclusive items and potentially even old apparel items, but then at, say, the 5 year aniversarry add the sprites; because by that point a decent amount of the spite market will simply be gone- not because no one wants them, but because they're either all on dead accounts or they're with permanent homes. It could be a very smart long-term solution to a long-term problem that will not only bring in people to spend more time online (raising ad revenue) but prevents an entire subset of items from going near-extinct.

[quote]A suggestion I would have, is perhaps implement the system first, have exclusive items and potentially even old apparel items, but then at, say, the 5 year anniversary add the sprites; because by that point a decent amount of the spite market will simply be gone- not because no one wants them, but because they're either all on dead accounts or they're with permanent homes.[/quote] @Spacedaydreamer I'd agree with you if not for the Coli-rewrite and possible Adventure Mode already being possibly a year away. I don't think Adventure Mode was actually confirmed moreso than being theorized, though I think a lot of players are hoping for it to show up. With no hook, there's very little keeping many players here -- and let's be real, sites like this can be gone in an instant if they prove to be less lucrative than what their owners can afford. The constant streams of content is what keep the playerbase of about 3k people here on a daily basis, but it isn't enough to permanently boost the amount of constantly active players. Hopefully, implementing this sort of thing might help with that. Quests giving out unique and retired items might be something people (especially collectors) would stay for. And if the pool is constantly added to, like our updates for Gathering/Baldwin/Coli Venues, then there's just more to get and more to stay for. I'm not quite worried about FR just being shut down tomorrow, but there's no guarantee this place will last until it's 5th year. Or who will still be here. I don't think it would help the market to wait until it dies before allowing more of those items into the market, but then again I know very little about how that kind of stuff works lol.

@McAlli oh, that is a fair point i'd forgotten about. Seeing as it'd already be year 5 by then (i think?) Then there wouldn't really be much point to holding out on the sprites and year 1 stuff. (wow, tho. I've been on here for like 6 months and it feels like 6 years, time sure does fly by.)
And you're definitely right, something like that makes a lot of staying power. A huge update would both likely make older players excited (whether or not they have the sprites, there's still cool things to get from the end!); and it could definitely make a buzz and bring in a bunch of new players; who hopefully won't get discouraged and quit within a month.

And you're right, there is no guarantee. I personally don't see it fizzling out any time soon after the colourwheel expansion and plan releases which made a decent buzz all on their own (I know I for one talked to a good few people about it xD), but that only lasts so long; and it's up to the admins to figure out the best ways to keep the site relevant beyond an (albeit very well designed) breeding sim and nigh-unobtainable bestiary list.

I won't claim I'm an expert on markets but I do know enough to say that if they allow the sprites to become extinct from circulation, it's too late. Anyone who has one to sell has no benchmark to price it against and will put them up for astronomical prices (which will be far worse than any we see now), not to mention it starts opening the seniority/status symbol can of worms that can ruin a site's fanbase if not nipped in the bud.

but overall yeah, I could see this really working in the future when they finally do get around to the coli re-write. Who knows, maybe that could work as next years anniversary surprise, it certainly has the scale and scope to be a very exciting one!

@Spaceydaydreamer

I don't think FR will fizzle anytime soon either, but the Color Wheel Expansion only brought people back for a short while. Here we are, a little over a week after the expansion was dropped, and the Active Players is back down to ~2500. Which is where it hovered before the expansion -- so it didn't generate near as much hype as one would think. I can't claim that an idea like this would either lol but I think it's a good a suggestion as any :b

@McAlli also quite true. In my opinion the main difference would be that while the colour wheel is a small time investment (come online once/day for dragon breeding, check sales every so often, ect ect) Something like the proposed system would require a large investment from the players, much more than just incubating your eggs once daily or bonding with familiars. And if it's long term, it could boost numbers up for a few months per quest+no guaranteed sprite the first time you do it+11 flights... if done right, it could really work.

Of course, this is all opinion based with unfortunately little evidence, but I mean past sites do show that having more options in gameplay style (whether that's through minigames like the fairgrounds, arena/pvp, or even the RP community) mean a site can cater to more players and feel more approachable. I'm hopeful that if they do ever implement an adventure mode it could be something to bring in a lot of interest (and even the coli re-write will hopefully help, for the sake of people with disabilities that prevent them from using it).

(and sorry i get a bit rambly, I'm just invested in this idea and also like discussing things xD)

[quote name="ghooostie" date=2016-06-18 08:56:29] They're retired, they'll remain retired. So no. [/quote] I'm of the opinion at this is generally a silly reason, especially since people got the choice to vote to not retire the Bears, yet not the same choice for the Sprites, as far as I know. The Staff began a theme with "Retired Holiday Items" and then trashed that in year two by letting the masses vote and look at the Bears now. We're all buried in them. Sure, there's probably a healthy center between "Retired and Unobtainable" and "Literally swimming in", but we sure as hell didn't find that healthy center in this first attempt. Sprites are no different from the Bears except they were first year Holiday Familiars. They're not some holy Kickstarter item or the prize from a contest. But alas.