I am fully aware why some people are concerned and disappointed, that's valid, especially if you've waited a long time for the Lightning Ancient or liked the design of this one a lot. I do admit the Staff probably should have mentioned this breed was going to be a Gem breed on the site but they actually may have at some point.
Flight Rising is still a free to play website with an overwhelming majority of items Treasure-based in price, while those that are listed for Gems are still not
behind a paywall. There are (or were) only a few things behind the paywall and those were KS-exclusive items, nothing else is*. You are capable of obtaining Gems en-masse through gameplay, Flight Rising being one of the most exclusive currency friendly games I know of because you do not actually have a daily limit on how much cash you can make, while you can also purchase these scrolls later from the AH for Treasure.
Lightning already has two Treasure breeds, one being Ridgeback, the other being Bogsneaks, even though Bogsneaks are generally labelled as neutral, they are slightly Lightning-aligned due to their lore.
Look at
this. Look at the amount of Treasure/other breeds vs Gem breeds.
The Staff have the full right but also a NEED to create Gem items. I agree that maybe better on-site transparency on what players can expect from Galore would be better, but Gem breeds exist for a reason - to keep the site afloat. Gems are so plentiful in circulation that they're barely an exclusive currency at this point, and if you have Treasure, you can exchange currencies in the forums. And I know that some people just don't have the time to participate in the game but...that's what playing a game is ;.; This is a petsite existing solely on advertisements, Gem purchases and occasionally merch, while Gem items are incredibly small in quantity compared to the rest. I ditched some games because I have no time for them, the devs became unethical and consumer unfriendly, they participated in some unethical advertisement or whatever else. It sucks, I wanted to play but that's it, playing these things is a luxury, but Flight Rising at least offers a myriad of ways of obtaining Gem currency! ;a;
There is no requirement to get a Sandsurge immediately on the day of release, you'll get there, I believe in you.
*I am fully aware that some old items are astronomically expensive nowadays and I wish they weren't, I am with you on that