Toxxic, your posts has quite a few suggestions, to which I'm quite thankful. When people don't like
our idea, it's great to see them actually suggest their own. I'm going to make a few comments on each of them though, from the prospective of a mod (and maybe a bit as a user, though I don't get much RPing done myself these days)
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:1. Raise the number of posts needed to complete a successful breeding
I don't see this as something that would give users incentive to RP outside of the breeding area. If anything it just means they've getting even more of their plot done within the span of a single breeding room. Generally, the staff also hates seeing breedings that have lasted 3+ months, which this suggestion feels like it'd just drag rooms on longer.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:Limit how many breedings we can have ongoing at the same time.
This one I'm not so opposed to, though it does very little to nerf the gains of the breeding system. It would just encourage users to actually finish their rooms quicker if they want to start more, which I'm all for. Being in three rooms at once is plenty (and I say that despite being in 4 at the current time). It also means users aren't spreading themselves as thin on ongoing roleplays, and if they are waiting for a reply from a partner, sure. Go RP in a general RP area. So definitely a suggestion I'm not against, even if I don't see it doing too much on its own.
As far as self breedings go though, they'll always take 2 slots up, which is to encourage breeding with a partner since you don't have to pay all on your own up front. I don't mind users being in as many self breedings as they want, though the current system at least keeps them from starting more than one per month (with exception to Keys)
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:3. Reduce the time required between posts
People would probably fuss about this more than they would removing KS gain, I feel like. We've had a lot of change in this area over time. We started out as 5 days for an entire room, moved to 7 days for an entire room, went to 2 weeks for an entire room, and eventually we landed with what we have now. Even with this system we still get a handful of users failing rooms from time to time, so I think the only thing this would cause is more failed rooms from those used to our current system.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:4. Implement a penalty for failed breedings.
There already is a penalty for this. 1.) You get no babies. 2.) Any potions you used are wasted. 3.) The KS you spent on the room is wasted.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:5. Make the cost of breeding disproportionate to the payout received.
The staff has already mentioned we specifically didn't want to raise room costs. We don't want to prevent new members (even though we rarely get those) from picking up one of Vance's Rentals and jumping in a breeding with another user.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:6. Reduce the number of babies given per breeding.
Paragon and Soveris already get a mimimum of 2 babies. Going to 1 baby causes the trouble of people breeding with a partner not having enough babies to split up. Full litters are fairly rare already, so there's really no need for this. And the only time Lucain can get 5 pups is incredibly rare from a Generative Draught.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:7. Implement a standard breeding restriction on all bred pets.
As a staff member and just a member in general I do not like this. This sort of restriction would require a lot of policing on our end, making sure people have only bred their pets a certain number of times. Users can enforce their own breeding restrictions, but a forum wide restriction would just mean a lot of work for the staff.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:Implement a devaluing scale for multi-bred breedables.
This is, again, something the staff just cannot do. It would require far too much policing, people people already value pets based on what they would trade for. Just because I put up a bred Lucain doesn't mean I'll get a random out of it. Sometimes people are even willing to go over and above the 'worth' of a pet just because they want it. Either it's way pretty to them or they just
need it for a plot. What a pet is worth to you is up to you, not the staff.
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:9. Place a restriction on non-plot-related breedings.
This would, again, require too much policing from the staff. How are we supposed to know is a breeding is part of a plot or just some random RP?
ToxxicRenegadeAngel wrote:10. Key breedings.
It would be unfair to those owning keys right now to retroactively say, "You only have 6 months to use this," especially if they aren't a currently active member. We also only give keys out as prizes and the like now
because users can breed so much. Removing KS gain from the breeding area would make them more valuable prizes too.