I personally play Gryffs, which I love. It is a very small site (two admins), and slow with updates, but they are consistent, and responsive to the player base, and the player base itself is very friendly. It is more of a 'breed and dress' your gryffs than FR as it doesn't have mini-games etc.. so it is a much more casual/slower paced game. The breeding is not like FR, but rather based on markings and hex codes.
There is also Sylestia, which recently went through a ban wave that I still don't know who all was banned. However, they are revamping their species (the Faelora, deer, was just recently released) and the coder (again a small team, but I think more than two) wants to basically rewrite the site because it is on a lot of different codes apparently. There were also more recent QOL updates as well. I personally haven't really interacted with the admin, so I don't really know how responsive they really are, but they seem friendly and responsive. They have a bit more to do than gryffs, and the breeding is more complicated than FR.
I do 'play' chicken smoothie, but that is basically just collecting pets, so not a whole lot to do there.
There are other games that I have tried, but they didn't 'click' with me: Felisfire (which I really hate that it didn't click, because I *really* want a cat site like Lorwolf/gryffs/FR, but felisfire isn't it), Khimeros (One person doing it, and a bit too much released for their premium currency for my tastes), Beastkeeper (would have kept playing this one, but it is practically dead, so *very* hard to get anywhere, as you can't buy anything you might need).
There is also Windrose, which wasn't bad, but not to my tastes, Leayphs, which is a sister site to Gryffs, and has a bit more to do, again just didn't click with me, Aywas, which has a huge inflation problem (literally gave away like 10s or 100s of millions of their free currency, and still didn't feel 'wealthy'), Subeta, which seemed more geared towards human Avatars, and Furvilla.
I also just started Lorwolf, and it seems fun, but sadly from the sound of it, probably won't be around long :P
I hadn't played Sylestia in over a year, so I googled this and holy shit those were some big name players that got banned!
The original admin forum post explaining the situation doesn't quite clarify things for me, because the screencaptures were removed and there is a lot of back and forth in the thread over how much was joking and venting in a private discord server and how much were genuine plans to tank the game's economy by selling things too cheaply or something like that?
But more seriously, apparently some of the users were apparently harassing and threatening the site owner in their real life social media and circulating identifying information of them, their spouse, workplace, etc.
On a more selfish note, as someone pointed out in the thread, the bannings will have repercussions in the gameplay: One of the banned users leveled up "ranks" for other users (leveling up an individual pet's attacks to make them stronger in battle, it's super time consuming, it takes weeks) as a service and also sold leveled up and ranked pets, another had extensive breeding projects using event only pets that might be out of circulation now, another sold pets with very high battle stats (which requires a lot of patience and money, like, over a year of hard work is not an exaggeration, with spreadsheets to keep things straight).
So if you want pets that look good (randomly pairing up pets result in washed out greyish palettes if you don't choose the parents' colors carefully) and have strong stats (because battling in the more difficult areas of the game is the most profitable in-game grinding there is) and rare markings and so on, you are basically investing a fortune, but you also might have a somewhat steady source of income after several generations of pets, selling the offspring to other users.
(Oh and the pets will need leveled-up battle equipment too, which is its own insane grinding...)
Notably, there is an item that makes a pet infertile forever, to make sure that buyers don't start their own pet breeding and selling business using someone else's hard work as a springboard.
Because there weren't very many users selling these high value pets, now there might be some event only pets (collectionist bragging rights) and other pretty, battle-strong pets with rare genes and whatnot that cannot be bred because the only fertile specimens are in the banned players' stables.
Also for bonus points, if you want the highest possible battle stats, which make the Ultra Hard Area more grindable, you need to capture wild pets with bonus high stats in the highest difficulty exploration area, to breed them with pets that are the result of several generations of gradual stat-increases until you hit the cap.
Or buy them from someone who already did all the hard work. A number of which were banned. D:
Oh I know. I was surprised at at least one of the players that was banned, because our interactions were always pleasant and they always seemed kind in chat. Another one that I knew about, I wasn't *as* surprised at, because while our interactions were always pleasant, I did see some behavior in region chat that I felt was concerning.
I am *really* hoping that the admin of Sylestia does figure out something about the pet market (and sadly, I saw something recently that I didn't like, where I believe he was talking about making the 'end game' content dependant on having one of the max stat/super max stat pets, which when I first joined, I thought people had said 'nope, it would just make it easier but it is still doable with a regular pet!'.) and the max stat/super max market.
For me, personally, I am not that affected by it. I already have some max stat pets, but I don't really grind anymore, and I wasn't into breeding. I just like taking some of those washed out 6 visible pets and dye them pretty colors.
There is one 'saving grace' and that is the black friday wheel, which allows players to get 'rare' themes so some of these event themes could get added to the wheel so there is always a chance to obtain at least one fertile pet of that theme.
I was mostly writing all that out for anyone who was reading along and didn't know about the game, sorry that I sounded condescending!
I honestly missed all the questionable behavior because I tended to play listening to podcasts and stuff so I only followed the region chat sporadically. The little I did pay attention to, no one got weird beyond sometimes venting about real life, and everyone always treated me well.
Also, oh no. I was sad when I realized my starter pets were too weak for the later areas, I don't like the idea that max/super max could become non-optional. Also so much of the world map is still unexplored that I figured as the level caps got raised it would be less taxing to explore and battle enemies.
I actually keep falling off regular play because grinding is rough on my wrists, and found the money you get from pet missions just not enough to get the stuff I wanted. Even completing the daily tasks for the festivals is too much for me now.
I hope whatever new version of the game is better in that sense, because I really like the game, I just physically can't keep up right now, haha.
Oh, I didn't think you were condenscending, just saying I agree with you.
It wasn't so much weird, but one of them fairly commonly would speak in a different language (which was against the rules) and a few of their stances that they stated in Region chat just made me not really surprised when I heard of some of the things they were accused of.
Same here, I only get on to make sure my pets are fed, and see what the new updates are, and then I log off. I definitely agree with you, it is way too grindy but I do like the game. I like the pets, I like the vague story line, and I like how the LG is neoquest-esque (which I loved). But, no motivation for doing it, because it doesn't seem to really get anywhere.
I am really hoping that the developer reconsiders (or I read what he wrote wrong) the idea that the 'end game' areas have to be made with max and super max stats in mind, especially since a lot of the breeders have been banned or they left, or just aren't interested in the months long frustration of breeding max stat pets and then trying to get a good looking pet with wild stats.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Re: Other petsites?
(Anonymous) 2023-05-30 12:02 am (UTC)(link)There is also Sylestia, which recently went through a ban wave that I still don't know who all was banned. However, they are revamping their species (the Faelora, deer, was just recently released) and the coder (again a small team, but I think more than two) wants to basically rewrite the site because it is on a lot of different codes apparently. There were also more recent QOL updates as well. I personally haven't really interacted with the admin, so I don't really know how responsive they really are, but they seem friendly and responsive. They have a bit more to do than gryffs, and the breeding is more complicated than FR.
I do 'play' chicken smoothie, but that is basically just collecting pets, so not a whole lot to do there.
There are other games that I have tried, but they didn't 'click' with me: Felisfire (which I really hate that it didn't click, because I *really* want a cat site like Lorwolf/gryffs/FR, but felisfire isn't it), Khimeros (One person doing it, and a bit too much released for their premium currency for my tastes), Beastkeeper (would have kept playing this one, but it is practically dead, so *very* hard to get anywhere, as you can't buy anything you might need).
There is also Windrose, which wasn't bad, but not to my tastes, Leayphs, which is a sister site to Gryffs, and has a bit more to do, again just didn't click with me, Aywas, which has a huge inflation problem (literally gave away like 10s or 100s of millions of their free currency, and still didn't feel 'wealthy'), Subeta, which seemed more geared towards human Avatars, and Furvilla.
I also just started Lorwolf, and it seems fun, but sadly from the sound of it, probably won't be around long :P
Re: Other petsites?
(Anonymous) 2023-05-30 02:12 am (UTC)(link)The original admin forum post explaining the situation doesn't quite clarify things for me, because the screencaptures were removed and there is a lot of back and forth in the thread over how much was joking and venting in a private discord server and how much were genuine plans to tank the game's economy by selling things too cheaply or something like that?
But more seriously, apparently some of the users were apparently harassing and threatening the site owner in their real life social media and circulating identifying information of them, their spouse, workplace, etc.
On a more selfish note, as someone pointed out in the thread, the bannings will have repercussions in the gameplay: One of the banned users leveled up "ranks" for other users (leveling up an individual pet's attacks to make them stronger in battle, it's super time consuming, it takes weeks) as a service and also sold leveled up and ranked pets, another had extensive breeding projects using event only pets that might be out of circulation now, another sold pets with very high battle stats (which requires a lot of patience and money, like, over a year of hard work is not an exaggeration, with spreadsheets to keep things straight).
So if you want pets that look good (randomly pairing up pets result in washed out greyish palettes if you don't choose the parents' colors carefully) and have strong stats (because battling in the more difficult areas of the game is the most profitable in-game grinding there is) and rare markings and so on, you are basically investing a fortune, but you also might have a somewhat steady source of income after several generations of pets, selling the offspring to other users.
(Oh and the pets will need leveled-up battle equipment too, which is its own insane grinding...)
Notably, there is an item that makes a pet infertile forever, to make sure that buyers don't start their own pet breeding and selling business using someone else's hard work as a springboard.
Because there weren't very many users selling these high value pets, now there might be some event only pets (collectionist bragging rights) and other pretty, battle-strong pets with rare genes and whatnot that cannot be bred because the only fertile specimens are in the banned players' stables.
Also for bonus points, if you want the highest possible battle stats, which make the Ultra Hard Area more grindable, you need to capture wild pets with bonus high stats in the highest difficulty exploration area, to breed them with pets that are the result of several generations of gradual stat-increases until you hit the cap.
Or buy them from someone who already did all the hard work. A number of which were banned. D:
Re: Other petsites?
(Anonymous) 2023-05-30 12:55 pm (UTC)(link)I am *really* hoping that the admin of Sylestia does figure out something about the pet market (and sadly, I saw something recently that I didn't like, where I believe he was talking about making the 'end game' content dependant on having one of the max stat/super max stat pets, which when I first joined, I thought people had said 'nope, it would just make it easier but it is still doable with a regular pet!'.) and the max stat/super max market.
For me, personally, I am not that affected by it. I already have some max stat pets, but I don't really grind anymore, and I wasn't into breeding. I just like taking some of those washed out 6 visible pets and dye them pretty colors.
There is one 'saving grace' and that is the black friday wheel, which allows players to get 'rare' themes so some of these event themes could get added to the wheel so there is always a chance to obtain at least one fertile pet of that theme.
Re: Other petsites?
(Anonymous) 2023-05-30 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Other petsites?
(Anonymous) 2023-05-30 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)I was mostly writing all that out for anyone who was reading along and didn't know about the game, sorry that I sounded condescending!
I honestly missed all the questionable behavior because I tended to play listening to podcasts and stuff so I only followed the region chat sporadically. The little I did pay attention to, no one got weird beyond sometimes venting about real life, and everyone always treated me well.
Also, oh no. I was sad when I realized my starter pets were too weak for the later areas, I don't like the idea that max/super max could become non-optional. Also so much of the world map is still unexplored that I figured as the level caps got raised it would be less taxing to explore and battle enemies.
I actually keep falling off regular play because grinding is rough on my wrists, and found the money you get from pet missions just not enough to get the stuff I wanted. Even completing the daily tasks for the festivals is too much for me now.
I hope whatever new version of the game is better in that sense, because I really like the game, I just physically can't keep up right now, haha.
Re: Other petsites?
(Anonymous) 2023-05-31 01:44 am (UTC)(link)It wasn't so much weird, but one of them fairly commonly would speak in a different language (which was against the rules) and a few of their stances that they stated in Region chat just made me not really surprised when I heard of some of the things they were accused of.
Same here, I only get on to make sure my pets are fed, and see what the new updates are, and then I log off. I definitely agree with you, it is way too grindy but I do like the game. I like the pets, I like the vague story line, and I like how the LG is neoquest-esque (which I loved). But, no motivation for doing it, because it doesn't seem to really get anywhere.
I am really hoping that the developer reconsiders (or I read what he wrote wrong) the idea that the 'end game' areas have to be made with max and super max stats in mind, especially since a lot of the breeders have been banned or they left, or just aren't interested in the months long frustration of breeding max stat pets and then trying to get a good looking pet with wild stats.