An open dialogue on sweetlings

[Dragon_Arbock]

I just want to preface this by saying I'm not looking for drama, I'm not out to attack anyone, nor do I condone any attacks. I'm more looking to see what the general consensus is on the issue of the Alt Sweetlings. Please don't escalate this into any secret groups, either.

 

As we all know (or maybe don't all know), Sweetlings born from Pink Sweetling parents now remain Pink when traded to the scrolls of those who have previously had alt-only coded scrolls. While this is a positive change I think for the owners of Alts who can now collect and breed the many beautiful Pink lines, it brings back in the question of why this street can't go both ways. Considering Alts can still reproduce, why can they not be spread around in the same way Pinks now can be?

 

Let me say that I am aware that one of the artists gave her opinions last year, that she did not want them to see a wider distribution, but she also said that she did not want the Alt owners to have Pinks either, because she felt the old way was more fair. So, considering TJ went and implemented the Pinks for Alt owners anyway, I think it's safe to say that what the artist said isn't exactly law. This is not meant to disrespect her, but she is otherwise no longer active on this site and I don't believe that should stop the discussion from happening altogether.

 

I think the most important people to ask are the owners of the Alts themselves. Would they be okay with wider distribution? Could it perhaps help them in some way with their lineages? I know there are pros and cons to this, as I wouldn't want anyone to harass them to breed their Alts, and I know there are concerns of them using them as powerful trade tools as well-

But to the issue of trading, I'd argue it wouldn't be much worse than it is now. Sweetlings can only breed once a year, so they have far fewer opportunities to produce more of themselves than Prizes do. In addition to that, they also would most likely multiclutch, meaning that people have a chance of picking them up randomly instead of having to trade for them. They might still affect the trade economy, but not year round in the way that prizes do.

 

If Alt Sweetlings were to see wider distributions, I think there's two ways it could really go;

 

Method 1: Being Bred from existing Alts only

Pros:

-The original CB alts stay special
-Gives people a chance to obtain Alts, even if rare 

-Means that alt lines won't miscolor and therefore be pointless for non-alt breeders to collect

 

Cons:

-Probably low CB population (collecting data on exact number would be useful)

-Alts owners possibly getting harassed

 

 

Method 2:  Give users a choice similar to Aegis

Pros:

-New Alt CBs, therefore more to make lineages with

-Again, gives everyone a chance to own both

 

Cons:

-Unless BSA is only usable before being bred, would result in some ruined lineages

-Makes the original CBs less special

 

 

I'm not sure anything will change TJ's mind, but I'l like to know what the community thinks of this after all that has happened. How many active alt owners are still out there? From my own dragons that I own descended from Alts, 11/19 of the CB Alts were bred this year, so that tells me there are still a number of active owners, and let's not forget that Alts aren't limited to CBs, so each active user could have a lot of Alts to possibly breed and spread around.

Feel free to disagree with anything I say, but please keep things civil. I don't want to cause trouble.

 

 

[Siliskor]

I have nothing to say on this subject that wouldn't come across as anything less than bitter regarding the fiasco last year. If you want my opinion about this subject, pm me.

[HeatherMarie]

To be honest I don't care one way or another. I personally think that it would've been better to keep it the way it was and not have the change last year, just in the interest of less drama and less bad feelings. Despite the change last year, it still remains that Alt Sweets were given as compensation for a horrible glitch. Only people affected by that glitch got them. While some don't agree they should've been given out in the first place simply for a little glitch, that's how it happened. And I think that's how it should stay. I don't care that I'll never get them, because I was never entitled to them in the first place. I wasn't affected by the glitch, so I wasn't owed any compensation (not that I think anything was owed!). I wouldn't be against a wider distribution simply for other's sakes, but I personally don't think it's needed if you look at them *only* as compensation and not as something that everyone should desire.

[Dragon_Arbock]

@HeatherMarie Decent enough point. I probably should have addressed that.

While that is true, I probably should have added that intent can change. Prizes were originally given out as a contest prize, now they're a raffle prize. Them being compensation was also why I say maybe the CBs should remain special, but I think they've served as compensation for almost 10 years now and would think that might be long enough.

[Keileon]

Personally, I would love a black Sweetling (I was registered for their release, but on a hiatus, so I missed all the confusion that happened and thus missed my "chance" to get an alt) but I do 100% understand why it's still the way it is. Any change to how it works so many years later would cause an outcry from one side or another, and I don't blame TJ for choosing to avoid that. It's the same deal as with the Snow Angel wing variants.

 

That being said, while I don't overly care, I wouldn't mind them seeing a wider distribution as every year, I expect, sees fewer and fewer black Sweetling owners as users go inactive, leave, or get banned and the breeding pool for the CBs gets smaller and smaller. Also for greedy reasons, because I want one.

 

If I were to pick a solution that was 100% absolutely fair, it would be that Sweetlings bred from black scrolls would remain black on a pink scroll, to match the change that happened with pink scrolls only producing pink.

[Ninetails]

If we're really doing this again, I want them. 😂 But I really don't see it happening at this point soooooo.

I'm just gonna try to ignore em as I have for the past nine-ish years. 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Ninetails

[Kaini]

Honestly, this sounds more like a suggestions topic, and while I'm tempted to move it to suggestions/requests, I believe the suggestion of changing how the sweetlings are handled has already been discussed (and pretty well beat to death).

 

So I'm going to close this as it is.

 

Dragon_Arbock, if you feel strongly about creating a topic in suggestions, please PM a global/help mod.