01-24-2012 at 12:53 AM

Its typeing, how you inturpret the typeing is not my falt.

01-24-2012 at 12:05 AM

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. :P Sheesh. <br /> <br /> I don't really really appreciate your tone, Jambers.

01-23-2012 at 10:40 PM

"Nobody said that they are going to make the companions +energy effects null and void, it was stated that there is the idea of limiting a dog to running trials 4 times per day."<br /> <br /> Read whe WHOLE thing not just parts.<br /> <br /> "Even though an idea has been suggested in the past and not yet implemented, it doesn't mean it's a completely useless idea. :)"<br /> did i say it was a useless idea? No i said it was a horable idea. it is a bad idea to split trials up by TP it has been sugested and turned down to meny times, Trials would barley run for high TP dogs because there trally arnt a lot of maxed capped dogs. Limiting the number of dogs per trial i can see. i only run one dog per trial, i dont have a bunch of dogs i can flood a trial with. And i dont think its right to. You dont like Caped dogs in a trial you want to join, fine find a different one. But dont change the trials compleatly because you dont want to look. Once again it comes down to work. it may take some time to look threw the trials and find one you could possibly win. but WORKING for the win is better than expecting people to change the way everything is done simply because your <br /> A.) New to the game<br /> or B.) like low TP dogs.<br /> <br /> If you like them good for you. but expect that you may not win. i would not put my costome in a competition with a bunch of dogs over 5,000 TP. WHY? because he has no chance. Insted i look to see if he has a shot. it may take longer and it may take some work, but i don't expect for one minuit that it should simply change because of the dog.

01-23-2012 at 9:32 PM

Quoting from the original post: "If you have a suggestion that we haven't listed here, please share it!". <br /> <br /> ^We are given permission to suggest possible alternative solutions here. :)<br /> <br /> Not everyone has been here for a year or whatever. There is absolutely no way of knowing what's been suggested in the past and what hasn't. I've only been playing for about 4 months. My opinions are based on my own observations/experiences, and what I have learned from other players/staff. That's the best that I can do.<br /> <br /> Even though an idea has been suggested in the past and not yet implemented, it doesn't mean it's a completely useless idea. :)

01-23-2012 at 9:04 PM

<i>"Can i just point out that changing the trials to make "different ranges of TP" isnt even being voted on?"</i><br /> No idea what this means but if you're implying people don't want it, you'd be wrong. Many users support this.<br /> <br /> <i>"not implamented, so more than likly turned down on several occashions."</i><br /> Possible, but have you considered the possibility that the coders are thinking of how to implement it? What kind of TP sections they want? etc<br /> <br /> <i>"Its is not fair to split the trials up that way. My dog should have the same trials to choose from as any other dog."</i><br /> I know how you feel, I have five maxed, capped dogs running trials for me, but I believe that it would be more fair to allow TP-sectioning than to allow my 5 capped dogs to run through and destroy trials of lower-tp dogs.<br /> Currently there is nothing stopping me from doing this, and it isn't very fair. [and before anybody asks or accuses.. no, I do not check the TP of dogs before I enter my dogs in a trial. I enter my dogs into trials that have entries because I am impatient in waiting for it to run.]<br /> <br /> <i>"Doing away with the companions abilitys aka being able to enter trials because of the extra energy. I bought it, it was advertised that way, i should get what i payed for."</i><br /> Nobody said that they are going to make the companions +energy effects null and void, it was stated that there is the idea of limiting a dog to running trials 4 times per day.

01-23-2012 at 6:40 PM

Can i just point out that changing the trials to make "different ranges of TP" isnt even being voted on?<br /> <br /> I have been on Ala for over a year now, it has been sugested time and time again, and not implamented, so more than likly turned down on several occashions.<br /> <br /> Its is not fair to split the trials up that way. My dog should have the same trials to choose from as any other dog. Doing away with the companions abilitys aka being able to enter trials because of the extra energy. I bought it, it was advertised that way, i should get what i payed for. <br /> <br />

01-22-2012 at 11:07 PM

This is something that just ran through my head as I was trailing my dogs.<br /> <br /> If the dog limit per person was implemented there would have to be a MAJOR increase in trials since people like Lwax, myself and others have very many trial dogs. We already have issues with asking for trials quite a few times a day and if there were more trials running I think it would be more encouraging since we wouldn`t have to wait until the next bunch comes up.<br /> <br /> Right now I have 150 trial dogs. 5 dogs per trial = 30 trials x 4 = 120 trials total that are entered whenever I decide to trial.<br /> <br /> If the limit is implemented 2 dogs per trial = 75 trials x4 = 300 trials. <br /> <br /> Thats just my dogs. So the trials should certainly be increased. I should mention that they are in Dogbert, Scooby and Odie. Usually I never get to Odie cause there are no trials left. So I say if the two dog limit was implemented pretty please with a wild cherry on top increase the Auto trials by like double the amount 8D

01-22-2012 at 8:41 PM

We are taking things one step at a time and observing the changes. :)<br /> <br /> I would not be able to answer your questions without a bit of trial and error, as well as time just watching how the system develops.<br /> <br /> Though I do firmly do not believe in lowering the bar due to lower TP dogs in the trial system, since it would defeat several areas of Alacrity including items, and confine them from improving dogs to mass producing low TP tier capped dogs if tiers are created.<br /> <br /> I would not mind finding an alternative activity where TP is not factored in and other traits are, but otherwise I personally believe it is fair for all dogs to compete against one another.<br /> <br /> It is the distribution and rate of speed training capped dogs that I feel needs to be looked at more carefully. And I am watching to see how the magical food bowl removal will affect that.<br /> <br /> The trial system does need several changes and adjustments, but one thing at a time. ^^

01-22-2012 at 8:31 PM

Thank you for that answer Jackdaw. <br /> <br /> So taking that general information into account, is it right to say that the bulk of the money flow is coming from people who buy capped/high TP dogs, are able to max them quickly through items, and then profit when they trial their capped/high TP dogs repeatedly?<br /> <br /> If that's the case, should the entire trial system be revamped due to the fact that the top tier of trialers are making too much money, or should only the top tiers be looked at?<br /> <br /> I'm going to assume (based off other users comments complaining that there are not enough other high TP dogs to compete against if a TP range system was implemented) that high TP dogs are the minority. If there is a minority of dogs raking in an abnormally high amount of cash, that seems to be where the problem lies.<br /> <br /> But then, how far can those earnings be reduced without causing people to stop trialing due to the fact that they won't be able to earn an income off their dogs? Were the trials meant to be a decent source of income for users in the first place?<br /> <br /> Can it be considered fair to place restrictions on other dogs that will never earn anywhere near what the high TP dogs can, just because the high TP dogs' winnings are causing site-wide inflation?<br /> <br /> :adjusts monocle:

01-22-2012 at 7:25 PM

Users with capped dogs are largely making back what they paid for in expenses plus profit provided they weren't the breeder, from what I am able to tell.<br /> <br /> Ones who have dedicated in the actual building of the line usually suffer the most monetary losses before they even marginally profit again. Especially if the line is clean and not linebred/inbred.<br /> <br /> Otherwise those who purchased the dog and used a magical food bowl with enough training sessions can easily repay the amount and gain from there.<br /> <br /> Magical water bowls introduced for free into the economy from birthday cakes, rare item exchange, and (for a while) monthly shop for bones are pure profit.<br /> <br /> The ones that bought magical water bowls from other users for roughly 3 million will take a little longer to make the amount back before they begin to see anything.<br /> <br /> A lot of the problems came from magical food bowl being widely available and magical water bowl being in the monthly store. Followed by the explore feature distribution of water bowls and the former summer sale that distributed them at roughly $200,000 Alacrity cash.<br /> <br /> In short from what I have been observing and testing on the website, there is a lot of profit involved if you've only bought the dog or mass line/inbred for capped puppies + mfb.<br /> <br /> Let's see:<br /> <br /> Magical Food Bowl: $305,000<br /> Average cost to purchase puppy: $100,000<br /> Rough Total: $405,000<br /> <br /> <u>0-300 wins (Dogbert to end of Marley)</u><br /> <br /> Unmaxed (4.5k, with rough trial score of 2,250): $1,894,950 - $405,000 = $1,489,950 profit without training.<br /> <br /> Maxed (9k with rough trial score of 4,500): $3,789,000 - $405,000 = $3,384,000 profit with training.<br /> <br /> The above is not factoring in the entry fees, and is rather rough. I apologise as I'm not quite awake, but it's otherwise the average using the trial multipliers up to end of Marley.<br /> <br /> The above list look like people can profit even if purchasing an expensive magical water bowl, but it will be late starting Otis, which is where all the capped dogs are at the moment and already ones without teams are competing against each other from separate users. Which means capped dogs are losing to capped dogs and the entry fees will begin to take expense when there are no teams boosting them.<br /> <br /> <br />

01-22-2012 at 7:18 PM

Quite a valid point there Ionic....

01-22-2012 at 6:51 PM

Taking into consideration Jackdaw's commment, I now have a new question.<br /> <br /> People with low TP dogs can't make a whole lot off wins because of their lower tp-based scores. People with high TP dogs say that they can't earn back what they spend on maxing the dog and don't earn all that much in the long run due to increasing entry fees.<br /> <br /> If both sides' points are correct, doesn't that mean that trials are not the source of ala's inflation?

01-22-2012 at 6:05 PM

"I saw that the top dawg on the site is a papillon with over 20k TP. If the dog was trialed as long as it could be, how could that dog not pay for itself in the long run when its cash payout is so high (and increasing every day due to the 10 or so aviator caps it has on). Even if it hit the 20 year limit, all a person has to do is just use items to roll back and slow down its age so that it can keep trialing."<br /> <br /> I just want to note that the Papillon in question has over 200 million Alacrity cash spent in items, breeding expenses, magical items, soldier helmets, aviator caps, etc. ^^;<br /> <br /> I guarantee you I will not be making any of that back (even if trialed up to the end of Snoopy) and it is more a project of passion and personal enjoyment.<br /> <br /> I otherwise apologise for interrupting.<br /> <br /> The current trial multiplier on Snoopy also means a loss of money for even capped dogs early on, as the entry fees versus payout becomes incredibly skewed and ending at 100k entry fees each and 18k-20k reward per dog.<br /> <br /> I've been wanting to shorten the Snoopy trials from 20,000 to something more reasonable for a career end, and hopefully some sort of reward/trophy/achievement for the dog's page as well to mark its accomplishment and career retirement. Though that was all in personal brainstorming.

01-22-2012 at 5:54 PM

Just throwing this out there, but trialing my foundies and their offspring as teams a few times per day on both accounts only nets me about $8k. They run at the Scooby and Dogbert levels. I don't really see something like that as flooding the system with cash when compared to much higher TP dogs who can get that amount in 1 win.<br /> <br /> I don't do trial teams that often because 1.) I'ts just a plain hassle clicking to enter in 20 dogs about 4 times in a day and 2.) for all of that clicking, the income is just not that great at all. <br /> <br /> I'm basically better off playing the matching game on each account per day. The payout is roughly the same and I can get the matching game finished quicker. The only real benefit of trialing all those dogs is that it increases their skill points by a small margin. :-/<br /> <br /> Yes, if there were TP ranges, there couldn't be a ton of them. It just needs to be done in a way that balances out the amount of dogs in each range, and keeps top-tier dogs from going against bottom-tier ones.<br /> <br /> I would try and suggest ranges, but that's hard to do without information as to where dogs fall on the TP scale.<br /> <br /> If there were an option to create our own trials with TP ranges, while the auto trials stayed how they are now with a win-based system, I'd support that. Maybe if it was seen that the TP range system did decently it could be carried over to the auto-generated side too after a while.<br /> <br /> "They currently do not make money based on just wins, but on their TP :3 so a dog with higher TP does make more than a dog with lower TP. It goes by their trial score, which will be higher for high TP dogs".<br /> <br /> So that means a very high TP dog can make a lot of cash even on its very first trial and, as long as it places, will continue to do so as it progresses all the way up to the high ranks?<br /> <br /> How does that eventually not pay for itself and give the owner a very nice source of income if they trial that dog several times every day over the course of its trialing career?<br /> <br /> I saw that the top dawg on the site is a papillon with over 20k TP. If the dog was trialed as long as it could be, how could that dog not pay for itself in the long run when its cash payout is so high (and increasing every day due to the 10 or so aviator caps it has on). Even if it hit the 20 year limit, all a person has to do is just use items to roll back and slow down its age so that it can keep trialing.<br /> <br /> Which leads into another point. People have been saying that trials should be kept as close to real life as possible, but I think we've gone far away from that a long time ago. All that still holds true to reality is that its dogs competing in agility trial obstacles that do exist in the real world. Aside from that, there is not much else that resembles real world dog agility.

01-22-2012 at 5:20 PM

I think option #1 is a terrible idea. I completely see the point in needing trial teams and truthfully they are not that unrealistic. As someone pointed out previously in this thread, lots of breeders enter several of their dogs in one class. Besides Ala isn't really all that realistic with all the companions that increase this or that and neon colored dogs. It's really the only thing people can do to help offset getting stomped by the monster dogs right now. If you take that away and players have NO chance of winning, they likely won't trial any longer.<br /> <br /> I think that some sort of TP range for trials is the best way to go. However, instead of basing the wins on TP alone, it could be completely randomized. The prizes (be it cash or other) would go up as the TP ranges go up. This way you are competing with dogs of fairly close TP but are still able to have a chance at a win. Even grand champions have bad days at the show afterall. I also think the increased prizes would encourage people to keep breeding higher TP dogs while not making the foundations and customs useless.<br /> <br /> Just wanted to throw in my two cents.

01-22-2012 at 4:26 PM

Jambers, I never once said that those with maxed capped dogs should be punished. I think that an agreement needs to be reach between the two. You keep saying it's unfair to those who have capped dogs... However,. How is it fair that I spend all these bones on customs, that can never win a single trial unless I trial team? I don't think that's fair.<br /> <br /> You avoid those trials, kudos to you. But I cannot tell you how many times I have entered a "foundie/custom only" trial and people enter with their capped dogs after the fact. It's rude, and like you said it would be common courtesy not to do that - but, unfortunately, people do anyways :/

01-22-2012 at 3:59 PM

I've Started to Read Through these again, and I'm trying to think of how you could improve the Ala Economy without Offending many people. <br /> Trial Teams- I don't have one but I understand why people want to use them, but honestly are there "Trial Teams" in the Real World? I don't think so. So I think #1 should be put into Place. Ala is supost to be as Real as possable.<br /> <br /> Prizes- I tried to Google what Prizes are awared in real life, but yeah seams complicated. Maybe there should be Regulated Prizes and Entry Fees for each catagory. Not just Double their Score. <br /> <br /> As for #4, a dog in real life would not be able to enter 10 trials each day, but you shouldn't regulate it because that is why people payed for Energy Companions so you are kind of obliglated not to make #4. <br /> <br /> Age, After looking it up a little 20 does seam a little crazy. I think the Age limit should be lowered to at least 15 years old. <br /> <br /> Those are my 2 cents for now. Sorry if I'm wrong about anything.

01-22-2012 at 3:57 PM

" I will inevitably lose when a capped maxed dog enters"."<br /> I don't have the time or money to spend on maxing a capped dog. Point blank."<br /> <br /> <br /> so because you dont have the time or money to train a caped dog, blam the issue on them? Really? I have seen competitions dedacated to foundies or costomes. i stay clear of those. Its a curticy not to enter those trials. You not having the time to train a caped dog meens i should be punished for it? Because i do train caped dogs? that says fair how?

01-22-2012 at 3:35 PM

"Get rid of the trial teams and the issue will be resolved."<br /> <br /> But that creates a whole new issue. I only trial team when I am using my foundies or customs, because if I enter 1 or 2 dogs, I will inevitably lose when a capped maxed dog enters.<br /> <br /> If option 1 is implemented, Im half tempted to just quit. If I can't trial with ANY chance of winning, whats the point? I don't have the time or money to spend on maxing a capped dog. Point blank.

01-22-2012 at 3:10 PM

" why don't simply limit the number of times a dog can trial each day then? "<br /> <br /> Because that was one of the selling points on energy companions. pay 20 dollars, get this companion that increases energy every half hour, so you can run more trials and train faster. Now you want to elemanate half the purpous of the companions.<br /> <br /> " so people don't have to team up their dogs in a tempt to run more fair competitions."<br /> <br /> Because once again its not the high TP dogs that are the problem, its people fulling entire trials and getting 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. if people can only put 2 dogs in a trial they wont be able to fill the trials like that, if you win a first second and third place 4 times a day thats a lot of ala cash. My Champange only makes 3,000 per trial. I only enter the one dog im not making that much off of her each trial. people who fill trials and take ALL of the ala cash prizes can get up to 8 or 9K each time one is ran. Get rid of the trial teams and the issue will be resolved.