What do you think would make Eggcave better?

iia • 25 September 2021 at 9:04 PM

Hello Arkians
(I had a really melodramatic rant here but realized it was not conveying what I wanted it to convey)
SO I AM HERE TO SEE WHAT YOU THINK!

I’m curious,
1. Do you have any problems with eggcave, if so what?

2. Do you have any possible solutions to these problems?

3. What thinks do you think EggCave could do just to improve the overall atmosphere here?

I’m dying to know 0.o

Tag a friend if you want! Let’s get some good conversations going!
I’ll start:

One thing I see here that could be improved is questing. I love questing! But all the creatures you get from questing are low in value so it lost incentive for me. I feel like we used to get more valuable creatures from questing. I remember getting creatures that (according to budgies guide) were worth 200-300cc

Another think I think could help is being able to buy items in shops easier. I don’t like to type in an amount, it takes too much time XD
I would like to just tap the item to be able to purchase it. This could have unintended consequences though…

What do you think?

With love,
-@iia

prairie • 25 September 2021 at 10:31 PM

@iia
I certainly agree that Egg Cave has been much more inactive lately.
Half of it is that a bunch of users are going back to school this year, and it always gets less traffic during this time, but as a general rule of thumb, it definitely has been less active all year.

As Ian pointed out in a reply in the "Lets Revive EggCave" topic, the site gets a bit less active in non-holiday/event months. (So months like Febuary, March, April, October, November? and December have a spike in activity) However, even in those months there is less activity than I remember in the first few years I joined Egg Cave in 2013.

And while I do not agree that re-releases are the issue ,(cause alot of users love that they can now have a chance at big WL pets), I will say I highly agree that the sites increasing need for CC defiantly has added to the issue. CC costs real $, and not all users are able or willing to put real money into the site. With Egg Cave being aimed at a younger audience, I also feel like the site should have less need to buy CC with $$ than it currently does.
If the site had a feature that could exchange EC for CC at a fixed price, I feel like activity on the site would increase ALOT. I understand that perhaps @ian wouldn't want to do this as user's need to buy cc would go down dramatically, and might not bring the site in any money. HOWEVER, perhaps this feature isn't available at all times, perhaps only for the first week of each month, or you have a CC cap on how much you can buy per month (probably 2000cc max due to RR prices at 1000+).
I do feel like a EC to CC exchange station is needed though, but I feel like if it was to be open only once per month, It'd have to be either at the END or BEGINNING of each month - due to the time of re-releases.
That way, there is incentive to be active on the site for earning/trading for EC, but the want to buy CC would still be there.
(I really hope @ian would see a plus to a feature like this)

Other things to add to the site to bring in more traffic might be small scattered events that take place during the "off-season" months. Perhaps a 'summer bash!' or 'spring cleaning' type event. (For EX: a 'spring-cleaning' event could be where a seasonal shop opens up for awhile that sells retired items or 'mystery boxes' from different stores that contains some random retired items)

kittywings • 26 September 2021 at 1:26 AM

Maybe its just me, but I think the biggest issue is the amount of commitment necessary just to play whats pretty much just an adoptables site.

for reference, I tried to play this when I was a 'kid' (according to the sign up, the targeted age group) and only now in college (surprise, the average player age... which only adds to the issue in my opinion) am I able to play this game without being anxious that one day, something would happen in real life that would put everything I own on this game behind a paywall.

the only reason I can play without worrying now is because I got a leaf of vaka. through a relatively obscure (to someone who hasn't played) celebration that gives free cc for attending it.

and no, 'they're just pixels' isn't a valid excuse for difficulty when the entire site is sold to you on the premise of being a game to collect creatures. the only reason I've come back to this site is for my Mystic and all the other creatures I was nostalgic for, who, surprise, are all dead and nearly impossible to get back.

The worst part of it? Back when I joined, everything was easier. The click exchange wasn't a pretty waste of space, I actually got my mystic to level 9 before it died (child me had some pretty lax standards after realizing i didn't have to pay those expensive prices for tims... whoops) and definitely could have made it to 20 if I hadn't thought it was safe to put the game aside to focus on my schoolwork (and then forgot about it entirely... whoops...). On top of that, because of the cc shortage (not necessarily a bad thing. I don't mind it being scarce as long as it doesn't take away from the overall experience... which in my opinion it DOES because of the leaf of vaka) the price of 500 cc (for a leaf if you dont plan to be 'active') has not only become uncertain and hard to find, but buying it has gone from prices of 5m to ~7m, usually MINIMUM and broken into parts of 100cc or less. On top of that and that, unlike in 2014, you now have droves and droves of creatures that are almost unobtainable because of how scarce they've become.

because of systems like the click exchange failing, the only way to get even the most basic of things done now is by talking to people. you're forced to at least speak TO them for basic things like returning feeds (arguably because the notification system for that is pretty bad) and because obtaining retired creatures is under tight lock, good luck finding a specific one you want without some level of communication.
this might not necessarily be a bad thing, but surprisingly, people don't like to feel forced to do something they didnt already want to do.... then be a 'kid's site' while mostly having a tight-knit community of teens-adults and things get uncomfy... I still don't really like talking here...

oh. somewhat unrelated but begging people for creatures because of those issues isn't much nicer. it's disgusting to go to the page of a woman who last posted her husband died and see people asking to 'trade' for creatures. people say this community is nice, but I don't think that's true at all. they're just more mature. mocking players who think their favorite creatures are too far from reach for them to want to play the game is also disgusting, and yet because adults have the tact to add sneaky little sentences like 'I don't mean to be rude', or 'it just bothers me', or 'sorry to ask', it looks a lot more passive than something said with the bluntness of a child.
also, to anyone who yells at people ON A CHILDREN'S SITE for feeding the wrong creature, you're a disgusting person.

sorry not sorry. fed up with people pretending the sole reason this game struggles is because people just don't appreciate it. granted, it could also be virtual pet games falling out of favor, but that doesn't mean you can outright ignore every issue people have with the game.

there's a lot of other things I'd want to say, but if i had to summarize my love-hate relationship with this mess, all I'm going to say is: too much work for too few safety nets, the game shouldn't demand the attention of a tamagotchi when it also requires an entire device, a stable internet connection and years of time. too little user choice, why advertise hundreds of creatures when so many are near impossible to see let alone get, why make it strictly 2-3 days before being punished by loss of ec or 7 days to be penalized with death of the creature you spend months raising?

... theres more too, but im already too tired to type or articulate my thoughts properly, so here. ask if you have questions to ask, please dont take any of this personally, yada yada. I'm more than happy to explain myself about these things, even discuss how I think it might be solved.

iia • 26 September 2021 at 3:25 AM

Haha, just read my post again and it sounds really dramatic and harsh but I don’t mean to come across that way XD

@prairie
I get what your saying! I love the idea of more events! Personally, I tend to stick around when things are going on and leave for a bit when its more empty

I would be a huge supporter in an ec-cc exchange. It makes perfect sense! There is no incentive to feed creatures now because of how cc has dominated people’s search. If you think about it, all cc was bought at one time or another(minus the cc from occasional events and EC birthday)


@kittywings

Thanks for the extensive reply but I’m not sure that my point was understood…
And I don’t agree that the eggcave community is mean at all. I was very active the first 2 years I was here and only saw mean remarks once in a blue moon.
I also don’t agree that people yelling at children over feeding creatures is at all common either. It was simple for most people- they blocked those who didn’t read all of the warnings and chose to live on in loneliness.
When made note I was upset all I recieved was love and support.
As for creature begging: I think it happens more from kids than any other age group(minus a person here or there)
I also wouldn’t say that passive aggression is common either.

I hope you don’t think I do not appreciate the game. I do! I don’t think that it is “dying” from a lack of appreciation. My perspective is that when the rereleases happened, a lot of my friends logged off and left. Wether coincidentally(I don’t think so) or because they were dissatisfied and fed up with recent events.
I’m always open to here people’s solutions!

kittywings • 16 October 2021 at 4:03 AM

Ahh, sorry. My response was way too harsh too. Took some time off because I was pretty obviously too emotional to be writing something constructive... unfortunately the conditions that make me emotional are the same ones that make me want to talk to people though, so I can't guarantee something like that won't happen again.

That being said, a lot of that was only loosely related to the conversation. A majority of it was venting. I've seen a lot of things be treated dismissively by the community, and for the month or so that I was watching the suggestions part of the forums... suffice to say, I don't see much coming from it.

Previously I was vague since I didn't want to make it clear who I was talking about, or where it might have been said (since it might be tracked back to the people), but I figure I could elaborate a bit more.

I've still seen more posts or cove statuses about people threatening to, or people having had been confronted for feeding creatures than I would have expected. I understand its inevitable, but I do not appreciate the fact that the game's mechanics encourage it. Feeding is a core mechanic of the game and yet it will penalize you (costing real money sometimes) for someone else's mistake with no way to avoid it. I sympathize with the frustration of people dealing with that, but I have no sympathy for the people who threaten to attack people because of it, nor do I appreciate that the game (which also claims to be teaching children ''responsibility'') is more effective at discouraging people from doing the humane thing and rehoming an animal they can't care for at the adoption center than it is giving people options to be proactive about things they have no control over.

I wouldn't even say it's begging, honestly. It borders on that, but generally when I see it at its worst it seems more like people trying to exploit what looks like someone who never has any intention of playing seriously again by trying to 'trade' for rare creatures. I can also sympathize with wanting the rarer creatures, but the fact that's one of the most reliable ways to get them is sad, immoral in some circumstances too... and no, I don't think either of the people in particular that I've seen doing that were children.
Again, it's just part of the inevitable, but the discussion of how 'nice' the community is came up because of when I'd seen people try to use that to excuse what someone perceives as flaws with the game. Only once was that ever explicitly said by anyone, though, so it was unnecessary and mostly just venting.

No, I understand. It takes a lot of passion to be able to start discussions like these. Frankly, I wish I had that kind of courage.

I see their issue with rereleases. If it weren't for the fact that this is my first year being able to play the game properly, I would probably have been much more upset about that too.
Personally I think the competition for CC does also have unintended consequences, so I would be surprised if it hasn't affected quite a broad range of interests.
1. current CC travels/creatures may become rarer due to buyers prioritizing rereleases
2. more competition for a 'necessity' like leaf of vaka
^2.1 because of this competition, side coves may become rarer and affect the trade/storage of monthlies
^2.2 no reasonably obtainable leaf of vaka/no safety nets for newer players may deter potential players
^^(This one in particular I know is almost certainly true. I have no intention of inviting more friends, let alone strangers, than I already have to this game. Even the one friend I did suggest it to was accidental.)

of course, I have no evidence of any of that. It's just what I think might be a possibility.

Personally though, I wish the game had more challenge and was less luck based. Even the VEND, where you have to do days (sometimes weeks to months depending on your rate of completion) worth of challenges, you still have to HOPE you get what you wanted. I could understand if you were guaranteed to get all three within three attempts, but to my knowledge, that isn't how it is...

I don't know. Still tired. Hopefully it's clearer this time.

lilacblack • 10 November 2021 at 8:05 PM

I'll get back to this topic as soon as I can. Meanwhile @tryvegan4theanimals

hinokazes • 11 November 2021 at 8:14 PM

There's one thing that really bother me since I started to play at eggcave, and it's the impossibility to use the keyboard to feed pets !

I WISH SO BAD to be able to use the left and right arrows (or other keys) to go to the next/previous pet, and then press enter, or space, or anything else to feed the pet. My hands hurt easily, having to constantly move the mouse to click the feed button, then the next/previous pet, then the feed button again, etc, is very bad for my hands, which is why I barely feed even my own pets...

My main way to get EC is by daily EC, bank, trivia (when I know the answer) and wall of sandrodons (when a miracle happen and I win), so I don't get a lot... And the only reason I have leaves of vaka for my 2 accounts is thanks to the free CC we can get sometimes (I can't buy CC myself), meaning I had to sit on 2 CC pets to not have my coves die or wastes a ridiculous amount of EC at Tim's shop every week.

I already have to pay a lot of EC to get new space in my main cove (I'm almost at 50K a new place currently), I now only buy tickets for CC pets that I like enough to actually waste some EC in the lottery with almost 0 hope of winning (starting to consider to completely ignore the lottery tbh like I completely ignore the oasis and the thief shop, the lottery cost me way too much EC and I get nothing of it), I don't even do the quest stuff because having to buy buy buy and buy everything they ask (assuming I get them in time), no thanks, I don't donate to the SAR center (even if I really would like to) nor buy pets in it, and I don't even buy pets/CC from anyone anymore or try auctions because it's just too much EC and I'll have to buy the space for those.

In fact, I think one of the main issue I have is that I need to constantly be very careful of my EC, of fear I'll not have enough left, for more cove space to be able to get the new pets. My side account is for my UFT pets, so I don't want to mix my UFT and NFT pets together, especially with a "uft" in the name of my side account. And I really don't want to be forced to get a third one because of how much buying new space cost...

At least, with being able to use the keyboard, I would be able to get more EC and be less scared because clicking would be less painful. But hey, I guess this is just a me problem and I just have to sob alone in my corner, knowing that one day I'll not be able to follow the game and will have to choose which monthlies and events I take because I'll not be able to afford the space needed for them '-' Never understood why there was a limit of only 300 with 900+ pets available tbh... If we want to do a real collection, we either have to be very rich or have the max amount of side accounts (and even one day they'll not be enough I'm sure). I don't mind having a limit, but 300 is too low with so many pets on this website, and it's worse when you're like me and want a couple of each... u_u


Anyway, sorry for my useless rant



EDIT : Forgot to say that I occasionnally get some EC when items in my shop get sold, but it's a small amount because it's not items I'm selling for a lot

aquafaba • 12 November 2021 at 1:40 AM

I like your idea @hinokazes, would be interesting to use the keyboard instead of the mouse.

noxura • 12 November 2021 at 6:58 AM

Y'all already explained things better than I would have. But, here's my blunt opinion; eggcave is too barebones and asks for money too much.
1. Hardly any activities, and most require waiting for the chance to get EC.

2. Besides filling up cove space and looking pretty, you can't do much with creatures. You got your dream creature- now what? All you can do with it is put a travel on it, and that's basically it.

3. Despite eggcave being centered on the concept of obtaining creatures from the cave, only what, like, a quarter of creatures are commons, some are monthlies, but the rest need to be obtained through trading, which in any trading community, is finicky.

4. After gaining a large amount of creatures it becomes a toil feeding them all. You start to skip out on feeding them every single day, resulting in them losing health. You worry about losing them, but you give up on feeding your creatures; the game wasn't that interesting anyway, and you're not spending money to get a leaf of vaka. They all die. Your account is dead.

5. The game is too luck based. You farmed tokens for months for the VEND machine? Great! You spend your tokens, hoping to get the creature you want... it' not the creature you want. Repeat?
Wall of Sandrodons? Luck based. Lottery? Luck based. Alkub Racing? Luck based. Leila Oasis? Luck based. Mysterious Asteroid? Ha! You really thought you'd get anything from there?-

6. The events are too grindy. Who's going to spend hours to get gobblers, or chocolate boxes, or seeds? Who's going to scroll through pages to find barely visible eggs? Obviously a handful of people will do that, every game has manic grinders. But the people that are trying to play casually? What about them?

lobstertheremin • 15 November 2021 at 11:00 PM

Newcomer here, I love all the hundreds of creatures but most of them are so hard to get that it's depressing ☹️

structuresfromsilence • 16 November 2021 at 2:58 PM

@lobstertheremin my feels exactly. So many I want, but so hard to find, even if I paid money.

Like this one

https://eggcave.com/archives/flowerfur/show

captaincookies • 17 November 2021 at 12:38 AM

I think part of the problem is that there is information about using this site which is pretty obscure. I haven't used the next creature button to feed creatures in years. I use an extension called snap links on google chrome, and highlight a ton of links at once, and then go one by one deleting the tabs and feeding using CTRL+W. It's super fast and I get a ton of EC. To me, it's the only viable way to feed. But, this information is hardly contained anywhere on the site, I believe I found it years ago on a forum ask about how to feed faster. It also is needlessly convoluted in my opinion.

And another thing is that feeding is tbh, kinda boring, and it's one of the only game mechanics.

That's my 2 cents, this game is a beloved relic from my childhood, and I don't mean to tear it apart, because it doesn't deserve to be. Unironically I think that if more people played this game on a regular basis, it would be more fun. It would be swell to have more active forums.

dragonii • 17 November 2021 at 12:52 AM

@iia I def agree with some of the others where, I think a big issue with egg cave is that it is to Grind based and too luck based, but there isn't a lot of relating events to do that isn't taxing on the hands or on ones own personal time if you aren't careful. I would love if there where more calming not so time consuming nor luck based event that we could do that doesn't cost EC or constantly costing EC.

I also agree that i wish we had more rare's from the VEND, Cave Monthly's are neat, but I've honestly lost interest myself for any of the current creatures outside of the baku. It would be neat to have like sets of monthlies then a set of rare ones like they did at the start of the VEND but it seems they arent really doing that anymore. ;/

brunosc • 8 January 2022 at 9:22 PM

@iia
I think the only thing that *really* bugs me is the increasing price for you to buy more space in your cove. That was the reason why I did stop playing.

Cave spaces should be unlimited, or, at least, increased by a fix ammount of EC. Or maybe they should add a CC item that makes your cove unlimited.

iia • 9 January 2022 at 8:42 AM

@brunosc
This was something I was literally JUST thinking about because I’ve been buying more cove space.
While I disagree that cove spaces should be unlimited I’m any case I think having a set amount per space would be very reasonable! (Maybe 10-15kec per space) I also think something like cove spaces should be returnable/refundable. My cove can hold more than 400 creatures(small compared to some peoples coves) on my main but I’m trying to keep my main a small group of my favorite creatures so I may never be using that space again. It would be great to get that ec I spent back since it’s likely I’ll never use it and then I could just buy it back if I needed to.

cryogenics • 19 January 2022 at 12:41 AM

@Orderedchaos - I would love the ability to sort my cove lists alphabetically other than the 'first come first served' method

storm-sage • 1 March 2022 at 5:29 AM