I know threads exist for this already but this one will be a bit broader than just expansions.

There is a really big imbalance between what MS can be used for, and what pebbles can be used for. Things need to change quite drastically otherwise this game will essentially be premium currency only to progress or do anything remotely fun.

It would make a lot more sense if any game-related upgrade costs pebbles. These would be:

• Profession Expansions
• Den Space
• Den Tabs
• Nest Slots

Apart from that, there should be more cosmetic options for pebbles too, which might take time, but should also be considered.

Currently, the following things cost Moonstones:

• Mining / Cooking Expansions
• All specialty items (except Eye Besprinkler)
• Both non-starter breeds
• 2 / 3 non-starter markings
• Den Tabs
• Pretty much all custom apparel (which won't change until pebbles are given a reason to be desirable)
• Pack Change (purely cosmetic at the moment)
• Extra Apparel Slots
• Extra Nests

The following things cost pebbles:

• Den space, which is capped at 50 per den tab so you will need tabs eventually.
• Starter breed changes
• Starter marking changes + maned set
• Extremely limited pool of site-made apparel
• Eye Besprinkler
• Most MM stuff- though plenty are not really useful or desirable.

(Sorry if I missed anything in either category)

agreed / support

no one will sell CA for pebbles, because pebbles dont have any real use and to make CAs, you need to spend moonstones. but there are also very very limited apparel for pebbles (even some of the site apparel is for hefty amounts of moonstones), and the site has stated they will not be focusing much on site apparel regardless, so most apparel will be ms. and because of everything else you mentioned being MS, it just makes MS more valuable, and pebbles continue to become useless.

this makes it so so hard for casual / f2p players. I understand the site needs to make money, but people will still buy MS to then trade with players for pebbles if pebbles are useful. but if those f2p players stop playing because they realistically cannot obtain anything, there will be fewer people on site to trade anything with, and thus will actually decrease ms sales. games like this survive when people play the game, whether they spend money or spend time, so there needs to be a balance between those two groups of people, because the ones who spend time are the ones that keep the site active and engaging - they need to be rewarded by being able to use that time to actually get somewhere in the game, or they will choose to spend their time elsewhere.

Full support!
I'm a new f2p player myself, and I find it so hard to get moonstones in general. And looking at the currency exchange rates in the flea market?! Good god. I know that since this is a new site it will be shaky economy wise, but having a good fanbase that will stay int he beginning is important too. Was literally looking through the forums to find a way to get moonstones and came across this post lol

i am a very new ftp only player and the thing is? it's not as scary as you'd think at all

here's some math

25 ms at the current exchange rate is 425kp which sounds like a lot sure but - going off of my first day number of 25kp earnings that's 2.5 weeks of fairly relaxed play [and as far as my only Slightly less casual play goes, I made 35 MS by literally just selling food in my first week]

I don't know, the thing is, especially as more MS get generated by the site's economy, this isn't gonna be as hard as you think at all, and considering how Huge a gameplay advantage it is to have bigger profession inventories is, that sounds like a fair price in all honesty

I get that during beta those were in pebbles, but you just Can't charge real money for a beta that will reset, that's objectively would've been a bad decision for them to have made

I'm not against an in-between extra little upgrade just to not scare new players with the exchange rate, sure

But it only looks scary before you realize that One stamina bar of campaign can give you as much as 2kp in inventory sell trinkets if you're lucky and that the per-activity rewards Really Stack up from the 300/800 rewards each even if you're really really casual

People will also pay you like 30 MS for a ww with marginally good colors, and even the ugliest one goes for 4-5 MS, and even if you're not lucky? the knucklebone tokens go for almost 10kp each [which, yes it means it's Much better to sell them than to use them on average, you should sell them]

I genuinely Do get why people don't like this off of a gut reaction but there's a good chance that if you sell all your random inventory junk from playing for like a week you'll realize you're already halfway there. people Severely underestimate how much you earn on Random Junk

This is coming from a guy that can't even really grind campaign that much because of fragile hands btw

Part of the problem @Reanimagpie is that, if there's not enough desirable things to spend pebbles on, then there's very little incentive for people to trade moonstones for them. It doesn't matter how easy it is to grind pebbles if no one wants to buy them from you.

@Reanimagpie

pebbles are pretty nothing; most things are MS, that's the thing. on FR, treasure is useful for a Lot of things. pebbles are stupid easy to earn, which further devalues them on top of most desirable/useful things costing MS anyway.

right now it is Not worth it to sell KB due to this. & relying on WW hunting to earn MS without having an art shop/CA is not good long-term. profession upgrades should not be MS, & i think the site needs more official apparel that cost pebbles if it's going to make it.

It's also unstable. As MS prices rise, which they will if there's nothing good to spend pebbles on, the time it takes to get MS with pebbles will be longer and longer. This is also true when pebble prices fall, again, because of lack of incentive to use them and because of supply rising as more people try to sell things for pebbles to exchange for MS. There needs to be more incentive to spend pebbles for exchanging to remain viable for most people, otherwise inflation is going to make things harder and harder. MS prices in pebbles have already doubled from what they were 2 weeks ago.

I'd wager the biggest sink right now is den space, because wow those add up fast, and there's a lot available, but gameplay upgrades should not cost MS.

@sparx i usually convert things into ms when i have enough which is Very easy to do [it's also [50x10,000]/17,000=almost 30 MS which IS better than floor for ww even if you're lazy and sell in pebbles. you can absolutely just sell in ms to begin with.] , though i do agree we need more pebble sinks

but I Highly Doubt they just up and won't implement more things that cost pebbles is the thing. That just sounds very unlikely from a game design standpoint.

But the thing is, things that would make sense to cost regular currency are mostly fluff and the site Just Launched so it makes sense it's gonna be a little naked on the side of fluff. this is not an unfounded worry, but I'm Very Sure they're aware they're missing the fluff. Making it will just take Time which they need to spend on Basic Website Functions that are missing first.

@Reanimagpie

official apparel will become more abundant over time yes, but i recall Very clearly that staff intend for most apparel to be user-created… which means MS. & that is EXPENSIVE. very very concerning for site longevity moreso than anything else, imo. close second is so many upgrades & even official apparel/breed changes/companions being MS.