With the July Development Update comes 5 companions that are exclusive to a referral system. It seems that you need to refer 5 friends to get them all, and these 5 friends need to get a total companion level of 50 in order to unlock these companions. That is not only a lot of friends, but a lot of time to put into a site with a unique gameplay loop that the average person won't be grinding out for hours daily.

There are many reasons why this is an issue, but a glaring issue is release time. There are over 7000 accounts on Lorwolf, and many of these are our own friends. However, there is no way to retroactively apply referrals to existing accounts.

When Lorwolf's Kickstarter was ongoing, I linked it to a large pet-site server I'm active in, and many people I talk to in there regularly started playing. I'm sure we all would have coordinated to get referrals spread out so we all had a chance at getting at least one of these companions. However, this is impossible, since none of us can put down referrals.

That being said, I am suggesting a "grace period" (if not a permanent addition) for existing accounts to set referrals.

To keep this fair, it should potentially be limited to accounts who signed up prior to this update's release, however I am not against it being a global addition to all accounts.

Support--could just have retroactives apply strictly to accounts made before today (release date of the referral companions).

very much support cuz yes already refered my friends

As someone who has only started playing fairly recently as a referral from my partner, and as someone whose friends also started playing because of them, yeah, support.

Because my friends are already here and are literal referrals.

Support. I already invited my friends to play and it is very disappointing that it feels like I'm being punished for being excited about and talking about the game early on.

this bump feels illegal but with the locking of other suggestions bloating the first page I just want to get this back up

Support because I also already brought my friends in to play, and there's no other way to get the companions. If they're somehow busted balance-wise I'm actually going to be genuinely upset cause... that would makes this so immensely unfair.

It already sucks that these cute things are locked behind referrals that have no retroactive grace period but god don't let them be good mechanically to boot..

While I agree retroactive referrals are a good idea I do not support it in place of getting a non referral way to get the companions.

Support. This or either remove the companions as referral rewards and make them obtainable in another way.

As a lot of other players I have anxiety, a small group of friend and family with only a couple of people interested in the game or that have time to play. If things stay like this, I'll never be able to get even one of this new companions, it feels like I'm being punished for joining at launch or not being social enough.

I'm with Hyatha there. I joined barely past launch, and a good portion of people I do know wouldn't like a pet sim. I would very much like the companions as not one of the rewards there. It kind of feels like being asked to peddle credit cards in my previous job and it does just leave a foul taste in the back of my mouth.