Mrowrz?
It's been way too long since I posted in my journal....
Time for more rambling!
Aquariums
So, I think the hub-bub with aquariums has started to die down a little bit by now. I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of the feature or of the way it was implemented myself. I don't mean execution. The art is well drawn, the fish are cute, etc.
There's several things with the Aquariums that I don't quite get....
-Why was it necessary to create a -second- cash shop for this?
-Why is this cash shop so different from the original cash shop? Ie: This one works more like the other shops, rather than taking over your screen and appearing -over- whatever other page you have loaded.
-Whose bright idea was it to have all aquarium items available ONLY through the cash shop or the DC? Congrats... you've just introduced Gaia's first pay-to-play feature. Honestly, I'm sorry... DC items don't count there. Anything available through DC will quickly become worthless, and things like the bubbler... which I imagine are needed to really attain high levels of tank health, aren't available through DC at all.
I really feel that this departs from Gaia's original intent to remain free to all players. Not that Aquariums are -necessary- to the Gaia experience... but it's an entire feature that you can't make full use of unless you're willing to a) shell out cash or b) shell out gold to those who already shelled out cash.
I mean, EI's are basically just items with lots of poses. Yes, the evolving part makes them worth more, and creates a lot of market fluctuation in their pricing, but they're still basically items with lots of poses... it's kind of like the MC's, only they do more than 'open' once, they continue to get new poses for a while. They certainly don't represent an entire feature on the site.
Mind you, it IS possible to have an Aquarium only with items from the DC. Your fish will constantly endure hardships and long for the sweet embrace of death, but if your tank is full and you make a minimum effort to make your fish happy, tank health will still slowly rise (about 1% per day, it seems), and the overseer will still duly slush out items for you. (Items which are rapidly becoming worthless as the market is slowly glutted with them...)
But having a truly good aquarium will mean either shelling out lots and lots of gold... or cash. I don't expect gold prices to drop all that much on the items that can't be had through the DC, since I'm sure the fish shop will be like the other cash shop, and certain types of fish, or even aquarium accessories, will slowly be rotated out, while others are rotated in. Thus ensuring people keep buying... which will also ensure mp prices for them stay high.
I mean seriously... couldn't they have had at least a FEW fish that were available for purchasing with gold? A FEW accessories? Why does everything have to be either CASH or WORTHLESS DC? This is seriously just ... not cool.
So, I have an aquarium, yes. Not on this account... I used one of my mules. I wouldn't have bothered, except that a few of the items the overseer hands out are pretty cool, so I figured why pay gold for them if I can get them for free? I haven't spent anything on my aquarium... it is decorated and populated completely with items from DC. It annoys me, but I -am- an item hoarder, after all.
So, on to other things...
Summer was full of way too much drama for me, Otakon excluded. Yes, you read that right. The con was one of the few drama-free events for me of the summer. Perhaps that's why I enjoyed it so much. I won't go into the drama-causing events... suffice to say there were a lot of them, and they came at me from all sides.
Rolling into the Autumn months, I'm a bit uncertain what to expect. I have a few plans that I'm trying hard to look forward to, though I fear more drama might get in the way of my enjoyment of activities. I do think, I'm rather burned out on drama, and being sociable in general. My focus at the moment is much more on trying to establish personal routines and get the sleep I need.
I think I'm content for the moment... to say, I think I made a few new friends, got closer to a couple of people, had other friendships completely explode on me, and it's time to curl up in my shell for a little while and recuperate from all this exertion. Being social is hard work - I'm ready for a rest.
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Kava's Ramblings
Insights, Observations, Scenes, Thoughts, and other miscellenous and etcetera from the mind of an online nut...
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Kava
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Grawr?Rwrz!
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Kava Community Member 
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stevesmunky
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Kathleen Starr Community Member 
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Kava
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Breyer Community Member 
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The only thing Aquarium-related that I've spent money to get was some of the Cuttlefish from the vend, because they're damned cute and were 4k or less when I snagged 'em. <3
Otherwise I'm doing much the same thing. Daily Chancing it up. I'm annoyed that the fish die. Really annoyed. I would otherwise be tempted to get one of the Octopii. But not if it's going to DIE. stare