Hi all!

Player hat Blitz here writing this as a long-time player of HP, not the admin-hat-wearing Blitz.

We have a problem.

Inflation is high around the world and it has made its way to our game. Remember when, at the beginning of Covid when people were mass-buying and hoarding toilet paper and reselling it for obscene prices? Our HP equivalent has become the upgrade auctions.

Prices of upgrades are sky-high in rates we haven't seen for 10 years. Upwards of $350 mill for a 6-month upgrade? It's obscene. And it needs to stop. It creates a huge divide between "rich" and "non-rich" players and could lead to the end of the game if players choose to quit because they can't afford upgrdaes with RL money or HP money.

"But Blitz! That's mighty rich of you to say while you sit on your mountain of money!" you're probably thinking.

Well, you're right. I can't (and won't) tell people how to spend their money (RL or HP!), but I will say this:

I, Blitz, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

Who's with me??

#SayNoToPriceGouging

-shimmy shimmy bump bump bump-

Thank you for this post! I always like to have my main account upgraded and I've thought about the possiblity of upgrading my other accounts but with how the prices are for upgrades I know that I cannot and will not be able to afford the upgrades with the inflation prices. but I know that I will not pay the Inflation prices. Heck, I barely have enough funds to train my animals weekly, let alone be able to afford more then one upgrade. 

I, Oak, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

Oh thank goodness for this post, I have been on the boardline of quitting because I can't afford to fund the small amount of accounts I do have; I've already had to ban 10. 

I, amberellie, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

PLEASE!

I, Gothika, #212 on HP, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

I haven't payed this, will not pay this, and never sell it at that rate, personally!

What would the normal/fair range be? To pay/take offers on? So everyone would know again. For any i sell i aready have agreement/buyers but i do want to make sure it in the fair price range. 

I Lakra HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction. 

Thank you for this, Blitz! Hopefully, this gets everyone's attention.

I've been extremely frustrated with this since July when my main first said it was expiring. I've been doing all my breeding on one account every week (which is a pain because it means a lot of time transferring animals around). But its the only way I can find an upgrade let alone afford one to do it with hpp. That's why I'm glad I had such a hoard cause I had a lot of breeding to add up in hpp. But since I started work again, the downside is I haven't had as much time to train my massive hoard which in turn means less hpp from breedings. But I can't afford to pay a trainer every week to be able to keep my massive hoard either. And I don't have the RL funds to purchase my own upgrades.

I was right there with amberellie this week about quitting because of it. But because amberellie was kind enough to do an upgrade for me at the original (not inflated) price, she saved me from quitting. Quitting was the last thing I wanted to do when I started working and having less time. But if I continue to not be able to find upgrades when needed, then I'll have to because I don't have the time to train without enter all.

I, Nadhima, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

I (again) will not tell people what they should and should not spend.

In my perfect world I, as a player, would love to see them go back to what they were a few months ago and have been for quite awhile, in the $230 mill-$245 mill range.

Edit: with this being said the few people who i have talked to about getti g any i may sell we will agree on an price in mgs thta is fair to both sides and lower then the 300/350mil price that it sky rocketed it too

I like to see them drop too. ;] i just wanted an better lower idea then the 300-350 0r higher mark. 230, to ,250 mil is seems alot better price for players who domt make so much money ;] thnks now we ned everyone to agree 

reposting from the right account -dies-

I was thining they were between 200-230 the last time I was actively playing before I came back

last month when I was in the hospital 4 of my accts expired I really thought about quitting when I got back and saw prices at 300-360 mil. but Ive got over 12 yrs invested in HP.  I barely got 260 mil together on my accts in aug but couldnt find any upgrades that werent already taken, then comes back surgery and hosp, I managed to upgrade 3 of them and bought with a discounted coupon the other 1. it wasnt too bad when they were 225/230 mil, Ive bid on 1 upgrade for 260 mil but that is the highest I can go :)

I, lady rancher, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates (????) for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

I do agree there is a problem with inflation in real life and it's transferring over to the game, unfortunately. People's hard earned money isn't going as far as it normally does and for some it may be they feel they need more for it in game. And with inflation our money becomes more prioritized, making upgrades harder to obtain in general. It's too bad the cost of upgrades couldn't be adjusted or reduced, even temporarily. I'm not sure what the solution is for this  long term. 

Along with many other players, I've already had to decide to cut my 15 accounts down to 5 due to the prices of upgrades; so I can safely say that I won't be paying inflated rates (since I'm no longer in a position financially IRL to fund upgrades even for myself, it's safe to say that I won't be selling upgrades for inflated rates either). If prices drop back down to around 250mill, then would I consider keeping my 15 accounts? Yep. But... Ris has kinda hit the nail on the head.

There just isn't the supply coming through the upgrade auctions at the moment. That's why prices have risen so high; because upgrades have become so difficult to come-by that players have felt the need to offer higher and higher prices to compete for the few that are available.

So whilst I fully agree on an unspoken rule that prices don't go ridiculously high, I'm not sure whether it's going to address the fundamental issue which is that many people can't actually afford to continue buying upgrades with real money for the sake of the game.

(ETA: Not talking about myself in this final point; my personal circumstances are my own. But an awful lot of people are suffering from increased costs of living IRL so spending money on things like games is gonna be the first thing to go)

What Utakata said. While I am all for not selling or bidding higher than how much upgrades cost before inflation began, I feel like this does little to address the primary cause of the issue. Prices are rising due to a lack of supply to meet the demand of players and this has been going on for quite a while.

While I understand that this post was made from the perspective of a player, maybe this is something that the staff team as a whole need to discuss to try and help with it. How do we incentivize players to sell more upgrades? Do we offer higher gains in some manner for sellers of auction-provided upgrades? Do we bring down the price of upgrades to better meet the current state of the world? How do we best address the ongoing and potentially worsening issue as a whole?

I'm not going to pretend that I know the correct answer or that the answer is an easy one, but if we don't address the source, upgrades will continue to be hard to secure. Now that bidding above a certain amount is frowned upon, only players who are able to devote more time to the game in order to bid the going rate on a first come first serve basis or those who are able to fund their own will be able to maintain their accounts long term. From the sound of it in previous replies, both of these options are something most players will struggle with and the urge to quit will remain even if upgrade auction prices are lowered.

Yes, I would also like some clarification on what prices used to be before inflation? I had been away from the game for two years and just came back in August. Upgrade prices were 300 mill and higher when I came back, so I assumed that this was normal. I would hate to see players leaving because of this.

I, Fenway, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

Would love to see 6mo prices drop back down to the 225-250mill range! It was sitting in the 230-240mill range for a good part of a year if not for a bit longer than that which was really nice haha! As a player who gains their funds via club participation, account training, show spot & ticket selling that was def more obtainable than the 100mill plus price hikes! Trying to compete with many who are in the same boat of oh gosh my upgrade is expiring in X days and hoping someone accepts my bid, but goes with the higher bid, is never a fun feeling and can be discouraging if it happens over and over again.

An incentive idea to auction sellers...
Would the choice of a Store Pair (Basic Shop or Cash Shop Breed) with points be good?
Like 1mos be 100k points, 6mos be 200k points, 1yr be 400k points & once the auction goes through you just poke one of us Admins to get you the Store Pair?

I, BV, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

This might be a long shot idea here, but worth the ask anyway! Hehehe

Incentive ideas for sellers:

1. Getting a set amount of points added to the animal of your choice?

2. Getting 6 HPB (using 6 month upgrades as an example here) like the buyer gets for upgrading? 

I have an upgrade in the auctions with a 300 mill bid and I don't feel comfortable accepting it? I don't want to contribute to the inflated upgrade auction prices. I would too like to see some more incentives to upgrading accounts. 

I, Nytmare, HP Player, pledge to both not pay inflated rates for upgrades, and not accept inflated bids on any upgrades I put in auction.

I know that I for one am not one of the richest players here on HP, probably one of the poorest tbh. xD And the only way that I get funds is by being club president, particpating in club activities, selling graphics (which are hit and miss) and selling my htix and dog tix and shows. 

I do like the idea BV, suggested. :) For me, I'd be totally on board with this idea. :)

An incentive idea to auction sellers...
Would the choice of a Store Pair (Basic Shop or Cash Shop Breed) with points be good?
Like 1mos be 100k points, 6mos be 200k points, 1yr be 400k points & once the auction goes through you just poke one of us Admins to get you the Store Pair?

I agree. I took a whole year off, and worked hard to get my 10 accounts back.  But even now, I was forced to use HPP to delay an account a month and within the next month I need 5 upgrades. That could be like 1.5 BILLION HPD. Looking at that, I am ever so tempted with going back down to 5 accounts. Especially with the price of tickets down and show spots down. It seems that as the upgrade price increases everything that goes with the upgrade decreases. Simply put, an upgrade no longer funds itself. 

I like the idea of lowering the cost of the upgrades in RLD - I know it might harm the game, but if you want players to stay and accounts to continue to be made, it might be best to bite the bullet and do it for a while. Theoretically, more players will buy the upgrades and there might not be a huge RLD economical loss for the game.

Additionally, I also like the idea of better incentives for the seller. However, offering a store pair with points could make players only sell during certain "breeding weeks"(unless maybe they could save it for generation gaps). But maybe more HPB or HPP would help with the seller, or maybe an extension on their own upgrade, like sell a 6 month, get a week on your own. Sell a 1 month, get 2-3 days, or something like that.

 Bottom line is, RLD isn’t going as far as it did before, and while I understand that it is a tough decision for players to spend their RLD on a game (instead of food or gas or life), jipping them of HPD isn’t right either. I don’t like that the prices are 300 mil, but I understand why they are. We need to make it a little more affordable to keep players here, and maybe throw in something for the players who can and will spend money on this game.

Quick reply just to say I like the idea of getting some amount of HPB or some kind of small upgrade time in exchange for selling upgrades. Personally, those would motivate me the most.