HPB Trade-In Sale!

From now until Friday, June 16th at 8:30am HP time, you can trade in your HP Bucks (HPB) for HPD! 

For every 1 HPB you send to Account #1, you will be sent back $10 mill HPD!

The exchange rate is a bit different this year due to the continuous main game currency (HPD) inflation on HP, much like what we're dealing with in the offline world. With many already complaining that upgrade prices in particular are ridiculously high, flooding the market with more HPD at the previous years' rate is not a good idea, however I didn't want to scrap this yearly opportunity entirely, so I chose to adjust the currency rate return instead.

Other things to note with this sale:

- Please send all of your HPB you wish to trade in in one go...DO NOT send in 5 HPB from one of your accounts, 2 from a spare, etc. It will cut down on the millions of messages I have to process. Please consolidate all of your HPB you wish to trade onto one account and THEN send it in through a single transaction.

- Please note that it could take a little while for me to send your HPD because this is all done manually by me, blitz, and it is also currently the busiest month of the school year for me at work...so please be patient with me, I will get all of the HPD sent out as soon as I can!

Happy trading!

-Blitz

Quite frankly, I don't care that you don't agree. The drastic cut to the exchange rate affects everyone who was planning to participate in this trade-in, including you. To go from 25mill the previous two consecutive years to 10mill this year is a massive bomb to drop the day of the sale when people, like me, have already moved their HPB and even purchased more in preparation is absolutely blindsiding. "Rich" players partaking in the sale doesn't take that HPD away from you. It only ensures that less HPD is being put out into circulation for people to spend. 

Well I honestly don't understand why people are so upset.. 

I agree - we don't have to participate and I actually will not be. I'd rather sit on it. With this change in the exchange rate though the cash shop prices - are they also going to be adjusted to fit the economy / inflation? How so? Will anything else price wise be changing on the game?

At the end of the day we are all adults with our own opinions and when a large portion of player are upset because we are adults and some of us made purchases based on an upcoming event we are entitled to our opinion and we are allowed to voice our opinion. I am proud that it was made without it being anonymous and that the players actually felt comfortable enough to speak up this time - it's been an issue in the past. Respecting a differences of opinions is hard and I know it, but understand that just like your entitled to your opinion we are entilted to ours.

We are not required to sit silent and keep our opinions to ourselves. What kind of game or staff would require that? I would also like to inquire about that site poll where you asked for member feedback about upgrades and the results were never posted about?

I agree con, it is hard to respect the differences of opinions, but at the same time it's also very hard when people are being rude towards blitz isn't called for. 

Oak, you don't need to understand why everyone is upset. Players have every right to be upset with the changes being made when they aren't warned in advance. Yes blitz isn't obligated to continue any events at the same rate but when you've done something the same in the last two years people anticipate it, they plan for it, and they invest real life money. 

Alot long of players are upset that they are faced with the feeling that their opinions do not matter and how they are met with "don't like it don't play"... Well if everyone didn't play then there would be no game. There will be dissagreements and not everyone is going to sit in a circle and hold hands always and that's part of being an adult.  No one is being rude, they are being blunt. Blitz is an adult and I'm sure isn't taking any of this to heart.

I can't actually see a single instance in this thread of people being rude toward Blitz herself. People are upset about the sale and are stating facts regarding how that has affected them. They are well within their rights to.

You guys can have your thoughts and opinions about this and I'll have mine but just know that in the end, I stand with Blitz. ♥

There is no 'standing with or against' any one person, Oak. You're missing the point entirely. This is not an argument between people, this is a group of people contesting a decision that has been made.

I don't see where one person in this thread was rude towards Blitz either. In the end, it doesn't matter where you stand? We aren't 'divided' and aren't trying to be. We are still allowed to voice our opinions and everyone should.

That statement just suggests a division that doesn't exist. It isn't "Blitz vs the rest of HP". It's a public forum where our opinions should be allowed to exist and be heard without people taking comments and criticisms to heart.

No, I don't think that I'm missing anything.. decisions are made all the time, we aren't the ones that are in charge of the game so I don't think we really get a say in the decisions that are discussed between the admins. Somethings that are discussed between the admins are to stay between the admins. 

They aren't obligated to tell us about every little thing that they discuss. I'm done talking about this. 

You're correct, they aren't. That doesn't remove the right that the playerbase has to voice there opinions. This is not a game with thousands of players, it is a game with a small number of very dedicated players - many of whom have worked for years to earn what they have accrued. They deserve to be allowed to have a voice - much as you have a voice.

Oak, no. Just no. If you're content to be a little shadow who says "how high" every time someone says "jump", then fine. But as the sole reason this game is able to function, the players should be able to voice their opinions without fear of retaliation or blowback. 

No one is asking the admins to divulge every detail of every discussion. They are asking to have their opinions heard and to be taken into consideration especially when people have INVESTED real life money. Clearly you didn't fully read this thread or aren't understanding others points of view. No one here is against blitz, they are all adults voicing their opinions in a very respectful manner. Not everyone sounds like rainbows and sunshine when they talk or in this case type. Some are blunt and to the point. 

As everyone has said, I am being blunt, but I'm certainly not being rude. I understand decisions must be made and I do support decisions being made for the betterment of the game. I understand Blitz's point of view and do agree changes should be made. I just disagree with what decision was made due to the lack of notice. If the intention was to limit how much HPD was being introduced to the economy and limit how the rich are getting richer, instead of changing the amount, impose a limit to the trade in such as 50 HPB total per player. Everyone is on equal ground then. Add a disclaimer going forward that the sale will be evaluated each year if that is now the intention so there is no assumptions to be made for next year. Both adjustments would fix my complaints regarding the situation and limit the inflation. Just a suggestion. Apologies for this being less coherent than my usual posts. I'm exhausted and falling asleep in bed while i type this. 

Thanks for continuing the sale this year, Blitz and team! I agree with most of the sentiments in this forum though discussing how it happened this year.

I'd consider myself a shadow player as I normally keep to myself and only post in forums for contests/games. I have no reliable sources of income other than selling training tickets, maybe an odd show spot if someone asks, or whatever amount you make off horses placing in shows/people entering your public shows. I purchase my own account upgrades because I can't afford to purchase them in game. I personally rely on this trade-in every year to be able to fund my stable; I'm still limping along from what I made trading in from last year's event.

Unfortunately I will not be participating this year because in my opinion it's just not worth dropping real life money on HPD to trade in, especially with real life inflation as of late. Will my decision on this impact the community as a whole? Probably not. But I know that I will now have to scrutinize any art purchases I want to make and deem it worthy enough to spend money on. I already reduced my private show entries because they were sucking me dry. I just finished up my first ever project horse that I was only able to afford to do because I was coasting off the funds from last year's trade in sale, and possibly even the trade in sale from the year before that. I probably won't be able to have a project horse for the upcoming year. I ended up having to sell an upgrade earlier this year to help bolster the bank account because it was getting low.

I understand that there is a large amount of money circulating right now and the drop in received compensation from the trade-in is to give players the opportunity to still be able to trade in for cash even at a lesser amount but keep the inflation growth to a minimum. But some of us smaller stables have relied on the higher trade in amounts to help keep us running. I do like Jade's idea of there being a cap on what you can trade in as a way to allow the event to happen but not completely flood the money market value.

It would be good to hear the staff's thoughts on this as it's disappointing our concerns aren't being addressed.

Sorry for the delay...had this drafted up on my lunchand then the internet at work died for most of the afternoon when I went to post it...and of course it was the school that has no cell service. I had to take a photo of my screen on my phone then re-type it when I got home. Very annoying. Even without the internet dying, though, I do work a 9-5 for a living (as do other staff members...), and again, this is one of the busiest times of year at work, so I can't just drop everything to read all the replies on here. Not really what my day job pays me to do.

Remember at the beginning of this month, when the State of the Union was posted, and I had an entire paragraph dedicated to the negativity and drama that has been increasing on the site in the past year or two? Yeah, posts like this thread is an example of what I am talking about. Every player on this site is entitled to their own opinions, and is also entitled to express them, however attacking other players and staff when something is upsetting you with blunt, angry words is not the way to do it. Intended or not, that is how most of this thread is coming off as to me and to others.

Yes, I am in a position of authority and therefore that opens me up to more vitriol directed at me than the average player, however at the end of the day I am still a breathing human being, and attacking me because you are angry is not fair nor cool. Consider this: I woke up this morning to a message off-game from a player (not a staff member) who chose to message me privately expressing support because they thought this thread was shit, and the fact that I have to deal with this amount of it is crazy. Before I had a moment (at work!) to sit down and read what had been said after I made my last post then went to bed last night, I received another off-site message from another non-staff player, basically expressing the same thing as the first. The two players who chose to express this to me are not bffs or anything, so neither message was connected to the other, they were separate people feeling the need to tell me directly how they felt about the way I am being talked to in this thread, and wanting me to know that I had some players' support. I am not telling you all this in a "see! I have SOME support from players!!!" way, I am saying this because it is not just me (nor just staff) that think the negativity being thrown around in this thread is above and beyond.

I am not telling anyone to "sit down and shut up" and that I don't want to hear their opinions. Don't take the previous two paragraphs as me saying that. What I am saying is that, while I think a healthy discussion or debate is great, I shouldn't need to fight off a panic attack in the middle of reading comments, and talk myself out of quitting, for the amount of anger being directed at me and anyone who doesn't agree with your own stance.

Verbal warning to everyone in this thread: keep this civil. Stop attacking each other, accusing people who don't agree with you of being "shadows", etc. If that behaviour continues, I'm going to end this discussion and close the thread, because that is not constructive discussion, that's personal attack territory.

Now, on to the actual topic at hand...

To make sure I'm understanding correctly, is the main issue the fact that the conversion rate changed? Or the fact that I didn't give advanced notice that it was going to change?

I do believe it was, ultimately both. If I may speak as a "neutral party".

I have been mulling this topic over and over this morning and afternoon. I do have thoughts both ways and see the intent and concerns of either side - but not necessarily as a member of staff either, as while I am on staff, I do not wear a mod hat, I wear a puzzle hat. xD So I was unaware of these events until now as well. I don’t really feel like I have answers/solutions either way, but there were a few observations that came to me while reading through everyone’s concerns. Bear with me while I play devil’s advocate on either side.

First off, what I never realized before was that people actually BUY UP HPB before this sale, which brings into consideration Blitz’s/Sam/admin staff’s concern of 400 something HPB being traded in for this sale. I realize that some people do have that many upgraded accounts that may add up to that every time they get upgraded every 6 months/one year, but I feel like this sale was originally meant for those who had “extra hpb lying around”. Not basically buying money by way of buying HPB from the cash shop to then sell. Is this where some people are not selling upgrades to make money and then doing this instead? This therein also lies where people are attributing the cash value of the HPB to the RLD, which may not be so much the case if they were really selling out their extra HPB that they never use. I have never sold HPB because I use them for gender changes, de-ages, etc, and never feel that I have extra laying around to sell. If I want HPD, I sell an upgrade and in turn, help another player out. People are upset that they are not getting top dollar for this sale, which seems to run what the economy value of the HPD is. This is a SALE and hopefully should not make the outcome of the HPD what it is. Maybe it does, and I’ll get to that in a moment.

At my job, I have the opportunity to sell back PTO at the end of the year, but I do not get paid the same for that PTO had I used it on an actual day off. I believe I get possibly 90% of what that PTO is actually worth. Is it fair? Doesn’t really seem like it but if I’m not using it, it gives me the opportunity to get something back for it since I haven’t used it otherwise. They are the employer and their offer to buy back something for less of price than what it is actually worth, is still what it is - a sale. I also do not sell back my PTO, but use it as often as I get to get full benefit from it.

(Don’t get me started/fixate on the American workplace and how we don’t actually always get to use the full PTO we make, lmao. That’s a whole other can of worms and I’m just using this as an EXAMPLE. x’D) 

ON THE FLIP SIDE 

If this sale HAS been what determines the actual currency of the game, it maybe should’ve been brought up to players with the option for discussion on whether the sale should’ve taken place at all. I definitely don’t believe players of a game should, obviously, be the ones who get to decide on the price point which the decision was made ultimately by the owner of the game. If Sam and the admin staff ultimately decided that this sale is 10 mill per HPB then, what they say, goes. But it does ultimately affect players, which in turn affects the owners if the income from the game ultimately tanks because of a by and large decision that was made. I do think maybe a cap would’ve been the way to go on the amount sold? As someone previously mentioned, this would’ve been a good way to keep things maybe more ultimately equal. There are always going to be “richer and poorer” players on the game due to RL finances and time spent on the game, so some players are going to have the ability to spend more on the game either by buying more upgrades OR by buying up HPB for a sale, which, at the end of the days, is how the game ultimately stays afloat. If these players were to drop from their 50-100 upgrades to suddenly 1 or 2, the game would definitely take a hit and would still hurt the smaller players. If this is how much of the game views the exchange rate of HPD to RLD, this is something that maybe needs to be considered further by staff?

And now a third viewpoint of this according to the going upgrade sale rate.

(I came to this third thought process after writing my above spiel.)

I had a job interview today…Was I preparing for my job interview earlier? Nope, I was calculating a game’s exchange rate up until the moment I had to leave for the interview.. xD

I am terrible at math, so correct me if I’m figuring this absolutely wrong.

Currently the going rate of a 6mo upgrade is 280 mill. 

EDITING: Still trying to figure out this math. 

Take 280 mill HPD / 17.5 RLD = 16 HPD is equal to 1RLD. So, if this is the case, then:

According to the cash shop, 5hpb = 5usd = 1hpb    16hpd

                                                                     1usd    1usd

So, in essence, 1 hpb = 16 hpd. So, going by that sort of conversion standard, does it appear that the last few sales have been OVERpaying on the buyback of hpb? I don’t know. It just depends on what truly is considered the exchange rate and what part of the game is the deciding factor of this - the upgrade sales or the hpb sale or something else entirely...??

These are all thoughts, both one way and the other and then yet also by looking at it by the logic standpoint of one price versus another.

Just trying to help bring about further constructive discussion. I see, and have, concerns on both ends, but even though I don’t sell anything during the sale, I do see how it could potentially affect myself and the game from both standpoints down the road.

I'm not a maths person so all of this math is whoop, over my head. xD But, the way you broke it down really helps. I depend, err maybe "depend" isn't the right word for it. Anyways, I am a player that doesn't have tons of HPD, I wish I had more HPD then I do, but it is what it is. 

I'm also a player that has quite a few different animals, and I had one of my Flamenta's in 80 private shows weekly, however I had to make the tough decision to pull him out of them because I cannot keep dishing out 80 mil every week. I'd love to be able to do that, but that's not something I can do at this moment and time. 

I don't sell upgrades, so things like this sale and selling private shows, selling tix ect and making public shows and all the funds from those are what go into being able to train my animals weekly, which somedays believe me is tough.