Let me preface this by saying that I like the pets and have collected all of them (gambled 7, traded 1, bought 3).
That being said, I think you made some crucial mistakes in the implementation and I have some suggestions.
Including Buff Draughts in the loottable was a very poor choice. You have replaced a regular gold- and feathersink (200g for the crafting mats and some feathers) that involves player interaction and commerce (something that a lot of us really enjoy in MMOs) with a pure goldsink. It's fine to have an overpriced backup like the Tinderboxes from an NPC in the very rare case that no player is selling them, but including them in gambling, which is going to be popular for a while is basically going to kill any alchemy profits and any reason to craft them going forward. Once again, this was already a natural goldsink because of the crafting mats, you just took the human element out of it.
Pets are fine as a goldsink and should remain part of the gambling, with new types added every so often. It's something you can't get any other way in the game and it's harmless fun for us collectors.
I am going to stress the "can't get any other way" part by making a suggestion for future additions:
If you really want to introduce a serious goldsink via this method I would recommend adding trophies from the other realms' inlands as a very rare chance (I recommend splitting the 1000 slot with several trophies). Trophies are already something that only a few select players care about, but those that do are willing to drop serious platinums for them
. It probably does not require too much devtime, adds another layer of player trading, adds way more variety to housing, is a true goldsink and does not hurt the economy one bit.
Give Mantas a home in Midgard!
That being said, I think you made some crucial mistakes in the implementation and I have some suggestions.
Including Buff Draughts in the loottable was a very poor choice. You have replaced a regular gold- and feathersink (200g for the crafting mats and some feathers) that involves player interaction and commerce (something that a lot of us really enjoy in MMOs) with a pure goldsink. It's fine to have an overpriced backup like the Tinderboxes from an NPC in the very rare case that no player is selling them, but including them in gambling, which is going to be popular for a while is basically going to kill any alchemy profits and any reason to craft them going forward. Once again, this was already a natural goldsink because of the crafting mats, you just took the human element out of it.
Pets are fine as a goldsink and should remain part of the gambling, with new types added every so often. It's something you can't get any other way in the game and it's harmless fun for us collectors.
I am going to stress the "can't get any other way" part by making a suggestion for future additions:
If you really want to introduce a serious goldsink via this method I would recommend adding trophies from the other realms' inlands as a very rare chance (I recommend splitting the 1000 slot with several trophies). Trophies are already something that only a few select players care about, but those that do are willing to drop serious platinums for them
. It probably does not require too much devtime, adds another layer of player trading, adds way more variety to housing, is a true goldsink and does not hurt the economy one bit.Give Mantas a home in Midgard!