...the weird and wonderful surprises just keep on comin’…haven’t had occasion to need it yet (despite all the birds in Peso’s scene), but apparently poop-scooping is now going to be de rigeur, an interesting way to get us to use regular(WS) play rather than m.foopets for care. (FooPetter issue link to right in Back Issues)
dogs need attention daily, cats can be done once a week, and, as we suspected, there is a hefty gem/karma reward (25 per) for keeping up with it. interestingly, it seems to serve the same function as the Camera Trick for unsticking stuck Pokeys.
it occurs to us to wonder if this isn't a clever way to inhibit fostering...we now have less time to devote to them, as most people will naturally prioritize their own pets, and the time involved in tending each and every fosterpet in standard(WS) rather than m.foopets mode will be prohibitive. (i personally HOPE to be able to get through fosterpet poopscooping once a week!)
one beneficial side effect, though, may be a lower incidence of overfed pets...if the same Karma/gem reward is available via poop detail - with no investment for supplies - stuffing pets that are not hungry strictly for the gems/points ought to become a lot less appealing.
UPDATE 7/25/10: this morning Gold Rush finally needed cleaning, and the scoop refused to load until we'd tried three times and reloaded his Active Pet mode.
Final - we hope - verdict in. they must be tinkering with it, or a bug worked its way to the surface. Yes, dogs are affected as well, and it's not, or no longer, the first pet in line. if the care icons appear in the "old" position below the screen, you need to reload until they appear up on the Play page. the new FooSpinner coding and the poop scooping mode seem to be tied together somehow. whether this is deliberate or accidental, and what the long-range effects will be, we don't know yet.
UPDATE 7/28/10 : nice to know our faith in fooman nature has been borne out...you can now buy a free pass on poop detail for the trifling sum of one foodollar or 100 gems per pet per day - in other words, each 4 pets you tend cover the costs of NOT tending the fifth.
midnight last night (EST) saw a prolonged 503 error, and ledgers (and apparently Forums, i see from eavesreading) have been offline most of today. we're bracing ourselves for the next issue...
has anyone else had difficulties loading profile changes, and/or noticed the Scene Decorator only working in Active Pet mode, rather than via the Scenes tab – at least for creation of new ones? (haven’t tried in “Edit” mode) – wonder which change they’re an artifact of.
the FooLette Wheel (foospinner) not only no longer posts your winnings before – or even whether or not – you spin, but doesn’t load them until it is finished and closed, and will allow only limited interaction with the pet, if any, until you use or discard it. it’s also a bit erratic in the way it loads gem winnings (haven’t noticed any glitches in dollars yet) – they may or may not turn up on the pet’s profile, and can show up in the ledger as a deduction. don’t bother trying to reload, it either doesn’t change or flips back to before the spin…but as the total is correct in your “Shop” log, i wouldn’t worry about it, at least for now. plus, i have noticed, particularly in red stars and under, it occasionally gives you an extra crack at it – possibly as an added incentive to visit all pets in regular(WS) play mode.
