I have been playing this game for four years and over the past year I have noticed that the average price of everything in tc has been decreasing. As a result, breeding has become increasingly difficult to the point which the game has become a burden, because the investment into breeding and the reward simply doesn’t match up. Therefore I have come up with some suggestions that might be able to enhance the gaming experience.

(Everything below is my personal opinion and I’m by no means a professional)

I think the decreasing market price is a sign of deflation which is a result of there’s an excess of goods in-game and not enough money around. There are new items, apps, and bases added into the game all the time, however, there is not really new opportunities to get sb and gb. Nobody can afford to buy anything, and consequently, breeders and item hoarders have to lower their buyout price to sell their stuff, as a result, people’s earnings decrease and they can afford to buy even less stuff (you get where this is going……). I am a breeder and I have to rely on my art sales to supply my projects, I can’t even imagine how breeding is for players who don’t have extra income by selling art and designs :(

In order to bring back the market price, I think the main solution is to allow players to get money a bit easier, and the new July event is an exact example of what is really not helpful in this situation. I’m not going to talk about the storyline issue here because I understand that the development team needs time to write it. My real issue here is the difficulty and complexity of it. You have to explore to get currency which is used to enter another explore in which you have to defeat enemies to get the currency and then, finally, buy the applicators. And the drop rate of the two types of currencies are really way too low. When it’s really hard to get items and you can’t even resell your item and lions for a decent price, it just becomes very frustrating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting to make stuff that is originally rare not rare anymore, I’m just saying that you need to find a way to increase players’ purchasing power to put the market back into a healthy cycle.

Here are two possible solutions that I can currently think of:

1. Seasonal/Occasional gb sales
This is just a very straightforward solution to the lack of money in circulation.
2. Add a way to earn sb/gb in game
In some events maybe there could be a section where you have a chance to get some beetles? For example, in the Rise of the Serpent event, there’s a very small chance for 1 golden beetle drop in explore (because of the Egyptian theme? Idk). Or maybe add mystery crates that can be earned through some monthly event or all-year-round event.
3. Add games/events that require sacrificial of lions
Adding these challenges can increase the demand for lions. There is already one (gorilla encave) and I think adding another one or lowering the cooldown will be beneficial to boost the demand for lions. Also more difficult ones and make them day/night/dry/wet only similar to the flood pit, and requires the player to like "sacrifices a certain combo base lion/ a lion that has at least two rosette", and in return gives a really handsome reward (perhaps exclusive app or items).

I’m sorry that I don’t have any other ideas at the moment, but my main point is that I think there need to be new ways to earn sb/gb in game in order to inject money into the game because the ratio of items/lions and currency in game is already unbalanced.

Edit: I also get that gb probably should remain a currency that could only be bought through real money. But I think the failing economy requires demand-side adjustments (because by trying to suppress supply will only shrink the market size, which means less variety and lower activity, people will have a hard time in both selling and buying). If you have other ideas to increase players' purchasing power, you are very welcomed to leave your thoughts.