Snackoo Labs

Remember how proud I was of myself for staying away from the Special Edition 4 Pet Chests in Dream of Mirror Online‘s item mall?  Well, my resolve, which was as solid as Azeroth’s government, crumbled completely when the next Tuesday Mini Spender Promo came around.  Ma Ci, the only vanity pet I want!  I can’t remember what it was that I bought now, but whatever it was, wasn’t enough to bring me up to Tier 2 for the cute little boy, so I used SE4 Pet Chests as “filler”.

That should have been the end of it.  I had the only Metal I wanted, some boxes to sell the ones I didn’t want, and some tags to name the ones I did (want).  The crafty staff of Aeria, however, then slashed the prices of the chests and gave out a hundred percent rebate on them right after that spender promo!  Well, of course, I had to get in on that.  So with a bajillion pets (okay, maybe more like fifteen) under my care, I engaged in a frenzied chain of pet trades and sales that lasted two weeks, but resulted in me finally owning all the handsome Jades (mostly still roly poly cacti) and a pink-haired Lily.

Original Pet Line-up: SE4 Rock, SE4 Metal, Original Jade, SE4 Sapphire, Original Ruby

Final Pet Line-up (After Having Gone Nuts): SE1 Jade, Original Jade, SE1 Love, SE3 Jade, SE2 Jade

I bartered away whoever wasn’t in my final line-up (and ones that weren’t in my line-up at all) except for the Rock and the Metal because they’re so adorable.  The Rock I’ll probably try to vend soon because I think the Special Edition 5 piggy is a lot cuter, but the panda is staying with me, even if he has to rot in a Hibernation Box.

KITTEH EARZ, I HAZ THEM

Maewen: I don’t think they’re the same ears.
Me: Good, because they weren’t on sale.

Special Edition 4 pets have come to Dream of Mirror Online in North America, along with a wave of pet promotions!  Lacking a sufficiently handsome Jade among them, however, I’ve (just barely) managed to keep myself from breaking the pupu bank.  I was tempted, but not ensnared by the  slashed price  of the Vanity Pet Chest, which seems to have been in conjunction with the “Buy Vanity Pet Chest, Get Ornamental Pet Naming Tag” promotion.  No adorable little boy to go with my big handsome man?  No, thank you.  By the way, I would have renamed him Shy Joey.

While I entertained the thought of having an ugly Doraemon for a few minutes, it was actually the “Mini Spender Promo” that almost got me.  I don’t like the look of the Jester Costume (if only it looked like Harley Quinn’s), I don’t like the look of SE4 Jade’s beady eyes, and none of the vanity pets  look as cute as my roly poly cactus.  I needed an inventory upgrade, though, and I figured I might as well get something extra out of it.  At the last second, I pulled back on my mouse as it approached the checkout button, told myself to wait for a better costume promotion, and to just sell all that damn junk in the bank.  Okay, I didn’t really “pull back”, but news like that should come in a dramatic narrative!

Maewen: You’re calling not spending AP on anything news?  Then what’s a headline?  Spending a buck on a Pet Naming Tag?
Me: You really know how to spoil a story.

Dream of Mirror Online’s item mall has finally updated!  Maewen’s must have item this time around:  Pupu Wings Earmuffs.  Of course, this means that she also has to get a pink outfit to match the pink earmuffs.  Female Zombie Outfit it is!  Since she’s getting the zombie dress, though, might as well get the hat; can’t split up a set.  Besides, it’ll look awesome with a Bounty Hunter Outfit.  Well, that Zombie Charm is part of the set, too,  so-

Maewen: That’s enough!  The Zombie Hat already has a charm on it.  And they both cover up my pretty face!  Think of your dwindling inventory space.
Me: Hrrm…I’m only a few AP short of a costume box.
Maewen: You do realize that in one month of DoMO, you’ve spent about five months worth of WoW, do you not?
Me: Imagine if you could wear pink Pupu Wings Earmuffs in WoW!
Maewen: /squeal  That would be so cute!  Wait, don’t sidetrack me!

There are certain quests I will always discard. In World of Warcraft, those would be anything involving PvP. In Dream of Mirror Online, those would be any quest that absolutely requires a group, such as Drill Sergeant or any Eversun Elder Team Quest.  Actually, no that’s not true; I still keep Drill Sergeant around in case anyone ever asks me for help with it so I can kill two birds with one stone–help someone and get a quest done.  What I meant is that I discard any quest that requires me to recruit a group for myself.  I still don’t have the courage for that.

Helping someone else with a Team Quest is a different story.  A hearty thank you from the team recruiter for basically just standing in front of the elder!  Doesn’t it make you feel good?  It makes me feel good.

Maewen: You’re such a narcissist.  Is that why you had me suffer in WoW as a holy paladin?  So you could be thanked?
Me: No, actually, that started because I was too stupid to realize there were other tabs to put the talent points in.  Sorry.

A Star Hairpin from Dream of Mirror Online‘s item mall is actually pretty darn expensive when compared to items I can wear on my own head in this place called RL.  As of this writing, the hairpin is 549 points, which speaking in terms of actual cash, is over $5.00.  I realized when I bought it that I could probably get a headband or two in real life with stars on it for less than that and even a friend later pointed that out when I told him, but I like to consider it part of the whole package.  I would need to spend a lot more  than $25.00 to either make or buy something such as an Illusionist Outfit in real life, so it’s actually a bargain!

Maewen: /snort Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

That thing I said about the item mall sucking and being happy that I wasn’t tempted to spend anything?  It’s totally not true anymore, although I wish it were because I miss the money–almost four months worth of WoW–I just dumped on Dream of Mirror Online.  The item mall still hasn’t changed, but I’ve started reading the forums and apparently there are real people behind it, taking players’ suggestions about what should go in there and listening to their concerns about what shouldn’t, killing the in-game economy and whatnot.  Or a person, at least.  Go figure.  I still miss the days when the item mall spoiled me, though.

So how could I have possibly spent so much money if the item mall hasn’t changed?  Great promotional bundles!  Well, not so great because the items aren’t actually things I want.  Why level up twice as fast?  I’d like to savor my dings.  But look at how awesome that Red Bounty Hunter Outfit is on Maewen in the fading sunlight of Collington!  Bah, hateful bundles.  I took the shelf-clogging Nintendogs with both my DS’s because I liked the colors and now I take inventory-clogging items in DoMO because I want things like an Illusionist Outfit.  Oh well, at least I can see myself using the reset stat pills someday.

Maewen: Wait, I thought we were going with that elegant Red Dragon Dress!
Me: I don’t have a red bow that would look nice with it and your black one has polka dots.  It would look strange.
Maewen: It would look strange with an Illusionist Outfit, too!
Me: No, no, I bought the Star Hairpin!  They’ll look great together!
Maewen: You’re just bound and determined to turn me into a magical girl, aren’t you?

Maybe restocking day has changed since I was last playing Dream of Mirror Online, but Monday has almost come and gone on the west coast and the costume section looks no different.  (I’m on the East, so Monday for me actually has come and gone.)  Should I be happy that I’m not tempted to spend anything or sad that there’s nothing exciting to shop for?  Bah, at least I already have my two favorite outfits.

Maewen: They’re your two favorite outfits now because I’ve spent a significant amount of time wearing them in front of you.  You can’t honestly say that they were your two favorites when-
Me: I think Nao misses you.  You should-
Maewen: Actually, this goth stuff is divine and I’m so glad you got them for me!  /twirl

Originally, the post was titled, “Dream of Mirror Online‘s item mall sucks” and I was going to rant about how ridiculous it was for virtual items to have limited stock.  I always like to argue everything I post with myself, though, and remembered that there are actually a lot of limited stock items sold by World of Warcraft‘s vendors, yet I don’t think of them as ridiculous, mainly because I don’t have that strong a desire for any of those items.  Just because I don’t want those items doesn’t mean I can apply a different set of logic, though, so I had to re-evaluate my rant and demote it to “insane ramblings of a whiny player that even said whiny player doesn’t want to read about”.

That being said, DoMO‘s item mall was a lot more exciting when I last visited it a few months ago.  Even on days when it hadn’t just been restocked, there were multiple pages of costumes and now there’s just one.  Prices would fluctuate as sales started or expired, items were constantly being changed to display  the “sold out” label, and there were pricey-but-oh-so-worth-it costume bundles.  Now, it might as well be a static page.

If the lack of “sold out” items means that they aren’t atificially limiting stock anymore or that they’ve just started not displaying “sold out” items anymore, then great.  If the lack of sales just means they don’t want players to expect sales all the time then…well, not great, but I can understand and I can deal.  The diminished variety of costumes, though?  How do you go from what used to be three pages for most of the week to just one?  I don’t know if this is because all temporary costumes were moved to the in-game item mall only, (were they?) but I remember drooling over a lot more than the loli and bunny costumes, and I only drool over non-sold-out permanents.