Hello 👋

I've been working on expanding my pet list for the past week and noticed a feature, or perhaps an oversight, that I think would benefit from being reconsidered;

Getting pets unavailable through Create Pet such as the limited pets and ones with special colours like the harvest, nostalgic and steamwork pets requires a sequence of events to take place in which multiple items are used. I think having to put in work for obtaining certain pets is reasonable and don't have any issues with the mechanic itself. However in some cases, getting those items also takes a fair bit of guessing around and hoping for the best. I'm thinking of two case scenarios here because those are the only ones I've encountered so far but there might be more, I'm not sure.

The last step to getting a nostalgic pet requires However as pictured below, Vanya will ask for "magic essence" instead, making it unclear at first glance which item he's referring to since in the item directory no such item will show up considering it doesn't exist.

For a long-time player that might not be an issue but for a new player it could be quite frustrating. When you're still working on increasing sP going around to buy whicever item begins with "essence" and seeing what sticks isn't actually very fun gameplay. It also makes the item directory obsolete in this context.

Getting a Zentu has a similar event occur, where the player will be tasked to bring "glittering jewelry" making it once again unclear as to which item that's referring to since no item is named "glittering jewelry".

I understand that it might be a way to engage the player in figuring it out through some investigation around the site but as is, there's no way of opting-out of that besides asking for the solution on the forums. I think keeping those vague titles but adding a hyperlink might solve it. Players that just want the item can find out which it is and those looking for a challenge can still have it by ignoring the link. Ultimately this is only a minor problem and I understand that it wouldn't take priority over more pressing issues but I figured I'd post it anyway, in case it's helpful at all.

Subeta has a FAQ that you can search with cntrl+F. Nostalgic is answered in the FAQ under Help. link

The Zentu was meant to be mysterious and to get you by your curiosity. We were told this by staff when this species first appeared.

Asking for solutions on the forums encourages player interaction, which is something Subeta aims for as a general policy. It is intentional.

...Asking for solutions on the forums encourages player interaction, which is something Subeta aims for as a general policy. It is intentional.

Yeah, sometimes you just don't even know you should be asking. There are items on site that have strange or mysterious "warnings" as jokes that mean nothing, so it can be hard to tell that sometimes these things can really change your pet in unexpected ways.

I can see a case for being more clear on what's needed for Nostalgic pets, since if you weren't around for their initial release, it's not too obvious that Essence of Melody is the essence he's talking about, as opposed to say, a Rainbow Essence (which is sold in a shop for "magical" spell ingredients) or an Essence of Santia Lucia (which also has to do with a winter holiday) - either of which would be logical conclusions to come to if you were trying to puzzle it out yourself. Granted, it wouldn't take long or much sP (at least at the time I'm writing this) to figure out neither were correct, but all the same, I think most people would appreciate having a better idea up front what exactly was needed.

The Zentu baths, on the other hand, I don't think need any more clarification, because more than one item will work. A jewelry item from the shop All That Glitters, I think, could be worked out pretty quickly from the text given. But I wouldn't object to a link to the shop in question being put in, if people thought it was necessary.

Overall though, I think a little more clarity wouldn't hurt, especially for players that don't speak English as a first language. (Which also could also prevent some people from asking on the forums for help.)

I disagree. Try SubetaLodge and https://subeta.net/explore/directory_building.php to find out this information. Asking on the forums is also an option but it will be much slower.

Getting clarity because you don't happen to speak English is a fault of the site and not on you.