I'm not sure whether to put this here or in Help & Questions.

I remember the month where we had a dinosaur theme, and at the end, we would be told that Bhakoru creation would be made available, but then it was delayed.

That was back in 2022, right? So a year and several months ago. I only just remembered it now, and it seems like we all forgot because we never had an update about if it was still being worked on or if it was put on hold for an indefinite amount of time.

So I thought I'd bring it up again and ask what's going on with it and if it will be available eventually. I'm not desperate for one as a pet, this is mainly feedback relating to communication and the fact that people might go looking through the news archives and see posts about it but then not see a post saying it was cancelled or put on an indefinite hold.

The same goes for the Fireside story contest that was proposed back in 2019. It ended up delayed, and we were told it would be re-purposed for a different holiday, but then that never happened. I think that was mainly because the staff member who was in charge of it went on maternity leave, but then afterwards it seemed to have been completely forgotten about with no "Sorry, the contest is cancelled" announcement or anything. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't think it's good if things are announced but then cancelled or put on an indefinite hold without that also being announced. At least we had a bit of that with the Teahouse (but it would still be good have an update on that as well because it seems like that has been forgotten as well).

I understand that you're short-staffed and working on a new website where things will hopefully work better, but like I said, this is more about communication rather than delivering on your promises. It's alright if you can't do everything, or if it's taking a while, we'd just like to be more informed about it if it was already announced. I don't know if you have other plans that you haven't announced for this very reason.

Wow! I actually didn't realize the Bhakoru was a pet that couldn't be readily made / attained! Just looked it up in the FAQ and found this:

"Bhakoru, which is a pet species that was released with the end of the Steele Excavations Plot in 2011. Those who managed to reach a certain level have the ability to create these pets using a magical crystal. If you do not have this access, you can also use a Miracle Potion II on an existing pet or transform an existing pet into a nostalgic bhakoru (see above section on special colors). You can also ask users with access to create one for you. But be aware that if they are placed in the pound, they will turn into a kumos, so make sure you use the transfer feature."

I think it would be cool if another plot was released, even a simple one, that ended with the Bhakoru being available to everyone (to create), or elixirs released for common and all the "common pose" recolors (like other species have). I think if a plot is too much right now, it would also be nice to have a quest-a-thon with that being one of the prizes (that we as a community reach the goal and everyone is then able to make one regardless of participation). Anything that involves the whole community is a plus! In the end though, I think even a news post saying something like "new discovery at the excavation site" to roll out this feature for all would be cool!

I didn't.

it can also be attained by getting the Nostalgic Bhakoru Instructions (token shop and user shops) to make the Nostalgic Bhakoru toy (user shop) and Essence of Melody (user shop,/ lumi event calendar) to create a Nostalgic Bhakoru pet then change the color.

us old users who did the plot and used to have access to create the Bhakoru can no longer do so. The old plot area that we could use to do that has been shut down. I don't know if it was glitched before or if it was closed in the process of making it available to all, but either way we can't get to anymore either.

I think, other than the nostalgic workaround, you can still zap a chibi Bhakoru. Not sure if you can zap other Bhakoru, but I personally zapped a chibi one, so I know that can happen for sure.

Oh! I didn't know those who once could could not anymore! Thank you for sharing that. Sounds like Amber is on it. :)

I also didn't know the plot prize wasn't available anymore. I wouldn't mind if it was only available on Kumos as part of trying to get everything moved there. It would be a good way to remind people that it exists.

im a big fan of bhakorus and i hope they come back soon!!! having access to creating them as a reward from the plot was a fun perk (and one that i loved having) but yeah, im glad they will be more available, hopefully in the near future!

i would love to see more colors as well one day :D and bhaorku related items for me to collect, as i already have all the (non-recolor) bhakorus and all the bhakoru items on site haha

Could the old page with the Bhakoru crystal at least be put back up? It's not a perfect solution since only people who finished that plot would have access to it. But at least that would be better than the way it is now, where no one has access to it.

Or could it just be put back up and become "open to the public" or something so anyone can access it?

I guess I'm just wondering why it got taken down in the first place. Was it bugged? Unfinished project? Or what?

. I’ve zapped a few colors over the years, most recently a graveyard, just a few weeks ago.

I always have a pet being zapped daily, so I don’t know how easy they’d be to get if you only zapped occasionally, but I wouldn’t say they’re any more difficult than any other species.

this has been in talks for years now. it might just be time to unceremoniously be like "it's a saherimos miracle! thanks to the sand spirit, bhakorus are now available any time, for anyone! go make one now!"

and then there's a page (you could just put it on the old dig site page) with a button to make one. maybe you have to pay with sP or a certain type of item like for zentus, or maybe it's just free. hell, maybe they just get added to the regular pet creation page with all the othe normal species. doesn't much matter.

either way, no need to fuss over new features or introducing it with a narrative/plot/event. would you say this might be another one of those "wanting to do it in a cool way is just preventing it from getting done at all" situations?

I'm not a real big pet person but I'd be happy to play along with some "For the Bhakoru restoration project, pay me 2m to adopt one".

Or can we put it in the same pile with the story contest and the teahouse?

i could be wrong but i thought i remembered the page being taken down in preparation to make them available for everyone, and then that just... never happened. it was like a "don't mind us we're just taking this down to work on doing something cool with it and when it comes back everyone will be able to use it!" type situation but whatever the plan was must have fallen by the wayside and gotten dropped in favor of more important projects/fixes.

i guess i don't know how the functionalities to create specific pet species work behind the scenes, though, so maybe it's not so simple to just transplant the button somewhere that doesn't check for whether or not you completed the plot all those years ago...

I could've sworn it was broken even before being taken down, and then got taken down with the intent to make them available for everyone which never happened. but I wasn't around for the plot so I never had access before so I could be wrong