Well a lot of recent posts all over the forums, and discussions in world have directed me to believe that (big shocker) there isn't nearly as much information out there on how the "Regard Store" is intended to work.

Perhaps it's time we shift our discussions from products we like or don't like and start discussing some of the *concepts we like and don't like taking place. Hence.. the regard store. I want to see people's thoughts on how this regard store, thus far, is working(or not). I don't think you need anyone telling you to stfu if you're pro or against or need someone telling you how to behave in a thread, right? Right...Here we go.

My thoughts. I don't like the regard store as it stands. When I first heard about it, it was a grand idea. IN fact most breedables have *something similar(damnit I hate that we have to compare breedables so dang often, but we do, for discussion sake, sigh). My initial thought was that we'd have to be certain levels to get certain things. Brilliant, this is something most "reward programs" use, obviously. I thought, oooh, great, this will be a way for those who built up uber regard to USE their regard, especially if they don't think it's doing their roos any good. Awesome compromise, at least in theory. Since a lot of people have been saying, seeing, whatever, that their regard is doing them no good. At least this way, it would finally benefit them.

Then the items came out. I read what was said, that certain levels would be needed to get things(YAY!) and then I came to find out the items had an actual price tag. W T F. Yeah, that was my reaction, plain and simple. That's not how reward systems usually work. Ok I said, well, that's just odd, but let's see just how pricey these things are. Maybe it will take some reward points, and some lindens. Interesting concept, still not one I agree with, but I'll go with it. Further investigation shows that no, it does not take any regard(so wtf is the point of calling it a regard store again, oh, yeah, that it requires levels.. woopee), and the items have what most of us would probably call "normal" prices for things we'd see on marketplace. Sure, they may be cute, and helpful and nice that they are official. But I don't see anything that makes them so uber special that they ought to carry the price tags they do. It was then that the whole "they just want money" phrase continually popped into my head. This is a phrase that I have seen others saying for weeks now and I have been shooting it down left and right. "No, no no, that's not what they are about at all". Well, I can understand why some folks would say that now. Not that I didn't fully understand where people *might have been coming from before, because in some cases I did, I just thought it was a premature notion. Now, I'm not so sure. $500L for a treasure finder, that requires a level 10(not hard to get there folks, lol) and doesn't *really do anything significantly more grandiose than most other finders out there-EXCEPT that is has it's own features irrelevant to the actual action needed(ie, finding the treasure, which they all do). In fact I keep seeing several complaints that even though people LOVE them, they are beautiful and the animations and whatnot are fantastic, they are performing subpar. Sigh.

Ok, my idea.. Make the regard store actually mean something. Plain and simple, it should *take your regard to get an item. Don't charge folks a pricetag we'd expect to see on the product *outside of a reward program. Even reward programs that charge money for the rewards, don't charge full price for them and you still have to use your rewards to get them. I don't understand how a reward, in this case regard, program can even really be called such when the actual dependency on the regard aspect is minimal at best. I understand if later down the road, as the rewards get more sophisticated and more involved you might need to attach a price tag. I get it, completely. But these early on items, there is absolutely no reason at all why they should have a price tag. Especially not as high as it is. The pets themselves and their food and home prices are very reasonable, imo, very very reasonable. They are on par with the market we are in-breedables-and about what I expected. Sure some others may cost less, some may cost more, but I think overall they fall right about where I'd expect. But all this extra stuff, you're getting out of hand with these price tags. The statues, are adorable and very well made, but overpriced for something that doesn't even do anything. Most decor isn't worth that much to a lot of people in sl these days, when it doesn't actually DO anything. I kind of expected those prices to be high when I realized the regard store items had pricetags after seeing the statues. But honestly, I didn't expect a $500L tag. That's just, well, highway robbery, imo. ONLY because you're calling it a "regard store" item. It would likely not be seen as high priced if it wasn't part of a reward system. Granted, I wouldn't buy it either way, because I'm just cheap, but at least the price would make more sense. I *expect* a reward/regard item to be priced lower than it would in a regular sales position. I can picture as the rewards get further on being way more high priced and I can just picture the riot that will ensue when that happens.

Do you think the regard store items should cost money at all? Why, or why not?
Do you think they should simply cost regard points rather than lindens? Why, or why not?
Do you think perhaps even a combination of both would work well, if not better? Why or why not?
Any other ideas, thoughts, input? Please share, loads of people have loads of great ideas and it usually makes for a really great debate. I want to read what people have to say on this matter :D