Newbie Guide

Your First Days on Aywas
Greetings, oh intrepid internet traveller! If you're here, odds are you've recently joined the Aywas community. Feeling a bit lost? Not sure where to start amongst all the features? This guide will help you get your bearings and get started. While it'll be easier if you go through these activities more or less in order, they can be done at any time. The first thing you should read is the Aywas Terms of Service (ToS for short). You may be tempted to skip this, but it has a lot of important site rules in it and a minimum of legal garble. Go read it, this guide will still be here when you get back.

What can I do on Aywas?

The main "goal" of Aywas is collecting, creating, and potentially breeding over 100 kinds of creatures. There are thousands of official colorations for you to add to your Lair, and you can create your own unique custom pets. There are also games and contests to participate in, loads of items both magical and mundane, seasonal events, and our Forums to get connected to the Aywas community.

User-Generated Content

Aywas' special features mostly involve being able to submit your own content. This includes pet colorations (for everyone to collect), customs (for just you), items, Human Avatar clothing and accessories (for both the site and custom only), breeding offspring, even your very own unique species.

Newbie Package
Every new account starts off with a Newbie Package- though you can open it as the site suggests, or you could try selling it instead, as it's a limited quantity item. If you do choose to open it, there are lots of useful items in there to get you started.


 * The Random Egg can be hatched into a pet, however it will take three days to do so at the Phoenix Tree.
 * Diamond Sword & Strange Mask - You'll have two pieces of Equipment; save those for your Explore/Adventure pet.
 * Blue Tranqs are supposed to be used to catch pets - however they have not yet been coded to work with the successor to Explore, Adventure. You'll need a Net instead.
 * The Shirt Rags and Pants Rags are to dress your Human Avatar, should you choose to use one.
 * Blue Orb - this will give you five extra Pet Slots in your Lair to hold more pets.
 * Rainbow Sushi, Cup of Joe - these are edible items, that restore Hunger and Energy, respectively.

Get your First Pet
While the on-site guide directs you to buy your first pet from the Little Shop of Horrors(Now named Miksa's Exotic Pet Emporium), there are many other options for acquiring your first pet. The most common species you'll be able to get early on are Common or Uncommon, however you may be able to get your hands on rarer pets from generous users or auctions.

Adoption Center (Play > Adoption Center)

The Adoption Center has homeless pets in need of owners; once per hour you can get a free pet here. If you don't see anything you like, refresh the page to see different pets. Generally you won't find anything but the most common pets up for adoption, but hey, it's free! The Adoption Center can be accessed under (Play > Adoption Center).

| Take me to the Adoption Center

Newbie Giveaways (Forums > Newbie Giveaways)

There's an entire subforum dedicated to helping out new players - head on over and you'll find a wealth of free items, free pets, and useful advice. You can generally pick up a pet (or two, or three... or more) there for nothing at all, though don't be greedy - and keep in mind you have a limited number of pet slots to hold your pets! Giveaway pets have the advantage of often being much higher level and/or rarity than those you can find from other places. And hey, free stuff!

| Take me to the Newbie Giveaways Forum

Terrariums

If you just want lots of pets right now, Terrariums might be the way to go. They are themed to a specific Adventure area (such as Desert or Rainforest) and will produce a random pet from that area. You can pick up Terrariums in User Shops (Shop Search for "terrarium"), the Explore Shop, or randomly from some games. It's worth checking out the Pets by Explore Region to see what the possibilities are. Be aware that terrarium pets always start at Level 1, so they're probably not a good choice if destined to be your Adventure pet.

Eggs (World > Phoenix Tree)

There are two kinds of eggs that you can hatch, Random Egg and Truly Random Egg - both yield a random pet, though the Truly Random Egg has an equal chance of producing any non-Custom pet, while the Random Egg is more likely to give you a Common or Uncommon Pet. Eggs must be incubated at the Phoenix Tree in order to hatch, and it takes 72 hours for them to do so. The Rosetta helps you hatch your egg faster, but it's probably not worth the price for random eggs. Newly hatched pets start at Level 1, so they'll need a lot of help if destined to be your Adventure pet.

Shops (Shop > Shop Listing)

If you've got currency to spare, you can buy some spiffy looking designer pets at the various official shops. Little Pet Shop of Horrors - The stock here rotates quarter annually (Now named Miksa's Exotic Pet Emporium). GP Shop, BP Shop - New pets arrive here every month. The Cash Shop requires Gold Paws. Annoying Item Bazaar - You can trade in copious quantities of certain items for special pets here. Trash for Treasure - Exchange your Trash Points (from the Trash Dump) for pets. Additionally, you can search for specific pet colorations for sale under Shop Search (Shop > Shop Search)

Pet Auctions (Shop > Pet Auctions)

If handouts are not to your taste, or you're in search of something unusual, try the Pet Auctions. There are always pets available for bidding, many going for very little BP. While you can search by species and color, start by looking at the auctions ending shortly. Clicking on a pet will take you to its auction listing; clicking on the pet's ID will show you it's Statistics, Level, and Rarity, amongst other things. Ideally you're looking for a pet that appeals to you, is above level 5, and has a low starting bid/bid increment.

| Take me to the Pet Auctions

Pet Sales (Community > Forums > Pet Sales)

This isn't likely to be the place you get your first pet, but if there's something specific you want, and you've got currency to spare, odds are someone's selling it in the Pet Sales forum. Most Admin Distributed and Custom pets end up here. It's worth taking a look, you might find someone who's having a sale. Pets can also be picked up in user shops just like items. To see what's available, go to the Shop Search page and scroll down to the bottom. Pick your species, and make sure you check off "For Sale" before submitting your search. You can also specify a price range, useful if you're on a budget.

| Take me to the Pet Sales Forum ~ | Take me to Shop Search

Capture Wild Pets (World > Adventure)

You can't get your first pet from Adventure - you'll need at least one pet companion already before you're allowed to explore the wilds of Ay and Ara. For more information about capturing wild pets, see Part 4: Adventure.

Lair
Your Lair (Pets > Lair) holds all your pets - initially you won't be able to have more than a few. Each pet in your Lair or Shop takes up one slot. If you have no available slots, you won't be able to acquire any new pets. You'll need special Pet Slot items to increase the size of your Lair. In Settings (Account > Settings > Get Pet Slots), this is where you can use the Blue Orb that was included in your Newbie Pack to increase the number of pets you're allowed to have by five. There are nine items which boost the size of your Lair - Vials, Orbs and Shards in Blue, Gold and Silver. If you're in need of more space it's worth the effort to shop around for the best per-slot price.

Silver Shards are available from the BP Shop at a fixed rate for 100 extra pet slots, and are generally the most economical. However you probably won't have enough BP to afford one right off the bat, in which case Blue Vials and Gold Vials are also very good. They won't give you many extra spaces but they're easy to afford. Certain slot items are disproportionately expensive for their effect (such as Gold Shards) because few enter the economy and these nine items make up a Museum Collection which can be exchanged for a reward.

Initially all new pets are placed on the main page of your Lair, the Unsorted group. On the right sidebar are all your pets grouped by genus. This list will update automatically as you acquire new pets. You can create your own groupings under the Manage My Lair link at the top of your Lair page if you wish, which is quite handy when you begin to acquire large groups of pets. Many players like using custom groups to organize their pets by acquisition location or event. To place a pet into a group, choose the group name from the dropdown menu below one or more pet's names and ID numbers, then Update Groups.

My Pets page & Active Pets
The My Pets page (Pets > My Pets) lets you choose specific pets you'd like to have for quick reference using the drop down menu at the top. Many things can be easily modified for displayed pets from here, including setting the pet as your Active.

Your Active pet appears in the left hand sidebar, above your account information, PM box and on hand currency. They will be displayed with your Forum posts, and appear in Adventure. The background behind your active pet and the site theme are based on the last Adventure area you accessed.

Changing Existing Pets
Aywas do not die (unless you deliberately delete them). If you have a pet you don't want anymore, you can either release it into the wild from its Pet Page (delete), send it to another player, or put it up for adoption. You can also change your pet's appearance and species with potions. Random Potions will turn your pet into a random site coloration of the listed species or one of the possible special colorations. Check each potion's page for specifics. '''Be careful! Potions affect your currently active pet''', and there's no turning back once you pass the confirmation screen. Monthly Essences work similarly, altering your currently active pet into a randomly selected color for that month/year. Tiny Glittering Rocks and Glittering Rocks allow you to choose a new coloration for your pet. There are many other items which can change your pet's appearance, so pay attention to the item description before using unfamiliar potions or items!

If you have very expensive or valued customs, Locking that pet (on the My Pets page) might be a good idea. It'll cost you 5 GP per pet and prevents any further modification of that pet's image/species.

If you are unhappy with your pet's gender, you can alter it with a Gender Potion. With the Gender Potion in your Inventory, access your Pet's page and Edit pet. A new gender can be selected from the drop down menu. Gender has no in-game effects on Aywas - pets breed by magic, and it doesn't matter what gender the parents are.

Aywapedia
The Aywapedia is an encyclopedia of all site pets currently released. It also knows what is currently in your Lair and can be set to only show pets you haven't caught yet. The drop down menus let you pick a genus, location, and/or rarity of pet to limit your search with. The Location links currently point to the old system, Explore, so you'll manually have to go through the Adventure menu link to the correct area. Some seasonal areas may be inaccessible, such as the Holiday Lane or Spooky Forest. The BP and GP Search buttons will do a shop search to see if anyone is currently selling the listed species.

Rarity
You may have noticed on the Aywapedia and your Pet pages that every pet is given a Rarity. Pets vary from Very Common up through Legendary Rare, Admin Distributed, Retired and Special. The first ten groupings (Very Common, Common, Uncommon, Very Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, Super Rare, Ultra Rare, Hidden Rare and Legendary Rare) are all available in Adventure and apply to wild pets. Admin Distributed (AD) pets usually come from one of the official shops and are often available only for a limited time. Even old AD pets do still enter the economy, mostly through Miniature Phoenix Trees or Glittering Rocks.

Retired pet colorations were formerly available for capture in Adventure, but were a limited time release. Special pet colorations can only be acquired through special means, either an event distribution (such as those from the Cancer Awareness Charity Event) or through a potion, like all the Finns.

While Rarity can give you a general idea of a pet's value, the best way to price check a pet is to look it up in Shop Search. The Aywapedia also has a built-in pet lookup feature for easier shopping. The combination of a pet's scarcity and desirability dictate how much value it will have. In general pets freely available in Adventure do not fetch very much, while those that had a limited release have correspondingly higher prices.

Customs
For the full article, see Customs

The pets you find for sale in the official shops, released through events, and in Adventure are called site colorations - they exist as multiple copies of exactly the same pet, owned by many players. In contrast, a custom pet is generally unique, one of a kind. To create a custom pet, you'll need a custom creation item that matches both the genus and the level of edits for the pet, and a custom design. The base PSD (PhotoShop Document) files for all genera are freely available for download on Aywas, so you can design and color your own customs. For those who are not artistically inclined, you can always commission another player through the forums to make a design for you.

Edits refers to changes to the base pet, and/or the addition of accessories and items to it. An unedited custom design is often called "Metal", because the custom creation items used for them have the prefix metal; Metal Custom Crystal or Metal Custom Orb, for example. Most custom creation items have a limit on the amount of edits they are compatible with, expressed as a percentage of change when compared with the base file. Designs can be checked for compatibility in Skitty's Crystal Check thread (Forums > Help > Ask the Admin > What color crystal should I use?)

Customs can be anything you wish, limited only by your imagination and a few legal rules. Copyrighted material / designs are not allowed for customs, nor is duplicating an existing custom without permission. Commissions must take place on Aywas, to ensure the original artist is aware of the Terms of Service.


 * The official Custom Rules Thread

Breeding
For the full article, see Breeding