UI Update
I've completely switched the current server-side rendered UI to client-side rendered. This change will reduce server load, result in smaller response sizes, and make the UI feel much snappier! This was a very large project, and I appreciate any bug reports or feedback on missing accessibility options you might find.

Auction House
The auction house now supports buy and sell orders. Players can create sell orders to list items for sale, and buyers can create buy orders to purchase items. If a buy order matches a sell order of equal or greater value, the auction house will automatically complete the transaction, sending Gacha Coins to the seller and the items to the buyer. A fee will be applied for selling items on the auction house.

New Equipment Forge System

• Mines will now drop various types of embers, replacing the blacksmith that was available every 10 levels. Take them to the blacksmith in town to forge your equipment.
  
• Players can choose which embers to forge onto their equipment and can extract them to experiment with different combinations.
  
• The cost of forging embers will increase with each forge of the same type, using Gacha Coins.
  
• Higher rarity embers will have a higher forging cost.
  
• When extracting an ember, players will receive both the ember and a 99.9% refund of the Gacha Coins spent on forging.
  
• Refinement will now increase the attributes of strength, intelligence, speed, and vitality by 2% per refinement level. For example, equipment refined to +100 will triple the attributes from embers and forge bonuses.
  
• You can now apply multiple Orbs of Tempering and Whetstones at the blacksmith in town.

Auto Battle Mode
This highly requested feature has been added to the browser version of Gacha Pets. While not everyone favors auto battles, I believe it's a necessary addition given that other similar games offer this mode. I'm currently investing how I might add an auto battle mode to Alexa.

Alexa Commands Update
Almost all of the commands on Alexa have been reworked. All of the commands that you've been using should still work, but they should hopefully work better now. If I missed any commands that you've previously used, please let us know!

Misc. Changes

• Purchasing gacha eggs and ancient amber on Alexa will now grant Supporter Tokens. You can use these tokens to visit the Supporter Shop and see what's available to supporters.
  
• Daycare battles are now once a minute rather than 10 battles every 10 minutes.
  
• The activity log now allows you to type commands into it. The commands that you can type are the same as what you can say to Alexa. While working on the UI update, a lot of the UI was completely broken and I made a chat interface to navigate the game. I ended up really liking it and made it a part of the game!
  
• Skill mastery has been nerfed. It has gone from 10 times damage at level 10 to 2 times damage at level 10. We're hoping that this change and some of the new embers coming with Update 8 will allow people to stack defenses and be able to take a few hits...

Update 8 is Coming Soon!
Update 8 will introduce two new locations in town: the Tavern and the University. The Tavern will serve as a quest hub, featuring 200 quests at launch, with more to be added in future updates. The University will offer courses that trainers can take to gain various bonuses, such as increased equipment refining chances, increased Gacha Coins, increased crop yields, and more!

I hope these changes enhance your gameplay experience and allow for more flexibility and enjoyment in forging and equipment management. Thank you for your continued support and feedback! If you're wanting to receive game updates via email, make sure to sign up to our newsletter. I'll be sending out a gift with the Update 8 newsletter! Also, please be sure to check out our new Terms of Use page!

Thanks for playing Gacha Pets!
- Matt