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I feel the best approach to the cosmetics for mounts/pets is release different flavors of the same creature, but leaving the base model as a in game achievable, in example, we can have the Giant Turtle obtainable in game, but the cosmos turtle as a cash shop skin. I honestly didn't like how vanilla the rabbit mount we got in the cash shop looks, that would make really hard for a rabbit mount to be obtainable in game... I would totally love to see different flavors of mounts being sold for real money tho.
Hiya! Just a couple of quick notes here - first, the cosmetic pets/mounts that have been released are variants of creatures that will be visible in-game, such as NPCs you may be fighting! These NPCs may have a variety of different looks and styles based on the environment they're located in and other factors (so there's not necessarily a "base" version), and the version available as a cosmetic would then only be available as a skin in that regard. These creatures are all ones that are needed to populate Verra anyways, so offering a version in the Shop works in tandem with creating other versions for in-game!
In addition, here's a bit more on what we've shared as our plans for in-game achievable goodies as well:
"Equitable cosmetics, both from a quantity and quality standpoint, are achievable through in-game means. Cosmetics achievable in-game will be on-par, and in the case of legendary skins, even more elaborate than shop items." (reference with sources)