I've done this analysis as a follow up to several DLC releases and it's time to do it again I think. I did a twist on it after the Twilight reveal by looking at just the meta-list's higher ranked animals and why/how they'd be candidates. I'm going to go back to the original form and wow, we've come a long way this past year. We will have gotten 27 new animals and really bolstered some of the taxonomic families and regions of the world.
I'm looking at 4 packs for next year hopefully. While I'm hoping that we'll get a full pack dedicated to aviary birds, or a healthy amount of aviary birds in each pack. I'm going to leave those off for discussion. Birds that can fly but spend a good portion of their time on the ground (similar to the Red Crowned Crane) are fine to include - that'd be your storks, cranes, ibises, and the like. Also leaving off fully marine animals. Exhibit animals are fine to include as well.
This kind of falls into 5 main categories - animals with a high level of general recognizability that would appeal to not just the core players, but more casual players as well; animals that are high profile enough to stand out individually by their absence; animals from a family that have low representation in the game versus their extant species; animals in general from regions that need more representation; and animals that have signs/props/something in the game already. Please keep in mind this is not a personal wishlist, but that doesn't mean that your animals from your own wishlist can't make it in here.
Animals with a high level of general recognizability: I'm going to bring in 5 animals for this section, 3 mammals and 2 exhibit animals. While many of us on the forum would recognize hundreds of animals yet in the game, I think it's important to note that including animals that are well known and easily identified can play a role in marketing towards a more casual player. I made the comment before that even though the Tasmanian Devil is our community's most wanted animal, many people would have no idea what they're looking at and would think it was a giant rat. Doesn't preclude them from being added, but I don't feel like they're an animal a casual player would regularly recognize.
The 3 mammals that I think would fall into the category would be the Walrus, a Sloth, and a Porcupine (probably more old world than new). Since the Conservation pack I've been set that the latter 2 were the only animals that really fell into this category, but I've come to realize that the Walrus would definitely be included as well. The 2 exhibit animals are a species of a Chameleon, and a species of Cobra. I'd be bold enough to actually say that Cobra is possibly the most recognizable "current game mechanics" animal not in the game at this point. We have yet to even get another snake in a DLC, and I think if we did, it would absolutely need to be a Cobra. We even have building pieces with it, so it's omission makes even less sense.
Animals that are high profile enough to stand out individually by their absence: I'd put all of the above in this group as well, except possibly the Walrus. I'm not sure on zoo holdings but I've never really thought of a Walrus as being a zoo type of animal. But, I'll concede it. I'm also going to put our spicy friend the Tasmanian Devil in here. While the general public may not be well versed about them, zoo/animal fans are. We've spoken and it's been reigning on the top of the list for 6 months now, and will continue to do so until A:it's included or B: we get aviary-system birds, but there ends up being an aviary-system bird that ends up being even more popular. I'd also add in the Kiwi and the Secretary Bird here.
Animals from a family that have low representation in the game versus their extant species: We've come a ways on this one now. We now have 3 mustelids (3.5 if you do include the Skunk), 3 rodents, 4 deer, and 4 marsupials. By number count we're alright here though of course I think many of us would like to see more. What remains low in representation are the Equids and the Suideas/Suinas. We actually have no Suinas at all, but from a visual standpoint, they're fairly similar to Suideas. At any rate, we need another pig type animal. We have 2, 1 from base game and 1 from DLC after 3 years. The same situation for the Equids; we need another horse animal. I'd personally pick the Red River Hog and Persian Onager, but there's other options.
With a smaller number of extant species, these next couple are not quite as urgent, but still worthy of note. The Procyonidae family could use another representative such as the Coati, but I could understand if we ended up not getting it. We also have only 1 Viverridae, and I feel like we could use another, I'd probably pick the African Civet but other options are out there.
If we wanted to break down the bovidae with sheep, goats and cows, we could, but they're still all under same family.
This is a little different since it includes both region and family, but New World Primates. I'm not a huge primate fan so I'd be fine with just 1 more, but I know it's more critical for many players. 3-5 more New World Primates would get us to most people's minimum. Old World Primates may not be quite as critical to add, but I think another couple of them would get us to the minimum needed. Particularly, another Gibbon, which is almost a certain probability at some point. The Baboon would be another highly requested addition.
Animals in general from regions that need more representation: There's 3 main areas of the world that have a low level of representation, but it's getting better, especially with the Grassland pack adding 2 more to each Oceania and South America. In general then, the North Africa/Middle East is very low in representation and could use at least a scenery pack's worth of additional animals. Oceania and South America still need a handful of animals each to really get us to the point of decent representation - indeed with 4 primates as mentioned above, and the sloth, we'd probably be right where most would consider the minimum necessities.
Animals that have signs/props/something in the game already: This is pretty standard explanation and I think I've covered them all - the Black Rhino, the Dromedary and the aforementioned Cobra (and a Sloth poster!). I honestly don't even care if we don't get either the Rhino or Dromedary, but the decor is there. It seems odd not to have them in as yet.
So all in all, that's where I'm at with this. If we included say 4 new world primates and 2 old world primates, that's 20 animals total. Taking into account personal wishlist bias, just as an example of how that can play into it, 10 (including one general New World primate) would fall into my top 30 wants. ....I really really really wanted to add in the Wolverine and Shoebill Stork, but I don't feel like they fit any of the criteria unfortunately.
I'm looking at 4 packs for next year hopefully. While I'm hoping that we'll get a full pack dedicated to aviary birds, or a healthy amount of aviary birds in each pack. I'm going to leave those off for discussion. Birds that can fly but spend a good portion of their time on the ground (similar to the Red Crowned Crane) are fine to include - that'd be your storks, cranes, ibises, and the like. Also leaving off fully marine animals. Exhibit animals are fine to include as well.
This kind of falls into 5 main categories - animals with a high level of general recognizability that would appeal to not just the core players, but more casual players as well; animals that are high profile enough to stand out individually by their absence; animals from a family that have low representation in the game versus their extant species; animals in general from regions that need more representation; and animals that have signs/props/something in the game already. Please keep in mind this is not a personal wishlist, but that doesn't mean that your animals from your own wishlist can't make it in here.
Animals with a high level of general recognizability: I'm going to bring in 5 animals for this section, 3 mammals and 2 exhibit animals. While many of us on the forum would recognize hundreds of animals yet in the game, I think it's important to note that including animals that are well known and easily identified can play a role in marketing towards a more casual player. I made the comment before that even though the Tasmanian Devil is our community's most wanted animal, many people would have no idea what they're looking at and would think it was a giant rat. Doesn't preclude them from being added, but I don't feel like they're an animal a casual player would regularly recognize.
The 3 mammals that I think would fall into the category would be the Walrus, a Sloth, and a Porcupine (probably more old world than new). Since the Conservation pack I've been set that the latter 2 were the only animals that really fell into this category, but I've come to realize that the Walrus would definitely be included as well. The 2 exhibit animals are a species of a Chameleon, and a species of Cobra. I'd be bold enough to actually say that Cobra is possibly the most recognizable "current game mechanics" animal not in the game at this point. We have yet to even get another snake in a DLC, and I think if we did, it would absolutely need to be a Cobra. We even have building pieces with it, so it's omission makes even less sense.
Animals that are high profile enough to stand out individually by their absence: I'd put all of the above in this group as well, except possibly the Walrus. I'm not sure on zoo holdings but I've never really thought of a Walrus as being a zoo type of animal. But, I'll concede it. I'm also going to put our spicy friend the Tasmanian Devil in here. While the general public may not be well versed about them, zoo/animal fans are. We've spoken and it's been reigning on the top of the list for 6 months now, and will continue to do so until A:it's included or B: we get aviary-system birds, but there ends up being an aviary-system bird that ends up being even more popular. I'd also add in the Kiwi and the Secretary Bird here.
Animals from a family that have low representation in the game versus their extant species: We've come a ways on this one now. We now have 3 mustelids (3.5 if you do include the Skunk), 3 rodents, 4 deer, and 4 marsupials. By number count we're alright here though of course I think many of us would like to see more. What remains low in representation are the Equids and the Suideas/Suinas. We actually have no Suinas at all, but from a visual standpoint, they're fairly similar to Suideas. At any rate, we need another pig type animal. We have 2, 1 from base game and 1 from DLC after 3 years. The same situation for the Equids; we need another horse animal. I'd personally pick the Red River Hog and Persian Onager, but there's other options.
With a smaller number of extant species, these next couple are not quite as urgent, but still worthy of note. The Procyonidae family could use another representative such as the Coati, but I could understand if we ended up not getting it. We also have only 1 Viverridae, and I feel like we could use another, I'd probably pick the African Civet but other options are out there.
If we wanted to break down the bovidae with sheep, goats and cows, we could, but they're still all under same family.
This is a little different since it includes both region and family, but New World Primates. I'm not a huge primate fan so I'd be fine with just 1 more, but I know it's more critical for many players. 3-5 more New World Primates would get us to most people's minimum. Old World Primates may not be quite as critical to add, but I think another couple of them would get us to the minimum needed. Particularly, another Gibbon, which is almost a certain probability at some point. The Baboon would be another highly requested addition.
Animals in general from regions that need more representation: There's 3 main areas of the world that have a low level of representation, but it's getting better, especially with the Grassland pack adding 2 more to each Oceania and South America. In general then, the North Africa/Middle East is very low in representation and could use at least a scenery pack's worth of additional animals. Oceania and South America still need a handful of animals each to really get us to the point of decent representation - indeed with 4 primates as mentioned above, and the sloth, we'd probably be right where most would consider the minimum necessities.
Animals that have signs/props/something in the game already: This is pretty standard explanation and I think I've covered them all - the Black Rhino, the Dromedary and the aforementioned Cobra (and a Sloth poster!). I honestly don't even care if we don't get either the Rhino or Dromedary, but the decor is there. It seems odd not to have them in as yet.
So all in all, that's where I'm at with this. If we included say 4 new world primates and 2 old world primates, that's 20 animals total. Taking into account personal wishlist bias, just as an example of how that can play into it, 10 (including one general New World primate) would fall into my top 30 wants. ....I really really really wanted to add in the Wolverine and Shoebill Stork, but I don't feel like they fit any of the criteria unfortunately.
