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RabidWhovian

Possible Cave Blocker Fix

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Maybe the spriters could produce "shiny"* versions of common dragons (yes, like Pokémon), to create demand for them. Since this site does have that sort of "gotta catch 'em all" feel, it would make sense.

 

This would reduce the number of cave blockers, for example the Guardian dragons blocking the Volcano right now during a new release, and give people another layer of collection. It would require a lot of time and effort, and maybe not every species would get an alternative, but... just an idea?

 

I don't know if this would violate any copyright, but if not, the "shiny" chance would be very low. Hey, maybe they could even add a dragon with a BSA that tells you if an egg is "shiny."

 

The chance to get a "shiny" egg would probably be in the... 10% range? 5%? (Maybe higher, since it takes so long to hatch eggs)

 

Oh, and maybe "shinies" can only appear in the Cave. Again, as an anti-cave blocker.

 

The eggs of "shinies" would look no different than normal eggs and have identical descriptions.

 

And after all, some dragons already have alternates that people who are not spriters can get (Black, Dark Green). Quick palet swaps (in theory) would be a much smaller burden than making new sprites for every common dragon.

 

 

 

 

 

*Instead of "shiny," they could be called "discolored" or "saturated" or "desaturated," etc. The color changes would just be a palet swap, by the way. Change the Guardian's blue to a red, the Mint's green to a light pink, whatever.

 

P.S. It is likely that only species with Common (maaaaaybe Uncommon) rarities would get "shiny" versions.

 

P.P.S "Shiny" dragons would be identical to their normal counterparts. No new BSA, no nothing. They'd basically exist for anti-cave blocking and as bragging rights.

Edited by RabidWhovian

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The main problem here is getting permission from the artists involved, as most of them are rather dubious about adding "shinies".

 

Another point that came up in an earlier discussion with the very same suggestion was that a lot of players don't to collect color morphs (same sprite, different color - as with stripes, gemshards, undines, ridgewings, pyralspites or dorsals.

 

Also, in order to make use of "shinies" in lineages, there absolutely needs to be a chance for them to breed true or even be bred from regular ancestors.

 

All it takes for this suggestion to be shot down is one artist to put their foot down and saying no. And believe me when I say this, but there're enough artists out there who will do just that.

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Palette swaps aren't that "quick" if you want them to look nice. You need to change every color and shade separately - which, in case of some really colorful breeds, may take time. At least that's what I do, I really don't like playing with hue/saturation value settings which tend to screw things up here and there.

 

Getting permission from all the artists may take time, as well. IIRC there are inactive ones who contributed to the game too...? Which means some cases would be impossible.

 

If someone came up with a suggestion to introduce "true albino/leucistic/melanistic/other discolored" variants mirroring real-life mutations, I wouldn't mind that, more pretty things for me. It would be just a painfully difficult and long process to implement right now.

Edited by Light Concorde

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Of course, you have to swap each and every shade - but it's still a rather quick thing that can be done in less than 5 minutes for breeds with no more than 2 main colors.

 

However, all those suggestions have been here before and shot down. (And I wasn't the one to do it, as I was quite in favor.) Things like that just don't happen due to artists' veto rights.

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I wouldn't mind this. But how do you decide which common dragons are cave blockers? Back in the day, balloons were cave blockers. And now you barely see them.

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Good question. Maybe something similar to the "mossy egg" suggestion? After an egg sits in the cave for 4 minutes, it turns shiny? This way, if you stalk a biome and notice one egg sitting, you've got a good chance at grabbing a shiny. Plus, it's guaranteed to be a blocker for sitting this long.

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4 minutes is too short. And no, 4 minutes doesn't make it a blocker, either.

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True. I have seen some desirable breeds sit for 4 minutes at times in the cave. I think the reason for the 4 minutes is that the cave gets swept clean after 5 minutes anyway. Which really makes me wonder how much this is really needed.

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Yes - I don't actually see the urgency here, either.

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With the five minute shuffle, I don't think there is much of a blocker problem.

 

And I don't think it's an issue that not all artists would give permission for shinies as long as some did. Buuuuut... Shinies really aren't my thing. I'd prefer something else - something that might also be less complicated than re-coloring sprites. I wouldn't hate shinies, I wouldn't leave, but I just don't really want to have to hunt shinies in order to get a shiny sprite, particularly for breeds that I only collected so I could own at least one of every sprite.

 

So, not my favorite idea, but I'm not massively against it if it is something other users would enjoy.

 

EDIT: Also just to add, shinies could be tied to rarity, so if a breed gets snatched up enough that it is no longer extremely common, shinies might stop appearing for it?

Edited by SockPuppet Strangler

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There's not a blocker problem, per se, but it would still be nice to have more movement in between the five minute shuffle. And it would have to help the ratios to have those breeds that don't get taken picked up instead of shuffling off into nonexistence.

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I've been camping out in the Volcano a *lot* since the new Fire Gems started dropping, and I'm not seeing much of a blocker problem at all. (I've also been to the Coast and Jungle a lot...) I very rarely see an egg sit there the entire four minutes in between the shuffle. If I do, I usually end up taking it. I honestly don't see enough of a need for this, for artists to spend time and energy making "shinies" that people may not even want, when it's not a problem that happens that often anyways.

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The volcano isn't a very good sample right now because of the very reason you're camping in it. People are using the tactic of sacrificing an egg slot to try to reveal a fire gem that they can grab, and there are other people taking eggs to kindly try to reveal fire gems for others.

 

Spend a few five minute spans refreshing a biome that didn't get a release, like the forest, and see how many eggs sit throughout the entire span.

 

Even in the volcano I would come for the 5 minute shuffle, stop once the eggs stopped moving, then come back 4 minutes later and find those same eggs I left still there. (I use tabs, so I could easily notice upon the new refresh if no descriptions changed)

Edited by Pokemonfan13

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There was a time when there was no 5 minutes refresh, I believe that mechanism was added as a solution for biome blockers.

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