Egg Descriptions

[Dachre]

Hey, everyone.

 

An idea just popped into my head, and I wanted to get it into ASCII before I forgot about it. Which I'm prone to doing. So how about this:

 

When hunting for eggs in the caves, modify the descriptions of the eggs based on the completeness of your Dragon Encyclopedia. Here are my pros/cons, in theory/practice format. Heh.

 

In theory: if a player has no entry for, say, Red dragons, the egg description reads as normal; "This egg is rather warm." If a person has a maximum-complete entry for Red dragons, alter the egg description to say something like, "You recognize this to be a Red dragon egg." I think it would be an interesting feature, both in game-lore-friendliness, and in providing a perk to those who have completed entries in their encyclopedias.

 

In practice: players frantically click-chain through everything they can find trying to speed-complete their encyclopedias to unlock the ability to instantly see what's laying around in the caves.

 

I think the con is outweighing the pro, there, but maybe the idea could be brainstormed a little.

 

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EDIT 1: The idea arose to somehow reveal the true sprite of the egg rather than alter the descriptions, since the descriptions are an appealing aspect of Dragon collecting. The question-mark egg could be transparently superimposed over-top the true egg sprite based on encyclopedia entry completion, or some other method could be used.

 

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EDIT 2: Here's a quick TL;DR version of the debate, as it stands, from both the proponent and opponent point of view (to the best of my ability to summarize):

 

The Suggestion (Current Version): If a player has a complete Dragon Encyclopedia entry for a particular breed of dragon then, when hunting eggs in the caves, display a partially revealed version of the actual egg sprite instead of the "mystery egg." Lore-wise, this would represent your player's ability to recognize the eggs of a particular breed of dragon based on continuous study.

 

Proponents: The people in favor of this suggestion assert that the change would bring interesting added functionality to the Dragon Encyclopedia while not adversely affecting gameplay. People with completed entries would be able to see, at least partially, those types of eggs when hunting, however their capture would still be based upon reaction time, just like it is now.

 

Additionally, since the Dragon Encyclopedia is advanced automatically through normal gameplay, no additional effort or stress would be required to take advantage of this new feature.

 

This feature may also help players who either cannot, or simply don't want to, memorize all of the text descriptions for the different dragon species compete with those who can/have memorized the text.

 

Opponents: The people against this suggestion assert that the change is wholly unnecessary, as there is nothing wrong with the way things work currently. They argue that this change would grant a serious advantage to players with completed encyclopedia entries, as they would be able to partially see available eggs in the caves; and with that visual cue, be more apt to collect them before other, newer players.

 

They also assert that players would become obsessed with completing their encyclopedias in order to unlock the visual reveal features, adding an unnecessary element of stress to the game.

 

There's much more to each side of the debate than that—that's just the TL;DR version, here as a convenience for new readers so that you can get the gist of the debate without combing page after page of responses. If you want the full story, though, you're still gonna have to read through.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Dachre

[Ha-Ki]

An interesting idea indeed, and it would make sense (we are researching stuff for the encyclopedia, so we should recognize the eggs we have completed in the encyclopedia). It could even go to the point where the mystery egg image is replaced by the actual one.

But, I think it would confuse me, and I actually like the descriptions. I'd miss them if they were replaced by a generic "This is a [...] egg" description.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Ha-Ki

[Dachre]

It could even go to the point where the mystery egg image is replaced by the actual one.

I actually like that idea better than replacing the description. The question-mark egg could be superimposed overtop the actual egg graphic, with some kind of transparency proportional to the completion level of the encyclopedia entry in question.

 

That way, the descriptions stay the same, but the image of the egg gradually becomes more clear/less obscured as your entries are completed.

 

Still need to think about my original con, though. What's to stop people from speed-clicking their way to revealing the eggs.

[AnanoKimi]

An interesting idea indeed, and it would make sense (we are researching stuff for the encyclopedia, so we should recognize the eggs we have completed in the encyclopedia). It could even go to the point where the mystery egg image is replaced by the actual one.

But, I think it would confuse me, and I actually like the descriptions. I'd miss them if they were replaced by a generic "This is a [...] egg" description.

I... don't see the harm in this over the description. I would much rather have this idea over edited description. There is less harm in that, at least in my opinion.

 

Either way, newer members would be at a disadvantage. Heck they are anyways so meh. It would make hunting a little easier if you could see the egg, like with tan ridgewing or red dorsals. Either or, I don't see game breaking harm in this, so meh, I'm neutral but not entirely against this.

[Nerei]

How about we also need to have owned, not just viewed, at least one of the eggs for the image?

[Dachre]

How about we also need to have owned, not just viewed, at least one of the eggs for the image?

Honestly, I think that that would make the Dragon Encyclopedia itself more appealing to me, personally, as a site feature; but on the other hand, I can see how people would be disappointed if that were so. There'd be entries that we could never receive.

 

Maybe implementing that (owning to advance entries), but have a separate section at the bottom of the encyclopedia specifically for discontinued dragons that the newer players don't have access to. Almost like an archaeological section or somesuch.

 

This way we'd get the "own to reveal" part without upsetting completionists (which, admittedly, I am one of, too) by prohibiting them from acquiring certain entries.

[Nerei]

There'd be entries that we could never receive.

Eggs that we'd never be able to own, we wouldn't need to unlock the image for o.o

[Xasora]

How would this work with eggs that have the same description as others? For example, the pink and the flamingo wyvern. Would people with unlocked encyclopedia entries get to see that it's a pink egg, and not just that it's bright and pink?

[AnanoKimi]

It could even go to the point where the mystery egg image is replaced by the actual one.

This is how :3 Image replaces question mark egg instead of description. :3

[Dachre]

How would this work with eggs that have the same description as others? For example, the pink and the flamingo wyvern. Would people with unlocked encyclopedia entries get to see that it's a pink egg, and not just that it's bright and pink?

Yeah, altering the text description might not be the best way to go about it. The other suggestion, altering the egg image somehow, makes more sense to me—I think that's a much better idea, and would solve the problem of identical descriptions.

 

Of course, on the other hand, it would also detract from the mystery surprise of same-description eggs. Hmm.

[Nerei]

Of course, on the other hand, it would also detract from the mystery surprise of same-description eggs.  Hmm.

Most of them drop in different biomes, anyway, so it's not too hard to tell.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Niyaka

[Dachre]

Most of them drop in different biomes, anyway, so it's not too hard to tell.

This is true—if you know your biomes, then nine times out of ten, you know what you're getting anyway.

[Nerei]

Like the old site ^-^

[Dachre]

Exactly like that—only you'd have to have a complete encyclopedia entry for each of the eggs in order to be able to identify them.

 

You could even throw some random chance in there, just to spice it up. Say, maybe, you do have a complete entry, but there's shadows or rocks or General Cave Detritus (GCD, it's a technical term... that I just made up) in the way and it's obscuring your vision.

 

I think it'd be fun to play with, for sure.

[DragonNighthowler]

I like this suggestion. Although I'd go more with the egg sprite appearing rather than the description changing. It'd cause too many problems.

 

I'd also suggest working a bit for it, like, I don't know, needing to have viewed 50 eggs or something of the sort, to makes this more challenging than just by owning or revealing the egg sprite. As in, you need to have viewed 50 terrae eggs to recognice them between other green eggs.

 

It would be a way to make the enciclopedia mre proactive in the game.

[AnanoKimi]

I like this suggestion. Although I'd go more with the egg sprite appearing rather than the description changing. It'd cause too many problems.

 

I'd also suggest working a bit for it, like, I don't know, needing to have viewed 50 eggs or something of the sort, to makes this more challenging than just by owning or revealing the egg sprite. As in, you need to have viewed 50 terrae eggs to recognice them between other green eggs.

 

It would be a way to make the enciclopedia mre proactive in the game.

I much better like the concept of having a complete encyclopedia entry. This means you will need to view/raise quite a nmber of eggs before being able to unlock this feature. This eliminates having to set a bar to reach before activating this in terms of "How many eggs should be views before we can do this.

 

A full encyclopedia entry means you are well versed in this dragon and as such should have no problem distinguishing it from the rest. At least thats how I would see it.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I'd be a bit sad if the egg descriptions were phased out for generic fill in the blank ones. Also, years of hunting would probably mean changing silver eggs from "beautiful glow" to "THIS BE A SILVER" would actually take longer to register than otherwise. ;___;

 

I do think the idea of replacing the mystery eggs with the images is interesting, though.

 

Alternately, you could just add slight description changes for things that share the same descriptions. Ie, "there is a cool breeze around this tan / purple egg," or having, say, the normal pink egg description, but say that's a pink dragon as well in there somewhere rather than leaving you to guess if it's a flamingo instead.

[Syphoneira]

It's an interesting idea, but wouldn't that give some people hunting an unfair advantage over others, if they can SEE that an egg is a less common Tan Ridgewing or whatever, where those who haven't happened to have completed that section of the Encyclopedia to be able to see it, can't?

 

I'm really not big on giving those of us who've been here longer additional advantages in hunting the Cave over newer people...

 

 

[Dachre]

I'm really not big on giving those of us who've been here longer additional advantages in hunting the Cave over newer people...

That's definitely another thing to consider. People that have been around long enough to have completed entries would have a decisive advantage when hunting for more eggs.

 

That's an area where I'm going to have to defer to more experienced players. See, I'm just a collector—I'm mainly interested in collecting unique sprites. Once I have one Gold Tinsel, I don't need any more. Once I have one of each gender of Silver (still working on that one, heh), I don't need anymore. I have precisely zero interest in breeding and lineages. So, as far as I'm concerned, at least, I'm not going to be nabbing many copies of something I've already got.

 

But, for other players, it might be a different case. I'm sure there are those who won't rest until they have thousands upon thousands of duplicates; and, in that case, those players would have a tremendous advantage over those who have yet to complete their entries.

 

Any suggestions/feedback on that issue?

[AnanoKimi]

It's an interesting idea, but wouldn't that give some people hunting an unfair advantage over others, if they can SEE that an egg is a less common Tan Ridgewing or whatever, where those who haven't happened to have completed that section of the Encyclopedia to be able to see it, can't?

 

I'm really not big on giving those of us who've been here longer additional advantages in hunting the Cave over newer people...

It doesnt really matter, the advantage is slight and if anything it might give slower reading fold like me an easier chance to recognize "Oh snap thats a gold egg" instead of "What... what description is that? ... Is that a gold? oh... its gone *checks wiki* yep a gold..."

 

Some of us work better visually and with my bad memory I can only remember certain words out of a very small number of eggs. As such being able to visually recognize them would possibly put me on an even playing field with most cave hunters.

 

So yeah... slight advantage to the already super amazing hunters, possibly huge advantage to the more average hunter.

[olympe]

It's an interesting idea, but wouldn't that give some people hunting an unfair advantage over others, if they can SEE that an egg is a less common Tan Ridgewing or whatever, where those who haven't happened to have completed that section of the Encyclopedia to be able to see it, can't?

 

I'm really not big on giving those of us who've been here longer additional advantages in hunting the Cave over newer people...

That's exactly the sentiment I was going to put into words, so I quoted it instead.

[Dachre]

Among other considerations lies this: those players who do obsessively collect rare dragons have their descriptions memorized, their high-speed connections primed, and their mouse-clicking fingers cracked and ready to go. They tend to stalk the specific biomes like predators on the hunt, using their mad reflexes to insta-snipe rare eggs as soon as a new batch spawns up.

 

Against people like that, those of us who are more "casual" (no negative connotations intended) players stand little chance anyway. Being able to see the eggs won't make much difference.

[AnanoKimi]

As is most avid hunters already have the descriptions memorized which is why its so easy to loose them to them some times because not all of us are super familiar with only those descriptions. I know quite a few like hellfire, nebula, black tea, moon/sunstone, ridgewing, golden wyvern, water, etc, generally most of the common/uncommon descriptions because I collect those too. It always takes me a while to recognize, "Oh thatsa cheese" "Oh thats a dino" "Oh thats a paper" Because since they appear so infrequently, their descriptions havent quite stuck in my head.

 

So yes some of us who have taken the time to complete the encyclopedia would unlock this much faster, other members who originally didn't care now have incentive to, and new players one way or another are at a disadvantage because their new.

 

[EDIT:]

 

Among other considerations lies this: those players who do obsessively collect rare dragons have their descriptions memorized, their high-speed connections primed, and their mouse-clicking fingers cracked and ready to go. They tend to stalk the specific biomes like predators on the hunt, using their mad reflexes to insta-snipe rare eggs as soon as a new batch spawns up.

 

Against people like that, those of us who are more "casual" (no negative connotations intended) players stand little chance anyway. Being able to see the eggs won't make much difference.

 

Beat me to it.

Edited January 28, 2015 by AnanoKimi

[Gusearth]

This is actually one of the better, more useful and non-self-oriented well thought out ideas I've seen in this section so far. I agree with this idea, and it would be cool to see.

I made a little thing to see what it would look like. (I based it off which dragons I had unlocked fully in the encyclopedia)

 

Here is the image.

 

Please link your images sir. as much as we appreciate your visual help, the images are large and a bit in your face, linking them is more beneficial.

Sorry about that guys! Thanks for showing how to do that, AnanoKimi.

Edited January 28, 2015 by gusearth1

[AnanoKimi]

Please link your images sir. as much as we appreciate your visual help, the images are large and a bit in your face, linking them is more beneficial.

 

Simply use the url tag

[url=yourimageurl.extention]here is the visual aid I have created.[/url]

Edited January 28, 2015 by AnanoKimi