Migration

[elynne]

I'm just trying to say that if a species is migratory, it's migratory always. In your original idea it sounded like you just wanted the cave blockers to migrate because they were cave blockers, and I'm responding to that by saying if you migrate them they won't be cave blockers anymore, and you can't stop making them migrate; if a species is a migrating species, they stay that way. I dunno? Sometimes my brain goes off without my thinking about it. I'm probably arguing against a point you haven't made or agreed with.

 

Oh! Ah, I see what you're saying. Yes, I agree: once a species has become migratory, it should -stay- migratory, not have its migration flipped on or off. I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you were saying, but yes, now that I understand, I agree!

 

I won't get too offended by this statement, cuz I know what you're trying to say, and you just phrased it a bit off.

 

I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to be offensive, of course. I know my writing style is bad--I'm confusing, longwinded, and sometimes contradictory. It's on my mind a lot because I'm trying to get into the habits of -good- writing. When I say I use too many big words, I don't mean that I'm using words because I'm smarter than everybody or other people can't understand them; I mean that I'm in the habit of using big words when I don't need to, and they make things more complicated and confusing, or just piling on a lot of big words because I like the way they sound. Using more or bigger words doesn't make things more clear, and sometimes I have trouble remembering that!

 

.... reading that over, wow, I evidently am feeling like a terrible writer today. Heh.

 

All I can see with this is making the blockages more predictable, not lessening the blocking overall. That said though I'm tired of raising spitfires. I don't like them as much as I used to because I keep raising them anyway to make people stop whining about them blocking the bloody desert. Can something else block yet so I can raise that instead?

 

Seasonal migration rotation won't get rid of undesirable blockers; it will -change- them, swap them around, so you can avoid exactly this--raising dozens of the same things for months. Well, you might be doing it for the same species for three months; but then at least they'll go away and you'll have the option of collecting a -different- species of cave blocker for three months.

 

Once they're back in the caves, they'll be back with a vengeance. They'll be common again and once again they will be garbage. It's not going to shift them into "desirable" status for long; as soon as they're back they'll be snapped up for maybe 2-3 weeks. Then they'll go right back to blocking. In the long run, people will figure out the pattern and it will go in reverse; once they're back everyone knows they're back and they're common. They'll pick some up at the very end of the cycle to use as trade fodder, but for the rest of the time they'll be trash.

 

I don't see the last long run scenario being much of an issue. There will always be people new to the game who don't know about the seasonal rotation, or people who are desperate for whatever just came back into season for lineages.

 

I don't think that making seasonal species will eliminate the unwanted caveblockers problem. I think it will help make it -better-. I don't think that problem can be "solved" without changing the entire nature of the game. I do think that the seasonal idea will add a lot more movement and variety, which will help keep the game interesting and keep people involved on the site.

Edited August 18, 2011 by elynne

[Kila]

Lyth, we never know until we try, right? When TJ slipped in the egg shuffle, which people had once been in favor of, under the radar (I believe. Feel free to correct me on this, TJ) they began complaining about how the flow of eggs had changed (especially because they didn't know their egg shuffle had been put in place), and it was removed from the game.

 

It never hurts to try something to see if it fixes the problem, especially when it can be undone.

[Princess Artemis]

I honestly think that the biomes and eggs in them move pretty well. I've been looking through them, and even in biomes where there are only 4 or 5 users sitting there, the eggs move, they just do so less quickly than, say, the desert.

 

Migration might eventually be a good idea, but biomes haven't been here for long enough, really. No biome is just sitting there locked up tight--over the space of ten minutes, all of them move. Surely that's not a problem. I suppose I don't see a need for another drastic change on top of the last drastic change.

 

If there are some dragons that should be easier to get but aren't because they are in slow-moving biomes, perhaps a re-evaluation of their assignment is in order. It's pretty obvious where some dragons go, but not all of them are similarly obvious. Others are more obvious about where they don't go.

 

And also, wait, what? People say the desert is blocked?! Since when? It's almost always empty by the end of every hour and it's only been for the last couple of weeks that Spitfires have been common in the AP. That is hardly a problem that needs to be alleviated by a wide-spread and fundamental change to the system.

[Nine]

So the basic premise of this is that during certain times of the year, certain dragons would not be found in the cave (with the exception of rares and possibly uncommons).

Didn't read the whole thread-- while I appreciate the brainstorming for ways to cycle eggs, I can't say I'm in favor of this specific idea.

 

If you want to reduce their numbers a decent amount, that's alright, but making them completely unavailable for a period of time doesn't sit with me. Taking the Nocturnes and making them more like current CB Albinos would be preferable, so those who love Nocturnes can still have the opportunity to catch them and they won't be "blocking" the cave. Their numbers will drop a noticeable amount, but they won't be impossible to get if you want them.

 

I'd prefer the "common" breeds to fluctuate in population by season rather than become completely *unavailable for a period of time, basically.

 

*I'm aware breeding was designated to be unaffected, but I thought breeding was an optional feature of DC. I don't want to be forced to breed (out of context, the hilarity).

[Kila]

And that's why I started this thread: brainstorming.

 

You're the second person who's brought up the idea of just making the "migrating" species harder to find in cave, which is also something I can agree with.

[Lythiaren]

Seasonal migration rotation won't get rid of undesirable blockers; it will -change- them, swap them around, so you can avoid exactly this--raising dozens of the same things for months. Well, you might be doing it for the same species for three months; but then at least they'll go away and you'll have the option of collecting a -different- species of cave blocker for three months.

 

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I don't see the last long run scenario being much of an issue. There will always be people new to the game who don't know about the seasonal rotation, or people who are desperate for whatever just came back into season for lineages.

 

I don't think that making seasonal species will eliminate the unwanted caveblockers problem. I think it will help make it -better-. I don't think that problem can be "solved" without changing the entire nature of the game. I do think that the seasonal idea will add a lot more movement and variety, which will help keep the game interesting and keep people involved on the site.

That last was added as an afterthought. I may be tired of picking up tons of spitfires but it's a necessary evil because that's what the userbase indirectly wants me to collect. What I pick up is the result of people's fluctuating tastes, and as we've all seen from experience the time of rotation is already averaging about 3 months or so. Sometimes it's 2, sometimes it's 4, and the odd time it gets as long as 5. A glance at my scroll shows that for the past monthish I've been picking up a blocker (or two) every day, if I don't decide to breed two eggs that day, or have something else to pick up (eg. new releases). More recently it's been spitfires because people are still clamouring for low gen black stripes. I would rather be subject to randomly fluctuating tastes that could put anything up to block. Sometimes the thing that blocks is something I already love, like daydreams and sunsongs and ridgewings. I prefer thinking "I wonder what will block next?" over "Oh for the love of gog it's time to collect balloons again for a few months".

 

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The long run scenario can't be dismissed though, because as our userbase grows so does the number of fansites and guides designed to inform new users about everything there is to know. How long will it be before someone compiles a list of what migrates when, and posts a guide? How long after that will people in the intro forum add that guide to their copypasta?

[Wookieinmashoo]

When TJ said that even the commons people like will be migratory, I suddenly didn't like the idea. I wouldn't be able to get a CB magi for a while. Then I realized I'm actually okay with that. I can sacrifice that to see more movement in the cave.

[Kila]

When TJ said that even the commons people like will be migratory, I suddenly didn't like the idea. I wouldn't be able to get a CB magi for a while. Then I realized I'm actually okay with that. I can sacrifice that to see more movement in the cave.

Amen to that. I can put aside not getting a dragon I like to keep the cave moving.

 

What does everyone think of making "migrating" breeds harder to find during their migration period? That way people could still get their CB, it'd just be significantly more "rare", if you will.

[Ketsala]

That makes a lot of sense to me. It's a good compromise for those who don't want to completely lose breed availability.

 

A point that came to mind- when deciding which dragon species migrate when, it would be a good idea to make sure you balance out the commons leaving to the wanteds (roughly, of course, as wanted breeds change). You don't want more pretty/BSA dragons leaving in one season than the other.

 

One more thing- why just summer and winter? Why not have a rotation every season, or have dragons stay for two seasons? So (for example) the Nebulas stay for winter and spring, the Whites stay for spring and summer, Harvests stay for summer and fall, the Blacks stay for fall and winter...etc. It would be a lot more confusing, I guess, but it's an idea.

[Layn]

That's even easily explained by things which happen naturally in the wild. Some creatures have breeding seasons through the summer and spring in the wild, while in captivity they can be bred at any season.

[~!~]

One more thing- why just summer and winter? Why not have a rotation every season, or have dragons stay for two seasons? So (for example) the Nebulas stay for winter and spring, the Whites stay for spring and summer, Harvests stay for summer and fall, the Blacks stay for fall and winter...etc. It would be a lot more confusing, I guess, but it's an idea.

There could even be be dragons that have really, really long migration periods, like monarch butterflies, and only be in the cave every, like, three years.

Edited August 19, 2011 by ~!~

[olympe]

Yeah, and then the whole cave gets swamped with large swarms of said "monarch butterfly dragons". Great idea. (I'm so looking forward to a wall of pebbles in all biomes...)

[~!~]

Well yeah, but that would happen anyway with migration. The more of a difference the off season makes, the worse the on season will be.

[Kila]

I wouldn't be for a long period of migration. Anything more than half a year just seems ridiculously long.

[GoldenShadowFire]

I like this idea; I'm all in favor of making the site more interesting and dynamic. Besides, this would be a bit more realistic..If dragons were real, of course

Edited August 19, 2011 by GoldenShadowFire

[Fiona]

I had an idea some time ago about migration patterns and "waxing and waning" availability. I don't know if it would be too hard to code, but thought I'd throw it out there for consideration.

 

The way I envisioned it would be like this:

Breed X's main "in"season is winter. So, for Dec. 21 through Mar. 20 they are at "100%" (whatever their normal ratio is) From Mar. 21 through June 20 they're at 75%. From June 21 through Sept. 20 they're at their most scarce at 50%, then from Sept. 21 through Dec. 20 they're "returning" at 75%.

 

The breeds could be staggered, so different ones are leaving or returning at different times. Some could have a 4 month change instead of 3, and have the "waning" and "waxing" periods shorter. Lots of options there, keeping it mixed up. It would be challenging for people to track, but it would keep different commons always circulating.

[libby2999]

GREAT!!!! cuz seasonals too! like winters found in the alps and other three can be forest/jungle or what ever they are in. great! and Im sure ballons wouldnt like to get cold and be in the alps durring winter and maybe the'd float down to jungle leve or somthing! Same with skywings, durring summer its warm enough theyd be okay in the apls but durring winter and maybe fall theyd be only in coastal. need more of were the dragons are of corse.

[Siryuki]

Can I leave my two cents:

 

I dont know if this has been said or not, but what if the breeds migrated to another "land" for so to say? That means that cant be found in other biomes.

 

Lets say "alps" most of the breeds that live in the alps would migrate during summer/spring. Where there isint enough cold for them, and with the going of some breeds new breeds that can handle the cold but not INTENSE cold would stay.

This could be the same in the Jungle or forest, some breeds that cant handle cold would migrate in autum/winter and new breeds such as thundra and whatnot artic forest dragons come along?

 

Think of it as an exchange for breeds?

 

 

 

 

(This "land" I speak of has the same biomes as our dragcave land, but just on the other side of the earth, just like north and south hemisphere, that way you dont have to change the biomes of the dragon, the dragon is made to live in a biome right?

Dont make it move to the jungle if it lives in the alps. or Viceversa., make it move to the same biome but where the weather is more suitable)

Edited August 21, 2011 by Siryuki

[Ketsala]

Well, seeing as the intent is to make the eggs circulate a bit more and reduce the numbers of cave-blockers, I don't think shuffling around the breeds to different biomes would do much in the way of help. It actually might clog up the 'warmer' biomes even more.

[Kila]

Giving this a well deserved bump, because I feel like this deserves some consideration.

 

That and I want to find a solution to fix the blocking problem.

[Stromboli]

I would really like something like this. Particularly for the Alpine and Volcano biomes? If we had breeds on a rotation, people would probably be more likely to grab them while they're there, and you'd have fewer blocker breeds in the cave at one time.

 

And I like the idea of migrating from one biome to another, particularly for multi-biome breeds. Have them spend part of the year in one biome, part in another. They'd still be available all year, you'd just have to follow them where they go.

[-platinum-draco-]

Sure, but I would only want them rarer, not impossible to find.

[Sif]

Giving this a well deserved bump, because I feel like this deserves some consideration.

 

That and I want to find a solution to fix the blocking problem.

The main issue I see, is that you can split the breeds up into the biomes to make more options, and then you can throw in migration to change what options are available when, but I don't see that changing the fact that players will still have the dragons that they are currently looking for, and currently want, and then the dragons that they do not want, and I do not see how shifting things around and making them quite so complex and hard for new users to understand would change what users, in the end, want and do not want.

 

And those dragons that are not on the list of here-is-what-I-am-looking-for will still end up sitting there, regardless of how everything is made substantially more complex.

 

I'd say just keep things as is, else we'll make it all too difficult for new users to understand...... DC is supposed to be a quick and easy, fun little collectables site, not necessarily something incredibly complex that will suck away your spare time (at least, at any normal time besides holidays).....

[olympe]

I agree with Sif on this one. Migration has pretty much the same impact on the game as biomes. As we found out with biomes, there are still blockers. Adding migration to the mix will probably have the same result.

[stogucheme]

So...it's kinda like fruit. You can't get it at the grocery store when it's not in season, but you can grow it yourself in the right environments. Right?

I like this idea.