Raising Dragons for Rare Eggs

[Fuzzbucket]

SO (as one who is NOT in favour anyway but...)

 

You collect - say 100 whiptails, 100 albinos and 100 (not WWs cuz I like those - um...) neotropicals.

 

You get your CB gold.

 

Can you then dump the LOT you collected into the wilderness ?

 

THAT would have interesting ratio implications. There'd immediately be 100 of each breed short, as wilderness dragons don't count. Several people get there in the same week and do the same - OUCH. Back to blocking....

[olympe]

Okay, that would be a bad idea. Can we have "shroud", please? (The BSA suggested for daydreams that hides a lot of dragons in the daydream's cloud.) So, what if the dragons required for the rare egg could not be released before they're one year old? Because they only count towards the ratios for one year anyway. Sounds okay?

 

Besides, for all those rare hunters and catchers and breeders out there: Don't forget that, if there are thousands of people raising hundreds of (ultra-)commons, it means more rares for you, too. Looks like a win-win-situation to me.

Edited July 23, 2012 by olympe

[Moonlightelf]

I would like to bring up one interesting point into this discussion regarding the "spontanious egg creation".

 

I think you guys remember the tree decorating contest, and the raffle on the following year. With trees, it was pretty much "get online every day, and you get more decorations to play with". With the raffle... "read the story, and you get one ticket."

Rewards? CB tinsels that cannot be obtained through any other ways than participating on those two events. And what about the honorable mentions? CB hollies... CB alts... CB frill... CB golds and silvers. Practically almost anything as CB.

 

That, if nothing, was spontanious egg creation, which was approved by many people, including TJ. Did anyone complain? Well no, unless they were bad losers. And it goes without saying that these two events changed people's way of playing for a while by making people go and read a story or check certain page to get the things they wanted.

And no one was forced to do it. These two were kinda like quests, which we are talking from now.

 

By the way... That practically makes the status of GoN being only dragon that is spontaniously created... false. Tinsels were created spontaniously just because someone won voting/raffle. And some honorable mentions.

 

Again... people were okay with those two events.

 

Like those two events, this would be only another way to claim a possible CB rare, which is very elusive nowadays.

Or silly little stuff. One extra Teleport for doing the quest? Who cares if they got that, when someone else has 100 magis on their scroll with teleports ready? Extra Incubate? Another "useless" Earthquake? And someone might actually love that extra Incubate when they have ran out of Incubates.

 

Only difference? These quests are around all around the year.

 

And are optional like forementioned christmas events.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Moonlightelf

[Fuzzbucket]

How about the ability to gift an adult as a prize. There are quite a few people here who would love to be able to do that.... and it wouldn't HUGELY affect anything else.

Edited July 23, 2012 by fuzzbucket

[codyne]

I would like to bring up one interesting point into this discussion regarding the "spontanious egg creation".

 

I think you guys remember the tree decorating contest, and the raffle on the following year. With trees, it was pretty much "get online every day, and you get more decorations to play with". With the raffle... "read the story, and you get one ticket."

Rewards? CB tinsels that cannot be obtained through any other ways than participating on those two events. And what about the honorable mentions? CB hollies... CB alts... CB frill... CB golds and silvers. Practically almost anything as CB.

 

That, if nothing, was spontanious egg creation, which was approved by many people, including TJ. Did anyone complain? Well no, unless they were bad losers. And it goes without saying that these two events changed people's way of playing for a while by making people go and read a story or check certain page to get the things they wanted.

And no one was forced to do it. These two were kinda like quests, which we are talking from now.

 

By the way... That practically makes the status of GoN being only dragon that is spontaniously created... false. Tinsels were created spontaniously just because someone won voting/raffle. And some honorable mentions.

 

Again... people were okay with those two events.

 

Like those two events, this would be only another way to claim a possible CB rare, which is very elusive nowadays.

Or silly little stuff. One extra Teleport for doing the quest? Who cares if they got that, when someone else has 100 magis on their scroll with teleports ready? Extra Incubate? Another "useless" Earthquake? And someone might actually love that extra Incubate when they have ran out of Incubates.

 

Only difference? These quests are around all around the year.

 

And are optional like forementioned christmas events.

I complained. I continue to complain. Call me a bad loser if you want. I complained from the day the original contest was announced and I still think it was a bad idea.

[Dolphinsong]

Here is a huge difference between the contests and doing quests for eggs. Contests, its a VERY VERY select few who get picked as winners while quests EVERYONE can do. And unless the dragon gotten through said quest is NOT something you can get in the cave normally AND can breed true (like Tinsels) then it won't be so bad as those of us who don't want to horde can get second gens from our friends.

[olympe]

Yes, but is an elitist contest/raffle that much better than a quest everyone can do? (I call this elitist because the people who win become an elite, for the sole fact that they can ask absolutely anything for the offspring of their prize dragons, just because there are so few of them around.)

 

I agree on the point that a breedable rare, even one that canont be obtained any other way, would not be so bad. A truly unique dragon that cannot even breed, like the GoN, for example, is pretty darn useless, though - and unobtainable for people who don't want to do the quest. I don't even know if making tinsels the prize would be such a good idea, unless there would be a scroll limit of one of each kind - and you having to start with bronze and work your way up to silver and then gold. This way, they'd still be special, although tinsel purebreds would be possible this way.

[Fuzzbucket]

Here is a huge difference between the contests and doing quests for eggs. Contests, its a VERY VERY select few who get picked as winners while quests EVERYONE can do. And unless the dragon gotten through said quest is NOT something you can get in the cave normally AND can breed true (like Tinsels) then it won't be so bad as those of us who don't want to horde can get second gens from our friends.

OK - how about making it REALLY REALLY tough and the prize is a tinsel ?

 

(If we must. I was with codyne over this one, but as tins are offered as prizes repeatedly it isn't quite as bad as it might have been... so just add another way to get them...)

[Dolphinsong]

So just because you've a tinsel makes you elitist? What about owners of spriter alts or being an incave artist makes us elitists? Nope. Its just how others view us and how one acts. Heck, if I was lucky enough to be a winner of one of those contsts I'd do the same thing I do right now with my spriter's alt, have a waiting list and ask for nothing in return. Its not my fault they want to be selfish for winning a contest, its just how they want to behave.

 

Tinsels are a huge nono as a prize for anything other than a TJ held contest as it was created for said contest.

[Fuzzbucket]

So just because you've a tinsel makes you elitist? What about owners of spriter alts or being an incave artist makes us elitists? Nope. Its just how others view us and how one acts. Heck, if I was lucky enough to be a winner of one of those contsts I'd do the same thing I do right now with my spriter's alt, have a waiting list and ask for nothing in return. Its not my fault they want to be selfish for winning a contest, its just how they want to behave.

 

Tinsels are a huge nono as a prize for anything other than a TJ held contest as it was created for said contest.

That is a very fair point. Creators haz rights. I give up on that idea now this minute !

 

But I don't think I said ANYTHING about elitism....

Edited July 23, 2012 by fuzzbucket

[ArynChris]

But I don't think I said ANYTHING about elitism....

Olympe did, so I think she was addressing both you at once.

[olympe]

So just because you've a tinsel makes you elitist? What about owners of spriter alts or being an incave artist makes us elitists? Nope. Its just how others view us and how one acts. Heck, if I was lucky enough to be a winner of one of those contsts I'd do the same thing I do right now with my spriter's alt, have a waiting list and ask for nothing in return. Its not my fault they want to be selfish for winning a contest, its just how they want to behave.

 

Tinsels are a huge nono as a prize for anything other than a TJ held contest as it was created for said contest.

Most likely how they act. I mean, some actually demand several CB metallics for one 2nd gen, and at least one (or so I heard) trades away their own 3rd gens and keeps all 2nd gens so they can breed more 3rd gens... That's the kind of thing that sure wouldn't happen any more if there were a few thousand tinsels in circulation. What I think makes the lucky winners into an elite group is that they can basically dictate the prices for their respective tinsel's offspring, and enough of them actually do it and get what they demand.

 

However, I don't know how I feel about spriter's alts, as I feel that most owners seem to be pretty generous with the offspring of said alt(s).

[Fuzzbucket]

Most likely how they act. I mean, some actually demand several CB metallics for one 2nd gen, and at least one (or so I heard) trades away their own 3rd gens and keeps all 2nd gens so they can breed more 3rd gens... That's the kind of thing that sure wouldn't happen any more if there were a few thousand tinsels in circulation. What I think makes the lucky winners into an elite group is that they can basically dictate the prices for their respective tinsel's offspring, and enough of them actually do it and get what they demand.

 

However, I don't know how I feel about spriter's alts, as I feel that most owners seem to be pretty generous with the offspring of said alt(s).

We don't have to accept offers we consider unreasonable. Things are worth what people will pay - you see that on ebay all the time and if people stopped shelling out $50 for a cornflake that "looks like the Virgin Mary", people would stop charging that for them ! Same thing with outrageous demands for low gen tins. I can live without the ones that "cost" a bundle.

 

I agree about spriters being generous with breeding their alts; I have a few in lineages - not directly from spriters but from others - and I am very glad of them

Edited July 23, 2012 by fuzzbucket

[Pokemonfan13]

But at the same time, it's not always the user who sets the price high, at least not intentionally. The people offering can jack up the price too.

 

Say I had a CB tinsel. I could easily trade its offspring the same as I do the offspring of my 2nd gens, two CBs from a future release. But there's nothing stopping someone from PMing me offering a CB gold and CB silver, or two CB neglecteds for an offspring. Well, who am I to say no to that? [let's ignore the fact that I only collect 4 of each species and pretend I'm someone who is amenable to hording CB metallics] And my list is going to be preferentially filled with people offering things more than what I "charge" because they're offering me more, especially if I limit my list to a certain number of people.

 

When something is scarce the price is going to be high pretty much no matter what, even if the people who hold the source don't try to be greedy.

 

 

I still think that TJ should increase the number or tinsel giveaways or the number of people who win in each one so that more than .00001% of the population can have a CB tinsel. [percentage pulled out of my ear, but probably pretty accurate]

Edited July 23, 2012 by Pokemonfan13

[olympe]

I think someone once came up with a ratio of 0.003% of the participants of the tree decorating contest having won, so your number might actually be quite close. (Not everybody participated in the tree decorating contest, and we got a number of new players since then...)

[Fuzzbucket]

But at the same time, it's not always the user who sets the price high, at least not intentionally. The people offering can jack up the price too.

 

Say I had a CB tinsel. I could easily trade its offspring the same as I do the offspring of my 2nd gens, two CBs from a future release. But there's nothing stopping someone from PMing me offering a CB gold and CB silver, or two CB neglecteds for an offspring. Well, who am I to say no to that? [let's ignore the fact that I only collect 4 of each species and pretend I'm someone who is amenable to hording CB metallics] And my list is going to be preferentially filled with people offering things more than what I "charge" because they're offering me more, especially if I limit my list to a certain number of people.

 

When something is scarce the price is going to be high pretty much no matter what, even if the people who hold the source don't try to be greedy.

Sure - but accepting an outrageously high offer isn't the same as demanding that kind of offer in trade. As with ebayers who bump up the price - though that is often rather silly ! I've watched with horror as something available new and cheaply on amazon has rocketed into hyperbidding !

 

(OT and of course there are also people who post something on ebay who have no idea of its value - I was watching such an auction just recently - the seller would have accepted their £5 start bid and been happy. In the end they got $6000 ! The item was seriously rare and we collectors knew that.)

[angelicdragonpuppy]

People who have Tinsels are lucky winners. I don't begrudge them wanting rares for their eggs, but I am a bit jealous. ;3;

 

My main issue with a tinsel being the prize is that at some point when enough people have them the primary reason for wanting them (trade value) will cease to exist. Whereas with CB Metals, the breeding rate is so low that they would stay rare and sparkly as ever.

 

'Course, I still sort of like the idea of the prizes being simple, non-dragon prizes.

Edited July 24, 2012 by angelicdragonpuppy

[olympe]

Well, in my very honest opinion, the trading value of CB tinsels is grossly overrated. They're like presses for printing money, just in DC currency (=rare dragons).

[auroshen]

@olympe: Completely, utterly correct. Perhaps to get rid of this "instantaneous creation!" thing and the "CB rares" thing we should just do badges or something. I don't know, this problem has just escalated higher and higher since I started the thread. <--- proof that cheese doesn't use her brain, ever.

[Shadowdrake]

I'd like an extra freezing slot or incubate, or an extra influence that you could choose. Small badges are nice, but they don't really add anything new.

Giving little things won't affect those who limit themselves and will reward those who already collect common armies anyway.

[olympe]

True, but what's wrong with rewarding the players who make it possible for others to even collect rares? After all, if nobody raises commons, there won't be any rares to collect, thanks to ratios.

[Fuzzbucket]

But a LOT of us DO raise commons just to make lineages. For instance:

 

http://dragcave.net/lineage/guffg

 

Almost everything past the base layer is MINE, bred by me. I have others. So do many of my mates...

 

I can't see that it will help get more rares, to be honest. I'd like something much simpler and not eggy, if we are to look at "prizes".

[auroshen]

I don't really get the "non-egg" things, but I dunno 'cause you guys seem to like them...

[stogucheme]

I don't really get the "non-egg" things, but I dunno 'cause you guys seem to like them...

Exactly. There's not really a great incentive with this. This is why I want rare eggs as a prize.

[Pokemonfan13]

Exactly. There's not really a great incentive with this. This is why I want rare eggs as a prize.

Ditto. You just can't have an incentive good enough to cause people to raise eggs but at the same time won't cause outcry from people who don't want to change their playing style but want the incentive. Non-egg prizes just aren't a big enough incentive unless someone can come up with something really cool, but that would cause the same outcry.

 

 

This really comes down to the fact that you can't please everyone.