Trading Inflation

[KishaRa]

That's true, but not every dragon you have also needs to breed, you know? I'm very much into collecting for its own sake, and I'm sure many others are as well.

^This. I was a collector way before I was a trader, or thinking about making lineages, in fact I used to only breed for my own scroll, and I didn't really care about lineage. That's partly because I joined back when it pretty hard to catch any dragon out the main cave and there was no lineage tracking unless you used offsite tools, or did it yourself.

 

Right now I am getting interested in patterned and even gen lineages and I think I appreciate the time it takes to build them more.

 

Edit to add: I think CB metals/metals in general are hyped up by those older players who don't have many other goals left. Which is great for them, but the crowd kind of follows. I guess I'm not immune but it's not my most serious goal right now.

Edited March 3, 2013 by KishaRa

[pinkgothic]

I've been trying to trade two silver hatchlings for one any-generation gold for the past days (however, with the caveat that I want it non-holiday paired and clean-patterned, so there is that pile of unobtainium in the way) and not getting one, even as the term that shall not be spoken lest a thousand virgins weep blood; but... really, that's totally okay. No, that's not sarcasm. It simply means no one wants my stuff - I'm cool with that. I'll continue hoping for a trade, obviously, but if other people don't want to give me their stuff in exchange for my stuff, that's their prerogative. I'm certainly not entitled to their stuff.

 

Usually I get my trades very quickly, since I err on the side of 'undervaluing' my trades (except it's not real undervaluing if it saves me a lot of time and headache, but I digress). Lately not so much, but that's also because I'm barely around during the week. I'm slowly adapting to that; it was very puzzling at first and is certainly greatly intensified by the ratios being out of whack at the moment. But I figure stuff will be "back to normal" (for some definition of 'normal') soon.

 

Yay, hope! Totally always the last thing to die.

Edited March 3, 2013 by pinkgothic

[Vhale]

I find this discussion funny because it seems centered around metallics. I rarely ever trade because either it took me days, or I ended up keeping what I offered.

I tried to trade this dragon (which, as you can see, grew up on my scroll) for 2 or 3 CB terraes. Not hatchlings, not a load, only a couple of freshly caught CB terraes which people have considered pests for months. Only offer was another tinsel with a longer lineage of one I already had, it wasn't accepted because I happened to have a 4th gen of that very line and was not interested in an 8th or 9th gen (don't remember).

 

Ok, it is a 6th gen tinsel, from a not so rare line, not a CB metallic. The fact is, trading is dull, and boring, and annoying, and the problem is there are two types of eggs, metallics and everything else, and everything else has no trading value, not even in exchange for commons. People want to trade multiple commons, or multiple uncommons for metallics and low gen tinsels and shimmers, not for a 6th gen tinsel.

I had the same results with my tinsels. Then I tried the rare departure thread and a few times I had to ap drop them because no one wanted them there either. I tried the tgt thread but would get the same results, or the person on the list had more tinsels than I did. So I tried the common departure thread and I've had good results there so far. I was ap dropping things, but I ran into a situation where several eggs landed on an obvious multi-scroller who then got burnt up. So now I'm a little more suspicious of people that take eggs from the drop threads that don't post thank you. If a person is being sneaky, figure there is probably a reason.

 

It would seem that if there were people who want my eggs on the drop threads or enough to risk their scrolls being burnt, there would also be people willing to trade a common for one. But that doesn't seem to be the case. In a few instances, nice people have offered to breed me an egg of my choice or raise a hatchy for me. That was much appreciated <3

[danegrrrl]

I think over evaluation is common when you're new to trading. You're not aware that a CB Red and and CB Pink will not gain you a CB Gold. As you trade you learn the values more and, hopefully, make trades because you are asking for equal value in return rather than looking to your wishlist and asking for something that isn't going to be taken as a serious trade offer.

Except....trade values aren't static - Unless, of course, we're talking the Filthy Few - CB Metals, Neglecteds, and 2nd/3rd gen Prize Dragons...those seem to cater to their own small pool of economists, and the value seems to stay fairly constant, even with influxes such as the current one.

 

What nets something great this week, won't get a second glance next week. Also, you have to take in people's personal preferences.

 

Sure, there are things that will always be considered undesirable to most people (messy tins, for example) but things like CB Pinks/CB Blacks/CB Stripes etc can fluctuate drastically from one week to the next.

 

Me personally, I think I'll wait a while to start browsing the trading section again. I don't want to have to browse through 18 pages of "I ONLY WANT 2nd Gen Shimmerscales! NO OTHER OFFERS OR I'LL EAT YOUR SOUL, YOU FILTHY PEASANT" posts just to find someone who might have something in my league.

 

Meh. DC Burnout. I haz it.

Edited March 3, 2013 by danegrrrl

[Dubious]

Wow, if you had said to me a week a go that I would be answering a trade for a 3rd gen shimmer with a CB Gold hatchy and 2 CB Silvers offer, I would have laughed at the absurdity of it. After all, I had caught a mere handful of CB Metals in 5 years of playing DC, pretty much one a year and what could possibly be worth that much.

 

But...no...it actually happened. Want to know something even more absurd?...I didn't get the shimmerscale......that is how insane this has all gotton, when a CB Gold and 2 CB silvers becomes a 'declinable' trade. The mind boggles as to just how much that 3rd gen shimmerscale actually went for....but then I am actually glad my trade didn't win, because I really can't justify such a massive offer on something that will be pretty common in a matter of months. A momentary insanity overcame me where I was swept up in the thrill of having a shimmerscale 'now'.

 

One CB silver for a 3rd gen shimmer is in my very humble opinion reasonable. I wonder if people will regret paying these massively inflated prices for shimmerscales in the end. Not that the owners are to blame in any way, of course they would take the best offer and all kudos to them.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Dubious

[Herk]

On the other hand this does have one or two nice consequences, I managed to grab a couple of CB Winters over the weekend, a Red Dorsal , a CB Black or two and some RB's, so instead of bundling them and asking for insane stuff I put them up separately as they come of CD and ask for nice offers, like a hatchie or a nice EG egg or stuff.

People seem so relieved to see stuff they can actually afford, that they offer more than I asked for in the amount of minutes.

I traded the last CB seasonal for 3 CB hatchies and a 2nd gen Black hatchie from Heatseeker in less than an hour. I usually go with the first offer, too since I'm far too impatient for my own good.

 

Of course I would love to have a CB metal or three, but as long as this madness lasts I'll try to catch one myself or trade semi-valuable stuff with the people who haven't gone completely cuckoo.

[Riverwillows]

Here's how bad it's gotten. I had a CB Black, and 2 CB Nebulas. I have been trying for a week to trade them. I've posted it, I've offered it. I don't need them, or want them. I was looking for some 2nd gen metals, maybe a nice short line or low tinsel. All very reasonable BEFORE the Shimmer craze.

 

I couldn't trade any of them. They were due to grow up in a couple of hours.....so I AP'd them. I had to. At least I know I made SOME peoples day.....maybe.

 

I am very blue right now. Avoiding the trades for a while, and not getting any new from the Cave either. sigh.

[Vhale]

Here's how bad it's gotten. I had a CB Black, and 2 CB Nebulas. I have been trying for a week to trade them. I've posted it, I've offered it. I don't need them, or want them. I was looking for some 2nd gen metals, maybe a nice short line or low tinsel. All very reasonable BEFORE the Shimmer craze.

 

I couldn't trade any of them. They were due to grow up in a couple of hours.....so I AP'd them. I had to. At least I know I made SOME peoples day.....maybe.

 

I am very blue right now. Avoiding the trades for a while, and not getting any new from the Cave either. sigh.

This doesn't relate to the shimmer craze though. People have been posting for about as long, that their metals stopped breeding again. So, people don't have 2nd gen metals for trades like they did last month.

 

The same thing happened this past Halloween with Shadow Walkers. Almost 4 pages of the trade area had a note: happy to accept messy lineaged shadow walker hatchy. Well, few to none of the shadow walker eggs were messy lineages as the lineage craze has finally taken over. So, while in times past, those trades would have works, it's was impossible because the hatchies didn't exist.

 

Part of trading is being aware of what other traders are doing because it IS in flux. If there are pages of people offering the same as you, trade probably not going to happen. I've seen quite a few listing on the departure board for people giving away cb blacks, nebs etc.

 

One thing that would help is if people would not post the exact same trade post to 3-4 different threads at the same time. It's very annoying to reread the same posts over and over. I've done this to circumvent the daily bump limit, but only by varying when I post by several hours. That way, I get a post closer to the end of the thread at a different time of day. Posting them all at the same time is self-defeating.

[linda3.0]

=P yup tradings just crappy right now thats the facts. it would be nice if some of those people trading things like 2nd gen metals or w/e rares realized "hmm i can breed more of these therefore i could once in a while charge less so someone who cant breed nice things get one" rather then "lets see how much i can get from other users for this"

[Sorrowgrave]

http://dragcave.net/lineage/VPHKK

 

I bred this today. it was my first time testing the pairing and the mother's first ever time breeding so I don't know what you people are talking about with metals not breeding. I've gotten four golds in the last two months, I've gotten seven golds in 3 years so they're breeding like mad for me. I just need to catch cb ones.

[mistycloud123]

The problem is though, that most 2nd gen Shimmer owners want to gift or trade, but can't as they are also piled down in offers.

 

[tjekan]

=P yup tradings just crappy right now thats the facts. it would be nice if some of those people trading things like 2nd gen metals or w/e rares realized "hmm i can breed more of these therefore i could once in a while charge less so someone who cant breed nice things get one" rather then "lets see how much i can get from other users for this"

But that's the thing, Linda... there's nothing less left for them TO charge. There's not enough variety in the number of medium-value eggs. There are a ton of lower-value eggs, and a lot of very expensive ones. In the middle, there is nothing but bred metallic eggs and CB uncommons. And now that CB uncommons have become more common, people have filled up on them. If I had a 2nd-gen gold, I wouldn't trade it for a couple of CB blacks right now-- I already have more CB blacks than I need. Every once in a while I get on a project kick and want to trade a gold for 15 balloon hatchlings or something, but then I make the trade and am back to not needing any more.

 

Instead of complaining that people don't want to trade their 2nd-gen metals for things they already have plenty of, we should be thinking of more new middle-value things for them to want to trade 2nd-gen metals FOR.

[Riverwillows]

My metals just won't.

 

And my experience DOES apply to current trading because before the Shimmers, I could have applied that black or those Nebuals to a second or third gen metal, and it would have been met quite often. Now, no one wants ANYTHING except shimmers for even 3rd gen metals, tinsels and even other CB uncommons!

Edited March 3, 2013 by Riverwillows

[Imzadi]

And my experience DOES apply to current trading because before the Shimmers, I could have applied that black or those Nebuals to a second or third gen metal, and it would have been met quite often. Now, no one wants ANYTHING except shimmers for even 3rd gen metals, tinsels and even other CB uncommons!

It isn't just shimmers, tho it's part of it. I am seeing 5 or 6 blacks every drop, in more than one biome. The more often something drops, the less trade value it has, because people can get it themselves.

 

As for metals...we teach new people very early on that metals are the be all and end all. It isn't just the sprite. I'd go so far as to say it isn't the sprite the majority of the time. It's the idea of wanting something rare (without having to put forth the effort in some cases...even though you should have to work harder for things of more value)

 

If the current gold sprite was called the butterscotch gumdrop dragon and dropped as often as purples, the demand would go way down. OTOH, if the brimstone, which is just as gold, was called the gold dragon, they would be craved like the golds currently are. I've heard from quite a few new players that they only want the "cool dragons".

 

I'm not saying this is a bad thing. It's just what it is. People want what they don't have...it's in our nature.

[tjekan]

I'm not saying this is a bad thing. It's just what it is.  People want what they don't have...it's in our nature.

Right. So we need more things that people don't have. Another real alt like the blacks and vines, maybe... those used to be a good alternate trading commodity, but there are only two of them and they've been around forever, so by now, most people have enough of them. A third rare alt that you couldn't detect till it hatched would immediately become a "midrange" trading option that some people would trade for bred metallics, tinsels and longer-gen shimmers, thus livening up that midrange trading subsystem.

 

Another possibility would be some new kind of dragon that takes a greater than usual amount of time and effort to create, like neglecteds only less so. A breed that takes three times as long to hatch and mature, for example, or has some finicky issue that makes them take extra tending to get them to hatch. Hatchlings of such a breed would also quickly become a midrange trading dragon because high-level players wouldn't want to lock up their egg slots and attention long enough to raise these dragons themselves and would rather pay other people bred metallics or shimmers to deliver them.

 

A third possibility is a BSA that encourages people to actually value the offspring of a certain subset of a common species. I suggested the Racing minigame for whiptails, which would encourage people to trade for offspring of racing champions. Any other dragon competition minigame would work. So would a BSA that would cause only some individuals of a breed to display a different coloration if activated, like a mating molt or a white winter phase. You wouldn't know if it could change colors till you tried the BSA, so then offspring of the adults who could do it would be valuable. Any BSA tricks like this would provide another path to getting a medium-value dragon.

 

I'm sure there are many, many other equally good possibilities that would occur to other people besides me. :-) The basic idea is just to create some new paths to getting MEDIUM-value dragons. There already are several different paths to getting low-value dragons, and there are several different paths to getting high-value dragons (though they're hard, obviously.) But there need to be more things to trade for bred metallics other than having another bred metallic. That's what I'm saying. :-)

Edited March 4, 2013 by tjekan

[Vhale]

very true on the gold sprite. That and the holly. There's more than one suggestion thread on changing the sprite and of course, the gold GOT changed. A lot of people just want to finish a scroll goal to have a sense of completion. In a sense, it lets you "win" the game.

 

TJ did ask for more alt ideas somewhere in one of the suggestion threads. I know people have requested pygmies etc. I'm not sure we really need new ideas so much as some new alt releases. There are tons of good ones in the completed lists with multiple colors. I like how the time of day influences how some dragons hatch. Granted, it wouldn't hurt to start a BSA suggestion thread either. Tjekan's post makes me think it would be interesting to have a dragon change color if a BSA was used on it at all. Kinda of an anti-BSA dragon I may need to go suggest that.

 

I PM'd at least one person that can catch CB metals in the hopes that, when the drops die down, they might have one and I might have some CB hatchies they'd like. I'm going for nice ones, CB blacks, Ices, Magmas, that I'd like to have 16 to start even-gens with. I know I don't have the ability to sit for 7 hours watching the cave for metals. I've tried, I fall asleep. I can poke the forums in between reading, doing laundry, cooking and quickly get some nice eggs on the hourly drops though. So if I don't make the trade, I'm very happy to keep the hatchies. If I do, I'm happy to get a scroll goal done. Either way, win-win. And I"m trying to play to my strengths rather than make myself suffer through something I'd hate and very likely fail at. That would be a depressing way to play the game.

[linda3.0]

even with all the recent success gettin them ive only seen one CB metal which i missed =P so my 2 of each goal is shot at this point lol especially with trading the way it is

Edited March 4, 2013 by linda3.0

[SnowSherry]

I've not been trading for a long time, all my good metals don't give eggs and there's nothing else tradeable

[rogue-fox]

I dont ever trade, mainly because all the requess for anything are too insane. Its either noobs asking outrageous requests or ppl wh o have gold trophies asking for something almost as rediculous.

SO NO RARES OR ANYTHING DECENT FOR ME EVER. I ALWAYS GOTTA W8RK FOR MY EGGS. ((( T_T

[rayden54]

I tried to trade this dragon (which, as you can see, grew up on my scroll) for 2 or 3 CB terraes. Not hatchlings, not a load, only a couple of freshly caught CB terraes which people have considered pests for months. Only offer was another tinsel with a longer lineage of one I already had, it wasn't accepted because I happened to have a 4th gen of that very line and was not interested in an 8th or 9th gen (don't remember).

I remember your trade, and I think your problem was less "people don't want what you have" than very very bad timing. Most of the people who'd be interested in a longer lined tinsel were probably locked with Valentine's dragons.

---------

 

Frankly, I don't keep the Blacks, Stripes, or Trios I catch, so why would I want to trade for them? I just use them to get the things I can't catch myself (2nd Gens from old Holidays or the like) or things I'm too impatient for (alts, commons). I've already got the one's I need.

 

I honestly don't care that 2nd Gen Shimmers or Tinsels are rare, I just need them to complete my scroll goals (two CBs of every breed or 2nd gens where CBs are impossible). The problem is, they're pretty much the only things left on my list (other than frozen hatchlings). I imagine most of the others are in the same boat.

 

I personally can't wait to get done so I can go back to collecting Terraes, Harvests, Pillows, and Female Balloons (seriously 7ish males and 1 female?). I don't even really want them for their own sake (other than Gold Shimmer x Female Harvest with is incredible!). I just want to finish my goal.

 

 

[Katykins2]

Maybe with this new release we will have a mid-range valued dragon when the craze dies down. It would be nice if there was more value placed on beautiful patterned lineages so they could be our mid-range value even if they would be typically considered a common if they were CB. Lineages take a lot of work, sometimes I think players can forget that when evaluating other peoples projects.

[Amazon_warrior]

Maybe with this new release we will have a mid-range valued dragon when the craze dies down. It would be nice if there was more value placed on beautiful patterned lineages so they could be our mid-range value even if they would be typically considered a common if they were CB. Lineages take a lot of work, sometimes I think players can forget that when evaluating other peoples projects.

People like picking pretty lineages out of the AP for free, but they don't usually like the idea of breeding up mates because it's too much like hard work. Or at least, that's been my observation.

[Katykins2]

People like picking pretty lineages out of the AP for free, but they don't usually like the idea of breeding up mates because it's too much like hard work. Or at least, that's been my observation.

Lol maybe I should just start offering them in pairs then. "Hey have this lovely 4th gen check, and look, there's more! I will throw in its perfect mate for free! That's the value of two lineaged eggs for the price of one!! Hurry because this offer ends soon!"

[Amazon_warrior]

Lol maybe I should just start offering them in pairs then. "Hey have this lovely 4th gen check, and look, there's more! I will throw in its perfect mate for free! That's the value of two lineaged eggs for the price of one!! Hurry because this offer ends soon!"

lol, worth a try! But in general, the only time I "trade" lineages is when I do swapsies with other lineage nuts. Typically they're the only people interested.

[KishaRa]

Lol maybe I should just start offering them in pairs then. "Hey have this lovely 4th gen check, and look, there's more! I will throw in its perfect mate for free! That's the value of two lineaged eggs for the price of one!! Hurry because this offer ends soon!"

That might even work. The problem for some people with lineages (especially checkers I note), is that they aren't capable of breeding a mate. Particularly if the line includes holiday releases, bright pinks, frills, or rares.