Cave Blockers and ways to deal with them

[Cinnamin Draconna]

another idea, what might help cleaning the caveblockers out would be the option to freeze eggs. then you could keep them to organisate your scroll and some breeds have so lovely eggs, i would love to keep them....

That wouldn't solve anything, because once you have a frozen egg of each breed why would you need more? Frozen egg armies? Frozen eggs for song lyrics? Freezing eggs would be a nice addition to collecting, but it would not solve the blocker problem.

[Pokemonfan13]

Especially since if we do get frozen eggs they're unlikely to count for the ratios, so all you're doing is removing an egg from the system that is going to have to be made again.

[Troubletail]

That wouldn't solve anything, because once you have a frozen egg of each breed why would you need more? Frozen egg armies? Frozen eggs for song lyrics? Freezing eggs would be a nice addition to collecting, but it would not solve the blocker problem.

I wouldn't mind (nameable) frozen eggs to use as dividers, since I plan on eventually giving all of my dragons descriptions and thus don't want to saddle any of them with that kind of awkward name.... but as you said, it would do absolutely nothing for the ratio problem.

[araglas]

was only a though...

[platedlizard]

I voted Migration/Seasonal Rotation, but I'd like to add a caveat. I don't think breeds should stop dropping entirely when they are 'off season'. I think they should drop like rares. So, say, mints are Common in Winter and Spring, Uncommon in Summer, and Rare in Fall. It would give people incentive to pick them up when they are common and uncommon, and make them desired Rares when they are off-season. I think that would solve the so-called 'cave-blocker' problem nicely. The 'seasons' should probably be staggered, so that no one dragon breed shares the exact same season.

[Starbit]

Please do not retire breeds from cave drops. People do make lineages that require CB commons.

[Syphoneira]

One issue with Migration, (according to suggested implementations that I've seen,) is that where Blockers are concerned, it simply switches the Cave over to creating a larger amount of the smaller variety of other Blockers still Dropping full bore, merely lessening the variety and chances of anyone actually wanting whatever everyone's currently refreshing on.

 

Another (again, according to suggested implementations that I've seen,) is that it doesn't only apply to Blockers and makes dragons people quite often need difficult/impossible to access when they need them.

 

It would also be confusing, as well as frustrating, to people unaware of migration issues, (especially those off forum,) if, for example, Nebulas or Reds effectively or utterly went missing at a time they needed them for lineages/trade/gift promises, BSAs, or whatever, and they had no idea whether they were ever coming back at all.

 

Migration, if you look at the actual foreseeable results, is a concept that (however implemented) continually fouls up at least some of the people all of the time, without in any way reducing the Blocker issue, but in fact likely worsening it, because there are simply too many of certain types of sprites being Dropped - by design and in accordance with ratios - to have the seasonal reduction/disappearance of various sprites, even when Blockers, alter anything for the better.

[TheTimelord915]

I'm probably the second person to mention the mossy egg idea in this whole thread, but correct me if I'm wrong. While the only effective implementation I see of this is to make a mossy form for every dragon which would be extremely tedious, at the same time, now people want to get lots of these mossy eggs, and they'd turn mossy after a few minutes in the stagnant biomes, making plentiful sources. Not only that, but maybe the temptation of a mossy rare would let rares sit out longer, so that aspiring hunters can actually get the egg rather than be outclicked. Obviously, there's no perfect way to solve the problem as people hunt in different ways. I try to stick to one, maybe two if I mess up apiece, until maybe, just maybe I've... CAUGHT EM ALL. Anyhow, that's my take.

[Syphoneira]

I'm probably the second person to mention the mossy egg idea in this whole thread, but correct me if I'm wrong. While the only effective implementation I see of this is to make a mossy form for every dragon which would be extremely tedious, at the same time, now people want to get lots of these mossy eggs, and they'd turn mossy after a few minutes in the stagnant biomes, making plentiful sources. Not only that, but maybe the temptation of a mossy rare would let rares sit out longer, so that aspiring hunters can actually get the egg rather than be outclicked. Obviously, there's no perfect way to solve the problem as people hunt in different ways. I try to stick to one, maybe two if I mess up apiece, until maybe, just maybe I've... CAUGHT EM ALL. Anyhow, that's my take.

 

 

Apart from anything else, wouldn't permission need to be obtained from the spriters of each Blocker-type dragon to which the mossy egg idea would be applied?

 

Or am I talking through my hat?

 

Also, haven't seen that thread for a while, so my info's outdated and my memory sucketh, lol.

 

 

If you changed the various Blocker sprites of eggs gone mossy, would they then apply to the ratio for those Blockers, or would they change category and just be replaced as that original Blocker by the Cave ratio system?

 

 

And I seem to recall some mention of a possible mossy egg BSA, but not sure if that worked or not?

 

What was the actual incentive decided upon for picking these up, in the end?

 

Was it worked out so that a different sprite for various Blockers was OK, after all, or a BSA decided on?

 

Because if the supplies of mossy eggs are almost as plentiful as the Blockers types are, won't people will get loaded up on those initially, while they gradually turn into Blockers themselves?

 

There's an awful lot of Blocker types and if a high percentage of them go mossy, it sounds like a lot of respriting to do to create another Blocker out of the existing ones...

 

Or would there be a lot of different ones, or a BSA useful enough to make people want lots of them?

 

Sorry, it's 5 AM and I'm rather groggy and much too lazy to dig out the mossy egg thread, which I haven't noticed for quite some time...

[rumor33]

Apart from anything else, wouldn't permission need to be obtained from the spriters of each Blocker-type dragon to which the mossy egg idea would be applied?

 

I think you would need permission to have a mossy alt for ALL dragons, not just blockers. I mean, yes, we all KNOW that a gold is never going to sit there and go mossy, but I'd assuming the code wouldn't be able to differentiate between blockers or not and would need to have a sprite to put there just in case.

 

Personally I'm for mossy eggs VERY RARELY leading to a brand new 'mossy' dragon after the egg hatchies. I think people would pick them up and raise them for the chance of it being a rare, and most would just keep the blocker hatchling that failed to go mossy.

Edited September 25, 2013 by rumor33

[love_HP]

IF we are to have a mossy alt for all dragons...just imagine what price would people put on mossy gold...multiple neglecteds maybe? And it would be impossible to get.

[Pokemonfan13]

IF we are to have a mossy alt for all dragons...just imagine what price would people put on mossy gold...multiple neglecteds maybe? And it would be impossible to get.

I would say only have mossy alts for commons. The point, after all, is to make blockers more desirable, not to add crazy value to already desirable dragons. And it would be impossible to have a mossy gold anyways, since it would never sit that long.

[love_HP]

I would say only have mossy alts for commons. The point, after all, is to make blockers more desirable, not to add crazy value to already desirable dragons. And it would be impossible to have a mossy gold anyways, since it would never sit that long.

I still like the idea of "eggs booting to AP after a certain time" better.

Not saying that mossy egg idea is bad, it just takes too much time; the mossy sprites, getting permission from the original spriters and everything.

For eggs booting to AP, all it takes is TJ coding a bit and can be done in much shorter time.

[Pokemonfan13]

Oh, I agree. Booting is much better. Just commenting on what was being discussed.

[Obscure_Trash]

It's been a while since this was discussed, so bringing it up again to see if there is new input/ideas or to see if this thread is outdated. o3o

[Pokemonfan13]

Maybe the poll should be remade, replacing random egg shuffle (which is really unlikely to be a thing) to the variation I suggested in the thread I made (shuffle of commons only). Recording the current results for reference, of course.

[NotBambi]

I'm surprised that less than 5% of the voters chose Altering the Breeding Ratios.

[Tango]

I have a question about this - when I joined Dragoncave eggs only dropped on the hour. They dropped for 5-10 minutes and then there were no more eggs in the cave, only the abandoned pile. Why did this change? Or was it changed, or back then did all the eggs get picked up?

 

Please take this to Help or PM until you're ready to add an opinion on the actual suggestion here.

Edited December 18, 2015 by SockPuppet Strangler

[Fiona]

TJ changed things, yes. For one thing, he started having eggs generate more on the five minute marks. Plus there were less breeds of eggs then so there wasn't as much variety to hunt for. Back then all the eggs that were generated got picked up.

[Tango]

Do you think going back to the original formula would help reduce the caveblockage? Maybe I'm thinking of changing ratios.

[Obscure_Trash]

Do you think going back to the original formula would help reduce the caveblockage? Maybe I'm thinking of changing ratios.

I think it would be very frustrating to catch anything, particularly for cave hunters. I think it would create more problems than solve them. The cave has undergone changes throughout the years for a reason (more people, evolving needs, etc.), so unless a good argument can be made for this, no, I don't think it would help. ^^

[Fiona]

Do you think going back to the original formula would help reduce the caveblockage? Maybe I'm thinking of changing ratios.

It's just not feasible to go back to the way things were. For one, you would have to take back out all those lovely breeds we have now.

 

You'd have rioting in the streets.

[stagazer_7]

Out of all options presented I like Option 5, kicking eggs that sit in the Cave for too long to the AP, and Option 8, a quicker rotation of the eggs, best, along with ideas of adding more alts, BSA's and new dragon releases. More is awesome, but I'm adamantly against retirement of any Cbers. I see no pluses in this one, none. There are enough exclusive breeds already and I would feel horrible if players that are yet to come would be denied having a CB of a dragon that was retired because it was too common (rather silly if you ask me).

 

Also, for Option 3 (Migration / Seasonal Rotation) - rather then completely removing a breed for a couple of months, I would rather see their drop frequency altered - some species would be more likely to produce offsping in spring, others in winter. This way, let's say Neotropical dragons, would be easier to find in summer, but a bit less common in winter.

 

I have no idea of how ratios work and how altering them would affect breeding so... It's probably the way to go in solving the Cber problem, but I would like to know more about it.

[BlueSkyy]

I personally think eggs should "shuffle" after a certain period of time, and if an individual egg goes more than X minutes without being picked it, it should go to the AP.

[SullenCat]

I'm not starting a debate on necromancy (it is frowned up on many other fora but enforced here) but wouldn't be possible for the mods to allow the creation of a new poll/thread that takes in consideration the changes introduced by TJ in the meantime?