Remote Biomes

[olympe]

Seriously, I'd rather have my scroll devoid of eggs before entering a new biome. Getting new eggs is what the (freshly found) remote biome is good for.

Edited May 9, 2013 by olympe

[Fuzzbucket]

Seriously, I'd rather have my scroll devoid of eggs before entering a new biome. Getting new eggs is what the (freshly found) remote biome is good for.

Maybe - but the new ones would be permanent additions, so no rush ? I mean - I might just have been gifted a gold shimmer (anyone listening ??? ) We aren't always totally in control of these things, in that sense...

[olympe]

In such a case, the remote biome can wait for two days. Three, if you can't incubate.

[Pokemonfan13]

If you can use it without any eggs on your scroll I don't think earthquaking to get into a biome is a problem.

[Fiona]

My opinion is no, let's not use earthquake as a way to get into the remote biomes. Or, if it's an option, it's only one option and you never need to use it to get access.

 

I don't care if you can use it with no eggs and have it count, I'm still not using it. First off, I almost always have eggs that I care about. And second, why should I have to use an action I don't like to get access?

[_Sin_]

My opinion is no, let's not use earthquake as a way to get into the remote biomes. Or, if it's an option, it's only one option and you never need to use it to get access.

 

I don't care if you can use it with no eggs and have it count, I'm still not using it. First off, I almost always have eggs that I care about. And second, why should I have to use an action I don't like to get access?

^^ This!

 

Edit:

Furthermore I hate the idea of requirements that could encourage people to kill their eggs!

Edited May 10, 2013 by _Sin_

[Vhale]

^^ This!

 

Edit:

Furthermore I hate the idea of requirements that could encourage people to kill their eggs!

:<

 

/hides Vamp shells and Zombies

 

I think there's precedent for it (keeling things) but I don't mind either way. Although it's amusing to think of splash having a use, I think a single dragon having a bsa is probably the easiest. That's mainly why I brought up Seasonals even though they technically don't drop in all biomes. THe other would be a summon style where you'd have to collect 3-5 of whatever breed drops in that biome. That would let bred dragons count. But I wasn't sure if it was kosher to essentially take up bsa space on a LOT of dragons. I'm not sure they could overlap. IE reds. And if they can't, it would kinda crush the BSA suggestion forum by making many of them off limits.

 

/scratches head

[Fiona]

I think TJ has said it's not impossible for him to give one breed more than one BSA. However, at this time I don't think that's something he's particularly endorsed either.

 

It would probably be far simpler to just leave BSA's out of the equation for getting access to the new biomes. If you give a BSA to gain access to any one (or a few) breed of dragon, you're going to have people complaining that they don't like that breed and won't collect. The same is true of using any existing BSA's.

[Slaskia]

*is a bit lost on what the current convo is but oh well*

 

If we go the BSA route, it should be a dragon that drops in all biomes. I nominate Mints. Since they are small and shy, they may be more likely to find the 'hidden paths' to the remote biomes and such.

 

Just a thought...and from someone that doesn't like Mints to boot .

[Fiona]

I'm not sure where the BSA conversation came from either, since we had been talking about access methods that don't restrict play style. They started talking about running a poll to see what sorts of access mechanisms people liked and that BSA thing popped up.

 

The access methods we'd talked about before were simple: x dragons from the biome gives access, y trophy level, or z weeks/months old scroll. All simple and straight forward and make sure everyone will be able to continue their personal play style and still be able to get access.

 

Frankly, I think the BSA idea is a poor one. What if someone doesn't like the BSA dragon you choose? You've all seen people post that there may be a breed or two they won't have on their scrolls. If access is only through a BSA and someone hates that breed, they're going to feel pressured to do something they wouldn't ordinarily have done, just for access. Now, that's their choice to make, but I don't think we really want to go there.

[Pokemonfan13]

I agree with Fi. It actually applies to me, since someone suggested using mints for the BSA and mints are basically the only dragon I don't collect. x3

[Esmeia]

I think the idea of reward biomes with exclusive new dragons sounds pretty cool, actually! It would definitely give a good goal and get a lot of projects off the completed list, I think.

 

How someone would go about achieving these new biomes, I'm not sure. I'm not really wild about the BSA route, though. All the other possible methods sound fine to me, though!

Edited May 10, 2013 by Esmeia

[olympe]

Well, maybe we rally need another type of BSAs - biome-specific actions. Each non-limited breed would have at least 1 of them, depending on how many biomes they drop in. And they'd work like Splash: Once you reach 100 uses, you find the new remote biome. To make things simpler, you'd only need to use it once for all dragons on your scroll, but it would count for all of them.

 

Example: You have 5 coastal dragons on your scroll. You choose one and use its biome-specific action (BiSA)"Explore Coast". The count for "Explore Coast" goes up by 5 now. The next day, you can use the BiSA again. Once your BiSA counter reaches or exceeds 100, the BiSA vanishes, and you gain access to the remote biome.

 

Pro:

• Works for hoarders.
• Works for people with very strict scroll goals.
• Nobody needs to collect any sprites they don't like.
• Demands activity.

Con:

• Everyone would have to start from scratch - but long-time players would have an advantage in numbers. As a matter of fact, some people might only have to use each BiSA only once to gain access to the remote biomes.
• Crossbreeds - what about them? (I'd say they'd count for the biomes where both of their parent breeds can be found. Coast for bluna and shallow water, Forest, Jungle and Coast for soulpeace, Desert for UV - and probably anything but Jungle for geodes.
• frozen hatchlings - should they have the BiSA, too? 8I'd say yes, they can explore just like the adults can.)
• Excludes prize dragons and holiday dragons

Thoughts?

[Fuzzbucket]

Thoughts is that I would rather it NOT be tied to a BSA. Collecting and time requirements would be enough, I think.

 

ETA - 100 count ? Would that be by the one dragon, or could you get to the 100 by using - say - every coastal you have in one day ? OR will this take 100 days to get in, no mater what ? Would that be a BiSA use per BIOME per day, or one per day, period... ?

 

 

Edited May 10, 2013 by fuzzbucket

[whitebaron]

I think you're on the right track. Holidays and prizes will always be excluded, no matter what you do, so I don't see that as an issue. I would, however, add it to the Biome itself instead of onto the Dragons.

 

I'll throw up some mock screenshots in the evening if I have the time.

 

ps: I would not count frozens (took less effort) or crossbreeds (same as prizes and holidays) into it, as they just do not drop in any biome, and this is about biomes.

[DarkEternity]

olympe- I like your idea precisely for the reasons you list above

Edited May 10, 2013 by DarkEternity

[Fiona]

You realize that your BiSA and the idea of "collect x dragons from a biome to unlock" are going to pretty much be one or the other, right? There's zero point in having both. If there's an option to collect 20 dragons from the coast to unlock the remote biome, or you can use the BiSA for 100 total activations, just having the dragons to activate the actions gets you into the biome without activating it.

 

Collecting the dragons is simpler than the BiSA idea. In my book, simpler wins.

[olympe]

Actually, I thought that the BiSA idea might be used as the only way to unlock remote biomes. Because it includes all possible play styles.

 

Thoughts is that I would rather it NOT be tied to a BSA. Collecting and time requirements would be enough, I think.

 

ETA - 100 count ? Would that be by the one dragon, or could you get to the 100 by using - say - every coastal you have in one day ? OR will this take 100 days to get in, no mater what ? Would that be a BiSA use per BIOME per day, or one per day, period... ?

You'd only need 100 uses total. And, since each dragon usually living in the coastal biome counts for your "explore coast" count, you could up them pretty quickly.

 

Example: If you have 5 dragons living in the coastal biome and use "Explore Coast" on one of them, your count for this BiSA would go up by 5. If you have 100 dragons living in the coastal biome instead, you'd instantly get 100 uses of this BiSA as soon as you use it on one dragon. Which would immediately unlock the remote_coast biome for you.

 

Of course, you could use "Explore Coast", "Explore Alpine" and all of the others during one day. I know it doesn't make sense for one dragon to be able to explore all 6 biomes in one day, but maybe such a versatile dragon might tipp of its brethren and tell them where to look. I see this "explore" BiSA more like collecting knowledge on a biome, and even those not actively participating in the actual search might pass on some vital local knowledge.

 

 

@Fiona: Isn't it simpler to have one way only to unlock a remote biome rather than having two or three to choose from? And since this BiSA idea caters to all play styles, you wouldn't even need to have different options. Merely collecting might turn off people with strict scroll goals, which is why you'd have to add other options into the mix.

 

ps: I would not count frozens (took less effort) or crossbreeds (same as prizes and holidays) into it, as they just do not drop in any biome, and this is about biomes.

Well, it is debatable. Personally, I would count frozens, because they are just as capable of finding the hidden entrance as an adult dragon. Maybe even more so as children view the world differently than adults. And regarding crossbreeds - they might not drop in the biome, but sure they live/hunt/rest somewhere out there - and not only in a show case (eg your scroll)? So, since blunas and shallow waters are totally aquatic, they'd sure roam the coast occasionally, if not most of the time, no? The same would be true for the other crossbreeds. Edited May 10, 2013 by olympe

[Slaskia]

Hmm...how about make the BiSA result random, like GoN summoning, but with a twist.

 

What I mean by that is this:

 

- you start out with a base chance to find the biome (so there's a chance for 'first day' access, basically, due to luck)

- each time you 'fail' the chances to find it increase for the next time

- Once you have a certain number of attempts, your next attempt is an automatic success (like 100 attempts, for the really unlucky ones).

[_Sin_]

I'm doing my best to find the advantages of the BiSA idea (compared i.e. with Fiona's suggestions) but I'm not being successful.

First of all, I like "simple." Everything that is not immediately understood by experienced players is going to be hard to explain to new players.

Second, this gives an heavy advantage to the older players because probably they already have those 100 dragons per biome. So we are back to "instant access for the older players, newbies can wait."

Three, this disadvantages the "harders" (and BTW I dislike that word since gives a negative connotation to a play-style that is legit) since their armies tend to be of few breeds and, in consequence, from few biomes.

Edited May 10, 2013 by _Sin_

[olympe]

I don't know about the others, but personally, I hate random. With a passion. And, whoever had to summon for two years or more for their first GoN to appear will probably agree with me. But it sure is an option. (Even if I totally don't like it.)

[Fuzzbucket]

I don't know about the others, but personally, I hate random. With a passion. And, whoever had to summon for two years or more for their first GoN to appear will probably agree with me. But it sure is an option. (Even if I totally don't like it.)

YES INDEED - it was almost three years for me. I was creating banners for fellow sufferers. And since TJ wants to be totally FAIR to ALL PLAYERS about holiday dragons, I can't believe he wouldn't about this too.

 

NO RANDOM. PLEASE no random. I KNOW my scroll is coded for "if it's random, don't get your hopes up..."

[_Sin_]

Hmm...how about make the BiSA result random, like GoN summoning, but with a twist.

 

What I mean by that is this:

 

- you start out with a base chance to find the biome (so there's a chance for 'first day' access, basically, due to luck)

- each time you 'fail' the chances to find it increase for the next time

- Once you have a certain number of attempts, your next attempt is an automatic success (like 100 attempts, for the really unlucky ones).

Well at least everybody would have potentially the same chances

[Fuzzbucket]

Well at least everybody would have potentially the same chances

That is NOT how it feels when summoning, believe you me.

[olympe]

Too true.

 

Imagine, my daughter had her first summon actually work. Then she didn't summon for a long time, and once the chances were upped for higher amounts of trios (on your scroll), she tried again two or three times. Maybe a handful of times in between. That's all it took for her to gain two GoNs.

 

Me, I summoned almost regularly for a little over a year before I got my first. It took me another good year of summoning before I got my 2nd GoN.

 

Now look at fuzz... It might be fair, since it's random. But random can be a .