Send Biome Blockers to the AP

[Cinnamin Draconna]

Thanks to the biomes constantly having the same three eggs just sitting there, I've practically stopped playing. I can't get the rest of the new eggs I want, nor can I get the stripes I need for my big project. I'm so bored with this game it's pathetic, all because of the unmoving biomes.

[SpottedSky2000]

I love this idea!

 

 

*shoots you some fireworks*

 

 

It would make egghunting so much more enjoyable.

 

The only downside I can think of is the AP getting too crowded. I don't know. As you said, if the eggs are low time, they'll get picked up.

 

 

~SS2000

[Guillotine]

Thanks to the biomes constantly having the same three eggs just sitting there, I've practically stopped playing. I can't get the rest of the new eggs I want, nor can I get the stripes I need for my big project. I'm so bored with this game it's pathetic, all because of the unmoving biomes.

This. The biomes move so glacially that I'm getting really bored with the game, and I've only been here a few months. :/ I'm not even looking for rares most of the time; i just want to see the biomes move so that i can grab CBs of non-blocker dragons that I like. The AP is nice, but it's not really a replacement for biome-hunting.

[Fuzzbucket]

Thanks to the biomes constantly having the same three eggs just sitting there, I've practically stopped playing. I can't get the rest of the new eggs I want, nor can I get the stripes I need for my big project. I'm so bored with this game it's pathetic, all because of the unmoving biomes.

That's weird. I've been catching CB stripes with no trouble. I never could before...

 

*makes a note that Cinnamin needs them... JUST in case I feel nice at any time...*

[egwenna]

I'm one of those who will grab blockers and dump them to the AP 5 hrs later. It's a kind of tedious way to play, but out of desparation to get the biome moving, there's not much choice. This would be a nice alternative.

 

Of course, I have probably picked some of the blockers I kicked up in the AP later and raised them.

[Fiona]

The AP is nice, but it's not really a replacement for biome-hunting.

Total agreement here. I suspect that if someone is actually looking for blocker breeds they just shop at the AP for them. I know that's what I do. I only take them from the cave to move the biomes, and won't even do that if I have only a couple egg slots available. If I want something that is not a blocker breed from the cave I have a problem, because the biomes really don't move much at all.

 

I tend to not want to tie up a valuable egg slot with a blocker breed egg from the cave. I want to save those precious slots for breeds I find more desirable and harder to find, or eggs from lineage projects, trades or rares.

 

I tend not to hunt the biomes any more, frankly. My reflexes are a bit slow, so the harder to get stuff eludes me.

[cyradis4]

I'm one of those who will grab blockers and dump them to the AP 5 hrs later. It's a kind of tedious way to play, but out of desparation to get the biome moving, there's not much choice. This would be a nice alternative.

 

Of course, I have probably picked some of the blockers I kicked up in the AP later and raised them.

Lol I do this too, from time to time. In fact... A couple weeks ago I grabbed CB eggs from the AP (almost all blockers), incu-hatched them, and FFA'ed them in the IRC Trades chat. All promptly left to new homes, with appreciation coming back to me.

 

With over 100 Reds, I've got 50 extra incubates every two weeks I can use for something like this. Most people.... don't.

 

And count me in as another who will only grab blockers from the Biomes if I have:

1. Extra egg slots (rare)

2. Have room and am about to go to bed (rare)

 

I would much rather forge a lineage from blockers than pick up more of said blockers. I've been on DC since 2009. I've almost completed my scroll goals (16 CBs of each breed, only Red Dorsals, CB Metals, and the breedable onlys are left).

 

However, I'll happily give scroll space to nice lineaged hatchies or CB blocker hatchies. But egg slots are too valuable to use for something I've already got 16+ of.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[edwardelricfreak]

I like a mixture of all three ideas (5-10 minutes, reduced 5 hour wait, AND multiple APs)

 

I feel like one hour might be too short, though. 4 is still too long, so is three. I'm thinking 2 or 2.5 hours. At least to start.

 

I'm just kind of worried, though, because there's ALWAYS tons of caveblockers in the AP...and they still take forever to get picked up. Even with 10 minutes intervals, that's still over 100 more eggs dumped into the AP, and that's not counting all the eggs dumped by people. I think, even though 5 minutes sound WONDERFUL, 10 would be not quite as harsh for the AP.

 

I feel like multiple APs could benefit this idea, just so there's not a concentrated backlog of 1000+ caveblocker eggs in the ONE AP.

[cyradis4]

I like a mixture of all three ideas (5-10 minutes, reduced 5 hour wait, AND multiple APs)

 

I feel like one hour might be too short, though. 4 is still too long, so is three. I'm thinking 2 or 2.5 hours. At least to start.

 

I'm just kind of worried, though, because there's ALWAYS tons of caveblockers in the AP...and they still take forever to get picked up. Even with 10 minutes intervals, that's still over 100 more eggs dumped into the AP, and that's not counting all the eggs dumped by people. I think, even though 5 minutes sound WONDERFUL, 10 would be not quite as harsh for the AP.

 

I feel like multiple APs could benefit this idea, just so there's not a concentrated backlog of 1000+ caveblocker eggs in the ONE AP.

The number of CBs in the AP won't go up by a huge amount, I think.

 

Think about it. Every single CB had to come from the Biomes originally, so what people will do is wait for them to rotate out instead of picking up something they don't want.

 

What we've been finding with the new AP is that the eggs don't drop below 3d 23h for long. I think it happened once? During the Birthday Release? And was gone almost immediately despite a huge participation in the 7 new released dragons. I doubt we'll have a similar experience for quite some time, so I think it's safe to assume that even if this were implemented, we'd see at best just barely ERs.

 

What does concern me about the AP in general is the hatchies sorting to the back of the AP. We're ending up with a bunch going to the Wild where they (rumored) can't affect the ratios, when there are plenty of homes for them if people could just get to them. Hrm... I think I"ll make another suggestion, with that in it.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[Ashes The Second]

This doesn't really affect me, but it would be nice to see a change.

[love_HP]

I am in full support.

There used to be people who get blocker breeds from the cave because they need CB ones for certain projects long ago. Now I believe there isn't. Seriously, why bother taking them when you can always find CB blockers with no CD and almost ERable in the AP? Now the only people who take blockers from the cave are those who throw them to the AP in 5 hours.

It seems pretty pointless to me why users must do this, instead of a system. It's not like asking a lot more rares to drop or expect eggs to hatch with little views.

 

As to PF13 mentioning some concern about popular eggs getting kicked to the AP, I mention my idea again:

 

Users "Kicking" eggs to the AP.

Under every egg in the cave there's a "kick". One user can only "kick" one egg once. When a certain amount of users (20 for example) has used "kick" on an egg, it goes to the AP.

 

True there will be "trolls" who kick everything including rares/uncommons. But:

a) It's not likely that there will be, say, 20 people online at the same time and at the same biome with the intention of kicking uncommons. Rares will absolutely be taken before enough people trying to kick it. And seriously, why would someone "kick" a rare when they see one?

Even if trolls call on their friends to do the same together and some uncommons ARE kicked to the AP, it doesn't really hurt. As PF13 said, they'll be a nice surprise for some AP hunter.

 

Edit for font size and color.

Edited August 1, 2013 by love_HP

[Syphoneira]

I remember some concern about popular eggs getting kicked to the AP [not that that's a problem, since they'll be a nice surprise for some AP hunter!]. I'd like to counter with the fact that with guaranteed movement in the cave people will be hunting at any time, probably all through the hour [until the biome empties, of course]. And people who don't hunt the cave often because they're frustrated with sitting and refreshing the same 3 blockers for 10 minutes will hunt again.

 

 

 

 

Why not? And where would you suggest they go?

 

Sending them to the AP is the only viable way to get rid of blockers. The AP no longer blocks the cave, so it doesn't matter if lots of eggs get sent there. They'll sit around until they're ER [or close to it] and get picked up and hatched. No problem with the ratios, and it would probably get MORE blockers raised than the current system does.

 

Rotating the eggs in the cave would just cause people to pick out the rares and other desirables and leave the blockers to rot, totally killing the ratios.

 

Deleting the blockers would also kill the ratios.

 

 

THIS!

 

 

Although I'd personally rather see a supply more in tune with demand, which would fit with what the environment could actually support without crowding out other species, the latter being what chronically occurs now.

[love_HP]

 

THIS!

 

 

Although I'd personally rather see a supply more in tune with demand, which would fit with what the environment could actually support without crowding out other species, the latter being what chronically occurs now.

TJ won't do it. There will always be blockers.

[Syphoneira]

TJ won't do it. There will always be blockers.

 

 

Yeah, there always have been - but, after years of having play so often blocked, a LOT of people are getting discouraged, since most of us don't have hot gaming puters and super-fast reflexes, not to mention endless time to try to catch in.

 

If you look at the new Release thread, it's not over a hundred pages of excited comment with hundreds of people stopping in, because so many people did NOT have the opportunity to catch in a Flood with high numbers of new eggs in proportion to players showing up afterward - a lot of it's people mentioning misClicks and other fails, giving up because of Blockers, etc., because this isn't any more fun than a traffic jam, much of the time.

 

This type of collecting game, with all of the long-term, slow activities people tend to engage in, such as breeding attempts, (which often fail) tends to attract people who don't have fast puters/relflexes and who aren't interested in NOT being able to catch things for 'fun'.

 

And a lot of players simply aren't bothering anymore, because they come here for fun and stress relief and too-often fail to find it.

 

Some people apparently enjoy refreshing/picking up Blockers rather than dragons they want, but they do seem to be in the minority, and that's what DC is going to wind up with as users, which I think is rather a waste of the only game I personally play - one where it was once possible for anyone to catch anything, if putting the time and effort in.

 

If Cave hunting is merely boring repetition of refreshing on too many dragons of types most people already have enough of, where are these people who say this is a 'challenge' getting their excitement from?

 

They will see - and catch - far more desirable dragons on faster puters than those on slow ones, but a lot of people have to sacrifice their hopes of filling spaces with eggs they want in taking Blockers for anyone to get anywhere, and the odds are high that whoever benefits won't be them - where's the fun and excitement in their recreational time for them?

 

All because we can't have the variety of dragons we now have and are finally increasing showing up in the Cave in proportion to demand to make for actual hunting, rather than too many of limited types for the environment - the users - to support...

 

Why?

 

It's not that people would necessarily be able to catch everything they want all at once, but at least they'd see not only what they were looking for, but have some chance of seeing and even catching SOMETHING they could actually use, keeping the biomes moving for the next guys - you know, like a game?

[angelicdragonpuppy]

You know - not exactly specific to blockers - but I often wonder if it would be good to see an end to the "hourly drop" and so on - see eggs dropping randomly. Then there wouldn't be the same crowd hunting at the same time. I know someone who was LOOKING for canopies and couldn't find enough - if she'd been able to just look at any old time and anything might happen, it might have been easier...

 

The RUSH of people on the hour is one of the things that makes it all so hard for those with slow connections....

Personally I disagree. The hourly drops are about the only time I can expect the cave to move with any regularity, and thus the only time I can really hunt. Always having to wonder when the cave might start moving... not fun.

 

At any rate, I really like the suggestion! Stuff in the AP is more fun to collect now than ever, and I know I'd definitely be more eager to pick up commons if they were instant-hatchies. There's some commons I really adore (Pillows, Albinos, and Whites, to name a few), but I never grab them from the cave because it's just too long a wait for a common for me to feel like bothering with. But if they were in the AP... oooh yes.

 

 

[Wahya]

I support this idea 110%. I LOVE the AP as it is with low time eggs, and this would help me get more CB commons I'd like without bothering with the biomes at all (which I rarely do now that the AP is made of awesome) while making the biomes more user friendly for all. Top notch idea!

[Nectaris]

Personally I disagree. The hourly drops are about the only time I can expect the cave to move with any regularity, and thus the only time I can really hunt. Always having to wonder when the cave might start moving... not fun.

 

At any rate, I really like the suggestion! Stuff in the AP is more fun to collect now than ever, and I know I'd definitely be more eager to pick up commons if they were instant-hatchies. There's some commons I really adore (Pillows, Albinos, and Whites, to name a few), but I never grab them from the cave because it's just too long a wait for a common for me to feel like bothering with. But if they were in the AP... oooh yes.

Pretty much this, this kind of a move would kill what remaining interest I have in the game itself.

 

I also fully agree with what Syphoneira said.

[love_HP]

Syphoneira, I do agree with you.

This doesn't really bother me, as I have stopped cave-hunting altogether long ago (except for new releases). I just thought that the cave is almost "useless" with the same 3 blockers sitting there forever. I do AP hunting because although it IS filled with blockers most of the time, at least it's rare to see AP completely frozen for even one minute.

I can't see why cave blockers should not be sent to the AP by a system, apart from TJ might not like it.

 

If only TJ would come up and say "Yes, players are SUPPOSED to sit there staring at 3 eggs that NEVER move for an hour, that's how Dragon Cave works". I would immediately change my sig to a font size 10000 "TJ IS STUPID" and stop collecting rares altogether and focus myself completely on the naming and describing part.

[Dolphine]

Absolutely support this idea

I rarely hunt in cave because i get bored to fast because it doesn't move. Only on a new release i am found in cave.

I just love the incuhatchable AP and the first idea is just super. I will get things moving and hopefully make common and uncommon desired eggs a bit more easy to get.

[LightEyes]

Support! I may have just joined yesterday, but I do know the problem with blockers. I keep seeing the same eggs in the same spots when I go to get new eggs.....

[chryse]

I support this idea.

 

Many of the biomes only move at the top of the hour, & even then, only for a few minutes.

I don't have time to sit staring at the same eggs and refresh, refresh, refresh for hours just to get which ever CB I'm looking for. I'm sure others others have the same problem.

 

I would be happy to collect the cave blockers from the AP - kinda do a bit of that now as they don't hold an egg slot for long

 

A second AP just for CB blockers? Not a bad idea - it wouldn't interfere with those who hunt the AP looking for interesting lineages - that would be tough if it were flooded with cave blockers every hour!

[love_HP]

I was thinking about blockers when showering.

There were suggestions like egg shuffling that "worked on other sites" but probably wouldn't work in DC. But what about the AP?

The AP and the cave are both egg sources of Dragon Cave. And we must notice that there are MUCH FEWER complaints about the AP than about the main cave (apart from hatchies in AP grow up and run to the wilderness, which isn't relevant to the subject because the main cave has no hatchies). I'm not asking to turn the biomes into exactly what the AP is like, but there must be things the main cave can "learn" from the AP.

 

The 5-hour CD has been there when I was first here in 2010. Situations were much different: AP blocks the cave, only one biome, and we see eggs at 7d in AP.

Now I believe that the 5-hour CD is outdated-obsolete-behind the times-whatever you want to call it.

 

It's one thing to say "all players of DC: you must raise x blockers in order to let DC make a gold", and another completely different thing to let players stare at 3 same eggs (say Deepsea) for 10 minutes. It's like forcing a Deepsea egg down a player's throat when he/she may be looking for a Coastal Waverunner. And he/she would probably close the biome tab, and turn to AP to get the Coastal Waverunner.

[Guillotine]

Precisely. When I'm not doing other things on the site, I tend to go hunting for Greys, which are a blocker. But if they're behind other blockers, i won't bother sticking around the ten minutes it needs to change and will just grab a Grey from the AP until I get a CB (or I will once I get the frozens I need).

 

Plus, the lower time-'til-hatching in the current AP means that I can hatch them in a matter of hours, thus freeing up more space for me to get more eggs.

 

Basically, there are a lot of factors behind the AP moving really fast and just generally being more fun to hunt then the biomes!

[~!~]

My activity in Dragon Cave has been reduced to going to the biomes and picking up anything that looks mildly palatable to get the biomes moving. It's really boring and monotonous and practically impossible to get any of the new eggs (new for me ranging pretty far back--since DC has gotten so boring I rarely even log on anymore.)

 

Honestly, if TJ is unwilling to make the biomes move any faster, the least he can do is increase the rare:common ratio. Yes, I'm actually suggesting he make rares less rare, because the way the cave currently works, they don't NEED to actually be RARE to be hard to get, they just need to be valuable, which they are.

 

I'm going to throw out my idea from yesteryear again about making the cave time how long it takes for an egg to be picked up (counting only time when it's visible to the users, of course) and adjusting the ratios accordingly. If TJ did that, of course, there would have to be some manual override put in to keep breeds that are supposed to be rare rare compared to all the others, but it would at least help somewhat.

 

Also, like I've said before, it would still be really easy to get breeds that, through low demand, have become really rare, because you can bet your rear end you're the only one in the cave who wants that egg.

[Herk]

I'm really against this. The AP not blocking the cave anymore has locked it up badly enough - heck I don't even need to use my incuates anymore with eggs constantly under 4 days and hatchies growing up in the AP running to the Wilderness before viewers even see them as hatchlings anymore. Throwing more blockers into the AP would maybe do things for biome hunters, but I think taking away the blocking did plenty for them. This change would be to the disadvantage of AP hunters and this site should cater to all kinds of players.