New release Feedback

[Nectaris]

I personally liked the new time. I miss the old challenge of the game, the actual COMPETITION, not the sit and wait who knows how long in hopes that something interesting appears. Getting the competition without staying up late(though it isn't technically midnight for me) is a bonus, especially as the last few releases I have inevitably not felt well enough to stay up late. It has been rather boring to wake up and be able to catch the eggs within seconds. I honestly think people have grown a little too used to the lack of competition, I understand those who have been going for hours being upset, but when you get upset when you don't get any in the first drop then it is time to reevaluate your priorities and realize that this is just a game.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Nectaris

[Thuban]

The new time didn't bother me too much. I generally don't even start hunting for new releases until my kids are up for the day (roughly 9 hours after the initial drop).. and I usually do not have a hard time catching new ones. Its kind of nice then, because all of the early birds are locked up, and I'm only competing with the other people who are still hurting for the new ones (and the metal catchers who are hoping for more metal drops rather than new eggs). If its a week when I am not even home.. I still normally manage to catch things just fine monday morning.. rarely takes more than an hour to get my lock... i just have to pay a little bit more attention is all.

[Gladtobemom]

And btw . . .

 

I'm not OCD . . . and I still think that letting us know WHEN the new drops are going to happen is really a good thing.

 

There's already such a flavor of favoritism in the forum--if they are random, then they should be TRULY random. That means that nobody but TJ knows. Not the mods or the helpers or anyone. Because in the past, people DID know and they certainly let us know they were "special" and let their "special" friends know.

 

This is just like the "first day dated eggs" thing. People say "I don't think anyone cares." But it's the only way most of us are ever going to own a CB Gold. Either that or manage to find someplace with a blazing fast connection. I caught my CB Gold on the ONLY day I was at IBM in White Plains. I sat in their cafeteria for an hour . . . after work . . . just to stalk Gold dragons and it worked. The connection was amazing.

 

And for those without access to a fast connection, sometimes they have to wait till the eggs start sitting there a few seconds before they can get one. This means that they have to wait till it's been 18 or 19 hours after the drop started. So . . . even if the eggs are mixed then, there are some and they have a chance of getting eggs dated the first day.

 

So . . . I really would like to see a WHOLE CALENDAR DAY of first day eggs. Whether they are mixed or not for the last of it.

 

 

[Oasis]

As an eastern timer I like the 1:00 thing. It's hard to stay up that late especially with having to get up earlier the next day so the midnight releases were always difficult.

[Tawanda001]

If you like a challenge I'll swap my 8 yr old computer and my location in the mountains with crappy access with you.

 

My personal complaint is the middle of the afternoon timing because it means that typically I won't get a chance to hunt until after work, when the eggs have been dropping about ten hours. I'll be screwed if old eggs start mixing in early.

 

Like the idea of moving it to a Saturday, but maybe at a slightly later time, say around 6 -8 pm eastern time? (TJ, you wouldn't have to wake up so early, wink, wink) Wondering if that would be easier for the many folks that seem have family or job commitments during the daytime. I know when my kids were smaller Saturday afternoons were usually booked with sports or extracurricular activities, we were rarely home then.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Tawanda001

[Fuzzbucket]

If we are all chucking in reasons for various times - Saturday night is when a LOT of us old married types get to go to a movie I liked the 1pm, I have to say.

[lilacamy931]

If we are all chucking in reasons for various times - Saturday night is when a LOT of us old married types get to go to a movie I liked the 1pm, I have to say.

Same here, moving it later and later less benefits UK/European times as it places this firmly back in our sleep time but with even more time passing (though understand this new time does not benefit Australia and the like). The 1pm worked as it was relatively evening and the midnight time worked in some way since our side of the water could wake up to it with only a couple to a few hours passing. Sadly I do not think there is going to be a happy medium for all..since half the world will be sleeping and the other commitments..

 

EDIT: Also Saturdays could be seen a bit more ideal going by comments threads though again not for everyone.

Edited April 7, 2014 by lilacamy931

[CNR4806]

Yeah, Saturday will probably be the new target. I figured moving the release earlier would be a much larger disruption than moving it later (ie getting on at midnight and finding you still have 13 hours is better than getting on at midnight and finding that new eggs have been dropping for 11 hours already).

If the playerbase has been adequately warned beforehand well in advance of the actual release, I doubt the reaction would be as bad as it is right now even if you move it ahead or postpone it by 5 days and place it on a weird hour.

[Amazon_warrior]

If the playerbase has been adequately warned beforehand well in advance of the actual release, I doubt the reaction would be as bad as it is right now even if you move it ahead or postpone it by 5 days and place it on a weird hour.

This. The new time didn't unduly affect me and I managed to catch the eggs I wanted within ~30 mins of the release starting, but I really feel for the poor sods who set alarms specially, made arrangements or otherwise had a routine based around the midnight drop. To give those people such short notice was *really* thoughtless.

[Derek]

Seems this release wasn't that good. Top hatcheries usually have around 20k eggs 1-2 days after release, an increase of about 8000+ eggs, looking at the statistics, there was only an increase of about 4000 to about 15k on the site. Many people must have gotten screwed or the playerbase has dropped because I haven't seen such low numbers on hatcheries after a release in a while.

 

My information is based on the top 4 fansites with the most dragons on them.

[Iside]

Personally I like this release timing: living in Europe I didn't have to point my clock very early on Sunday morning, and I was able to get seven eggs within the first 10 minutes.

Only, I would have liked if the new timing had been announced a couple of days earlier.

[Tawanda001]

If we are all chucking in reasons for various times - Saturday night is when a LOT of us old married types get to go to a movie I liked the 1pm, I have to say.

I think that Sat evening for me is Sunday mid-morning for you guys?

How about midnight for you guys, 7pm here?

9AM here, 2PM for you?

 

Just throwing things out randomly because, I dunno, middle of the day is just awkward timing for a lot of people IMO. Maybe we should go with midnight in a different time zone for each new release, could be eye opening, and it would only take two years to try them all and figure out the optimal time.

[diaveborn]

I'm still just confused why a 24 hour drop is bad. It seems to me like it would take care of the time zone issues, but maybe I'm missing something?

[Jazeki]

Again, I'd like to emphasize picking a time that's not smack dab in the middle of the afternoon. :3

 

 

@fuzz- Maybe all old married types aren't the same. The older married family members in my family like to go out to the movies in the afternoon. Cheaper tickets and better seats.

[Fuzzbucket]

Again, I'd like to emphasize picking a time that's not smack dab in the middle of the afternoon. :3

 

 

@fuzz- Maybe all old married types aren't the same. The older married family members in my family like to go out to the movies in the afternoon. Cheaper tickets and better seats.

 

We're seniors, so we get discounts in the evenings ! but don't a lot of people here go out Saturday night ?

 

Seems this release wasn't that good. Top hatcheries usually have around 20k eggs 1-2 days after release, an increase of about 8000+ eggs, looking at the statistics, there was only an increase of about 4000 to about 15k on the site. Many people must have gotten screwed or the playerbase has dropped because I haven't seen such low numbers on hatcheries after a release in a while.

 

My information is based on the top 4 fansites with the most dragons on them.

After the last one, when people were posting here "hell we are getting a lot of views, why ?" I didn't put mine in hatcheries for a while longer than usual and this was also what a lot of my mates did. I don't think looking at hatcheries is necessarily the best way to estimate. Only TJ can tell us how many eggs were grabbed - and I'll bet it was PLENTY !

 

I'm still just confused why a 24 hour drop is bad. It seems to me like it would take care of the time zone issues, but maybe I'm missing something?

 

If you are, so am I...

[Tawanda001]

I'm still just confused why a 24 hour drop is bad. It seems to me like it would take care of the time zone issues, but maybe I'm missing something?

I think a lot of us don't have much faith in there being a straight 24 hour unmixed drop, especially if it involves rares. It just doesn't seem likely to happen, though I'd love to wrong about that!

Some of us have been through drops that have taught us that if we don't get in and grab early we don't have a chance of picking up those CB uncommons and rares for months, if at all.

[HeatherMarie]

I have to add a voice to the people wondering why/if a 24-hour pure-drop would be a bad thing.

 

*Supposedly* this change was made because of users complaining about the late-hour, correct? And now users are complaining about the mid-day hour (I'm one of them). No matter what time the drops start, there will *always* be users who are asleep/at work/at school/etc at that time.

 

But a 24-hour pure-drop means that EVERY SINGLE USER gets a chance to grab for the new-releases before they start mixing with every other breed, before ratios take over and they're grabbing at thin air. I *know* how hard it can be to catch a New Release after the commons start mixing in.

 

I'd love to hear just how "bad" it would be for the ratios, or *why* it's not already happening like that.

[Fiona]

Ok, this is not from TJ, so I could be understanding this completely wrong, but it is based on something he said years ago, which has influenced my understanding of how the code handles drops - not just for releases but all the time.

 

Do any of you remember the Mod Mayhem drop, when the new dragons dropped solid for a couple weeks? We were all (understandably) upset because that was the only thing you could get in the cave. (single cave - pre-biomes) The reason those dragons dropped like that was because there is no special "release" code. TJ enables their breed info and the code handles them automatically just like always. The reason they drop solid for awhile is because the code sees that there should be X of them, and they're waaaaaay short of that. As the numbers rise they're less under-represented, so the code starts adding others in. Finally it all balances out.

 

The mod mayhem release was so long because at that time the code was counting every dragon that had ever existed toward the ratios. After that, TJ changed it so they were counted for a shorter time. The next drop was mixed almost imediately. Too soon. So TJ tweaked things. Now, as we were told, dragons count for a year toward the totals. This seems to be a fairly good balance between counting too long so that new breeds are the only thing you can catch and counting not long enough so new breeds are nearly non-existent almost at once.

 

So, there is no special code, or setting, that TJ flips for solid drops for new releases. If he wanted to have one, he'd have to code it. It would probably mess up those breeds' dropping later.

 

That is why a "pure 24 hour drop" is a bad thing. Because right now the code handles things automatically. You're proposing messing with that.

[edwardelricfreak]

The only reason I can think of is that a 24-hour pure drop would mean choices in what you get in the cave is limited to whatever the release is. Personally I don't care, as I just fill up the rest of the way on AP or bred eggs, but I guess for some people they want to get other CBs? idk.

 

I think a pure drop for the full 24 hours (I don't care when it starts, though midnight makes more sense but it doesn't strictly have to be midnight) would be awesome. It covers all the timezones, and if it starts at midnight, then the people who get one can get their eggs on the day of the release (I remember some people were complaining about that).

 

/ninja'd by Fi

 

Well, if it's a code problem, then I guess there's not much we can do. Oh well. Not that I mind, personally.

[diaveborn]

I don't know enough about the whole ratio thing, but I wonder if coding a 24 hour drop would really have to mess up stuff that much, if things get tweaked to accommodate the change.

 

For the other issue...

 

If people are frustrated that they wouldn't be able to hunt normally, then they wait a bit and go back to hunting normally. They get what they want after 24 hours - or, if they can only hunt on one day of the week, the next week.

 

If people can't get new releases on new release day because of time zone issues, they can technically get them later, but we've seen with coppers and such that this isn't always the case in practice. Even with not every new breed being copper-like, it's still clearly important for many people to be able to get the egg during the release.

 

So if it's a matter of being inconvenient to a group of people for 24 hours to a week, or being inconvenient to another group of people in a way that messes stuff up for them for longer, possibly indefinitely... it doesn't seem like a very hard choice to me.

Edited April 7, 2014 by diaveborn

[DragonWavey]

How about just not jerking us around like this again.

 

Whatever the plan is, just give enough notice so we can be ready and not so disappointed and frustrated. Or just NEVER tell ANYBODY when there will be a drop and make it really random.

 

Like most people, I let my scroll empty off, got ready, and signed on a little before midnight. Wow, disappointment and confusion were all I was experiencing. When I looked on the forum, it seemed like it was everybody.

 

It was even worse because it wasn't a problem with your stuff or unexpected. It was a choice. I really felt like it was, "Oh, let's just screw with everybody, jerk them around, mess with them because I can." That is REALLY what it felt like.

 

Then, when I got on at 1pm the next day, just boundless frustration. I was online SOLID from 1pm to just after 5pm. We have DSL because we live out in the country. I'm hard wired, I was using Google Chrome, and my pentium II with vista. I was doing Ctrl-R and clicking like mad.

 

If there's something I DON'T like about this game . . . it's feeling like there's an exclusive club that I can never ever be a part of. We had to read that book, Animal Farm, by Orwell. Some Pigs are more equal than others. I guess those are the ones that have the fast internet and the

 

So I've decided, I will NEVER have dragons from this drop on my scroll because every time I look at them, I'll just remember being jerked around.

 

I wish everyone that enjoys them well. BTW, if you're a nasty person, you'll say, "more for me." That's not what this is about. This is about a guy jerking us around, making us disappointed, and controlling our time in an unfair way.

 

What if there was a store that advertised, "We'll be open tonight at 12 oclock for a special sale, everything half off, but you have to pay cash." So you get in your car and go to the bank, get cash. Then you call all your friends and you meed up and go there. You see people inside and you're all psyched cause you know you can now get the new game you want (or can try). Then, somebody just posts a sign on the window that says, "We changed our minds. Some people told us they would like it to start tomorrow, so the sale will start in 13 hours." Would you feel jerked around?

 

Of course, if the reason was that they had a mechanical problem or people were sick or something, that would be different.

 

I hope this game can evolve into something that is a little more skill or luck oriented instead of class oriented. (The class of people that have fast internet and have influence with TJ09)

[diaveborn]

DragonWavey, unfortunately to make it so that fast internet would never matter, the game would be fundamentally different. I personally would love to see some more stuff come about where we could get dragons without having to click fast! But unless that were a small percentage of the total number of dragons gotten, the system we have with some dragons being rare - a fundamental part of the game and an important one for so many people - wouldn't really work. I do hear your frustration about giving good enough notice or not giving any at all. I didn't have any problems being able to get dragons during this release but that concept is something in the past I've definitely seen could be improved.

Edited April 7, 2014 by diaveborn

[edwardelricfreak]

At least there WAS notice. Maybe short notice, but there was notice.

 

I was at my mom's during the release. The internet there is SLOW and I still managed to get all four for my eggs (two each) within 10-15 minutes. I'm sorry that you were unlucky, but raging about TJ trying to HELP the people who were usually asleep during releases (the main part of the userbase) isn't the way to go.

 

No doubt TJ will try to notify us even earlier than he did, but it's not fair to get angry about it like that. He could have been busy, it could have been somewhat spur-of-the-moment, or any other various things.

 

Also, keep in mind that this is a game. UNLIKE your store analogy, it's much less hassle to boot up a computer where there's internet to be on for a release. Granted, there are some people that didn't know and got up early to go to a cafe for internet, but that's still not a good analogy for this situation.

[DragonWavey]

I spent a LONG time trying to make my post say what I meant. I guess I failed.

 

So here it is.

 

TJ09, I think you abused your power and did a really nasty thing.

 

We prepared, we did stuff to be ready for the drop. So, maybe you should apologize.

 

And PLEASE don't do this again. I don't want to hate dragon eggs. And truly, right now, when I see those moist and noisy eggs in the click sites . . . I hate them.

 

P.S. This is not in any way a "demand for an apology." Instead, it is feedback on this drop of new eggs and how it was handled. It is most certainly a SUGGESTION that TJ apologize and a SUGGESTION that he give more adequate notice in the future.

Edited April 8, 2014 by DragonWavey

[diaveborn]

eef: I think, with as much as people have gone on and on to TJ in the past about communication, warning/notice etc, it would probably be a good idea for him to change how he goes about changing things that have *already been stated to be a certain way*. Giving the benefit of the doubt that he recognizes advance warning in those situations is important and wants to do that, then he should either work on those particular changes far enough ahead that he can let people know in time to make new plans (as the new releases have had people plan their life during that time around them, which has been made very clear), or wait until the next time (in this case, next month's release) to implement the changes so he can warn us in advance, or be okay with people getting angry that in helping some people he anti-helped others.

 

edit:

Wavey, there are already people who think that we should be grateful for anything TJ gives us; your post could invite knee-jerk reaction of that type. Not to mention, there's being angry and there's being rage-quit or hate-filled levels of angry, and the latter isn't something that I think is very good, or useful (and also *not* what I was talking about when I said "okay with people getting angry").

Edited April 7, 2014 by diaveborn