Do mass breeds still deserve their hate?

[Stormcaller]

That being said, don't try to turn this into a vent/rant thread. Don't attack members or groups of members whose play style is different than yours.

 

 

 

I like to find CBs in the AP, and with a few exceptions, will keep looking until I find them, When I find a wall of ill bred eggs, I can't help but feel that I am being attacked by members whose play style is different than mine.

 

Just what is fair here?

[rubyshoes]

The comment is there to remind members to post in a manner that does not attack others. It's fine to say you don't like mass breeding and "it makes it hard for you to find what you want" "is boring to see a wall of eggs" etc along those lines. It isn't fine to say that other members are cowards or insult them etc just because they breed their dragons. Discuss the topic of mass breeding not the people who are doing the breeding (or what we believe is their motive i.e. they are doing it to just spoil others fun etc - we don't know why they do it unless they come here and say why). Same as a mass breeder should not attack you because you like to get CB etc from the AP.

 

 

 

I don't really see a difference in my having to refresh countless hours for the one AP egg I want when the AP is full of the same egg or when it is full of eggs that are not the one I want. I will still have to sit and refresh if I want to hunt for the egg I'm looking for.

Edited July 6, 2015 by rubyshoes

[shanique]

I've seen around that there are people who are against the concept of massbreed because it encourages people to "just breed" and not care about how messy the lineage is.

 

I still like AP massbreeds though, because it tremendously help ratios regardless of lineage. I've actually been really happy with Vhale's targeted mass breeding recently, because it allowed everyone to get hatchables and incuhatchables straight off the AP Personally, as a person who doesn't care much about lineages when hunting off the AP, massbreedings are really nice :3

Edited July 6, 2015 by Pandalf

[Tawanda001]

Not AP hunting so much for that 'one egg I want' as searching for something that strikes a fancy or can be used in some way that's interesting. Not the same at all.

Hours of picking up 2nd gen pb of anything is boring and frustrating. It would be like going to the biomes and finding practically nothing there but (insert whatever breed you don't care for) for anywhere from 3 to 6 hours.

[shanique]

There's a solution to that. It's called "returning later".

 

It's not like AP walls from massbreeder lasts days now, more like a few hours if the breeder really went full throttle with breeding their entire hoard.

 

:v

[Tehya Faye]

Yeah, I tend to hunt the AP once in a blue moon when I'm feeling up to it to see if anything fancy is lurking in there. Usually I walk away with some snazzy new things to enjoy, but every once in a while I'll catch it when there's just a wall of a single egg. In those events I just shrug and call off my AP hunting session if the egg isn't something I'm into, or if the lineages seem to be entirely PB. It doesn't bug me because I dislike AP hunting in general, so being discouraged from doing it just returns me to the casual cave hunting that I can combine more easily with fun activities.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Tehya Faye

[noxlyx]

The other solution would be to help out with the wall by collecting, incubating, hatching and tossing the hatchlings back if you don't want them. It's not the most ideal way of doing things, but in a way it's something I'm going to consider doing the next time there's a wall. Mostly because it's something to do, and it's doing something about the wall rather than just staring at it.

 

I've never liked walls mostly because I can't find good lineages or ideal second gens - Everyone loves that mint wall and I love mints but I don't like most of the combinations I find with those that were bred. However, I never found the particularly bothersome, even when I'm busy and have a set time I can be on DC.

 

Then again, it all comes down to play style. I have accepted the fact that I fail at catching anything worthwhile anywhere, unless it's a new release, and have decided to just work on lineage projects and breeding pretties for people. If you're an intense collectors, those walls would be annoying as being caught in molasses while you're trying to skitter about like a jack rabbit.

 

But there are other solutions/ways to spend your time when there's a wall. Maybe checking out departures for something cool or maybe breeding pretties to give back to the community via departures or to abandon for someone else to pick up.

[silver_tiger]

The reason I dislike mass breedings was actually something someone said in the thread--that we're 'digging through people's trash' so why should we complain?

 

But that's exactly why I love a mixed group of eggs, so I can sift through the 'trash' and find the things I consider treasures--in my particular case, I'm always on the lookout for third gen checkers people toss in the AP, to add to my Rainbow Checkers breeding project. Having a bunch of eggs that are, just by way of example, 2nd gen PBs is something I find irritating, because it means I can't even have a chance of finding the things I want no matter how many eggs I scoop up.

 

The advice to capture, incubate, hatch and release is good, but I don't have that many Reds. I can do that for a little while, but I would much rather spend my precious incubates on things I want to keep, instead of things I'm going to toss back as soon as they're born.

Edited July 6, 2015 by silver_chan

[elynne]

I do get a very mild twitch of annoyance when I see the AP full of anything--I mean, it'd be something else if it was full of silvers or something I don't have on my scroll, but most of the mass breeds are commons. I don't care about lineages, so "pretty lineages" do nothing for me. still, it's like Rubyshoes said--massbreeds pass quickly enough, if I don't like what's up there I just go play Solitaire (or Civ, or WoW, or read a book, or play with the cats) for a half-hour, and when I come back it's full of a whole variety of other breeds of eggs I mostly don't want.

 

that said, I'm a huge fan of the "grab, hatch, and release" strategy--it's one of the reasons I have a Red Army, and why I keep adding to it, because I need ALL THE INCUBATES. in Teh Olden Days I used to regularly grab eggs off the AP to freeze as hatchlings, and had scores of the little things. I've released all of the frozen hatchlings, but I still enjoy hatching and dumping. if the AP ever starts getting clogged with *hatchlings*, I'll have to rethink my strategy...

[Tawanda001]

Meh, I don't really think of a hour or so as a mass breed. Today's wall of something like eight hours, well that's a whole other animal.

[Gsea]

Honestly, I really like seeing mass breedings. Everyone plays the game differently - some people collect valuable dragons like Metals, some collect CB's, some like lineages - and for years, my game play has revolved around picking a species I really love and hoarding it. I spent years steadily accumulating a Pillow army of 500 and am now trying to accomplish the same with Black Teas. I'm always excited to discover other hoarders, and seeing the AP full of eggs from someone else's army warms my heart. Commons are commons, anyway. An AP full of nothing but Mints or nothing but Neotropicals is about as interesting to me as the "regular" AP which is still 95% commons.

[Millie_Azure]

Meh, I don't really think of a hour or so as a mass breed. Today's wall of something like eight hours, well that's a whole other animal.

This. Right here. In general, I don't mind mass breeds. It takes a ton of sitting and refreshing in the AP to find something I want regardless of if it's a cluster of everything or a wall of the same thing. Today's wall, though... Man. That was intense. I just want to commend whoever did that. Whether you like it or not, you have to admit it was seriously impressive.

[silver_tiger]

Lol if it was just 'clogged' for an hour, I probably wouldn't even notice. Any wall that lasts for over a day or whatever is a totally different story...

 

I guess I'll just keep building up my Reds like I'm doing so I can help the next time something like that happens

[NotBambi]

I feel like I just became a second class citizen.

Please add me... as a third class citizen.

[Vhale]

It's good to hear that people want more than 2nd gen PBs or even gen lineages. It helps people that are trying to help fix ratios know if people would like things mixed up a bit or not.

[Tehya Faye]

Yes, definitely mix things up. If there's a variety of things to choose from I believe the potential walls will be cleared away faster. Non-PB lineages also have a chance of keeping things a little more varied, giving those not interested in the main egg few other things to check out while waiting for the wall to clear out.

[silver_tiger]

Yes, definitely mix things up. If there's a variety of things to choose from I believe the potential walls will be cleared away faster. Non-PB lineages also have a chance of keeping things a little more varied, giving those not interested in the main egg few other things to check out while waiting for the wall to clear out.

Yes I would love it if more 'mass breeders' did this: mix it up, make it more than just the one egg or lineage or pattern. I think that would really make things move faster if people have a reason to dig through and find things they would like to keep after all.

 

Ftr, I am asking not demanding this. I have no right to demand people play a certain way; I wouldn't want anyone to dictate to me how to play either. But if people start doing this more there will be less complaining from people like me, and ideally, more eggs from the mass breed on people's scrolls.

Edited July 6, 2015 by silver_chan

[noxlyx]

I think the reason why purebreds and 2nd gens are popular for walls is because you're guaranteed to get the egg you're attempting to build a wall of.

 

If someone is attempting a mass production of one egg, the only ways to guarantee that egg type is to breed pure or breed with holidays.

 

There is breeding with prizes, rares, and trios, because the odds of getting the rare is slimmer. But I can't imagine most people having that many prizes or rares to spare to breed with. Especially if they are picky about lineages and want to breed something nice, rather than a messy lineage that will most likely get tossed back.

[Kiya_Felixea]

I don't mind the mass breeding floods usually, I plan on building up my army of blacks, nebula's and xenowyrms so I can do some mass breeding in future. I think it gives a chance for newer members to grab eggs that can be harder to find in the cave, it also has the bonus of low time. I usually have at least one AP egg on my scroll.

The only time I don't like the mass breeding is when the AP is walled off with only one type for hours. Last night was bad timing for me as i had just escaped egg lock and was going to grab something from the AP before bed. I waited about an hour then gave up, Grabbed a white from the cave instead. But honestly that's the first time i've seen a complete AP block. It was a minor inconvenience at most.

Pretty much i don't mind the occasional flood. I wouldn't want organized flooding due to ratios and stuff, but individuals doing the odd mass breeding, especially with nice lineages or of the harder to obtain dragons, I've got no issues with.

[Ripan]

Massbreeding floods are barely a blip on my annoying-radar; on the contrary, they make me curious enough to pick an egg or two of a breed that I may normally ignore or forget about. Sometimes I put it back to the AP, sometimes I keep it if it has an unexpectedly nice lineage.

[Ashtoret]

Usually I don't mind them. Yesterday's Neo-wall was a bit extreme, since it was there several hours, but well... as long as it happens only so often, I guess it's acceptable. I can't imagine how many Neos the breeder must have. No doubt an impressive army of Neos!

 

I like the occasional "normal" mass breeds though, when it's only one breed for a few minutes or an hour max. Like Ripan said, sometimes it makes me curious about the lineages.

[kitsune93]

I don't mind them at all.

It'll never be eggs that I care about (I only hunt for CB pygmies.) I don't even visit the AP very much anymore.

I mass breed my own pygmies to try and skew the ratios in my favor.

[Ayelldee]

-removed-

 

ETA: TJ has already said that this sort of nonsense has very little effect on ratios.

Edited July 6, 2015 by rubyshoes

[Ha-Ki]

When the AP still blocked the cave, I hated massbreedings. Back then, massbreeding was really forcing others to play your game, as it would make cave-hunting impossible. Also, eggs didn't lose time in the AP and were mostly at 7 days back then.

 

I love the new AP, though - I love how it doesn't block the cave anymore, and I love how eggs lose time in the AP and we get to pick up incu-hatchable eggs if there are enough eggs in the backlog. And here comes in what I think about massbreeding now: It reliably pushes the time on the AP eggs down, and that's a good thing in my opinion. I rarely pick up bred commons from the AP when it's above 5 days, but I'm nearly always hatchie-locked with the same bred commons when the AP is under 5 days.

 

I'm not even sure whether I prefer variety or pb eggs. A variety of eggs I'm not really interested in is just as boring as a one-breed-wall. And one-breed-walls are much more impressive. Amazement outweighs eventual frustration here for me. And one-breed-walls sometimes inspire me to pick up a few pb ones and influence them to be pairs and breed them later. Walls of a few breeds never do.

 

All in all, I think massbreedings are a rather good thing nowadays. I don't pick up eggs from the AP if they are a variety of different commons, but close to 6 days. And I'd rather do something else for a couple of hours to return to incu-hatchable eggs once the wall is gone, than picking up 6-days-commons and be locked for the next day.

 

Also, I do think it helps the ratios of those breeds in the long run. Mints are a good example - there have been regular mint massbreedings for a while now, and it has become possible to do metal checkers with mints. One particular mint x gold pairing even gave me two gold eggs in a row before producing the first mint egg. The Holly contest also shows how continued breeding and collecting of a single breed does have an impact on breeding outcome of that breed after a couple of months - I participated in the Holly contest in the year when thy were collecting spitfires, and around June/July they were seen rarely in the AP, and breeding spitfires often resulted in no interest or no egg.

 

 

 

tl;dr: Massbreedings are the reason why we have incuhatchable eggs in the AP almost all of the time - I think some people who hate massbreedings forget that. A wall is usually gone after a few hours, while a 6-days-left egg blocks an egg slot for a whole day. So I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of massbreeding.

 

ETA:

ETA: TJ has already said that this sort of nonsense has very little effect on ratios.

No, he said that it does have an effect on the ratios, but the effect is likely to be smaller than we think. While a single massbreeding of a single user is probably really just a drop in the bucket, continued massbreeding does effect the ratios, there are enough examples for that.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Ha-Ki

[Ansela Jonla]

That being said, don't try to turn this into a vent/rant thread. Don't attack members or groups of members whose play style is different than yours.

Re-quoting for a new page.