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Amazon_warrior

CB Prizes: A User Guide

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As the winner of Patxaran (CB silver tinsel from Xmas tree decorating contest), I didn't post that I was one of the winners.  I gave away the vast majority of the 2nd gen tinsels to anyone who asked - nothing needed in return.  He turned out to be a fairly crummy breeder, so people have definitely waited a long time for their eggs.

*hugs Lei*

 

I just about died when you offered me a baby from dear Patxaran completely out of the blue! (And then I died again when I came back from a three-day music festival to find I'd missed your PM.) <3 It was an act of kindness that has stayed with me, and one of my first thoughts when I found Luckiest Catch was, "Now I can share that feeling with other people." Total sympathy on the crummy breeding thing, though!

 

 

@Syponeira: *hugs* I know, and it was a very valid thing to bring up! I have added a bit about it in the first post now. smile.gif And yeah, it is weird - I can talk about what's it's like to OWN a prize dragon, but not about what it's like to WIN one.

 

@Vhale: Mea culpa! rolleyes.gif But then, I had no way of knowing who'd get it or that they wouldn't know enough to fog it. Them's the breaks with AP'ing stuff. But there isn't anything like that kind of interest now, and there probably wouldn't be if the prizes this year are also Shimmers. If it's something new, though...

 

@natayah: Dunno. Maybe they only have one suitable mate? But what you say is certainly true. I was lucky with Unbelievably Handsome - he loved the first Red I tried him with. By Apollo has been a different matter - he only gave GWs or no interest with the first two mates I tried him with, and refused another CB GW, but then with a 3rd (or 4th?) CB GW he's only produced Tinsels so far. With Luckiest Catch, I'll try the same mate 2-3 times, but if there's no shiny after that I'll switch to a different mate. That's why she has several Nebula and Guardian boyfriends. tongue.gif

Edited by Amazon_warrior

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@Amazon_warrior

Well yes, no one expected that to happen at all =x It was a live and learn moment. And once we saw what was going to happen, not a whole lot to be done except go DOH! As a non-winner but early erm giftee, the other common eggs I tend to have are the ones that get sicked up by scroll stalkers if they hit it when they are pretty close to 7 days. The shimmers/tins are usually durable. But, better safe than sorry and all that.

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If it's something new, though...

 

Could you imagine Well either way the background of other users going through similar things will hopefully prepare anyone with a forum account seeking advice. Hopefully any winners not on the forum will make their way here if they need it and not announce it in a random thread first..

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This is something that confuses me a great deal, and I promise relates to this topic because it falls under advice for new prize owners, is - why do lower gen lines of many people have only ever use one mate, and then seem surprised they don't produce many offspring from that line?

 

Sometimes it takes some work to find a mate they finally click with. I mean, it doesn't make leaps and bounds of difference (unless you find that "perfect" mate), but its a lot better than 1 - 3 or less offspring in over a year or more.

 

If there is a reason people opt for 1 mate only (and it being the first random mate you choose), I'd love to know why. Because I can understand names, but you can always change a name when you find a better match.

I'm really curious about this, too! A good mate can make a huge difference -- for example, my first Gold *looooves* his Marrow mate. I don't even remember to breed him regularly, but he's less than 2 years old and yet has bred almost as well as a common!

 

http://dragcave.net/progeny/klYrP <-- da babies

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Don't know about the others, but I usually use the same mates (that don't work) simply because I forget that they don't like each other. And when I breed them I remember and then hit myself over the head for it, because every time I say that i'll change those mates. I should probably keep a journal or something, to keep a track of dragons that like each other.

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I think the worst part about prize dragons is the harassment. Since I've never had one, I can't say how bad it is, but judging by some signatures, and what some have said, I believe it can be pretty bad. I've heard people say that many of the tinsel owners have left the game, some say it was because it became too easy, and others because they couldn't cope with harassment (even in forum, as some people have openly called them greedy for trading their dragon's offspring). Others, I've heard, didn't even reveal who they were and their dragons have never bred, so nobody but TJ knows who they are (at least they don't appear in Dragcave Wiki).

 

I don't know, seems like a gift and a curse at the same time. People should be more thoughtful about prize winners. I never even sent a PM, no matter how badly I wanted a second gen, because I believed most would have their PM box clogged with petitions. That means to this day I have never even seen a second gen prize dragon, but I think I've done the correct thing. A single user doesn't make a differente, but that single user can be one PM too much, for something that should make people happy, not make them wish to quit.

Actually, for me the worst part is not being able to quickly provide shiny eggs to all the people I would like to. But I recall looking up another Shimmer owner's profile and being truly horrified to see that they were threatening to release every single Shimmer they owned once they were done with their lists. As far as I know they haven't done that yet, but for someone to consider doing that suggests that things can and do get pretty bad.

 

*sighs*

 

I really, really tried to present a balanced view of the situation in the first posts. A CB Prize is (or really should be) waaaaaaay more of a blessing than a curse. Properly managed, they are. There seems to be a perception that prize owners go around wringing their hands and crying "Pity poor me!" while raking in ALL the shiny. I DON'T want ANYone to pity me, though - I know perfectly well how good I've got it, thanks! wink.gif But we're all DC players same as anyone else, and being the sudden focus of attention of so many people is daunting. It's not surprising that people clam up, get aggressive or simply disappear without trace when abruptly presented with that situation. sad.gif

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*hugs Lei*

 

I just about died when you offered me a baby from dear Patxaran completely out of the blue!  (And then I died again when I came back from a three-day music festival to find I'd missed your PM.)  <3  It was an act of kindness that has stayed with me, and one of my first thoughts when I found Luckiest Catch was, "Now I can share that feeling with other people."  Total sympathy on the crummy breeding thing, though!

 

 

@Syponeira:  *hugs*  I know, and it was a very valid thing to bring up!  I have added a bit about it in the first post now.  smile.gif  And yeah, it is weird - I can talk about what's it's like to OWN a prize dragon, but not about what it's like to WIN one.

 

@Vhale:  Mea culpa!  rolleyes.gif  But then, I had no way of knowing who'd get it or that they wouldn't know enough to fog it.  Them's the breaks with AP'ing stuff.  But there isn't anything like that kind of interest now, and there probably wouldn't be if the prizes this year are also Shimmers.  If it's something new, though...

 

@natayah:  Dunno.  Maybe they only have one suitable mate?  But what you say is certainly true.  I was lucky with Unbelievably Handsome - he loved the first Red I tried him with.  By Apollo has been a different matter - he only gave GWs or no interest with the first two mates I tried him with, and refused another CB GW, but then with a 3rd (or 4th?) CB GW he's only produced Tinsels so far.  With Luckiest Catch, I'll try the same mate 2-3 times, but if there's no shiny after that I'll switch to a different mate.  That's why she has several Nebula and Guardian boyfriends.  tongue.gif

 

 

 

Lol, was so grossly overtired that I couldn't even sleep or do anything except sit at the puter...

 

I couldn't figure out what happened, brain would NOT engage - looked at my post and kept looking at it again to see if I was just missing seeing the missing chunk - but on the plus side, once what had happened soaked in, being prone to these when overtired, it gave me the giggles for some time, so not a total loss. laugh.gif

 

(I get the giggles a lot, lol.)

 

But very glad that people will see that mentioned, and be aware of the potential for trouble in that area!

 

*hugs*

 

 

Edit: would add that I have a 2nd gen Tinsel that's only produced 7 of its kind since she Grew up on: Aug 05, 2011.

 

She's Refused almost every other mate tried and consistently produced no interest with the one she didn't, so wound up sticking (edit: with) the one she at least more often produced eggs with - a whole 10 (surviving - the odd one may have died, since I don't generally check up on bred babies, and it looks as though the 10h egg won't make it) Blacks, lol.

 

It's very (edit: discouraging) wasting weeks on Refusals while people continue to wait...

Edited by Syphoneira

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this is a fantastic advice thread, and kind of informing! but i wonder if maybe the opposite end of the spectrum should be covered...? and by that, i mean the prize owner who is OMG!snob, and...i dunno,makes themselves out to be a god because they own this dragon?dunno who has done this, if any, but i'd like to see it covered probably because i'm afraid i may end up being that type of owner..(which is totally unlikely, unless an apocalypse occures what wipes out almost everyone's computer except mine during a raffle entry period)

 

is there such a thing as being too stiff spined, or greedy or something? like say...you decide "okay, anyone who pms me before dragon is grown WON'T GET ON LIST EVER!!" or, "only people with BUTTLOADS of metallics and hollies and good rare stuff no one can easily get will get offspring!!" i can understand it's at the discretion of the owner, but is there a limit...?

 

also, is it a good idea to have both an shiny and failkin list? i kinda think if i ever got a cb prize...i'd do like a 5 each...5 people can wait in line to get a shiny offspring, while 5 other people can wait in line for a failkin...cause surprisingly, people seem to like failkins!

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this is a fantastic advice thread, and kind of informing! but i wonder if maybe the opposite end of the spectrum should be covered...? and by that, i mean the prize owner who is OMG!snob, and...i dunno,makes themselves out to be a god because they own this dragon?dunno who has done this, if any, but i'd like to see it covered probably because i'm afraid i may end up being that type of owner..(which is totally unlikely, unless an apocalypse occures what wipes out almost everyone's computer except mine during a raffle entry period)

 

is there such a thing as being too stiff spined, or greedy or something? like say...you decide "okay, anyone who pms me before dragon is grown WON'T GET ON LIST EVER!!" or, "only people with BUTTLOADS of metallics and hollies and good rare stuff no one can easily get will get offspring!!" i can understand it's at the discretion of the owner, but is there a limit...?

 

also, is it a good idea to have both an shiny and failkin list? i kinda think if i ever got a cb prize...i'd do like a 5 each...5 people can wait in line to get a shiny offspring, while 5 other people can wait in line for a failkin...cause surprisingly, people seem to like failkins!

I don't know if any prize winner would really need advice about how not to be a jerk. :-) It's no different than not being a jerk the rest of the time: don't break promises, don't send rude PMs, don't post rude things about other players in your profile, don't accept expensive payments for eggs and then kill their parents, don't give gifts and then demand them back, don't viewbomb people you find annoying. It's really pretty easy not to be a big jerk in this particular game, LOL!

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this is a fantastic advice thread, and kind of informing! but i wonder if maybe the opposite end of the spectrum should be covered...? and by that, i mean the prize owner who is OMG!snob, and...i dunno,makes themselves out to be a god because they own this dragon?dunno who has done this, if any, but i'd like to see it covered probably because i'm afraid i may end up being that type of owner..(which is totally unlikely, unless an apocalypse occures what wipes out almost everyone's computer except mine during a raffle entry period)

 

is there such a thing as being too stiff spined, or greedy or something? like say...you decide "okay, anyone who pms me before dragon is grown WON'T GET ON LIST EVER!!" or, "only people with BUTTLOADS of metallics and hollies and good rare stuff no one can easily get will get offspring!!" i can understand it's at the discretion of the owner, but is there a limit...?

 

also, is it a good idea to have both an shiny and failkin list? i kinda think if i ever got a cb prize...i'd do like a 5 each...5 people can wait in line to get a shiny offspring, while 5 other people can wait in line for a failkin...cause surprisingly, people seem to like failkins!

Honestly, it's your dragon. You're free to do whatever you want with it. The only thing I say you should do is avoid being rude back to people who have been rude to you. It is best to just ignore them instead. It makes you the bigger person. Not to mention, some of those kinds of people (those who actively harass others) take enjoyment in knowing that they got under your skin.

 

I keep both a Prize list and a Fail list. I would say it's worth it and plenty easy to do. Many people are interested in Fails for the purposes of Lineage building or just collection. So it might be more comforting to you to know your dragons are going to somebody who actually wants them, instead of just dumping them off into the AP.

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Honestly, it's your dragon. You're free to do whatever you want with it. The only thing I say you should do is avoid being rude back to people who have been rude to you. It is best to just ignore them instead. It makes you the bigger person. Not to mention, some of those kinds of people (those who actively harass others) take enjoyment in knowing that they got under your skin.

Definitely this. Some people *really* aren't worth the raised blood pressure!

 

I keep both a Prize list and a Fail list. I would say it's worth it and plenty easy to do. Many people are interested in Fails for the purposes of Lineage building or just collection. So it might be more comforting to you to know your dragons are going to somebody who actually wants them, instead of just dumping them off into the AP.

Ime, the 'fail list is by far the easier to manage! xd.png Initially I opened a list on the Shimmerkin thread, but now that's cleared and I'm just choosing to randomly surprise people with them. smile.gif

 

A few more Shimmer breeding stats: I counted up the Shimmers and 'fails bred by Luckiest Catch over the year (not including Holiday multiclutches) and found that it's almost a 1:1 ratio. (Though she may have bred a couple more fails since!) Assuming ~45 breedings so far, that's roughly 1/3 Shimmers, 1/3 mate's breed, 1/3 nothing.

Edited by Amazon_warrior

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Feel free to smite me, but I thought it'd be a good idea to keep this topic on the first page smile.gif

I've sent a PM to one of the mods about the possibility of it being stickied. I think that would be extremely helpful!

 

And perhaps TJ can link it in his email to the winners?

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I've sent a PM to one of the mods about the possibility of it being stickied. I think that would be extremely helpful!

 

And perhaps TJ can link it in his email to the winners?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oooooo, that's brilliant, especially if TJ did include it in the notifications, since not everyone spends much time on the forums.

 

That might save them doing something they'd regret for years.

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Totally agree with you, Commander Wymsy, prize winners are free to charge whatever they wish for their prize dragon. If people are willing to trade 30 metallics for a second gen, they are free to do so. It is not like we are entitled to an offspring from that dragon.

 

As for being rude, I truly believe the best solution is simply ignoring them. It's not worth the effort getting heated up for someone who won't give you 5 minutes worth of thought.

Anyways, I can understand some people can loose it from time to time. I remember when I worked as a delivery service girl, many times people would throw jokes and I always tried to be polite, but I'm just human. Sure, it's the first time that guy sees me, but when I've heard the same joke 20 times in a night's work, it's hard not to be a bit bugged.

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Exactly.

 

The problem is not with people making enormous offers they're able to fulfill to assure themselves a place on a list for a dragon they may not otherwise be able to get at all or with people taking the opportunity to fill up on dragons they might otherwise not be able to get at all; the problem is with the extreme scarcity of certain dragons among a group of fanatic dragon collectors, lol.

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Exactly.

 

The problem is not with people making enormous offers they're able to fulfill to assure themselves a place on a list for a dragon they may not otherwise be able to get at all or with people taking the opportunity to fill up on dragons they might otherwise not be able to get at all; the problem is with the extreme scarcity of certain dragons among a group of fanatic dragon collectors, lol.

Wouldn't have put it better. biggrin.gif

 

I admit I kind of lost interest in lineages after the first batch of tinsels. I'm still trying to collect the first generation lines, but I'm not bothering much with the rest, not even shimmer.

But I can see why collecting lines gives people an incentive to keep playing once you've collected all dragons.

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I've heard back from the mod. Unfortunately this thread can't be stickied sad.gif I guess we'll have to make sure it's being easily found once TJ posts that he has emailed the winners.

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I've heard back from the mod. Unfortunately this thread can't be stickied sad.gif I guess we'll have to make sure it's being easily found once TJ posts that he has emailed the winners.

I'm not hugely surprised, but thanks for asking about it. smile.gif

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I'm certainly not one to be giving advice to Prize Winners, but with my 3G Shimmer, I keep a strict regiment of building her a harem. I probably have gone from 0 - over 40 Luminas. And if there is no attraction, I don't generally give them a second chance. I'm off to the next happy to oblige male. I found keeping them in a constant rotation (with preference for the successful multi breedings) made it a little more obvious which mates were a lot more "liked" than other. (Besides, Luminas are great fun to name, each name more obnoxious than the next.)

 

And I am forever expanding her harem as time goes on because at any time, I might run into that one perfect mate. So thats more my advice for people who get lower gen prizes vs prizes themselves. Fill up your scroll with all sorts of mates, rotate thru them, and don't be afraid to keep adding fresh blood here and there until you find a few (or small group) that makes your shiny prize baby really happy. Because who really doesn't want a dedicated harem unless you find that perfect perfect someone?

 

 

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I'm a bit shocked as to how nice people have been in regards to the Raffle. I have gotten a handful of PMs about eggs - but everyone has been nice and apologetic about bugging me.

 

As for dealing with my win - once I saw my prize, I made my breeding plans and have no intention of altering it (I'm someone who tends to do set mates for her dragons, usually limiting it to one or two partners in most cases).

 

And as for the eggs they may produce - I have a way of dealing with that as well...though I've a strange feeling if I reveal said method - I'll be called crazy by most members of the cave.

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I'm a bit shocked as to how nice people have been in regards to the Raffle. I have gotten a handful of PMs about eggs - but everyone has been nice and apologetic about bugging me.

 

As for dealing with my win - once I saw my prize, I made my breeding plans and have no intention of altering it (I'm someone who tends to do set mates for her dragons, usually limiting it to one or two partners in most cases).

 

And as for the eggs they may produce - I have a way of dealing with that as well...though I've a strange feeling if I reveal said method - I'll be called crazy by most members of the cave.

Congrats on your win. smile.gif And honestly, it's YOUR dragon - do with it as YOU will, that's kind of the point of this thread! tongue.gif

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And as for the eggs they may produce - I have a way of dealing with that as well...though I've a strange feeling if I reveal said method - I'll be called crazy by most members of the cave.

Are you going to bite them and turn them all into vampires? That would be pretty crazy. ;-)

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