Request: No new Prize breeds, please!

[hazeh]

Prizes can NEVER be as much devalued as you make them out to be, not even with 10 more raffles. Or is it a devaluation already that there are other people that won? There were people that won along with you, or in previous years... their prizes still demand the same high values to get second gens of, if you are even lucky enough to find an empty list!

 

if anything, more cb prizes of the same breeds will garner more intrest, not less, as people finally can manage to get on lists at all.

 

at the moment, i could offer 6 cb metals, non-iou, for a second gen. would i get it? not likely, unless i knew the cb owner, because lists? all full.

The fact that other people won? Yes, that devalues the prize. Maybe not to those who didn't win, because all they see is the population of dragons as a whole-- whereas the prize dragons themselves have their own population. Brazen Zalvaris went from being a 1 in 30 to a 1 in 60-- while, not that big of a deal, you cannot deny that his worth was devalued. By a little? Yes. Am I terribly upset by it? No, not really. But I DO NOT want to keep seeing his value decreased over time as the CB bronze tinsel pool is expanded.

 

Do I particularly care about trading? No, not really. I don't trade my 2nd gens, I gift them. Obviously I cannot speak for other tinsel owners, but saying "you can get whatever you want for your 2nd gens!" does not apply to everyone and is not enough reason to claim that our prizes should be devalued just so more people can get their hands on our babies, which they are not entitled to.

[whitebaron]

Obviously I cannot speak for other tinsel owners, but saying "you can get whatever you want for your 2nd gens!" does not apply to everyone and is not enough reason to claim that our prizes should be devalued just so more people can get their hands on our babies, which they are not entitled to.

Firstly, just because you CHOOSE to do it otherwise, does not mean that it does not apply. You could get anything you wanted, served on a silver platter, if you stopped your gifting.

 

Secondly, keeping a monopoly on CBs to so few people creates a lot of trouble, even with them who gift. reading your profile, you basically want people to beg for second gens, while having pretty strict rules whom you gift to.

 

Do I want to see that demolished? Yes, since we need no rich celebrities like that.

[AnanoKimi]

Prizes can NEVER be as much devalued as you make them out to be, not even with 10 more raffles. Or is it a devaluation already that there are other people that won? There were people that won along with you, or in previous years... their prizes still demand the same high values to get second gens of, if you are even lucky enough to find an empty list!

 

if anything, more cb prizes of the same breeds will garner more intrest, not less, as people finally can manage to get on lists at all.

 

at the moment, i could offer 6 cb metals, non-iou, for a second gen. would i get it? not likely, unless i knew the cb owner, because lists? all full.

As a matter of fact my little tinsel lost 90% of its luster after I realized I got tinsel... not some nice unique prize, but a prize someone else already has. I won, great! but I literally own 15-20 tinsels. All high gens but still tinsels. They exsits, its just people MUST have 2nd gens. And how else are some people going to give or trade their tinsel eggs if not for lists. Some, like me, who have no close friends on here, dont mind just picking someone random and going "Here, enjoy" But for others, priorities come first, like friends family, lineage members, etc.

 

Honestly, I doubt interest in tinsels and shimmers will remain as strong the more come into existence. Because if there are enough tinsels to where you can get all the 2nd gens you could ever dream of, what would they really ask for? They are worth CB metals and such because they are Rare but once they start to land on every person's scroll then they loose rarity. Think of it like if TJ suddenly decided to bump Gold dragons from rare to uncommon. Would they really have as much value then? No. Why? Because EVERYONE can get one now. Everyone can as rare as they are now, but its so hard that they have such high value. People will do anything for one. Same with tinsels. If tinsels became more and more common, their value would drop. They wouldn't be worth the CB Golds and Silvers they are now. They wouldn't be something rare, special, and unique. They would be uncommon and pretty the more and more tinsels and shimmers continue to be given out.

 

That is why I said simply give out Golds, Silvers, heck give out ND's and Dinos as prizes instead of tinsels and shimmers from now on. If getting a 2nd Gen is such a big issue then I move that tinsels and shimmers become discontinued and unbreedable like the frills and that prizes from now on consist for Golds, Silvers, and Coppers. This way 2nd Gens are available to EVERYONE and there is no worry of never getting one.

 

Oh and I don't say this as a prize winner. I've played this game since 2010 if not a tad earlier and I have yet to own any CB Metals, Dinos, or Chickens. I got lucky with a Cheese, that's IT. SO I know whats its like to not have Splendid 2nd gens, amazing and beautiful lineages, or non inbred and clean lineages for that matter. 80% of my scroll is messy, inbred, crazy mix of dragons. and I am content with that. I own messy prizes and I am content with that. I own messy crazy metals, and I am ok with that.

 

Really the only ones that are super bothered by Prisez being... well Prizes are people who obsess over lineages and having to have low gens because or else they are not valuable. Chill out. if you get one you get one, if not then check the AP, check the Community departure thread, lovely high and low gens are there all the time, just stalk.

[LadyFoxfire]

I guess I'm just a more giving person. I don't understand the need to have an exclusive prize that "no one else" can have. If I did have one, I wouldn't use it to be a "celebrity" as I see them being called, but I'd gift the offspring freely, and randomly. It's just who I am. I hate exclusivity, especially in a game that seems to be about... collecting?... where the main goal is basically... eventually getting your hands on everything at one time or another.

 

Give me a challenge... the harder, the better the gain, but to make something exclusive and insanely impossible where there are people out there who "don't think we should get our hands on their babies" just isn't right. Not to mention, people DO end up leaving DC who happen to own CB prizes.

 

I'm content in not having a CB prize of any kind because I do have the hope that one day I have a chance at winning one of my very own. It would never mean any less to me if everyone owned one, or two, or more of them. A prize is a prize. It's a dragon you can't get in the cave, so you have to participate in a game or raffle to get it. Not a problem. If someone participates in something, they should get a chance at a prize. That prize, whatever it is, should be equally available to all who participate in the same things... past, present, or future. It's not a cave drop, so it's still a very rare prize in my eyes.

[hazeh]

Firstly, just because you CHOOSE to do it otherwise, does not mean that it does not apply. You could get anything you wanted, served on a silver platter, if you stopped your gifting.

 

Secondly, keeping a monopoly on CBs to so few people creates a lot of trouble, even with them who gift. reading your profile, you basically want people to beg for second gens, while having pretty strict rules whom you gift to.

 

Do I want to see that demolished? Yes, since we need no rich celebrities like that.

Sure, it could apply, that doesn't mean it DOES. Saying "you can only get a 2nd gen if you have THIS many CB metals" or whatnot is not accurate, because at least one person does not require that kind of trade.

 

Nope, you're completely wrong there. I don't really think you even read my profile if that's what you came away with. It's basically the exact opposite of what you just wrote.

 

 

What's the problem with rich celebrities again? The fact that they have something that the majority of others don't? This is a collectible game. Lineages are a side aspect of that. Everyone has the chance at getting the same dragon. If you want a special kind, then it's going to be just that-- special. So trying to decrease the value of it completely ruins the purpose.

[rumor33]

reading your profile, you basically want people to beg for second gens, while having pretty strict rules whom you gift to.

 

\

Asking people to be polite, email, and understand they may need to provide a mate if they don't have it already doesn't really seem that restrictive or difficult to me...

[Imzadi]

As a matter of fact my little tinsel lost 90% of its luster after I realized I got tinsel... not some nice unique prize, but a prize someone else already has. I won, great! but I literally own 15-20 tinsels. All high gens but still tinsels.

I am so sorry to hear that. I am sure there are a great many people who would have taken it off your hands and felt blessed.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

What's the problem with rich celebrities again? The fact that they have something that the majority of others don't? This is a collectible game. Lineages are a side aspect of that. Everyone has the chance at getting the same dragon. If you want a special kind, then it's going to be just that-- special. So trying to decrease the value of it completely ruins the purpose.

Can only speak for myself, but I play games in part to escape from celebrities. I'm a pretty average person, so being able to build myself up to above average--even if only on a silly online game--was always nice. And DC used to be much more balanced in regards to that. It's been several years and my memory might be foggy, but this is how I remember the top tier working:

 

- CB Metals: Yes, they were easier for some to catch than others (a lot easier) but since they were available all year round and and could be found in trades fairly often people had a good hope that with hard work they could obtain them

- Neglecteds: As hard as these things were to get, anyone could make them, with enough time and effort

- 2nd gen Hollies: These were probably the closest to the current Prize situation, but even they never seemed (at least to me) as frustrating to try to get, both because 1) there was always the chance of grabbing one in the AP and 2) they could only breed true once a year so most of the time they weren't on people's minds too much / controlling the trade threads

 

So there was much more of a feeling that, with hard work and time, everyone could eventually work their way to the top. Now, however, people can only work their way up to the "borderline" - those with CB Prizes will always be above them. The raffle is fair in who it selects, but the division it creates in trade power between the winners and everyone else is not.

 

As far as lineages / specialness goes, you're right that if something were common it would cease to be special. However, there is a huge difference between common, rare, and ultra rare. I have more CB Metals and more Neglecteds than 2nd gen Prizes, and not for lack of trying. They're just... wicked, ultra hard to find, even when people are kind enough to gift, or ask very reasonable prices, because there's simply so few around. That's why I'd like to see the current Prizes remain Prizes until the low gens (which are the cornerstones of lineage building in many ways--I can't turn a 7th gen stair with terraes into a 4g checker with Sunsongs) become a bit more available. Not common, but at least more in line with a CB Metal or two instead of being way, way, way over their heads in terms of scarcity.

[AnanoKimi]

I am so sorry to hear that.  I am sure there are a great many people who would have taken it off your hands and felt blessed.

No no, I felt blessed regardless, I won. I did, and that in it of itself was very special to me, and Myst is a symbol that against all odds I was one of the lucky few. He is special to me though I would have found it a tad more exciting if he was something unique of its own.

 

See the luster for me was "Its a raffle, maybe we'll get a new prize! How exciting, even if I don't win, to get a cool new shiny dragon to call special."

When I won I swear I squealed so loud it hurt my throat. Then I saw the tinsel and some of the hopes I built up for my self kinda died. I was like "Oh... A tinsel. Well that works too though something new would have cooler." I guess my loss in luster was my own fault. Still very happy to know I have one.

 

Anyways, if you do not like the concept of something special for prize winners then events should carry no prize at all or a prize that is already available in the cave. I personally don't mind either or. I would love to have something special, unique, and specifically something that no one else can get as a trophy because, well, I won; but having the satisfaction of having won at all is just as great.

 

Prizes don't HAVE to be part of a raffle or competition, it just makes participating and winning all the more special.

 

All in all if no one likes being left out of the "I must have it all" mentality, then we can do one of two things:

 

1: Prizes are no longer offered as part of competitions. All users who join compete, winners get a nice little badge on their scroll at best aside from that events general badge and a congrats from TJ09.

 

2: Prizes continue being part of raffles, events, and competitions but they consist of rare yet readily available dragons such as Golds, Silvers, Coppers, Dinos, Cheese, Paper, and/or Chicken. This eliminates an unfairness in collections and allows everyone equal opportunity in completing their collections.

 

Seriously. Or like they suggest here, keep giving out tinsels and shimmers until they're on almost every single persons scroll. Considerably they wouldn't be much of a prize by then but you can still look at them that way. I will always look at mine as a prize and as a symbol of my luck on this raffle. I never expect to win anything so this meant a lot to me. Hell a simple, "You won! Good job" message and a cute silver badge instead of a dragon would have been enough to make me scream like a little school girl. Considerably, at the end of the day it's Tj's choice and from the looks of it I HIGHLY doubt we will have new prize dragons.

Edited February 19, 2014 by AnanoKimi

[Razorflame]

I'd have to agree with this statement. Definitely a good idea.

[whitebaron]

Seriously. Or like they suggest here, keep giving out tinsels and shimmers until they're on almost every single persons scroll. Considerably they wouldn't be much of a prize by then but you can still look at them that way.

using conservative estimates, it takes over 100 years for everyone currently playing to win the raffle. Dc is 7.5 years old, the raffle 4. Most players, even prize winners, wont stay on board as long in a game to see this come to fruition. But there'll be new ones, new players, who still have no low gens due to simple unavailability,

 

It is often claimed that lineage has no value that should be taken into consideration. Haze, gifting specifically second gens, you already denied that point yourself.

 

And @ananokimi: all it takes you to get everything your scroll is missing is one or two trades. Thats how "rare" tinsels are. No, rare is really not the proper term.

[Jazeki]

No no, I felt blessed regardless, I won. I did, and that in it of itself was very special to me, and Myst is a symbol that against all odds I was one of the lucky few. He is special to me though I would have found it a tad more exciting if he was something unique of its own.

 

See the luster for me was "Its a raffle, maybe we'll get a new prize! How exciting, even if I don't win, to get a cool new shiny dragon to call special."

When I won I swear I squealed so loud it hurt my throat. Then I saw the tinsel and some of the hopes I built up for my self kinda died. I was like "Oh... A tinsel. Well that works too though something new would have cooler." I guess my loss in luster was my own fault. Still very happy to know I have one.

 

Anyways, if you do not like the concept of something special for prize winners then events should carry no prize at all or a prize that is already available in the cave. I personally don't mind either or. I would love to have something special, unique, and specifically something that no one else can get as a trophy because, well, I won; but having the satisfaction of having won at all is just as great.

 

Prizes don't HAVE to be part of a raffle or competition, it just makes participating and winning all the more special.

 

All in all if no one likes being left out of the "I must have it all" mentality, then we can do one of two things:

 

1: Prizes are no longer offered as part of competitions. All users who join compete, winners get a nice little badge on their scroll at best aside from that events general badge and a congrats from TJ09.

 

2: Prizes continue being part of raffles, events, and competitions but they consist of rare yet readily available dragons such as Golds, Silvers, Coppers, Dinos, Cheese, Paper, and/or Chicken. This eliminates an unfairness in collections and allows everyone equal opportunity in completing their collections.

 

Seriously. Or like they suggest here, keep giving out tinsels and shimmers until they're on almost every single persons scroll. Considerably they wouldn't be much of a prize by then but you can still look at them that way. I will always look at mine as a prize and as a symbol of my luck on this raffle. I never expect to win anything so this meant a lot to me. Hell a simple, "You won! Good job" message and a cute silver badge instead of a dragon would have been enough to make me scream like a little school girl. Considerably, at the end of the day it's Tj's choice and from the looks of it I HIGHLY doubt we will have new prize dragons.

I'm sorry that you ended up being disillusioned with your prize outcome, but I have to disagree with your suggestions simply because raffle prizes that are tinsels and shimmers are already in existence and removing the prizes all together or changing them to already obtainable rares is bound to make many future winners very unhappy. While it would level the current playing field, it would only ramp up the rareness of current low gen prizes as well as any existing feelings of ill will towards the raffle and raffle winners.

 

I have CBs of many rares. A lot were gifts, a few were trades, and some I worked hard to catch myself. I can tell you that if I were a raffle winner and I won a readily available rare, I would have a similar feeling to the one that you have about Myst because I already have these dragons and can get them myself--not easily, but it's possible. And I admit that I would probably have a deeper feeling of anger over the fact that I did not get a tinsel or a shimmer like previous winners did. These are feelings that I don't want to experience nor do I want others to experience them.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Jazeki

[Fuzzbucket]

What happened to the simple joy of winning ?

 

Just asking...

[whitebaron]

What happened to the simple joy of winning ?

 

Just asking...

you only win to become special, didn't you get the memo?

 

that aside, i can understand not being very happy with your prize. I like shimmers more than tinsels, so to hear you won and get something you did not expect - is sad. But not overly so. You still won the jackpot, and can trade for anything you'd rather like.

 

@Haze: Falsify this sentence for me, then. "Any CB Prize owner can trade for whatever they want without trouble". Because it does apply. Even if you choose to ignore the possibilities, they are there. For someone who mostly gifted in the past, even doubly so, as there are collectors who just can't get onto your list anymore.

 

Also, I did not say you can only get a second gen if you spend cb metals - I just made the point that it did not matter if you could offer even 10 or 20 cb metals right on the spot, as no list will ever be open for more than a few hours, unless the CB owner is willing to put up with all the hassle of getting their inbox filled repeatedly.

 

 

[Amazon_warrior]

What happened to the simple joy of winning ?

 

Just asking...

People who won aren't supposed to enjoy it; they're supposed to feel bad because other people didn't win. And then crack on with breeding and sharing as many 2Gs as possible to make up for that.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Amazon_warrior

[cyradis4]

People who won aren't supposed to enjoy it; they're supposed to feel bad because other people didn't win.  And then crack on with breeding and sharing as many 2Gs as possible to make up for that.

I realize that you are using sarcasm. However, I do feel the need to respond:

 

This idea is to do the opposite: To keep the same prize breeds for a few more years will decrease the amount of hassle the (teensy-tiny) minority of users who have said CB prizes will experience.

 

Why? Because left to themselves, some will gift, some will trade, some will keep to them selves, and some won't breed. And some will freeze their prize, and others will do.... who knows? Someone may even toss a CB Prize to the AP.

 

By increasing the number of the six CURRENT sprites, the number of people who would naturally gift and trade will be increased. Thus spreading the number of 2nd gens around, and helping the current problems afflicting DC's trading, breeding, and lineage markets.

 

Adding 3 more gorgeous sprites to the mix, when the current 6 are already unobtainable in the low gen versions needed for lineage building, will just make the existing problem oh so much worst.

 

As for AnanoKimi... I have zero sympathy for you. I would be deliriously happy for even a CB Gold shimmer (I actually dislike that sprite!). Why? Because with that CB Shimmer, I could trade the 2nd gens from it for ANY OTHER 2nd gen I wanted. A whole herd of 2nd gens of the sprites I liked best!

 

Cheers!

C4.

Edited February 19, 2014 by cyradis4

[whitebaron]

People who won aren't supposed to enjoy it; they're supposed to feel bad because other people didn't win. And then crack on with breeding and sharing as many 2Gs as possible to make up for that.

This is a very cynical way to see it, but seeing how some (did I mention my offer of 12 CB metals was turned down once... ) conduct their business, I am not surprised some people start getting upset at that.

 

Its also a reason WHY the prizes actually need to get more plentiful. There's always nice people who gift, and those who seek profit. At the moment, even if you want to gift, you can do so, so rarely, that its almost non-existant. I could gift out more 2g metals in a week than a prize owner can do in one year.

[Rosedamai]

I am v sick and unwell (havent been online recently) and I dont have the experience of trading multiple cb metals but.....whitebaron, can it be that they turned down your offer because there were simply too many eggs and hatchlings? I know I would if someone offers me a ridiculous amount. Too many to hold. Way more than I could ever want.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I am v sick and unwell (havent been online recently) and I dont have the experience of trading multiple cb metals but.....whitebaron, can it be that they turned down your offer because there were simply too many eggs and hatchlings? I know I would if someone offers me a ridiculous amount. Too many to hold. Way more than I could ever want.

You can never have enough shinies!

 

Seriously though, I think it's more that old owners got bored of CB Metals than that they get overwhelmed by "too many" being offered. I've gone poking around the profiles of the original Tinsel winners and even the second year Tinsel winners, and while there are exceptions, it's pretty common to see "list closed unless you're offering 2g Prize swaps / Spriter's Alt swaps." They've gotten so many CB Metals they just don't want more.

 

So I suppose you're right, but for the wrong reason. It wasn't that too many were offered when they wanted them--it was that they didn't want any at all. And who can blame them? I've hit my CB Metal quota too and have only passing interest in them now, and I imagine they have a lot more reason to be satisfied on that front then me.

 

(And if your guess was true, wouldn't they have just asked for a smaller number of that amount, not rejected all of them?)

 

But it's precisely because of that that having more winners of these prizes is a good thing. The only time I've ever been able to get on lists is immediately after prize winners are announced, before they get bored of anything but the uber tier trades or their lists fill up and never seem to open again. If the old Prizes were removed (or even just made available as HMs, which also decreases their numbers a lot), then more and more owners would likely drift to not wanting the things normal players can collect and make the already fairly exclusive second gen market all that more exclusive.

Edited February 19, 2014 by angelicdragonpuppy

[Syphoneira]

I am v sick and unwell (havent been online recently) and I dont have the experience of trading multiple cb metals but.....whitebaron, can it be that they turned down your offer because there were simply too many eggs and hatchlings? I know I would if someone offers me a ridiculous amount. Too many to hold. Way more than I could ever want.

 

 

 

Hi, ylangylang,

 

sorry to hear about your illness, and hope you'll soon improve!

 

 

I would like to bring up the point that there are very few list openings available for people to get on.

 

There are very few CB Prizes relative to the number of players.

 

The CB Prizes don't produce well, so the lists don't move much or often.

 

Because the lists don't move, more people can't be added.

 

So even those capable of catching the massive amounts offered by players desperate to get 2nd gens (this being the only way to start a lineage,) typically can't get on on lists to wait a year or more for a 2nd gen which then doesn't produce well.

 

When a situation like this occurs among a crowd fanatic about 'collecting them all', with many very much interested in lineages, total disparity and dysfunction results, not only in trading but in the 'what they're worth in trade' perception overtaking that of the value dragons once had for people typically collecting them for sprites.

 

Many of us no longer have have much to gift or trade, because the 'nice gift' category now rests in the 'generally unobtainable parent' slot.

 

I have been fortunate enough to have been gifted some beautiful dragons by some very wonderful people, which many haven't, because there aren't enough to go around - but these generally don't much produce.

 

I have a 2nd gen Tinsel which has produced 7 Tinsel eggs since Aug of 2011, and you'd better believe she's been bred lots, although I have spent a lot of time off-line in the last year or so.

 

In order to make nice gifts you need quite a number of low-gens and a lot of luck, something most of us can never hope for, even though I did for a while start swapping first babies for an increase in the breeding pool, typically no longer lower gen, and generally not worth breeding anymore, even if they produce.

 

Thanks to someone fabulous whose name I suppose I'd better not mention, I've had TWO beautiful babies recently added, one of which grew up and on its first breeding, sent a lovely egg to someone who needed cheering up, but when will this happen again?

 

I've no idea.

 

But the problem lies in the created scarcity situation adversely affecting even apparently unrelated areas of the site, those for which many of us joined and have stuck it out through the years through some very frustrating times and having more to do with collecting the dragons themselves, pretty lineages and the community than with trade values, even when not insanely distorted.

 

 

[hazeh]

I feel like a better way of creating more second gens is to have the breeding ratio tweaked for them instead of just continuing to add more CBs. :| I would like to produce a tinsel egg nearly every time I breed Brazen, but of course that doesn't happen too often. But I don't want to have his value sacrificed as a CB, and I would much rather people got unique prizes every year and not settle for someone else's.

[lorimmel]

The more I'm reading this thread, the more I'm convinced new true rares should be regularly released in the cave. Be they emerald, or amethyst, or platinum, or uranium dragons, let them come every three-four months. Meant to be truly rare forever, yet available to everyone who makes an effort to hunt really hard.

 

Keep the raffle to maintain the steady influx of tinsels and shimmers, and to compensate for CB prize owners who become inactive. New prize species would probably limit the number of new tinsels and shimmers (unless of course the number of prizes is redoubled).

 

I'm one of the prize owners who ARE interested in CB silvers and golds. And I will be very interested in the new true rares. In a way, they are more interesting than prizes because you can make CHECKERS with them. And yes, I have many cb metals, but I always need more for my lineage projects. THE ONLY REASON WHY I DON'T ACCEPT CB METAL TRADES IS BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER. I have 15 people on my list, and with most people asking for very common mates, it will take 5-7 years to fulfil these IOUs. It's simple math, you know?

 

Which brings me to another topic: "greed" and "greedy". And "entitled". These are some DC "terms" that make me sick. You can have 1000 CB golds if you find it amusing, and no one should have the right to call you "greedy". It's a collecting game, for goodness sake. If you feel "2 cb golds are enough", it's your business, and if I want 1000 CB golds it's my business. Let's agree to differ and that's it.

 

And another, my favourite one: "entitled". If you want a 2nd gen prize you are "entitled". Come on people, it's NATURAL to want the very best things there are in a game! It's a collecting game, everybody wants to collect rare things! It's not "entitled", it's their BASIC RIGHT! To be privileged as a cb prize owner is one thing. But to tell other people to shut up and be "humble" (yuck) makes my stomach churn. It's just incredibly, blatantly insolent and disrespectful.

 

We prize owners are privileged to have CB ultra-rares. These ultra-rares should be capable of much better breeding to spread 2nd gens far and wide. Raffle should be held at least once a year to increase the number of cb tinsel and shimmer "breeding stock", and to give new people a chance to win the ultimate prize. No more new ultra-rare species should be released via raffle. And MANY new truly rare species - beautiful and shiny - should be released in-cave to make the market mooove. That's my view on this.

[Syphoneira]

I feel like a better way of creating more second gens is to have the breeding ratio tweaked for them instead of just continuing to add more CBs. :| I would like to produce a tinsel egg nearly every time I breed Brazen, but of course that doesn't happen too often. But I don't want to have his value sacrificed as a CB, and I would much rather people got unique prizes every year and not settle for someone else's.

 

 

Lol, how much value has Brazen lost so far?

 

Until virtually everyone has a short-gen from your dragon, his value will remain high.

 

And that would never happen even if he spat out double full-multi-clutches of shinies every time he bred, because we'd all die of old age first, lol.

 

Many people at one point had their sights originally set on a 2nd gen from each Prize dragon, although it would take a major improvement in breeding rates and CB distribution over a lengthy period of time for anyone to make much progress in this area, probably including even those having a CB Prize themselves.

 

And it would take a truly massive increase in the CB AND low-gen population to reduce Prize prices to anything remotely affordable for the average pretty-good catcher with a decent system.

 

Sooooo true that it hurts on improvements needed for Prize breeding rates...

 

 

 

 

 

I utterly agree with lorimmel that terms like 'greedy' shouldn't enter into the number of dragons people want to collect in a collecting game, or in what people accept when offered a stack of Gold dragons or whatever, by someone trying to gain a spot on a list.

 

I do think that the scarcity is a major problem, though, and would hate to see super-rares Released in the Cave.

 

Many players cannot afford zippy new puters and/or fast connections and may never be able to catch even a somewhat more generally desirable dragon, never mind a Gold, with an ultra-rare being forever beyond their reach.

 

When I first joined, staying up all night and endlessly hunting the Cave over a period of months gained me and my elderly computer several CB metals - but for those joining after that point and not having a fast system, this has been no longer possible for much of the time since.

 

Effort gets you nowhere if a sprite is gone by the time you see it.

 

 

I really feel that DC has made a major error in the existing scarcity situation with the Prizes/low-gens and that the site has suffered for it in ways which I can see in a number of threads and alterations, such as the way dragons are often viewed and referred to now, the emphasis placed on trade value, rather than the sprites...

 

The dichotomy between 'rich' and 'poor is becoming as painful and depressing in DC as it is in RL.

 

And it's typically those in RL who can't afford the fast puters and systems who can't catch the more desirable dragons/trade fodder - a steadily growing group.

 

It's been estimated that 80% of Americans will be food-insecure at some point in their lives; it's a grim fact that in America, too-often a college/university education gains you only an insurmountable debt, rather than well-paid work in your field, and a high proportion of players here are American, although the problems are globalized and affecting many wealthy industrialized countries involved in 'trade agreements' with corporations making record profits and almost everyone else losing ground.

 

So with increased poverty comes increased numbers with aging computers and poor connections among the players, who might not want to be deprived in their leisure-time gaming in a magic world of dragons, as well as in the RL they seek relief from.

 

 

This is becoming no longer a fun, family-type pet-collecting game which could be played by anyone, although we've seen how much fun it can be when everyone has a chance, over these last Releases.

 

Yet DC's now commonly referred to in terms of the stock market, and trade value is replacing the collecting fun - since the introduction of extreme Prize scarcity.

 

 

lorimmel '... And MANY new truly rare species - beautiful and shiny - should be released in-cave to make the market mooove. ...'

 

 

 

Probably most of the people here would have no chance at the ultra-rares, ever, just like the low-gen Prize situation, adding to the current problem.

 

Yes, new metals and checkers from them would be cool, but if ultra-rare, or rare, would be another set of nails in the coffin of the 'catch/breed them all' game of dragon-raising and collecting so many of us joined.

 

We need to spread the love, not add to what the 'haves' can get, while the have-nots, shut out, wander away from the game in sorrow...

 

 

[TCA]

-snip-

I agree wholeheartedly!

 

I mean, if down the line, tinsels and shimmers have a stable enough CB pool and all, and there are a lot more in-cave rares to play with, I don't see why not add another breed, but the way things are now...

[BlackDdraig]

I dunno, I would like to see new prize dragons released on occasion :3 I have managed to snag some nice lineages of all examples of the current prize dragons. Just a law of averages, if you have even 10 people who breed regularly, eventually the breeds will get decently spread out, or even if the breeding ratio was increased, or multi-clutches allowed for prize dragons. As for even messy lineaged descendants of prize dragons, personally my view is so what? It might be a mutt, but it is a shiny mutt, and it is mine