Random Releases Returning- suggestions

[jumpsnake]

So, in this month's release we were informed that the monthly releases are going away, to be replaced with.... something else. From what TJ said in the first post, it sounds like they will be random again.

 

When I started playing DC the releases were random, so I remember what that was like. They were also spaced much farther apart than they are now. It was my understanding that one of the reasons to have monthly releases was to really get the new dragons coming out, so there was not such a huge backlog, and to keep people interested in the game because there would be new dragons fairly frequently.

 

My suggestion to TJ is this: There are a lot of people who play this game who are working adults and full-time students. To us, having some idea of when the new release is coming would be a HUGE help. It doesn't have to be a big announcement, but some sort of hint or timetable would go a long way towards keeping my interest in the game going. One of my biggest frustrations with the game comes when there is a new rare release and I completely miss it.

 

Alternately: Back when the releases were random the new drops lasted for a LONG time. Like, several days. People would complain because there was such a flood of new eggs. If we can't get any advance warning, then please reinstate the 3 day new egg flood so those people who are late to the party still have a reasonable chance of getting the new eggs near the release date.

 

I worry that this change in policy will serve to punish those players who have an active and busy life outside of DC. This is a shame because one of wonderful things about DC is that you can play it well AND have a real life outside of DC!! In fact, that is why I play DC and virtually no other online game.

 

Please TJ, keep in mind those of us who LOVE your game and appreciate all you do, but also have other responsibilities and demands on our time. We really want to continue to enjoy the game as much as we do now, and a big part of that is being able to get the new releases.

 

MODS: I didn't see a thread yet regarding this, but if I missed it, please merge?

 

UPDATE: Ideas that have been added through beginning of page 3:

 

 

Wiz- "a few major egg dumps a year might work. And by major I mean multiple figures of new species. A couple of new eggs for each biome. I don't know if they should be random or if we should have traditional new release days, say around the change of the season perhaps?"

 

Pros: keeps players working for a while to get new eggs

Adds excitement

Cons: no one can get all the new eggs at once

You can't plan for a release like this

 

Supported by kitsune93, Cinnamin Draconna, Naruhina_94, Allspice

 

Ylangylang: "1. A set percentage of rares that will be released per year. For example assuming there are 12 releases per year, at least 2 months have to have at least 1 rare breed included in the release, anf so on.

2. Adjust the term between releases based on their rarity-when a common breed is released, a new breed will be announced 3 weeks after that, while rare breeds will have a term of 5 weeks, and so on.

3. Shorten the time gap between the releases to 3 weeks."

 

Pros: mixes up the releases so things are not 'stale'

continues to add rares and commons

There is still a schedule

Cons: There is still a schedule

 

RiasingDragons: "I'm fine with commons being random releases.

 

For rares/uncommons, but especially rares

Scheduled release

48 or 72 hour drop

Lottery occurs at the end of the 48 hours

a set percentage of the total eggs released initially to be offered by lottery

diminishing returns for lottery depending on how many of the new eggs you have managed to catch."

 

Pros: retains the random drops and makes it so people can have a chance to get new rares

Creates a system to get rares into the hands of people who are busy or have slow internet

Cons: Requires an entirely new way to get eggs

I assume this would be shot down for many reasons

Players would know pre-release about rarity, which could cause a lot of problems (thanks for pointing this out fuzz bucket!)

 

Naruhina_94: "However I like to know when there is a relase, to not miss it, to partecipate to forum discussions etc.

What about a warning message in game? Something like Holiday events: It appears a little message at the top of your scroll with something like:

 

There will be a new dragon relase on 12/10/2014. (to hide this message click on it)"

 

Pros: Notifies people so they can stop breeding to have scroll space, participate in forum activities, etc

Cons: May remove some of the excitement of randomness

 

Allspice: "If the reason truly is that it's getting "stale", why not throw surprise ones in every once in a while instead of getting rid of the scheduled releases completely? Both sides get what they want and it would help the completed list get cleared faster. There are dragons languishing there that I really wish would make it to the cave (the Charred and Calligraphy dragons, specifically)."

 

Pros: makes everyone happy (OK, probably not, but close!)

Excitement!

Cons: There would still be some releases people would be unable to plan for

 

Thuban makes some great suggestions on page 2!

Edited August 3, 2014 by jumpsnake

[Wiz]

Can I just quote my suggestion from the news thread?

 

Quoting:

For me knowing there was a new realease (nearly) every first Sunday made it easier to plan for.

 

If I'm honest though I can see the argument for this. Dragon cave has it's 'predictable' releases around the holidays and I remember back when they used to be something exciting. Now they are just the new realease for whatever month they fall into.

I know there is a backlog of new eggs waiting to be introduced, I seem to remember a post were TJ said it would take years to realease all of them. It's a fine balance between trying to find a way to get through the backlog and stopping the game from becoming stale.

Maybe - and this is just an idea - a few major egg dumps a year might work. And by major I mean multiple figures of new species. A couple of new eggs for each biome. I don't know if they should be random or if we should have traditional new release days, say around the change of the season perhaps? Another nice use for our leetle trees.

This would mean it would take weeks to collect all the eggs. But as someone who has been playing for years I find the idea of this quite exciting. We could still have them be the only drop in the cave maybe for three days, but after that they could start to mix and it would be back to normal.

Actually the more I think about it the more I like this idea. But it's just an idea so while constructive criticism is welcomed no nastiness for the sake of nastiness please.

/ end quote.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Wiz

[Rosedamai]

Quoting myself too.

 

I think its bc a lot of ppl feel as if the monthly release is a good thing, but it leaves people with nothing to do for the rest of the month. Could be because we've been releasing commons lately, which imho is something that is needed, but can be easily caught in the following week. As we can't just release 5 rare breeds or release only rares, I guess we can either have

1. A set percentage of rares that will be released per year. For example assuming there are 12 releases per year, at least 2 months have to have at least 1 rare breed included in the release, anf so on.

2. Adjust the term between releases based on their rarity-when a common breed is released, a new breed will be announced 3 weeks after that, while rare breeds will have a term of 5 weeks, and so on.

3. Shorten the time gap between the releases to 3 weeks.

Idk, just my 2 cents, feel free to disagree.

[olympe]

I have to agree. I really liked that I was able to plan for releases instead of finding out when looking at hatcheries.

[kitsune93]

Whether the releases are random or not makes not difference to me, I always forget when they're supposed to be anyway.

 

But, if they are going to be random again, it does need to go back to the old 3 day drop.

Maybe if the eggs are only dropping in a certain biome, there could be normal drops in the others? So there won't be people complaining about the drop going on for so long.

 

Honestly I think the number of releases should be increased. Or have a lot of dragons released at once like Wiz said. I found that dragon cave gets staler and staler the closer you get to completing your scroll, so the more dragons the better. I quit DC for a while because I was bored of it. When I came back, I had so many cool dragons to catch. And now I have all the ones I missed and I'm getting bored again.

[Sir Barton]

I think its bc a lot of ppl feel as if the monthly release is a good thing, but it leaves people with nothing to do for the rest of the month.

For me going back to random releases is going to leave me with nothing to do for the rest of the month because I'm going to be concerned about when I'll need my scroll open for the next one. This will prevent me from breeding or really doing anything else.

 

Wiz, I find your idea of a few large releases interesting. While I believe that would frustrate me personally, since the timing would be more or less set (seasonally), it would make lineage projects feasible in the down times between releases.

 

Scheduled releases worked best for me because I have a great deal of real life responsibilities to attend to. I've been playing consistently since early 2008. Have seen a lot of changes, good and bad. Having predictable releases was a great step forward that allowed me to continue to enjoy playing. Going back to the unpredictable .... well I and less pressing responsibilities in the beginning, so I was able to deal with that, but now I'm afraid I'm going to be throwing in the towel. Fun is beginning to be terribly over shadowed by frustration.

 

Longer drops, like in the olden days might make the random releases a bit more bearable. Three days would give people with incubates enough time to clear their scrolls before the dedicated release is over, but what will a solid three day drop do to the ratios? That would be my concern, especially if we were to rotate new rares into the mix. We could easily end up with a situation where the new species won't breed worth squat because the drops led to an overpopulation.

 

I just don't know, but I do know that the scheduled releases seemed to work well for a great many players. I can't wrap my head around the need to fix what wasn't broken. A new rare released every now and then would have livened things up for those who feel the game is getting "stale" without changing the game play for those who enjoyed it the way it was running. Something like that seems like a better option than reverting back to randomness.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Sir Barton

[Rosedamai]

@sir barton:

For me going back to random releases is going to leave me with nothing to do for the rest of the month because I'm going to be concerned about when I'll need my scroll open for the next one. This will prevent me from breeding or really doing anything else. 

I also think that regular releases are good and have made things convenient for me. I live in another time zone. For me it's a relief that I don't need to stay up every saturday or hell, every other day until 2 am just in case there is a new release.

 

It's just that that seems to be what people who are FOR random releases feel. What my suggestions were about is in essence keeping the regular release as is, but livening it up a little so that those people do not end up feeling bored. Which also seems to be because all our releases so far have been very common (not a bad thing!)-I don't remember people complaining that there isn't anything to do when the blusangs were released, or the coppers. Rare releases make it harder for people to collect eggs, thus they do have something to do for the rest of the time period. But we can't have rare releases all the time.

 

That's why I was suggesting a shorter time period between new releases, or time periods in between releases adjusted according to user perceived rarity, or having a set percentage of rares and ultra rare breeds be released per year. All of them have the current regular releases in mind by the way. Just a twist to the regular release as it exists right now.

Edited August 3, 2014 by ylangylang

[Fuzzbucket]

For me going back to random releases is going to leave me with nothing to do for the rest of the month because I'm going to be concerned about when I'll need my scroll open for the next one. This will prevent me from breeding or really doing anything else.

<snip>

 

I just don't know, but I do know that the scheduled releases seemed to work well for a great many players. I can't wrap my head around the need to fix what wasn't broken. A new rare released every now and then would have livened things up for those who feel the game is getting "stale" without changing the game play for those who enjoyed it the way it was running. Something like that seems like a better option than reverting back to randomness.

THIS. I am a lineage nut, and would much rather know when to have to have my scroll clear. Even if we just get a few days' warning, it would help.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I rather prefer scheduled releases as well. I usually stop breeding a couple days in advance so as to make room for what's coming. Knowing when they're coming doesn't make the rest of the month boring, it lets me know I can steam ahead with my personal projects without worrying I'll get burned for it! ;o;

[Jazeki]

I would like some sort of forewarning before the next release because of the new release finagling , but I'd be okay with some static thing about it (like the release is always going to be at xx:00 AM/PM cave time, regardless of the day it happens). I guess like holidays.

 

I also like the aforementioned suggestions both here and the news thread:

1. Shorter time between releases (3 weeks was suggested, but I'd be okay with two releases a month spaced apart)

2. A mix between bigger releases and small ones. I think part of the frenzy here is that this release contains one breed in two biomes.

3. If releases are totally random, then extend the drop time to 24-72 hours.

 

 

[RaisingDragons]

I'm fine with commons being random releases.

 

For rares/uncommons, but especially rares

• Scheduled release
• 48 or 72 hour drop
• Lottery occurs at the end of the 48 hours
• a set percentage of the total eggs released initially to be offered by lottery
• diminishing returns for lottery depending on how many of the new eggs you have managed to catch.

This allows people with good connections/fast reflexes to grab lots of eggs, while those with poor connections/reflexes/unforgiving schedules still get a chance at them.

Edited August 3, 2014 by RaisingDragons

[Cinnamin Draconna]

Call me weird, but I actually like the idea of going back to random drops. I never remembered when the scheduled drop was going to be anyway. But I never had problems catching the new eggs either. I was locked with eggs when this drop started and had to wait several hours until they hatched; but it only took me 20 mins to catch six new eggs once they did.

 

Personally, I want more releases and bigger releases. It doesn't bother me if I can't catch new eggs on the same day as they are released. Not having everything makes me keep playing the game. If I get tired of hunting, I can breed and work on my personal projects, and vice versa.

[Nakuru]

I already said this in the new release topic, but I don't think being scroll locked the exact day of the random release day will be that big of in issue.

 

Why? Because new eggs are easy to catch days later, and some times it's even easier than during the release day (yesterday it took me almost half an hour to get my first egg, today I got one as soon as I went to the Alps and I'm sure in a few day there'll even be some new CB eggs in the AP).

 

The only exception for that is if the eggs are rare, but when that's it's the case the initial drop is shorter and it gets mixed with other eggs rather fast, but most normal monthly* releases are of non-rare eggs.

 

That's why I don't think it's really necessary to get "a hint" on any other kind of forewarning, since it's possible to get the new eggs any other day we have time to get them.

 

*I'm assuming special releases will be scheduled like always, though.

[Naruhina_94]

Personally, I want more releases and bigger releases. It doesn't bother me if I can't catch new eggs on the same day as they are released. Not having everything makes me keep playing the game. If I get tired of hunting, I can breed and work on my personal projects, and vice versa.

I totally sopport this. More relase and bigger! We want dragons

However I like to know when there is a relase, to not miss it, to partecipate to forum discussions etc.

What about a warning message in game? Something like Holiday events: It appears a little message at the top of your scroll with something like:

 

There will be a new dragon relase on 12/10/2014. (to hide this message click on it)

 

It would appear 3 weeks before the relase and it would stay until the new dragons start to drop into biomes (unless you hide it). Easy, quick and avaliable to those who don't have a forum account.

[olympe]

I already said this in the new release topic, but I don't think being scroll locked the exact day of the random release day will be that big of in issue.

 

Why? Because new eggs are easy to catch days later, and some times it's even easier than during the release day (yesterday it took me almost half an hour to get my first egg, today I got one as soon as I went to the Alps and I'm sure in a few day there'll even be some new CB eggs in the AP).

 

The only exception for that is if the eggs are rare, but when that's it's the case the initial drop is shorter and it gets mixed with other eggs rather fast, but most normal monthly* releases are of non-rare eggs.

 

That's why I don't think it's really necessary to get "a hint" on any other kind of forewarning, since it's possible to get the new eggs any other day we have time to get them.

 

*I'm assuming special releases will be scheduled like always, though.

New eggs are indeed easy to catch a day later - as long as they're commons. However, with a rare release, this is an entirely different story, as I know from past experience with trios, blusangs and coppers. Even those breeds that are more like common-uncommon - like the golden wyverns or opals - were pretty hard to get even a day after the release. (With the GW, it was obvious very fast that they were less common than the Royal Blues they were released with, too.)

 

However, one thing did occur to me. TJ might space out releases so there will be some releases between the holidays. Like getting a release in mid- to late November like last year.

[WraithZephyr]

If we can't get any advance warning, then please reinstate the 3 day new egg flood so those people who are late to the party still have a reasonable chance of getting the new eggs near the release date.

The only "3 day" new egg flood I am aware of has only been with Christmas dragons. The other releases from back in the day (non-holiday) seemed to last only as long as needed for their numbers to try to balance to some unseen breed ratio... The first day (or almost the full first day) being a flood of new eggs and then after that it was up in the air on how long regulars started filtering back in. I remember the legendary trio seeming to cause the most frustration as they flooded for about a week solid... but that was also when there was still only one cave and we only had 4 egg spaces to fill up.

[Fuzzbucket]

I'm fine with commons being random releases.

 

For rares/uncommons, but especially rares

• Scheduled release
• 48 or 72 hour drop
• Lottery occurs at the end of the 48 hours
• a set percentage of the total eggs released initially to be offered by lottery
• diminishing returns for lottery depending on how many of the new eggs you have managed to catch.

This allows people with good connections/fast reflexes to grab lots of eggs, while those with poor connections/reflexes/unforgiving schedules still get a chance at them.

I wouldn't like us to be alerted that a release was about to be a rare or uncommon. I think that HAS to remain a TJ secret. You'd be asking for trouble otherwise.

[Guillotine]

I think some degree of warning (~a week, maybe?) and (at least for rares/uncommons) a set drop time that doesn't count against ratios would go a long way toward alleviating the problems with random drops. Still, I would much rather have the scheduled drops; it allows me to plan my breeding projects around the drops.

[Herk]

I know I was able to deal with random releases in the past. I will survive random releases in the future as well.

 

That said, I really, really, REALLY liked knowing about the schedule.

Yes, I sometimes forgot about them (mostly when RL was taking precedense) but I had a chance of knowing beforehand and preparing. I'm far more interested in my lineage projects (I only grabbed 4 new release eggs this time for example, because I need the rest of my slots for other stuff), but the Coppers have frightened me for life (and I was one of the lucky ones grabbing on pair each on release day). So if I come on and there is a release, I WILL drop lineage eggs if necessary to grab a pair of eggs. Which WILL frustrate me to no end (because LINEAGES). Which wasn't necessary if I KNEW a release was coming and could free up scroll space, or if I didn't do that it was MY fault, not anyone else's.

 

I am one of those guys who DO check the forum every other day (if I'm anywhere with internet access) but I really hope there will be SOME advanced warning (2 days being ideal to clear up some scroll space).

[Fuzzbucket]

I think some degree of warning (~a week, maybe?) and (at least for rares/uncommons) a set drop time that doesn't count against ratios would go a long way toward alleviating the problems with random drops. Still, I would much rather have the scheduled drops; it allows me to plan my breeding projects around the drops.

I feel VERY strongly that rare/common releases MUST not be singled out for any kind of special treatment.

[Herk]

I feel VERY strongly that rare/common releases MUST not be singled out for any kind of special treatment.

Yeah - seconded.

 

But this means even more that I want SOME kind of forewarning for ALL releases, to avoid a potential Copper-repeat...

[Fuzzbucket]

Yeah - seconded.

 

But this means even more that I want SOME kind of forewarning for ALL releases, to avoid a potential Copper-repeat...

Exactly. It means everyone (who is on forum) has the chance to be at the starting line when the gun goes off !

[Guillotine]

I feel VERY strongly that rare/common releases MUST not be singled out for any kind of special treatment.

The forewarning was for all of them, and the ratio-less drop time was just for rares/uncommons. Commons drop for a pretty long time without being "forced" to drop for a certain period of time, which is why I didn't bring them up--although a set drop time that DID count for ratios for commons wouldn't be bad, since it would make it harder to tell which was which.

[Rosedamai]

I am not fond of the "mass release" idea, myself. Based on the 7 day release, many people found it too hectic and/or tiring.

[olympe]

The only "3 day" new egg flood I am aware of has only been with Christmas dragons. The other releases from back in the day (non-holiday) seemed to last only as long as needed for their numbers to try to balance to some unseen breed ratio... The first day (or almost the full first day) being a flood of new eggs and then after that it was up in the air on how long regulars started filtering back in. I remember the legendary trio seeming to cause the most frustration as they flooded for about a week solid... but that was also when there was still only one cave and we only had 4 egg spaces to fill up.

No, legendaries did not drop a week solid. They didn't even drop for a whole day solid. *grumbles* I wish they had - and I might have been able to get some CBs back then.

 

It was the regular release following the Legendary Trio release (Midwinter Madness: Nocturnes, Canopies, Electrics and the first real hybrids, the Blunas.) that lasted for several weeks with hardly anything else mixed into the drops. Heck, people even snatched up mints as if they were golds back then - should any mint egg show up in the cave, that is.