Random Releases Returning- suggestions

[Oddsoxdi]

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.

About the Trio: YES! It just royally burned my butt when they quit dropping the way they should! I get mad all over again thinking about it.

 

So if we were given a short notice, like 2 days before the actual drop, and the drop were to last as long as it should for everyone to get her/his eggs, would that sort of thing be a coding nightmare? I'm not asking for it (the notice) to be in 98 point bold-faced neon tomato soup colored flashing letters or anything.

 

ETA: @ AmazonWarrior - the very DEFINITION of Not Fun!

Edited August 3, 2014 by oddsoxdi

[Amazon_warrior]

I remember that. It was Not Fun.

[MoonShark]

As someone who does not always have reliable internet access, who has work and school to juggle along with a non-DC-related personal life...

 

I would love it if drops happened more often. Getting new dragons more frequently would be great and help with the back-log. I'll admit I have a lot of catching up to do, still, with newer releases, but that's because I've chosen to focus on a lineage project for the time being.

 

However, if more releases means we are forced to check every single day and be prepared to kick all the eggs on our scroll at a moment's notice; well, I don't like that all. I spend a lot of time breeding dragons to gift, for lineages, to trade... If I have to live in fear of a new release appear right after I breed the last four dragons I need for a lineage, or when my shinies actually like me and I get a bunch of 2G metals.... DC would no longer be the relaxing game I've loved to play so much.

 

A notification two or three days before a release would not be too difficult, I think. Just a simple post in the News thread, to let us know a release is coming... That seems fair to me. It gives people a chance to hatch things, to plan, and it still holds an element of surprise because 1) we don't know when such an announcement might come and 2) we don't know what dragons will be released (as usual).

 

Please, TJ, consider those who cannot spend all day on DC, and make it possible for us to enjoy each release just like everyone else.

[Allspice]

I prefer the scheduled releases. I work on lineages, and changing it back to random is going to interfere with that. I'll feel like I have to keep my scroll open so I don't have to choose between keeping the eggs I have or miss a release. When they were random before, I hated having to make that choice. Knowing when the new eggs will be released gave me the ability to plan ahead.

 

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).

 

Bottom line, I really don't like this change and I hope it's reconsidered.

 

EDIT: On the topic of mass releases, I actually like that. As I said, the backlog on the completed list is ridiculous and releasing five or more at once for a few months would be a big help. Not to mention people were saying that the scheduled releases weren't "challenging"...well that would make them more challenging, right?

Edited August 3, 2014 by Allspice

[Tawanda001]

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.

Nods in agreement. There WAS a lot of complaining.

I am not fond of the idea of new releases dropping en masse, especially if it means I haven't finished my goal for the previous release when a new release starts dropping. More than three new dragons at a time gets to be a pain for me.

I had just finished hatching the last of the July release when this one dropped. I figure it will take close to a month to complete this August goal, along with breeding and collecting other stuff. I don't want to have to give up that 'other stuff' in order focus solely on new release eggs all the time either. That doesn't sound like much fun.

[Thuban]

I still think the wording in TJs news post still implies there will be a monthly release, just not always the first week of the month. It might be the second week, or second half of the month. With it saying that the releases would probably still happen mostly on weekends, that pretty much gives you sunday night - friday afternoon to still work on projects and whatnot, its not too hard to move breeding schedules into a more convenient order for accounting for that. Just use the weekends to focus.

 

~If I can get a heads up on when releases will (likely) happen, I'll make sure to get it in the calendar as soon as I know. I'm sure any of the mods would be willing to (or would alert a mod who will) if they find out in advance.

 

~If TJ would be willing to make announcements ahead of time, that would help. 4 days to a week warning I think is plenty fair. I know its not enough time to change work schedules around, but any heads up is better than none, right?

 

(I'm nearly always willing to gift or trade off new releases to people with none, and I know the chat is really generous about helping people out with new ones if they cant be there to catch them themselves.)

 

~If a month needs to be skipped for whatever reason, I would love to see a mass release happen. I LOVE the chaos of mass releases. They keep people busy for quite awhile.

 

~I do not agree that specified rares need to be dropped for multiple days. My reasoning? Because too many being dropped, would do serious damage to ratios/trading economy. Adding a new "technically" rare (non-holiday) breed to the cave, and having it mass drop for that long, would very likely result in them not being able to breed, which would drive demand up even further than it would be normally, resulting in tons of hostility and/or insane trades, that the average user can not afford.

[Allspice]

~If I can get a heads up on when releases will (likely) happen, I'll make sure to get it in the calendar as soon as I know. I'm sure any of the mods would be willing to (or would alert a mod who will) if they find out in advance.

 

~If TJ would be willing to make announcements ahead of time, that would help. 4 days to a week warning I think is plenty fair. I know its not enough time to change work schedules around, but any heads up is better than none, right?

 

~If a month needs to be skipped for whatever reason, I would love to see a mass release happen. I LOVE the chaos of mass releases. They keep people busy for quite awhile.

 

Thank you, that would be appreciated.

 

Agreed, that would be a fair compromise.

 

YES. I want to see more mass releases in general. There are so many dragons on the completed list that deserve to be in the cave.

[Ha-Ki]

I am not fond of the idea of new releases dropping en masse, especially if it means I haven't finished my goal for the previous release when a new release starts dropping. More than three new dragons at a time gets to be a pain for me.

I had just finished hatching the last of the July release when this one dropped. I figure it will take close to a month to complete this August goal, along with breeding and collecting other stuff. I don't want to have to give up that 'other stuff' in order focus solely on new release eggs all the time either. That doesn't sound like much fun.

THIS. Don't release even more dragons, please.

 

There's a lot of people with individual projects - breeding projects, building an army of a certain breed, neglected experiments, whatever. With the schedule we had for the past months, we got too many dragons in my opinion - I have them on my scroll now, but I don't have the time to do something with them. I barely have time to work on my older breeding projects if I want to collect cb's of new releases as well. Skipping releases would not help, because then I'd just have to catch up later. Having even more and bigger releases would not be fun at all for me!

 

One of the things I love most about DC is that there are so many different ways how people can play it. Please don't change the game in a way that leaves no time for individual scroll goals if you want to participate in releases!

[Cinnamin Draconna]

But why do you need advance notice?

Why would you need to drop eggs/hatchlings?

 

DC releases are permanent; the only 'limited release' dragons in DC are Holiday dragons.. and we already know when we get those.

 

Not being able to get new release dragons on release day on the first drop is NOT a big deal. The new dragons will be here tomorrow and next week and next month and next year. Everyone will eventually be able to get the new dragons, either by catching them or trading for them.. and 99.999999% of folk will not care when the dragon was caught.

 

Knowing when we get things is boring. On holidays, once I get my new dragon I'm bored for the rest of the release. TJ tries to make things more interesting by giving us little games and stories and stuff, but once I'm done with those, it's back to being bored until the holiday is over.

 

So I LOVE the idea of random releases. And I support the idea of more releases and bigger releases even more. It would keep the game interesting and give me something else to do other than breed, breed and breed some more. As much as I love my lineage projects, doing nothing but breeding all the time is getting boring too.

[Oddsoxdi]

Wow, guess I'm in the minority of actually LIKING the mass-release idea. Sure, SEVEN may have been,,,ambitious, but it was sure FUN!

 

ETA:@Cinnamin: The Trios, Blusangs and Coppers come to mind.

Edited August 3, 2014 by oddsoxdi

[djengis]

I would love more and bigger releases too , but i dont have lineage projects, i just hunt and collect.

 

That said, eventho i am always closed to locked, and liked the scheduled release, i dont mind random releases, as long as there still is a release every month

Edited August 3, 2014 by djengis

[olympe]

You know, as long as all the dragons are commons, I don't mind mass releases. However, with a rare in the equation (Coppers!), the result is quite different. So, why don't we do mass releases for commons, but smaller releases for uncommons and/or rares?

 

Also, don't forget that adding a number of hybrids to any one release doesn't hurt us in the slightest.

 

Not being able to get new release dragons on release day on the first drop is NOT a big deal. The new dragons will be here tomorrow and next week and next month and next year. Everyone will eventually be able to get the new dragons, either by catching them or trading for them.. and 99.999999% of folk will not care when the dragon was caught.

You're right, it doesn't matter when you get your new release dragons. However, for rares, they're really hard to get after the original mass drop - which does pose a problem. I still haven't got all the CB trios I want (2 CB of each gender). I think I'm still missing a magma and female ices. After what, 4.5 years?

Edited August 3, 2014 by olympe

[DragonLady86]

Wow, guess I'm in the minority of actually LIKING the mass-release idea. Sure, SEVEN may have been,,,ambitious, but it was sure FUN!

 

ETA:@Cinnamin: The Trios, Blusangs and Coppers come to mind.

I missed the 7 day release, but many of the old "random" releases had many dragons at once. Even as far back as everyone having 4 slots, sometimes 5 or 6 dragons were released. It was never a problem then, so why not now? Mass releases would go so much farther in clearing some of the backlog. So what if takes longer to catch them all, isn't that the point?

[Cinnamin Draconna]

OK, I admit that rares are more difficult... but they are supposed to be, that's why they are rare, duh.

 

But if you think about the BIG picture, MOST of the dragons on the completed list will probably be commons. Mass releases of common dragons will NOT be a big deal, because they are permanent. We already know when the Limited Edition Holiday dragons will drop, and those are the only ones that have a time limit to catch them.

 

I don't have all the Coppers I want either, but do you hear me whining about it? I'll catch them.. or trade for them.. eventually.

 

What I do complain about is being BORED. I've been playing since the Guardians were the new release, and my first Holiday dragon was the Vampire. The completed list is overloaded with tons of new dragons to be released, and there are tons more in progress. If we ever want to see ALL those awesome dragons in the game, WE NEED MASS RELEASES.. and I emphatize NEED.

[olympe]

That I totally agree with. That's why I suggested new biomes for these MASS RELEASES. I mean, if there's a ton of dragons released in one biome, things will be pretty even for everyone.

 

Regarding Coppers - there I was lucky. During the 7-day release, I somehow had a hunch that, after the hybrids, we'd get a rare - and made sure that my scroll was empty of eggs. Thus, I got my intended minimum of 6 CB coppers then. That's still all the CB coppers I have. Which only goes to show how very important it is to be able to get them early on.

Edited August 3, 2014 by olympe

[beautifuldragon5000]

I have been here since the end of 2007, I like the scheduled releases but I also liked the random releases cause it adds an element of thrill ooh am I going to get this when it comes out.

 

most times I don't necessarily get things immediately when they come out but I have a lot of wonderful friends I have made over the years who are kind enough to gift to me if I don't have something right away.

 

My Thing I have been doing lately is gifting nice rares to people so they can breed and trade for things they maybe can't get otherwise.

 

I am rather neutral on this issue but I think having one scheduled release per month and maybe one random release would be a good thing and satisfy both sides of this issue.

 

As far as mass common/uncommon releases I really liked it with the 7 day release because it was a thrill for me to be like ooh am I going to have enough egg slots for the next day of release. it engaged my mind in such a way for the game that I really liked. So I am all for mass releases

 

I honestly though at the same time wish new releases would take a few months break because I need things like nhiostrifes and balloon CBs to get mates for my rares and I have trouble finding them

Edited August 3, 2014 by beautifuldragon5000

[jumpsnake]

I am going to update the first post with several suggestions. Please feel free to add more!

 

Cinnamin: I'm with olympe on the rare/ uncommon thing.

My ONLY bluesangs, coppers and GWs were caught at release time. I did the same as olympe and did not breed any new hybrids when they came out, so I was able to catch 2 each of the coppers. I was lucky enough to trade some for bluesangs when they had a little spurt of being more common. And I totally missed the trio release, and STILL don't have much in the way of CB trios.

 

I am a very patient player, I've been around about as long as you I think (!) but because I don't prioritize rares I am not good at getting them. I don't know how people catch as many CB rares as they do, but I sure can't, and I have rotten luck trading for the most part. So the only way I can really get them is to be there for the release. I know they are supposed to be hard to get-- my method of gameplay is to make the sacrifice to get them when they are released. I get too frustrated trying to catch or trade for them otherwise.

 

I'm ok with a mass drop though, because we will all be in the same boat trying to figure out what is rare and what is not.

[xeyla]

I'm all for a Mass Release to be brought back. I find them more fun. I'm OK with the new random releases, I know I will get eggs sooner or later.

[edwardelricfreak]

please yes mass releases

 

I don't even care if they include rares, though I agree that it might be easier if all the dragons were common, so that way it's easier to get that many dragons and not worry about grabbing them super early.

[Xili_Rem]

I apologise if this has been answered before, as I haven't been following this question, but couldn't there be two releases a month? One on the first weekend, and then the other at some random point? Then there'd be one of each type, so (theoretically) everyone could at least get in on one release.

 

It might also help with the backlog of dragons. I noticed multi-breed releases being mentioned, so this might be an alternative to that if TJ wants to stick to one breed a release or similar dragons in a release or whatever.

 

Quoting a suggestion I made in the announcement here, since it's being suggested.

 

Personally, I'm fine with random so long as they aren't rares.

[skauble]

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!)

I've pondered a variation of this for a while. I agree that doing something like this would require a new way of getting dragons, but I think that's doable.

 

I think that people should be able to trap hatchlings from the cave.

 

That could be accomplished:

 

A. As a BSA for a specific dragon.

 

B. As a product of a number of dragons working together (like summon but without a dragon that magics up from nowhere).

 

C. Using different dragons to trap/lure different breeds.

 

There's a lot of ways it could work from an in-game perspective and I think that it addresses a lot of people concerns:

 

Concern: Dragons shouldn't spontaneously be created.

 

These aren't because they're caught from hatchlings we know are in the cave.

Concern: Adult dragons guard the hatchlings.

 

True, but they also guard their eggs. We're able to grab the ones closer to the cave entrance because some eggs are less guarded. That can hold true for hatchlings. Hatchlings that are considered runts or sickly may be watched less by parents who are giving their attention to the healthier of their offspring. In that case it wouldn't be odd to have one wander off.

 

Concern: The point of raising a dragon is to do the raising part and getting hatchlings cuts that in half.

 

If we use the idea that the hatchlings are runts/sickly, then those dragons could be given 14 days on the timer and take 7 days to grow. That means it takes the same amount of time to raise as an egg, so it would still take a consistent effort.

 

 

The degree of difficulty/success could be worked out by TJ who has the cave stats, but an alternative to hunting/trading where a person can definitely, even if it takes time, get even rare eggs, would definitely assist people with slow connections/computers, and it would allow for us to return to things like randomized drops without shutting out a segment of players who are pretty much out of luck if they miss release day.

 

I really think that this is a problem that needs a serious game change as opposed to a fix of the releases which was never a great way to help all slower players because it leaves behind people with real life issues who can't get on and people who join after an uncommon/rare has been released.

[schmupti]

OK, I admit that rares are more difficult... but they are supposed to be, that's why they are rare, duh.

I've bitten my tongue every time someone brings up the Coppers because of this. "What if they're like the Coppers?" Then they're not supposed to be easy.

 

Arguing that we need to keep scheduled releases, and/or keep new eggs falling exclusively for X hours, because it would make catching rares easy, is itself an argument against scheduling releases. It is in essence an argument that people should be able to line up at the gate and pick up an armful of rares as long as they're on time.

 

I'm still hunting Coppers. I'm still stalking Neglecteds. It took years to land a CB Gold. Rares are hard because they're rare.

 

As an artificial rare, Blusangs are a better argument, but even then, they're a fluke - most breeds are common enough not to be an issue.

 

"Otherwise we'll never catch it" is a terrible argument.

[Cinnamin Draconna]

I totally agree. Any argument to make rares easier is a BAD idea. Rares aren't supposed to be easy, and they never should be.

[Fiona]

Every time someone brings up coppers as a reason to keep drops scheduled or as a reason why people need to be able to catch things on the first day of the drop I want to post and argue. Because they always refer to them as rares. They aren't rare. (yesyesyes, I know people have trouble catching them. That doesn't mean they're rare. Just in demand.)

 

So what does this have to do with the topic? I don't particularly care whether we have random drops or scheduled ones. If I miss a drop I'll be able to get the eggs eventually. If they're common they actually get very easy to catch a few days after the drop. If they're rare I'll trade for them. I know some people will complain that they don't have anything good to trade and that could be true for some, but people often make trades for rare or desirable stuff in exchange for things that aren't rare but is worth the trade for them. Like a boatload of hatchlings, or a particular lineage pattern. Stuff like that. So the argument for keeping drops scheduled can be countered with the fact that even less than common new breeds will be attainable if you are creative and persistent.

 

I don't want to see less breeds per year. If drops are less frequent I want more breeds in each drop. I'd really like more breeds released per year in any case but I'm aware that's not universally popular.

 

My whole point is that rare drops or super common drops, if you're willing to put the work into obtaining them you can eventually get things. No, not easily. But that's part of what makes it a game and not a give-away site. In many ways I'd like to see more breeds per release to force us to make choices about which breeds we pick up at release because then we'd have to actually work at getting the others, taking time to plan a strategy. I don't want to take away from the simplicity of the game exactly, but I don't think we should consider ourselves so entitled that everything is just handed to us.

[KageSora]

I honestly hate going back to random releases, unless there's at least a few days warning. I want to be able to have a chance to try to make sure I have a shot at getting dragons on the day of release.

 

I also do NOT want to see things "spiced up" by having another "Oh, it's literally impossible for you to have all the dragons day of release because there's more than there are egg-slots you can make use of" releases...

 

 

I won't mind if they're on different days/times as long as we get a little warning... Just a few days, that's all. Even just two or three.

Edited August 4, 2014 by KageSora