Random Releases Returning- suggestions

[olympe]

You know, TJ, you could make the news announcement as soon as you get your 7 day eggs, telling us to go looking for the new release as soon as yours hit the 4 day mark.

[Obscure_Trash]

I think he pops him on his scroll at four days. Not sure, TJ should def be the one to confirm/deny that, but yeah. The dragons have the same egg laid date as the release date is.

 

~

 

I personally am find with random or planned. I did enjoy knowing when releases would be but I really didn't suffer terribly with our return to random releases. I did quite fine, actually. But that's just me. o3o

[MessengerDragon]

Am I the only one who actually likes the random releases?

[Sany]

Am I the only one who actually likes the random releases?

I don't mind it either! The biomes seem to be calmer with people figuring out the new release at different hours.

[KageSora]

Honestly, I hate the "no warning, just new eggs--hope you were on before they became impossible to find!" thing.

 

If they're going to be more random, I'd like at LEAST a day or two warning. They don't have to be on a set date or anything--but at least a "heads up, drop incoming!" would be very appreciated.

 

I'd also like going back to the really long drops without other eggs mixing in. At least that gives more people a chance to get them in case they end up impossible to find later.

 

Random doesn't make it fun for me--it makes it stressful and annoying.

[MessengerDragon]

I really do understand completely what TJ meant in that post.

 

And, if I don't get the eggs straight away, I just wait a month. That is about the time when everyone has got theirs, and is gifting away neat lineages left and right.

 

(This release was a bit different. I really wanted one for some reason.)

 

(Though you could call my opinion biased, I never bothered working out what the schedule would be like in my time zone even when there WAS a schedule)

[PolarVortex]

TJ *did* say that it's most likely to be on a weekend, though - doesn't that make it a lot easier? I mean, everyone is different of course but for me, personally, with incubate the way I look at it is that it gives at least two sets of eggs during the week and still time to be prepared for a release.

It doesn't really help that much... especially since it could be anytime on the weekend! That means keeping your scroll free four days out of seven, just in case... I'd much rather have a heads up as well. Or a smaller window (a Saturday noon-midnight cave time, say).

 

I did like the 1:00 time because I never stayed up to midnight for releases in the past, so it was nice to be able to grab them when they were flooding for once! In the past I'd be hunting 7-8 hours in.

[Guillotine]

Yeeeah, the random releases may be intended to encourage doing other things outside of releases... but I can't say i'm terribly motivated to work on projects and IOUs when I can't predict when the next release is coming.

 

Random's really just stressful and annoying.

[CNR4806]

I'd say it's a step backwards in its current state. And in terms of making people to pay more attention on stuff other than releases, it's doing a worse job than before the monthly releases came along.

 

The predictability of the scheduled releases is gone, and yet the lack of anticipation for a release from the time before monthly releases has not returned (because it's still monthly release). This means that to players who still care about the releases are now paying more attention than ever about the releases, which is especially evident for people who try to clear up their scrolls in preparation of a release, which they can no longer properly prepare for outside of keeping their scroll empty for every weekend until a release happens (as opposed to clearing it up a few days before a scheduled release).

 

As many others have mentioned before, an advanced notice would be useful. Since there would be no risk of getting caught in a middle of a release with their scroll locked, people can actually go about their business throughout the rest of the month.

 

Irrelevant because they're brought up at every release ever.

They are factors of a release that may react differently when you change other aspects of the said releases. IMO they're still relevant, unless you disregard all issues brought up related to timeslots, lag and rarity as irrelevant to releases on a whole.

Edited September 25, 2014 by CNR4806

[KageSora]

And, if I don't get the eggs straight away, I just wait a month. That is about the time when everyone has got theirs, and is gifting away neat lineages left and right.

That's nice that you can do that--but one of the big things I try to collect now are eggs on release day. The date is important to me. And that makes my playstyle at a serious disadvantage if I can't have even 24 hours warning.

 

It's a hassle and frustrating and disappointing--NOT fun.

 

I honestly don't mind them being random--I'd just like 24-48 hours of "hey, drop incoming!" That's all I want, really.

[Ardath Rekha]

As someone who is now in a PhD program (which is murdering my free time anyway), not being able to know in advance about a drop means that I probably have to miss it. My housemate still plays the game, but not much anymore; he's not bored by it as much as annoyed by how much time he has to spend on it to get anything new or unusual. He's two years ahead of me in his work, so this is probably me in two years, and I'm not looking forward to that. Honestly, I'm tired of all these new releases. With so many species in play, actually seeing the species I'm trying to get, even when it's no longer new or rare (unless it's an ultra-common that I've already stocked up on) takes forever, and I don't have forever anymore. Throw in a release that I can't fit into my increasingly-crowded schedule (and that's difficult, at times, even with advance warning) and I'm feeling like I'm not-so-subtly being told I'm too old for the game now and shown the door.

[Melisande]

Myself I like the random, un planned releases better. I when I started there was no such thing as every month on the first weekend ext. Knowing when to expect the dragons each and every month kind of takes the fun out of it.

 

I like that he has made them random again. I also remember TJ's post saying that he would try to make most of them on the weekend still. It's more exciting when you get an unexpected dragon release, and doesn't get as stale. It keeps you coming back to DC each week, rather than only being on / checking the forums one week each month.

 

It also spreads out dragons so when we have a month with a holiday there is not as big a gap between holiday breeding and the last month and next month's normal releases. Like we had one in the middle of September. The next drop will not be until Halloween, so if the drop had been the first week of Sept there would be no dragons at all for over a month until the holiday, and November either has no dragon or the release is later in the month, so the new random style works well with that so we are more likely to get regular releases in the months between holiday ones. Maybe we'll even get a Jan release now as well!

 

What I would love to see, especially if he keeps the dropping in the middle of the afternoon instead of midnight, would be 24 hr drops without mixing. That way people who work, have school, live in different time zones, have family plans on weekends all have a chance of getting a cb.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Melisande

[annageckos]

Myself I like the random, un planned releases better. I when I started there was no such thing as every month on the first weekend ext. Knowing when to expect the dragons each and every month kind of takes the fun out of it.

 

I like that he has made them random again. I also remember TJ's post saying that he would try to make most of them on the weekend still. It's more exciting when you get an unexpected dragon release, and doesn't get as stale. It keeps you coming back to DC each week, rather than only being on / checking the forums one week each month.

 

It also spreads out dragons so when we have a month with a holiday there is not as big a gap between holiday breeding and the last month and next month's normal releases. Like we had one in the middle of September. The next drop will not be until Halloween, so if the drop had been the first week of Sept there would be no dragons at all for over a month until the holiday, and November either has no dragon or the release is later in the month, so the new random style works well with that so we are more likely to get regular releases in the months between holiday ones. Maybe we'll even get a Jan release now as well!

 

What I would love to see, especially if he keeps the dropping in the middle of the afternoon instead of midnight, would be 24 hr drops without mixing. That way people who work, have school, live in different time zones, have family plans on weekends all have a chance of getting a cb.

(bold is mine)

It doesn't make it exciting for me, it makes it stressful. I too started playing when there were still random release. I did it before, I'll be able to do it now. But I don't like it. I check my dragons everyday as it is, so the random releases do not make me check in. I do it anyway. I like knowing when I can work on my projects and when to clear my scroll. I like getting my eggs when they come out because you never know if they will be easy to catch later or no. They could be like coppers or blusangs. Or it could be like last few releases where the eggs are still easy to get.

[Ayelldee]

Am I the only one who actually likes the random releases?

I had no problem with the random release this time. It WOULD have been nice if the Pyralspites had dropped by themselves a little longer to give late-comers an even playing field tho. IMHO.

[CNR4806]

(bold is mine)

It doesn't make it exciting for me, it makes it stressful. I too started playing when there were still random release. I did it before, I'll be able to do it now. But I don't like it. I check my dragons everyday as it is, so the random releases do not make me check in. I do it anyway. I like knowing when I can work on my projects and when to clear my scroll. I like getting my eggs when they come out because you never know if they will be easy to catch later or no. They could be like coppers or blusangs. Or it could be like last few releases where the eggs are still easy to get.

Agreed with that "not exciting" part, but it took a completely different direction for me after that.

 

I do not feel stressed.

 

Heck, I don't think I actually cared. I never bothered to check every weekend if there's an release on. When I found out hours after the release, I found out that there are none of the new eggs visible anywhere in the biomes, and then I cared even less.

 

To me the whole release may as well have never happened. But then again, I'm on a semi-hiatus. This completely unpredictable and barely-existing release just drives me further toward the "hiatus" side of the spectrum because that's one less big thing for me to even consider caring about every month.

[annageckos]

Agreed with that "not exciting" part, but it took a completely different direction for me after that.

 

I do not feel stressed.

 

Heck, I don't think I actually cared. I never bothered to check every weekend if there's an release on. When I found out hours after the release, I found out that there are none of the new eggs visible anywhere in the biomes, and then I cared even less.

 

To me the whole release may as well have never happened. But then again, I'm on a semi-hiatus. This completely unpredictable and barely-existing release just drives me further toward the "hiatus" side of the spectrum because that's one less big thing for me to even consider caring about every month.

Stressful may have been a bit strong of a word. Worrisome maybe. Either way, it's just not fun for me. And if it pushes players away it's not a good thing.

[KageSora]

I like that he has made them random again. I also remember TJ's post saying that he would try to make most of them on the weekend still. It's more exciting when you get an unexpected dragon release, and doesn't get as stale. It keeps you coming back to DC each week, rather than only being on / checking the forums one week each month.

Not being able to plan for the release and suddenly it's 11pm by the time I'm aware and if I don't get at least one of each today then that hurts my current playstyle because I want them with the release date as the bred/stolen date and worrying about please god don't let this be like the ing coppers again PLEASE isn't "exciting".

 

It's frustrating and stressful and annoying as hell.

 

I don't come back for that. In fact, it's a factor I'm considering in deciding if I want to put up with that distress in the future. If I start missing drops--and it was an incredibly narrow thing that I got one of each this last one (and I was very disappointed I wasn't able to grab 2 of each)--then there's a decent chance I'll just give up because it's not fun for me. A game should be fun, not stressful.

 

And forcing me to keep coming back to avoid getting screwed out of a release is a terrible way to keep me interested. That makes the game feel more like an obligation than a game. I'd rather keep coming back so I can breed an egg now and then, or try to catch the ones I'm missing when I have time, or to see if I can trade for something nice, or find some nifty codes. Or to keep dibs on my names.

 

THOSE are reasons I like to keep coming back.

 

As it is, I will basically have to get on once every day until that month's release. Since I can't be sure TJ won't decide to have a weekday drop once or something. And he didn't 100% guarantee that they would always be on the weekend. And actually I'd probably need to be online more than once a day, since I can't be sure that I'm not online before it's announced but that it'll happen after I log off (one of the reasons I liked the midnight ones, personally).

 

That makes it feel like a chore, not a game, and that's a reason I dropped basically any other game I bother playing.

 

If TJ wants to encourage people to stick around and stuff during non-release times, then he should consider other options. Because now I can't be sure, until the release has happened, that it's safe to work on any kind of a project I might want to work on. So why should I spend time working on a lineage when I'll risk being forced to choose between an egg that I don't know if I'll be able to get later or an egg that I spent weeks trying to finally breed or trade for?

[SilverGreeneye]

Because now I can't be sure, until the release has happened, that it's safe to work on any kind of a project I might want to work on.  So why should I spend time working on a lineage when I'll risk being forced to choose between an egg that I don't know if I'll be able to get later or an egg that I spent weeks trying to finally breed or trade for?

^This. Every single word KageSora said, but especially this. I didn't get to work on any of my lineage projects or trade for anything interesting during the whole month of September because I couldn't trust that I wasn't going to have to dump all my eggs when the release happened. It wasn't until after the release that I felt safe continuing my projects since (I'm assuming) there won't be another release until Haloween.

[Fuzzbucket]

^This. Every single word KageSora said, but especially this. I didn't get to work on any of my lineage projects or trade for anything interesting during the whole month of September because I couldn't trust that I wasn't going to have to dump all my eggs when the release happened. It wasn't until after the release that I felt safe continuing my projects since (I'm assuming) there won't be another release until Haloween.

This three - except that I did take the risk of having to dump because I just wasn't prepared to put all play on hold Just In Case.....

[Ha-Ki]

Assuming that TJ sticks to his announcement that releases will still be on weekends, I don't see that much of a problem. It's completely safe to hunt, trade and breed between Monday and Thursday then, because it can hatch until Saturday.

 

As long as releases remain on weekends, I'm fine with random. But it should be on weekends, so everyone gets a chance to catch them.

[DragonNighthowler]

To be honest, I'd pay if releases where something that happened every few months, no more than three times a year (without counting the holiday releases). I love the game, I love collecting stuff, which is the reason I've been here since 2009 (with a hiatus or two in between). When the regular monthly releases began, I was excited. Wow, three new species every month.

 

Now we have over a hundred dragons. There are so many descriptions I usually don't even know which dragon is which egg and the fact that I have to spend hours hunting for commons has gotten frankly annoying. Each month I cared less and less about the releases, to the point I would see new eggs, I would see 30 people in a biome and say; "meh, I'll try hunting some other day".

Today I realized I'm missing one of the new eggs (one gender, I like having two of each), and I didn't care.

 

I think it not only has gotten stale, but also overcrowded. The random releases don't really help the situation much, because it is still a monthly release. It's not that I don't care about the game, I do. I don't care about the releases any more.

 

I know many people are happy with monthly releases, this is why this is NOT a suggestion to change how releases work. Just my personal opinion and experience which is merely that, personal opinion and experience.

[annageckos]

Future releases will (very likely) still be on weekends, but may be scattered throughout the month.

 

No guarantee it will be on the weekend, so it's not completely safe to hunt/trade/breed during the week. And we aren't even sure if it will stick with 1pm Saturday, or go back to 12am Sunday. Or maybe it will be 1pm Sunday. I think it's safe to assume it will stick with the pm Saturday. But if people want to be safe they will wait until Sunday afternoon to continue catching/breeding eggs. It also cuts into my lineage projects because I have to clear my scroll every weekend until the release. So I breed less and spend less time on the site because I have nothing to do for a few days waiting to see if we will have a release or not.

 

I hope I made myself clear, I tend to ramble sometimes. Sorry.

[LibbyLishly]

I was perpetually screwed when releases were on Sundays because that's the one day every week that I'm away from any of my internet-accessing devices. 1 pm on Saturdays is the perfect time for me. If releases remain at that time and on that day, I can cope with it being randomly scattered throughout the month. But if they occasionally shift back to Sundays, I'm going to have a problem. And throwing random releases in on weekdays would just mean all manner of stress.

[Melisande]

That makes it feel like a chore, not a game

See that's how I was feeling with the stagnant, every month at the same time, with the same amount of dragons being given to us... it made it so you couldn't breed the first week of the month, you couldn't do anything except sit and wait for sat.

 

 

Now there is a feeling of challenge, of strategy. Is there a release this week or no, if I breed now will they be hatched by the time things are released.

 

It puts a lot of fun that DC had when it first came out back into the game. It makes catching dragons A GAME rather than giving you every thing with no need to actually play the game, just show up the 1st week of the month and you are set. Too many adoptable sites are like that and it gets really boring, because they just give you every thing... there is no strategy behind it.

 

 

Yes I would like to see the new eggs drop longer with no other mixed in, like 24 hrs would be great. And it's one reason doing it at midnight would be better, because if you did that and had it 24 hrs for the drop it would be all day. And every one would have a chance to grab them.

 

I think having the drops random is more fun, yes it can be more stressful as well, but the 1pm drop caused me more stress than the randomness of it because of the extra lag and more people catching so less dragons to go around.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Melisande

[annageckos]

 

 

Now there is a feeling of challenge, of strategy. Is there a release this week or no, if I breed now will they be hatched by the time things are released.

 

 

 

Yeah, I don't see it as fun or exciting. And it takes no challenge to clear your scroll a few days before the weekend. It just leaves me with less time to work on the things that I do find fun. Now that I have less time to breed my own projects I have even less time to breed for the AP or departure thread. But to each their own I guess.