2014-10-22 - Dragon Encyclopedia

[sara4cows]

I do like the encyclopedia, I think it is well thought out and put together with one exception. My issue with it goes along with what some others are saying. The idea that it is not counting previously owned dragons after I unlock a dragon is driving my OCD crazy. When my stats tell me that I've raised 0 red dragons, but there are 45 +/- red adults on my scroll I just can't process that.

My solution would be to have us do the work to unlock the dragon in the encyclopedia, as it it set up now, but once it is unlocked count the number of dragons on the scroll. Though I honestly don't know what kind of coding nightmare that would be.

I do want to thank everybody who has and continues to work on this project.

[Sheriziya]

I think once we unlock a species it should count the unregistered pre-encyclopedia release date dragons on our scroll and add it to the total owned - that way we still have to work to get the info, but the counter will be correct to our scroll tally once it is unlocked.

I like this idea very much. Yes, maybe the dragons I own won't count to unlocking things, but at least the encyclopedia would have the correct information about my scroll. After all, every hatchery that has the feature, has the possibility to show how many of each dragon you have. So it should be easy for the encyclopedia to get those data.

[JavaTigress]

I like this idea very much. Yes, maybe the dragons I own won't count to unlocking things, but at least the encyclopedia would have the correct information about my scroll. After all, every hatchery that has the feature, has the possibility to show how many of each dragon you have. So it should be easy for the encyclopedia to get those data.

I am inclined to agree with this. MAYBE the encycolpedia could even tell you how many males and females of that breed you have? I dunno how difficult that would be.

 

I know some people absiolutely have ARMYS of certain breeds... I don't enough of anything to qqualify as an amry yet myself... however, that being saidI can understand why those people would be curious... particularly if they were trying for a record. A count of how many dragons of that breed you have, one that didn't count towards unlocking anything, would be fun. I am not necessarily upset that the dragons I already own don't unlock anything ( except as click fodder) HOWEVER, I agree that knowing I have 30 vampires, 15 black teas, 10 black dragons or 21 golds would be interesting ( For hypothetical numbers here).

 

I also agree with those that said that if you don't liek the feature you can more or less ignore it. It seems pretty unobtrusive to me. I mean, even the breed links can be more or less treated like they were gender or biome tags or whatever. No need to click on them or even to think about them ever if you want to opt out. IF Tj wanted to put an opt out feature in the account settings, it wouldn't hurt me any either... I just think it sounds like a lot of work for him for not much benefit.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Silverswift

[Fiona]

The thing about those stats is that they were never intended to be a count of how many you own. It isn't that kind of statistic. Before Halloween my Shadow Walker page said I'd owned 0 of any stage, since the encyclopedia started after last Halloween. Now it says I've owned 187 eggs, 18 hatchling and 18 adults. How did that happen? 187 eggs? By breeding a whole bunch of them, most of which were then auto-abandoned when I picked which to keep, then sending the majority of those to new homes. Then it counted more eggs I've had on my scroll by sifting through the AP, picking up and checking lineages, then abandoning most of them. When Desipises information gets added it's going to tell me I've owned something like 10 eggs, 20-something hatchlings and 6 adults. If anyone checked my scroll they'd only find the 6 adults and (if you look quickly) 2 hatchlings. The hatchlings are going to a new home, probably today. It says I've owned that many, and I have, but didn't keep them. I traded for more hatchlings than I ever had as eggs but again, didn't keep them.

 

The stats aren't about how many you have on your scroll permanently. They were never intended to reflect that. Even if TJ went through and made it add the dragons you had before the encyclopedia went live to your "raised" totals, it still wouldn't be accurate to what you have. Every egg you pick up, every hatchling that even briefly lands on your scroll, adds to the total "owned". Decide to release some adults? Kill some for Zombie fodder? They'd still be reflected in your "adults raised" totals. The encyclopedia stats are intended to be a reflection of everything you've experienced while playing. (Only starting when the encyclopedia went live, not back to the creation of your scroll, since those numbers don't exist.)

 

You guys who are complaining about "accurate totals" are asking for stats that are different from what was intended for the encyclopedia. You want to know what you have on your scroll, not your whole experience of picking up, receiving, hatching, and so on. There's a suggestion in the Suggestions forum asking TJ to add accurate counts of how many of a breed we actually have on our scrolls. This wouldn't change what it is tracking now, but add stats. That number would have to be able to go up or down to reflect current numbers, every time you pick something up, drop it, trade something, breed... or do anything. I'm not saying it couldn't be done (because I'm so not TJ) but that it is different than what we have now.

[JavaTigress]

The thing about those stats is that they were never intended to be a count of how many you own. It isn't that kind of statistic. Before Halloween my Shadow Walker page said I'd owned 0 of any stage, since the encyclopedia started after last Halloween. Now it says I've owned 187 eggs, 18 hatchling and 18 adults. How did that happen? 187 eggs? By breeding a whole bunch of them, most of which were then auto-abandoned when I picked which to keep, then sending the majority of those to new homes. Then it counted more eggs I've had on my scroll by sifting through the AP, picking up and checking lineages, then abandoning most of them. When Desipises information gets added it's going to tell me I've owned something like 10 eggs, 20-something hatchlings and 6 adults. If anyone checked my scroll they'd only find the 6 adults and (if you look quickly) 2 hatchlings. The hatchlings are going to a new home, probably today. It says I've owned that many, and I have, but didn't keep them. I traded for more hatchlings than I ever had as eggs but again, didn't keep them.

 

The stats aren't about how many you have on your scroll permanently. They were never intended to reflect that. Even if TJ went through and made it add the dragons you had before the encyclopedia went live to your "raised" totals, it still wouldn't be accurate to what you have. Every egg you pick up, every hatchling that even briefly lands on your scroll, adds to the total "owned". Decide to release some adults? Kill some for Zombie fodder? They'd still be reflected in your "adults raised" totals. The encyclopedia stats are intended to be a reflection of everything you've experienced while playing. (Only starting when the encyclopedia went live, not back to the creation of your scroll, since those numbers don't exist.)

 

You guys who are complaining about "accurate totals" are asking for stats that are different from what was intended for the encyclopedia. You want to know what you have on your scroll, not your whole experience of picking up, receiving, hatching, and so on. There's a suggestion in the Suggestions forum asking TJ to add accurate counts of how many of a breed we actually have on our scrolls. This wouldn't change what it is tracking now, but add stats. That number would have to be able to go up or down to reflect current numbers, every time you pick something up, drop it, trade something, breed... or do anything. I'm not saying it couldn't be done (because I'm so not TJ) but that it is different than what we have now.

I get that as well, I do.

 

I meant a seperate statistic entirely; at least, that is what I was thinking... sort of in addition to, not instead of. If that makes sense.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Silverswift

[sara4cows]

The thing about those stats is that they were never intended to be a count of how many you own. It isn't that kind of statistic. Before Halloween my Shadow Walker page said I'd owned 0 of any stage, since the encyclopedia started after last Halloween. Now it says I've owned 187 eggs, 18 hatchling and 18 adults. How did that happen? 187 eggs? By breeding a whole bunch of them, most of which were then auto-abandoned when I picked which to keep, then sending the majority of those to new homes. Then it counted more eggs I've had on my scroll by sifting through the AP, picking up and checking lineages, then abandoning most of them. When Desipises information gets added it's going to tell me I've owned something like 10 eggs, 20-something hatchlings and 6 adults. If anyone checked my scroll they'd only find the 6 adults and (if you look quickly) 2 hatchlings. The hatchlings are going to a new home, probably today. It says I've owned that many, and I have, but didn't keep them. I traded for more hatchlings than I ever had as eggs but again, didn't keep them.

 

The stats aren't about how many you have on your scroll permanently. They were never intended to reflect that. Even if TJ went through and made it add the dragons you had before the encyclopedia went live to your "raised" totals, it still wouldn't be accurate to what you have. Every egg you pick up, every hatchling that even briefly lands on your scroll, adds to the total "owned". Decide to release some adults? Kill some for Zombie fodder? They'd still be reflected in your "adults raised" totals. The encyclopedia stats are intended to be a reflection of everything you've experienced while playing. (Only starting when the encyclopedia went live, not back to the creation of your scroll, since those numbers don't exist.)

 

You guys who are complaining about "accurate totals" are asking for stats that are different from what was intended for the encyclopedia. You want to know what you have on your scroll, not your whole experience of picking up, receiving, hatching, and so on. There's a suggestion in the Suggestions forum asking TJ to add accurate counts of how many of a breed we actually have on our scrolls. This wouldn't change what it is tracking now, but add stats. That number would have to be able to go up or down to reflect current numbers, every time you pick something up, drop it, trade something, breed... or do anything. I'm not saying it couldn't be done (because I'm so not TJ) but that it is different than what we have now.

Thank you so much for explaining that. I missed that somewhere. It is much easier for me to use it understanding what it is doing.

[Fiona]

For those interested, here is the link to the topic in Suggestions asking to add our current scroll stats to the encyclopedia pages for each breed. There's even a nice mock-up to show what it might look like.

[Sheriziya]

The thing about those stats is that they were never intended to be a count of how many you own. It isn't that kind of statistic. Before Halloween my Shadow Walker page said I'd owned 0 of any stage, since the encyclopedia started after last Halloween. Now it says I've owned 187 eggs, 18 hatchling and 18 adults. How did that happen? 187 eggs? By breeding a whole bunch of them, most of which were then auto-abandoned when I picked which to keep, then sending the majority of those to new homes. Then it counted more eggs I've had on my scroll by sifting through the AP, picking up and checking lineages, then abandoning most of them. When Desipises information gets added it's going to tell me I've owned something like 10 eggs, 20-something hatchlings and 6 adults. If anyone checked my scroll they'd only find the 6 adults and (if you look quickly) 2 hatchlings. The hatchlings are going to a new home, probably today. It says I've owned that many, and I have, but didn't keep them. I traded for more hatchlings than I ever had as eggs but again, didn't keep them.

 

The stats aren't about how many you have on your scroll permanently. They were never intended to reflect that. Even if TJ went through and made it add the dragons you had before the encyclopedia went live to your "raised" totals, it still wouldn't be accurate to what you have. Every egg you pick up, every hatchling that even briefly lands on your scroll, adds to the total "owned". Decide to release some adults? Kill some for Zombie fodder? They'd still be reflected in your "adults raised" totals. The encyclopedia stats are intended to be a reflection of everything you've experienced while playing. (Only starting when the encyclopedia went live, not back to the creation of your scroll, since those numbers don't exist.)

 

You guys who are complaining about "accurate totals" are asking for stats that are different from what was intended for the encyclopedia. You want to know what you have on your scroll, not your whole experience of picking up, receiving, hatching, and so on. There's a suggestion in the Suggestions forum asking TJ to add accurate counts of how many of a breed we actually have on our scrolls. This wouldn't change what it is tracking now, but add stats. That number would have to be able to go up or down to reflect current numbers, every time you pick something up, drop it, trade something, breed... or do anything. I'm not saying it couldn't be done (because I'm so not TJ) but that it is different than what we have now.

Oh, I forgot about that for a moment, the fact that really everything is registered as "owned" once you've picked up/bred something. Ah, for accurate stats with that particular part that would mean recoding indeed.

 

Well, I've got an excell sheet I made to count my totals of everything, so I don't really need it, but I can imagine it can come in handy when I think I'm missing something and I don't get it out of my data.

 

/* shrugs */

Oh well, whatever adjustments TJ does or doesn't make, I love the fact that we have an encyclopedia and we get to know more about the breeds. That, for me, is the reason to try to unlock everything

[Cygnis]

That is a great explanation for the Encyclopedia!

 

While I have liked the encyclopedia since it came out, I really like understanding what is going on. This gives it just another facet to like it for.

 

I love the idea of it tracking everything that ever passes through a person's scroll, the game experience for this point on. This like like adding an achievements list after the game has been going for a while. It makes another goal for the game- makes this more of a game than just a collection thing- rather than just grab all one's favorite dragons.

 

For those rare people who create neglecteds to trade, I imagine this should be pretty cool. Same thing for other rare dragons to trade away. Very neat.

[pinkgothic]

Regarding 'Owned' confusions, maybe calling it 'At Least Once Held' / 'Picked Up' for eggs and 'At Least Once Raised' / 'Previously Raised or Raising' for hatchlings and adults would be better?

[topaz08]

I have no Desipis Dragons in my encyclopedia. Has this been discussed 100x already?

[Sheriziya]

Yep

[OtomeKristinOtaku]

The encyclopedia is nice and we got to unlock a lot more official information

As for all the complaints, TJ will work it out eventually, after all, we're kind of like the second group of testers for bugs Overall the encyclopedia is a really nice addition to DC and it gave a lot of people something to look forward to

[Laugh]

Not too sure on this, but I'm at a cousin's house after completing some things I needed to do. I remember something being said static IP addresses can only click once for registration for observations. I don't know what static IP means, but I connected to my cousin's wifi and it counts towards your encyclopedia even if you've clicked on the hatchling before. I know it's working because I looked at my counts for frills/bright pinks and went over to the "Encyclopedia Helpers" thread and re-clicked on most of the links (some I had to switch to lineage links and then click) and it counted each one. Probably not new, but I thought after reading a few pages and this not being mentioned, was worth mentioning.

[Ha-Ki]

Static IP means that your IP address doesn't change. Mine usually only changes when I restart my router - thanks for posting, I think I'll try that

Edited November 9, 2014 by Ha-Ki

[Laugh]

Static IP means that your IP address doesn't change. Mine usually only changes when I restart my router - thanks for posting, I think I'll try that

Ah thanks for that info. I'll try resetting my router too when I get home. I hope my router does that lol.

 

No problem, I just thought it was well worth mentioning.

[Syphoneira]

Lol,

 

Cassare Dragon

 

Found in: All habitats

 

...

 

Stats

 

Eggs Owned: 10

Hatchlings Owned: 2

Adults Raised: 0

Eggs Observed: 5

Hatchlings Observed: 3

Adults Observed: 3

 

Must be from some of the various AP eggs recently picked up and dropped now counting forever as though kept on my scroll, from the moment the Encyclopedia first appeared - but just imagine how many dragons the Encyclopedia will think we own after 6 months of avid AP-hunting?

 

Millions, perhaps, for those of us picky enough to go through lots on a regular basis?

[Jedi40]

How are we to do the ones for the Old Pinks and Frills if they are no longer around?

[MessengerDragon]

How are we to do the ones for the Old Pinks and Frills if they are no longer around?

You can observe the hatchies and adults. Nobody really knows yet about the eggs. (There is a theory that they might be re-released, but not known.)

[Angelina Gienah]

I'm rather annoyed by the encyclopedia for a reason mentioned by many above:

I feel like I'm basically starting all over with my dragons.

Theoretically, in the dragon cave world, wouldn't owning 40something red dragons for an extended period of time have given me some level of knowledge about them and how they work?

I understand the concept of having something more to do and having to work for it and all of that, but I think that if we already own so many of a particular type of dragon (a lot of us only have armies of a few breeds) then their information should already be unlocked. If there's a species we only have a few of, then ok we can have to observe or raise more.

 

 

Also, while I get that the encyclopedia's count currently functions to show us how close we are to gaining more information, I feel like it would make more sense if it actually reflected the numbers on our scrolls. I'd really like to know how many Nebulas I have without having to count all of them every single time. Perhaps we can have a different listing on the encyclopedia page for this? Or an entirely different "stats" page involved? It could even be broken down into # of males/females, # of alts, # of different ages, and even # of cave born or something like that.

 

Hmmmm... *off to the suggestion board*

[AngelicGracelyn]

I have no Desipis Dragons in my encyclopedia. Has this been discussed 100x already?

TJ said the encyclopedia entry will be added once adult sprites are public.

Granted, many people have adults and the sprites are all over the forums, so perhaps he meant when everyone has adults.

 

 

though I'm not sure what that means for new year-round dragons

[AzureZeroX]

First off let me say that I'm happy this is here, but I do have some complaints about it.

 

I am among the many who are not exactly pleased with the Encyclopedia's execution. I don't get why suddenly the years I've spent collecting sprites goes toward... well nothing. If this really was an accurate count of everything I've done in my time here, why doesn't it stay true to that? For the record I understand the numbers beforehand don't exist, and finding them would be a pain. But I think it then makes the concept of it being a collection of "Everything you ever have done in DC"... well moot for the older players here who now look to have no stats whatsoever minus that they've achieved over the time of this feature being implemented.

 

For those who say that we don't need auto-unlocks I get that. Its no fun to have everything unlocked at the start. Perhaps, if possible, to earn the picture or info leave it the same and make the older players have to raise/view those breeds to earn it? But still display the correct "Owned" amount? I want to at least please have it said that I've owned x amount of dragons... I mean it makes me kind of disheartened to see out of my armies I've raised over the course of years is just... non existent according to the encyclopedia.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the issue, but if the issue with the owned count is because the number doesn't go down for the "killed" or "zombies" or "released" then I fail to see how it effects said statistic because its "Owned". Even if I release a Red I still at a point OWNED the Red. Even if I zombied the Red, it still was owned therefor the number doesn't decrease because I can't ever change the fact that in the past I owned that Red. If it was "Currently Owned" I could understand the issue, but if its past tense I don't really get the problem. Maybe its difficult finding those numbers for everyone's previous statistics--? Why not just ignore previously killed/released/zombied ones, so their effect remains null on the count? Perhaps instead we could just start with the current number on the scroll as of now? I think that would make the older players happy to just see their work counted. Because otherwise they probably feel like me, and are a bit soured to see every time they look at a breed especially their favorites, that they've owned 0 while on their scroll they have tons.

 

Again I appreciate the work and concept, its a lot of effort. I just wish its execution was a bit more accurate to the player's work was all. For now I wont be putting any work into filling it but I hope everyone enjoys it, it certainly is cool to see info about the breeds for those who are interested

[Banyanpan]

I also really hate that all my dragons count for nothing in the encyclopedia. I don't want all the sprites/information unlocked instantly, it's actually very fun for me to gather it over time. I just want an accurate number to how many I own under "Adults Raised"

That's the only thing that bothers me.

[littleblackdog]

My eyes are burning from looking at so many scrolls but I finished the ND's! *dances*

[Rhynn Collins]

My eyes are burning from looking at so many scrolls but I finished the ND's! *dances*

How on earth did you find enough hatchlings O_O