Raise number of eggs in biomes during high traffic periods

[Ashywolf]

Proposed problem: DC has maintained a "3 egg" display since the early days, which is becoming less and less efficient as our userbase climbs into great quantities.

 

Proposed solution: When more than X users are viewing a page, a 4th egg "spot" is displayed and generated separately to the other 3 eggs. When more than Y users are viewing a page, a 5th egg "spot" is displayed.

 

Discussion: I've seen a few posts in the past (can't find them now) point out that more egg spots are suitable. Of course, there are many slow times on the site where it would be of less use (and arguably, not a problem). So I figure, why not have it dynamically adjust it instead? If more than X users are detected, an extra egg spot will appear for the next 5 minutes, and continually as long as that many users are present.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Ashywolf

[olympe]

Hmm, reminds me of Halloween '10, where TJ gave us a 2nd row of eggs. Totally in support of that. It worked wonders then, and it probably would work wonders now. 

 

That being said, even in slow times, 6 eggs (for instance) in the biomes wouldn't hurt anything, as it would make it easier for us to find what we're looking for. (At least for the more common breeds.)

[Cinnamin Draconna]

Sounds like a good idea.. I'd just change it to adding a whole row, instead of just an extra egg.

[Ashywolf]

I think adding a whole row might be overkill, and perhaps have other side effects...but I am willing to be corrected.

[Fuzzbucket]

10 hours ago, olympe said:

Hmm, reminds me of Halloween '10, where TJ gave us a 2nd row of eggs. Totally in support of that. It worked wonders then, and it probably would work wonders now. 

 

That being said, even in slow times, 6 eggs (for instance) in the biomes wouldn't hurt anything, as it would make it easier for us to find what we're looking for. (At least for the more common breeds.)

 

That was marrow year, I think ? When everything went horribly wrong and there was a risk that MOST players were going to end up with no new eggs at all. A server error, wasn't it ? or a power-out ?

[Chococat0815]

45 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

 

That was marrow year, I think ? When everything went horribly wrong and there was a risk that MOST players were going to end up with no new eggs at all. A server error, wasn't it ? or a power-out ?

Yeah, it was the Marrows and I remember the horrible lag but I don't remember what the cause was. I got only one Marrow then, even though we had two rows of eggs.

 

I think a second row or additional egg spots is only needed with the holiday biome. Apparently it's difficult to catch things there (I haven't personally hunted there yet), however, it should get easier with other people reaching their limits.

I don't think it's necessary for the ordinary event releases, as they drop in all biomes (making it 6x3 eggs). For the ordinary biomes it would probably lead to even less egg circulation, I fear, making common eggs sitting there while the rare and more sought-after breeds get picked up faster.

[LadyLyzar]

My concern with adding slots based on user count would be that an unscrupulous individual(s) could flood the site with additional "users" to get the extra egg slots available at all times, and thus potentially cause massive lag for everyone else.

 

As such, I think adding an extra row of eggs regardless of user count would be the way to go if anything like this was implemented.

[JavaTigress]

27 minutes ago, LadyLyzar said:

My concern with adding slots based on user count would be that an unscrupulous individual(s) could flood the site with additional "users" to get the extra egg slots available at all times, and thus potentially cause massive lag for everyone else.

 

As such, I think adding an extra row of eggs regardless of user count would be the way to go if anything like this was implemented.

Valid point, lady Lyzar.

If ANYTHING that attack on Eggs around the World proves that such a thing COULD be done, at any rate.

 

THAT said.... I don't think I am opposed to having another PERMANENT row of eggies.

[olympe]

10 hours ago, Chococat0815 said:

Yeah, it was the Marrows and I remember the horrible lag but I don't remember what the cause was. I got only one Marrow then, even though we had two rows of eggs.

 

I think a second row or additional egg spots is only needed with the holiday biome. Apparently it's difficult to catch things there (I haven't personally hunted there yet), however, it should get easier with other people reaching their limits.

I don't think it's necessary for the ordinary event releases, as they drop in all biomes (making it 6x3 eggs). For the ordinary biomes it would probably lead to even less egg circulation, I fear, making common eggs sitting there while the rare and more sought-after breeds get picked up faster.

 

There was lag, high traffic - and only three egg spots literally everyone fought over. I didn't manage to catch any marrows (trying for hours on end) until the second row was introduced - but then managed to do so with relative ease - so, within the hour, I think. It also helped that the drops lasted longer this way, as there were twice as many eggs generated.

 

I also agree that it's probably a good idea to restrict the extra egg row to the respective holiday biome.

[dothefreddy]

I can get behind this. I have no need cause I have all the CB holidays, but I can see the need for it in just the holiday biome.

[DigitalGarden]

^ Same as above. I can't see any harm in this suggestion. Minus obvious lag argument but there is always a risk of those happening during busy hours.

[Ashywolf]

On 2/9/2018 at 7:21 AM, LadyLyzar said:

My concern with adding slots based on user count would be that an unscrupulous individual(s) could flood the site with additional "users" to get the extra egg slots available at all times, and thus potentially cause massive lag for everyone else.

 

As such, I think adding an extra row of eggs regardless of user count would be the way to go if anything like this was implemented.

 

I'm expecting the value needed to "trigger" the 4th slot to be at least 50, if not 100. That wouldn't really be feasible to cheat. 

 

I also doubt that an extra egg slot could lead to any additional lag, let alone massive lag. But, I welcome corrections.

[RealWilliamShakespeare]

I’m really unfamiliar with how it works, but I was thinking to myself the other day that I think it’d be worth having more eggs in the biome, just not visible, if that makes sense. Like say for example if 100 eggs are dropped every 5 minutes at the moment - my suggestion would be that say for example 200 would be dropped every 5 minutes, even if only 3 egg slots still show up. The first few days of the Valentine biome were hell for me trying to get a single egg - from the moment of the drop, every egg would be taken from the biome within like, 20 seconds, meaning I was unable to grab anything, and I know others have the same problem. As such, I was really tempted to suggest just having more eggs drop at once in the biomes, but that may have just been my frustration at the time.

 

Regarding the original suggestion, I am more tempted to lean

towards Lyzar’s suggestion, as the raised point that people could just flood the page to exploit it might end up being a problem. And especially since the site has added an extra row in the past

Edited February 11, 2018 by RealWilliamShakespeare

[Guillotine]

15 hours ago, Ashywolf said:

 

I'm expecting the value needed to "trigger" the 4th slot to be at least 50, if not 100. That wouldn't really be feasible to cheat.

 

I also doubt that an extra egg slot could lead to any additional lag, let alone massive lag. But, I welcome corrections.

Tracking users accurately might, although I doubt the slot itself would. We're already having some severe lag with normal site operations.

 

I'd honestly just prefer at least the holiday biomes getting a full second row, if not every biome.
 

[TJ09]

I don't see this providing any benefit in terms of making eggs easier to catch. For the most part, a given person can see all of the eggs and choose which to click. All this would really do is hurt mobile, where it's harder to fit as many eggs on the screen.

 

The actual issue seems to be the unsurprising case of "demand outstrips supply"—more people are hunting for eggs than eggs are made, so they tend to go quickly. This is more true at the beginning of an event biome than at the end, by definition. My goal with the scaling is that pretty much everyone gets their eggs by the end of the event. This is inherently at odds with how people want to treat the biome—everyone wants to grab their thing and get out, but overall it's about the same (in the end people get what they want, just with a little effort).

 

But the site already does scale the number of eggs that are made with the amount of demand, and I've already increased that even further from the levels it was at for Christmas.

 

[Vampyre]

As TJ said...as a mobile user this would negatively affect me. I dont have one of those great big tablet sized phones so the egg images on my screen are barely bigger than perhaps an American penny. I have trouble getting my phone to register clicks on eggs at times already. Adding extra eggs would mean that the images would have to be squashed down making it nigh impossible to click on the exact egg. Sure if ALL  the eggs were the same I'd be okay...but if its the holiday biome and im aiming for...like a holly at Xmas time...i'd probably be more likely to hit the wrapping wing that spawned in next to it. In normal hunting terms (like maybe at the end of a monthly release when regular eggs start mixing in) I'd be far more likely to lock myself with stuff I dont want/need rather than the actual eggs I was aiming for.

[Fuzzbucket]

10 minutes ago, Vampyre said:

As TJ said...as a mobile user this would negatively affect me. I dont have one of those great big tablet sized phones so the egg images on my screen are barely bigger than perhaps an American penny. I have trouble getting my phone to register clicks on eggs at times already. Adding extra eggs would mean that the images would have to be squashed down making it nigh impossible to click on the exact egg. Sure if ALL  the eggs were the same I'd be okay...but if its the holiday biome and im aiming for...like a holly at Xmas time...i'd probably be more likely to hit the wrapping wing that spawned in next to it. In normal hunting terms (like maybe at the end of a monthly release when regular eggs start mixing in) I'd be far more likely to lock myself with stuff I dont want/need rather than the actual eggs I was aiming for.

 

An American penny ? They aren't a big as that on my wide screen desktop PC....

[Vampyre]

7 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

 

An American penny ? They aren't a big as that on my wide screen desktop PC....

 

Lol whoops sorry when I measured I had the screen zoomed in a lot (didnt notice..it was about 3:30 when I posted that..need to go to bed xD) Without any zoom at all (the best for hunting as when you refresh it jiggles all over when zoomed) its about 2/3ds the size of an american Dime..maybe a bit smaller. Actually...about the size of the tip of my pinky finger ...but cant really use THAT for acurate measurement!

[Dragon_Arbock]

Yeah.. they're really closer to a dime, if anything.

Can mobile not be rotated horizontal? I find it hard to believe an extra egg or two wouldn't fit that way.

 

Although I do think it is just a case of needing more eggs being generated than just what's on screen.

 

I keep getting ninja'd tonight. So dime is accurate.

Edited February 12, 2018 by Dragon_Arbock

[Fuzzbucket]

Even a dime is way bigger than.. Just a sec....

 

Maybe HALF a dime. Tip of pinky is about right, now you mention it.

 

I think we are getting enough dropping. The ONLY time I think the two rows was needed was that black marrow disaster; it was the only way of getting them out there before the end of 31st.

[HeatherMarie]

7 hours ago, Dragon_Arbock said:

Yeah.. they're really closer to a dime, if anything.

Can mobile not be rotated horizontal? I find it hard to believe an extra egg or two wouldn't fit that way.

 

Although I do think it is just a case of needing more eggs being generated than just what's on screen.

 

I keep getting ninja'd tonight. So dime is accurate.

 

I'm not sure if you mean the site itself rotating things, or the user rotating their phone so it displays horizontal, but for me the only mobile phone with internet that I have access too is *very* unpredictable when it comes to rotating. Sometimes rotating the phone does change the display to horizontal, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it seems like it doesn't and then when you go to click on something suddenly the display changes to horizontal... I don't think that'd be very good for egg hunting. 

 

I've had my own concerns about this suggestion since it was brought up (including trying to understand how making more eggs out of a set number appear at once would actually be helpful in general, since it means by default that the eggs would be gone even faster since there are more available to be picked up at once). I'm glad that TJ has specified that the number of eggs actually does scale with demand, and that's tinkered with even more during holidays, so with that in mind I don't really support this suggestion.

[Ashywolf]

This may have been a silly little thought I had but I'm glad we discussed it. I guess we can leave this open for further thoughts.

[olympe]

Well, I guess things have resolved themselves? I just saw the Val biome blocked for several refreshes with three Val '09s. And the five minute drop lasted for a good 4 minutes, too.