2018-07-29 - July Dragon Release (Part 2)

[purplehaze]

I really think transferring human concepts of racism to even a sentient creature like a dragon is a stretch!

 

I love the Siyats. I am not really disappointed that my first 6 all hatched green, because I need 8 of each color for my scroll goals anyway. So as long as they don't become impossible to catch I am okay with it. I am not happy about having to take up egg slots for an extra day or two to get the other colors. As I said before, I incubate everything almost the moment it hits my scroll. I have so many breeding projects going that every day of egg time is precious! I like these well enough to make the exception for my scroll goals, but not sure that i will want to use them for breeding if bred eggs work the same way.

 

The Mimic adults look more like bats than chickens to me. I like the male's pose -- not so sure about the female. The more we see of these the more they seem like a Halloween concept. Did they originally start out as one? They do seem a bit large for pygmies, but I think it is just their chunkiness, not really their overall dimensions.

 

Thank you Corteo, Marri, and Fi -- and of course, TJ -- for this new release!

[animatedrose]

Just woke up, left egg slots open last night to grab more spotties. They are still flying off the biomes. I'm officially hanging my hat on ever catching CBs of them again.

 

So, the current theory is 'unnatural' 4 days for green but 'natural' for blue? And unknown for purple? Or has anyone finally figured out foolproof how these work? Just checking for this in case I need to brace myself for another wait-a-few-years-to-know-how-these-work Dark Lumina scenario.

 

Also, the adults of them all look amazing. I want so many spotty adults now! braces self for the flood of 'critiquers' that will make this release horrible

Edited August 1, 2018 by animatedrose

[random_dragon_collector]

10 minutes ago, Seriva Senkalora said:

Anybody noticed, that the spooted egg itself gives the answer to the sequence the colors can be obtained?

 

I would guess you use Legacy sort, where they sort unter "Pygmy, Mimic" instead of "Mimic Pygmy". .)

For the third time, and on the third page--they now sort in M above Mint.

[Laureleen]

Love both. Beautiful colours on the Siyats and I adore the spooky vibe of the murder chickens. Thanks for these pretties!

[Alrexwolf]

4 minutes ago, animatedrose said:

*snip*

Also, the adults of them all look amazing. I want so many spotty adults now! braces self for the flood of 'critiquers' that will make this release horrible

 

As one of those horrible monstrous critics I see nothing to really critique. The Siyats are lanky but they're supposed to be. I also don't see anything absurdly anatomically unsound with the murder pygmys.

 

I don't feel the green is good but that has nothing to do with the sprites themselves. The spriters did an awesome job, and these are great additions to DC.

[Fiona]

To answer a few of the questions about Mimics: Yes they were originally concepted as a Halloween breed, but without real expectation that they'd be chosen for Halloween, as I think pygmies have to be very compelling to overcome the disadvantage of being a limited breeding group. I was mainly having fun. I am very pleased though that TJ liked them well enough as a regular release to use them as originally concepted.

 

They are based on several inspirations. One is vampire bats, both for their feeding methods and general anatomy. They are also based somewhat on myna birds or other birds that mimic sounds. A large part however of their inspiration comes from two separate fiction sources: one is from Lord of the Rings, where Golum is leading Frodo and Samwise through the Dead Marshes and he tells Frodo, sternly, "Don't follow the lights." That whole mechanic that the light has a hypnotic effect to draw you into danger was a main source of inspiration. The other fictional source is the jabberjays from Hunger Games, which mimic the voices of people's loved ones to taunt. In this case, rather than just voices they know, I thought it would be spookier to have the voices of the dead, and hey look, we have death mana to provide lore to support that.

[JavaTigress]

2 minutes ago, Fiona said:

To answer a few of the questions about Mimics: Yes they were originally concepted as a Halloween breed, but without real expectation that they'd be chosen for Halloween, as I think pygmies have to be very compelling to overcome the disadvantage of being a limited breeding group. I was mainly having fun. I am very pleased though that TJ liked them well enough as a regular release to use them as originally concepted.

 

They are based on several inspirations. One is vampire bats, both for their feeding methods and general anatomy. They are also based somewhat on myna birds or other birds that mimic sounds. A large part however of their inspiration comes from two separate fiction sources: one is from Lord of the Rings, where Golum is leading Frodo and Samwise through the Dead Marshes and he tells Frodo, sternly, "Don't follow the lights." That whole mechanic that the light has a hypnotic effect to draw you into danger was a main source of inspiration. The other fictional source is the jabberjays from Hunger Games, which mimic the voices of people's loved ones to taunt. In this case, rather than just voices they know, I thought it would be spookier to have the voices of the dead, and hey look, we have death mana to provide lore to support that.

Thanks for the info Fiona.

 

I love mine even MORE now.

Thank you for 'Murder Chickens'.

[Fuzzbucket]

8 minutes ago, Fiona said:

To answer a few of the questions about Mimics: Yes they were originally concepted as a Halloween breed, but without real expectation that they'd be chosen for Halloween, as I think pygmies have to be very compelling to overcome the disadvantage of being a limited breeding group. I was mainly having fun. I am very pleased though that TJ liked them well enough as a regular release to use them as originally concepted.

 

They are based on several inspirations. One is vampire bats, both for their feeding methods and general anatomy. They are also based somewhat on myna birds or other birds that mimic sounds. A large part however of their inspiration comes from two separate fiction sources: one is from Lord of the Rings, where Golum is leading Frodo and Samwise through the Dead Marshes and he tells Frodo, sternly, "Don't follow the lights." That whole mechanic that the light has a hypnotic effect to draw you into danger was a main source of inspiration. The other fictional source is the jabberjays from Hunger Games, which mimic the voices of people's loved ones to taunt. In this case, rather than just voices they know, I thought it would be spookier to have the voices of the dead, and hey look, we have death mana to provide lore to support that.

 

Thanks, Fi - that's REALLY interesting and I love the two references - for once I actually GET them !

4 minutes ago, Spiteful_Crow said:

Siyats are great, in spite of their colorism. The color mechanics for them, however, are THE WORST. What a terrible idea. Please no one ever do this again.

 

 

At least it is a mechanic we can all manage if we take the trouble.I support it. Frustrated though I shall be.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Fuzzbucket

[GhostMouse]

5 minutes ago, Fiona said:

To answer a few of the questions about Mimics: Yes they were originally concepted as a Halloween breed, but without real expectation that they'd be chosen for Halloween, as I think pygmies have to be very compelling to overcome the disadvantage of being a limited breeding group. I was mainly having fun. I am very pleased though that TJ liked them well enough as a regular release to use them as originally concepted.

 

They are based on several inspirations. One is vampire bats, both for their feeding methods and general anatomy. They are also based somewhat on myna birds or other birds that mimic sounds. A large part however of their inspiration comes from two separate fiction sources: one is from Lord of the Rings, where Golum is leading Frodo and Samwise through the Dead Marshes and he tells Frodo, sternly, "Don't follow the lights." That whole mechanic that the light has a hypnotic effect to draw you into danger was a main source of inspiration. The other fictional source is the jabberjays from Hunger Games, which mimic the voices of people's loved ones to taunt. In this case, rather than just voices they know, I thought it would be spookier to have the voices of the dead, and hey look, we have death mana to provide lore to support that.

I'm so excited about these new pygmies, and this extra info makes them even better! They would have been a perfect Halloween breed but I'm glad they were released this way so they can be used in lineages year-round! And it will be much easier to breed them with Pumpkins.

[olympe]

32 minutes ago, animatedrose said:

Just woke up, left egg slots open last night to grab more spotties. They are still flying off the biomes. I'm officially hanging my hat on ever catching CBs of them again.

 

So, the current theory is 'unnatural' 4 days for green but 'natural' for blue? And unknown for purple? Or has anyone finally figured out foolproof how these work? Just checking for this in case I need to brace myself for another wait-a-few-years-to-know-how-these-work Dark Lumina scenario.

 

Also, the adults of them all look amazing. I want so many spotty adults now! braces self for the flood of 'critiquers' that will make this release horrible

When you're there for a five-minute drop, these are pretty easy to catch, really. You just have to be there on time.

 

It seems that incubated and hatched ASAP gives green, as the first hatchlings in the hatcheries were all green. I already saw the first couple of blue ones around 6 AM cave time today, so it's probably true that they need 3 days to hatch in order to turn blue (=hatching ASAP without incubate). I don't think there are any purple hatchies around yet, so we'll have to wait and see. Maybe an extra day (at least), or so I would guess.

 

Also, I don't see enough to critique in order to actually speak out. And what I can see is merely unusual but not wrong.

 

Last but not least, I'm quite happy with the color mechanics of the Siyats. Definitely more fun than just random. *glares at gemshards and PB stripes* I'd rather sacrfice an egg slot for another day or two than have to raise a couple of extra eggs before getting the color I want/need. Not to mention that this makes Siyats perfect for ND experiments. If you don't get an ND, at least you get a purple Siyat which might be tradeable for something uncommon.  

Edited August 1, 2018 by olympe

[Crowned_Ladybug]

49 minutes ago, Corteo said:

Yep!  My wife is Russian and I speak fluent Russian. 

Ooh, that's cool to know!

 

Immediately went ahead and named my first two after Russian synonyms for their name  Or, well, synonyms provided by google (hey, I only took two years of Russian, I can read but I don't know synonyms!) and anglicised very clumsily owing to the lack of "ь".

[owlion]

I really like the new pygmies - especially the male's pose, it's really great! The others are very nice too and I don't mind the colour mechanics. Thanks for the release!

[cbussiere]

@Fiona I got the vampire bats reference! Very cool, I think them being pygmies makes total sense for that kind of ecological behavior.

 

@olympe I totally agree. It might be a bit frustrating to have to remember to wait 4 days then unfog, but at least you have full control over it.

[animatedrose]

9 minutes ago, olympe said:

It seems that incubated and hatched ASAP gives green, as the first hatchlings in the hatcheries were all green. I already saw the first couple of blue ones around 6 AM cave time today, so it's probably true that they need 3 days to hatch in order to turn blue (=hatching ASAP without incubate). I don't think there are any purple hatchies around yet, so we'll have to wait and see. Maybe an extra day (at least), or so I would guess.

Yes! So as long as I don't incubate one and remember to fog my third, I should (hopefully) get all three colors. Sweet!

 

9 minutes ago, olympe said:

Last but not least, I'm quite happy with the color mechanics of the Siyats. Definitely more fun than just random. *glares at gemshards and PB stripes* I'd rather sacrfice an egg slot for another day or two than have to raise a couple of extra eggs before getting the color I want/need. Not to mention that this makes Siyats perfect for ND experiments. If you don't get an ND, at least you get a purple Siyat which might be tradeable for something uncommon.  

I wouldn't have minded random. Just as long as it wasn't a ridiculous mechanic like some dergs... Just as long as ultimately, I could breed to get the other colors and not have to pray I could grab them from the biomes before others. My internet be slow so just catching Siyats now is a nightmare.

But yeah, I can deal with giving up an extra egg slot to get all three. Especially purple! fav color

[natli]

Mimics look great! *thumbs up*

 

The breeding of Siyats is fine by me, since it is not up to luck (like Gems, Nebs, Ridgewings,). I am a patient woman and can wait a day or two if the result will be what I want

Edited August 1, 2018 by natli

[Data_Girl_3]

Kinda sad that the Siyat colors are determined by hatching times and not by the biome, but that will make for an interesting element.  The Mimic Pygmies are also an interesting breed.  Though the bit about them mimicking voices of the dead to lure their prey towards them does kinda remind me of what I heard about Skinwalkers.

[Gluria]

The colour mechanism of the Siyats is unusual, but I'm cool with it.

 

It's an exercise in patience to get what you want, and I believe patience is something many people could need more of. DC is not about catching and hatching as many dragons as you can as fast as you can.

[LadyLyzar]

I love the new mechanic.  It has alts that players can completely control, without having to stalk a specific biome and hope you get lucky.

 

I expect to see many beautiful lineages with Siyats, since with careful planning you can get the color you want every time.

[Sirithiliel]

there, i traded my green hatchies for blue hatchies xD now i can incubate the eggs i have to get greens again, and keep the 3 i have to be purple aside for friday hatching

[Nightwalkerkey]

I like these guys a lot, and alts you can control the pygmies are alright, I'd like to see them with pumpkins.

[JavaTigress]

7 minutes ago, LadyLyzar said:

I love the new mechanic.  It has alts that players can completely control, without having to stalk a specific biome and hope you get lucky.

 

I expect to see many beautiful lineages with Siyats, since with careful planning you can get the color you want every time.

Actually,on thinking about it, this is absolutely true.

 

I may not be able to say I LOVE the mechanic, in that I have never claimed to be the most patient person in existence...

BUT , as someone ELSE pointed out getting the color I want will force me to exersize a quality that isn't my strong point.

 

HOWEVEr, what you say about a person having complete control of what they get IF they ware willign to wait and therefore the thing being useful for lineages is CORRECT.

Edited August 1, 2018 by JavaTigress

[The Dragoness]

Wow, I love the Mimic pygmies! And I'm usually not a fan of non-regular breeds. They would have been a perfect Halloween breed, but I'm glad that we get to enjoy their spookiness regardless. And, to be honest, I wish more pygmy breeds were this size.

 

The Siyats are nice as well. I don't mind the mechanic. It's simple and completely player-controlled, unlike a handful of the other breed mechanics we have. The blue is definitely my favorite.

[Sirithiliel]

I kind of think the Blue Siyats should've been the 'ideal' result xD they didn't hatch too early, they didn't stay too late, they hatched right when they were supposed to. I could see greens and purples both having slightly negative traits due to their early or late hatching, while Blues would be the favored ones for their perfect hatching

 

but that's just my two cents on the breed lore =P

[Gluria]

I believe that on the long run, the Siyat mechanics even save time - I can't even count how many Undines, Nebs etc. I abandoned cause they turned out the wrong colour. So I didn't really get anything faster by hatching them a day earlier. 😆

[tjekan]

In the wild, wouldn't 99% of litebrites just be blue? Green ones would only be able to happen if there were red dragons nearby and the mother litebrite let them incubate her eggs (which it's unlikely she'd ever do since being green would give them lower social status,) and purples would only be able to happen if the mother dragon fogged her eggs (which we've only seen humans have the ability to do before.) It's hard to imagine how a social hierarchy could build up over something that has no variation...