Guaranteed prizes via scaled-up raffle-entry-like system

[osmarks]

A recent discussion on prizes in the unofficial Discord server, also leading to the idea of getting CB prizes via large amounts of biome hunting, has made me come up with yet another idea for getting CB prizes. It's quite similar to the one I linked, but I think it's sufficiently different to be in its own thread.

 

The actual idea:

 

Currently you can enter the raffle by completing some random - but small - challenge each month, generally involving raising 3 of some specific types of dragon. What if, by completing some larger-scale challenges (perhaps requiring a total of 250 1000 dragons initially, but scaling up (doubling?) each time you do them, and in which you would not lose progress every month), you could get a guaranteed (probably still random) prize? Or perhaps there could be six challenges generated, one per type of prize dragon.

 

There are lots of ways the challenges could be handled, but the best idea I came up with so far is that new challenges would be generated every month/week, and you would be able to switch from your currently selected challenges to new ones whenever you wanted, but would lose your existing progress. The actual type of dragon (lindwyrms, light-aligned dragons, whatever) required by the challenges would be the same for all users, but the numbers would be scaled based on how many prizes you had already obtained this way.

 

Some numbers:

 

As a Gold trophy user, I can raise 7 dragons every 5 or so days from 7d eggs (2 days as egg with incubate + 3 as hatchling, which can't be sped up). This means - assuming I have no problems obtaining the eggs, and raise eggs at the maximum possible speed, and never run out of incubates - I could manage 250 dragons in 179 days. This may seem too fast to you, but consider that some challenges might be hard to get eggs for, and that raising eggs at the maximum possible speed is pretty impractical. Remember, though, the size of the challenges could be changed.

@olympe pointed out that I had made a serious mistake here - hatchlings don't occupy egg slots (obviously). I think this means you can raise as many as you have eggslots for every 2-and-a-bit days (since you will eventually become hatchling-locked). This effectively doubles (approximately) dragon-raising speed, so you would instead need to raise the required dragon count to 1000 to make the minimum time 312 days like I said. Which does seem somewhat high, but oh well.

 

Example:

 

A user sees a set of challenges one month they think they can do, looking something like this:

 

Prize Dragon (Eastern) (Bronze)

• Raise 50 200 dragons from the Alpine biome.
• Raise 50 200 dragons with the elemental affinity Air.
• Raise 50 200 Wyverns.
• Raise 50 200 dragons with Breed-Specific Actions.
• Raise 50 200 Hybrid dragons.

 

so they select it. They can now spend as long as they want doing those challenges, and, when they finish, will receive a bronze shimmerscale egg. When they want another prize, they can pick another challenge from the month's current ones, or wait for the next set, and do that, but the numbers will be raised to 100 to make it harder.

 

Possible problems:

 

• If you get one prize, you can then trade its offspring off to get more via this system easily. Not really sure what to do about this - perhaps require the dragons you raise to not be gained via trading. The significance of this is kind of reduced by the exponential growth in needed dragons as you get more.
• Multiscrolling. I think this is more of an issue for the raffle in itself, though.
• Raising lots of dragons might get a bit repetitive as a goal. The challenges could be more varied than that, though - stuff like "trade 50 eggs or hatchlings", or "freeze 50 dragons whose breed names begin with A" could work.

 

I'm suggesting this as a complement to the raffle, and not a replacement. They could both be run together. The numbers and precise details of how this idea would work can be changed, if you have a good reason.

Edited June 8, 2019 by osmarks

[Fuzzbucket]

21 minutes ago, osmarks said:

A recent discussion on prizes in the unofficial Discord server, also leading to the idea of getting CB prizes via large amounts of biome hunting, has made me come up with yet another idea for getting CB prizes. It's quite similar to the one I linked, but I think it's sufficiently different to be in its own thread.

 

The actual idea:

 

Currently you can enter the raffle by completing some random - but small - challenge each month, generally involving raising 3 of some specific types of dragon. What if, by completing some larger-scale challenges (perhaps requiring a total of 250 dragons initially, but scaling up (doubling?) each time you do them, and in which you would not lose progress every month), you could get a guaranteed (probably still random) prize? Or perhaps there could be six challenges generated, one per type of prize dragon.

 

There are lots of ways the challenges could be handled, but the best idea I came up with so far is that new challenges would be generated every month/week, and you would be able to switch from your currently selected challenges to new ones whenever you wanted, but would lose your existing progress. The actual type of dragon (lindwyrms, light-aligned dragons, whatever) required by the challenges would be the same for all users, but the numbers would be scaled based on how many prizes you had already obtained this way.

 

Some numbers:

 

As a Gold trophy user, I can raise 7 dragons every 5 or so days from 7d eggs (2 days as egg with incubate + 3 as hatchling, which can't be sped up). This means - assuming I have no problems obtaining the eggs, and raise eggs at the maximum possible speed, and never run out of incubates - I could manage 250 dragons in 179 days. This may seem too fast to you, but consider that some challenges might be hard to get eggs for, and that raising eggs at the maximum possible speed is pretty impractical. Remember, though, the size of the challenges could be changed.

 

If you can raise 250 dragons in 179 days, then the targets you have set are FAR too low for prizes. Raise 250 dragons from the Alpine biome or something would be better. 179 days work is far too easy for a prize, it really is. The same goes for your other challenges. Much as I want one myself. When we discussed getting them in the market, the suggestion was a couple of years' worth of shards.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Fuzzbucket

[osmarks]

5 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

If you can raise 250 dragons in 179 days, then the targets you have set are FAR too low for prizes.

True. Perhaps 500/1000 as a total required dragon count would be more reasonable. 500 would make it about a year at gold. This is if you devote all of your play to fulfilling the challenges, though (EDIT: and can get the eggs instantly, which you could for some).

 

Also, please don't quote my entire post.

Edited June 8, 2019 by osmarks

[cbussiere]

Not a fan of guaranteed prizes (and for the record I've never won the raffle). Raising 50 dragons in a month is also pretty activity-intensive, and I and many other players like DC because it's low-maintenance. Allowing anyone with the time/dedication to raise 50 wyverns in a month to automatically get a Prize seems like it would drive down their value very quickly. That's only half a year of playing to get a CB of each species and color... easily doable between holidays.

[osmarks]

7 minutes ago, cbussiere said:

Not a fan of guaranteed prizes (and for the record I've never won the raffle). Raising 50 dragons in a month is also pretty activity-intensive, and I and many other players like DC because it's low-maintenance. Allowing anyone with the time/dedication to raise 50 wyverns in a month to automatically get a Prize seems like it would drive down their value very quickly. That's only half a year of playing to get a CB of each species and color... easily doable between holidays.

You seem to have misunderstood my idea.

 

At the values I suggested, you would need to do 5 challenges involving 50 dragons (though not limited to a month), for your first prize. For the second, you would need to do 5 (different) ones involving 100.

[Suzumiya]

I'd honestly like a way to get a Prize and KNOW what type you're getting. I have been wanting a Silver tinsel ever since I joined this site and discovered how beautiful they are. I can see why this wouldn't work, though. If everyone can eventually get a Prize, even if it takes a two years, it vastly reduces the value of Prizes. I personally think 2G Prize values are pretty high and sometimes crazy, but this could possibly make them worth less than CB Silvers. Normally 2G Prizes are worth a little more than CB Silvers (maybe a lot more...not sure...it seems to depend on the Prize mate) and can sometimes get you an ND or more than one CB Gold. 

 

Heh. I'd like a way to get a guaranteed ND, but I know that will never happen since NDs aren't supposed to be rewards. 

[osmarks]

Just now, Suzumiya said:

If everyone can eventually get a Prize, even if it takes a two years, it vastly reduces the value of Prizes.

The status quo is that a tiny amount of people randomly get a dragon which can produce some of the most valuable dragons in the game every few weeks, which I think really messes up the trading market.

 

1 minute ago, Suzumiya said:

Heh. I'd like a way to get a guaranteed ND, but I know that will never happen since NDs aren't supposed to be rewards. 

NDing isn't actually that hard. It's also fairly luck-based (some skill though), but I've gotten two and seen ridiculous amounts made on the Discord server.

[Suzumiya]

27 minutes ago, osmarks said:

The status quo is that a tiny amount of people randomly get a dragon which can produce some of the most valuable dragons in the game every few weeks, which I think really messes up the trading market.

 

NDing isn't actually that hard. It's also fairly luck-based (some skill though), but I've gotten two and seen ridiculous amounts made on the Discord server.

 

I haven't got a single ND. Ya'll are lucky.

 

I wouldn't mind a guaranteed Prize with work put in. 2G Prizes are decreasing in value each month. I used to see people asking for 2 NDs for one, but now that would be laughable. One thing I DON'T agree with is people being allowed multiple prizes. I know at least one person who has won THREE TIMES. I think it would be better to put at least a time limit on when you can enter the raffle again. One person I know entered the raffle and won two prizes right in a row. That's...really whacked, to me. An insanely skewed "RNG" system. I can't honestly believe it's random when the same people win over and over. I'm pretty sure my win was a total fluke. 

[osmarks]

2 minutes ago, Suzumiya said:

One thing I DON'T agree with is people being allowed multiple prizes.

This has been brought up, but they're not really a very significant percentage of the userbase.

3 minutes ago, Suzumiya said:

I can't honestly believe it's random when the same people win over and over. I'm pretty sure my win was a total fluke. 

It would be less random if they weren't ever able to.

[Cinspawn]

21 minutes ago, Suzumiya said:

I wouldn't mind a guaranteed Prize with work put in. 2G Prizes are decreasing in value each month. I used to see people asking for 2 NDs for one, but now that would be laughable. One thing I DON'T agree with is people being allowed multiple prizes. I know at least one person who has won THREE TIMES. I think it would be better to put at least a time limit on when you can enter the raffle again. One person I know entered the raffle and won two prizes right in a row. That's...really whacked, to me. An insanely skewed "RNG" system. I can't honestly believe it's random when the same people win over and over. I'm pretty sure my win was a total fluke. 

That's the point of it being random - it's random. If you somehow have a coin that has the same odds as the raffle, you could land on heads two times in a row, too. And don't forget people who won multiple times stick out like a sore thumb - confirmation bias etc.

 

@ thread idea: I like the idea of putting in effort -> prizes to be get. Just not sure about the doubling effect for second, third, ... sets. Doubling gets out of hand REAL fast. I'd rather see a sliding scale after X amount of prizes, with a cap. So people who want to dedicate the rest of their DC lives to getting 100 CB prizes can do so.

 

I do think that you should be able to choose which prize you get - I don't think it matters much in terms of ~value~ and stuff, and making it random is only a slap in your face after all the work, for no reason at all. Perhaps higher numbers for the challenge can be a trade-off for being able to choose which prize you get.

 

I think this is a great idea as it's not too easy, it's completely optional, but it's still a light at the horizon and gives people something to do and to look forward to. Getting a prize after years and years of waiting, and then being able to actually work for it and earn it, must be really nice.

 

ETA: I'd say it should take about as long as getting a gold from the market in terms of weeks. So at least 42 weeks, maximum of 52 weeks, with a platinum trophy. Having to spend all your DC slots, for the rest of the next 2-3 years, for one (1) dragon, is ridiculous. No game should aim for achievements that take years, imo.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Cinspawn

[osmarks]

At platinum, and if working at the maximum possible speed (impractical - it'll be at least 10% lower in reality, I think, for an actual human player), raising 500 dragons (I chose this because it's a nice round number) would take 312.5 days, which seems reasonable.

[Fuzzbucket]

2 hours ago, Suzumiya said:

 

I haven't got a single ND. Ya'll are lucky.

 

I wouldn't mind a guaranteed Prize with work put in. 2G Prizes are decreasing in value each month. I used to see people asking for 2 NDs for one, but now that would be laughable. One thing I DON'T agree with is people being allowed multiple prizes. I know at least one person who has won THREE TIMES. I think it would be better to put at least a time limit on when you can enter the raffle again. One person I know entered the raffle and won two prizes right in a row. That's...really whacked, to me. An insanely skewed "RNG" system. I can't honestly believe it's random when the same people win over and over. I'm pretty sure my win was a total fluke. 

 

2 hours ago, osmarks said:

This has been brought up, but they're not really a very significant percentage of the userbase.

It would be less random if they weren't ever able to.

 

It was a fluke. Random DOES create flukes. It is also a fluke that I have never won. That's random for you. I never want to see it unrandomised in any way.

[olympe]

11 minutes ago, osmarks said:

At platinum, and if working at the maximum possible speed (impractical - it'll be at least 10% lower in reality, I think, for an actual human player), raising 500 dragons (I chose this because it's a nice round number) would take 312.5 days, which seems reasonable.

I'm pretty sure you can raise more than 2 dragons per day on average, even without a trophy.

 

If you have things rolling, you can pretty much raise a whole batch every other day, at least in a perfect world. That means it would take (little more than) 63 days to raise 500 - if you're focusing on either CB eggs or self-bred eggs.

Spoiler

Day 1: Get 8 eggs. Incubate.

Day 3: Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs and 8 hatchies.

Day 5:  Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs and 16 hatchies.

Day 6: Your first batch of dragons should have grown up. You're still egg-locked, though.

Day 7: Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs, 16 hatchies and 8 adults.

Day 8: Your next batch of dragons should have grown up. You're still egg-locked, though.

Day 9: Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs, 16 hatchies and 16 adults.

 

So, after setting things up (Day 1 to Day 5), you got into the groove where you can raise 8 dragons every other day.

You can do it even faster if you grab eggs from the AP.

 

[osmarks]

3 minutes ago, olympe said:

I'm pretty sure you can raise more than 2 dragons per day on average, even without a trophy.

  Hide contents

Day 1: Get 8 eggs. Incubate.

Day 3: Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs and 8 hatchies.

Day 5:  Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs and 16 hatchies.

Day 6: Your first batch of dragons should have grown up. You're still egg-locked, though.

Day 7: Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs, 16 hatchies and 8 adults.

Day 8: Your next batch of dragons should have grown up. You're still egg-locked, though.

Day 9: Your eggs should have hatched. Get 8 new eggs. Incubate. You now have 8 eggs, 16 hatchies and 16 adults.

 

So, after setting things up (Day 1 to Day 5), you got into the groove where you can raise 8 dragons every other day.

You can do it even faster if you grab eggs from the AP.

 

Right. Oops. I'll update the calculations.

[olympe]

10 hours ago, osmarks said:

pointed out that I had made a serious mistake here - hatchlings don't occupy egg slots (obviously). I think this means you can raise as many as you have eggslots for every 2-and-a-bit days (since you will eventually become hatchling-locked). This effectively doubles (approximately) dragon-raising speed, so you would instead need to raise the required dragon count to 1000 to make the minimum time 312 days like I said. Which does seem somewhat high, but oh well.

Uhm... if you can raise 500 in (a little over) 63 126 days, you can raise 1000 in (a little over) 126 252 days... So, in order to get to 300+ days, you'd have to raise the amount of dragons to roughly 2500 1250.

 

ETA: I think I had a mistake in my calculation, too.  I simply divided 500 by 8, but forgot to multiply by two (because it's 8 every other day, not every day) - so 126 (because even numbers required) days.

Edited June 8, 2019 by olympe

[osmarks]

1 minute ago, olympe said:

Uhm... if you can raise 500 in (a little over) 63 days, you can raise 1000 in (a little over) 126 days... So, in order to get to 300+ days, you'd have to raise the amount of dragons to roughly 2500.

I'm relatively sure you can raise 8 per ~2.5 days, so that involves just halving the existing times based on 5 days.

[olympe]

With incubate, it's actually two days per batch. In theory. However, life happens. Eggs don't always hatch the hour they hit 4 days. And eggs are the truly limiting factor.

[HeatherMarie]

Honestly, I've always been fairly against super-rewards for very specific playstyles... ie, giving out the rarest thing on the site (CB Prize) if you devote all your time to raising one specific type of dragon.... It really rubs me the wrong way because one of the best things about DC to a lot of people is the variety of what you can do and what you can choose to focus on. I didn't even like the new raffle requirements every month, but at least with that it's a small enough requirement that it doesn't really interfere with any other goals/plans. 

 

THAT SAID, I've pretty much gotten to a point where I'll support most *any* type of 'work towards it' Prize-getting. It's always, always frustrated me that CB Prizes are the only thing in this entire game that is completely luck-based and you can't *do* anything to get one or even increase chances. TJ's recent News post about scaling the number of raffle winners with the number of entries is awesome, but I'd still really love a way to actually *do* something to *earn* a CB Prize. So yeah, if this suggestion actually has some chance of actually being implemented, I'll support it.

[The Dragoness]

1000 dragons per CB Prize egg isn't unreasonable, but there are a few reasons why I don't like this suggestion:

 

1. Players with platinum trophies have a massive advantage over players without trophies. 

2. Those with more trading power will be able to trade for hatchlings faster.

3. Cave hunting could very easily become a nightmare with so many people sitting in the biomes daily. Also, the ratios. Just imagine how difficult it could be breed a Sunsong if suddenly almost every player wants to breed 100 hybrids each year. And all of those hybrid fails would clog up the AP.

4. I, like many players, don't want to constantly be scroll locked for 312 days just to get a random Prize. I've always wanted a Silver Shimmer. Sure, I'd take a Bronze Tinsel if I won one in the raffle, but that's my least favorite variant. I'd be kinda upset if that was my reward for so much work.

5.If the amount you need to raise is doubled each time....how long would it take to get your 6th Prize? Also, would this take into account previous raffle-won Prizes? For example, I have a CB Silver Tinsel. Does owning a Prize already mean I would need to start earning another at the doubled rate?

 

Like HeatherMarie, I'm just overall not a fan of rewarding specific players, trophies, and/or playstyles. I'm gonna pass on this suggestion because it feels so biased towards some players. With the current raffle, at least everyone has a fair chance, even if it doesn't seem like it.

[Qualeo]

 I like the idea though. Unfortunately, it's not very easy to accommodate every single playstyle. It's just not possible. I like the idea, and it's not like you're being forced  to do this. Nor would it be the only outlet for prize dragons I assume (raffles). And honestly  the way this is phrased? It seems like it supports casual play as well as plenty of other playstyles. You may not get it as fast if you don't dedicate your time to it, but I can see most people achieving this eventually.  

[Shadowdrake]

Consider making it so the challenge goals scale based on the user's current trophy level at entry? That way bronze and no-trophy players aren't stuck in the dust behind everyone else, and if someone levels up a trophy their current challenge goals don't suddenly increase by another 20%.

[HeatherMarie]

4 hours ago, Qualeo said:

 I like the idea though. Unfortunately, it's not very easy to accommodate every single playstyle. It's just not possible. I like the idea, and it's not like you're being forced  to do this. Nor would it be the only outlet for prize dragons I assume (raffles). And honestly  the way this is phrased? It seems like it supports casual play as well as plenty of other playstyles. You may not get it as fast if you don't dedicate your time to it, but I can see most people achieving this eventually.  

 

The OP mentions having to specifically raise from a certain biome, or certain body-types, or certain elemental affinities. And the numbers are huge (as they should be, to a point, so Prizes are still 'special'). No, no one would be *forced* to do it, but it'd basically be 'conform to this very specific playstyle for months or miss out on the *only* guaranteed way to ever get a CB Prize', which isn't much better. It would be different if the requirements were more general, like 'breed (certain amount) eggs' or 'raise (certain amount) dragons', because that's something most everyone in the game does, but this is talking about very specific requirements. Many people don't hunt the biomes. Many people don't collect more then a handful of any specific breed. Some people don't care for certain body types, like wyverns or two-heads or whatever. 

(As I said, at this point I'd love pretty much any 'guaranteed' Prize-getting suggestion, but I think it's pretty misleading to act like this suggestion isn't biased towards specific playstyles).

 

 

4 hours ago, Shadowdrake said:

Consider making it so the challenge goals scale based on the user's current trophy level at entry? That way bronze and no-trophy players aren't stuck in the dust behind everyone else, and if someone levels up a trophy their current challenge goals don't suddenly increase by another 20%.

 

This is a good idea.

[osmarks]

8 hours ago, The Dragoness said:

1. Players with platinum trophies have a massive advantage over players without trophies.

Scaling the cost based on trophies could also work. A trophyless user could only be made to need 500 dragons.

8 hours ago, The Dragoness said:

2. Those with more trading power will be able to trade for hatchlings faster.

I did suggest requiring the dragons raised for this to be non-traded, but that could also be problematic.

8 hours ago, The Dragoness said:

3. Cave hunting could very easily become a nightmare with so many people sitting in the biomes daily. Also, the ratios. Just imagine how difficult it could be breed a Sunsong if suddenly almost every player wants to breed 100 hybrids each year. And all of those hybrid fails would clog up the AP.

Hopefully the variety of challenges my idea would have would prevent this a bit?

8 hours ago, The Dragoness said:

4. I, like many players, don't want to constantly be scroll locked for 312 days just to get a random Prize. I've always wanted a Silver Shimmer. Sure, I'd take a Bronze Tinsel if I won one in the raffle, but that's my least favorite variant. I'd be kinda upset if that was my reward for so much work.

My idea is actually for a non-random prize - each month there would be 6 new challenges generated, one for each type, and you would be able to pick any of them, but would lose progress if you did switch. If you didn't switch your progress would be kept between month.

You could be half-scroll-locked for 600 days or so instead. Which isn't great either, admittedly.

8 hours ago, The Dragoness said:

5.If the amount you need to raise is doubled each time....how long would it take to get your 6th Prize? Also, would this take into account previous raffle-won Prizes? For example, I have a CB Silver Tinsel. Does owning a Prize already mean I would need to start earning another at the doubled rate?

A scaling factor lower than doubled might work, and it wouldn't consider raffle ones, no.

3 hours ago, HeatherMarie said:

It would be different if the requirements were more general, like 'breed (certain amount) eggs' or 'raise (certain amount) dragons', because that's something most everyone in the game does, but this is talking about very specific requirements. Many people don't hunt the biomes. Many people don't collect more then a handful of any specific breed. Some people don't care for certain body types, like wyverns or two-heads or whatever.

There would be different challenges for each prize type, and new ones generated each month (or maybe week), which you could switch to (losing progress on your current one if you do). I may have been unclear about this.

[Qualeo]

It’s not intentionally biased I’d think. I’m sorry you’re playstyle doesn’t quite work with the idea but there’s always going to have to be compromise I think. 

 

OP does that mean you have a month to complete a challenge? I might be confused but I think having a time limit is what will make it undesirable. Not with such high numbers required. 

[olympe]

9 hours ago, The Dragoness said:

1000 dragons per CB Prize egg isn't unreasonable, but there are a few reasons why I don't like this suggestion:

 

1. Players with platinum trophies have a massive advantage over players without trophies. 

2. Those with more trading power will be able to trade for hatchlings faster.

3. Cave hunting could very easily become a nightmare with so many people sitting in the biomes daily. Also, the ratios. Just imagine how difficult it could be breed a Sunsong if suddenly almost every player wants to breed 100 hybrids each year. And all of those hybrid fails would clog up the AP.

4. I, like many players, don't want to constantly be scroll locked for 312 days just to get a random Prize. I've always wanted a Silver Shimmer. Sure, I'd take a Bronze Tinsel if I won one in the raffle, but that's my least favorite variant. I'd be kinda upset if that was my reward for so much work.

5.If the amount you need to raise is doubled each time....how long would it take to get your 6th Prize? Also, would this take into account previous raffle-won Prizes? For example, I have a CB Silver Tinsel. Does owning a Prize already mean I would need to start earning another at the doubled rate?

 

Like HeatherMarie, I'm just overall not a fan of rewarding specific players, trophies, and/or playstyles. I'm gonna pass on this suggestion because it feels so biased towards some players. With the current raffle, at least everyone has a fair chance, even if it doesn't seem like it.

1. The trophy in itself is a reward. And getting from 0 dragons to 1000 doesn't take much more than a year if you're dedicated to it. (I assumed that you only raise eggs you got at 7 days, and only start using Incubate when you have your silver trophy - but then, that you use it on every egg. I did not take lwo-time AP eggs or frozen hatchlings into the equation, nor did I consider that real life might get in the way and throw you off by 1 day. I assumed that that one negative will be more than compensated by the numerous potential positives. Anyway, creating a quick excel sheet, I arrived at 378 days until you get your platinum trophy. By that same calcuation, you'd be able to get to gold at 235 days (8 months), silver at 133 days (almost 4 1/2 months) and bronze at 43 days.

2. While what you say is true, hatchlings and low-time eggs will gain massively in trading value...

3. Why would cave hunting become more feasible? It's the AP with the low-time eggs that will be invaded by people working on getting their prize.

 

Regarding your last two issues, I think the idea needs to be changed slightly. Because random is a [female dog].

How about this: You have two different sets of challenges - body types for Western Prizes, elemental affinity for Eastern Prizes.

Once you've completed 2 challenges and received 2 bronze Prizes, you can choose to accept a silver challenge (higher numbers). After you have completed your 3rd bronze challenge, you can, once again, choose to accept a silver challenge (higher numbers). Once you've completed 2 silver challenges, you get the option to choose a gold challenge (even higher numbers). Challenge tiers are always in regards to each body type. Anway, this way it's ensured that the 3:2:1 ratio of bronze:silver:gold is mostly kept, although (for a while), bronze and then silver will be more common than their ratios imply. I'm sure TJ could easily offer early silver/gold challenges if bronzes get too common, though.

 

@Qualeo: The idea, as I understand it, is to have new challenges *available* each month, but you have no time limit to complete a challenge. Also, you can only work on one challenge at any time.

 

 

ETA: There are different kinds of challenges I can imagine:

Raise X dragns from Alpine/Coast/... biome. (Can we please add something like "biome association" so bred eggs can count for this, too?)

Raise X dragons of Western/Easter/Pygmy/... body type.

Raise X dragons of a breed-only variety. (Includes hybrids, geodes, breed-only alts and colored stripes.)

Raise X dragons with xxx elemental affinity. (Does secondary elemental affinity count? Maybe half?)

Raise a dragon of X lineage type and y generation where all ancestors are on your scroll.

Create full families (adult m/f, S2 m/f, S1) of X different breeds.

Raise X dragons of different breeds.

Trade with X different users using public teleports.

 

Of course, it's up to you which kind of challenge you want to accept. There probably should be 2-3 different challenges each month for either Eastern or Western Prize. Once you accept a kind of challenge, you can opt for which level you want to complete it (if you have unlocked the higher-tier challenges, that is. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with bronze.)

The biome, body type, elemental affinity and so on should change randomly. Maybe even be different for every user or depending on the ratios.

Edited June 9, 2019 by olympe