We Need New Drop Mechanics. It's Just A Fact.

[Impulsive_Egg]

+1 especially for an extra row, or even two extra rows if you wanna go crazy with it (I have no experience with coding/web design so I don't know how taxing two extra rows would be). I feel like an unlucky sap because the only thing of value I think I've ever gotten from a cave was a chicken. I studied the hell out of the egg identification wiki and any egg of real value I have always missed because someone got there before I could. FWIW I also only hop on for a few months at a time and then disappear for a while.

I don't follow these forums that often so I'm wondering whether TJ has acknowledged this issue or not.

[Fuzzbucket]

He reads threads. But more rows would be hell for people using mobiles.

[KageSora]

I'd be in favor of adding sub-pages to the biomes in some fashion (Forest 1, Forest 2, etc.), but I wouldn't want entirely new biomes added at this point.  Unless they were populated by new dragons--but trying to shuffle everything as-is would be too much, I think.  I think having several pages where the same types of dragons spawn but people can hunt on Alpine 1, Alpine 2, etc. would be the easiest/least frustrating (in that it would cause the least amount of other frustrations with it's introduction).  Of course, then you'd have people asking for "AP 1, AP2, AP3, etc." as well I'd guess...

 

I also would be against adding another egg or an extra row of eggs due to mobile due to the multiply-mentioned fact that it would just clutter the page too much for a number of devices.

 

I would absolutely loathe adding more seasonal/migration/daily shift mechanics, though.  It's fine as the occasional breed gimmick, but it'd make lineage building a nightmare if you only had, say, 3 months to grab a common before they all but vanish (or actually vanish) for an entire year.  If they shift biomes throughout the year that becomes a pain to remember which biome they're in at any given point.  If you start having to keep track of that for dozens of breeds, we'd really need an on-site "this is where X dragon can be found today" feature that will flat-out tell you "these breeds are potential spawns in these locations at this time".

 

But ultimately I think that nothing's gonna matter, in the end, if the ratios aren't addressed.  We'll just end up at the exact same place we are now, sooner or later.  And with the rate of new breeds added I'd bet on sooner.  That NHR idea would be nice, but I also agree that something like that has a low chance of happening due to how often the issue of the ratios has been brought up and nothing much has come of it (at least that as users we can see--no idea if there's been back-end changes but that doesn't much matter if the end users can't see a notable change and all).  I'd very much support something along those lines or some other ratio tweak to improve the situation, though.  Hunting for certain commons is definitely a pain.

[sorenna]

Throwing in here, because I was thinking about CB Almandines today, that I think it could be helpful if the ratios were more variable over time.

 

Remember when CB Almandines were so rare you could trade them for a Gold?  Picking up three of them by accident last week reminded me of that.   CB Blacks went through a similarly rare phase, too. 

 

I'm not saying we need to have a Gold per 5-minute drop spawning in the Cave :), but if really common breeds got to have periods of real rarity, and rares/uncommons got to have periods of much greater relative abundance, that could help alleviate some of the issues that the current ratio setup causes.  If the ratios changed more, players wouldn't always be working against them, which would be nice for the people frustrated by not catching CBs and for the people frustrated by stalled lineages or AP walls. 

[Ashywolf]

Maybe it's already been suggested, but if the 3 egg layout must stay, why not having multiple portions of the same biome? Like a Forest 1, Forest 2,  Alpine 1, Alpine 2, so on that would exist as their own pages but at least allow more drops per biome.

 

Personally, as a long-time player, I stopped bothering with cave drops years ago. I only come by for new releases now, there's just too many breeds crammed into these 3 slots and it only gets worse with time.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Ashywolf

[Guillotine]

On 10/20/2022 at 5:49 PM, KageSora said:

I'd be in favor of adding sub-pages to the biomes in some fashion (Forest 1, Forest 2, etc.), but I wouldn't want entirely new biomes added at this point.  Unless they were populated by new dragons--but trying to shuffle everything as-is would be too much, I think.  I think having several pages where the same types of dragons spawn but people can hunt on Alpine 1, Alpine 2, etc. would be the easiest/least frustrating (in that it would cause the least amount of other frustrations with it's introduction).  Of course, then you'd have people asking for "AP 1, AP2, AP3, etc." as well I'd guess...

The AP clears itself out due to the sheer size of it and how the time mechanic of the game works. There's no need for an AP 1/2/3/etc like there is for biomes.

[KageSora]

18 minutes ago, Guillotine said:

The AP clears itself out due to the sheer size of it and how the time mechanic of the game works. There's no need for an AP 1/2/3/etc like there is for biomes.

Oh, I agree--but that wouldn't stop somebody from suggesting it because they're annoyed by walls or because they think it'd make it easier to hunt CBs or something.

 

Though I don't think the mere likelihood of somebody going "Well, the CAVE has it so why not the AP too?" would be a good enough reason to discount the idea of biome sub-pages, it's something to be aware of I think.

[Tetelestai]

2010 player, and yes we badly need a change in drop mechanics. I won't even mentions rares but it is almost impossible to find some commons. I know the shards and the marketplace help to balance this out, but it is not enough compared to the increase in dragons we now have. 308 breeds, if I am not mistaken. I can't even remember all of the descriptions at this point. I wish that all the dragons (common and uncommon) could be sorted into a rotating 7 day drop period if that makes sense. 44 dragons that drop each day. You won't find CB blacks except on Mondays and all the other dragons that get sorted into this slot. Not perfect by any means, but it is an idea. I'm in full support for longer drops of new releases unless they are meant to be rares.

 

I'm not into rares at this point; I have enough to meet my scroll goals. I've been hunting for Blancblacks for the entire year for zombie projects, and I hardly saw them. I think I managed to grab a couple and trade for a couple more. I'm a regular player, but I don't spend long periods of time hunting because I don't have that kind of time or dedication. I just wish it was easier to get some of the more commons and uncommons or some rotation in the drops like I mentioned.

[Impulsive_Egg]

I've been playing on and off since 2011 and I've realized how little the site has changed since then. The caves and the AP have always been exactly the same. Normally my autistic ass hate unexpected change on sites and apps that I use, but here I really think DC genuinely needs it to accommodate for both the increase in players and the ever growing roster of dragons. I wish I could give suggestions on how to make it better but again I have no experience in web design or coding. Respectfully, I just hope this can be acknowledged.

[StarlightLion]

17 hours ago, Tetelestai said:

I've been hunting for Blancblacks for the entire year for zombie projects, and I hardly saw them.

 

Ah, this might be my fault I hoard Blancblacks and they don't show up very often, so I snag them pretty quickly most of the time lmaoo

[Rhowyn]

I'm all for some changes. I've been a member off and on since 2008 and definitely agree that the site's mechanics haven't changed much at all. I remember when there was only one cave and how nice it was that we got the biomes. I don't know if this has been suggested, but perhaps instead of adding more eggs, the timer could be adjusted so that the eggs are resetting every 1min instead of every 5 mins? I've sat there and watched the same 3 eggs just hang around untouched for the full 5 minutes.  😕

[Fuzzbucket]

10 hours ago, StarlightLion said:

 

Ah, this might be my fault I hoard Blancblacks and they don't show up very often, so I snag them pretty quickly most of the time lmaoo

See also Balloons, which I and a few others here pass to my balloon-obsessed grandson....

[KageSora]

On 10/22/2022 at 12:19 AM, Tetelestai said:

I wish that all the dragons (common and uncommon) could be sorted into a rotating 7 day drop period if that makes sense. 44 dragons that drop each day. You won't find CB blacks except on Mondays and all the other dragons that get sorted into this slot.

 

Oh, that would be a nightmare for anybody who's trying to get specific dragons for a lineage but doesn't always get a chance to hunt every day.  It's already a pain in the butt sometimes trying to get the correct color Fire Gem, Gem Shard, or getting like a Moonglow/Sunbeam drake, and to a lesser extent Sunrise/Sunset dragons what with their existing time restriction mechanics.  It'd really force trading more to the forefront of the game and it's already extremely irritating that the game now 100% forces you to rely on other players if you want certain breeds (pink Saphs, Itus Cantos)--I'd hate for the game to become even more reliant on it via forcing players to swap eggs with people who have time to hunt certain days if they never do themselves.

 

I'd definitely rather just see something like sub-pages added to the biomes and have the drops spread out through them, maybe with faster refresh times (ever 2 or 3 minutes instead of every 5?)

 

2 hours ago, Rhowyn said:

I've sat there and watched the same 3 eggs just hang around untouched for the full 5 minutes.  😕

 

Oh, those aren't always the same egg--sometimes the eggs just get replaced by the exact same breeds!    It's a blessing when you're trying to hunt multiple of the same thing, but it's really frustrating otherwise.  I'd definitely be on board with something like 2-3 minute refreshes instead of 5, though 1 minute seems a little fast.

Edited October 23, 2022 by KageSora
i cant grammar lmao

[Skadi]

2-3 minutes is fine.

 

Second row is only good if the description of the biome ("you see dragons around") goes beneath the eggs.

 

Split biome is also fine, especially with a revisit to ratios. Perhaps some method of detecting if dragons sit in the cave forever and start spawning those dragons less. It would eventually lead to rotating periods of some breeds' popularity. Non hostile ratios really does seem like the best solution. 

 

Another possible idea I had: incentives for caveborn hunting. This could possibly help with the pace of biomes, and help clear pesky caveblockers. List a few dragons high on the ratio, have players collect a certain amount per month, and in exchange, either get some bonus shards and a place on a leader board. Nothing huge, and it would only have to be a handful of eggs to get the bonus shards, but it could help if we wanted those "constantly spawning" dragons to be picked up. The Holly Contest was one of the best ways to handle caveblockers, and now with everyone having CB hollies it just doesn't work the same.

 

(Then if they're ugly dragons, you just kill them for zombies later.)

Edited October 24, 2022 by Skadi

[ACDragonMaster]

You know, aside from updating drop mechanics somehow, perhaps it'd be a good idea not to release so many new dragons so quickly?  We've gotten a whopping 20 new breeds in the last year alone, and that's NOT counting the ones that have multiple versions that may as well be different breeds for collector's purposes.  Similarly, it seems like there's been a trend lately of having multiple variants of the same species when doing so is largely unnecessary/just aesthetic (the hydras come to mind in particular...) which just compounds the problem.

 

So what I'm saying is, this might need to be a two pronged approach of both increasing the number of eggs dropped in some way to account for existing breeds, while also slowing down on releases to ease the strain and allow ratios and populations to stabilize before the next release.

[Fuzzbucket]

But many of us have been begging to see more from the request threads here.... and quite a few have said they only come to the cave for new releases.

[Tetelestai]

On 10/22/2022 at 7:12 PM, StarlightLion said:

 

Ah, this might be my fault I hoard Blancblacks and they don't show up very often, so I snag them pretty quickly most of the time lmaoo

Lol, it's all good! At least I know they are going to a good home

[Guillotine]

The number of releases isn't a problem in and of itself, and i really enjoy the variety it adds to the biomes (when they aren't all the same three breeds) compared to similar newer games that haven't had the chance to build up enough to a variety stockpile. The game just needs to be adjusted to account for the sheer number of breeds and to make the ratios less user-hostile.

[KageSora]

On 10/25/2022 at 3:17 AM, Fuzzbucket said:

But many of us have been begging to see more from the request threads here.... and quite a few have said they only come to the cave for new releases.

 

One option is to do smaller releases for a while.  ONLY releasing one breed per drop (with the exception of the birthday one I suppose, but those have been ridiculous for a while now and I really would like for TJ to scale back slightly on the size of them--that or increase egg slots.  :/) and do it where the majority of releases come from the request section instead would satisfy both of those--new releases to get people back to the cave, and more requested releases while also not overloading people by constantly introducing a bunch of new breeds so quickly.  Ideally one breed without a billion forms and variations for most drops.

 

I'd personally really hate to see every single drop go to like 2-3(+) breeds every single month in order to push out more request dragons, especially if one or more breeds has dimorphism or, worse, variants.  Unless egg slots are boosted significantly, that is.  But it's a pain in the butt trying to keep up with the new stuff, AND grab old stuff at the rate it's going especially when new releases that involve more eggs than even a Platinum trophy can hold involve praying you gambled right and grabbed the eggs that are gonna become real scarce after the release flood ends.

 

It genuinely feels a bit overwhelming sometimes.

[ACDragonMaster]

32 minutes ago, KageSora said:

 

One option is to do smaller releases for a while.  ONLY releasing one breed per drop (with the exception of the birthday one I suppose, but those have been ridiculous for a while now and I really would like for TJ to scale back slightly on the size of them--that or increase egg slots.  :/) and do it where the majority of releases come from the request section instead would satisfy both of those--new releases to get people back to the cave, and more requested releases while also not overloading people by constantly introducing a bunch of new breeds so quickly.  Ideally one breed without a billion forms and variations for most drops.

 

I'd personally really hate to see every single drop go to like 2-3(+) breeds every single month in order to push out more request dragons, especially if one or more breeds has dimorphism or, worse, variants.  Unless egg slots are boosted significantly, that is.  But it's a pain in the butt trying to keep up with the new stuff, AND grab old stuff at the rate it's going especially when new releases that involve more eggs than even a Platinum trophy can hold involve praying you gambled right and grabbed the eggs that are gonna become real scarce after the release flood ends.

 

It genuinely feels a bit overwhelming sometimes.

 

This is basically EXACTLY the issue I was addressing.  Particularly the dimorphism/multiple variant forms/etc part of it.  My count of 20 new breeds in the past year did NOT count multiple forms of single breeds, that would bump it up to at least 25 if not more.  Which means an average of 2 'dragons' per month despite some months only having 1 new release on principle and one or two others having none.

 

Because the long and the short of it is, when we get a release of 6 dragons at once (or one dragon with 6 different recolored 'forms', I'm looking at you, hydras) it's outright impossible to get 2 eggs of each on a single go.  You can get 1 of each, and 2 of two of them, and that's it.  Assuming there's not another breed released alongside it (such as the lightning pygmies for the hydras) and there goes your remaining slots right there!  Most people who solely collect want at minimum two of each breed, either male/female and/or adult/hatchling.  Depends on the user and how much they care about dimorphism and frozen hatchling stages.  But when you make it utterly impossible to obtain that bare minimum on the initial release no matter what, that gets problematic.

 

To say nothing of the fact that new users are stuck in a constant state of desperate catchup due to needing to try to backfill literally hundreds of breeds while still keeping up with constantly being egglocked just to get the bare minimum of each new release.  Heck, there were some releases where I skipped breeding the hybrids initially because I'd been busy, and it's been a heck of a time trying to get THOSE caught up and still work on a breeding/lineage project or two.  I can't even imagine the frustration a new user would face!

[KageSora]

1 hour ago, ACDragonMaster said:

Because the long and the short of it is, when we get a release of 6 dragons at once (or one dragon with 6 different recolored 'forms', I'm looking at you, hydras) it's outright impossible to get 2 eggs of each on a single go.  You can get 1 of each, and 2 of two of them, and that's it.  Assuming there's not another breed released alongside it (such as the lightning pygmies for the hydras) and there goes your remaining slots right there!

 

And that is only if you're a Platinum trophy.  If you're a newbie with no trophy, you cap out at 4 eggs so any release that has more than 2 dragons/variants to obtain automatically means no newbie can get a male/female pair of each one.  So if you've got, say, 3 biome variants and they all have dimorphism, then in order to obtain one of each sprite you must be at least a Silver trophy.  Anybody who's none or Bronze will not be able to.  And considering that some eggs all but vanish after the flood...  That isn't just a "perk" for being a more active, older user--that outright is an active disadvantage to being a new player or to having a playstyle that doesn't involve collecting a lot of the same sprite.  It actively makes new releases more of a pain in the butt for anybody who isn't a Platinum trophy member.

 

Balancing out the ratios to be less hostile to players would do a lot to alleviate that disadvantage into it genuinely just being more of a "perk" to be able to collect enough eggs to get all or most of the sprites on release day with a higher trophy level.  But as things stand now...  It's more of a punishment for not being a long-time user or playing a certain way that you might almost never see a CB of certain breeds again if you don't have enough egg slots to catch them during the flood.

[moonsilver445]

I support this idea, im old and can't stay up all night anymore for eggs that someone else picks up in a flash

[reddof-f6]

i agree, with our ever growing list of dragons we really do need a 2nd row. as the list gets bigger and bigger, biomes are gonna suffer a "traffic jam" where even some commons have to wait ages to make it reachable.

[Fuzzbucket]

Second rows are an issue for mobile players.... (So I'm told.)

[Guillotine]

4 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

Second rows are an issue for mobile players.... (So I'm told.)

All second row suggestions involve rearranging the page to accomodate more eggs on mobile.