2021-10-31 - Happy Halloween!

[Rosedamai]

If anyone missed out on the new halloween eggs drop, I have 3 extra that I'm willing to give out so PM me

[Magellan]

The s1 is so overly adoreable! The new Hallows look amazing in general, but that tiny little sea horse shaped s1 melts my heart. I might need a ton of those... Thanks Spriters?

[Husky51]

I was able to catch four Halloween Eggs and I had fun growing pumpkins and such and decorating, but would like to have seen what my final display was...  I was distracted by Live Trick or Treaters...  rotten kids, lol  just funning

 

Thank you, TJ and Spriters...  Hope everyone had a good Halloween...

 

 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Husky51
added commentary...

[HeatherMarie]

Just now, Magellan said:

The s1 is so overly adoreable! The new Hallows look amazing in general, but that tiny little sea horse shaped s1 melts my heart. I might need a ton of those... Thanks Spriters?

 

Really! I think I literally cooed when I saw it, and I definitely need a small army of frozen s1s eventually!

[azila]

I didn't really have enough time to finish up decorating my farm, and I really wish that the leveling/coin earning had been a bit faster and easier. It was honestly a tad bit annoying to just sit around waiting for crops to finish growing before I could get any coins. Really feel that breaking apart the obstacles should have given some coins as well- that would have made decorating a bit faster for me, personally, as someone who works through most of the morning and then spends most of the evening recovering from said work shifts. Kinda disappointed in the fact that a half-finished farm is perpetually what people are going to see on my scroll. 

That being said, I'm extremely pleased with the Trick or Treat goodies this year and I managed to snag two eggs of the new breed off of the Cave, so all in all it was a good Halloween event.  

[laevsk]

I had a wonderful time throughout this entire week. I personally have zero complaints about any of it. We were given - for free, I might add - three ways to enjoy the Halloween season. The dragons were unique and hunting out the ones I wanted was fun and intense at times, but the intensity added to the excitement of finally getting the ones I wanted. And I did get the ones I had planned for, so I evidently did something right.

 

The treats were gorgeous, and I admire the artistry and dedication that went into every design. This is my first year, so I had none of the old ones. I managed to get four whole years and then part of 2017, so maybe next year I can see the rest. Kudos to those who designed the fantastic treats, this year and all previous years!

 

The farming game, to me, was not meant to be a game that took up a huge amount of time and commitment, but rather a fun activity to give us something to do berween egg drops or while waiting for eggs to hatch or dragons to grow. It seems that many put more emphasis on it and then had huge expectations of the game.  If you had simply played with it within the parameters of what was offered - accepting the limitations as part of the challenge of the game - then perhaps there would have been fewer complaints.  I had a great time with it, and the time frame fit fine when I  kept my expectations within reasonable limits.

 

Many MANY thanks to TJ and his staff for providing us with such interesting and enjoyable entertainment!  I had looked forward to this season and Dragon Cave didn't disappoint at ALL!  I have a full lot of eggs yet to hatch, and am already thinking about the dragons I need for next Halloween.  And now I'm off to find where I can donate to this great game.  

 

Melanie

...if I had any regrets, it would be that I only had six egg slots so far.  But that's on ME and no one else - I hope to have seven slots by Christmas!

[Guillotine]

Yeah I liked my time with the farm but the strict energy limit thing just felt like it was added without understanding why games with those limits have them (it's monetization and to make the player come back repeatedly bc they can't do everything at once--the latter was handled by the growth timer, and the former isn't a factor here). That plus the misleading wording about the time limit soured a fun activity, even if i wasn't directly affected myself.

[missy_]

The hatchlings are absolutely gorgeous!  I am envious of TJ’d fabulous codes 😭

[Data_Girl_3]

So glad I was able to finish my farm before the event ended.  I was worried that I would run out of time before my crops stopped growing.

 

The new Halloween dragon seems interesting.  So it's going to be an illusion dragon?

[Charity322]

Damn it. Screwed up my pumpkins and they didn't finish growing in time.

[missy_]

Honestly, I’m a bit surprised, disappointed, and embarrassed to see so many complaints about a free game and a free mini game that didn’t even have to exist.

 

DC is here for its players year after year, and it is free. 

 

The farming game was absolutely charming. Extra special DC things like free mini games, holiday treats to collect, and past holiday dragons don’t have to be given to the player base. 
 

Yes, the server had a heavier load than normal and we all experienced that, but it was sorted out fairly quickly. 
 

Imagine you’ve just spent several months preparing for a big holiday event, designing a farming game, and getting everything ready. I would hope people would appreciate all of the effort that must go into this every year.  I understand it is easy to get frustrated by some things, but maybe more gratitude and less entitlement and general -REMOVED-  Imagine you have hosted this free game for players yearly for almost two decades and you get mostly complaints for it. Imagine how that would feel.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Kaini

[Vampyre]

Even though my gardens don't have all full grown crops I'm happy with it. Most time when you see a garden its half grown or harvested. You don't see full grown plants just hanging out there with the fruits rotting on the vine. People not having fully grown crops is, to my eye, more "natural".

 

I basically ONLY have full grown ghost shrooms myself out of everything planted. I held myself off from harvesting them for around half a day cause they were cute

[soullessheartofsteel]

So sad the event's already over. Between the mini-game, the treats, and the new release, I had a blast. I don't really have much opportunity to celebrate holidays, so DC's event was a great way for me to have fun and get in the spirit. Thanks to TJ and all the artists involved in the treats + sprites for the new dragon. Until next year, yall!

Edited November 1, 2021 by soullessheartofsteel

[HeatherMarie]

Honestly, I get very frustrated when players post legitimate feelings and feedback about an event and get told 'it's free' and basically that we should be glad we got anything. Feedback is *important* to any game, free or not, and being *allowed* to voice our feelings and concerns about events is a very fundamental part of having these threads open the whole time to begin with. I don't see anyone being rude or mean about it, just posting some genuine concerns and legitimate feelings about an event that was obviously important to them, and it really sucks that anyone saying anything negative on these forums just gets shut down like that.

[Husky51]

I got a late start on my garden until the thirs day or so and then it took a day to figure it out, but in the end, I had almost 300 coins, a number of plants that I was going to leave unharvested as decorations...  Along with EYE STAFFs , pumpkins and Glowshooms, lit lampposts, and other items and critturs...  I enjoyed the game, thank you very much...

 

[Guillotine]

39 minutes ago, HeatherMarie said:

Honestly, I get very frustrated when players post legitimate feelings and feedback about an event and get told 'it's free' and basically that we should be glad we got anything. Feedback is *important* to any game, free or not, and being *allowed* to voice our feelings and concerns about events is a very fundamental part of having these threads open the whole time to begin with. I don't see anyone being rude or mean about it, just posting some genuine concerns and legitimate feelings about an event that was obviously important to them, and it really sucks that anyone saying anything negative on these forums just gets shut down like that.

Yeah, it's a constant problem on the forums that even mildly negative feedback gets shut down with the idea that we should be glad we get anything, even if the statement is very specific about what the problem is, and has been for years. Without the feedback, the problems we're talking about would recur in future games and future events--which I would hope everyone involved would want to keep from happening, seeing as it feels bad to have these issues.

[steeve]

18 hours ago, missy_ said:

I would hope people would appreciate all of the effort that must go into this every year.  I understand it is easy to get frustrated by some things, but maybe more gratitude and less entitlement and general -REMOVED-  Imagine you have hosted this free game for players yearly for almost two decades and you get mostly complaints for it. Imagine how that would feel.

 

i think you're skimming a bit because the sentiments i've been seeing in this thread are 'this game is so cool we wish we could play it for longer than a week!'  : ) which i would very much consider gratitude, rather than "entitlement and [redacted]."

 

not all feedback is negative, and there's no need to shut down very valid concerns such as 'the time-based mechanics took away some enjoyment from a game that is only here for one week' as "entitlement and [redacted]." we love it, we want to play it more, and we want to contribute feedback that makes for a more enjoyable game next time around. this isn't a creators vs. users situation, this is a sharing of feedback where we can voice our opinions and thoughts on how to improve.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Kaini

[Elizabeth Moonstone]

Just to chime in with everyone else: I don’t think it’s disrespectful to criticise a free game. On the contrary, I think it shows respect and care for the game. Wouldn’t it be much worse if people were just indifferent to the game and didn’t bother with any feedback (positive or negative)?

[missy_]

I didn’t mean just this thread; there is the other Halloween thread that’s over 40 pages.  This thread is mostly the new release thread. I understand the need for valid feedback. And I have been frustrated with the game at times myself.  Yes, there has been constructive feedback in this thread and the other, longer one.  Still, there has been what seemed like a lot of unwarranted criticism and complaining. Example: complaining that there is not enough time to collect treats from previous years, when in fact it gets easier from one year to the next if you collect the current ones every year.  Even if we don’t, it gets easier every year. And we’re fortunate to even have the option now to be able to collect all of the past treats. In the past, we would not have been able to. I understand valid feedback, but if I had personally made this game and there was this much constant complaining/whining/“never enough” attitude about stuff I had created for the players, I would probably just shut the game down.  (This is why it’s a good thing that I’m not in charge of DC! ) I’m not saying the bossman shouldn’t listen to critique. It’s just that it must feel like a heavy weight to have a constant stream of criticism.  And yes, sometimes valid critique is shut down too quickly.  There should always be outlets for constructive feedback.  But players also should not take this game for granted because, as an example, we don’t have to have past Halloween dragons or past Halloween treats.  Some have started to take those things for granted, but there were many years when we did not have the luxury of either of those.
 

We live in a society where instant gratification rules. And that’s what everyone some players seemed to want from this little farm game that was meant to be a mini game to do in our spare time. It was like everyone some players wanted to wave a magic wand and instantly have their farm finished. The longer thread has more of those comments than the shorter thread because the shorter thread is really just about the new release for the most part.

 

As for the game being “free,” I understand it can be frustrating to hear that at times, but the fact remains that it is free. I’m not saying that players shouldn’t have a voice and that constructive feedback shouldn’t be heard. Of course it should.  Sometimes it gets hard to hear the constructive feedback when it’s drowned out by not-so-constructive feedback.

Edited November 1, 2021 by missy_

[MissK.]

I think a lot of people's complaints are not so much "I want this changed" but just wishing it could be different in a theoretical way. I mean, if I said "aw dang I wish I had more egg slots" it doesn't mean I'm asking TJ to increase the limits, just that I wish I could grab more of the eggs at once because I like them. 

 

Feedback on games is still important for improvement though, and almost everything I've seen in both threads has been very politely/constructively phrased. That said, while I also thought there might have been an imbalance with the energy gain/cap in this game, things did pick up quite fast from some point and on if you utilized the right crops. Someone who started really late, on the 29th I think, basically managed to get to level 50 in a couple of days just with some tips that were easily found on the wiki (and in these threads). So on the whole, for a week long event, it wasn't that slow after all. 

[Fuzzbucket]

25 minutes ago, MissK. said:

I think a lot of people's complaints are not so much "I want this changed" but just wishing it could be different in a theoretical way. I mean, if I said "aw dang I wish I had more egg slots" it doesn't mean I'm asking TJ to increase the limits, just that I wish I could grab more of the eggs at once because I like them. 

 

Feedback on games is still important for improvement though, and almost everything I've seen in both threads has been very politely/constructively phrased. That said, while I also thought there might have been an imbalance with the energy gain/cap in this game, things did pick up quite fast from some point and on if you utilized the right crops. Someone who started really late, on the 29th I think, basically managed to get to level 50 in a couple of days just with some tips that were easily found on the wiki (and in these threads). So on the whole, for a week long event, it wasn't that slow after all. 

 

This. Polite and constructive comments - including the "I wish" are fine. TJ MUST CHANGE THIS BECAUSE I HATE IT is not. I had a great time and the hatchies look lovely. Thanks to all involved.

[Nalyua]

3 hours ago, missy_ said:

Honestly, I’m a bit surprised, disappointed, and embarrassed to see so many complaints about a free game and a free mini game that didn’t even have to exist.

 

DC is here for its players year after year, and it is free. 

 

The farming game was absolutely charming. Extra special DC things like free mini games, holiday treats to collect, and past holiday dragons don’t have to be given to the player base. 
 

Yes, the server had a heavier load than normal and we all experienced that, but it was sorted out fairly quickly. 
 

Imagine you’ve just spent several months preparing for a big holiday event, designing a farming game, and getting everything ready. I would hope people would appreciate all of the effort that must go into this every year.  I understand it is easy to get frustrated by some things, but maybe more gratitude and less entitlement and general b$tching  Imagine you have hosted this free game for players yearly for almost two decades and you get mostly complaints for it. Imagine how that would feel.

Missy people are complaining that due to the announcement they made plans and apparently the announcement proved to be false leading to some schedules gone wrong. Mine too for that matter.

 

And it is absolutely legitimate to voice the disappointment on that.

 

This does not mean I found the game annoying or that I am not grateful we had it.

 

However I would have planned differently if I had known the game was not to last through Nov. 1st but instead until Nov. 1st. And Yes I think it is perfectly fine to say that I am diasappointed that because of this false announcement my plants did not finish growing.

[tjenni]

it was a nice Halloween again , catching specific eggs was difficult as always (seeking codes) but I APed 10 CB New Halloweens in the process, now I hope that I can snatch at least 3 New eggs when they arrive in the AP wall

[Quinney]

As always, a lovely event.  Thanks to everyone who made it all possible and I'll add my voice to the throng who would love to be able to carry on with the farm game.  Thanks again.

[Fuzzbucket]

25 minutes ago, roseclouds said:

I don't know if this is necessarily the issue (even though I agree that instant gratification is definitely sought after these days). The mechanics of the game just didn't allow a lot of players to play it in their spare time and still complete their farms, mostly due to the need to check back and water crops several times in order for them to grow. 

 

I think if crops only needed to be watered once it would immediately make gameplay more accessible to users who weren't able to dedicate a lot of time to checking the site. It would allow users to plant crops before they went to bed, or before they left for work, and still reap a fair amount of rewards when they returned to their farm. If this were the case, I wouldn't have any issues with growth times - I wouldn't even mind if they were longer - just because it would allow for low-maintenance gameplay regardless of how much time you have on your hands; which is what I think this event was meant to exist as. Without that though, the constraints on earning rewards were just a little odd in my opinion, especially considering this is, as you said, a free-to-play game. If micro-transactions were involved, I'd understand the long waiting times, etc., because I would assume they would be in place to encourage said transactions, but without that, the unavoidable waiting times on an event that's time sensitive doesn't really make sense to me.

 

All in all, I'm really satisfied with my farm and I adore these more interactive games when they do make an appearance, but I do think there were some features that just didn't really add up with a time limited event.

 

I think the watering only once idea would be a bit like the people who say sickness shouldn't be a thing. We all know we need to allow time for these games, and the garden was up for a week.....