ANSWERED:Recent breeding difficulties

[Stormfriend]

I’m doing a breeding project of my favourite breeds and I’ve had a dickens of a time getting an egg from my Coppers — even if I hit both partners with Fertility. It’s been like this for months! I haven’t gotten a Copper egg since August!

[Brite]

Yeah I'd really like to know what's been going on. When fertility is doing virtually nothing, there's an issue..

[sorenna]

I've been having difficulties with some breeding, but I figured it was just high demand because everyone suddenly remembered it was October and started breeding for all the Halloween mates they forgot they needed.    (The exact reason that I was breeding, so... yep!)  Plus the people doing Halloweenkin mass breedings, etc.

[ToadWitch]

Having issues as well. I am not a mass breeder nor do I do much to dump. The lineages I do work on, tend to be hard to get ones anyway, so no eggs from those pairs being a year or more isn't unusual for me. That said my scroll threw me a pure thunder, so maybe I used up my scroll luck bonus

[Brite]

4 hours ago, sorenna said:

I've been having difficulties with some breeding, but I figured it was just high demand because everyone suddenly remembered it was October and started breeding for all the Halloween mates they forgot they needed.    (The exact reason that I was breeding, so... yep!)  Plus the people doing Halloweenkin mass breedings, etc.

This has been going on for the past several months, though. Bringing up what others have mentioned, when projects are almost impossible to work on, demotivation to even play the game sets in..

[Edenello]

I haven't been playing very long but when I first started in late July-early August I had a much easier time getting eggs than I am now. Which is weird, because almost all of my pairs are common x common and I'm breeding more dragons than I was when I started. And yet, I'm getting less eggs than ever. I also didn't start hoarding purples until recently, and even with using fertility now I'm getting less eggs than when I didn't.

[missy_]

On 10/23/2023 at 2:15 AM, laevsk said:

Hi all! 😊

Lately I've noticed a decline in successful breedings in pairs of dragons who normally produce fairly well. For one example, my bronze Shimmer. I've had him nearly 2 years and he's produced a good number of eggs. But for the last 5 breedings there's been no eggs at all - even when bred to dragons he has always done well with. He has never not produced for this many breedings in a row (and I always use fertility with him). The only successful breedings I've had lately are with commons.

I'm seeing the same kind of comments from other players, and I'm wondering if there's a reason for this? Is there something we're doing wrong, or has the game changed in some way? I'm just looking for answers and hopefully a way to get past this, as the future of the game tends to be in breeding lineages. 

Thanks, and I hope to hear from others - both those with similar experiences and those with possible answers.

Same!! I am trying to produce a humble Bronze Tinsel egg for a reward. Granted, I have not been doing any other breeding, so I can't speak about any other pairs. But I have tried so far five times, using fertility every single time, and trying two different mates. The last time, I even used fertility on both of them just because ... I still don't have a single egg. Usually, if I don't get an egg, I would at least get one within three attempts. But now I have five attempts and nothing! This is very concerning. I realize that prizes might breed a little less often than regular eggs, but five failed attempts with a holiday pairing is concerning. This is not a gold egg, it is a bronze egg. It should not be so difficult ... 

[Fuzzbucket]

I was trying to breed something for a trade the other day and tried about 30 known pairs - with not one success. Granted they were metallics, but even so - I usually manage one in 20....

[Brite]

5 hours ago, missy_ said:

Same!! I am trying to produce a humble Bronze Tinsel egg for a reward. Granted, I have not been doing any other breeding, so I can't speak about any other pairs. But I have tried so far five times, using fertility every single time, and trying two different mates. The last time, I even used fertility on both of them just because ... I still don't have a single egg. Usually, if I don't get an egg, I would at least get one within three attempts. But now I have five attempts and nothing! This is very concerning. I realize that prizes might breed a little less often than regular eggs, but five failed attempts with a holiday pairing is concerning. This is not a gold egg, it is a bronze egg. It should not be so difficult ... 

 

Sounds like me. I have many pairs involving commons x metals. I rarely get a metal (which is to be expected), but I'd almost always get a common egg out of it. Two months and still nothing. My muse for the game (And the new holiday breeds) has taken a nosedive...

[laevsk]

My sister is a counselor, I mentioned this topic to her and she suggested couple's therapy for our dragons ..😂

 

I bred 12 pairs of Red dragons (to release Red eggs to AP) and got a single egg two days ago.  I didn't use fertility on them but then I never have before and always had good success breeding these common purebreds. 

 

On my prize dragon, I bred during the Halloween week and got the expected result (Halloween dragon egg) but just bred him again (with fertility) and no egg. I don't usually breed him every week like that, but even when I have waited much longer between breedings I haven't gotten an egg. Other than the guaranteed HW egg, there's been nothing from him since early July.

 

On the other hand, I bred four pairs of Kingscrownes, with fertility, and they produced three eggs.  🤷

 

Breedings have become a bit skewed. I would love to see things get back to normal.

[mishhelle]

On 11/6/2023 at 7:20 PM, Brite said:

 

Sounds like me. I have many pairs involving commons x metals. I rarely get a metal (which is to be expected), but I'd almost always get a common egg out of it. Two months and still nothing. My muse for the game (And the new holiday breeds) has taken a nosedive...

I’ve been having the same experience with my metal x common lineages. I always got at least a common egg from them, but my last round of breeding (after a three-week breeding hiatus because of the Halloween event) produced so many “no interest” or “no egg”. 
 

and I’ve done holiday x Xeno lineages in the past, and always at least got a Xeno egg from breeding. two days ago I tried my Aquilo x Iridichi pair and got no egged?!  I also bred an Abyss Watcher to a Sapo and got a no egg. 
 

while it’s very clear that something was done with Xeno ratios, it doesn’t make sense that breeding other dragons, even holiday x common pairs, was affected in a negative way. 
 

breeding lineages on Dragon Cave is one of the core aspects of this site. so many of us get joy out of breeding pretty lineages—even the challenging ones.  this change has been taking that joy away and it’s rather unfair to alienate that part of the user base. 

Edited November 10, 2023 by mishhelle

[PrincessLucy]

I tried breeding BSAs to go to the AP while waiting for my dragons to grow up.

 

Out of 100 pairings (mostly CB BSA x CB BSA, but a few were CB BSA x CB Holiday) I got 9 Pink, 10 Red, 7 Magi and 6 Purple. I assumed that the poor results was because someone else had mass bred BSAs before I did, but perhaps not.

 

I also bred to create hybrids and I was way more successful with hybrids. 14 pairings got me 3 Pennybrights. 14 pairings got me 2 alt Florets. 1 of 11 breeding for me got a Jester. I got few of the non-hybrids as results from my breedings. Usually, I would only get 1 or 2 successes and at least a dozen "undesired egg".

 

Out of 19 attempts at a prize, I got 3 prizes, which is very low for me, as I usually get at least 6-8. 8 Stats got me 1 Black egg and 1 random Xeno, where I would normally get at least a 1/2 dozen Celestials/random Xenos.

 

I always assume that when mine don't do well breeding-wise, it is because someone else has bred theirs more successfully. It is really hard to figure out where the changes are, as we don't know who successfully bred and kept or traded away their successes; we usually just see what comes thru the AP.

[Shizuku-chan]

Bred 42 PB EG red pairs without fert and only got 7 eggs out of them. I haven't bred them in 3-4 months and would usually get around 20-30 auto'd eggs without fert when I bred them previously so that's depressing.

[Jazeki]

I hope whatever is happening is not a permanent feature. I just bred 109 dragons this morning and got 15 eggs. Most were "no egg" result. One was a refusal. I did get three scourgekeepers this morning, though. I'm out of egg space or I would keep trying. 

[PrincessLucy]

2 hours ago, Jazeki said:

I hope whatever is happening is not a permanent feature. I just bred 109 dragons this morning and got 15 eggs. Most were "no egg" result. One was a refusal. I did get three scourgekeepers this morning, though. I'm out of egg space or I would keep trying. 

I rarely try to breed my Scourgekeepers. They produce so few offspring that I don't feel it is worth my effort.

 

I did adventure 21 times today and got 4 Scourgekeepers, bringing my CB total to 313.  In the back of my mind, I keep thinking that breeding them will effect the chances of someone getting one thru adventure, so I tend to only try if someone needs one.

Edited November 10, 2023 by PrincessLucy

[Diggie]

The AP being at nearly 6 days is very concerning to me. The eggs seen in the AP were bred yesterday. Are people not breeding anything or are dragons just not producing eggs?

[meeps114]

14 minutes ago, Diggie said:

The AP being at nearly 6 days is very concerning to me. The eggs seen in the AP were bred yesterday. Are people not breeding anything or are dragons just not producing eggs?

I bred 14 pairs today of commons to the AP and 13 produced eggs. Breeding ratios have definitely taken a hit, but I think that the AP time right now is due to a post-halloween lull. I'm still scroll locked or close to it, and many probably are as well. If AP times are still this high in a week, then I think it'll be a sign, but it's too early to tell now. (Also the Stuff the AP massbreed is in 2 weeks, so at least AP times will take a hard hit then for sure!)

Edited November 10, 2023 by meeps114

[Fuzzbucket]

2 hours ago, Diggie said:

The AP being at nearly 6 days is very concerning to me. The eggs seen in the AP were bred yesterday. Are people not breeding anything or are dragons just not producing eggs?

 

I think we are all simply locked. I know I am.... I bred loads today - that's WHY I am locked - all the breeding I didn't do over Hallowe'en.

[PrincessLucy]

Could it be that,  at first (around the 23rd), breeding success was lowered as it was expecting a ton of Halloween eggs soon (starting the 25th), so odds of success were lowered, and just haven't recorrected themselves, which is why we still don't have a ton of success? Just my strange theory.

[Aqub]

I've noticed this too. Prizes are extremely hard to breed lately, and I feel like even commons aren't giving as many eggs as they used to.

[meeps114]

15 hours ago, PrincessLucy said:

Could it be that,  at first (around the 23rd), breeding success was lowered as it was expecting a ton of Halloween eggs soon (starting the 25th), so odds of success were lowered, and just haven't recorrected themselves, which is why we still don't have a ton of success? Just my strange theory.

I think people have been noticing these changes for months now. I noticed it specifically with reds

[PrincessLucy]

5 minutes ago, meeps114 said:

I think people have been noticing these changes for months now. I noticed it specifically with reds

Well, there goes my theory.

 

I always assume if breeding is bad that someone already mass bred. I don't really breed unless I think I can trade.

[Alwerien]

I have just bred 20+ of red PB pairs, not a single one of them gave an egg. This really is far from normal.

 

Edit: And if there is any sort of boost after not breeding for a while, they'd all have had it since except few CBs, I have not bred them for month+

 

As for xenos/stats, I have bred 15 stat x stat pairs, only one of them gave egg (about half were fertilized).

Edited November 11, 2023 by Alwerien

[Sketch]

The way that the breeding feels right now makes me think it's partially related to owned populations, which seems to skew the chances more alongside overall ratios.
Seasonals are decently abundant in the Cave, but they breed terribly, even with fertility. Newer breeds produce offspring at a near 90% rate even when bred without fertility, but older breeds are far less likely to be successful - unless they are a usually "undesirable" breed like Flamingos and Speckle-Throats, in which case they seem to breed a little better.
This little theory of mine is based upon observations and data collected by myself, as well as reports from other breeders of various lineages and species across the Discords and Forums.

If Xenowyrms were bred to the point of regular walling; their population must be astronomically high for as little of time they've comparably been on the site.
If my theory of population playing into breeding mechanics is true, it kinda makes sense that Xenowyrms are breeding terribly. 

Even with fertility, my Staterae produced no eggs of any kind except for an Astaarus and Sonata - both newer and non-massbred breeds.
I also got one Aeon out of 20 fertilized breedings, mostly with other Aeons or holidays. They've always bred terribly, but that is bad.
My metallics? Those are my pride and joy. Not a metal from a single checkered pair, CB breeding, or any sort of well-over 70 different couples. In fact, I would only also get kins from newer breeds such as Astraels, Peach-Pieds, Sonatas, or Split Jaws. I've bred multiple seasonal pairs for weeks and they haven't given anything.
Note! This is after they have all not been touched for weeks due to the holiday, giving them the window of "supposedly getting a boost to breeding after a 3 week period". (It's not worth it.)
Oh, and my 200 purples bred to other mates produced about 80 eggs I think... Better than how most red breeders are doing now, but not great.

Controversially, my mini massbreed of Sonatas and Adventurers went swimmingly as usual; around 80-90% success across the board without any fertility.

To be honest, this is really making it hard for me to even want to continue breeding some of these lineages, despite the fact that I have poured immense effort into building them in the past. I'd really like some clarification on what happened and maybe see some fixes be made to better deal with the problem users were having.
I would take xeno walls over months of no eggs, especially when Christmas is right around the corner and V-Day is right after.

[meeps114]

10 minutes ago, Sketch said:

I'd really like some clarification on what happened and maybe see some fixes be made to better deal with the problem users were having.

This is how I feel with a lot of issues on the site. I would really value more transparency & communication. I understand that there's a balance, as it invites a lot of opinions, but getting info on what issues are being worked on & a basic understanding of what the changes would be really nice.