Re-examine Xeno Breeding Changes

[schenanigans]

Xenos have obviously been adjusted so as to prevent or minimize their walling capabilities and damage to the AP, but they seem to have been overcorrected. They are breeding at about a 10% success rate in my experience and from what I have seen from others, which is just dismally low for what they are. I do not wish for them to produce nearly as dominantly as they were before, but some adjustment back in their favor would be incredibly nice for those of us that do like to create lineages with them. Given previous comments from TJ, they seem to have gradually settled on this percentage, which scares me that this may be their new norm as opposed to a quick correction before plateauing into something more even and favorable. I do hope I am incorrect in this fear, however. 

 

As it stands, it's frustrating to get ANY xenos right now. It's even MORE frustrating when they finally do throw a xeno, only for them to miscolor (when you don't want them to), or makes intentional miscolor lineages incredibly punishing. For a breed that can throw 13 different options, them breeding so incredibly poorly is very frustrating. 

[FuecocoBoi09]

Support

[Naraku]

Support! Punishing xenos (and other overpopulated breeds) this severely is not the right way to approach their overabundance in AP.

[MoonShark]

Support from me; I'm over two months in on a breeding IOU now without a single egg from either Pharos pairing I've been trying. These dragons used to produce quite well! It's heartbreaking to see so many "no eggs" now, and this change has made me set aside several planned breeding projects.

[Xythus]

Support, Xenos are some of my favorite dragons and it saddens me that they're been scaled back so dramatically. 

[Platykwak]

Has there been confirmation about a manual adjustment?

In the Breeding Difficulties tread, TJ gave two replies (generally & about Xenos), and that's all I'm aware of concerning these things.

[laevsk]

I support this too. While the Xeno walls were sometimes disappointing, the breeding challenges are truly problematic. We expect a certain amount of challenge to breeding, which is part of the game - but when the challenges become so severe that it's no longer fun, motivation for the game drops. 

 

I wish I had answers, but my ideas are likely awkward for others. For instance, I wondered if the number of any one breed that is abandoned by a player in a certain period of time could be limited, but I know there would be objections to that. Then I thought that having an "overflow" page might work, so we'd have the regular AP and a 2nd similar page for excess numbers of a breed (after a set number of a breed were in the AP, any others would divert to the overflow).  That way people who like the walls still have access, but a more normal AP would be available. I have no idea how the logistics would work for this.

 

There must be a way to allow normal breeding and still address the wall.

8 minutes ago, Platykwak said:

Has there been confirmation about a manual adjustment?

In the Breeding Difficulties tread, TJ gave two replies (generally & about Xenos), and that's all I'm aware of concerning these things.

 

TJ seems to be close-lipped about things like this, which is his prerogative as owner of the game but generally produces frustration in players.  The answer given in the previous thread brought out more questions which were not addressed - and then the thread was closed prematurely.  There was no satisfactory conclusion to the queries in that thread.

[schenanigans]

19 minutes ago, Platykwak said:

Has there been confirmation about a manual adjustment?

In the Breeding Difficulties tread, TJ gave two replies (generally & about Xenos), and that's all I'm aware of concerning these things.

 

As is typical of a lot of behind the scenes changes, there has not been direct confirmation of any manual adjustments. 

However, given this comment and the second one that you yourself linked, there has obviously been SOME kind of change with xenos, and one he acknowledges - whether he manually adjusted or the ratios themselves adjusted over time, I cannot say (nor does it matter, really). However, Xenos bred pretty aggressively in their favor for over 2 years and over the span of ~6 months dropped dramatically. 

I am merely asking that they be looked at, for they currently just feel bad to breed and make lineages with. 

 

And I'll be honest, I am not particularly concerned with the wall or walling of them as a breed. I'm not asking for them to be returned to what they were when they were invasive in the AP. There is a happy medium that can be found. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by schenanigans

[Inutsume]

Support. I have so many breeding projects with Xenos, many with miscolors and they have become agony (even more than they already were) with the constants no-eggs. It's incredibly frustrating and genuinely ruins the fun with the game.

[PokeCat]

Support - walls were part of the game anyway and Xenos don't deserve the potential punishment they got. Xeno lovers out here be struggling and I want to see some level of change, like schen said, a happy medium would be perfect

[miaou]

xenos, specifically gaias, make up a more than fair share of my lineage projects, because they are my absolute favorite dc sprite. i have saltkin lineages with them, non-salt holiday lineages, gaia x rare, gaia x common, and pb gaia projects -- all of which have ground to a halt. the 10% mentioned above is the exact ratio i'm getting, and it's not enough to make things progress or even be fun.

 

so i am in full support of having the matter of xeno breeding ratios at least investigated. (i would also love some transparency in an official response, but i realize that's not how we roll here in dc. :3)

 

"well, miaou," you might want to say to me, "why don't you just hunt the ap if you can't work on your own projects?"

because (i would reply) i want to pick up xenos from other people's projects. 😐

Edited December 30, 2023 by miaou

[Moriaty]

I have this beautiful miscoloring line going on and the past few breeding sessions have been abysmal for me. Just did 48 pairs of bred xeno x bred xeno (ie none of the sides cb) and got 6 eggs (though luckily, one of which is a stat (interestingly last time I counted the # of pairs and # of eggs i also got a stat), and none of which is useful to my lineage. 12.5% chance is a tad bit low imo.

 

I don't need it at like 90% like it probably was before, but the current number is very unfortuante indeed and I don't think xenos deserve to have such a dramatic change, albeit not "all of a sudden"

 

EDIT: bred my 110 pairs of cb xeno x cb xeno, and got a total of 22 eggs, bringing the chance to 30/158 which is 19% chance. (as an aside, last batch of data I got from when I commented on the thread before in help is 27/158 = 17%, which is ~6 weeks ago?) Still feel worth doubling.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Moriaty

[Estellux]

Support as well. The fact that any given breeding for a Xeno can produce only one of 13 potential results *each week*, on top of the fact that they seem to be much harder to breed these days, seems a little too cruel. I can’t imagine struggling with breeding like some users have, only to have it throw the wrong breed—let alone multiple times.

[Brite]

Support. I'd love to get back to my xeno projects.

[inghelene]

Honestly, I wish stats were made more common. Sure, people would still snagg the cb ones because of demand, but if anyone could breed one easier, then eventually the Xeno walls would be just pretty lineages, instead of people dumping "failed stats", allowing for better breed rates.

[Brite]

22 minutes ago, inghelene said:

Honestly, I wish stats were made more common. Sure, people would still snagg the cb ones because of demand, but if anyone could breed one easier, then eventually the Xeno walls would be just pretty lineages, instead of people dumping "failed stats", allowing for better breed rates.

Agreed. The xeno walls wouldn't be so bad in the first place if bred stats were just a leetle easier to get. Just a leetle. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Brite