Breed mates/Customizable Breeding

[stogucheme]

I'm all for this idea. My comp has threatened to crash on me occasionally, just loading the breed page. I've also had instances of breeding my Spitfires wrong, which sets back my ultimate even-gen project immensely. I would so many kinds of use this feature.

[Red2111]

i like this option, it could be listed as "Select Mate" in the actions list. with the option to "Deselect Mate" like they have for hiding and freezing a Dragon.

 

 

once you select a mate, when you click Breed, it should automaticlaly breed the two dragons together and take them off the breed selection list. i also think that some shoudl be programmed not to "Mate" with eachother just like some Dragons wont breed together and that maybe adding a requirement of having the dragons bred together and producing an egg X amount of times before they become mates as well.

[Fuzzbucket]

As far as the show the page goes - if you hit stop as soon as all the names are up and don't wait for the pix, you can find the name pretty quickly. (I do this all the time when on capped internet )

 

I have no monogamous draggies (yet anyway) so this suggestion makes me no never mind.

[elynne]

I love this idea. As more of the DC userbase completes their collections and moves towards ever more elaborate breeding projects and lineages, I think that a feature like this will be incredibly useful, and very widely used. I know I would use it quite a bit.

[SolarCat]

While I would not use this for all my dragons, I would absolutely utilize this for some of them. My female dark marrow is permanently mated with a Hellfire, and while so far I have avoided any accidental breeding I would still hate should I accidentally misbreed in the future.

Also, I have a few pairs involved in checkerboard breedings, and I'd love to limit their mates to those who continue the pattern (again, in this case, alterable in the future should I change my mind).

 

My even gens will also only ever breed with dragons of the same even lineage, same generation. I would love to be able to limit the breeding list to only dragons of that generation (yes, I expect to do this manually, and add new dragons as they mature).

 

 

I would also propose something similar but different as well, an option in the "actions" section for an adult dragon to remove that dragon from the list of available dragons to breed with for all dragons on my scroll. I have many dragons that I never intend to breed again, most due to inbreeding although some due to messy lineages, and my breeding page would load much faster if there was a way to remove them from that page.

That said, of course if this is implemented it should be a reversible action, like fogging, where you can "Hide/Unhide" an egg or hatchling, here you'd be able to hide or show that dragon on the breeding list. One of my inbred dragons is an ice dragon, and while I'm not interested in breeding it for any projects, I'm sure anyone without an ice dragon would be grateful for an inbred ice so that they can use the "summon" action.

[mpolo]

I'm certainly not against it, but for me the breed page seems to already be sorted with the successful pairings at the top, so it's not entirely necessary for me. Maybe that function only works if you have an automatically sorted scroll.

[Fengari]

I would only like this if you can choose multiple intended mates. Like, you click the 'choose mates' link and it gives you a list of all possible mates with checkboxes, and a check all/check none option.

 

Of course, when you choose dragon A as mate for dragon B, dragon B should also automatically be added to the list of dragon A.

 

In the account settings, you could choose between these options:

- automatically add matured dragons to all possible breeding lists

- do not automatically add matured dragons to all possible breeding lists

to determine if, when a new dragon matures, it is added to all the other dragons lists or not.

[espeon449]

ALL my dragons have perm mates and I think this is a brilliant idea!

it does sorta help that the previous mates are the ones at the top of the list, but it would be OODLES better just to have lets say

Luke Sky Walker show up for Azzuro Fires only mate. (thoose are my main breeding pair )

[Anarya-Ameana]

I support this idea as well, ^^ It would also help me to cut back on misclicks where I breed my nice lineaged dragons with not-nice ones...

 

Also, I get a lot of server lag behind my breedings since I have over 300 dragons (nearly 400 at this point), so I'm definitely all for this.

[Samus]

this sounds really cool,i would like to be able to do life long mates

[Firebirdwyvern]

I do see the pros and cons of this, but I more hope it goes because then it will be so much easier, but yet, what if you want to breed your dragon with a different one?

 

I'll use a example. My white Stripe has two mates, the first is a Nebula, if I made it so they were mates, then would I be able to unmate them? if not then I couldn't breed Silkwings with any other male

 

perhaps it could work as long as there is a way to unmate them if you want to breed them to another dragon

[Xythus]

Oooh, nifty suggestion.

 

I am 100% supportive of this idea if this is an option, and not for every breeding.

 

The pros of this idea is that you can lessen the confusion between dragon breeding, especially for people with thousands of dragons! And you don't need to write it down or organize much.

 

The cons of this idea is that you cannot reverse it, and not everyone might have perm mates.

 

I used to never switch mates, and thought I wouldn't ever, but for some reason I transitioned to random breeding according to whatever is needed for lineages/gifting/trading. But for people who will always do perm mates, it will be awesome and a dream for them!

 

From what I'm getting from this...

 

 

=========

 

You go to dragon A's Actions page, and press Mate - Mate this dragon with another dragon, making the chosen dragon a permanent breeding partner.

 

You get a list page of available dragons; similar to breeding, and then you select one to mate it to.

 

A message pops up after the password is put in...

 

Are you sure you wish to mate this dragon? This action is IRREVERSIBLE. (kinda like freezing...no point of perm mating if you wish to reverse it)

 

(If you haven't bred the two together yet for compatibility, there may be a chance of:) The two dragons reject each other.

or

The two dragons find each other suitable and are now permanently mated.

(If it has already bred to each other:)

The two dragons are now permanently mated.

 

This action is ONLY reversible if the mate dies (for whatever reason) or gets turned into a zombie...

 

Once successfully mated, the Mate option disappears - just like how Summon disappears once you get two GoNs.

 

=========

 

I'm just hypothesizing, if this isn't what the OP was thinking, sorry for making it seem like so. But yes, love to see this happen! After all, it IS logical that some dragons do mate for life. And the fact that you need to choose and pick and decide and is an option makes the idea even more pleasing, as people who don't care for it don't have to do anything and no accidents can possibly occur since there is a password required.

 

Just a couple of questions:

 

This will apply to every dragon right? Including holidays/tinsels/pygmies/drakes/splits?

 

Once mated, what did you imagine the page of the actual egg-breeding to be like? So after it is mated, and you click Breed, does it automatically breed to each other, or does it open to the breeding list with only that one dragon on it?

[tucuxia]

Xythus - the OP has made it clear that the suggestion is a separate link from Breed and would be completely reversible.

 

It seems like too many people are reading this and crossing their arms over their chest, saying "oh well I would never use or need this feature so it's completely pointless and no one needs it" with kind of a 'hmmph' noise. Really people, this isn't about whether you personally with your 50 dragons would use it, this thread is more for the people with 500+ males that load every time they click 'Breed' on the 5th gen stair tinsel that they have bred to the same Sunset 16 times but still have to wait for every single image to load before clicking 'Breed' on the mate or risk a misbreed!

 

The more important part of this feature now that common mates are listed at the top would be exclusive mates. I don't need the vine that is permanently mated to my spiral bronze tinsel to show up on someone else's breed page. If two dragons have successfully bred (read: no refusal, egg or not) at least once, they could then be 'mated' permanently and not show up on anyone else's breeding page. We could then just click the 'mate' link and instantly go to the after-mating glow page to see if we got a little one. That would save plenty of communication between the server and our computers for our mated dragons and prevent hundreds of images loading at once on the breed page. I might only use it for seven of my 286 breedable pairs, but someone else might find the feature incredibly useful in both a time aspect and an RP aspect.

[elynne]

Yes, all of this.

 

Also: I have a huge stable of red dragons. I used to try to check them all, every time I bred them, to make sure that the pair I was breeding wouldn't produce an inbred egg. Now, I don't bother any more, because I have forty-something reds. If I could match them up to "lifemates," I would only have to check the pair -once-, then make them permanent, and I could be guaranteed that the red eggs I was dropping off on the AP weren't inbred. Same with my silvers, and my blacks.

 

It's a mechanic that nobody would -have- to use if they don't want to; but it would be incredibly helpful for people who do want to use it. I really hope it gets put into use someday.

[Fuzzbucket]

Really people, this isn't about whether you personally with your 50 dragons would use it, this thread is more for the people with 500+ males that load every time they click 'Breed' on the 5th gen stair tinsel that they have bred to the same Sunset 16 times but still have to wait for every single image to load before clicking 'Breed' on the mate or risk a misbreed!

I can see why people want this, and I have absolutely no quarrel with the idea. It would be nice for those with permanent mates. I might even have some some day

 

BUT - in case TJ can't or doesn't choose to - you don't have to load every image. You can just click stop on your browser window and then go for the name (or code) link instead. Just saying. I'm on a capped connection just now, and I am doing that every time I breed

[Lilac Inkdream]

I don't see the advantages of having just one mate for each dragon. On my scroll, Sunset Queen of Inkdream and Sunrise King of Inkdream are mates, but not perm-mates. What I think would be a better idea would be to select only the dragons that you plan to breed with x dragon, and then ONLY those dragons would show up on the breed page.

 

With either of these options(one mate or many mates), it should be reversible.

 

Edited for clarification

Edited January 16, 2012 by Lilac Inkdream

[Natayah]

I want to have one to one mates whenever possible. I try really hard to make this, but sometimes the dragons are non-cooperative. But for those I have not set up for one to one mating (at least for this moment), I dont want set mates showing up on "other" dragons. And I"d like to pick a list. If I am trying to create a particular baby or see which one of a handful of potential mates my dragon does or does not click with, I want it to be limited.

 

I don't want to see a long list of dragons. There are certain dragons I keep at the bottom for name holders, place holders, sentimental value or as potential mates for my messy lineaged reds. Its a waste of server resources for me to encounter these on non messy red dragons.

 

And I appreciate a lot of you are organized and have stable enough computer platforms for spreadsheets. I do not. I do play a lot from a smart phone So I sort my pictures manually everytime I try to make a pairing. Alternate sorting method. And I'll do that when I have 200 dragons til I have 500 or more because there is no current alternative method for me. By breed is not an option. I would never be able to mate or keep track of them. I would never ever have any organization in this game.

 

I would also like to have some sort of placeholder or organization I could use that only shows on my personal scroll so I can sort my dragons instead of wishing I could organize with spreadsheets. That would mean more to me than anything, but for server resources, let us get rid of those extra dragons. Or does that create more work since it has to decide which dragons to not include>?

[Raun]

Personally, I like the idea!

 

I don't have a ton of dragons or anything, but I have 9 planned breeding pairs, all Whiptails so it would help to make sure I didn't click on the wrong one!

 

What about something to basically allow you to put the code of the dragon you want to mate this one to in? Like an option to have a little box that allows you to put in the dragon's code? You could keep a little list easily enough.

 

And if you don't want to use that, you could have a little box under Account maybe that would just do it as normal?

[Natayah]

I'm about to do another round of breeding and trying to juggle my breeding and gifting and projects and IOUs and gifts to give and gifts to me and .... Please consider this idea.

 

There is nothing that angers & makes me want to cry more when I've got a waiting list or promised someone something ... and I hit the wrong breeding choice. It doesn't just make my game experience really negative at that moment, it also impacts the people who are wanting an offspring or a trade or an IOU or who were juggling their scroll space, eggs and breeding based on me. It impacts if newbs want to keep playing this game based on if they are drawn in by the gifts of BSAs & Wishes and pretty scrolls.

 

It goes beyond just organization. Its also something that indirectly impacts player retention and involvement and satisifaction. And if we want to stay on the site longer with ads to support it, or if we get angry and close it out.

 

Because how long we are active on the site is part of the equation that determines the money this site draws from advertisers. I'm not pointing it out to be like "make this change or else we'll get mad and leave" threat. I'm making the point because its something that may not have been considered. This ripples out beyond is it easy to breed or not breed.

[Aniusia483]

[insert a better name for this action here]

Warning: the vocabulary is loose and can be replaced by more adequate words. I'm sorry for any confusion my por English may cause^^;

 

 

What is that option supposed to do?

It's pretty simple. It's to prevent missclicks during breeding. Some users would prefer their dragons to have particular mates only and to not breed them with any other dragons than the chosen one or ones but it's extremely easy to missbreed via a missclick hence no confirmation is needed before the dragons breed.

This option would lock in one or more mates for each particular dragon in such a way that this dragon won't be able to breed with any other dragons outside of the breeding list the player set for it.

 

Alternatively, for simplicity of both introducing it to the game and using it, this option could lock just a couple, so it gets monogamous. But I guess this would dicrease the number of users using the option dramatically in comparison to the group option.

Availability:

An option available in actions area such as freezing or breeding are, or, alternatively, it might be a BSA but I'd rather suggest it to be a normal action or setting.

 

Reversable?

It could either be reversable or not. I'd leave it up to TJ's decision and your opinions. The way I suggest it is: editable.

 

How it might look like?

It's quite a loose suggeston, I don't want to specify the process of setting such list, what really matters is the effect: the chosen dragon(s) can't breed with dragons which are not put on its breeding list, so the risk of a missclick is reduced.

But a sample previev might look like this:

A sample way to set:

*Step1: pick a dragon, go to it's actions and pick the locking action(whatever it could be called). Now the dragon is locked for breeding, by default with all dragons.

*Step2:

variant A: Now the page of locking action looks like mates list in breeding action page.

variant B: Now go to breeding action.

both->All potential mates have a locked status and the action says 'unlock' instead of 'breed'. Pick the mate and click 'unlock'. Now choose if you want to lock just the dragon you make the list of or the mate as well so both are locked for one another. Confirm your choice with your pasword. Now you have 2 options: breed or lock another mate. Unlock all mates you want, you can also do it later repeating the Step2. The chosen dragons can breed now. (If they refuse to go near each other, the mate you've chosen is unavailable just like it always was with refusals.)

**Step3: reversal (optional)

Go to your dragon's actions and pick the locking option. The allowed mates have an action 'lock out'/'remove'(or sth like that) in the same place as 'breeding'. It works exactly like setting them as mates.

 

Example which illustrates the problem:

A player wants to have a strictly monogamous couple; caught/got them and they didin't refuse. The player breeds the couple frequently for months or even years, and their offspring is numerous.

But one day, the player somehow missclicks and picks another dragon to breed with one of their 'meant-for-strict-monogamy dragons, and these two produce an egg. The whole long term work is ruined. The player has to catch/get such a couple again and breed them and hope for not missclicking again or give up their goal. But the whole work on the previous couple is lost.

Things get even more complicated if the player has the same goal as I do: to have 1 strictly monogamous couple of each breed + 3 frozen hatchlings bred from each couple. Now, a missclick means replacing 4 dragons and 6 frozen hatchlings, and what if both couples were of rare breeds? Painful, isn't it? Sample of such dragon: http://dragcave.net/progeny/12tVX

Locking a chosen partner for each dragon means safety from a missclick and all the sad consequences it can cause.

 

Of course there are more reasons than just having a monogamous couple. I've seen there are some users who have such trios or groups.

I've also seen quite a lot of cases when there seemed to be fixed mates(dozens of offspring with them) but there were very few single children with other mates - it looks like missclicks and part of those really are.

 

It can also be a time-saver if one doesn't care about the number of mates. E.g. if a dragon is supposed to breed with a particular breed only or with CBs etc.

 

Alternative:

I think it's far too easy to make a missclick when breeding. If the option above is not to pass, then:

at least an optional password confirmation after clicking 'breed' in the mate selection panel for a particular breeding attempt. The password confirmation for breeding would be an option so it doesn't affect players who don't mind missclicks when breeding their dragons.

But it's stll less relaible than what I mean...

 

[5icky]

Yes. Yes please! +1, I have no critique.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I'd prefer it if the 'locked' dragons just didn't show up on the breeding page at all :3

[olympe]

Hmm, don't dead eggs get deleted completely - even from their parents' progeny page? So, if you breed an egg with the wrong couple, just kill it. Sure, it'll take a couple of weeks - but you won't have to replace anything.

 

Besides, since the last mate shows up on top, it's pretty hard to misclick that.

[LibbyLishly]

Hmm, don't dead eggs get deleted completely - even from their parents' progeny page? So, if you breed an egg with the wrong couple, just kill it. Sure, it'll take a couple of weeks - but you won't have to replace anything.

 

Besides, since the last mate shows up on top, it's pretty hard to misclick that.

Well, some of us are haunted by guilt if we intentionally kill an egg...

 

I support this idea. I have a very few dragons who I consider mates for life for RP purposes, and others who I've formerly bred with dragons that I no longer want them to mate with, because I have particular other mates I prefer for them. I definitely would want to see it as a feature that could be easily reversed - I wouldn't want to regret locking a pair of dragons if I needed one of them for something else. But I would find this feature useful.

[Aniusia483]

I'd prefer it if the 'locked' dragons just didn't show up on the breeding page at all :3

Could be:) Especally by the variant A of the Step2 ^^ So if setting the mates is not made on breeding action page but entirely on a separate one^^