What was it like when you first joined?

[TheRookGryphon]

I remember the Guardians and Alt Blacks being released. We didn't have an announcement post, we just looked at TJs scroll.

 

Paper's had genders *hugs my male Paper Balkanog*

 

Back when the Black egg's didn't have glows and the Water egg's didn't have puddles.

 

When people would rush to get an abandoned egg because they were so uncommon, and when abandoned hatchlings were extremely rare and would stay on the AP for less than 2 seconds.

 

[DarkLadyNyara]

You want to know what sticks out the most for me, nostalgia-wise?

 

"Everyone breed at once and fill up the AP? That sounds like an awesome idea!"

 

I joined in late September '08. Back when you could tell alts by the egg (and people freaked over that change). Back when eggs hatched and hatchlings grew up at 3.5 days. When you needed math skills to tell how many hours you had until something hatched. And the new egg announcements had to be translated.

 

I was here for the autumn release, the first Halloween release (there was much confusion, at first), the Leetle Trees and the Valentine Day Massacre (you think we have drama now?), and the Lagmonster attack. Also- I was here when we had an Official Dragcave Vent Thread. God, I miss the Vent Thread.

Edited March 28, 2010 by DarkLadyNyara

[elderberrysyrup]

Back when you could see TJ's scroll, everyone was excited whenever they saw a new egg on there. I remember when all the dragon sprites were not actually made for DC, except for the chistmas dragon. I remember that pink was the enemy of everyone and just about everyone was sick of them. 'It's bright. And pink.' would be the most common egg-clogging thing out there. Even then, eggs went by like magic. It was a struggle to even get one egg during the drops.

[SlowHornpipe172]

January 2008. Pre-Fog. My first dragon was a vine, and the adult sprite looked nothing like a dragon. It was a plant. I was really sad.

 

My favorite thing to do was stalk the Replacement Sprite Project. Everyone was certain that the current Violet dragons (in the completed list) would become the new purples.

 

There was never anything in the AP. I wondered what the point of the AP was. No one ever abandoned eggs. Catching CB eggs was hard, too. I'd have to time it just right and grab whatever I could.

 

Eggs died of too many views easily. Three of my first four (a magi, a mint, and a white) died after two nights of being in a DC-related thread on one of my forums. I don't believe fogging existed.

 

There were popups whenever you clicked an egg. "Do you really want to take this egg?" No lineage tool. No BSAs. No Frill dragons.

 

I quit soon after. When I came back in March 09, it was after the Fog, and I wondered where that purple dragon had come from. I pored through all of the Replacement Project threads. I caught a Frill. I thought he was super awesome. I also thought it was super awesome that I could have a female Water, or Vine, or Magi. We didn't have those pre-Fog. The only females were pinks, purples, and some silvers. Everything else was male.

 

The next month we had a flood of seven new eggs, which was kind of insane. I thought I'd never get any of them. People flipped because the egg was in the release banner. They wanted to catch it.

Edited March 28, 2010 by SlowHornpipe172

[Zerokins]

I'm pretty sure skywings had just come out when I joined.

 

But anywaysss. The AP was rarely full and at most only up to 2 lines. There were more silvers and golds passing through the AP too. That's how I got my first gold (but half a year later I learned that I had broke a trade when the person realized that the code looked familiar haha).

 

The forums weren't so in order as they are now. There wasn't any Vampire Giving or Gold Giving or Hatchling/Rare Egg Departures. It felt more free to make a topic. The only real moderated threads were The Congrats Thread, The Vent Thread (which I do miss a lot), and TGT.

 

Lastly, no one wanted CB blacks haha.

[Amarica]

Ah, I remember joining.. somewhere around the Yulebucks. Of maybe 2008? I was really intimidated by all the going on, and Yulebucks looked ugly to me so I fled. x3 I rejoined in May 2009 and got a lot of commons that I thought were rare.

[Aquenee]

Kinda mad that I haven't been around for all of this, but I couldn't help that unless I had a time machine.

But it was before all these updates, before the pumpkins came, atleast.

I know CB blacks were common, cause I saw them in the cave every day.

[wobster109]

I joined towards the middle of November in 2008. I signed up, went to the AP, and scrambled to grab a pink egg. Then, I kind of forgot about my scroll, and two weeks later, it was dead. So I grabbed another two eggs, a mint and a magi. I remember the personality of the mint reminded me of one of my exes, so I was a bit put out by the mints for a long long time.

 

It was shortly before autumns changed into winters for the first time. There was an announcement and everything, when winters were released, and people were saying that the sparkles on the winter egg made the eggs "not line up" on the scroll. It was true. I believe it was the first egg that had parts of the egg sprite outside the egg itself.

 

There was a fansite called TheDCFansite, and for the longest time, I relied on it. My second two eggs, the mint and magi, were down to .74 days by the time I remembered about them. I went into a panic, going OHNOEZ THEY'RE GUNNA DIE and searching the site for help, and that was when I found the forums. And the fansites. TheDCFansite has a hugely successful ER, and I put my eggs in. .74 days is 18 hours or something, and they had plenty of time, but I didn't know at the time that it was plenty of time. After they hatched, I just kind of stared at them, marveling, and whispering "thank you" at the computer and the fansite.

 

I knew .01 of a day was about 15 minutes (14 mins 24 seconds), so I'd stay up late waiting for eggs and dragons that were close to growing to hatch. I'd wake up early if I knew something was hatching so I could grab something new between scroll locks.

 

I didn't know what a "view" was, relative to a "click." I thought "clicks" were views, so I'd try to click as many dragons in TheDCFansite as my dragons got views. Lol.

 

New releases were always posted in Saurian. For whatever reason, it was prohibited to post a translation in the news thread, even though a translator could be easily found online. And the text-in-the-form-of-image was non copy-pastable. It always irked me a little bit.

 

My first gold was from the AP. I knew it wasn't a trade because it was from a multi-clutch. I remember the AP being full of non-alt blacks and vines as far down as 6.74 days left, and it was rare for the AP to be full ever. That was when it was possible to tell if an egg was alt just by color, and that was when AP block was implemented. I remember being relieved that the eggs were going somewhere. I'd thought they were just going to pile up forever.

 

And there was no talk of inbreeding. What was inbreeding? Few people had the patience to trace back so many dragons. When the first lineage tool came out (I think it was JadeDestiny), I was so excited that I went through all my dragons and played with the lineage tool. I believe JadeDestiny led to the API page being closed off from the public, and in apology, JadeDestiny added an ER when the fansites that used the API went down. I watched JadeDestiny grow into the awesome site it turned out to be.

 

I remember the game when I first joined, it had such an aura of nobility and dignity that it gave me shivers. My first mint dragon, his parents were named Monarda i Stalkafka and Utriculata. Such beautiful, diginified names. Even saying them in my head now gives me the feeling of ages and kingdoms and dynasties. Even though I tried to name my dragons with dignity, my names have never had such an aura of legend to them.

 

The game is much different now than it was before, and much of it feels different. It feels more accessible, almost like it doesn't have its old loftiness anymore. But I like the site now too. And I love the new features and new sprites and frequent releases. I dream of spriting my own concept of a dragon some day. It's an evolving site, with an evolving playerbase and an evolving site vision, and I'm excited to see where it goes. <3

[Talisraye]

Heh, I joined Feb. 2009, so I can hardly post here...

 

Nevertheless, I see those old sprites and...

 

Well, let's be nice and say I like the red and the split. And that's about all.

 

Still, that silver x gold is gorgeous! Lucky, my friend!

 

(I've noticed rare x rare has happened every Jan/Feb. I'm going to try it in 2011.)

 

Edit: and, yes, there was a 2010, Feb silver x gold. Someone in chat had bred it, being a newb, and got one.

I do remember now that I joined back when Old Pinks were still dropping. I have one CB and two breds.

 

As for the new releases... Um, I think Frills and Geodes had just been introduced, yes. In any event, I was here for the Valentine's '09, but sadly I couldn't catch one of those fragile speckled eggs, so I have to make due with the two 3rd gens I have. I'm still happy with them, though.

Edited March 28, 2010 by rayemoon

[_Z_]

Bump, to keep it from being deleted.

[Oddsoxdi]

<SNIP> Also- I was here when we had an Official Dragcave Vent Thread. God, I miss the Vent Thread.

At LASSSSSST!!! Someone FINALLY mentioned the Vent Thread! The one thing that changed DC in a lot of ways forever.

 

ETA: Let's not forget the original Hug thread!! A real feel-good thread if there ever was one!!

Edited October 14, 2010 by oddsoxdi

[Iron Thorn]

The eggs were shaded differently, the AP was often empty or full of non-alt vines and blacks, and you actually saw gold and silver eggs on a semi-regular basis. Also the only dimorphic sprites were silvers, splits, and vampires, and the DC Fansite was still up.

 

I think I like it better after my hiatus though. Lots of new eggs to catch up on.

[Sashimi]

Well it felt kinda different, because I didn't know much about this that time.

Somehow I want that feeling back more exitement you know.

[Dr. Paine]

You want to know what sticks out the most for me, nostalgia-wise?

 

"Everyone breed at once and fill up the AP? That sounds like an awesome idea!"

 

I joined in late September '08. Back when you could tell alts by the egg (and people freaked over that change). Back when eggs hatched and hatchlings grew up at 3.5 days. When you needed math skills to tell how many hours you had until something hatched.  And the new egg announcements had to be translated.

 

I was here for the autumn release, the first Halloween release (there was much confusion, at first), the Leetle Trees and the Valentine Day Massacre (you think we have drama now?), and the Lagmonster attack. Also- I was here when we had an Official Dragcave Vent Thread. God, I miss the Vent Thread.

I first got really involved the night that was shut down x3 I think the only thing I really posted on there was questioning why there was a giant ASCII cake. (Thus began my obsession with Portal, you can all thank TJ for that).

 

But I came to DC in August or September '08, took a break when my first four eggs (purple, skywing, skywing, and guardian- YES I REMEMBER THEM) died, then came back to see if I could do things right x3

 

I remember when Vampires first began dropping, and they were killing eggs on certain nasty-wasty people's scrolls (or was that disproved?) when all the new dragon releases had those announcements in Saurian, the sheer hell that was Valentine's Day '09, the Lagmonster's first attack, the Vent Thread removal, the massive dimorphism and art update... Lots of stuff.

 

Oh, and the Halloween '08 mass breed.

 

... yeah... -coughs- Well, I had nothing to do with it at any rate

 

Oh, and anyone else remember the insanity surrounding the freeze limit? Before too long ago, you could freeze as many hatchlings as you wanted! It kicked in while I was in the middle of a massive hatchling collecting spree, so I think it was the only new feature I actively spoke out against x3. I also remember when the egg was the only fake egg and hatched into exactly the same thing. Now it changes color, and I remember exactly when and why <3 was made.

Edited October 15, 2010 by Dr. Paine

[Elennilda]

I joined during the Vampire release (Halloween 2008). I had no idea what was going on, but I couldn't catch anything in the cave so I got my first eggs from the AP.

 

I remember the huge walls of vines and blacks when alt eggs were still a different color. When I joined, metallics were not easy to catch anymore, but it was do-able and I got myself a CB gold and an AP silver within a few months. And yes, the leetle-tree release in a very laggy cave... I still managed to catch one. Those were good times.

 

As to the general 'feel' of the site, it all was more mysterious back then. We weren't allowed to discuss which egg description corresponded to which dragon (though everybody knew them by heart) and news updates were in Saurian. There was just less information that was readily available and there were more mysteries, like neglecteds.

 

I also missed quite a bit of DC history, because I lost interest during the spring of 2009 and only came back recently. So many new dragons to collect and keep track of...

 

I knew .01 of a day was about 15 minutes (14 mins 24 seconds)

I almost forgot that! Time wasn't measured in days and hours, but just in days. But now I won't ever forget that 0.01 day equals a little under 15 minutes, thanks to DC.

[Lizzyluna]

I joined in January 2009, first egg I saw was on The Doll Palace.

My first egg, a Grey, died because I posted it on TDP forum but it got 37 views before turning into a red x.

I was here for Frills release and Valentine eggs and put all my eggs on DC fansite, only to have them get sick because of the monthly cleaning (eggs added right after site wiping got a gigantic amount of views-see David and Christy).

[Indelicately]

I joined in March 2009 when the cave was down for how ever long it was. Seemed like eternity. I had my first 4 eggs then. Talk about great timing. haha Luckily they all survived. One of them was a geode and I was SO proud of myself for catching it from the AP. I remember a lot of really nice people gifting me my first rares. <3 Sometime in there metallics were so easy to get. I caught some from the AP and they were pretty good to get from breeding. You couldn't get much of a trade for therm because people could get them on their own.

[platedlizard]

I joined in Oct 08. The Old Pinks were the cave blockers and everyone hated them. Blacks and vines were so common they blocked the cave as well. When they bought out the new pinks they also blocked the cave, until the BSA was rolled out. Then suddenly everyone wanted them.

 

I remember seeing golds on the AP and at the cave entrance and thinking that I didn't really like the sprite, so I didn't get any. Now i'd kill for gold and silvers.

[Eluin Gentry]

I joined in March of this year. Everything was almost exactly the same. The eggs you can't get, you couldn't get then either. I'm just a bit more picky about what eggs I pick up now.

[zephyr_123]

Reading about the old DC and how easy it was to get a rare makes me jealous I joined really recently, so pretty much nothing has changed. Us newbies are the ones who have to catch up on the history of DC, not live through it and remember it and tell it to everyone else I'm considering just reading this whole thread because I'm super curious now...

[aurora-australis]

I joined back around May of 2008 and it was a lot different. There weren't many eggs and it was so much easier to get silvers and golds. Glad I did join around then so I could stock up. ^^ I ended up taking a break after a while because I didn't have many places to post eggs for clicks and views, and was bored with no new eggs really coming out. Now I wish I would have just stuck around, I ended up coming back around March or April of this year.

Edited October 15, 2010 by roughlandingholly

[airaani]

I remember being unable to catch a balloon from the AP, they were snatched up so quickly...and I wanted one so badly, because they looked so different!

I remember regularly seeing blacks in the cave and actually dropping a couple of them because I was trying to get a vine.

[AzureZeroX]

I remember the days hen the A.P was empty, and when C.B golds were not as rare as they are now. Not as many breeds, but not so far back as the fog or the old sprites

My third year with D.C, it sure has grown. :3

Oh and C.B Blacks and Vines were all over the place, same with papers and Silvers, they weren't as scarce as now.

[Janara]

I must have joined somewhen in autumn/winter 2008. It was the last week or so of the autumns just before they'd turn into winters. I remember picking some up then dropping the hatchies again since I didn't know that they were seasonals. Had to wait a whole year to get my pair of CB autums after that. XP

 

Blacks were sitting forever at the Cave entry. Luckily I was already breeding pure-blacks back then so I picked up a whole load of CBs. Also remember actually seeing CB metallics in cave drops, even though only being able to grab one gold myself. That and the Valentines09-drama as well as the EXTREME-LAG (anybody who's complaining about lag now would probably have gone totally crazy back then).

Edited October 15, 2010 by Janara

[PiscesWolf]

Haha, i just went and looked when i joined, i joined Dec 21, 2008. x3 I cant remember exactly what my first 4 eggies were(i think a vine, red, and 2 others which i cant remember). I left for a while then came back when i found out there were new releases. (missed the sweetlings and pumpkins)

 

I remember worrying about my eggies not getting enough views, until i joined DC forums like a week after, and found out how to take care of them and stuff. c: