Welcome to the DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #1
As this is a game with unexpected updates and new dragons and other elements being released with no warning, we thought it was important that we get information out to our members as soon as possible. We will be doing this in two ways. First up an email will be sent alerting you of an update, as soon as we hear of one, and inviting you to the Dragonvale Tips, Strategies, Updates & Help thread to join in the discussion (Instructions to Opt in and Out of emails are at the bottom of this post). Then an eZine will be sent out, after information has been collected and can be shared with you. This will be PM'd to you and posted here in the forum. This is the first one of those. We hope you enjoy. All feedback is appreciated.
Fletch
Breaking News!! - Sakura Dragon Released!!
As we were about to "go to Press" a new dragon was released that took us all by surprise. Sakura, the Cherry Blossom Dragon.
A brand new spring time limited dragon has been released, to coincide with the blooming of the Cherry Blossoms. You will have two weeks to breed this brand new hybrid which contains Fire, Plant and Earth elements and has a 10 hour breed/hatch time.
With the limited testing done so far, it seems that Flower + Tree might be the only combination that works, with a 25% success rate in the Epic Breeding Island over a very small sample. For the moment, that is our advice in breeding this new dragon.
It sells for 500k DC and you get 30k XP for hatching one. Oh, and don't forget that the Lava Dragon also has a 10 hour breed time, so don't count your dragons before they're hatched.
Koala!
New Dragonvale Content Update 1.7.2 of the App was released on the 10th of April which included a bunch of bug fixes. Friday the 13th of April saw the release of a new set of Game Rules which included the following:
Steel Dragon A new Metal + Cold Hybrid which can be made by any combination that includes Metal and Cold. It is an ordinary pairing, but it has a limited success rate. You will only get it about 1 time in 5 in the NBC (80% of the time you breed Metal + Cold you will get a Mine) and about 35% of the time in the EBI in the limited testing that has been done.
It has a 14 hour breed/hatch time, earns 100 000XP when hatched and sells for 1.5 million DC. It is tied for 2nd place Metal hybrid earnings with the Rust Dragon (both slightly behind the Magnetic Dragon). More info can be found at the Wiki dragonvale.wikia.com/wiki/Steel_Dragon Dodo Dragon
At the time of writing, this remains a hidden dragon. It is an Air/Earth opposite and can be bred by combining an Earth Dragon with an Air Hybrid. We recommend Earth + Chrome because the fails have a short breeding time and are worth the most when selling them off. There is about 6% chance of breeding it in the NBC and 10% in the EBI, the same as the other opposites, Sandstorm, Bluefire and Frostfire. Best of luck.
It has a 16 hour breeding/hatching time, sells for 1 million DC and earns 15k XP when hatched. It's an average earner, and as an opposite dragon it cannot be boosted.
It is a flightless Air dragon ... which makes it pretty special ... and means it doesn't have a lot of room to move at an air habitat. More info can be found at dragonvale.wikia.com/wiki/Dodo_Dragon Bloom Dragon At the time of writing the Bloom Dragon is still available to breed and buy.
Metal Dragons The selling price for the Metal Hybrids and the XP earned changed in the new rules. Most went down in value (the XP slashed by 90% in some cases) but the Rust Dragon increased in value to 1.65 Million DC. What this means for people breeding for cash is covered by Poppy later in the Newsletter.
Other minor changes Dragon breath has increased in size and is easier to see. Dragonsai Gem Tree is now called Dragonsai Gifting Tree "Buy Another" option was added to the Vernal Fountain Seaweed Dragon & Iceberg Dragon now swim
Forum Updates We have made and added our official logo to the forum and changed the colour (yes I'm Australian) scheme to match. We will continue to personalise the forum and make it more fitting to players of the game. All comments and suggestions are welcomed.
Updated Earning Guide with the change to Metal Dragons Since the sales price of Irons was reduced from $1,500,000 to $1,150,000 I've done a modicum of research to see if there're still the best deal. As far as can tell, along with Magnetics, they are. A couple other dragons come close, but they win. So unless you're also breeding for shrines, it looks like Irons and Mags are still your best bet.
Iron/Magnetic 1.15 million for 4 hours - 287 500 per hour Rust 1.65 million for 6 hours - 275 000 per hour Air/Sandstorm 500k for 2 hours - 250 000 per hour Cactus - 100k for 30 mins - 200 000 per hour
Speed Breeding Competition Speed Breeding Competition was over before most of us knew there was a new dragon (as usual?). tristan97tfj got the dragon almost as soon as it was released and Segbert/mybuster2go was not too far behind. Congrats to both for winning the gems this time around.
Editor's Note: Obviously Sakura Dragon was for Comp 4.
Post of the Month Competition We have created another new way to win gems AND celebrate the great contributions by our forum members ... the Post of the Month competition. All the details can be found at dragonvale-tips.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=33 so have a read and please nominate those that you think are worthy.
Request for Articles At this point we'll be releasing a new edition every time an update and/or a new dragon is released to keep all our members up to date with the latest news. Please let us know if there is anything you would like to see in the eZine. And definitely let us know if you would like to submit anything. Drop me a PM.
Fletch
Opting in or Out of emails This can be changed in your Profile. In the top menu, immediately to the left of the "Logout" choice.
Above the list of your details are the options to manage your thread bookmarks, add your social networking details of your facebook, twitter, etc and the choice to Modify Your Profile, which is what we're looking for
Scroll down the options to Account Preferences till your find "Mass Emails". Opt In will allow you to receive emails. Opt Out will stop you from receiving our emails.
Last Edit: Feb 3, 2013 7:08:06 GMT -6 by Fletch_smf
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #2 - May 10th, 2012
Welcome to the second issue of DragonVale Community's eZine, which highlights the 3 new dragons that have just been released, and the best ways to breed them.
And hey, once your caves are full and you're waiting on the breeding to finish, peruse our article on maximising your Habitat Earnings ... you know, once you've caught up on all the forum gossip.
Fletch
Butterfly Dragon!
Contains Air, Lightning and Fire elements
Has a breed time of 12 hours
Sells for 500 000 DC and earns you 100 000XP when you hatch it
Bred by Firefly + Air/Air Hybrid
16% chance in EBI and 8% chance in NBC
Limited Dragon ~ Get it while you can!
A brand new design, with the wings of the Firefly Dragon and the standard butterfly colouring that shows a "head" watching behind for predators, the Butterfly Dragon is one of the most distinctive we've seen for awhile.
The DragonVale Community recommends Firefly + Willow as the best combination as it has the shortest average Fail Time of 4 hours.
We are unsure at this point whether this is a limited dragon, or one that will be sticking around.
Plasma Dragon!
Is a Lightning/Water opposite dragon
Has a breed time of 16 hours
Sells for 100 000 DC and earns you 75 000XP when you hatch it
Bred by Lightning + Water Hybrid
10% chance in EBI and 6% chance in NBC
Same design as the Lightning Dragon, with Water Dragon colouring
The DragonVale Community recommends Lightning + Rust as the best combination as it has the average Fail Time of 5 hours (slightly longer than the 4 hours 50 minutes of Lightning + Swamp/Seaweed) with significant resale value.
Current Dragon!
Is a Water/Lightning opposite dragon
Has a breed time of 16 hours
Sells for 300 000 DC and earns you 75 000XP when you hatch it
Bred by Water + Lightning Hybrid
10% chance in EBI and 6% chance in NBC
Same design as the Water Dragon, with Lightning Dragon colouring
This has been released as a Hidden Dragon so does not currently appear in the Market Place.
The DragonVale Community recommends Water + Firefly/Scorch as the best combination as it has the average Fail Time of 3 hours.
Maximising your Habitat Earnings Poppy made two great posts in the Top Tips thread about evaluating DC earnings in your habitats. This is a summary. Fletch
When choosing habitats for earning potential, you need to take 3 things into account: Earning Rate of the Dragons, Habitat Capacity & Sweeping Frequency (how often you visit the park to collect coins).
Suns and Moons, at 260 cpm (coins per minute) are actually pretty mediocre producers. At 400 cpm, Rainbows and Leaps are a lot better. Fully optimized Level 15 Pans in Earth habitats produce 411 cpm per dragon, or 1,233 cpm per habitat, but it soon hits its habitat capacity of 75 000. If your average collecting frequency is under 3.1 hours then you're better off having as many Pans in Earths as possible. If it exceeds 3.1 hours, then you're better off with more Rainbows and Leaps and the larger capacity.
As the chart shows, if you visit your park and sweep for coins frequently - 3.1 hours intervals or less - you will get optimal performance from the Pans. Every longer interval after that gives the nod to the Rares and at 5 hour intervals the Metals move into second place.
Red line is double boosted Panlong in Earth Habitat Green line is Rainbow or Leap Year Dragon Purple line is unboosted Blue/Frostfire or Triple boosted Bloom in Cold Habitat Blue line is double boosted Magnetic in Metal Habitat Orange line is Sun/Moon Dragon
Post of the Month - April
PixieWA won the gems for April by putting me in a wig, and Phibes won gems for realising how funny that was. Nice work ladies.
The POTM competition for May is officially open and so is your chance to win the next lot of gems.
Speed Breeding Competition #5 & #6
So BFS fooled us all by releasing 3 dragons simultaneously. We made the decision to cover all 3 dragons over the 2 comps. You can check out how it unfolded HERE.
We will be opening up the registration for the next comp soon.
Last Edit: May 11, 2012 4:35:33 GMT -6 by Fletch_smf
Post by Fletch_smf on May 17, 2012 21:31:12 GMT -6
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #3 - May 17th, 2012
Welcome to the third issue of THE DragonVale Community eZine. Jam packed full of the latest information on the new releases in DragonVale, what it all entails, and how it can work for you. A new series of Dragons has been started, a brand spanking new island is available to house them, an interactive egg "decoration" has been added to the Market Place and the Breeding Caves are upgradeable. Read on below to find out more ...
And hey, once your caves are full and you're waiting on the breeding to finish, peruse our article on DragonVale Park Tours ... you know, once you've caught up on all the forum furore surrounding the Emerald Dragon
Fletch
New Dragon! New Habitat! New Island!
Backflip Studios has added a new layer of fun to the game, by adding Gemstone Dragons and a special Island to keep them in. The first of which is:
Emerald!
So you want the details in bullet point form? Let me tell you what we know:
Gemstone Island and Dragons
1500 Gems to buy. 1.5 million DC when sold
31 hour breed/hatch time
It doesn't earn DC, but actually earns Gems
At Level 10 it takes 7 days for an Emerald Dragon to make a gem (15 days for a Level 1)
They can only live on Gemstone Island which takes 24 hours to build and costs 400 000DC
Gemstone Island holds 12 dragons
Gemstone Habitats are capped at 3 gems
These are dragons based on birthstones. Emerald is the stone for May and there is mention of the Pearl Dragon, which is June's birthstone
There will be 11 more of these, one for each month of the year.
Other changes that are not just about the new Dragon/Habitat
There is a pedestal decoration on which you can place eggs and use them as decorations around your park
The Normal Breed Cave and the Epic Breeding Island are upgradeable to speed up breed times by 20%. It will cost 1250 gems and 600 gems respectively
Tips and Jokes have been added to the Load Page
Let me tell you what we think.
You will only be able to breed each birthstone during IT'S month.
This part's a guess
It will be the same combination of elements to make all gemstone dragons, much like it's the same elements that make Sun or Moon but the resultant dragon will be dependent on the calendar, rather than the clock.
Successful breeding pairs
Crystal + Lichen
After preliminary testing using all variations of the 4 elements in those two dragons, it appears that it is the only combination that works. It's still too early to confirm it 100%, but I'm sure you're all taking heart that you have 2 weeks to get it, and are not going crazy spending gems on your fails. Please join us in the Tips, Strategies, Updates & Help and the Rare Breeding Guide threads to keep abreast of the progress our members make.
DragonVale Park Tours
We have a great thread that allows people to give some insight into their island design. An excerpt from the latest post from Evans:
... the entire island was covered in giant mushrooms. It gave the island a rather mystic, fantastical atmosphere. Even though the village of Ayr has privileges to farm the mushrooms, the Draconian council declared the island public property and it now doubles as a touristic location. To accommodate these tourists, a Draconian fantasy artist called Alice Pleasance designed the glass pavilions. A popular activity is having a royal tea party in them. But the most popular attraction on the island is, without a doubt, the seemingly juvenile Butterfly dragon which can often be found on a giant mushroom.
Come by to take some "Tours" ... or better yet, give one.
Post of the Month - May
The POTM competition for May is underway and so is your chance to win the next lot of gems. Start posting and nominating your favourite threads now.
Speed Breeding Competition #7
So even with a brand new Rare Dragon, the hunt for the Emerald Dragon is already over. PixieWA grabbed first place and .TommyB. took second. Other tales from the comp can be read Here
Last Edit: May 19, 2012 5:46:02 GMT -6 by Fletch_smf
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #4 - June 2nd, 2012
Welcome to the fourth issue of THE DragonVale Community eZine which heralds the arrival of the new Gemstone Dragon - the Pearl (anyone else hearing the voices of Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbossa?).
It heralds a change of breeding combination for a gemstone dragon which will come as a nice respite from the Crystals, Trees and Mountain Dragons, at least for the first day or so until the new "Fails" have made their presence felt. At least it can help us fill out our Egg Displays.
We have also had two new high earning Metal Hybrids released and at long last the Level Cap has been increased to 35 with a new habitat added every level. Read on to find out more ...
Fletch
Pearl Dragon!
Well after a frantic fortnights dragon breeding the Emerald Dragon has left us for this year and it has made way for the second Birthstone Dragon, the Pearl.
Vital Statistics It has a 30 hour breed/hatch time, so it seems likely that is tied to the number of days in the month, and costs 1475 gems compared to Emeralds 1500, but other than that their stats appear to be identical. They earn 1 gem a week at Level 10, sell for 1.5 million and earn 100 000 XP when you hatch them. And even though this dragon has no legs, it can live comfortably in any of the 4 Gemstone Habitats, swimming or flying, as need be.
Successful breeding pairs And the important information you all want to know is that Snow + Seaweed appears to be the breeding combination required to get this Gem Dragon. Initial tests show about the same % success rate as the Emerald Dragon. However there is only 1 x 48 hour dragon possible, the Rainbow with 1% probability, as opposed to the 7% chance of Sun, Moon or Rainbow in the Crystal + Lichen combination. The average common fail time is also much lower; 7.5 hours for Pearl as opposed to 10.19 hours for Emerald.
The math works out to 12 hours 50 mins per fail trying for Emerald and 7 hours 54 mins per fail for Pearl. Not to mention that you have a full month to get this Gem Dragon, so breeding it should be a lot less painful. This could be because Pearls are a lot more common than Emeralds, so BFS have reflected the difference in the breeding.
A week before the Pearl Dragon arrived, BFS graced us with another easy hybrid to grab, made by simply breeding Metal with Lightning. Perhaps they thought we'd be done with Emerald and would need something new to fill in time till June. Copper has a 20 hour breed time.
The Forge Dragon, a Fire/Metal combo, was released the same day as the Pearl with a 24 hour breed time. The two of them have shorter bred cousins, Magnetic and Brass respectively, and are hatched approx 25% of the time when the Pure Element Dragons are placed in a Breeding Cave. The important thing about these two dragons is they now share the title of highest earning Metal Hybrid, earning a third more than the Magnetic Dragon.
Forge Dragon
Post of the Month - May
The POTM competition for May has closed, and you have until June 7th to vote for your favourite post. There was quite a few to choose from last month so you might want to refresh your memory in the thread before you vote.
Speed Breeding Competition #8
The hunt for the Pearl Dragon is on, but we have 3 winners in this comp. If you were playing please check out who you owe a gem to HERE
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #5 - June 14th, 2012
Welcome to the fifth issue of THE DragonVale Community eZine which heralds the arrival of the Solstice Dragon. Yesterday the Sun Stone decoration was released which gave the not so subtle hint that a new dragon would be released. It also said that the stones would glow when the dragon was available. Today, both those things happened.
Fletch
Solstice Dragon!
Middle of June and hopefully most of you have at least one Pearl Dragon frolicking in your Gemstone Habitats. If not, you might want to keep Snow and Seaweed going in just one cave whilst you use the other for the Solstice Dragon. It is a two headed dragon that looks like a cross between the Blazing and Sun Dragons, and as the Solstice is next week, we don't think it will be here for long. Of course the next Solstice is only 6 months away ...
Breed Time The Solstice Dragon has a breed time of 23.5 hours, a nod to the tilt of the planet Earth. This tilt gives us our seasons by altering the amount of daylight we receive each day, and in turn gives us the two Solstices, the days with the most, and the least daylight. Breed time is shortened in the enhanced caves to 18 hours and 48 minutes ... which doesn't reference anything.
How to get one It is bred by combing Blazing with an Earth Dragon or Earth Hybrid. We believe these two dragons were chosen as representative of the Sun/Earth relationship. And unlike the Sun Dragon, this combination will work at any time of the day or night. For the moment you can also breed a Solstice Dragon by combining Sun with Solstice. The danger here, of course, is that the fail will be a 48 hour Sun.
Price, Retail, XP It has a purchase price of 2250 gems, second only to the Rainbow, sells for 2 million DC and earns you 100 000 XP when it is hatched.
Elements and Earnings The Solstice Dragon lives in a Sun Habitat, which makes it the second species (after the Gemstone Dragons) where there is more than one combination to produce one. The earning potential, however, outstrips the Sun Dragon, earning it 316 DC per minute at Level 10, compared to the Sun/Moon earning of 260 DC per minute.
Recommended breeding pairs Whilst any Earth Hybrid can be paired with Blazing to create a Solstice we recommend the 3 Hybrids that contain the Fire and Air elements that exist in Blazing. This is to cut down on lengthy fail times and to eliminate the chance of Panlong and Rainbow. Blazing and Earth is not recommended because of the possibility of the Dodo Dragon. Our recommendation with the shortest fail times are:
Blazing + Sandstorm Blazing + Dodo Blazing + Lava
Of course, if you are trying for a Panlong, Rainbow, Dodo or any other Dragons with a lengthy fail time, than you might want to choose an Earth Hybrid with that extra element you need (Blazing + Iron might give you a Forge Dragon, for example). We will remind you that Blazing + Crystal/Quake, can result in a Crystal.
A new Metal Hybrid was also released since the last eZine ~ Quicksilver, a simple Metal/Water combination. It has an 18 hour breed time, 1.15 million resale and 150 000 XP earned when hatched.
It's the 3rd Hybrid in a row to out earn the previous champ, the Magnetic, but is not quite as good as the Copper or Forge dragon.
Post of the Month - June
The POTM competition for June is open for business. Please nominate your favourite posts by quoting it with a POTM tag.
Speed Breeding Competition #9
The hunt for the Solstice Dragon is on but we already have our two winners for this comp. Check the thread to see who won, and who you owe gems to.
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #6 - July 2nd, 2012
The Summer Solstice has come and gone, along with it's dragon namesake, and we're now getting ready for the 4th of July and what that might bring to our dragon parks. Firework dragons abound and Cauldrons of Fireworks have been strategically placed to see what might happen this American Independence Day.
The Pearl has also made way for the latest Gemstone Dragon, the Ruby, a cute baby that rocks itself to sleep, and a graceful adult, resplendent in red.
Fletch
Ruby Dragon!
Pearl has departed for the time being, and July's Dragon, confirmed as the Ruby on the official Facebook Page the day before it was released, is here for the next month. It is the first dragon to be shown sleeping, as long as the habitat has some land for it to sit on. In the lowest, "winter" habitat it flies the whole time, even as a baby.
The Ruby Egg is a glorious deep red, glowing from within, with a subtle texture on the surface.
Breed Time 31 hours for the 31 days in July or 24 hours 48 minutes in an upgraded breeding cave.
How to get one The only known combination at this point is Chrome + Scorch and the dragon is an elegant combination of the two of them. It stands on two legs like the Chrome and has the breastplates of the Scorch with its red colouring. Chromium is also the element in Rubies that give them their red colouring.
There are a lot of combinations to come from this pairing, including the newly released Copper and Forge Dragon with a 20 and 24 hour breed time respectively. We had a sneaking suspicion that they had been introduced to cut down on the short fails with the good resale, and that does seem to have been the case.
However it has an average fail time amongst the ordinary dragons of 8 hours and 36 minutes, but for the moment this will be a bit lower than this, because the Firework Dragon has a greater than 50% chance of being created from any pairing that includes air and fire. For the time being it should be close to the 7.5 hours of the Pearl. So it seems that BFS take with one hand, and give back with the other.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings 1525 gems to buy one from the market, they sell for 1.5 million DC and earn 100 000 XP when they are hatched. They have identical earnings to the previous two Gemstone Dragons, maxed, at Level 10, to 1 gem per week.
Associated Decoration The Corundum Crystal was released the same day, and whilst it won't help with breeding, it does look pretty cool. It's possible the "Scar of the World" mentioned in the description is a WoW reference to Scar of the Worldbreaker.
The Firework Dragon joined us immediately after the Solstice left, a Fire/Air Hybrid with an insane success rate higher than 50% in the EBS. 6 hr (4hr 48min) breed time, 12.5k XP and sell for 750 000 DC.
It seems odd to have a recommended breeding for a dragon that you're going to breed most of the time when you have the chance, but Air + Flower/Poison, Willow + Fire/Flower/Poison & Blazing + Plant/Flower/Poison have the shortest average fail times of 4 hr 22 min.
A Cauldron of Fireworks was also added as a decoration, and it seems likely these will go off on July 4th.
Evergreen Dragon!
The 3rd of the most recent arrivals is a Plant/Cold Hybrid with about 25% chance of breeding with its pure element parents (fail is Lichen). It has a 10 hr (8 hr) breed time, earns 5k XP and sells for 60 000 DC.
Any breeding combination that includes Plant and Cold can produce an Evergreen and we recommend Lichen + Flower/Poison which has the shortest fail time of 2.5 hours.
Automatic Dragon Names
Someone asked about the random names that were given to the dragons, so I grabbed the piece of the code that has them. As of Rule version 82 the possible dragon names are:
Post by Fletch_smf on Jul 12, 2012 19:57:08 GMT -6
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #7 - July 13th, 2012
Seems our eZine has become a regular fortnightly publication of late, as BackFlip Studios have been blessing our parks weekly with new releases. The long awaited Metal/Plant Hybrid last week and today a brand new rare dragon was released ... you know ... to fill in all that down time we have.
Fletch
Gold Dragon!
Because all the high level players were complaining that they had [sarcasm]so much room, and didn't know what to do with all the free space on their islands and more habitats then they could possibly use[/sarcasm] BFS released a new rare dragon - The Gold. It has it's own habitat so it would seem this dragon is not time limited.
Breed Time 48 hours, like the other rares, or 38 hours 24 min in an upgraded breeding cave/island.
How to get one Any combination that includes Metal and Fire is the way to go, including Metal + Fire all the way up to Panlong + Malachite. The most efficient breeding combination is Plant/Flower/Poison + Brass/Forge with an average fail time of 7 hrs 37 min.
Current tests show a very rare success rate, maybe even as low as the 1% of Rainbow, so it could take quite some time to nab one. As such, it's possibly a long distance goal you might try whilst going for other dragons. Metal + Flower/Poison gives you a shot at Malachite at the same time. Scorch + Chrome gives you a change at the Ruby simultaneously. etc.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings 2250 gems to buy one of these brand new, a bargain at a lot less than half the price. But if you manage to breed one you'll be able to sell it for a cool 5 million DC, the most expensive dragon by far. XP is also set at a staggering 600k, just edging out the previous champion, the Panlong, at 500k. It also earns 30 DC a minute at level 1 and 194 at it's max level of 10. This is about half the Rainbow/LYD which works out okay, because you can fit 2 of them in the new habitat. More below.
Treasure Habitat The new Treasure Habitat is 6x6 in size, like the large earth, cold and metal habitats, costs 5 million DC to build and takes 6 hours. It has a max capacity of 750k like the Sun/Moon habitats, but has the advantage of being able to hold dragons. So an Adult and a Baby can take up just one habitat.
There is no flag associated with it yet, but I'm think that's just a slight oversite on BFS part, and it will be here shortly.
The Pollen Dragon was released last week, a Plant/Air Hybrid that can be made by simply breeding it's two elements together or any combination that includes them. It sells for a million DC and earns 2000XP when it's hatched, and has the exact same earning rate as it's brother ... ah cousin ... ah ... the Willow. The only difference is the 7 hour (5 hr 36 min) breeding time.
We recommend Air + Flower/Poison, Willow + Fire/Flower/Poison & Blazing + Plant/Flower/Poison as they have the shortest average fail times of 4 hr 42 min. If you want to simultaneously for the Malachite Dragon, Metal + Willow will do the job.
Malachite Dragon!
A hidden dragon was also released at the same time as Pollen, though it now appears in the Market Place. It was the eagerly anticipated Plant/Metal Hybrid, the Malachite Dragon. It can be purchased for a meager 50 gems, sells for 1.5 million DC and earns 250k XP when hatched. Like all opposite dragons, it is a recolouring of it's primary element dragon, has a 12 hour (9 hr 36 min) breed time and has the highest earn rate of any metal dragon. Because opposite dragons cannot be boosted however, it loses out to the Copper/Forge in the long run.
The rules of opposite dragon breeding have been well established, and the Malachite Dragon must be bred by combining the Metal Dragon with a Plant Hybrid. We recommend Metal + Willow which has the shortest fail time of 6.5 hours. However, with the release of the Gold Dragon you might want to try Metal + Flower/Poison. It has an average fail time of 7 hr 37 min but could gnab you that new rare you've been dreaming about.
Myke has started a new forum competition. The "I Hate (but really want) the Ruby Dragon!" a winner take all competition that awards the pool to the LAST person to get this months gem dragon. He will be running it every month from this point on so visit the thread to find out more and register your interest.
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #8 - August 1st, 2012
Well this has been a busy couple of weeks. Another new rare dragon and a new set of Limiteds, both with new habitats to go with them, a great new time waster that can earn you gems, food and XP, and a brand spanking new Gemstone Dragon. Not to mention a new Metal Hybrid that got itself a name change and that long awaited 7th Island so we can spread out a bit. Let's get straight into it and recap what we've seen since last issue.
Fletch
Peridot Dragon!
The Ruby has left us for the year and the August Dragon is now available to breed. By the way it's pronounced pair-a-doe.
Breed Time Like the other gemstone dragons, the breeding time is connected to the duration of the month. 31 hours for the days in August or 24 hours 48 min in an upgraded breeding cave/island.
How to get one So far the Gemstone Dragons have each had one specific breeding combination to make them, and the combo for Peridot is Crystal + Cactus. This is the first gemstone combination to have only 3 elements in the combination, meaning Rainbow is not a possible fail. However, because the combination is only a mixture of 3 elements, the possible fails are limited to Cactus, Quake, Moss, Tree and Crystal, and give us an average fail time of 11 hours and 18 minutes.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 1475 gems, but all the other stats are the same as the other Birthstone Dragons. It sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Associated Decoration The Olivine Obelisk is the accompanying decoration, costs 30 000 DC and is the first gemstone decoration to be 1x1 in size. Olivine is the mineral family that Peridot belongs to.
As the opening ceremony kicked off in London, these Olympic (beg pardon IOC) Olympus Dragons and their new habitat were introduced to our park. It seems likely that the dragons themselves will be here for a limited time, though whether the habitat will be here to stay is up for debate at the moment.
Olympus Habitat Costs 350 000 DC to build, houses 3 dragons, and has a cap of 500 000 DC. The really nice feature is the animated flames which are with us for the duration of the games.
Olympus Dragons There are 3, Bronze, Silver and Gold, all with a 35 hour breeding time and all created by any combination that includes Air, Earth and Lightning. The Bronze hatches for 200 000 XP, sells for 1.15 million DC and earns at 93 DC per minute at level 10. Silver hatches for 250 000 XP, sells for 1.5 million DC and earns 130 DC per minute at level 10. Gold hatches for 250 000 XP, sells for 2 million and earns 194 DC per minute at level 10.
Combinations that include Plant and Fire along with the 3 necessary elements have the shortest average fail time, so we recommend Butterfly + Tree/Moss/Clover, Sakura + Sonic and Love + Sandstorm/Dodo. If you don't have the 3 element limiteds, than Cactus + Panlong can do the job, or the simple Air + Quake/Crystal, although that last combination will get you a Crystal about a quarter of the time.
3 x Level 15 Panlongs, double boosted with Fire and Water in an earth habitat earn at 1231 DC per minute, and reach the capacity of 75 000 DC in 61 minutes
A level 10 Rainbow earns at 400DC per minute, overtakes the Panlong/Earth cap of 75 000 DC at the 3 hour mark and continues up to a cap of a million which takes more than a day and a half to reach
3 x Level 10 Gold Olympus earn at 582 DC per minute, earning 45% faster than Rainbow till it caps out at 14 hours 19 mins
Olympus Earnings
With the introduction of these 3 dragons, we now have a new high earning habitat with a decent Cap. Previously there were two main choices, depending on how often you could check your park and clear your habitats; Panlong/Earth combo if you could check more often than 3 hourly, and Rainbow if you couldn't.
The Olympus habitat can hold 3 dragons, and even with one Bronze, Silver and Gold dragon, it has an earning rate of 421, just above the Rainbow. It really takes off with 3 Gold Olympus Dragons, hits 75 000 DC at 2 hour 9 minute and out earns Rainbow until the 21 hour mark.
Use Panlongs if you can check 2 hourly or better, Olympus Dragons for 2 hourly and up, and Rainbow if you are literally only able to check in once a day.
Dragon Track!
Well after a few hints in dragon descriptions, Dragon Racing was introduced to our parks on the 26th of July. For 250 000 DC you can buy the Dragon Track and thankfully a new Island was included in that update, because at 6x9 in size many of us were going to have trouble finding a place to put it.
Each race costs 50 000 DC to enter, with 9 different tracks randomly chosen for your dragons, with various names giving a clue as to the type of dragon best suited for it. With the chance to turn that entry fee into more DC, food, XP or even gems, this is a great way to fill in some time whilst waiting for that food to grow or egg to hatch.
Scoria Dragon!
On July 19th, the Slag Dragon was introduced to DragonVale. It was then discovered that this species had been mislabeled, and was actually the Scoria Dragon ... little bit embarrassing for them really.
It's an Earth Metal Hybrid with a breed time of 22 hours, it will earn you 150 000 XP when you hatch it and it sells for 1.15 million DC.
Post of the Month - July
The POTM competition for July is over and the Poll is up for you to vote. You've got a week to choose your favourite, and decide who'll be getting the gems from July.
Speed Breeding XII
The hunt for the Peridot Dragon is on but we already have our two winners for this comp. Check the thread to see who won, and who you owe gems to.
I hate the Peridot Dragon!
Myke's new winner take all competition is underway. The pool goes to the LAST person to get this months gem dragon. Visit the thread to find out how everyone is doing.
Post by Fletch_smf on Sept 1, 2012 22:24:13 GMT -6
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #9 - September 1st, 2012
Well it's been a quiet month for a change. Oh still heaps of dragons, an upgrade to the Hibernation Cave and a reordering/disappearing of the Goals but nothing overly special. Made a nice change after the Gold + Olympus Dragons, 7th Island and Dragon Track of July. Of course we do appreciate all the dragons that have been released ... so let's have a recap.
Fletch
Sapphire Dragon!
Hope you all managed to grab a Peridot or two, and those that did not ... well it's only 11 months till you get another crack at it. In the mean time, the Sapphire Dragon has been released, and whilst I'm not overly keen on its design, it has been given a feline personality which I think is fantastic. The adult licks its paws, skitters backwards before "roaring" and curls itself up into a ball to have a sleep.
Breed Time Like the other gemstone dragons, the breeding time is connected to the duration of the month. 30 hours or 24 hours in an upgraded breeding cave/island.
How to get one Mountain + Rain is the confirmed combo for this dragon, and odds are that it will be the only one that works this month. It has 4 elements in the mix, so Rainbow is a possible fail, with the regular fails being Fog, Rain, Mud, Snow, Ice, Iceberg and Mountain. This might be increased this month if we get other hybrids, but for the moment average fail is 8 hours and 34 mins. koala.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 1500 gems, but all the other stats are the same as the other Birthstone Dragons. It sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Associated Decoration Star Sapphire of Trigon "The magnetic platform helps hold aloft one of the Stars of Trigon while impressive wizardry was used to keep the storm cloud engulfing the Star. An impressive combined effort of science and magic."
30 000 DC to buy and it's another 1x1 decoration so you can slot this one in anywhere.
When the Treasure Habitat was released with the space for 2 dragons, it seemed likely that Gold would get a partner. And August 24th saw the release of the Silver Dragon.
For a change it has a 47 hour Incubation time, sells for 4 million and earns 154 DC per minute at its max Level 10. It's bred by any combination that includes Metal + Cold, and we recommend a combination that also has air, like Chrome + Cold/Mine/Snow or Air + Mine/Steel for an average fail time of 9 hours 15 mins. Gold and Silver can breed, and it seems to be a 50/50 shot that the offspring will be Gold or Silver.
Rain Dragon
The other Air/Water hybrid became available on August 17th, and understandably it was the Rain Dragon.
Its stats are identical to Fog: 8 hours to incubate, sells for a million, earns 51 DC per minute at Level 10.
It is an uncommon dragon, and so cannot be bred with hybrids unless they contain more than 2 elements. Air/Water + Fog/Rain and Fog + Rain will always result in a Fog Dragon.
Ironwood Dragon
Released the same time as Rain was another Hidden Dragon, the other Plant/Metal hybrid, this time the recoloured Plant Dragon.
Ironwood has identical stats to Malachite: 12 hour incubation, 1.5 million selling price, 250k XP and it earns 55 DC per minute at Level 10.
As an opposite dragon you need to breed Plant + Metal Hybrid, and we recommend Plant + Chrome with an average fail of 6 hours 40 minutes.
Seasonal Dragon!
Another Rare joined us on August 9th with its own brand new habitat. This time the dragon and habitat will change its appearance according to the seasons (in the Northern Hemisphere) so we'll see what happens when Autumn arrives in the U.S.
Bred with any combination that includes Plant, Fire and Air, it has a 48 hour incubation time, earns 316 DC per minute at Level 10 and it's habitat, which holds one dragon, caps out at 500k. It does seem to border on Rainbow type rarity.
Post of the Month - August
The POTM competition for August is over and the Poll is up for you to vote. You've got a week to choose your favourite, and decide who'll be getting the gems from August.
Remaining Hybrids Naming Competition
BFS are bound to release the remaining dragon hybrids to complete the set of pedestals. Fletch is pledging 3 gems to anyone with the perspicaciosity to predict their names. Post guesses HERE for your chance to win.
Island Decorating Comp
The first Island Decorating Comp is currently running HERE. Come by and vote for your favourite.
I hate the Sapphire Dragon!
Myke's new winner take all competition is underway. The pool goes to the LAST person to get this months gem dragon. Visit the thread to find out how everyone is doing.
Post by Fletch_smf on Sept 7, 2012 18:52:47 GMT -6
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #10 - September 7th, 2012
A limited dragon with a shelf life of days instead of weeks definitely requires an Extra Edition of the forum eZine. Everything you need to know about the new Blue Moon Dragon is below.
Fletch
Blue Moon Dragon!
Blue Moon Dragon has been released, and the info posted on the DragonVale Facebook page says it's only available for 72 hours, so don't dally with this one.
Breed Time 29.53 hours, as there is 29.53 days between Full Moons.
How to get one Any combination that includes Cold and Lightning and we recommend Storm + Firefly/Scorch because the common fails are only those 3 dragons. Because it is the same combo to get a Moon or Sun Dragon, you do have the possibility of getting a 48 hour dragon as a fail. For the moment Moon + Blue Moon will also give you a chance at another Blue Moon Dragon.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 2250 gems, sells for 2 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 316 DC per minute at Level 10.
Other Info The egg and the Dragon are a reworking of the Moon design, making it bluer, replacing a full moon where previously there was a crescent, and a unicorn type horn has been added. The Moon habitat has also had an animation added to it in honour of the Blue Moon.
And speaking of habitats, Max Habitats at Level 35 has now been increased to 36, to make allowances for this new dragon.
The forum is in a frenzy hunting for the Blue Moon Dragon but we already have our two winners for this comp. Check the thread to see who won, and who you owe gems to.
I hate the Sapphire Dragon!
Myke's new winner take all competition is underway. The pool goes to the LAST person to get this months gem dragon. Visit the thread to find out how everyone is doing.
Last Edit: Sept 9, 2012 3:46:49 GMT -6 by Fletch_smf
Post by Fletch_smf on Sept 23, 2012 5:04:59 GMT -6
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #11 - September 21st, 2012
September has been another month of Limited Dragons at our DragonVale parks. 2 more are currently available and they'll both be gone in the next week. Everything you need to know about them is below.
Fletch
Equinox Dragon - till the 27th of Sep!
The Equinox Dragon has been released and you have a week to get it. It can be bought for 2250 gems, sells for 2.25 million DC and earns 100 000XP when hatched. It earns 222 DC per min at Level 10.
The breeding combo is Blazing + Water/Water Hybrid, as Solstice was Blazing + Earth/Earth Hybrid. Blazing + Water/Fog/Rain is the "safe" combo with 3 x 8 hour fails as a possibility. Blazing + Current/Plasma has the shortest average fail time of 6 hours 45 mins, but Rainbow is a possibility.
The Astrovane has been released to celebrate the Equinox, and it animates on these two days of the year, adding Blue Moon and Sunstone animations to this cool decoration.
**NOTE: Equinox + Blue Moon/Solstice gives Blue Moon/Solstice as a result. If you only managed one of either of these, you can now breed a second. Equinox + Moon/Sun only results in Moon/Sun as offspring.**
The Paper Dragon has been released to celebrate DragonVales 1st anniversary and is available for the next 4 days. It is the 2nd 4 element dragon, combining the first 4 elements of the game, Plant, Earth, Fire & Cold. It can be bought for 1250 gems, sells for 1.25 million DC and earns 5000XP when hatched. It earns 231 DC per min at Level 15 unboosted and Earth & Plant boosts can be added to increase that to 332 DC per min.
The breeding combo is any thing that combines it's 4 elements so Mountian + Flower/Poison , Lava + Lichen/Evergreen and Bluefire/Frostfire + Tree/Moss will do the trick. If available we recommend Sakura + Ice/Iceberg with 7 hour 24 min average fail.
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #12 - October 1st, 2012
Seasons come and go, as does the look of the Seasonal Dragon and its Habitat. And as Summer has left us for the time being, so has the Paper, Equinox and Sapphire Dragons. But the old leaves to make room for the new, and we are happy to have a new dragon with us, based on the birthstone for October, the Opal Dragon.
Fletch
Opal Dragon!
"Opal dragons are said to be capable of displaying every color in the visible spectrum. In fact they're even supposed to be able to exhibit some invisible ones as well! Some say that invisible dragons are really just opal dragons parading around in these...harder to see colors. Our wizards can neither confirm nor deny this rumor."
Breed Time Like the other gemstone dragons, the breeding time is connected to the duration of the month. 31 hours or 24 hours 48 mins in an upgraded breeding cave/island.
How to get one The breeding combination has been confirmed as Mud + Lava. This is the second time a gemstone has had a 3 element combination eliminating Rainbow as a possible fail, and it is the first time there have been only the parent dragons as possible fails, an average of 8 hours. This will also mean that you will be able to breed for both Opal and Bone when it (hopefully) becomes the first limited to make a return appearance ... except for that mix up with the Firework which we won't count.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 1475 gems, but all the other stats are the same as the other Birthstone Dragons. It sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Associated Decoration Miroid Monument "The Miroid Monument was named for King Miroid, who was quite fond of opal dragons. The monument was constructed after the magnificent petrified opal eggs you see upon it were found.."
A bargain at just 1500 DC to buy and it is a 2x2 decoration.
Post by Fletch_smf on Oct 18, 2012 15:14:40 GMT -6
DragonVale Community eZine - Issue #13 - October 18, 2012
Been a good couple of weeks, new hybrid and the rerelease of the first limited. Plus Kairos, the first Legendary Dragon with the special power of time. The following article is pretty in depth, and gives away a lot of things that you're not going to be able to access for a few days. Basically, Spoiler Alert! You have been warned ...
Fletch
Kairos
"Ancient and wise, it is said that Kairos can predict the future by using a special magic that allows it to travel ahead in time. The most famous account comes from the Western island of Siros where people say Kairos saved an entire village from being destroyed by a large tidal wave. Maybe if you're really nice to Kairos you'll get some help speeding things along.."
Up until this point of the game there have been two types of dragons. Regular, that are made up of at least 1 of the 8 common and interbreed-able elements, and Epic, which are made by a particular combination of elements or dragons to make a brand new type. A third type has now been introduced to our Dragon Parks: Legendary. As far as we know these dragons aren't bred, don't earn DC or gems and come to us as fully-formed adults. And they have a special power. The first, Kairos, has the power of "Time". What does that mean? Well let's not get ahead of ourselves. Before we worry about the dragon we need to ready it's habitat.
The Perch of Kairos
"The Perch of Kairos, crafted before the days of record keeping, is magically affixed to your second island. In order to summon Kairos to your park -- and reap the benefit of his time-bending power -- you will need to find and assemble three ancient artifacts: The Chronolith, the Time Claw and the Statue of Kairos."
The habitat for the Time Dragon is purchasable from the Market place for 750 000 DC and is available at Level 16. It builds instantly and is added to the top most corner of your top most island (the one immediately to the right of the Gemstone Island). But it needs to be "upgraded" 3 times before it is ready for Kairos. The pieces of 3 artifacts need to be collected and added to the Perch, the Chronolith, the Time Claw and the Statue of Kairos.
"The Cronolith is the base of power for the Legendary Dragon Kairos. When all three stages have been reconstructed, Kairos can skip your park ahead in time, incubating eggs, growing crops, breeding new dragons, and collecting gold much faster! Our wizards have translated the runes carved into this ancient stone monument, which read "All your base are belong to us." Something may have been lost in translation"
Each artifact has 7 pieces, and the pieces can be won at the Race Track, in the same way you can win DC, food, XP and gems. There appears to be a "cool down" period of 6 hours after each piece has been won, stopping you from winning another piece for that time period ... at least for the Chronolith. Pieces can also be purchased for gems, ranging in price from 75 to 300 per piece.
"The Time Claw is a magical golden sundial. When placed atop the Chronolith, it charts the web of space and time. The great Tharbin Ironweaver forged this piece from one of Kairos' claw fragments, broken off and forgotten since time immemorial. The Time Claw creates a magical conduit between your park, where time flows in only one direction, and Kairos, for whom time is really more of a guideline."
Once you have collected all 21 pieces of the 3 artifacts, you can summon Kairos.
"The Statue of Kairos is the third and final stage in the process of summoning the Legendary Dragon Kairos, who lords over time. This grand visage of Kairos depicts him holding a ball of... wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff."
Kairos
As stated above, he is summoned instantly. There is no breeding combination required, or time waiting for eggs to hatch (down side, there is no egg for display) and he is on his Perch ready for action once the pieces have been put together. He cannot be bought or sold and he does not earn DC or Gems. What he does is move your park ahead in time. Specifically, 6 hours. So you instantly jump over 6 hours worth of breeding and incubation and 6 hours of food growing. You instantly collect 6 hours worth of DC and gems in all your habitats. The only thing that doesn't get sped up is the Colosseum, and I'm hoping that's a glitch/oversight on BFS part, because that doesn't make sense to me.
After you have "Activated" Kairos and skipped your park forward 6 hours, he takes to the air and does some impressive long range flying. A 4 day count down also starts on the Activate button, so it seems that's how often he can perform this little trick.
The other thing you have at your new upgraded habitat is a "Call" button. This instantly (magically?) brings Kairos back to his Perch, in much the same way that he was summoned in the first place. I think you need to have him back on his Perch in order to be able to "Activate" the time jump. I'll let you know in 4 days ...
Other additions in update 1.11.0
Level 35 is no longer the max, and we can move on up to Level 40. However nothing useful (in fact nothing at all) is added in levels 36 to 39, and upon reaching Level 40 habitats are increased to 37. I believe this will be changed in the future, in the same way that islands and extra habitats were slotted into previous levels by BFS. For the moment, we will have to wait.
"Bone dragons can only be found for a couple weeks during the year. The rest of the year it is believed that they burrow underground near cemeteries to be around other bones. But I bet if you breed one and put it in a habitat with other bones, it would stick around. Or perhaps near a heat source to keep away the bone-chilling winter cold?."
The first limited dragon made its much-anticipated return earlier this month, completing the collections of a lot of our players. Its vital statistics are the same as when it was first released, being made from any combination that includes Fire and Earth, and is a welcome fail for those trying for an Opal Dragon.
Its decorations were also rereleased so Valers could decorate their parks for the upcoming holiday. Oh, and Bliss is running a Short Story comp based on the Bone Dragon. Check it out and put an entry in.
Ash Dragon!
"The strange expression all ash dragons have was caused by a loud magical boomstick going off near one of their ancestors. It's said the BOOM! was so loud it echoed through time and affected ash dragons throughout the generations. That seems almost as unlikely as the dead rising from their graves!."
The last of the set of Plant Hybrids (until new elements are released) made its way into our parks the first week of October, with the remaining Plant/Lightning combination, Ash. While its earning rate is identical to the Cactus Dragon, it has a 6 hour (4 hour 48 min) Breed Time, earns only 5000 XP when hatched, but sells for 500 000 DC.
It is the uncommon dragon of the Plant+Lightning combination, so the ratio of Cactus to Ash is about 4:1 in the Breeding Island from the Pure Elements, and you cannot breed an Ash Dragon using a Hybrid with only 2 elements in the mix. Plant/Lightning + Cactus/Ash and Cactus + Ash will result in a Cactus Dragon every time.
In breeding combinations containing 3 or more elements, its % is the same as the other regular resulting dragons. Current + Cactus = 25% Swamp, 25% Seaweed, 25% Cactus and 25% Ash.
POTM - October
Don't forget to nominate your favourite posts during October.
Hybrid Naming Competition
We've crossed one hybrid off this month. Guess now for the remaining dragons.
I hate the Opal Dragon!
Visit the thread to count down with our members on the way to see who is last.
We thought it was about time that our eZine had an official name, and after Tommys lovely wife suggested this one we looked no further. So please enjoy perusing The Dragon's Tale.
We've also made some changes around the forum, to help keep things cleaner, more organised, and therefore easier to get around. A summary of the changes can be found HERE. Let us know what you think.
And finally, while most of have been distracted by robots this past week, I'm sure we are all glad to have a new gemstone dragon to be trying for. Here's what's been happening in DragonVale since the last issue.
Fletch
Topaz
"On the edge of the Shimmering Isles, in the Crimson Sea, one of smaller, more mysterious islands is home to the topaz dragons. Due to their isolation, topaz dragons are a bit shy, but eventually they warm up and are one of the friendliest dragons in existence."
Breed Time Like the other gemstone dragons, the breeding time is connected to the duration of the month. 30 hours or 24 hours in an upgraded breeding cave/island.
How to get one The breeding combination has been confirmed as Cactus + Firefly. Another 3 element combination, so no Rainbow as a possible fail, and better than that, the longest fail is Ash at 6 hours! The average fail time is 2 hours 20 mins, which is great for those who can check in quite regularly to restock the Caves.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 1500 gems, but all the other stats are the same as the other Birthstone Dragons. It sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Associated Decoration Topaz Portal "This is a triumph! Instead of traveling to the tiny island in the Shimmering Isles and lugging these amazing crystal formations home, the Wizards fashioned a portal system to get them into your park. Huge success!"
"Found in the volcanic regions of Wrothmoore, the obsidian dragon's iridescent horns are sure to make it one of your visitors' favorite new dragons!"
A third dragon using the Fire and Earth Elements was released a week before October ended.
Basically, the Lava Dragon has never seen so much action.
Ghost Dragon!
"Often mistaken as the spirit of an ancient and benevolent dragon, the ghost dragon remains somewhat of a mystery. Reading the notes of the wizard Sam Hain, "The ghost dragon only shows up in the middle of the Fall, usually in conjunction with the bone dragon. My advice? Don't be afraid of no ghosts!"
BFS did not disappoint us, by re-releasing the Bone Dragon and adding another Halloween dragon to keep us breeding. Cold + Earth is the combo and any combination that has those elements could result in one.
A very cool decoration was also added, Tower Hollow, that at the moment has bats flying out of the hollow tree. You have till November 5th to grab the Halloween Dragon and their decorations.
It's been a fun month so far. We've had a Solar Eclipse, Smoke Dragon won a few posters some gems in the Hybrid Naming comp, an Update to give some variety for those still hunting down Kairos and now a Lunar Eclipse.
We've also updated our landing page to make it more DragonValey, so visit www.dragonvalecommunity.com if you haven't seen it yet.
Fletch
Lunar Eclipse
"The rare lunar eclipse dragon only ventures from its habitat on the dark side of the moon during lunar eclipses, when it is shielded from the sun's rays. Living in the frigid, sunless, blackness, this dragon is graced with a thick layer of blubber to keep it warm. Although, some wizards have suggested they're just big boned."
Two weeks after the Solar Eclipse, the Lunar Eclipse is upon us, and a limited rare dragon has been released to celebrate. Bred with any combination of Air, Earth and Cold, and Air + Mountain is our recommendation. It has a 48 hour incubation time and you have until sometime during the first week of December to breed one.
The Umbral Sculpture was actually the first clue that this new dragon would be upon us as it did not disappear from the market when the Solar Eclipse Dragon did. It has an animation again, although I think we can all agree that it is a more pleasing one.
Game Update 1.12 has just been released with a new way to collect pieces for the Perch of Kairos. There is a new button when you highlight your Perch (if you don't already have Kairos) and you can send a dragon on a quest. There are a few different quests to embark on, but they quite helpfully show the Icon for the elements required near its name. (In the attached image you need Fire and Metal.) Each quest takes a number of hours, and you can speed it up for the equivalent gems.
They have also added a new texture to any rocks you have in your park, smaller devices can zoom out further and the winners Wheel at the Race Track ends quicker (not to mention, is presented by a Witch now).
Smoke
"The smoke dragon is a misunderstood beast. The Ancients mistook them for spirits and offered them messages to carry to the Other Side. Unfortunately the only 'other side' these creatures cross to is whatever side of the campfire you move to.."
Another regular hybrid has been released, with the Smoke Dragon joining our parks. It is the uncommon companion to Blazing, being a mix of Fire and Air and any combination that includes those elements can make it, except for Air/Fire + Blazing/Firework/Smoke, Blazing + Firework/Smoke and Firework + Smoke. Unlike all the other Air Hybrids, it only sells for 100 000 DC and it has an incubation time of 14 hours.
"Many people make the mistake of thinking this dragon is the result of an impossible breeding combination between the sun and moon dragons. Instead, this dragon is born only when celestial bodies align properly. Although a wonder to behold, the wizards do not recommend staring directly at them... something about burning your eyes out?"
The Solar Eclipse Dragon has a breed time of 48 hours or 38 hours 24 mins in an upgraded breeding cave/island. Originally breedable with any combination that included Air, Fire and Earth, you can now breed another one by pairing Solar Eclipse with Blue Moon, Solstice or Equinox with a 50/50 shot at either parent.
If you don't have any of the other Sun/Moon limiteds, you can breed it with a Sun or Moon with about a 10% chance of making another one.
POTM - November
Don't forget to nominate your favourite posts during November.
Hybrid Naming Competition
We've had 3 winners so far this month. Guess now for the remaining dragons.
I hate the Tanzanite Dragon!
Visit the thread to sign up for Decembers competition.
Welcome to another issue of The Dragon's Tale. Reindeer and Turquoise are the two dragons released since last issue, and the details are below. Also, Lunar Eclipse Dragon disappears this week, so make sure you've got at least one, and as many Umbral Sculptures as you would like before they leave the market.
Also, we're wondering what else you would like to see in our DV forum eZine. We thought perhaps a round up of interesting posts for people to catch up on what they've missed out on. Is there anything else you would like to read? Is anyone even reading this? Tell you what, as a way to find out, I'll gift a Crystal/Gem to the first person that posts in the DV Impromptu Games thread with my favourite colour. Your post must be exactly one word long, your guess. It must be all lower case, because I said so. You must not answer anyone or offer an explanation as to why you posted. You are allowed one guess every five minutes. The first person to guess it will win. I will not post to tell anyone they have guessed wrong, and will quote the first post I read that is correct.
This might be fun.
Fletch
Turquoise
"Turquoise dragons inhabit the arid Khorasan region of the Shimmering Isles and are the oldest known gemstone dragons. Fun fact, despite their dry climate, their skin is the smoothest of all the dragons. Turquoise dragons, like all gemstone dragons, cannot breed."
Breed Time Like the other gemstone dragons, the breeding time is connected to the duration of the month. 31 hours or 24 hours 48 min in an upgraded breeding cave/island.
How to get one The breeding combination has been confirmed as Poison + Swamp. Another good combo this month, with only 3 elements, so no chance of Rainbow, and 2 of the 4 fails being an hour or less. An average fail time of 3 hours 52 mins will give us heaps of chances to get one or three.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 1475 gems, but all the other stats are the same as the other Birthstone Dragons. It sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Associated Decoration Cryptocrystalline Talisman "The Cryptocrystalline Talisman was created by the great potion brewer, Pliny the Middle-Aged. His extensive research proved the long held belief that turquoise is a good charm against any type of misfortune. Pliny disproved all conjecture that bad luck comes to anyone whose gem changes color. Still, you may want to check it every so often."
"These hybrid dragons come from the Far North and can only be bred near the end of the year. Centuries ago, the magical toymaker Sandakloz journeyed north to study these rare creatures. He never returned from his journey, but every year since, during the month when reindeer dragons can be bred, children wake up one day to find magical toys in boxes bearing the old mage's signature."
Another old favourite has returned to our Dragon Parks, but this time it is no longer an opposite dragon. Reindeer can be made by any combination of Plant and Cold.
It has a 5 hour breed time, earns 4500 XP and sells for 100k. We haven't got a notification of when it's leaving, but we're assuming it's here for the duration of December, so plenty of time to grab one. We'll also assuming there'll be another limited Christmas Dragon, so maybe don't dawdle too much.
So we thought it might be useful to highlight some of the interesting posts since the last issue, so that those that have been busy can catch up on what's important. In the future you can highlight a conversation that you have enjoyed and we'll make sure others know about it. You can PM Fletch, or post in the Housekeeping thread.
Post by Fletch_smf on Dec 13, 2012 21:38:43 GMT -6
The Dragon's Tale - Issue #17 - December 13, 2012
Proving that BFS are men/women of their words, Solstice Dragon has returned to our parks, and the Sun Stones are all aglow with excitement. No new dragon has joined them for the moment, but perhaps something better has come along ... the much requested Large Rare habitats. And a new Decoration has been added to the market which seems sure to indicate a new limited dragon will be with us soon. If you're a guest reading this in the forum, sign up now to receive emails as soon as new content is released.
Fletch
Solstice Dragon
Solstice Dragon is back, and as all the vital statistics seem the same, and there other exciting things to talk about, I will just link you back to a previous edition of The Dragon's Tale to catch up.
Large Sun and Moon Habitats!
"An ancient interpretation of the original Sun dragon has been recreated in this upgraded Sun habitat. Focusing the energy of the miniature star, this habitat now pulsates with enough energy to allow three Sun Dragons to live here. Tip: After saving up for one of these, your guests should probably pick up some sunscreen. A lot of sunscreen."
"We like the moon. More importantly, we love moon dragons. The more the merrier! If any dragons in this habitat are acting strange, don't worry, they're just going through a phase."
The much requested large rare habitats are here, each capable of holding 3 dragons and with a max capacity of 1.25 million DC. They cost 5 million DC, take 12 hours to build/upgrade and are 6x6 in size, twice as deep/wide as the originals. There is now plenty of room to host the plethora of Sun and Moon Dragons that we have been breeding of late.
Other Habitat Changes Treasure Habitats have also been altered to hold 3 dragons now and Seasonals hold 2. We wonder if the change to the Seasonal habitat means that something new is about to become available for it? Finally all players from Level 10 and up have been given an extra habitat, so that it now caps out at 42 at Level 40. Though with the larger size rare habitats, it's now less about the number of habitats, and the real estate available for them. Another Island must surely be coming soon.
New Decoration The last piece of exciting news for today is a new limited decoration, the Pillar of Prophecy:
"Some people believe this statue signifies the end of the world on late December. Others believe the world is in store for a big hug. A constricting, sharp toothed hug. Magic is building in the Pillar of Prophecy and some fear a vortex will ensue."
It costs 122 122 DC (21st of December, 2012) and seems to indicate that a Mayan Calendar/End of World Dragon will be available, for a limited time. Of course, if the Mayans are right we might only have 1 day to get it ...
"While exploring a cave, deep in the middle of the Berrywhite Mountains, the explorer Antonio von Sickengen discovered a third treasure dragon; the platinum. After achieving his fame with the platinum dragon, Antonio retired to a quiet life raising and studying quicksilver dragons."
A third treasure dragon has arrived at our parks, the rarer than gold platinum. It has a breed time of 49 hours (39 hours 12 mins), sells for 6 million DC (rightly the most of any dragon) and earns you 700 000 XP when hatched.
The breeding combo is any combination that includes Metal and Water and we recommend Metal/Water + Rust/Quicksilver or Rust + Quicksilver as you eliminate the chance of the lengthy Quicksilver as a fail. Once you have your first one, Gold + Platinum gives you a 1 in 3 chance at making your second.
Naturally it also has the a higher earn rate than the other Treasure Dragons, earn 231 DC a minute at Level 10. With 2 Platinums in a Treasure habitat we now have another habitat that earns faster than the 400 DC pre min of Rainbow. And with 3 we certainly beat it, but are still coming in second to the new king, Large Sun/Moon with 3 x Level 10 Solstice/Blue Moon/Solar/Lunar Eclipse which earns 954 DC per min.
"Tremendous eaters, glacier dragons follow the first rule of geography, never get separated from your lunch. Trails of excess water in your habitat? We assure you that's meltwater, not an accident."
Another piece of the egg pedestal grid has been filled in with the arrival of the other earth/cold hybrid. It can be made by any combination that includes those two elements and we recommend Air + Mountain as it has the shortest average fail time.
The Glacier Dragon has a 10 hour breed time (8 hour in an upgraded cave) sells for 100 000 DC and earns 7000 XP when hatched. Design wise, the adult looks like an Iceberg Dragon on land, which I guess makes absolute sense.
Okay, so Forum Highlights is a terrible name. Please suggest another. Post ideas in the Housekeeping thread. Feel free to post as many ideas as you have. I've got 3 gems for the person who comes up with the name we end up using.
Happy New Year to all our forum members from the Mods of THE DragonVale Community. We wish you all the very best in 2013 and welcome you to a bumper issue of The Dragon's Tale. Not only do we have the info on the new gemstone dragon, and a review of all the craziness that has been happening since the last issue, but we look back on everything Forum and DragonVale related in 2012.
Also, what is the one thing that has been missing from The Dragon's Tale? "A comic strip!" you say? Well no longer. We kick off 2013 immortalising us and our adventures in cartoon form.
Fletch
Garnet Dragon
"First discovered in several inlets of the Shimmering Isles, Garnet dragons were initially believed unsuitable for parks because of their abrasive attitudes. Fortunately, the witch Amalthea showed how to properly tame and care for these beautiful creatures. Ever since, wizards have found these dragons to be a blast!"
The latest gemstone dragon is now available; a bright and colourful red and orange with green highlights. It's another swimmer, and another baby that likes to nap.
Breed Time As expected it has a 31 hour Breed Time (24 hours 48 mins in upgraded cave).
How to Get One After exhaustive, and exhausting, testing we can confirm that Obsidian + Smoke is the combo to breed the Garnet Dragon. Once the limiteds leave the market (so that Firework and Solar Eclipse are not a fail) it will have an average fail time of exactly 10 hours. No possibility of Rainbow though, so there is that.
Vital Statistics It is purchasable for 1525 gems, but all the other stats are the same as the other Birthstone Dragons. It sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Cloisonne Runestone
"This beautiful decoration was crafted by a collaboration of Tolson the Red and Tehgood the Abrasive. Known to work together in tenuous situations, some people credit the power of their combined magics with making the floating islands in all of DragonVale a possibility."
This elegant decoration is 2x2 in size and costs 31 000 DC to buy.
"These crafty creatures snuck into the bag of holding of the magical toymaker Sandakloz. After being studied over the holidays, the wizards have found a way to counteract the singularity magic that prevented more than one existing in the same place at the same time. Clever Wizards!"
A dragon was gifted to us this Christmas (the final surprise from BFS) originally available for 0 gems with a 0 incubation time, but limited to one per park. On Boxing Day they made it available in unlimited numbers, bred with any combination of it's 3 elements, Plant/Cold/Fire. Keeping the combo to just those 3 elements eliminates the chance of Leap Year or Rainbow, and avoiding Fire and Cold as one of the parents means you won't get the opposite dragons with a 12 hour breed time.
It has a 12 hour 25 minute breed time, earns 120 250 XP and sells for 120 250 DC when sold.
Christmas in Dragonvale
Winter started on the Solstice, and the Seasonal habitat and dragon changed form again. Snow is everywhere, the pond has iced over and the leaves are gone from the feature tree and the wings of the dragon.
And winter has arrived to the rest of the dragon park, with snow and ice everywhere. The original foilage in your park has turned blue from the cold, and ironically adding blue to the yellow trees you have bought has turned them green.
Also, Christmas decorations abound (second surprise from BFS), with bows and holly everywhere and a snow globe available to buy. We're not sure how long they're here for, so enjoy them while you can.
Backflip Studios gave us all a Holiday Surprise (the first of many) by rereleasing all the limited dragons for breeding. They are only available for breeding until the 2nd, so get in fast.
We suggest going for the limiteds that won't be back this year: Paper, Leap Year, Blue Moon and Solar Eclipse. The breeding combinations can be found at our Landing Page and if you want combos for two or more dragons ask Myke and Fletch for help.
Apocalypse Dragon
"When the mythic volcano Garita erupted, wizards feared the end of the world. Luckily the only thing that emerged form those ash clouds were these incredible dragons. Be careful with teething young Apocalypse dragons as they love to gnaw on wizard footwear. You wouldn't want one to swallow your sole."
As the world didn't end on December 21st, BFS had to decide on a specific end date, rather than just "some time early in the new year", and so you have until January 9th to get one. The breeding combo is any combination that includes Metal, Cold, Lightning and Plant like Cactus/Ash + Mine/Steel or Magnetic/Copper + Lichen/Evergreen.
It's the first Epic/Limited Dragon that lives in its own habitat. We're not sure if this means there will be other dragons with an Apocalypse element in the future, or if the habitat will become unavailable to buy when the dragon disappears. We hope not, because it means you could put the dragons in the Hibernation Cave and not be able to get them out again. Time will tell. Anyway, the habitat costs 1.5 million DC, holds 2 dragons, caps out at 750 000 DC and is 5x5 in size.
The last 12 months were a tremendous year for DragonVale and the friendships forged through the internet forums. The highlights of some of what we have enjoyed are summarised below.
November 5th, 2011 - GT500Girl joins in the Tips and Tricks thread ... and it begins.
January 4th - Phibes74 joins in the Tips and Tricks thread January 10th - Vivianne (Vivipilou) joins in the Tips and Tricks thread January 12th - 250Strong joins in the Tips and Tricks thread January 14th - ICEBERG / HIDDEN FROSTFIRE January 15th - Poppy (Birdmaestro) joins in the Tips and Tricks thread January 20th - PANLONG January 23rd - TommyB joins in the Tips and Tricks thread January 27th - Fletch_smf joins in the Tips and Tricks thread January 28th - Hibernation Cave
February 2nd - LOVE February 6th - 250Strong starts the Rare Breeding Guide thread February 18th - First Speed Breeding comp announced: Leap Year Dragon February 21st - Fountain of Youth February 27th - LEAP YEAR
March 2nd - CLOVER March 13th - "Fabulously Gay Idea" auto correct March 21st - CACTUS / LICHEN March 21st - METAL / CHROME / RUST / BRASS March 21st - IRON / MAGNETIC / MINE March 24th - PixieWA (ShirleyWA) posts in the Tips and Tricks thread
April 2nd - BLOOM April 7th - New Forum Started April 13th - STEEL / HIDDEN DODO April 19th - SAKURA April 20th - DVC.com started
May 4th - Sakura Leaving May 9th - [url=http://www.dragonvalecommunity.com/May16.2012.index.html ]PLASMA / BUTTERFLY / HIDDEN CURRENT
September 1st - SAPPHIRE September 7th - BLUE MOON September 13th - PAPER September 20th - EQUINOX September 21st - Record number of users online: 273!
October 1st - OPAL October 4th - ASH DRAGON October 11th - BONE RETURNS October 14th - 500 000th visitor to the forum October 17th - KAIROS October 18th - GHOST October 25th - OBSIDIAN
November 1st - TOPAZ November 2nd - Umbral Sculpture November 2nd - 1000th Member November 6th - Koala added to word replacement November 8th - SOLAR ECLIPSE November 12th - 1 000 000th Page View November 16th - SMOKE November 20th - Quests November 21st - LUNAR ECLIPSE November 23rd - REINDEER RETURNS
Okay, so Forum Highlights is a terrible name. Please suggest another. Post ideas in the Housekeeping thread. Feel free to post as many ideas as you have. I've got 3 gems for the person who comes up with the name we end up using. (Second time I've posted this. Will we get any responses this time?)
The Dragon's Tale When looking for a story to lighten the "pages" of The Dragon's Tale in comic strip form, we obviously wanted a story centered around DragonVale but wanted to include a story connected to THE DragonVale Community as well. We decided to set it in the world of DragonVale but populate it with members of the forum and the stories that we have lived through. Enjoy.
POTM - December
Don't forget to vote for your favourite posts of December.
Hybrid Naming Competition
5 normal hybrids remaining. Guess now for your chance to win.
Post by Fletch_smf on Jan 18, 2013 16:43:51 GMT -6
The Dragon's Tale - Issue #19 - January 18th, 2013
A light issue this time around, with only the Hail Dragon being released since January 1st. We're trying to keep the eZine as a fortnightly release to keep people up to date with the board news and the comic strip, so enjoy.
Fletch
Hail Dragon
"Wizards have been noticing, and repairing, dents to their decorations for some time. The cause... hail dragons. The damage was unintentional. Hail dragons simply wag their tails enthusiastically when they see cool decorations. Now that they live in cold and lightning habitats, rest assured your decorations are safe."
Another regular hybrid has joined the ranks of the dragons in your park with the release of the uncommon Cold/Lightning Hybrid. Mixing those elements will give you a shot at the dragon, but you will have a quicker fail time if you add Fire to the mix, just as long as there is no pure Cold or Fire dragon so you avoid the Bluefire/Frostfire fails. We recommend Scorch/Firefly + Bluefire/Frostfire/Storm or Lightning + Bluefire/Frostfire.
It has an 8 hour breed time (6hrs 24 mins) earns 17 000XP when hatched and sells for 117 000 DC ... obscure amounts, but they might mean something to the people at BFS. It is also the first dragon to have two pairs of wings.
So a name has been decided on this section of the forum eZine, and we thank you for all the entries. As Judi was the first to suggest the word "embers" I am awarding her the prize and sending her the gems. From this point on, if you see something that you think others might like, please quote the post with "Forum Embers" so we can add it to the list in the eZine. PMing it to me will also work fine.
The Dragon's Tale Last week with the launch of our new comic strip, I forgot to mention that all the art is done by the talented Lemmyloop. She was our first choice to "ink" it and we were very fortunate that she has agreed to give us some of her valuable time to bring the characters to life. Now I'm not telling you what to do, but if you think that's worth a gem, maybe you could send her one.
POTM - January
Don't forget to nominate your favourite posts of January.
Hybrid Naming Competition
Crumble608 and technofanatic have won 3 gems each for picking Hail. Guess now for your chance to win.
The Dragon's Tale - Issue #20 - February 3rd, 2013
Two new dragons this fortnight with the first Greek Mythology Dragon released and the February gemstone dragon.
Also, a quick reminder to all those that Panlong Dragon is leaving soon, probably about the 10th of this month. Has it really been a year since it was released? Yes it has.
Fletch
Amethyst Dragon
"Whilst exploring the Gerias Mines, the enchantress Gigi Ode came across a spherical chamber completely covered in purple hued crystals. She quickly came to the realization that she was, in fact, surrounded by a plethora of amethyst dragons. Like all gemstone dragons, amethyst dragons cannot breed."
Breed Time As expected its breed time is 28 hours (22 hours 24 mins). What will it be in 2016?
How to get one Hail + Sonic is the only combination with predominantly 8 hour fails of Hail, Sonic and Snow with Storm the only short one at 5 hours. Because the combo includes Cold and Lightning however, Sun/Moon are possible fails that you might find a bit trying in this, the shortest of months. Only 3 elements, so no Rainbow possibilities, for those looking for a silver lining.
Price, Retail, XP and Earnings It is purchasable for 1500 gems, but like the other Birthstone Dragons it sells for 1.5 million DC, earns 100 000 XP when hatched and earns 1 gem a week at Level 10.
Associated Decoration Talons of Tryphon
"Wizards have spent near a millenia, since the ancient War of the Wizards, studying the spherical amethyst encased in the Talons of Tryphon. They've never been able to pry it loose to examine it more closely, but early theories believe the sparkles encased in the perfect sphere are actually captured stars."
A very nice looking decoration, 2x2 in size. After the 31 000 DC for the last two gem decorations, this one has the heftier price of 280 000 DC.
"The cyclops dragon was first discovered when one visited the reknowned wizard Harry's house. They immediately saw eye to eye. Harry labored over a spell that would allow them to thrive in Olympus habitats. Fun fact: Harry spends most of his efforts in creating a spell that will pause time."
We're excited to see the launch of a new series of dragons and we're assuming there will be a few more Greek mythology dragons in our future. Multiples of 3 would make sense. It has a 33 hour breed time (26hrs 24 mins) earns 300 000 XP when hatched and sells for 1.75 million DC.
Cyclops can be produced by any combination with Metal, Lightning and Water. We recommend adding Plant to the mix to give you some short fails to offset the Copper/Quicksilver fails that you can get so Ash/Cactus + Rust/Quicksilver, Copper/Magnetic + Swamp/Seaweed or Malachite/Ironwood + Current/Plasma. Once you have your first, you are almost guaranteed of a second by breeding Cyclops + Gold Olympus.
'... overwhelming goodwill, and witty humour, profound grace and compassion blended with the spice of relentless taunts.'
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Copper has a 20 hour breed time.
