One of the Dragon Draw winners has confirmed they received a normal dragon with no choice of twin, rift, etc. It shows up in your social menu as a gift once you win. They immediately posted to Deca asking for the twin and rift options, as they have all dragons already. This will be a theme going forward from many players, so hopefully Deca will change this quickly. They've had months to fix it after the initial feedback, while working out the bugs, and haven't done so yet so who knows. It would have made sense to add it then so that it could get the focused testing too that they were doing on Dragon Draw during this bug fix time period.
If you're not going to purchase shards (I can't see the cost yet for them, but I'm guessing you'll get much better returns on buying gems instead), then you really have the options of investing a few shards a day (up to 5) on dragons or saving 50 and picking a dragon every 10 days. I'm seeing dragons in the 10k to 30k range right now. With those numbers, if you play 5 shards a day you'll have a 1 in 2000 or a 1 in 6000 chance in winning. If it's 1 in 2000 tries and you get it after about halfway (good average), then that's 2.7 years to win playing every day. At 1 in 6000, it's 3x that 8.2 years.
Saving up 50 every 10 days gives you a 1 in 200 or a 1 in 600 chance. Much better odds, but since you only play every 10 days it'll still average that many years to get a win.
So unless you're buying shards, which don't guarantee you a win at all, you can expect to win a draw or two over the life of the game. If it continues for another 10 years. Hopefully they drastically adjust these odds. Multiple winners would help, cutting it from 10k to 30k down to 1k to 3k would help too. Several options, but until then I'm going to pretend this doesn't exist most days, collect every couple weeks when I remember and pick a random dragon and not spend more then 10 seconds on it, if that.
One of the Dragon Draw winners has confirmed they received a normal dragon with no choice of twin, rift, etc. It shows up in your social menu as a gift once you win. They immediately posted to Deca asking for the twin and rift options, as they have all dragons already. This will be a theme going forward from many players, so hopefully Deca will change this quickly. They've had months to fix it after the initial feedback, while working out the bugs, and haven't done so yet so who knows. It would have made sense to add it then so that it could get the focused testing too that they were doing on Dragon Draw during this bug fix time period.
I asked Recall amount the mystery egg delivery so players can obtain a twin and traited-twin, and he confirmed it was not added. As I said above, they did not make changes to Dragon Draw based on feedback from a short two-hour release, when Dragon Draw wasn’t even playable. They only worked on the bugs so it could be move out of Maintenance Mode. They will consider updates to Dragon Draw after they are sure it is operating bug-free and all players have had a chance to use it.
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I apologize, I didn’t mean to sound so negative about Dragon Draw. I like referring to it as a raffle much better than a lottery. I think that is a much better description.
The summoning circle and shard are beautiful.
I am glad to hear that there will be tweaks and you can have more shards than 50. I hope they make it attractive to all players (ability to get twins, rifts, etc.).
I was just frustrated that it was getting overhyped and tried explaining (I am not as eloquent as adlerist ). I agree that DECA needs another method to generate revenue from the game, I’m just not sure this fits with a breeding game.
Oh no, please do not apologise! Your input is important and valuable. It doesn’t matter if it’s negative. Your response and criticism wasn’t a rant; it was constructive and well-thought out. I agree that a lottery / raffle doesn’t really fit the concept of DragonVale. I think Deca may have been trying to increase the social aspect of the game by having players vote together and play against each other, and that’s a great idea. But it would’ve been even better if it revolved around breeding dragons, which is the heart of the game.
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Thank you for the explanations. It's clearer now, but I now have two questions:
1. Is the draw determined by the timer or the threshold number of shards? That is, if the required number of shards is reached before the time expires, can people still add shards to get chances, or does the lottery close? This will affect the odds, if more chances/shards can be added beyond the set limit.
2. Does the maximum (non-purchased) limit in the player's shard stash apply when shards are returned from dragons that don't get drawn? That is, if I have 50 and put 10 toward a dragon, and have acquired 45 by the time the timer expires and the dragon is withdrawn, will I be refunded all 10 shards or only 5? This seems especially relevant in the first weeks, when we are given a larger number of shards per day.
From my understanding:
1. If the number reaches max before time expires, the draw is done and a winner is announced. If the time expires, the draw is canceled and shards are returned. 2. You will be refunded 10, and have 55 shards at that point.
If you add Shards to a dragon and it doesn’t reach its threshold, all the Shards you contributed will be returned. There is no limit to the amount of Shards you can own. But if you have more than 50 saved, you won’t be able to claim the free daily Shards.
When the dragon’s threshold is met, the dragon is awarded. Other players won’t be able to contribute more Shards. The timer is there to ensure the threshold is fulfilled within a reasonable period of time, so the dragon can’t hangout all day, socialising with the other active draw dragons.
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One of the Dragon Draw winners has confirmed they received a normal dragon with no choice of twin, rift, etc. It shows up in your social menu as a gift once you win. They immediately posted to Deca asking for the twin and rift options, as they have all dragons already. This will be a theme going forward from many players, so hopefully Deca will change this quickly. They've had months to fix it after the initial feedback, while working out the bugs, and haven't done so yet so who knows. It would have made sense to add it then so that it could get the focused testing too that they were doing on Dragon Draw during this bug fix time period.
I asked Recall amount the mystery egg delivery so players can obtain a twin and traited-twin, and he confirmed it was not added. As I said above, they did not make changes to Dragon Draw based on feedback from a short two-hour release, when Dragon Draw wasn’t even playable. They only worked on the bugs so it could be move out of Maintenance Mode. They will consider updates to Dragon Draw after they are sure it is operating bug-free and all players have had a chance to use it.
The short two hour release was enough for us to see that not having rift or twins would be a problem, and to have multiple players and reps report it. I will argue that if something is so obvious in the first two hours, then it's something so glaring that it should have been addressed in the time off / bug fix period. That would have been the best time to test it internally, while they're already testing the code for existing issues with the feature and not have to restart the process again with another change down the road.
I asked Recall amount the mystery egg delivery so players can obtain a twin and traited-twin, and he confirmed it was not added. As I said above, they did not make changes to Dragon Draw based on feedback from a short two-hour release, when Dragon Draw wasn’t even playable. They only worked on the bugs so it could be move out of Maintenance Mode. They will consider updates to Dragon Draw after they are sure it is operating bug-free and all players have had a chance to use it.
The short two hour release was enough for us to see that not having rift or twins would be a problem, and to have multiple players and reps report it. I will argue that if something is so obvious in the first two hours, then it's something so glaring that it should have been addressed in the time off / bug fix period. That would have been the best time to test it internally, while they're already testing the code for existing issues with the feature and not have to restart the process again with another change down the road.
After the failed Dragon Draw release, for whatever reason, Deca decided to not add the mystery egg, and to only work on bugs. How difficult or time consuming it would’ve been for them to change the dragon delivery to the egg, nobody knows, except them. If the DV team chooses to not make updates and to focus on bugs, then that’s their decision. The team is far smaller than Backflip, who at one time had over 50 employees working exclusively on DV. That will mean requests may not occur as quickly as players want them, but unlike Backflip, at least request will be heard.
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Okay, I’m ready for my first Dragon Draw strategy post! Yesterday, I pledged all 65 Soul Shards I had to the Watch dragon. It did not meet its reserve (threshold), so today the Shards were returned.
(ignore the 3 million DC, that was a reimbursement for something else)
Interestingly, Soul Shards are not returned to your Dragon Draw total. They are delivered to your Gifts. As long as I don’t collect them from my Gifts, I can acquire up to 50 free Shards.
Since I own all the dragons, my strategy is to contribute my entire stash of Shards to a dragon that is close to expiring and will probably not make its threshold. Hopefully, the dragon will expire and the Shards will be returned to my Gifts.
I think this strategy will become increasing more difficult to achieve when all players are active with Dragon Draw, and thresholds are easily met. Also, if a lot of players do this, the dragon will reach the threshold in the closing hour. So there is a fun risk. But since I don’t have a need for Dragon Draw right now, this is the way I’ve chosen to play the game. Then one day, if I do need a dragon, hopefully I’ll have a decent amount of Shards to contribute.
(By tomorrow, this strategy will probably go up in flames.)
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I also thought of this strategy, but I am trying the long haul approach, especially since the re-release is coming and the daily gifts will increase. I put all mine into a dragon that has a ridiculously high threshold and a long time. That way I can collect the daily amount and have the stash maybe returned at the end.
Your way is faster, but mine supports my break right now. Plus my game was crashing with *every* action, so I will let DECA work on ironing out kinks.
The short two hour release was enough for us to see that not having rift or twins would be a problem, and to have multiple players and reps report it. I will argue that if something is so obvious in the first two hours, then it's something so glaring that it should have been addressed in the time off / bug fix period. That would have been the best time to test it internally, while they're already testing the code for existing issues with the feature and not have to restart the process again with another change down the road.
After the failed Dragon Draw release, for whatever reason, Deca decided to not add the mystery egg, and to only work on bugs. How difficult or time consuming it would’ve been for them to change the dragon delivery to the egg, nobody knows, except them. If the DV team chooses to not make updates and to focus on bugs, then that’s their decision. The team is far smaller than Backflip, who at one time had over 50 employees working exclusively on DV. That will mean requests may not occur as quickly as players want them, but unlike Backflip, at least request will be heard.
I know they're doing their best with a small crew, we all appreciate them continuing the game, but I will argue that you are incorrect that 'nobody knows, except them' on how difficult it would be to make a change. I have 25+ years of application development experience in one of the larger IT organizations. We estimate changes for things all the time, things for small teams, single groups, or for large scales. Those estimates must be accurate, and often times you have significantly less information on everything from the change, platform, requirements, etc then you would believe. That's part of our job. It's true for most experts in most industries. If you ask a plumber how long it'll take to do a small job that you describe at a high level, they certainly have a very good idea before they even see it in person. They won't commit to you until they come see it and ensure it is as accurate as possible, but they know.
That's where I go back and say that especially because they have a smaller team, they should have made this change already. They're in the code now, looking at it, it's in the front of their minds, and they're sending it to a QA team (or testing it themselves) to ensure everything works. Not having to repeat that in a few weeks or months with a new change saves time, saves steps, and makes it easier when you're a small development group. It's not new code, the code to do the 'new' dragons already exists with mystery eggs and reward eggs from event daily check ins. They would save time doing it now and not later. That leads me to think that they're not sure it's a good idea yet, and that part scares me.
After the failed Dragon Draw release, for whatever reason, Deca decided to not add the mystery egg, and to only work on bugs. How difficult or time consuming it would’ve been for them to change the dragon delivery to the egg, nobody knows, except them. If the DV team chooses to not make updates and to focus on bugs, then that’s their decision. The team is far smaller than Backflip, who at one time had over 50 employees working exclusively on DV. That will mean requests may not occur as quickly as players want them, but unlike Backflip, at least request will be heard.
I know they're doing their best with a small crew, we all appreciate them continuing the game, but I will argue that you are incorrect that 'nobody knows, except them' on how difficult it would be to make a change. I have 25+ years of application development experience in one of the larger IT organizations. We estimate changes for things all the time, things for small teams, single groups, or for large scales. Those estimates must be accurate, and often times you have significantly less information on everything from the change, platform, requirements, etc then you would believe. That's part of our job. It's true for most experts in most industries. If you ask a plumber how long it'll take to do a small job that you describe at a high level, they certainly have a very good idea before they even see it in person. They won't commit to you until they come see it and ensure it is as accurate as possible, but they know.
That's where I go back and say that especially because they have a smaller team, they should have made this change already. They're in the code now, looking at it, it's in the front of their minds, and they're sending it to a QA team (or testing it themselves) to ensure everything works. Not having to repeat that in a few weeks or months with a new change saves time, saves steps, and makes it easier when you're a small development group. It's not new code, the code to do the 'new' dragons already exists with mystery eggs and reward eggs from event daily check ins. They would save time doing it now and not later. That leads me to think that they're not sure it's a good idea yet, and that part scares me.
Yes, that’s true, with a detailed description, a plumber can give you an estimate for your clogged drain. But when they start repairing it and notice there’s bellied lines, root intrusion, and poor workmanship from the previous homeowner, suddenly it’s a whole new problem that’s way more time consuming, complicated, and expensive than they initially estimated.
We’ve had this conversation before. I won’t berate Deca for not doing something or tell them how to do their job. If you want to contact them and let them know the best way to fix the mystery egg delivery or offer your services, I know they’d be grateful for your assistance and knowledge.
Deca hasn’t said they won’t change Dragon Draw. Usually, when they’re sure they won’t do something, they’re upfront so we stop asking. If they say no to the mystery egg or twin / traited-twin option, I’ll let everyone know.
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Yes, that’s true, with a detailed description, a plumber can give you an estimate for your clogged drain. But when they start repairing it and notice there’s bellied lines, root intrusion, and poor workmanship from the previous homeowner, suddenly it’s a whole new problem that’s way more time consuming, complicated, and expensive than they initially estimated.
We’ve had this conversation before. I won’t berate Deca for not doing something or tell them how to do their job. If you want to contact them and let them know the best way to fix the mystery egg delivery or offer your services, I know they’d be grateful for your assistance and knowledge.
Deca hasn’t said they won’t change Dragon Draw. Usually, when they’re sure they won’t do something, they’re upfront so we stop asking. If they say no to the mystery egg or twin / traited-twin option, I’ll let everyone know.
I would assume a plumber who was told that there was a clogged drain would consider the range of simple stuck item vs a major issue with an outside root problem vs an entire system that needs rebuilding to code. They already know it could be any of that. Slow leak in the toilet tank into the bowl? Range is mostly a replacement of the internal guts to just a new toilet if there's a crack. They know their ranges, and it's accurate in the vast majority of the time.
The same with the code, and given their experience at this point adding this new functionality, adding all the new various things they have in events, there's no way you'll convince me this change is an entire rebuild of the plumbing in the house when it's a worn out flapper in a toilet. They certainly don't need my expertise or anyone else new at this point to make the change. Learning someone else's code has a startup time that they've already gone through. They just need to decide to prioritize the change, they have the knowledge at this point.
And I think it is important that we do let them know we're not happy about their priorities. I would love to continue to support them, to support the game and make future purchases, to continue playing. And if I feel that their direction is wrong and say nothing, then it's already over for me. So I disagree with not telling them how to do their job. When you're selling a product, customers should be telling you exactly what to do. You listen to them and make the decision best for your business, and it may make some unhappy, and if you make the right choice you'll lose some but gain more. I may just not be their target anymore.
Yes, that’s true, with a detailed description, a plumber can give you an estimate for your clogged drain. But when they start repairing it and notice there’s bellied lines, root intrusion, and poor workmanship from the previous homeowner, suddenly it’s a whole new problem that’s way more time consuming, complicated, and expensive than they initially estimated.
We’ve had this conversation before. I won’t berate Deca for not doing something or tell them how to do their job. If you want to contact them and let them know the best way to fix the mystery egg delivery or offer your services, I know they’d be grateful for your assistance and knowledge.
Deca hasn’t said they won’t change Dragon Draw. Usually, when they’re sure they won’t do something, they’re upfront so we stop asking. If they say no to the mystery egg or twin / traited-twin option, I’ll let everyone know.
I would assume a plumber who was told that there was a clogged drain would consider the range of simple stuck item vs a major issue with an outside root problem vs an entire system that needs rebuilding to code. They already know it could be any of that. Slow leak in the toilet tank into the bowl? Range is mostly a replacement of the internal guts to just a new toilet if there's a crack. They know their ranges, and it's accurate in the vast majority of the time.
The same with the code, and given their experience at this point adding this new functionality, adding all the new various things they have in events, there's no way you'll convince me this change is an entire rebuild of the plumbing in the house when it's a worn out flapper in a toilet. They certainly don't need my expertise or anyone else new at this point to make the change. Learning someone else's code has a startup time that they've already gone through. They just need to decide to prioritize the change, they have the knowledge at this point.
And I think it is important that we do let them know we're not happy about their priorities. I would love to continue to support them, to support the game and make future purchases, to continue playing. And if I feel that their direction is wrong and say nothing, then it's already over for me. So I disagree with not telling them how to do their job. When you're selling a product, customers should be telling you exactly what to do. You listen to them and make the decision best for your business, and it may make some unhappy, and if you make the right choice you'll lose some but gain more. I may just not be their target anymore.
There’s a big difference between providing feedback, complaining, and letting a company know how you feel versus telling a company how to do their job. If you want to tell them how to add the mystery egg, or how they could’ve done it last month, I’m not saying don’t do it. All I’m saying is you don’t need me to tell them for you. If you want me to tell them you’re unhappy with their priorities because they didn’t add the mystery egg already, I can do that. But I’m not going to get into plumbing issues with them and how to code. Deca is very available and you can reach out to them if you want to get into greater detail with them.
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Telling them to prioritize making Dragon Draw useful while bug fix it isn't telling them how to do their job. It's telling them the priority of several of the customers. It was mentioned originally that we may not understand the complexities of making the change as an argument why it wasn't done, and my point is that some do understand and that's why I hit on that detail. While I see their smaller size impacting new content releases, certainly, it shouldn't have much impact on small tweaks in code they're working on already. They chose not to do so.
I do appreciate that they listen on requests, and they've made many minor fixes that Backflip likely would have left in place. But I also felt like Backflip had a better long term plan for end game players than Deca has at this time, regardless of some of that feedback. We'll just have to disagree on this issue and move on, and I hope that they do make significant improvements to Dragon Draw in the near future both in odds and in dragon types available. They should be able to run the same math we do and see that's it's not a good thing for players as is, and I'm a little unhappy they want to take money from people for pure gambling with likely no return.
Telling them to prioritize making Dragon Draw useful while bug fix it isn't telling them how to do their job. It's telling them the priority of several of the customers. It was mentioned originally that we may not understand the complexities of making the change as an argument why it wasn't done, and my point is that some do understand and that's why I hit on that detail. While I see their smaller size impacting new content releases, certainly, it shouldn't have much impact on small tweaks in code they're working on already. They chose not to do so.
I do appreciate that they listen on requests, and they've made many minor fixes that Backflip likely would have left in place. But I also felt like Backflip had a better long term plan for end game players than Deca has at this time, regardless of some of that feedback. We'll just have to disagree on this issue and move on, and I hope that they do make significant improvements to Dragon Draw in the near future both in odds and in dragon types available. They should be able to run the same math we do and see that's it's not a good thing for players as is, and I'm a little unhappy they want to take money from people for pure gambling with likely no return.
If you want me to tell them you’re unhappy with their priorities because they didn’t add the mystery egg already, I can do that.
So I’ll pass this on.
Backflip were endgame players, so they had a better perspective of endgamers’ needs. Deca is newer, so their perspective tends to address newer players more.
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Why do I not have this in any of my Parks? Where do I find it?
Hopefully Dragon Draw will be rolled out to everyone at the next reset. It is currently only available to players who managed to obtain the Summoning Circle when Dragon Draw was first launched.
If you're not going to purchase shards (I can't see the cost yet for them, but I'm guessing you'll get much better returns on buying gems instead), then you really have the options of investing a few shards a day (up to 5) on dragons or saving 50 and picking a dragon every 10 days.
I spent all my shards yesterday, and got 25 shards today.
If you don’t own the Summoning Circle, you can purchase it now. And join in on this thread!
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The collection of shards does not seem to be a daily thing. It seems to be a 24 hour (not sure, I didn’t really pay attention when I collected yesterday, might be 23) from when you collected. I can’t collect again for another 5 hours.
The long haul strategy failed miserably because they seem to have completely reset the game and there is no trace of the dragon I placed shards on which still had a 3 day time last night. The completed list does not say I contributed to any dragons. Since the shards were returned to adlerist in the social menu and not in the summoning circle there is no point to do the long haul strategy and her strategy is better.
Post by DragonMoonX on Oct 27, 2021 9:21:05 GMT -6
Guess I'm out for a while. I just tossed in all my shards for Viridian, but the little critter got away. 😕
This is bringing back memories of listening to the winning names being called out at the raffles I went to... and none of them were mine.
Ah, but I'm having fun, though. It's amazing how fast the summoning bar is filling up now. Before it would take several hours. Now it flies by in a matter of minutes. Surely there must be people out there who are also having a good time with this. Not just the newcomers, I bet. 😊
Last Edit: Oct 27, 2021 9:22:36 GMT -6 by DragonMoonX
We share our physical lives with those in spirit. For life, like love, never dies. Love knows no limits, not even death.
Gaaaahhhh, I think I had the Summoning Circle in two of my games but I don't remember where I put it! Apparently I missed the first day of the soft launch because I didn't have time to check in here yesterday and didn't get a notice on my loading screens about it yesterday.
After getting kicked out of the game several times during the tutorial, the summoning circle is in my park. I understand the odds are not in anyone’s favor, and I probably will not be participating often, as I have most regular dragons. But it would be nice if the dragorium was changed to show dragon types, so I could find the odd dragon from the 600+ that I don’t have a regular, un rifted or non-twin. Then I would participate as another chance for that elusive dragon.
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