Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
Nope, doesn't bother me. I like Crawler. 💙
I noticed that one white line on its belly runs over into the grey, but that's just a minor flaw that doesn't really bother me. Nothing is ever perfect in life anyway. The Native Americans have a belief that, whenever they're making something, like weaving a basket or making clothing, they always have to intentionally make one thing wrong with it. Because they say that's the way nature intended it, because nothing is without flaws in life. Which is an idea I love. Seems more natural that way.
The pattern ending in a spade is just part of the natural design, I think. I don't see anything wrong with it. I like it. I think it's a nice bit of extra detail. I didn't really think about whether it's an exoskeleton or a pattern on the belly. I just like the way it looks. To me, it looks nicely done and is a very pretty dragon. But imo I think it's just lines or stripes on it's underbelly.
I think the animation where its dragging itself around is intentional. Hence the name Crawler. But I think the dragon is beautiful as it is, even with its crawling motion and design flaws. Things don't have to be perfect to be deserving of love. None of us are perfect anyway. So I just accept it as is and gladly gave it a home with the others.
Last Edit: Jul 17, 2022 8:55:02 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.
Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
Nope, doesn't bother me. I like Crawler. 💙
I noticed that one white line on its belly runs over into the grey, but that's just a minor flaw that doesn't really bother me. Nothing is ever perfect in life anyway. The Native Americans have a belief that, whenever they're making something, like weaving a basket or making clothing, they always have to intentionally make one thing wrong with it. Because they say that's the way nature intended it, because nothing is without flaws in life. Which is an idea I love. Seems more natural that way.
The pattern ending in a spade is just part of the natural design, I think. I don't see anything wrong with it. I like it. I think it's a nice bit of extra detail. I didn't really think about whether it's an exoskeleton or a pattern on the belly. I just like the way it looks. To me, it looks nicely done and is a very pretty dragon. But imo I think it's just lines or stripes on it's underbelly.
I think the animation where its dragging itself around is intentional. Hence the name Crawler. But I think the dragon is beautiful as it is, even with its crawling motion and design flaws. Things don't have to be perfect to be deserving of love. None of us are perfect anyway. So I just accept it as is and gladly gave it a home with the others.
Thanks for the response to my post!
More to the point, why does the Vale need a Crawler dragon at this particular time - dropped in as a surprise at the tail end of an event that already features a reduction in EC earnings and horrible breeding odds for most of the event dragons? The timing is awful. And every new dragon adds another potential breeding fail to the game, all the way out to 60 hours for Triple Rainbow and 70 hours for Hyperion. How is this even remotely “fun”?
The drawing perspective issue has not generally been a problem until the past year or two. The most glaring example is the Winter Theme with its rectangular window at the front that features skating bears. The window looks completely out of place because no attempt was made to tilt the window at the same angle as the rest of the theme. On the Crawler dragon the spade shape under the neck is oriented in a way that makes it look like it is detached from the dragon - like an old bandaid coming unstuck at one end. The left side needs to be angled more sharply to follow the line of the neck. This is pretty basic stuff.
Taken together, the release timing for Crawler combined with the drawing perspective issues pushed me over the critical mass required to lodge a complaint. All opinions are welcome.
I noticed that one white line on its belly runs over into the grey, but that's just a minor flaw that doesn't really bother me. Nothing is ever perfect in life anyway. The Native Americans have a belief that, whenever they're making something, like weaving a basket or making clothing, they always have to intentionally make one thing wrong with it. Because they say that's the way nature intended it, because nothing is without flaws in life. Which is an idea I love. Seems more natural that way.
The pattern ending in a spade is just part of the natural design, I think. I don't see anything wrong with it. I like it. I think it's a nice bit of extra detail. I didn't really think about whether it's an exoskeleton or a pattern on the belly. I just like the way it looks. To me, it looks nicely done and is a very pretty dragon. But imo I think it's just lines or stripes on it's underbelly.
I think the animation where its dragging itself around is intentional. Hence the name Crawler. But I think the dragon is beautiful as it is, even with its crawling motion and design flaws. Things don't have to be perfect to be deserving of love. None of us are perfect anyway. So I just accept it as is and gladly gave it a home with the others.
Thanks for the response to my post!
More to the point, why does the Vale need a Crawler dragon at this particular time - dropped in as a surprise at the tail end of an event that already features a reduction in EC earnings and horrible breeding odds for most of the event dragons? The timing is awful. And every new dragon adds another potential breeding fail to the game, all the way out to 60 hours for Triple Rainbow and 70 hours for Hyperion. How is this even remotely “fun”?
The drawing perspective issue has not generally been a problem until the past year or two. The most glaring example is the Winter Theme with its rectangular window at the front that features skating bears. The window looks completely out of place because no attempt was made to tilt the window at the same angle as the rest of the theme. On the Crawler dragon the spade shape under the neck is oriented in a way that makes it look like it is detached from the dragon - like an old bandaid coming unstuck at one end. The left side needs to be angled more sharply to follow the line of the neck. This is pretty basic stuff.
Taken together, the release timing for Crawler combined with the drawing perspective issues pushed me over the critical mass required to lodge a complaint. All opinions are welcome.
The polar bears on the Winter theme is my fault, because I had been relentlessly requesting the polar bear from the Xmas event island for a full year. It had gotten to the point where the ice bear became a running joke with Deca and the Game Reps, because I brought up the bear at every opportune and inopportune moment. So last winter, Deca wonderfully added it. The reason why it doesn’t completely mesh with the island theme is because they used that exact asset. The request was for the polar bear on the event island. Deca was not looking to create a new ice bear or reanimate it, and that’s why the perspective doesn’t match.
Hyperion is a limited dragon with a locked breeding combo, so it can never be a breeding fail. Deca has added a lot of new dragons, but the vast majority are limiteds with locked combos. The ones that do not have locked combos can’t be fails, unless they’re available, which usually means during their event. So most of the dragons Deca has developed aren’t increasing the number of outcomes. The only notable exception is Triple Rainbow.
Deca informed the Game Reps about an additional limited event dragon a day before its details were released and my post warning our members. We had a very, very, long discussion with them. From their data, players were earning a lot of event currency due to the extra Double Days, more currency than the last event.
Deca knows how we feel about surprise limiteds. We have made that abundantly clear. They have definitely minimised the practice, but it will likely be something they may occasionally include. We spent an entire day discussing the extra limited, the ill timing with the 20% EC reduction, and how this affects players. Believe me, we covered it all. When it was clear that Deca had made their decision, it seemed to me that if the extra limited had high breeding and cloning percentages, less than four elements to minimise long Rainbow breeding fails (especially with Enfis and Party lurking), and both limiteds were available for 10 days, then the complaints from the DV communities would be greatly minimised — because what frustrates players the most is the inability to breed new dragons. This is exactly what Deca delivered. Crawler is a three-element dragon (no Rainbow fails), and does not contain earth, lighting, air (no Olympus fails), or fire, cold, air (no Snowy Olympus fails), so it doesn’t have long breeding fails. And the breeding and cloning percentages are high. Players shouldn’t have too much trouble breeding or cloning it in the co-op over 10 days. Kann also has a decent breeding percentage. So, yes, surprise limiteds are never welcomed, but as far as they go, Crawler was the best possible outcome. The only thing that could’ve topped Crawler is a permanent golden hybrid.
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Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
I assumed Crawler had a transparent belly, and the white was its skeleton, likely because Worms informed me that his Glob dragon has a translucent belly and was not, in fact, carrying a sandwich in its paw, as I initially thought. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, I applied the diaphanous belly to Crawler.
Since Crawler only has two legs, he’s kinda forced to drag his torso / tail along. I think it gives him a snake-like appearance, so as a dragon it works. But it is an unfortunately tedious way to get around town.
Perhaps Crawler was rushed. From what Deca told us, he was not originally part of the event. Although like samiam I also prefer Crawler to some of the other event dragons, so the original decision to exclude him is curious.
Here’s a concept drawing of Crawler. It’s a great drawing, because it shows the different shapes that were considered and this incredible final sketch. I really wish Deca chose this version with the elongated and crooked red spikes. The matching red colour on the belly shows that the bony lines may not be skeletal, but a design element on Crawler’s underside that protrudes from the dragon, or as you suggested, an exoskeleton.
Last Edit: Jul 18, 2022 0:43:41 GMT -6 by adlerist
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The seas have parted for the stunning Nagini, who miraculously bred a twin Crawler, even though I had Kann in the co-op 🤯
I do not understand your powers, nagini. Pirated gems and looted treats are sailing into your Vale in great amazement. Many, many cheers to you! ❤️
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I cloned a Crawler in co-op using Elder Water. Only took two tries. Great cloning odds.
🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨
I concur, cloned Crawler on the first try with Dark elder. The elders are doing their notable magic! Although, I’ve likely spent all my luck for a while.
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Post by grandpakenny on Jul 17, 2022 14:48:08 GMT -6
I haven’t been on here for a while so I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this but I haven’t encountered a ‘portrait mode’ ad for quit a while.
Because of my career in software and problem solving, I don’t believe in coincidences… there’s ALWAYS a reason/cause for something. I could be wrong but I think DECA has done something about portrait mode ads. Thanks DECA … 🤞🤞🤞
Lots to respond to here. Thanks for all the information, adlerist.
First of all, I’m happy to hear the decision to unleash another dragon on the Vale at the end of the current event was not taken lightly. How many of the players were saving EC to buy dragons or habitats at the end of this event only to find they might need it for the Crawler dragon in case of a breeding failure? The only reason I had any extra EC is because I spent real money to get it, even though I availed myself of every opportunity to earn EC through game play (including solving the donation boards most every day in the Rift with some luck and quite a few gems). I routinely buy some EC on the first double-day of every event as insurance in case I am unable to breed or clone any of the new dragons. If I have enough EC I will sometimes buy a new dragon in order to escape the breeding ordeal. Introducing a new dragon at the end of an event upends those calculations and does not go down very well, at least with me. My Dragonarium breathes red fire and ghosts, and I want to keep it that way. No pressure!
Speaking of breeding: How many posts have been written about not being able to breed traited parents of new event dragons? I have been trying for a traited Tidal dragon almost every day since the first day of this event and am still traited Tidal dragonless. DV has never been about instant gratification, but the breeding aspect has indeed become an ordeal. At one point last week all three of my Vale breeding caves were clogged with 36 hour or longer fails. Again, where’s the fun in that?
Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
I quite like Crawler. His 'ecoskeleton' pattern doesn't bother me, it is a bit different. I do like the red better than the white that he ended up with. Looking at the concept drawing that adlerist provided, I wonder if the 'spade' on his chest is supposed to be a spike similar to the spikes on the rest of his body and tail. But it does look like is it disconnecting from his body on the dragon in game.
More to the point, why does the Vale need a Crawler dragon at this particular time - dropped in as a surprise at the tail end of an event that already features a reduction in EC earnings and horrible breeding odds for most of the event dragons? The timing is awful. And every new dragon adds another potential breeding fail to the game, all the way out to 60 hours for Triple Rainbow and 70 hours for Hyperion. How is this even remotely “fun”?
The drawing perspective issue has not generally been a problem until the past year or two. The most glaring example is the Winter Theme with its rectangular window at the front that features skating bears. The window looks completely out of place because no attempt was made to tilt the window at the same angle as the rest of the theme. On the Crawler dragon the spade shape under the neck is oriented in a way that makes it look like it is detached from the dragon - like an old bandaid coming unstuck at one end. The left side needs to be angled more sharply to follow the line of the neck. This is pretty basic stuff.
Taken together, the release timing for Crawler combined with the drawing perspective issues pushed me over the critical mass required to lodge a complaint. All opinions are welcome.
The polar bears on the Winter theme is my fault, because I had been relentlessly requesting the polar bear from the Xmas event island for a full year. It had gotten to the point where the ice bear became a running joke with Deca and the Game Reps, because I brought up the bear at every opportune and inopportune moment. So last winter, Deca wonderfully added it. The reason why it doesn’t completely mesh with the island theme is because they used that exact asset. The request was for the polar bear on the event island. Deca was not looking to create a new ice bear or reanimate it, and that’s why the perspective doesn’t match.
Hyperion is a limited dragon with a locked breeding combo, so it can never be a breeding fail. Deca has added a lot of new dragons, but the vast majority are limiteds with locked combos. The ones that do not have locked combos can’t be fails, unless they’re available, which usually means during their event. So most of the dragons Deca has developed aren’t increasing the number of outcomes. The only notable exception is Triple Rainbow.
Deca informed the Game Reps about an additional limited event dragon a day before its details were released and my post warning our members. We had a very, very, long discussion with them. From their data, players were earning a lot of event currency due to the extra Double Days, more currency than the last event.
Deca knows how we feel about surprise limiteds. We have made that abundantly clear. They have definitely minimised the practice, but it will likely be something they may occasionally include. We spent an entire day discussing the extra limited, the ill timing with the 20% EC reduction, and how this affects players. Believe me, we covered it all. When it was clear that Deca had made their decision, it seemed to me that if the extra limited had high breeding and cloning percentages, less than four elements to minimise long Rainbow breeding fails (especially with Enfis and Party lurking), and both limiteds were available for 10 days, then the complaints from the DV communities would be greatly minimised — because what frustrates players the most is the inability to breed new dragons. This is exactly what Deca delivered. Crawler is a three-element dragon (no Rainbow fails), and does not contain earth, lighting, air (no Olympus fails), or fire, cold, air (no Snowy Olympus fails), so it doesn’t have long breeding fails. And the breeding and cloning percentages are high. Players shouldn’t have too much trouble breeding or cloning it in the co-op over 10 days. Kann also has a decent breeding percentage. So, yes, surprise limiteds are never welcomed, but as far as they go, Crawler was the best possible outcome. The only thing that could’ve topped Crawler is a permanent golden hybrid.
Thanks for confirming the reason why Deca unexpectedly sprung Crawler on us adlerist. Although the extra dragon wasn't entirely welcome. we appreciate the efforts of the Game Reps to ensure that Crawler had good breeding odds with no long breeding fails.
From their data, players were earning a lot of event currency due to the extra Double Days, more currency than the last event. Deca probably brought that upon themselves and I don't think it was all to do with the extra Double Days. After dropping the currency by 20%, there was probably panic plant farming from the beginning of the event so that players could be sure of getting the amount of currency they needed for the dragons that they wanted.
Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
I assumed Crawler had a transparent belly, and the white was its skeleton, likely because Worms informed me that his Glob dragon has a translucent belly and was not, in fact, carrying a sandwich in its paw, as I initially thought. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, I applied the diaphanous belly to Crawler.
Since Crawler only has two legs, he’s kinda forced to dragon his torso / tail along. I think it gives him a snake-like appearance, so as a dragon it works. But it is an unfortunately tedious way to get around town.
Perhaps Crawler was rushed. From what Deca told us, he was not originally part of the event. Although like samiam, I also prefer Crawler to some of the other event dragons, so the original decision to exclude him is curious.
Here’s a concept drawing of Crawler. It’s a great drawing, because it shows the different shapes that were considered and this incredible final sketch. I really wish Deca chose this version with the elongated and crooked red spikes. The matching red colour on the belly shows that the bony lines may not be skeletal, but a design element on Crawler’s underside that protrudes from the dragon, or as you suggested, an exoskeleton.
The markings on the Vale’s dragons are generally unambiguous in their detail and execution. The bright white markings on Crawler’s belly are bizarre, jarring, and inconsistent. I can’t tell what they are supposed to represent. The Glob concept dragon by Worms is easier on the eyes and the pattern on the belly behind the legs consistently overlaps the line that marks the top and bottom halves of the dragon. I wish Crawler had been done with the same attention to detail as Glob. Sorry, but nearly a lifetime spent in the music performance business has made me a hopeless perfectionist. Or maybe just hopeless. Take your pick.
A couple of events ago Deca made a mid-event quick fix to the Hidden Theme where it was encroaching on an adjacent island, maybe setting a precedent along the way. We know it can be done. The skating bears in the Winter Theme are well worth preserving, but is there room in the theme to add some landscaping, shading, snow, or shadows to make it look like the rectangular screen is sitting in a steep cleft or valley of its own with more of a head-on tilt than the rest of the theme? That would preserve the bears and make the rectangular screen look like it is sitting in a natural part of the landscape instead of just being stuck on. Winter is still five months away in the northern hemisphere. This should hopefully provide more than enough time for Deca to work some of their magic on the Winter Theme.
obijuan, I don’t think adding trees and shading will make much of a difference for the polar bears, because they’re 2D images. If the ice rink or surrounding area looks more 3D with shading, then the bears will look flatter. Adding trees for depth will block contents on the island, so I don’t think Deca would be willing to place anything tall around or behind the rink.
Deca fixed the Hidden island theme because I told them you noticed layering issues and provided them with your screenshots. Layering problems are completely different, and a whole lot easier to address, than trying to make animated bears look more three dimensional.
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Lots to respond to here. Thanks for all the information, adlerist.
First of all, I’m happy to hear the decision to unleash another dragon on the Vale at the end of the current event was not taken lightly. How many of the players were saving EC to buy dragons or habitats at the end of this event only to find they might need it for the Crawler dragon in case of a breeding failure? The only reason I had any extra EC is because I spent real money to get it, even though I availed myself of every opportunity to earn EC through game play (including solving the donation boards most every day in the Rift with some luck and quite a few gems). I routinely buy some EC on the first double-day of every event as insurance in case I am unable to breed or clone any of the new dragons. If I have enough EC I will sometimes buy a new dragon in order to escape the breeding ordeal. Introducing a new dragon at the end of an event upends those calculations and does not go down very well, at least with me. My Dragonarium breathes red fire and ghosts, and I want to keep it that way. No pressure!
Speaking of breeding: How many posts have been written about not being able to breed traited parents of new event dragons? I have been trying for a traited Tidal dragon almost every day since the first day of this event and am still traited Tidal dragonless. DV has never been about instant gratification, but the breeding aspect has indeed become an ordeal. At one point last week all three of my Vale breeding caves were clogged with 36 hour or longer fails. Again, where’s the fun in that?
The problem with the Paradise / Pirates events is they highlight Treasure dragons. Treasure dragons are notorious for their long breeding fails due to their elements.
Some of Backflip’s dragons, like Djinni, have extremely low percentages. It’s a long uphill battle to convince Deca to alter Backflip’s dragons. If there’s an error or bug, that’s one thing. But asking them to make Backflip’s dragons easier to breed is a completely different discussion, and right now, I don’t see them making this change.
It’s a much easier and productive route to ask Deca to consider the breeding percentages for upcoming dragons. And to be fair, Deca has listened to the community’s feedback and raised the percentages for their dragons. The new event dragons for the last nine or so months have much higher breeding percentages than Backflip’s dragons during their final years.
But if you think the percentages should be higher, or the cloning percentages higher, then include that on the Rate a Dragon threads, or post your comments on the Vote for the Top Event Dragon thread. That’s the best way to provide feedback, because it’s passed on to the DV Team.
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Due to a potential limit on the number of friends a player can have before issues arise in the game, I will only be able to add Forum members. Thank you, for your understanding, and please consider joining us!
The polar bears on the Winter theme is my fault, because I had been relentlessly requesting the polar bear from the Xmas event island for a full year. It had gotten to the point where the ice bear became a running joke with Deca and the Game Reps, because I brought up the bear at every opportune and inopportune moment. So last winter, Deca wonderfully added it. The reason why it doesn’t completely mesh with the island theme is because they used that exact asset. The request was for the polar bear on the event island. Deca was not looking to create a new ice bear or reanimate it, and that’s why the perspective doesn’t match.
Hyperion is a limited dragon with a locked breeding combo, so it can never be a breeding fail. Deca has added a lot of new dragons, but the vast majority are limiteds with locked combos. The ones that do not have locked combos can’t be fails, unless they’re available, which usually means during their event. So most of the dragons Deca has developed aren’t increasing the number of outcomes. The only notable exception is Triple Rainbow.
Deca informed the Game Reps about an additional limited event dragon a day before its details were released and my post warning our members. We had a very, very, long discussion with them. From their data, players were earning a lot of event currency due to the extra Double Days, more currency than the last event.
Deca knows how we feel about surprise limiteds. We have made that abundantly clear. They have definitely minimised the practice, but it will likely be something they may occasionally include. We spent an entire day discussing the extra limited, the ill timing with the 20% EC reduction, and how this affects players. Believe me, we covered it all. When it was clear that Deca had made their decision, it seemed to me that if the extra limited had high breeding and cloning percentages, less than four elements to minimise long Rainbow breeding fails (especially with Enfis and Party lurking), and both limiteds were available for 10 days, then the complaints from the DV communities would be greatly minimised — because what frustrates players the most is the inability to breed new dragons. This is exactly what Deca delivered. Crawler is a three-element dragon (no Rainbow fails), and does not contain earth, lighting, air (no Olympus fails), or fire, cold, air (no Snowy Olympus fails), so it doesn’t have long breeding fails. And the breeding and cloning percentages are high. Players shouldn’t have too much trouble breeding or cloning it in the co-op over 10 days. Kann also has a decent breeding percentage. So, yes, surprise limiteds are never welcomed, but as far as they go, Crawler was the best possible outcome. The only thing that could’ve topped Crawler is a permanent golden hybrid.
Thanks for confirming the reason why Deca unexpectedly sprung Crawler on us adlerist . Although the extra dragon wasn't entirely welcome. we appreciate the efforts of the Game Reps to ensure that Crawler had good breeding odds with no long breeding fails.
From their data, players were earning a lot of event currency due to the extra Double Days, more currency than the last event. Deca probably brought that upon themselves and I don't think it was all to do with the extra Double Days. After dropping the currency by 20%, there was probably panic plant farming from the beginning of the event so that players could be sure of getting the amount of currency they needed for the dragons that they wanted.
Deca said it wasn’t due to plant farming. It was the extra Double Days. They’re comparing this event with the last one. The previous event didn’t have a mechanism for event currency or extra doubles, so I can see how players could have more currency with the donation boards and four more Double Days.
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I haven’t been on here for a while so I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this but I haven’t encountered a ‘portrait mode’ ad for quit a while.
Because of my career in software and problem solving, I don’t believe in coincidences… there’s ALWAYS a reason/cause for something. I could be wrong but I think DECA has done something about portrait mode ads. Thanks DECA … 🤞🤞🤞
Deca has removed a lot of the problematic ads that were reported by Forum members. Thank you to everyone who reported adverts, you’ve made a huge difference!
There are still ads that play in portrait and cause stretchy screen, but not nearly as many. I did receive some this week. The ads are on rotation, so it sounds like you’ve been winning the advert roulette wheel lately.
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Obijuan, the design issues you mention don't bother me because I don't have the idea that the vale has to look realistic, or even consistent. It's a game of imagination, and I think of perspective "glitches" like the polar bears as Picasso-like. Many non-Western artistic traditions employ perspective inconsistencies. And there are now so many different artistic styles in the dragons, from very cartoony to elegant, and so many different players' reactions, that I think it's good thing to have a variety. Some dragons appeal to me less than others, but those are some other people's favorites, so that's fine. I'm glad everything doesn't all look the same. The eclectic variety feels more inclusive to me, and I would rather have the diversity in the game than trying to make everything stylistically uniform.
More to the point, why does the Vale need a Crawler dragon at this particular time - dropped in as a surprise at the tail end of an event that already features a reduction in EC earnings and horrible breeding odds for most of the event dragons? The timing is awful. And every new dragon adds another potential breeding fail to the game, all the way out to 60 hours for Triple Rainbow and 70 hours for Hyperion. How is this even remotely “fun”?
The drawing perspective issue has not generally been a problem until the past year or two. The most glaring example is the Winter Theme with its rectangular window at the front that features skating bears. The window looks completely out of place because no attempt was made to tilt the window at the same angle as the rest of the theme. On the Crawler dragon the spade shape under the neck is oriented in a way that makes it look like it is detached from the dragon - like an old bandaid coming unstuck at one end. The left side needs to be angled more sharply to follow the line of the neck. This is pretty basic stuff.
Taken together, the release timing for Crawler combined with the drawing perspective issues pushed me over the critical mass required to lodge a complaint. All opinions are welcome.
The polar bears on the Winter theme is my fault, because I had been relentlessly requesting the polar bear from the Xmas event island for a full year. It had gotten to the point where the ice bear became a running joke with Deca and the Game Reps, because I brought up the bear at every opportune and inopportune moment. So last winter, Deca wonderfully added it. The reason why it doesn’t completely mesh with the island theme is because they used that exact asset. The request was for the polar bear on the event island. Deca was not looking to create a new ice bear or reanimate it, and that’s why the perspective doesn’t match.
I wouldn’t say the polar bears are your fault. Everybody wanted the polar bear for three years. Each Christmas players posted about it on the event thread and Dear DECA and on Reddit and Discord. Everyone loves that little guy. You were just passing on the message for all the forum, Reddit and Discord players. And you got it done! I remember when the Winter theme came out, I was so surprised and so happy! I bought 6 of them lol. Everybody loves polar bears!
Deca has brought many superbly designed dragons to the Vale, but the Crawler dragon is not one of them, in my opinion. Crawler has an unfinished, rushed-into-the event look. The white crosshatch pattern on the belly needs to be cleaned up. The first two crosshatches behind the legs end in sharp points that overlap the line where the grey topside coloring begins. All of the other crosshatches end exactly where the grey coloring begins. Is the white pattern an exoskeleton or is it just a decorative pattern on Crawler’s belly? The perspective is also wrong at the front end of the crosshatch pattern where it ends in a spade shape under the neck. Again, is this part of a detached exoskeleton or is it part of a pattern on the belly of the dragon? If it’s the latter then the drawing perspective needs to be corrected to better conform to the curvature of the neck. Finally, Crawler’s back looks like it has been broken two or three crosshatches behind the legs where there is a complete disconnect in the animation. There is animated motion in front of the break, but the last third of the dragon looks like it’s being dragged around uselessly by the poor creature. Other long dragons mostly animate the entire length of the body instead of having Crawler’s broken-back animation. Is this intentional?
I apologize for being so critical. Crawler looks like a terrific dragon that I will enjoy having in my park, but I would prefer to have the drawing and animation worked out to a higher level of fit and finish. Is anyone else in the community bothered by what I am seeing?
I LOVE Crawler and have no problem with the artwork, animation, or it’s late entry into the game. I have been frustrated by so many long fails in this event, but I’ve managed to get every dragon - and still have a few days of the event left! If I could criticize any dragons’ designs it would be the ones that look like cartoons, dressed up to fit a theme and with overly done animation.
I am having no luck breeding Kann, but I'm getting so many Sun dragons, my park is probably the reason that the UK is having a heat wave at the moment. 😉
Obijuan, the design issues you mention don't bother me because I don't have the idea that the vale has to look realistic, or even consistent. It's a game of imagination, and I think of perspective "glitches" like the polar bears as Picasso-like. Many non-Western artistic traditions employ perspective inconsistencies. And there are now so many different artistic styles in the dragons, from very cartoony to elegant, and so many different players' reactions, that I think it's good thing to have a variety. Some dragons appeal to me less than others, but those are some other people's favorites, so that's fine. I'm glad everything doesn't all look the same. The eclectic variety feels more inclusive to me, and I would rather have the diversity in the game than trying to make everything stylistically uniform.
Thanks for responding to my posts, nagini! I take an opposite approach to stylistic consistency in my park and am probably more of a decorator than a breeder. Consistency and realism within the context of the DragonVale environment is very important to me. My islands are all decorated by themes and from the standpoint of a Visitor walking around in a theme park. I read somewhere that DV players asked BFS about the possibility of rotatable decorations. BFS replied that it couldn’t be done because many shadows were baked into the decos. BFS was also adamant that nobody would like decos with shadows pointing in different directions. I feel the same way about the perspective issues, but that’s personal preference. I didn’t know the history of the bears in the Winter Theme, but probably still won’t use it in my park because of the perspective thing. Other players aren’t bothered by it. Crawler got more than the usual scrutiny from me because of the surprise release and I still don’t think it measures up to Deca’s usual high quality standards. Even so, Crawler has a nice home in my park. Thanks again and koalas.
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