❄️ VOTE FOR THE TOP SNOWY WINTER BALL DRAGON ❄️

[adlerist]

THE BELLE OF THE BALL IS...

You’ve analysed and examined every aspect of each event dragon. Now, let us know which Snowy Winter Ball dragons brought the holly jolly to your holiday and the cheer to your new year.


If you’re new to the polls or the Forum, here are some helpful tips:

1. You must be a member to vote. This is a restriction by ProBoards and cannot be altered. An account is required to keep track of votes and to prevent multiple votes by anonymous guests.

2. When you vote, it is automatically recorded. There’s no Submit button. Backing out or clicking away from the thread will not undo your selection.

3. If you accidentally vote for a dragon or warm up to another dragon later, you have until January 26th to change your vote.

4. The poll will close on Friday, January 26th at 11.00 PM MST.


Also, in addition to the dragon ratings, I will include player feedback for the event. If you have any comments, suggestions, complaints, or compliments regarding the event structure, features, etc, please post them here, and I’ll pass them on.


Many thanks to everybody who participated — it is greatly appreciated by all!

[kaleni#0146]

I'm going for Icecarade.

Dancey and Snopaw would get my vote if Dancey's combo was reasonable and Snopaw hadn't been a surprise, but I won't vote for them because of those reasons.

[peribee]

AGREED, @kaleni!!! i shall make a single vote but it shall not be for either of these. *heavy sigh* i am so very disappointed in DECA right now. :/


EDIT:  i still strongly dislike having a surprise limited sprung on me when i already have so much difficulty breeding the other limited dragons before they are gone... but, Snowpaw was so easy to breed, i was able to get him in all of my parks!!!  i say that as a veteran player and wonder if the newer players feel the same. 

[dragonglow]

My votes are Cubicle, Icecarade and Snowdrop (even with rift trait being over done with Snowdrop).

[Lady Redwolf]

So we can vote for Snopaw even though there’s no thread to rate it? Are we not rating it because it was a surprise?

[MinyaZ]

Jan 18, 2024 20:53:26 GMT -6 Lady Redwolf said:

So we can vote for Snopaw even though there’s no thread to rate it? Are we not rating it because it was a surprise?

The rating thread usually comes out several days after the dragon has been released. With the surprise (and late) release of Snopaw, the event will be virtually over and there won't be much time for players to rate Snopaw. Adlerist did mention that there may be a rating thread for Snopaw, but it would be optional. ie if you didn't rate Snopaw it wouldn't affect you receiving Sandakloz's Hut award. 😊

[kaleni#0146]

This is also the thread for event feedback, right? I've got quite a bit.

Just in case a thread isn’t made for it, I’ll post my Snopaw feedback here: Firstly, it should have been called Snowpaw. Whenever I write its name I always have to correct myself. I’m generally fine with DECA’s non-word names but Snowpaw makes more sense and looks less silly, without changing the meaning. Other than that, I love everything about this dragon apart from the price and the fact it’s a surprise limited.

I liked the theme of the event, though I wasn’t sure how the dragons related to it in most cases. Only Dancey and Icecarade’s animation felt particularly related outside of just being winter-themed. I hope that DECA will either start going for more general themes or start relating dragons to the specific themes.

I also really liked that the event wasn’t as long as last year. To me, 6-and-a-half-week events feel like they drag on forever and are just boring by the end. If there must be 6-and-a-half-week events I’d certainly prefer they were the RBC ones (this one and spring), but I’d personally rather they just didn’t occur. I may be in the minority here though, I’m not sure.

Please remove the hidden elements of the clone-onlies from this event. If you feel the need for Grandeur to have a third element on its profile, give it plant or dark (dark can be added to its combo since air is redundant due to Daylily giving it). The reason why epics have hidden elements is that epic elements very rarely add many (if any) results, so the additional primary elements are needed to make sure there are actually different possible results and breeds aren’t guaranteed. It isn’t needed for rare dragons because they already contribute at least two.

Please stop using unavailable dragons as breeding parents. Preferably, avoid using dragons outside of the event that the new dragon will be released in, because events are already very large as is. I am grateful that you changed Lageto and Stage before Toboggan and Dancey were released, but they shouldn’t have been there to start with. Please add Stygian, Chomp and Bloom next event, or (preferably) change Shaper’s combo to something that relates to it and uses available dragons and/or elements. I stand by my suggestion of a combination of Shiver, Ice/Snow and Flurry.

Since similar RBC bugs have happened in the last two RBC events, I’d like to request that DECA please takes extra care to try and work out what caused the bugs and avoid the issues for the next RBC event.

Now time for some more lengthy feedback...

Firstly, price. I knew the prices would return to being expensive after the short Greenhouse event but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. Come on, DECA. You know by now that many people are not happy. I know you need to make money out of this game but there are better ways of going about it than these gosh darn prices! New and casual players are often overlooked when you choose price and combos and this needs to change.
I’ll give my opinion on prices to give DECA a clearer idea of where I’m coming from. Obviously people can chime in if they think differently:
Note: by accessible combo I mean that all its required ancestors have good combo odds (2%+) and, if it has specific parents, the tree doesn’t go further than three stages of required parents (i.e. if they have "great-great-grandparent" combos, they're purely elemental). I count ‘good odds’, whether cloning or combo, as anything 2%+. Even dragons with 2%-4% odds can take a while to show up, so it's not ridiculously easy - the point is that, for most players, it will be possible.

• Returning dragons should only ever cost 10k+ if they were new releases the year before, and even last year’s new releases should never cost more than 11k. Reason: They’ve had their special event when they were new. There’s no longer any reason for them to be exclusive to players who breed them or grind enough to afford them.
• Clone-onlies should be capped around 10k-11k max, unless they have 10% cloning odds, in which case going up to 11.5k is somewhat understandable, but shouldn’t be a regular thing. Reason: There is only one way to obtain them, and due to it not being possible to upgrade Co-Op, it’s going to take either a long time or a lot of gems to get the clone-onlies.
• The first limited should only ever cost more than 12k if its combo is accessible and either its combo or cloning odds are good (see note above), and should never cost more than 13k. Preferably, it would not cost over 1k more than the most expensive clone-only. Reason: There are only two weeks to earn enough EC to buy it and only one week to breed it before it expires, and many new/casual players would struggle with anything more than 13k in that time.
• Later limiteds should never cost over 0.5k more than what the most expensive limited before them costed. If the gap is more than 0.5k, please make the more expensive limited’s combo accessible and give it good combo/cloning odds. Reason: the huge gaps between limiteds’ prices is unnecessary and unfair.
• The most expensive limited(s) should be capped at 15k-15.5k, again unless they have an accessible combo and good combo or cloning odds; even then they should be capped at 16.5k-17k for the sake of new and casual players. Reason: The majority of players still need EC to buy other things they want from the event. 16k is over a week’s worth of EC so at that point it’s massively cutting into what players can spend on other things. It's unfair.
• If there are more than the expected number of new releases (three clone-onlies and one limited every Thursday - except the first and final Thursday of an event), then prices of all new releases should be decreased by at least 1k for every additional dragon. Reason: To mitigate the extra cost.
• Surprise limiteds should never cost more than 13k. Reason: They are released alongside another dragon (so the total cost that week is greatly increased) and are not expected to be released, so people can’t plan their event with them in mind.
• If there are more than three clone-onlies, the fourth etc. should not cost more than 10k, unless it has 10% cloning odds in which case 10.5k is understandable. Reason: Even with 10% odds expecting people to get all four by the end of the event is not particularly fair, so the prices need to be reasonable due to the fact cloning is the only way of breeding them.
  

Even the upper end of my suggestions would total about 70k-85k for new releases in an event with four expected limiteds (like this one), which is still a lot — pretty much an entire event’s worth of EC — but the point is it’s also a lot better than the prices at the moment.

Now for a suggestion for a different way DECA could encourage purchases, at least for RBC events. I’ve seen it suggested that RBCs could give a second claim if you activate it a second time (not the same as the compensation this event — players would actively have to spend a second Runestone on the cave), and I think this is a good idea. It’s a win-win: it will encourage Runestone purchases, so DECA gets more money, and it gives 20 claims instead of 10, so players get more out of RBC events.
It would make purple fire more achievable too, since at the moment we only get 20 claims total in a year which is more than there are clone-onlies, so, at the moment, Dragons Weeks (which, with the short time frame, them usually happening in an event therefore with lower odds, and the chance for untraited dragons, aren’t really a feasible way to get many traited dragons) or very lucky EoMs (which we may as well not count since the chance for even one new traited dragon is so miniscule) are currently absolutely required.
I know some players would absolutely go for all 20 claims in an RBC event, especially if they’re aiming for blue/purple fire, or for getting twin, traited, and twin-traited pedestals. DECA could really profit out of this, especially since Runestones are, for many players, the only thing worth buying; double the amount of claims would make the incentive to buy them even greater. In most RBC events 13-15 purchases would need to be made to get all possible claims (depending on whether there was a triple day and how many Runestones we got from event gifts), getting DECA around £50 for every player who wants all 20 claims. Slightly over £50 for 15 dragons would be very tempting for many people and it would rack up quickly.
Obviously this only applies to RBC events but DECA could do similar things elsewhere too. Perhaps in Eggy Hatchy events (has it really been a year since Eggy was last part of an event?) there could be 1-3 claims of any eggs you ‘bred’ in the mini game; perhaps the first is free, the second is relatively cheap, maybe £1-£3 (meaning a large number of players would go for it) and the third is quite expensive, maybe £7-£10 (for people eager to get a third claim), though still reasonable of course because otherwise people won’t buy it. Perhaps in donation board events, there could be a cost of about £3-£10 to double all future donation board EC outputs for that event. People, especially longer-term players who are more likely to be actually using the donation boards, would definitely go for that. Perhaps something for DECA to think about.

To end on a more positive note, I was very impressed with DECA for the wonderful compensation (double RBC claims), even though from the sounds of things they needed a little bit of nudging after the initial compensation, which wasn't enough for those who spent money on Runestones. Hopefully when (honestly there’s no point saying ‘if’ at this point 😆) bugs of this scale happen in future, DECA won’t need as much nudging to give good compensation. But the fact they did agree to give more did restore some of my faith in them. Please keep it up!

[peribee]

Thank you, @kaleni i would be happy to play DragonVale this way. In fact, i would loosen the ties around my wallet to play this way!

[rcooldude1224]

I voted Toboggan, Dancey and Cubicle

For Snopaw: I wasn't rly a fan of its random release, it felt super shoehorned in
Did DECA forget about it mid event or something?
It's a nice design, not much rly to add, glad it was pretty easy to breed

[hetchy]

I voted for Cubicle, Snopaw, and Toboggan.

I really like their looks and their animations. Wish I could have bred a Toboggan, but I didn't get it this time around. Maybe next year!

[Arceus]

This event was extremely hit-or-miss with the dragons. Grandeur, Toboggan and Icecarade are all stellar additions in which I thoroughly enjoyed (and voted for).

However, Shaper and Dancey are too cartooney and derpy to the point that it is extremely unsettling. It is difficult for me to even look at them without feeling absolutely disgusted.

Snowdrop, although with good design, is nearly a copy of Lightmare, which gives me a grudge against it which cannot be overpowered.

All considered, Snowy Winter Ball takes the record for the most dragons in which I rated a 1 of 5 - with three of them.

[hawk]

Wow. 8 dragons. So many to choose from and yet, I can't decide which I actually love enough to even vote for.
So far I've gone with Icecarade and Snowdrop. In third, I'm leaning either Toboggan or Dancey. I like Toboggan's overall design, but Dancey has so much character and levity. Just thinking: if I could only buy 3, which 3 would I get?...

First off, figure I'll type out a few comments on Snopaw to pass on:

Nice combo. The price was ok, given his breeding combo and odds weren't bad. The baby is super cute. I wish the adult didn't gain the tush like Nubis has, but otherwise, the adult is fine. I like the fins and ears and the colour is nice. I was expecting the trait placement in the spots too, but just in the fins is ok. I also like the subtle blueish underside. It looks great in conjunction with cold trait. The animation is fun.

---

Liking Snopaw aside, I really dislike when surprise dragons are added during otherwise overcharged events. However, it was well timed. Coming out on a not-Thursday in the final week and giving us a full week to try, including days free of other limiteds was nice. Making the breed doable was welcome too.

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The RBCs:
MY goodness, Deca. A huge THANK YOU from me for your generosity. After the ordeal in that other event, this was really something else. Thank you!!!

Another player here brought up profit-making methods and claim purchases. RBCs are the one place I've always been willing to put money into DV because they don't feel like a rip-off. Extra claims with more runestones purchases would go a long way toward blue/purple fire for many people. Plus, sometimes I've had to purchase the bundle where I have an extra runestone or two, but have used all the caves. I just wait for the game to give me gems after the event ends, but if I actually got an 11th or 12th claim for reopening caves, I'd most certainly do that instead!

I do wish there had been a clearer way to get through to people who aren't on social media re the extra claims. Thanks for including the countdown timers for the runic claims though. I'm not sure how some people missed them. I hope they did, in fact, pop up for everybody.

Dragons:
Decent group of dragons! Lots of variety. It felt like DECA took the time to explore options this event and had some fun. Please fix Toboggan's traiting

[cosmicraccoon]

This is definitely cubicle for me like PLEASE IT LOOKS SO CUTE

[belorga]

Lots to like about this event. What an eclectic group of new dragons, great variety from elegant to a little silly.

I really liked the red dragon caps (very festive), the penguin visitors, the spoiler contest, the very attractive opening screen, the improved Omnitats and Snowflake habitats and that we had a Decorator week.

I always appreciate the Runic caves, so was initially very disappointed by the bug. But well done on rescuing it Deca with the compensation. Allowing repeat runic claims was a great bonus, and definitely one for Deca to consider for the future. I already purchase runestones and would consider buying more if repeat claims were an option.

Thanks very much to Deca and as ever a big thank-you to the wonderful forum team.

[MinyaZ]

I liked the Snowy Winter Ball theme. All the dragons fit into the Winter theme. Not all the dragons could dance, so didn’t fit so well into the Ball part of the theme.

There were some lovely dragons released during the event and the eggs were amazing. Sometimes the eggs outshine the dragons in the beauty stakes.

It is a shame that Snopaw was released so late in the event. It was one of the best dragons and I would have liked to rate it along with the other dragons. Some players were a bit confused with the timers in the Limited Tier – one on Dancey and one on Snowpaw and were still surprised when the Runic Breeding Caves disappeared along with the event island.

Thank you for adding the cold element to the Snowflake habitat and giving all the event dragons a cold element on their profile. I think it’s the first time that all event dragons could be housed together in the same habitat and didn’t matter if they were Epic or Rare dragons.

Would you please consider increasing cloning odds for Epic dragons from 1% in co-op? For dragons with many contributing elements 5% would be more realistic and would still be a challenge to successfully clone.

Some of the breeding combos are getting unnecessarily complicated, with many hard to breed dragons required in their parentage. The Winter dragon needs to be released at the beginning of the WInter event as there are so many dragons that require it as part of their breeding combos.

Would you please change Shaper’s breeding combo to something more suitable for the Winter event. The winter market already has a lot of content it doesn’t need Chomp from another event added in. While you're changing things, would you please trim their tongue? 😛

Please remove the hidden elements from Shaper, Icecarade and Grandeur. If necessary, add extra elements to their profile to no more than four and remove the others.

Would you please consider using older dragons with easier breeding combos for future dragons. In this event, the combo balance isn’t right between using recently released difficult to breed dragons and older or easier to breed dragons. When selecting a dragon for a combo, please consider the parentage and how many and how difficult some of the dragons are to breed before arriving at the dragon you select. The limited dragons are only available for a week, not a month or the whole event which is how long a lot of players need to breed them.

Thank you so much for fixing the Runic Breeding Caves and allowing all players an extra claim per opened RBC. That was extremely generous and very much appreciated. It made the event even more successful and generated a lot of goodwill. For most players when the Runic Breeding Caves feature in an event it is when they will consider spending real money and purchase some Rune Stones. 


Not event related

The themed slot in Dragon Draw expired during the Candy Bash event months ago. Will there be a new theme released soon? Galaxy dragons would be a suitable theme as they are difficult to obtain if you have no friends to put them in co-op and they are next to impossible to obtain in the rift. They could be a permanent theme. It would be better than having nothing.


Would it be possible to have a Twin Weekend soon? It seems like forever since we've had one. 😉