Starting DV Now - How Do You Do It ???!!!

[flutterbye]

Aug 28, 2013 6:09:59 GMT -6 @reikiquilter2 said:

Hi! I'm making good progress--bred several hybrids and just made level 13. Question: what are thes "boosts" for the various elements? do i. need to save up for them or just wait until I am rolling in dough? . Also, is it wise to bring all dragons up to at least level 10? and is there compelling reason to have more than one of each type of dragon? thanks bunches!

It depends on your priorities. The shrines only come into play when you can get 50 level 10 dragons of the element. Once you hit 50 level 10 plant/hybrid dragons, and have the plant shrine, it turns silver and the dragons can then be levelled up to 20. The same goes for all the other shrines.

I just kept breeding and levelling up dragons, only buying the shrines when close to the Silver point. So, don't worry about getting them until you want to get dragons above level 10. This may be when you start getting silver in the Colliseum, rathe than winning gold.

The DC you save by not buying them early can be used to feed your dragons.

Edit: Whups - misread boosts as shrines! Muy bad...

[Bloodstone]

reikiquilter2;

Good to hear that you are making progress!

Boosts can improve the earning rate of certain dragons, but they also can reduce the earning rates of the dragons with the opposite elemetns.

Boosts apply this ponus/penalty to all dragons on whatever island the boost is placed on. Other islands in your park will not be affected.

So a fire boost, for example, would provide a +20% increase to the DC/min of most of your dragons with the Fire element, but woud also penalize all of your Dragons with the Cold element if they are on the same island. As such, you would not want to put Fire and Cold dragons on the same island.

It's a bit more complicated than that, especially once you get into stacking boosts to enhance multi element dragons, but that's the gist of it.

Personally, I bought them right away whenever they became available.

You will eventually want to bring your dragons up to level 10, both to earn more DC and to help with your Shrines, which is another element of the game that starts to show up around level 18. Higher level dragons of the correct element will also tend to do better in the colosseum and, eventually, level 15+ dragons get bonuses when tring to breed rare dragons.

I always strive for two of each dragon. This allows me to work on identicle combos in both breeding locations, which is especially critical when trying to breed limited dragons that require a specific combo (such as all the gemstone dragons). Having two dragons also allows you to produce more of a given dragon when ever you need one, such as to get a display egg.

PS: have you considered joining the forum proper? You're currenty not logged in and are posting as a "guest".

PPS: since you are on iOS, you may wish to check out this thread. It's a good way to make some freinds for the purpose of gem gifting and party hat collecting

dragonvale-tips.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dvboost&action=display&thread=315&page=79

[reikiquilter]

didnt realize i wasn't logged in! no wonder it made me put a 2 at the end of reikiquilter, duh!

I understand sooo much better! Thank you! I was thinking it was getting close to time to get another island--the boosts are certainly a reason do do that. seems ideally you'd want an island for each element?!

can you have only one breeding area (whether regular or enchanted)?

Thanks again! all of you have been GREAT help! and yes I'm going to the friend area next

[bjnono001]

I'm not a new player, but I can certainly see the challenges that so many people are experiencing if they start and there are 125 dragons compared to the 35 when I began.

I remember feeling overwhelmed when I saw friend's parks in the level 20s with most of the dragons when I began in Jan. 2012. I cannot imagine how I would feel if I started today, but I might feel overwhelmed to the point I wouldn't even try.

With that said, I'm am amazed at the players who keep going even though they only started within the last 6 months!

[GregDarcy]

Aug 28, 2013 17:53:47 GMT -6 reikiquilter said:

didnt realize i wasn't logged in! no wonder it made me put a 2 at the end of reikiquilter, duh!

I understand sooo much better! Thank you! I was thinking it was getting close to time to get another island--the boosts are certainly a reason do do that. seems ideally you'd want an island for each element?!

can you have only one breeding area (whether regular or enchanted)?

Thanks again! all of you have been GREAT help! and yes I'm going to the friend area next

A common mistake is to think that the boost affect habitats. They don't. The boosts affect dragons on the same island as the boost.
Some examples
Tree (plant & earth) will get a boost from a plant booster even if it is in an Earth habitat. It will get a double boost (40%) if both the plant and earth boost is on the same island as it
A malachite (plant & metal) cannot get a boost. If it is on an island with a metal boost, it will get a boost for the metal element but a hit for the plant element. The way this works, you will end up with the dragon earning slightly less than it would on an island with neither plant nor metal boosts

Boost theory is somewhat more complex than a different boost on each island. Optimizing boosts for your particular mix of dragons can take quite some thinking to figure out

For example, I have my fire and water boosts on an island with only earth habitats. This is because I have some limited rare four element dragons that earn heaps when they are double boosted this way, but they maximise their earning potential in an earth habitat. Sadly this dragon, the Panlong, was only available for the year of the dragon, so is unlikely to come back any time soon.

[reikiquilter]

Thanks G.Darcy for the explanation on boosts. helps a lot. certainly requires charts! lol

and bjnono-- Yes! when i realized around level 5 I had completely blown all my gens speeding things up it became quite overwhelming. at almost level 15 i still only have 12 gems. but at the recommendations here I concentrated on breeding (also per recommendations) and am about to hatch #23 & 24 and 25 being bred . i got a colisem at the first moment possible putting off upgrading except for my nursery which i will do again in a couple of days... finally, hooking up with three others to exchange daily gems has been awesome! cant wait to get enough to obtain a gifting tree to add 4 others.

my minimal experience advice to new players--hoard gems until level 14 or so... concentrate on breeding various hybrids. and buy two of each element so u can breed and compete at same time if necessary... and STUDY this site!!

[reikiquilter]

hi! I'm back with another dumb newbie question!

If i have my nursey and/or breeding cave on an island with any of the boosts, does the boost affect either? I'm thinking no but then common sense doesnt always prevail please confirm or no.


Thanks! Happy Labor Day Weekend!

[flutterbye]

Aug 31, 2013 14:50:59 GMT -6 reikiquilter said:

hi! I'm back with another dumb newbie question!

If i have my nursey and/or breeding cave on an island with any of the boosts, does the boost affect either? I'm thinking no but then common sense doesnt always prevail please confirm or no.


Thanks! Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Yes, you are correct, the boosts have no effect on the nursery or breeding cave.

Happy weekend to you too! We had our Bank Holiday Monday for last weekend.

[Susie Spieler]

The large number of dragons available is becoming problematic. If I understand correctly there are many more dragons available to us at lower levels these days. I don't know if the number of habitats increased accordingly; I assume not. My hibernation cave is nearly full. I hate the thought of selling too many - I know that the shrines keep track of Level 10s even after they are sold but shouldn't I try to hang onto them for the next shrine level?

[flutterbye]

Sept 2, 2013 7:34:54 GMT -6 Susie Spieler said:

The large number of dragons available is becoming problematic. If I understand correctly there are many more dragons available to us at lower levels these days. I don't know if the number of habitats increased accordingly; I assume not. My hibernation cave is nearly full. I hate the thought of selling too many - I know that the shrines keep track of Level 10s even after they are sold but shouldn't I try to hang onto them for the next shrine level?

I'd recommend trying to upgrade your hibernation cave as a priority. It costs about 10,000 food to level a dragon up to 10, which is actually not a lot when you then are levelling them up to 15!

I had a couple of times when the hibernation cave was full, and I had to sell dragons. I tried to keep 2 of every dragon, and sold off the lower earning ones, one at a time, to keep breeding, until I had enough gems to upgrade.

If you have not yet bought the breeding island, I'd still recommend upgrading the hib cave first.

[reikiquilter]

ok more questions. let me know if i need to post elsewhere. now level 16. have about 30 dragons, 2 of all elements (except metal) and breeding to try for some rares to get gems and dragon cash. generating about a million a day--dragon levels vary from 6-9 upping for coliseum, races or breeding... no rares yet.

should i aim first for hibernation or for breeding sanctuary upgrade? i am gem poor. have 16. have 4 friends givibg daily but do not have giving tree yet. averaging 2nd in coliseum daily... and not very good at races.

suggestions? THANKs!

[reikiquilter]

p. s. should i keep every egg i breed even if i have two of that dragon? and what is the value of keeping eggs but nit hatching them?' thanksa again!

[flutterbye]

Sept 2, 2013 18:32:46 GMT -6 reikiquilter said:

ok more questions. let me know if i need to post elsewhere. now level 16. have about 30 dragons, 2 of all elements (except metal) and breeding to try for some rares to get gems and dragon cash. generating about a million a day--dragon levels vary from 6-9 upping for coliseum, races or breeding... no rares yet.

should i aim first for hibernation or for breeding sanctuary upgrade? i am gem poor. have 16. have 4 friends givibg daily but do not have giving tree yet. averaging 2nd in coliseum daily... and not very good at races.

suggestions? THANKs!

It depends on how many habitats you have, and how many more dragons you can breed before you cannot hatch any more.

My advice would be to make the HC your main priority. Then you can start saving your spare low-earning dragons instead of displaying or selling the eggs. If you get the breeding sanctuary/island, you will shorten the time until you run out of space in your habitats.

On the egg front, I always hatched and fed high DC earning dragons, such as Quake, Plant, Ash, Cactus, Scorch, Hail. I ended up with about 10 Hails and Quakes! I only kept 2 of other lower earning dragons. This way I maximised my DC and used it to grow food to feed my dragons to earn more DC...

When you want to upgrade a habitat, always sell it for the DC and then purchase the bigger habitat from the market (unless you have to upgrade for a goal reward).

Feed your racing dragons first, they will win more if they are higher levels. And the more you practice racing the better you'll be, and the more exp you'll gain

[reikiquilter]

thank you flutterbye!!!

[Bloodstone]

Sept 3, 2013 3:12:37 GMT -6 flutterbye said:

Feed your racing dragons first, they will win more if they are higher levels. And the more you practice racing the better you'll be, and the more exp you'll gain

It's been quite a while since I used a dragon uner level 15 for racing but... I don't believe dragons get faster at the track with level. It's mostly timing and choosing a dragon with the right elements for the event.

Level is important for the Colosseum competitors though.

[Susie Spieler]

Thanks to all of you for the great tips!!

[Sherry]

far too many dragons. I started a few weeks ago, and now am at lvl 23 (and with Kairos finished, exp gain has dropped by a lot). I maybe have, at the most, a quarter of all the normal standard dragons, but I am still already at the max of habitats. Maybe I do have to look at the hibernation cave soon, but I dont like stowing my dragons away without earning DC from them :/ still need so much money

I did get lucky with the epic one's though...

[flutterbye]

The HC is a necessity.

Apparently it is possible to display one of each dragon, but as you say, maximising DC is usually a priority to progress.

The HC is useful because many people like to have at least 2 of each dragon so that they can be used for breeding and/or racing and/or colliseum.

At the same level, I used the HC to allow me to keep breeding new dragons constantly. I only sold low DC earning dragons once I had two of them. High earning dragons, like Quake, Cactus and Ash I kept in the habitats. You can use your boosts to maximise your DC earning capacity, depending on what combo of dragons you have bred so far.

For an example, I had lots of Plant, Cactus, Firefly, Scorch, Ash and Flower dragons, so had the plant, fire and lightning boosts all on the same island for double boosts.

[Sherry]

Good point - i got many fire/plant combinations, and quite a few crystal dragons (I got 5 or so until I finally got a quake one, damnit)

But for pure money reasons, wouldnt rainbow dragons be the best solution? (allthough I want, for aesthetic reasons, as many different dragons as possible, but finding some middle way for gaining money is important). Can a normal rainbow and a double rainbow dragon breed together?

[flutterbye]

Sept 6, 2013 11:27:38 GMT -6 @Sherry said:

Good point - i got many fire/plant combinations, and quite a few crystal dragons (I got 5 or so until I finally got a quake one, damnit)

But for pure money reasons, wouldnt rainbow dragons be the best solution? (allthough I want, for aesthetic reasons, as many different dragons as possible, but finding some middle way for gaining money is important). Can a normal rainbow and a double rainbow dragon breed together?

Yes they can. You'll get one or other. But you will lose the DC they could have earned had they been in their habitat for the breeding cycle. So, I'd advise that you only breed them when you can be sure of speeding them up with Kairos.

When I was at that level I did not have any epic dragons at all, so I didn't have that option.

Others on this forum choose to breed lots of sun/moon hybrids because although they don't earn as much, you can put 3 in the large habitat and they take less time to breed.

It takes some working out, choosing a boost strategy and breeding strategy to maximise DC. When you breed for a particular dragon, use the sandbox to find a combo of breeding dragons that gives you chances at lots of dragons. For example, if you want a Seasonal, make sure you choose a combo that will get you a rainbow/double rainbow too.

[kezza30]

I have been playing for a few weeks and am level 21. There are a lot of dragons to breed and I am just enjoying breeding all the ones I don't have, I have 21/25 habitats as of now but a few I bought without dragons (sun/moon/rainbow) because they looked pretty lol I now have been lucky to breed a dragon for the rainbow habitat (double rainbow) my first gem (amber) and the season/summer but I found I bred these without trying to where before when I tried I was getting none and being dissapointed. It's just been a lucky week for a change.

I have the epic breeding island as I hate having to wait when the cave is stuck with a long dragon and all 4 nests.

I am still trying to the last piece of kairos (head) and I am saving up for the gem tree as I have 4 friends and I hate leaving one out one day. I do enjoy how easy it is to earn gems it's not something many games give you a chance to do and keeps the game fun

Most of my dragons are level 10 now and I have a few of the shrines but I don't have many of each yet to have them level 15 so I'm working up to that

[flutterbye]

When you don't have many dragons, the best strategy is to breed dragons with as many combos as possible. That way you have a better chance of getting new dragons quickly, including epics and limiteds.

I have just caved in and started a second park - glutton for punishment?

Doing it right this time, getting all the gems for fb posts and keeping the gems for upgrading. And I won't waste time buying habitats I don't need...

Almost level 10 with 3 nest sites, the cave in full swing, 2 large plant habitats, one large and small fire and one earth. Flower dragon bred, Moss will be next into the Nursery.