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Thank you so much for the newsletter, it is a great addition. :)

I am confused by the people who say they want a breeding sim, then demand that scrolls be cheap enough to afford with only a few hatchlings. If I was playing as a breeding sim, then I would start with what is available in the AH to buy, and breed up the genes from there. Say I want to create a brown/pink/tangerine dragon with iri/shimmer; assume that none are available with that combo, so you start with close dragons that have clown and stripes and another that has iri/shimmer but colors that aren't so close. Breed them until you get a baby that has the colors and genes you want, or is at least closer and then find a mate for that one in the AH. It seems that would be the way to treat it as a breeding sim. I am doing something very similar for my coalbed dragons as most people find them too bright to breed for. Very pleased yesterday to find a girl that had closer colors in the AH and iri/shimmer than one of those I'm currently working with.

I enjoy collecting gradually the items I need for Swipp too; I finally got enough nickle and olive snakes to trade for the venom scale shoulder guard. Made me happy. Now to get enough cobalt for the other chest guard too! And I was very pleased to take advantage of having bought lots of moth-eaten rugs over the last week to take advantage of the emerald tunic swap when it came up while I was on yesterday. Though I did also buy a couple of emerald rings, unnecessarily as it turns out. Also happy for all the people who can now sell their textiles and rugs for much more now, another good source of money for those who don't like to grind or coli. I suspect the supply of webwings is robust enough that they won't increase in price as much.

I play on chrome, and have had no problems with the coli or shock switch for weeks now. If I try to play on IE I do have problems, since chrome is free, perhaps some who are having trouble could try it? That might help them. The need to put battle items in the AH to get down to 42 stacks so I can access Abilities and Stats is mildly annoying; but I can certainly see how working on lag and opening registration is more important.

I think one useful additional change would be to up the chances of getting more stacks at higher levels, as well as the more valuable items. This would help people feed their dragons, which can be a source of stress that I have much sympathy for. For people that are having problems, a soup kitchen thread has opened in the discussion forum.

A new game to look forward to, and crafting in the not too distant future, I'm happy!

[img]http://24.media.tumblr.com/a24be6deaacd3f9aacc2ef285159bc53/tumblr_muetxluB6M1sezg6xo1_500.png[/img] HM You know, if you changed the focus, you need to perhaps change a) the way the economy works b) how the coliseum works c) introduce something else to do besides breed and work a coliseum that rarely drops anything above 1500treasure uvu d) and if you don't do that, at least increase treasure payout on the few games that actually work. Runes is barely up, shock switch gives ME headahces, and half the time puzzles don't pay out. Like I'm a little frustrated. I was willing to give you guys the benefit of the doubt, and now it just looks like you guys are just trying to cover for the fact that the economy is broken. I really do enjoy this game, even with its issues--- I don't enjoy being treated like I can't read your overview. You have pushed the breeding aspect at us every step of the way, told kickstarter people that, put on your info page that it was the main aspect. Why give us a boon of fertility, or a starter of the opposite sex if it WASN'T the main aspect? Why not give us battle items then, if that is the main aspect? If adventuring was the main aspect, why wasn't that incorporated before the site went up? Please stop assuming that we won't notice these discrepancies, and address us honestly.

[quote name="Bioluminous" date="2013-10-09 09:44:08"][img]http://24.media.tumblr.com/a24be6deaacd3f9aacc2ef285159bc53/tumblr_muetxluB6M1sezg6xo1_500.png[/img] HM You know, if you changed the focus, you need to perhaps change a) the way the economy works b) how the coliseum works c) introduce something else to do besides breed and work a coliseum that rarely drops anything above 1500treasure uvu d) and if you don't do that, at least increase treasure payout on the few games that actually work. Runes is barely up, shock switch gives ME headahces, and half the time puzzles don't pay out. Like I'm a little frustrated. I was willing to give you guys the benefit of the doubt, and now it just looks like you guys are just trying to cover for the fact that the economy is broken. I really do enjoy this game, even with its issues--- I don't enjoy being treated like I can't read your overview. You have pushed the breeding aspect at us every step of the way, told kickstarter people that, put on your info page that it was the main aspect. Why give us a boon of fertility, or a starter of the opposite sex if it WASN'T the main aspect? Why not give us battle items then, if that is the main aspect? If adventuring was the main aspect, why wasn't that incorporated before the site went up? Please stop assuming that we won't notice these discrepancies, and address us honestly.[/quote] I didn't think about it before, but it says "[b]or breed as quickly and often as possible to create the biggest clan you can[/b]" which currently doesn't mesh well with the hard lair cap considering people are already there, and it's not remarkably hard to get there either, as well as fill it up.

I have to say, I quite like this "Words on the Wind" thing. :3 I wasn't aware of the "Letters to Mom and Dad" idea, and find it quite cute. Now that I know it exists, I think I'll be sure to have my newly bought dragons "write letters home". ^.^

Yes, yes, even if FR isn't supposed to be a breeding sim, right now there is little to do but that.

But it's more than that. Too often the games or coli aren't working correctly, but even when they are, they cannot be standalone features. The games and coli are not, to put it bluntly, fun or interesting enough on their own. If I wanted a flash game and nothing else to distract myself with or kill time, I would go to Newgrounds or something and play an independent polished flash game. Anything the Fair games and the coliseum can do, independently-developed games, whether web-based or PC, can do better.

So Coli/Fair are not used as standalone activities on FR, but as a means to an end. Most people do not play flash games because they are fun, but to earn treasure. And then do what with treasure? Pretty much anything you can spend money on right now involves dragons. Dressing them up, giving them genes, breeding them, buying them, feeding them.

And that's what the problem is. At current exaltation rates and game payout rates, earning enough treasure to expand your lair or modify your dragons takes too long to feel rewarding rather than frustrating for many if not most players. Yes, some are still satisfied and are ever-so-keen on insisting that "it's supposed to be challenging" in these threads, but that's a matter of personal preference. It's a matter of balance, and that balance is what needs to be adusted through higher treasure payout or, even better, higher and tiered exalt value (better because it would create incentive to remove dragons, even non-starters, from the system and thus combat the overpopulation problem). Obviously you can't make everyone happy, but right now, we've had long-term players ragequit in this very thread. Obviously the situation as it is is making a LOT of people unhappy rather than just a few perpetually unsatisfied dissenters.

And what's most frustrating is this sneering response from a select few people that we're just not doing the game right, or that they keep bringing up the same few tired old dogmatic arguments ("It's not supposed to be a breeding sim!" "Well excUUSE me if you have to actually work to be rich!" "Breeding is not meant to be lucrative!") that have been rebutted over and over again.

And on another note: Re 'nothing is wrong with the economy': I find it extremely hard to imagine that many people still buy gems i.e. support the site financially now, because there is absolutely no incentive to do so, in-between gems losing value due to the economy and gem scroll breeds now being dirt cheap. Every economy-based thread here has had tales by people expressing their disappointment and regret at having spent IRL money on various features and/or stating that they won't do so again. How could that have been part of the plan?