Seeing that many people, especially oldies and those people who have spent the most time, resources and actual real-life money on customising their existing and old dragons are being left out from participating in this event fairly, I thought it would be a good idea to share this idea with you. I posted it in several other threads and you may have already seen it - which is great! I don't know how much attention this will get here, if any, but it is definitely worth a try. Since it has received a lot of positive feedback, I think posting this here in a separate thread would be worth it. This wouldn't just help out with the gameplay, it would actually be fitting lore-wise as well.
I am very aware that the developers' goal was to add a new feature to the game which will either be accessible through breeding or through hatching elemental eggs. Lore-wise, the elemental energies became stronger, resulting in genetic mutation primarily in hatchlings and developing dragons, therefore that was the reason why they wanted this new feature to be something accessible only from now on, and it didn't count old dragons. However, since this was the 5 Year Anniversary and this site would not have existed today if it weren't for dedicated older players, it seems a bit unfair to leave those people out, especially those ones with many old perma dragons who fully deserve to be a part of this. I understand the Staff's intention, but it was still a bad execution, and it happened because it appears that the Staff simply wasn't aware of a lot of diversity in how people interact with this site. Not all people participate in breeding or perhaps they simply don't want their dragons to be bred, but acquired as G1 dragons. Being a G1 collector already takes away the opportunity to get the exact colours you've been searching for, and with this update, customisation is even harder. Of course, we were the ones who chose this type of gameplay, but that doesn't mean that all gameplay styles shouldn't have a fairly equal opportunity in customising their beloved dragons.
Yes, the lore is a major part of this website, but it wasn't always forced on people. Personally, I follow the lore but there's many people who don't, and adding a feature this major, this grand and interesting, and leaving out those players who've been here the longest is hurtful.
Below are some suggestions how most problems could be fixed while still keeping those rare eye types...well, rare. I saw this suggestion on Tumblr and in the forums, and thought very hard about it, tried customising some icons, coding, searching for proper materials and swap items, etc, and thought this was a really good proper idea on how to include everyone yet still bring a new, interesting mechanic that's not easy to obtain, but it remains
fair. I also thought making some visual elements would help in presenting this idea in a more interesting and familiar light so, without further ado, I present to you some concept art and lore of various eye vials:
- The Vial of Primal Sight could easily be a rare Coliseum drop during festivals which would be perfectly lore-fitting since canonically the elemental energies are the strongest at that time. The effect the energies would have on existing and developing dragons would be immense hence the reason why that sort of implementation would be perfect. It would calm the community down, it would add a unique and interesting way of obtaining the Vials, it would be effective and the AH prices would still stay high. If the drop rate was similar to egg or Eliminate drops, the prices would still stay very high. You might be thinking "hey, but what about those people who don't do coli-ing?" See, they'd still be able to purchase the Vials. It would be expensive, but it would be fair, everyone would have an equal chance.
- The Multi-Gaze vial should be able to be brewed because of the unnatural and intimidating look they give a dragon, perfectly fitting for alchemy. Of course, lore-wise creating a scroll or a "magic potion" won't change any creature's genetics ever because it's impossible, but game-wise it would be the perfect addition. The Vial's recipe would only be active during Festivals, at a very high level because of its rarity, and probably require pricey and hard-to-obtain materials. It would make sense canonically as well since extreme radiation, energy surges and chemicals could easily mutate a creature.
It would look something like this:
- The Faceted vial should be a Swipp exclusive, again only available as a rarely occurring trade at the Stand which requires rare materials.
The requirements could easily be something like this:
This sort of implementation would fix 90% of all current problems:
- The problem related to the inability to customise the physicial attributes of old, unique and irreplacable dragons
- The problem with all players and dragons prior to this event being left out and the new feature not being oriented towards customising already existing dragons
- The issue regarding the punishing nature of this sort of new-feature-implementation towards players whose playing style is not related to owning hatcheries, breeding dragons or having breeding projects.
- The inconvenience the Scattersight Vials have caused in the past few days as well as their permanent retirement and the odds of getting rarer eye types since the gameplay would be more fair
- The problem regarding future players who will be joining the site and not having the opportunity to own a Vial of Scattersight
- The problem related to miniature and unfair odds of getting rare eye types
- The issue with not allowing the oldest, most dedicated players to be fully able to customise their beloved dragon since the main goal of this dragon clan simulator is to be able to obtain and customise the dragon you'd like to own without unrealistic and too punishing requirements, especially gambling
This new feature would still be available through breeding which would bring a new interesting element to breeding and to those who participate in it.
The idea behind spicing up the rare, chaotic, unpredictable and nearly uncontrollable element behind eye types would remain, but it would still give players some sort of control regarding better customisation.
The Vial of Scattersight would remain retired as the developers had originally intended, it would be able to potentially roll rare eye types but it would mainly be used to give old dragons the chance to obtain more common natural eye types such as Uncommon, Unusual and Rare since those are not as hard to obtain as others are.
The roll chances of Vials of Scattersight would remain the same but with these new three vials players would have a better and more decent chance of getting rarer eye types while the most important elements would finally be implemented - equality and equity.
The other three vials would be used to give the player a guaranteed chance of giving their dragon the eyes they want, while obtaining the vials would still be tricky, causing the prices to stay high and the market circulating.
The vials could be sold in the AH, they would go for high prices and other players who would want to use them on their dragons would be highly encouraged to purchase Gems which would eventually aid in bettering this site and expanding its array of future features.
The revert-to-common Vial would be implemented as promised which would calm the community down, allow those players whose breeding projects were ruined to revert to common eyes and change the primary use of Vials of Scattersight to
giving older existing dragons more common eye types.
The implementation of these vials would tone down the unrest and dissatisfaction among players, especially the oldest players who spent the most time playing, spent the most money and those who've been supporting this site the longest.
The vials would keep the market of vials circulating, it would better the FR economy and it would be a stable type of income for many players.
The lore would remain the same. This new feature would primarily be oriented towards newer dragons, but older dragons would still have the chance to mutate. Creatures on this planet are physically and most importantly genetically connected to elemental energies which means the sudden enhancement of those energies wouldn't just affect developing dragons, but all other existing beings too.
Of course, I'd like to point out that this update still did, in fact, have it's positive sides:
There is a new and unique feature which will better this clan simulation experience and make gameplay more interesting.
There is now more diversity between dragons, even if it's a minor change it's still a change, and it is something the community wanted for a long time.
It brought the community together. Many players, even those who don't usually create posts in the Forums, have gathered together to point out negative sides of this update and give constructive criticism in efforts to better the playing experience of this site. This update may have caused an uproar and, with negative response and insults aside, it still showed that this
is a community-oriented website in which people's opinions and game styles matter.
The community's response also helped establish a better connection between the Staff and the consumers. Yes, some major changes resulted in certain players losing trust in our Staff such as the sudden eye revamp and no communication regarding such big changes, but the entire connection between one and the other has proved to be important and I am sure the Staff is looking forward to looking into our suggestions.
There are two problems that would not be solved with the implementation of these vials and I still think it is important to point out both of them:
- The first problem is the dissatisfaction regarding the sudden common-eye change which still persists and there are many people who are very unhappy because of such a change. It's been pointed out that a revamp of those eyes has been an idea for a while and that the website is undergoing a major overhaul, and that those minor aesthetic details had to be changed. It would be fair to find a certain compromise.
- The second problem is a more serious problem - the aversion to certain eye types such as Multi-Gaze, Plague, Earth and Shadow Primal, and the general sickness they can cause. This is a major problem for all those triggered people involved and it should be resolved by some sort of filter. I am personally very fond of each eye type but I know there's people who feel very uncomfortable because of it and that needs to be taken care of.
- There are also some semi-problems regarding personal opinions on aesthetics but since those are based on subjective matters, they cannot be labelled as actual problems.
Thank you for reading, and thank you, FRew, for going through our constructive criticism and considering our ideas. This is a community-oriented website after all, we just want everyone to have equal chance and have a positive experience.
