Flight Rising Discussion

My lair is G1 only. I'll add something here that I didn't mention on the survey;

I STARTED as a non-G1 lair, I initially was just picking up dragons that I liked off the AH. I played for a while like that and my mood on all of those dragons was pretty 'meh' after a while? Like, they were there and still pretty - I just didn't really... care.

I gened my progens and got a colossal pang of satisfaction from finishing them and getting them looking pretty. So I got them G1 mates and gened them up the same way. I'd hatched a few eggs by that point, and found myself far more attached to those babies than I was to any of the dragons I'd bought - even the ones that I hadn't gened yet.

So, for me, that's where it started. I did mention in my survey response that I enjoy the challenge; I don't remember when exactly the last bred dragon was ejected from my lair (it has been so long I honestly don't recall if I yote them all at once or if it was a gradual process) but I've been trapped in gene project purgatory since sometime in early 2014.

Sometimes I have regrets, but mostly I don't.

I like G1s because its a challenge. If I want a dragon with certain colors/genes, in most cases I can just buy it. Its just you want a dragon -> go on AH -> buy it. Thats it. Yes, there are color combos that dont exist yet/almost dont exist, but usually you dont go for them anyway.

G1s are, on the other hand, different. If you want a specific dragon, you need to find right colors first, It can take month, even years to do so.

G2+ feels like someone else made a dragon and you just bought a second-hand product. G1s feels like its your own dragon, that you worked for, that you carefully choose genes, apparel, skins, everything.

And, for me, the process of geneing G1s is so much better than enjoying them after.

(Its so terrible when you spend several month gathering fund for your G1,dreaming of when it get all his genes, skins, etc. And then you finish him. And suddenly he doesnt sparks joy like before. Its just a terreble, terrible feeling.)

just gonna add a few points as well because i didn't wanna clutter up the reply area lmao. i actually hate the lack of connections. it's why i always try to write the name of who i bought the dragon from in their bios. i miss lore connections but i wouldn't give up g1s for anything, not even that.

what Achaius said about weird xyz combos is very important. there are some truly unhinged xyz combos out there that you'll only see in gen1s (and maybe stock the pond) and i love to find something just. just absolutely nuts and go 'i can fix you'.

i also started as a gen-whatever lair, but then i thought about getting oc dragons and i already had my progen to represent one so i was like yeah i'll just make them all g1s and it was a slippery slope from there. i still have some g2 dragons from before i transitioned and my fandragons are all g2 bc they tend to be have more precarious spots in my lair. whenever i feel the itch to purge, they're the ones who go, so it's nice not to care too much about them.

like some others have said, for me it's partly a challenge. i enjoy the... idk the journey of it all. i guess. the only way a g2 dragon sparks joy for me these days is if i've done a long breeding project to carefully get the exact colours i wanted. otherwise it's just so easy to go to the ah and just click buy. that's boring. i want to CRAFT dragons.

g1s are like taking a blank sheet of paper and then making it something specifically meant to please me and i love that. like yeah i can regene a g2 dragon (and i have) but there's idk something special about finding the exact right colours on a g1. you're not guaranteed to get those because they're random. so finding colours that work and please you is like SUCH a rush. it's why i love bargain bin shopping specifically because people will often list weird combos on the ah for cheap thinking they're not special but actually the accent colours all match, or this tert colour does something wacky with x gene, or idk stuff like that. i've got plenty of xyz g1s that are something to that effect.

i think it also helps with gene use too? like i have no idea what genes are 'popular' because that's irrelevent. the genes that matter are the ones that look best on my dragon. so maybe i'll use something boring like stripes or something. every gene has potential and i enjoy looking for that potential.

it's finding a diamond in the rough, it's making something special just for me, it's knowing that this combo was a complete fluke and may never happen again. and people who see my dragons know they look that way on purpose. i picked those genes, that outfit, it's for a reason.

sorry this is so long i'm finding it very difficult to articulate my feelings when i'm just woken up hahaha

I also started as an any gen lair and became a G1 lair within my first few years of playing.

There are so many reasons:

Blank slate:
I really enjoy the clean none/none, and I love the unexpected XYZ combos that nobody's breeding for but they somehow work. And just the low odds of something not only good but stunning hatching from an egg, when it could really be absolutely anything. Even stock the pond pairs have eliminated half the color wheel.

No connections to other players:
I don't have to think about how I play with my dragons affects another person's lair--for example, I often leave my own dragons unnamed as a part of their character or because I take a really long time to name them and when it's a G1, I don't ruin anyone's offspring lists.

On the flip side, I don't have to deal with parents with joke names or other names that don't fit what I envision for my characters. I can have a dragon with an antagonistic relationship with their parents without the risk of the seller feeling bad about it.

Less tedious than breeding projects:
I have done and still do the occasional breeding project if I want something specific. However, 90% of the time, the dragon I want doesn't exist, nor do parents with close ranges. I've had to breed for a year or more just to get some of my dragons.

Sometimes that project becomes so frustrating because I just keep getting near-misses, and sometimes it takes so long to get that dragon that I lose interest--do I really want that color combo so badly that I want to wait a year or two for it? Rarely. With the G1s, the colors are already there, I just need to gene the dragon.

The G1 is also a single dragon. When it comes to breeding projects, I'll have to have space and the willingness to sell or train/exalt great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, any non-viable offspring. I have to maintain spreadsheets and browse the AH and check relations for 8-16 pairs and work out a nest schedule and sometimes rent nests, and figure out how to breed around that one problem dragon that's related to three of my pairs but there really aren't any better candidates.

Investment:
I feel more invested in a dragon I've worked hard to gene myself. I'm proud, I made it look the way it looks now. I had to put in the effort and I can take tangible steps towards the goal every day if I want to. I breed, say, a Coatl pair? I click a button for five days and then I have to wait another 30 days to try again.



Also, since it's in the form: I don't care about the prestige/popularity aspect around G1s. I don't understand making a dragon, like, a Wildclaw with all gem genes just to show off. If it's gonna be a Wildclaw with all gem genes, it's because that's what I think looks best for that particular dragon, not because of any status inherent to the genes/breed. I'm also happy with a triple basic Tundra if that's what I like best for that one dragon.

I answered the survey but I'd also like to add my autobiography;

When I first joined in '15 I recall being very active in the coliseum, hatching every egg that came my way despite not being able to afford to gene them. I felt that fairground games took me way too long to max out the lucky streak, so it was a weekly occurance if at all. Must've got myself in a slump about it because I quit after a year. I remember it was because I wanted to be a g1 lair, I'd lost interest in my g2+ dragons but couldn't afford to replace them unless I left the g1s ungened...

So obviously me quitting only lasted so long, I came back after 3 years - in '19 - and G&G is a thing... I sometimes take break periods when I don't feel like it but its basically a daily ritual even 4+ years on. I still had my coli team but I had sold all my valuable items etc for offsite so I did what I already knew to do and got the fodder breeders started.

Hibden and tabs were a joy to discover, I still had 'junk' items so I blasted through a few tasks, spent time in coli to get more slots, worked on awakeneing my growing familiar collection for those sweet gilded goodies and saved most of my cash for a few months, got some lair expansions (already around 100 when I returned)... Then I hatched my first eggs!!

Over the years I've maxed most site activities - the only thing I know I haven't done is buy all the lair/den tabs, I get them as I need them. I don't own most of the Sprites or any downtime/ks fams, but I've got them awakened thanks to Fiona. I still need to pick up some old fest apparel I want at least 1 copy of (and dream of infinite bonechimes) but hatching, buying and gening g1s is what keeps me here.

My reasons are pretty similar to what others have mentioned above me, but to express in my own words: I love finding a combo (scrying or buying) that shouldn't work, has everything going against them, but somehow they just enrapture me into spending my dragon cash. Sometimes I see a combo and I don't even scry them first I just snag them cause I know they'll be good, even if no genes work for them now. If they don't exist yet I save the search page and check back every so often.

My favourite thing is hatching eggs though. I used to never buy/sell eggs and only hatch instantly, but now I'm more tempered so I sell on occasion and keep my eggs for special dates like halloween (my fave), birthdays, christmas, new year, palindromes, funny numbers, and this year I have one of each egg to hatch on leap day. Weirdly matching X/Y/Z's, near-misses and unique combos make me happy, I don't really care for doubles/triples solely on that factor but I foam at the mouth at the thought of big bucks for more projects...

I know I could sell all my eggs, buy nice dergs, gene them, and probably still have change, and the 100+ g1s in my hibden sales aren't going to just shift overnight (unless I exalt them)... but they feel more special to me knowing that I hatched them myself.

loving all these answers so far. so many perspectives ::]

I like g1s because its more challenging to make them pretty. I needed something to keep me interested for extended periods of time, and working on g1 projects does that. I'm not a pure g1 lair as I kept all my older g2+ dragons, but I only buy g1s now.

[quote name="Achaius" date="2024-02-11 17:14:19" ] - other: off-the-beaten-path color combos: I'm a big fan of "weird XYZ that somehow works," which can come in any gen, but is often seen in g1s due to their randomness. [/quote] This so much. I've got several G1s that are rare, just random combination of colors which normally I don't believe anyone would choose to breed. but they just work.