Guides

hello! in this guide I'll explain my process of minimizing my lair. it'll be quite short :0
***it kinda needs revising, but it's still useful (i hope)***

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=what is it, soII?=
minimal means different things for different people. to me, it's owning only dragons you love and never worrying about your space. it doesn't necessarily mean a handful of dragons (but it probably won't mean 200 dragons). whatever it is, don't get too hung up on a number!
oh, and it also doesn't have anything to do with your dragons' appearances! unless you want to, of course, but nothing is off limits :0

=but why would I want to own fewer dragons?=
ok, i know this is a site about collecting dragons! but!
it'll save you a lot of food and money, for starters. and this will help you enjoy more the game, since you'll be able to spend time with things you like, rather than grinding for money and being poor all the time. less dragons = more love to each dragon. and actually writing bios to all those damn reptiles or getting to gene that one dragon with that money you saved

=seems great! how did you do it?=
tbh? sold and exalted a lot. while thinking. I followed these steps:

1. find out my primary lair goal
2. get rid of dragons that don't fit this goal and have no purpose
3. replace useful dragons
4. get rid of dragons I don't love
5. keep my lair minimal

I could also call this step zero. either way, you have to do this one first. you can complete steps 2 to 5 all at once, actually, but you can't do anything without knowing what your goal is.

luckily, this is not too hard of a step. I made some questions to help you out:

• what's my favorite breed?
• what's my favorite color/color scheme?
• what are my favorite genes?
• what are my favorite three dragons?
• what's my dream dragon?
• do I care about lore? if yes, what's my clan lore?
• what's my play style? what do I like doing?

you can have general or specific answers, and maybe not all of them will be useful. my initial goal, for instance, was very ample: all-snapper (though i allowed two plentiful breeding pairs for fodder), with a bit of brown. yours might be all purple, or only purple nocturnes with spines. you can get a general goal at first and refine it along the way too.

but whatever you choose, write it down somewhere (I chose my profile). after the goal is defined, only buy dragons that fit this goal (I recommend you don't shop much though)

now, arrange your lair. put dragons that fit your goal on the front, followed by useful drargons that don't fit it and dragons without purpose. and now you get rid of stuff

this step goes right after defining your goal because it's the easiest. after you know what you want your lair to be, you'll look at this dragons, thrown in the back, and think "what the hell are you doing here?" - because, well, they are pointless. remove all apparel and familiars and throw these babies in the AH/a giveaway thread/your deity. get rid of them. they aren't adding to your lair, they are simply eating your food. so yeah. get. rid. of. them.

now take a look at your lair. yesssssss, it feels good, doesn't it? roomy and pretty, right? it'll only get better from now on. plus I bet your vault is happier now.

I know damn well this is hard. these dragons were probably expensive. they also might give you some good money. but remember your goal? so let's do this. here are some tips:

• first things first, make sure these dragons you're calling useful really are worth keeping! how many breeding pairs do you need? (of course, if you love breeding this might be a lot. that's not a crime!) do you need a level 25 in every build that exists? (maybe, if you live on the coli or if you borrow them!) keep what's useful for you, but think well
• now, these useful dragons. can you fuse anyone, so a single dragon fills more than a role?
• then pay a visit to the scrying workshop. can you make these dragons fit your goal? are you willing to pay for that?
• now take a look at the AH. anyone you might get as a replacement? any skins/accents/apparel that can hide unwanted colors and genes?

this can be rather costly. good thing you earned some bucks with step 2 :)

time for a second lair arrangement and a last purge. sort your lair from most to least favorite. then breathe in, breathe out and sell/give away/exalt your dragons, starting from the last one. stop when you've reached a favorite. simple as that.

=wait, what?=
well, in theory it's quite simple. but I know: we get attached to those pixels. this is specially true with dragons you spent a lot of money in, or breeding project progenitors. a tip is asking yourself "why am I keeping this dragon? why do I want a [your project goal]?" or similar questions ("does this spark joy?", as Marie Kondo would say). I had a pair that could produce triple orcas. they were both snappers, so they did fit my goal. but then I asked myself "why do I even want a triple orca?" and sold both of them. same for my triple seafoams and caribbeans. they were arguably useful ($$$) but they clashed a bit with the rest of my lair and i could easily live without them. i didn't even recall them before revising this guide.

this step takes time. you might have to keep dragons you don't love love because they can breed you a dragon you'll adore, or because you need those plentifuls to earn some money (but try to get some that blend in alright or they might annoy you). it's ok. it's only game, don't beat yourself up because of it

=ok soII, my lair is lovely indeed. how do I keep it this way?=
Vivienne Westwood said something you'll see in about half the posts about capsule/minimalist wardrobes around the internet: "buy less, choose well". don't go to the dragons tab of the AH just to window shop - or if you do, vault ALL your treasure and gems. this way, your lair stays full of dragons you love and you'll stay rich (ish?)
it's not like you can't shop either! just make sure you know exactly what you're looking for and get just this specific dragon you want and you're gonna be fine

update may 2018: this works and it's possible!
hi there btw
i should revise this whole guide (i updated a couple things but it's not there yet) but while i procrastinate i wanted to add this of maintenance is super easy and makes sure impulse buys won't come back. you kinda forget the AH has a dragon tab and there's a forum just for dragon sales. you can look at pretty dragons for sale without wanting to buy them (whaaaa?)

Seems like this is a good twist on Marie Kondo's decluttering mantra, to be asked of each and every item you own: Does it spark joy? No? Get rid of it, however you please, but move it out of your house/ life to make room for things that do.

@Deladria true that! I actually said I was Konmaring my lair once, but I forgot to mention it in the guide p:

I love this. I am in the eternal process of trying to make my lair smaller and smaller, but there are still some dragons I'm really on the fence about /sweats

@Sinfony thanks! those are quite tough, but think: if you have to question if you want those in your lair or not, you probably don't. maybe ask for someone to hold them for you for a while, and see if you miss them :3