Suggestions

PvP is definitely at the bottom of the list of methods I'd like for eye vials. But I'm so sick of the way things are now that even that would be acceptable.
Though given there's no ETA on when PvP will actually happen I'd prefer to have a confirmation that that's how they intend to handle it if it turns out we've got another year or more of waiting. I've still got a bunch of garbage fodder primals sitting around in my den on the off chance that we get an eye swap type thing. I'd love to free up that space if I can know for sure that they are never going to be worth anything but fodder.

Update time, just because. Some of you may know of my year+ attempts to breed an XXY Wind Primal, just to make a spooky scary ghost coli trio. Nothing major, I just wanted a matched set of dragons to level up together. I finally got him today. [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=59625919] [img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/350/596260/59625919_350.png[/img] [/url] Obs/Obs/Mantis Primal/Male What it cost me? Maintaining 13 breeding pairs for a year overall (26 dragons), mostly plentiful, but then getting desperate and adding uncommons and gaolers into the pile to have enough unrelated pairs in the last months. Prior to the hatchathon today, I had hatched 138 dragons. From that number only 1 being a primal, but the wrong sex. (So, from that batch, the odds of getting a primal were 0.0072%) And then we get to today, because if the odds were garbage anyway, I may as well have garbage on a special day. So I rented out 2 other Windy hosts (subjecting 9 of my pairs to unsanctioned transfers that if they were lost, exalted or resold, I was now officially out of my breeding pairs, so tough tit for me) And those renters (I love them so much they were awesome! Cost 21kt in rental fees, plus food. One Faceted came home from the 17 or so hatchlings. I had my other 4 pairs on my own nests, timed everything right and hatched them all. Results, 1 Faceted out of 10 my hatchlings. And something happened to me, I swear I kinda lost my mind for a bit, because I then jumped into my fodder, threw any that would go together, together, and promptly spent 2450g on boons to hatch out the 7 [i]new[/i] pairs I was able to cobble together. And then 2 things happened. Another Primal popped up in the very first booned nest (right sex, wrong tert color, cue small hair-pull of rage), and then the nest after that threw another Primal, the boy right up top, everything I wanted. And then the last nest had a Goat because of course it did. 57 new hatchlings later It's over, it's [i]done[/i]. And you know, I directly spent more than 3000g over all this time to get it done. Between gem-priced pairs, because those were the only pairs available, to this burning of all my NoTN chest money for boons. This was the most stupid expensive dragon I've ever bought that wasn't a XXY G1 WC. And the only thing I feel is [b][i]relief[/i][/b]! It's over and done and I am never ever going to do this again, I don't care about this update anymore! I HATED wanting these eyes. I hated, at the end, having to blow real money to finally get them, when I could've done it with real money and 3kg all along as a MP vial and not wasted a literal year of my life in the process. So there's your ceiling, staff, 3kg for a Primal vial might be the price you've been looking for someone to trip over. There you go. Getting this dragon was [b]not [/b]fun, this task was [b]not [/b]fulfilling, this dragon is still [b]not [/b]special. I got the [i]base [/i]of a special project dragon done. Now I get to look forward to whenever the WC scrolls are back in again, or shell out another 4-5kg if I want it now. But on the bright side, I actually know I can buy a WC scroll eventually. When he gets that, [b]then [/b]he'll be special. All I have now is that I can finally [i]start [/i]my project on him and his companions. At the end of all this, really, all it did was generate 230 dragons for me to now finish levelling and exalting, which, at the level I dump them at, will bring in over 3.79 million treasure for me to dump back into the economy (that's on pure exalts alone, add about 16% of the total back in for hoardselling stuff), incidentally, as I plan to turn that treasure back into gems, it'll just about cover the gem this mass hatch cost me, but that's 2500g I'm not going to buy from the site either. I don't think that kind of economic turn-over was also part of the calculation of getting rid of failed eye-makers as far as this mechanic goes, but it should be. If you're going to force us to make new "favorite" dragons, because we can't change the ones locked out of the release, this is what's going to happen. I know I'm not the only one who worked on some eye project, and all those bred fail-dragons have to go somewhere. Just let us buy or grind or otherwise earn vials, and in doing so take money out of the system/economy, instead of generating a huge waste of time and treasure to dump back into it instead. This was exhausting and if my experience was the intended and desired goal of this mechanic, then the disconnect between what I as a player want and what staff things players like me want is a lunar orbit in width.

[quote name="Amut" date="2020-02-29 15:27:35" ] This was exhausting and if my experience was the intended and desired goal of this mechanic, then the disconnect between what I as a player want and what staff things players like me want is a lunar orbit in width. [/quote] This has got to be the best way I have seen this feeling described. I haven't even attempted an eye project outside of Swirl and I weep for whoever has. Your experience was one of my first fears upon reading the initial announcement.

I agree. Eye projects are not fun and exciting like other projects are. I gened up a gen 1 this week an it was super fun and rewarding! I had complete control over what I was doing. It required the effort of saving ~1 mil t, which is a difficult task but one that can be concretely worked towards, unlike eye breeding projects.

[quote]And the only thing I feel is relief![/quote] This is how I feel a lot of the time with the ridiculous, years-consuming projects. That's how I felt when I got my Light Sprite. "Thank Arcanist that's over! Now I can finally have some fun!" I feel satisfaction when I complete gene-ing projects. I feel satisfaction when a goal takes a couple of months, not a couple of years. Now, I know there's people who feel joy after working hard for years. But that's not everyone. And unfortunately, the way things currently are, that's the only way to get new eyes on old dragons. If the staff want to encourage feelings of specialness and accomplishment, then we need more options for all players and playstyles. I'm not saying give us stuff for free. Let some people breed. Let some people earn vials. Let everyone be happy.

[quote name="Amut" date="2020-02-29 15:27:35" ] And the only thing I feel is [b][i]relief[/i][/b]! It's over and done and I am never ever going to do this again, I don't care about this update anymore! I HATED wanting these eyes. [/quote] I can relate to that on a spiritual level. There's a difference between choosing to gamble and being forced to because there's no other option to get what you want. Do I have specific dragons I want with specific eye colors/types? Yes, absolutely. My problem? I have gotten most of these dragons before the eyepocalypse, so all of them are locked out of eye types besides common. And to add to the problem? All of these dragons are special to me in one way or another. Special hatch dates, low IDs, gifts from friends that have since gone inactive, and so on. Take this girl for example: [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=12262281] [img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/350/122623/12262281_350.png[/img] [/url] She's a memorial dragon for my dog. I'd been searching for forever for close fitting colors, but never found anything that looked satisfying enough. Until a friend of surprised me by gifting her to me out of the blue when I'd already given up. I was over the moon! They'd actually gone to some random person who had just a couple of days ago bred the girl as fodder and was about to sell her off like that. The only minus point is that she has light eyes, hwere I would have preferred earth eyes, because my dog had the beautful dark brown eyes, but oh well...However, along come the eye types and I could change her eye type from light common to light rare, which is a shade of brown and would be good enough, but alas, it is not to be... I'm not going to just rebreed this dragon, because she's very special to me in many ways. But that means she'll never be as perfect as she could be. Why am I forced to have to choose between getting the perfect random dragon and having to get rid of a very sentimentally special but only great dragon? I sometimes like to gamble. I have an ongoing project to get all eleven primals from my progens' hatchies. It'll be long, sometimes frustrating and it'll cost me a lot of gems. But this I willingly choose. For my girl Hilde up there though? That's not a choice, that's a slap in the face.

It’s sad that what was (I assume) intended to be a nice update was implemented so poorly that even 2 full years later people who are choosing to interact with it via the only means possible (breeding) don’t even find it appealing.

So far the eye update is and likely will remain the worst content update FR has had if nothing changes significantly

[quote name="Contaminate" date="2020-03-03 12:15:55" ] It’s sad that what was (I assume) intended to be a nice update was implements so poorly that even 2 full years later people who are choosing to interact with it via the only means possible (breeding) don’t even find it appealing. So far the eye update is and likely will remain the worst content update FR has had if nothing changes significantly [/quote] This is exactly how I feel. I [i]want[/i] to like the eye update, I [i]want[/i] to interact with it and be happy about getting new eyes. But, I am not. Even though I don't particularly like any of the existing breeding only eye types (some primal can be nice, but eh), I am always fearful that an eye type that will be just gorgeous will come out and be breeding only. So, even though I don't particularly want to put existing breeding only eyes on any of my dragons, I can't even enjoy the eye update because I am afraid that a [b]new[/b] natural eye type will come out that I [i]will[/i] like and want to use.

It's less frustrating when you don't want anything in particular. It can be kinda fun to see the special eyes on your pairs occasionally, but only when you didn't specifically want that. (At least that's my experience... I like breeding large ranges to see what happens so in a way it's similar.) I also really do like some of the special eyes, and would like to see more. The problem comes if I were to want these eyes on a specific dragon or color combination project or whatever specific dragon. The mechanic then becomes frustrating and unfun. Leaving things to chances that cannot be improved by any means. (other than having more pairs I suppose?) But most people won't want new pairs.. most people don't want to spend 1 year or longer on a single dragon eye. I think whoever does like that should be able to do it that way, but for the rest of the players, who are maybe even too busy with real life to dedicate to such an intensive project... I want to like the eye update too, but after attempting a project, all I could do was force myself not to care. I tell myself I like the project the way he is, even if I really would feel better if he had the primal I wanted.
For me personally, an eye project is bad for my mental health. I get stressed and frustrated and disappointed and depressed.. during my project I was seriously considering leaving Flight Rising. I think this is pretty far from the intended emotions and feelings of the update. And it sucks because I really want to care, and underneath I do or I wouldn't be here.

[quote name="Amut" date="2020-02-29 15:27:35" ] And the only thing I feel is [b][i]relief[/i][/b]! It's over and done and I am never ever going to do this again, I don't care about this update anymore! I HATED wanting these eyes. [/quote] Sums it up pretty nicely. I got some excitement out of coincidentally hatching my Primal on a significant day, but other than that, it was just relief to be done. Relief to finally have my lair back and actually start playing the game again. I love breeding projects in general, but I am NEVER doing an eye type project again. It's just not worth it. I hoped when I started that breeding for Primal eyes could be a fun challenge. Instead it was a hopeless waiting game that prevented me from working towards any of my other goals until it was done. A wholly unpleasant experience that I knew might never come to fruition, given the fickle nature of RNG. I got lucky in the end, but with the odds being untouchable and horrendously low, it wouldn't even be surprising if someone were to breed for years on end and never get their desired Primal/Multigaze/whatever. Being forced to undertake an indefinitely-long breeding project that consumes every open space in your lair as your only means of obtaining a particular "special"-eyed dragon seems pretty punishing. Especially if you don't enjoy breeding projects in the first place, which many users don't. As was said a few pages ago: [quote name="Almedha" date="2020-01-17 08:43:13" ][b]The devs are calling a playstyle wrong[/b]. (Or, more likely, more than one playstyle.) If there is only one playstyle to achieve your goals with a reasonable margin of error or time investment, then the other playstyles are wrong. The playstyles that use the fairgrounds, train in coli and exalt, and purchase gems are [b]the wrong way to get eyes because they can't[/b] get eyes. Seems pretty obvious to me. [/quote]