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View Full Version : Feedback on loooooooong breeding times



zenobia42
09-23-14, 08:15 PM
They are getting ridiculously long... most particularly on the Thunderhawk.

I have started threads in the discussions folder that get moved here due to them being more suggestions to the TL/S8 team than discussions, and have been told that the TL/S8 folks are more likely to read feedback if it's here rather than there. So this time I'm starting the thread in hopefully the correct place and I hope it remains open for others to add their feedback, whether they agree with mine or not. And if it is true that most game developers read here and not there, I think it important to ensure they recognize just how annoyed and angry a TON of players are about the excessively long breeding times of many creatures and in particular, the Thunderhawk. Or as I call it the thunder-friggen-16-hour-fail-hawk. There is not a thread left in the general discussion where it is not brought up. People join the forum to make one single post their entire lives and it is to say that the times are excessive.

The breeding times on the electrics are all on the long sides, but the hawk is grossly disproportional even to the other electrics. It is a COMMON breed and there is NOT ONE SINGLE RARE in the game pre-electrics that even takes that long - not one!!! In fact, the vast majority of pre-electric SUPER RARES take less time. Only TWO take more! The other electric commons to date have 8, 11, 12 and 13 hour timers. But the hawk sticks out like a rotten sore thumb at 16 hours, especially considering that nature times are generally on the shorter side. And to BOOT, no matter if you put 2, 3, or 4 elements in the den, you have at LEAST an 80% chance of getting another hawk, no matter how many other possible outcomes there supposedly are. Hawk after hawk after 16 hour friggen hawk. It's ridiculous and NOT FUN.

I am far from the only person of this opinion. And not the only person who has resorted to the only viable solution: to not put both lightning and nature in the den, no matter that excluding one or the other diminishes the number of possible new critters we could get from this. Today I decided that I would rather NEVER get the Terradactyl than suffer through a single other 16-hour hawk fail. I lost count of how many of them I've sold. It's just torture. It's NOT FUN. If the idea is to drive us so crazy that we buy and spend gems to speed them up, that idea has BACKFIRED. Instead, we are simply not putting those elements in the den. Instead of making us spend money, you are making us go out of our way to avoid getting them, and like the game less and less.

For the love of god, PLEASE change it to the 11.5-hour breed/incubation time that at least fits with the other electric commons.
Which looks right (the list of breed times for electric commons)?
8, 11, 16, 12, 13?
Or
8, 11, 11.5, 12, 13?

cquinn32
09-23-14, 08:30 PM
I too get frustrated with the long breed times but as a long time DS player I guess I'm just used to it. I guarentee you there will be commons with longer times than 16hrs in the future. I will say though the moment they introduce an element that breaks down into seperate elements when breeding as so many do in DS I will quickly delete this game!!

zenobia42
09-23-14, 08:32 PM
I too get frustrated with the long breed times but as a long time DS player I guess I'm just used to it. I guarentee you there will be commons with longer times than 16hrs in the future. I will say though the moment they introduce an element that breaks down into seperate elements when breeding as so many do in DS I will quickly delete this game!!

Oh, that sounds awful. Sounds like something I'd almost surely dump the game over as well. Just not fun.

but the thunderahwk IMO is a different case than just making breeding times slowly but surely get longer and longer. Because 2 separate animal releases since then, electric hybrid commons, have had times in line with the fireglider. The hawk really sticks out like a sore.. talon lol. It is excessive time and out of line even with the other electrics. It makes no sense unless their purpose was to try to annoy us into spending money... which sure as heck will not work with me anyway. No electric and nature in the den together again is all it does to me.

cquinn32
09-23-14, 08:49 PM
but the thunderahwk IMO is a different case than just making breeding times slowly but surely get longer and longer. Because 2 separate animal releases since then, electric hybrid commons, have had times in line with the fireglider. The hawk really sticks out like a sore.. talon lol. It is excessive time and out of line even with the other electrics. It makes no sense unless their purpose was to try to annoy us into spending money... which sure as heck will not work with me anyway. No electric and nature in the den together again is all it does to me.

Yes I see your point and all you can do is try to get as many players on your side as possible. Sadly though in the couple years I've played their games it is "ultra rare" for TL to acknowledge any requests players have.

zenobia42
09-23-14, 09:05 PM
Yes I see your point and all you can do is try to get as many players on your side as possible. Sadly though in the couple years I've played their games it is "ultra rare" for TL to acknowledge any requests players have.

Well then, considering my luck with ultra rares, I've just jinxed the cause by being the one to start a thread about it, dam! lol

kooky panda
09-24-14, 08:16 AM
Yes I see your point and all you can do is try to get as many players on your side as possible. Sadly though in the couple years I've played their games it is "ultra rare" for TL to acknowledge any requests players have.

Yesterday a Community manager did post on this request:


Elsa;970696']
We?ll pass your feedback about the breeding times for Lightning animals on to the game design team.

http://forums.storm8.com/showthread.php?73337-Polls-please&p=970696&viewfull=1#post970696

Please continue leaving constructive feedback for this change. :)

ArcadiaTofu
09-24-14, 08:19 AM
I will put my two cents in on this issue, too, Zenobia, like I did with the poll thread in hopes that TL will actually read it and perhaps respond to it.

I am 100% in favor of lower breeding times for all the new element and hybrid creatures (common and rare) that have been released in the game in the past month. One thing I loved about FFS is when comparing it to Dragon Story I chose to play FFS because it has lower breeding times. One thing that makes me cringe and seriously think about quitting this game is the mere notion that it will turn into another Dragon Story in regards to breed times. (There's no way I want to wait more than 13 hours for common or rare hybrids and still be happy with the game, no matter how 'hard' TL wants to make it for the customer to keep their interest... it will end up doing the opposite for me and many, many others).

OK... I get that TL wants to keep a 'good thing going' and are basing this game off their old model in Dragon Story, but I think TL might have failed to realize that perhaps the main reason that so many users like FFS so far is because until now it was NOT like Dragon Story in regards to breed times. I don't mind waiting 15-24 hours to breed out a super rare (the rewards are worth the wait and I doubt any other user would disagree with me on the breed times for Super Rares)... however, when you tack on cruddy 13-18 hour breed times for commons and rares then you're going to lose a big chunk of your fanbase. If all new element hybrids from now on are gonna have breed times between 13-18 hrs or more for simple commons and rares then it's not its own unique game --- it's just another copy of Dragon Story and with all the downfalls of the excessively-long breed times I tried to avoid in the first place.

Like I said, I don't mind waiting a bit more for a super rare (or ultras), but wasting an entire day trying to get rid of thunderhawks and daredevils and mammoths from the nest is like nails on a chalkboard. Not only is the thunderhawk now the most hated hybrid in the game---EVER---but it pops up everywhere and there's nowhere to hide from it, no matter how carefully you try to breed for something else. If you have lightning and nature in the mix you're gonna get a thunderhawk, mark my words. I think everyone would be happy if, from now on, all common and rare hybrids stay below the breed time of 13 hours. If the breed times just keep increasing for commons and rares, I expect you're going to lose quite a lot of customers that have lost patience in waiting so long for breeds that they just don't want.

Also, take note that a lot of the frustration that is being expressed in the community thus far (especially concerning breed times) hearkens back to the Emerald Dragon changes that were never really "solved" so to speak. Players that weren't lucky enough to get a unicorn early in the game now have to wait an hour (and 20 seconds on the nest) to get through one fail for Emerald Dragon, whereas earlier users could more than likely get one after three or four days of intense 20-second fails. The mere fact that TL changed the 20-second breed time to a gut-wrenching 5 hours was a slap in the face to most users. And not only that, but TL tried to placate its users from the backlash by lowering the breed time to 1 hour. Let's be fair, 1 hour is a LOT better than 5 hrs, but what about the users that have 3-8 Emerald Dragons that were gotten the 'easy way' way-back-when? If TL is going to release more ultra-rares in the future then what does it matter that the Emerald Dragon is the easiest one to get with a 20-second breed fail? The economy of the game was already 'out of whack' because of TL allowing early users to get the Emerald by going through many 20-second breed fails and then penalizing later users by forcing them to have less luck in regards to the Emerald. If TL wants to keep the game 'organic' then I'd recommend bringing back 20-second breed fails for the Emerald and implementing 1-hour breed fails for all new ultras that will be released in the future---that would be fair. Users of the community are seeing all new element and hybrid creature breed times skyrocketing and with the Emerald Dragon mess still stewing in their memories, it's no wonder that so many users are frustrated and feeling like TL isn't listening to them at all. (Especially in regards to breed times---if the Emerald Dragon fiasco is anything to go by, chances are we'll end up getting a semi-fix of an hour or two knocked off breed times... which would not make us happy, at all---kinda like we weren't really that 'happy' with the 5-hour Emerald fail getting knocked down to 1-hour).

In short, if FFS becomes like Dragon Story concerning the breed times, you better believe I won't be sticking around long because I'm already still pretty mad regarding the Emerald situation and these excessive new breed times for new animals is pushing me (and many others) way past our limit for patience. :mad:

sweetypies97
09-30-14, 10:19 PM
And now they've increased evolution times too.

My prediction is that they will bring in lots of tournaments. That's the only way they will get people to visit their forest daily because there is no other reason to log in regularly.

flowless
10-01-14, 10:51 AM
They defiantly took you topic in consideration when deciding the evolution times

Perhaps we should post next time how happy we r about long breeds and evolution :rolleyes:

ArcadiaTofu
10-01-14, 09:30 PM
Ahh, the increase of evolution times that TL never warned us about. Had I known that this was coming I would have maxed out my unicorn a few days ago and evolved it into a lvl 15 in a mere 16 hours---which was a fair evolution time, even if it was a bit on the long side... it at least made SENSE.

Now, on top of longer breed times and habitat construction times we have a huge increase of evolution times that users will quickly become super-frustrated with. Does TL just not really care about its customers anymore? Are they ignorant to the fact that this new change won't increase gem spending but likely cause many long-time users to just quit the game in frustration or stop buying gems completely in protest? Because even with the increased breed times, habitat construction times and evolution times, I'm less likely to want to buy gems... not more likely.

And color me surprised, but doesn't this completely destroy their under-18 demographic? Kids might be able to whine to their parents for more gem purchases to circumvent the now-uber-long wait times on everything, but even parents will cut their kids off when it starts to get TOO expensive. Isn't this move also destroying their under-18 userbase in the long run by making it too slow and boring for the ever-excitable and impatient under-18 demographic? Just seems to me they're shooting themselves in the foot thrice over by not only ticking off their older userbase that were (before all the increases in times) more likely to purchase gems, but their younger ones that will quickly lose interest in a game that takes too long to advance in... along with just plain ticking off everyone in their userbase enough to want to quit the game completely after too many insults to their customers over the past few months.

If this trend continues and isn't remedies satisfactorily, people are just going to find another game to play and delete FFS, or play it less out of frustration and anger for it turning into another Dragon Story model. But that's just what all the signs seem to be pointing to...

zenobia42
10-03-14, 05:49 PM
And now they've increased evolution times too.

My prediction is that they will bring in lots of tournaments. That's the only way they will get people to visit their forest daily because there is no other reason to log in regularly.

True. I don't know WHY they think ludicrously long wait times will entice us to buy more gems. All it does is a) make the game boring and b) make us angry at the constant changes for the worse and therefore less and less willing to spend any money on the game.


They defiantly took you topic in consideration when deciding the evolution times

Perhaps we should post next time how happy we r about long breeds and evolution :rolleyes:
lmfao. I tried reverse psychology a couple times already in other threads. However, I'm pretty sure it just came across as pure sarcasm. Maybe because I was unable to hold back the sarcasm when typing it. lol. Anyway, yeah. Again, because they move threads on this topic to this folder that 99% of even regular posters do not visit, that makes this thread get few replies and probably the false impression that everyone else is just honky-dory with all the absurdly long breed and evolution times. When in reality, for every 1 person who finds and posts in this forum there are probably 20 people who posts about it in the main discussion forum. And for every 1 who posts in the main discussion forum, there are probably 50 who feel the same way but are lurkers who are uncomfortable with posting. And for every 1 of them, there are probably 50 who have never been to and never will see the forum. And of ALL these people, even those who post, we never even hear when they decide they've had enough of the systematic removal of fun from the game and just quit.

sweetypies97
10-11-14, 12:21 AM
And now they've increased evolution times too.

My prediction is that they will bring in lots of tournaments. That's the only way they will get people to visit their forest daily because there is no other reason to log in regularly.

Is it too early to say "I told you so" ? ;)

wildhearts20
11-04-14, 03:04 PM
Ahh, the increase of evolution times that TL never warned us about. Had I known that this was coming I would have maxed out my unicorn a few days ago and evolved it into a lvl 15 in a mere 16 hours---which was a fair evolution time, even if it was a bit on the long side... it at least made SENSE.

Now, on top of longer breed times and habitat construction times we have a huge increase of evolution times that users will quickly become super-frustrated with. Does TL just not really care about its customers anymore? Are they ignorant to the fact that this new change won't increase gem spending but likely cause many long-time users to just quit the game in frustration or stop buying gems completely in protest? Because even with the increased breed times, habitat construction times and evolution times, I'm less likely to want to buy gems... not more likely.

And color me surprised, but doesn't this completely destroy their under-18 demographic? Kids might be able to whine to their parents for more gem purchases to circumvent the now-uber-long wait times on everything, but even parents will cut their kids off when it starts to get TOO expensive. Isn't this move also destroying their under-18 userbase in the long run by making it too slow and boring for the ever-excitable and impatient under-18 demographic? Just seems to me they're shooting themselves in the foot thrice over by not only ticking off their older userbase that were (before all the increases in times) more likely to purchase gems, but their younger ones that will quickly lose interest in a game that takes too long to advance in... along with just plain ticking off everyone in their userbase enough to want to quit the game completely after too many insults to their customers over the past few months.

If this trend continues and isn't remedies satisfactorily, people are just going to find another game to play and delete FFS, or play it less out of frustration and anger for it turning into another Dragon Story model. But that's just what all the signs seem to be pointing to...

This ^^ i thought the evolving time they started with were great, same reasonable times depending on how rare the animal is. I quit playing DS because everything was taking too long and they had way too many dragons coming out.if they're just doing this to try and get people to buy more gems its pretty lame.

inespay
11-25-14, 05:26 AM
Or at least give us a feature to cancel the breeding, which won't give us or money back, or could even cost money? But this is getting ridiculous