Dragon: LEADERBOARD - Best Party April 24 2018

[deadpixel]

I want this dragon and will probably buy it just before the end if I am feeling brash as my GDP?s allow me to do this and I can save my food for another time.

I'm planning on doing the same thing. I have about 500K worth of food and am NOT going to use it to compete for the first and second place on the leaderboard. Even though the players on mine have seemed to cooled down after the initial spurt, the highest being at 4,000, I suspect they'll go into a boosting frenzy once the 50% off offer comes on.

What I would really like is to be placed in a normal group that just plays this event normally but I seem to always be placed in the groups with Boost Syndrome! (Haha new definition for boosting)

Boost Syndrome is a good name Its abbreviation is a good description of the way this event is run

[AnnirasSweets]

I don't get it how can u tie. Unless ur one and two and then u have to move up together as 3 or 4 approach. Throwing everyth ing off. Unless the entire group decided to tie. It seems like I'd get shafted somehow. But I did have someone mention tha5 to me before when I had gotten second and they were the firs5 place person. I just didn't understand it I guess.
Kevin07. I'd like to hear those tips.

It is achievable. I've seen players do it on Bingo games too, but it requires some serious trust. You have to give trust to someone who probably just posted a msg on your wall. If they move even one point, then you are *****ed. Even a regularly gem gifting neighbour betrayed me in FFS when we had a tie going and I got so upset. Stopped our gem gifting arrangement and began plotting my revenge. First and last time I will ever try for tied win now.

That is just awful, JustKay! In my mind (and message) the only thing that matters is getting the dragon and I think that the more people who can obtain the dragon, the better. The way I've tied players in other games is that on the last day of the event, we decide a stopping point and once that number is reached we simply stop playing until the event is over. You're absolutely right about the trust, and I do have a tendency to watch the board like a hawk that last day but I'm always much happier in the LBs when more than one of us can 'win.'

But I'm not a huge fan of competing with other players to begin with, I just don't understand why they don't set up the LB in a different manner so that more than 2 people per bracket can get the dragon. To me, the game is about collecting every dragon possible, not about winning points against arbitrarily selected players but I know it's different for everyone.

[savage_mel]

So this happened...I was using a 2x boost and I collected a sunrise off the nest. I watched the leaderboard points jump up, then fall right back down again. I lost 144 points and never got them back. These glitches are becoming infuriating. And there?s no point in emailing support because by the time they respond it will be too late. But they?ll just say ?sorry about your luck but we can?t help you? anyway🙄

[summersalt]

I've never activated the second breeding den before but I did for this sale. Will it forever be stuck on my island? Even if I never activate it Again? Will it put me in a more difficult group for leaderboard from now on? I should have thought about these things. I wish I didn't get it. Its not like free boosted breeding helps anything at all anyways. Still get. Bunch of commons. and now I'm afraid I just made events that much more difficult for myself being placed in groups with people with more resources like nests and roost and evolution temples. I only had the regular non gold buying amount of each prior to getting this additionl breeding den for 7 days for the sale. now leaves me with less room on my island ..i'm think.. since there was no store button..But it was in use so I'm not sure.

[KevinW07]

I've never activated the second breeding den before but I did for this sale. Will it forever be stuck on my island? Even if I never activate it Again? Will it put me in a more difficult group for leaderboard from now on? I should have thought about these things. I wish I didn't get it. Its not like free boosted breeding helps anything at all anyways. Still get. Bunch of commons. and now I'm afraid I just made events that much more difficult for myself being placed in groups with people with more resources like nests and roost and evolution temples. I only had the regular non gold buying amount of each prior to getting this additionl breeding den for 7 days for the sale. now leaves me with less room on my island ..i'm think.. since there was no store button..But it was in use so I'm not sure.

Yes, the "Breeding Roost" (which is what it is called rather than "Breeding Den") when you purchase it becomes a permanent building on your island. You can put it into storage however (at least mine can be). It is only good for 7 days and then when you want to have a second breeding station on your island, you have to activate it again at the normal price of 100 gold (or 50 on sale). I generally don't activate it for any one single event, but have been optimising its use to make the game easier (and more fun) to play when simultaneous events are on (such as Leaderboard and Bingo, or Tales and Bingo, or World Event and Bingo). That way I can justify (at least to myself) the 100 gold as it really helps to win Bingo (via twice the chance to be successful with the breeding tasks, speeding up the time to complete Bingo cards, etc.) and things like collecting enough points for World Events / Leaderboard, etc. In fact, I activated my Breeding Roost on the previous two World Events and easily bred the target dragon for bonus points (and saving the gold required to purchase them, i.e. 400 gold on sale), so well worth the activation cost.

Unfortunately, this strategy won't work with those without GPDs unless they purchase gold with real money. I saved pretty much all my gold when I started the game and purchased my first GPD when it when one was offered on sale and proceeded thereafter to leverage it (and subsequent others) to purchase the rest of the GPDs which now total 12; and hence now reaping the benefits to make game playing easier and more fun.

[The1stCaretaker]

I think that's so awesome if you could get everyone to do nothing for the leaderboard and everyone would. If only everyone would actually do nothing. Since that's not going to happen sorry whoever is in my group but that Neo Valiant is mine

[summersalt]

Yes, the "Breeding Roost" (which is what it is called rather than "Breeding Den") when you purchase it becomes a permanent building on your island. You can put it into storage however (at least mine can be). It is only good for 7 days and then when you want to have a second breeding station on your island, you have to activate it again at the normal price of 100 gold (or 50 on sale). I generally don't activate it for any one single event, but have been optimising its use to make the game easier (and more fun) to play when simultaneous events are on (such as Leaderboard and Bingo, or Tales and Bingo, or World Event and Bingo). That way I can justify (at least to myself) the 100 gold as it really helps to win Bingo (via twice the chance to be successful with the breeding tasks, speeding up the time to complete Bingo cards, etc.) and things like collecting enough points for World Events / Leaderboard, etc. In fact, I activated my Breeding Roost on the previous two World Events and easily bred the target dragon for bonus points (and saving the gold required to purchase them, i.e. 400 gold on sale), so well worth the activation cost.

Unfortunately, this strategy won't work with those without GPDs unless they purchase gold with real money. I saved pretty much all my gold when I started the game and purchased my first GPD when it when one was offered on sale and proceeded thereafter to leverage it (and subsequent others) to purchase the rest of the GPDs which now total 12; and hence now reaping the benefits to make game playing easier and more fun.

Do you know if it will put you in a more difficult group for leaderboard. Mine was already hard enough. I don't want to be in a group with people with every den roost nest and whatever else activating it all simultaneously. I would just quit the game at that point . You can't compete with rich kids. I dont see why we have to compete against eachother anyways. I actually called it a roost then edited my post because when I went back to the game under my profile it said 2/2 "breeding dens so figured I was wrong and maybe a roost is a nest. Which made sense so I changed it.
I'm sure buying a third nest must put you in a more difficult group. I don't understand what people in my group are doing. They're not moving anything and haven't since the beginning. I've taken screen shots and they now have close to 4000 points. They moved one diamond dragon off a nest. And have another one on it. Spent 2 million food? I doubt it. Whatever this artic isle ***** is, is nonsense. Unless someone wants to let me know how to do it too.

[FireballFarm]

Indon't understand what people in my group are doing. They're not moving anything and haven't since the beginning. I've taken screen shots and they now have close to 4000 points. They moved one diamond dragon off a nest. And have another one on it. Spent 2 million food? I doubt it. Whatever this artic isle ***** is, is nonsense. Unless someone wants to let me know how to do it too.

You cannot see the action when someone else is speed breeding. It looks like nothing has changed in their breeding dens and nests. Maybe they have a bunch of GPDs and bought a couple diamond types, too? That would rack up some points, quickly.

4000 points is really not all that high, tbh, especially if they did a little speed breeding and have a couple ultra rare bonuses.

Just for comparison, I have played regularly in the Arctic and the Main Island, have gotten a bunch of crappy deco chests, and have close to 2500 points. If I bought a LB booster, activated a den and a nest booster, and then spent just 100 gold on speed breeding, I'd have well over 4000 points.

[FireballFarm]

I have no proof of it aside from observations, but I think the LB groups are decided by an average of your points and rank over all prior LBs. The number of dens and nests have no bearing, besides how many points you typically score. I've been watching since the beginning and here is my experience:

In the first few LBs, the groups fluctuated radically from event to event. If I finished in the top 5, I ended up in a crazy-spender group for the next LB. In the crazy group, I would finish lower than 10th. So, in the next LB, I would be placed in an easy group. In the easy group, I would finish first... and be placed in a crazy spender group the next time.

Back and forth, back and forth, it went like that for about six or so LBs. After that, my groups suddenly evened out. I think that is when they switched from placing people in groups based on their final rank in the previous LB to using average scores. It makes sense that they would need several scores to create an average for each player.

Since then, I've been placed in groups with people who play similarly to how I play. Or, at least, the score of the top 6 or so are in the same range as me, and no one boosts like a maniac.

I don't boost and I only have 1 den and 2 nests, plus the Arctic. Usually, I finish with between 6000-7500 points (depends on rarity bonuses, chests, and how often I feel like logging in- if I log in religiously every 4 hours to collect the Arctic and spin the wheel, my score is higher). I win the top prize about one out of every four LBs.

The top finishers in my groups usually don't score much higher than the last milestone. Many times no one gets the last milestone. There is ocassionally a big spender who tops 10,000 points. I figure they just *really* wanted that particular grand prize dragon. Sometimes one big-booster will spur another player or two into boosting, and a couple folks will end up with high scores. My groups are pretty mellow, and sometimes seemingly uninterested in the event (like my current group- 3rd place has been over 1000 points behind me). I had figured everyone was just wise to and over the "pay-to-win" model, but I guess there are still some crazy boosters left out there? I had hoped that by now they would all be grouped together- which is a strike against my theory. Or, maybe S8 is intentionally spreading them out in hopes they will spur others into spending money to catch up? A cynical thought, for sure, but it is S8 we are talking about...

The people in my groups have different numbers of nests and dens, but most are casual players, like me. The sad thing is I no longer get the chest-bump from being with the crazy spenders. That was nice while it lasted. I always got the last milestone, then. I don't always get it, even when I finish in first or second place.

Another bit of anecdotal supporting evidence to my theory: several months ago, a player who had just returned to the game after a long break posted about the LBs because she was confused. She was like, "does anyone play this game anymore??" Despite being a high level player with three nests, she had not played in a year. Her first LB group (which was like the 10th LB event) was made up of abandoned Isles. She got first place with very little effort. I think her group was like that because her average LB score was 0.

I've had friends test out the "wait to start and get an easy group" theory and declare it either wishful thinking or simple coincidence. It may appear to "work" once or twice, but it doesn't hold up across several LBs.

[KevinW07]

It is achievable. I've seen players do it on Bingo games too, but it requires some serious trust. You have to give trust to someone who probably just posted a msg on your wall. If they move even one point, then you are *****ed. Even a regularly gem gifting neighbour betrayed me in FFS when we had a tie going and I got so upset. Stopped our gem gifting arrangement and began plotting my revenge. First and last time I will ever try for tied win now.

That is just awful, JustKay! In my mind (and message) the only thing that matters is getting the dragon and I think that the more people who can obtain the dragon, the better. The way I've tied players in other games is that on the last day of the event, we decide a stopping point and once that number is reached we simply stop playing until the event is over. You're absolutely right about the trust, and I do have a tendency to watch the board like a hawk that last day but I'm always much happier in the LBs when more than one of us can 'win.'

But I'm not a huge fan of competing with other players to begin with, I just don't understand why they don't set up the LB in a different manner so that more than 2 people per bracket can get the dragon. To me, the game is about collecting every dragon possible, not about winning points against arbitrarily selected players but I know it's different for everyone.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience JustKay, but don't let one bad apple spoil it for you. I always say karma will win out in the end to one that wrongs you.

I totally agree with AnnirasSweets' comments. One of the main reasons I started playing DS was the good social aspects (i.e. neighbors helping each other, community-based events, communicating on walls, etc.), but unfortunately since then, I believe that TeamLava has strayed from that path by creating features like Bingo & Leaderboards to put its player community into negative adversarial situations. These type of events will generally bring out the worst in people. I've even witnessed bullying on neighbor's walls. What's even worse is that this certainly is not a sleep-friendly game anymore with the endless time-based events, where these days, at least two run concurrently. I also believe in games that if it entices players to spend gold, they should be rewarded accordingly. In events like this Leaderboard, I have seen players spent a whole lot of gold to get into the top two positions only to fail and lose out of the prize dragon.

Endeavoring to tie is a positive initiative to encourage players to work together amidst an adversarial event; it is only the selfish, anti-social, sceptic, or narcissist (with a need to always win) that would ignore a social offer to tie with others. In the Leaderboard events I've been involved in where an agreement has been made to tie, everyone has kept their word. The issue I do find is that most I put out the offer to tie either don't bother to check their walls or choose to ignore the offer and inexplicably go ahead and spend lots of gold only to all lose save one.

Here's hoping that TeamLava will endeavour to update the game to make it more socially positive going forward. In the meantime, I advocate for all to tie in these types of competitive events!