What's the point of habitat boosts?

[the_essence]

TeamLava,

It is absolutely ridiculous to take away the increased coin rate of the habitats. If the only benefit of these Boosts is to simply raise that maximum amount of coins you can receive at once, it will literally take weeks to pay off the cost for buying the Boost, not to mention clearing the additional land for it. That's a long time to go with very little payback, especially now that the price of "quick" food has drastically increased and the amount of food required to level the Light dragons is absolutely astronomical and ridiculous. At least with the increased coin rates, it was possible to actually pay for the extra food upgrades consistently. Now? Probably not.

As far as adding new Boosts in the future that might raise the coin rate (like these did originally), please tell me, TeamLava, WHERE exactly are we going to put these? At the current rate of maximum income, to simply expand and clear the land to place 6 more Boosts could take MONTHS. Especially with the additional necessary coins needed to spend on upgrading Light dragons or even buying the original Boosts.

You had a good thing going with the increased coin rates. If anything, it probably encouraged people to actually play the game for longer amounts of time in one sitting, thus probably increasing the need for instant gratification and purchase of gold. But most importantly, it made the game more FUN! When your biggest competitor for Dragon Story is DragonVale, which is infinitely easier in the way of food, has more variations of dragons, more decorations and interactivity and user creativity with park design, dragon storage, and better return for real dollars spent when converted to food/coins, taking out a feature that makes your game more enjoyable, user friendly. and increases user playtime is utterly foolish.

People want to spend their time playing Dragon Story getting new DRAGONS.... upgrading them to see their different forms, etc. They do not want to have to grind for enough coins just to clear a square of space that is only large enough for one habitat and can hardly even be decorated due to the lack of available decor in the market. You'd think that would be a pretty simple player priority to understand.

Seconded!

I don't have enough money to expand on top of waiting for maps, I don't have enough money to feed my dragons, I don't have enough money to buy the now-useless boosts, I don't have enough money to buy habitats. We already have to wait to hatch dragons and build habitats and clear ground, but waiting so long to get the money to do it also? Your target audience is not composed of players who are willing to spend $100s of real dollars on getting gold, it is players who are willing to spend a small sum of money to speed things up because they are impatient. That is where you will find the bulk of your players, and that is how you will maximize profit. No one wants to wait to build things/grow things/breed things AND wait for money, it takes the fun away. Wrong move TL.

[killbethy]

@****bethy I understand that you're upset, but the description you provided isn't the case. The boost that increased the amount of coins was a bug in the game. I'm very sorry that we didn't catch it before.

Stormie isn't really a "test" account. He's a virtual neighbor designed to give in game benefits to users. You can visit him, send him parts requests, and sometimes he'll have special decorations so players can visit him for design inspiration.

The change will not be reverted as it was a bug. However, Group Magma mentioned, we may add similar boosts in the game in the future if you enjoyed this particular boost.

@Chianti Didn't mean to offend anyone with the emoticons. I think they add character, but I suppose they don't always translate so well in certain situations.

I will pass on the feedback to the team and be sure to share the posts that include the math, that some users have thoughtfully crafted in their feedback posts. Please continue sharing feedback and let us know how this affects your game and I'll keep passing it along.

@****bethy I understand that you're upset, but the description you provided isn't the case. The boost that increased the amount of coins was a bug in the game. I'm very sorry that we didn't catch it before.

Stormie isn't really a "test" account. He's a virtual neighbor designed to give in game benefits to users. You can visit him, send him parts requests, and sometimes he'll have special decorations so players can visit him for design inspiration.

The change will not be reverted as it was a bug. However, Group Magma mentioned, we may add similar boosts in the game in the future if you enjoyed this particular boost.

@Chianti Didn't mean to offend anyone with the emoticons. I think they add character, but I suppose they don't always translate so well in certain situations.

I will pass on the feedback to the team and be sure to share the posts that include the math, that some users have thoughtfully crafted in their feedback posts. Please continue sharing feedback and let us know how this affects your game and I'll keep passing it along.

@****bethy I understand that you're upset, but the description you provided isn't the case. The boost that increased the amount of coins was a bug in the game. I'm very sorry that we didn't catch it before.

Stormie isn't really a "test" account. He's a virtual neighbor designed to give in game benefits to users. You can visit him, send him parts requests, and sometimes he'll have special decorations so players can visit him for design inspiration.

The change will not be reverted as it was a bug. However, Group Magma mentioned, we may add similar boosts in the game in the future if you enjoyed this particular boost.

@Chianti Didn't mean to offend anyone with the emoticons. I think they add character, but I suppose they don't always translate so well in certain situations.

I will pass on the feedback to the team and be sure to share the posts that include the math, that some users have thoughtfully crafted in their feedback posts. Please continue sharing feedback and let us know how this affects your game and I'll keep passing it along.

Thanks for the response.

Ah, yes. I know Stormie isn't a test account. I was just using it as an example to show that TeamLava is seeing more than just the code of their finished products. Obvious, I know... TL wouldn't have so many successful apps if you were skipping QCs.

A big part of the issue with this particular bug lies in the circumstances of when it occurred. A major update was just released; an update that, along with the boosts, included an entirely new color/element and subsequently multiple new dragons and an increase in maximum habitats, and the inclusion of the farm upgrades with the increased food options. To top it off, the new dragons require exponentially more food to upgrade. The commonality is that all of these updates required a substantial increase in coins (and income) to really take advantage and enjoy the features of the new update. More expansions were needed to place the new habitats and buildings, they needed to be cleared, the new habitats needed to be bought, and the farms needed to be upgraded in order to really be able to get enough food to level the new dragons.

The game economy was essentially hit with inflation. Almost a bit too conveniently, this habitat boost bug actually made it possible to do get the coins necessary to really start playing New Dawn as soon as it was released instead of having to patiently save their income and wait. With the increased income, the game was still fun and didn't seem like grinding for the coins to level the new dragons. No one likes grinding (well, maybe other types of grinding... but not the one we are talking about here :P ). Dragon Story becomes fun when you are actually breeding new dragons, seeing them change as you feed them, and decorating your park... not just logging in to collect coins on your habitat for two weeks just to be able to afford an expansion so you can actually place a habitat to get new dragons. It makes ****ing boars for a months on an MMORPG seem exciting :-/ .

Bottom line: people needed significantly more coins, and they were provided with a way to get the necessary coins through the boosts. I know in my case, I purchased gold to be able to make room/buy more boosts as soon as I saw the coin increase in the first one I placed, and I wouldn't be surprised if other people did as well. Since there was no announcement in the game that it was a glitch and was in effect for multiple days before disappearing, the results could be pretty damaging to your gameplay. Opting to buy the boosts first, operating under the assumption that the income boost would make progressing through New Dawn quicker and affording the new habitats and farms easier, really tossed a wrench into things. Without the income boost bug, the overhead for the Boosts is so high that it will literally take months of collecting coins at the same frequency to clear it. If you didn't buy the Light habitats first, you now have to wait longer and pay an even higher price for the expansions and clearing since space was wasted on the Boosts (which essentially puts you in Dragon Story debt heh).

Many people have lost money, time, and enjoyment due to this glitch, and it just wasn't even addressed professionally (or addressed at all). As soon as it was noticed there should have been an in-game message addressing the issue and intent to fix it. Instead, it just disappeared several days later with no explanation and wasn't addressed until players began questioning the change in the forums. Dangling the hope that boosts similar to that of the glitch might someday be added to the game seems like a silly diversion tactic for children. If I steal your computer but promise to wrap it up in pretty paper and return it to you on some indefinite future holida, that isn't exactly a present. The "promise" was clearly not thought out either, since as far as actual gameplay is concerned, it's very couter-intuitive. Income boosts best serve their purpose when you actually need that increased income... the later they are introduced, the less useful they become. They are needed when you are still struggling to clear land, upgrade farms, buy habitats and feed dragons... not after you are level and habitat capped and have nothing left to buy but decorations. If anything, it makes more sense to have the first batch of Boosts increase the rate of income and have the second batch increase the maximum amount. ^_^

If nothing can be done in regards to increasing income, I do think that reducing the amount of food required for leveling the Light dragons would be extraordinarily helpful and would make players very, very thankful. If you operate under the assumption that you have 6 (the maximum) farms and are able to make the 450,000 coins necessary to choose the 800 food per hour at 75,000 coins, then you are averaging 920 food/hour at a cost of 90,000 coin/hour. To level a Light dragon from 1 - 10 costs 144,225 food. At that rate, it will take a player just slightly under 157 hours (or 6 1/2 days) at a cost of 14,130,000coin to level ONE light dragon to epic form. To put that into perspective, if you were to buy the necessary food with gold, it would cost approximately $70.00 (requiring 1923 gold). If you were to buy the same amount of coins it costs to produce the food in your own farms, it would cost you approximately $105.00 (requiring 3072 gold). That's really quite excessive... to even finish one of the goals (White Dawn: leveling 10 Light dragons to level 10), it would take a player just shy of 66 days (assuming they have bred 10 Light dragons AND were 100% punctual with the timing on their farms) to complete? Alternatively, they could buy their way to the goal completion for the low cost of $700.00.

Now, even asking a player to collect 450,000 coins every 5 hours is very difficult. With the maximum habitats and collecting twice every 5 hours, I can usually afford the 75,000 coin for 800 food option for 2 - 3 of my farms. For players that collect less frequently, the Eliteleeks are probably the top choice (325 food every 8 hours). At that rate, (244 food/hour at 4125 coin/hour) it will take a player 591 hours or just shy of 25 days at a cost of 2,437,875 coins to level one Light dragon from 1 - 10. That's nearly a month, and logging in those 3 times a day isn't exactly slacking either.

It's reasons like this that the increased income boost was such an amazing feature... it actually made it possible to afford the quicker, more expensive option every 5 hours. As you can see from the above, that difference can add 2 1/2 weeks (19 days) to the amount of time it takes to level one Light dragon. Assuming that one common, rare, and super rare is released for every Light dragon hybrid color combination, there will be a total of 17 Light dragons (15 color hybrids, the Light dragon, and the Angel dragon diamond hybrid). A player that collects one of each of the Light dragons would need approximately 111 days to get enough food to level each dragon at the more expensive, but quicker 800 food/5 hour rate as compared to 425 days or 1 year and 9 weeks at the slower 325 food/8 hour rate. That's a 314 day or 45 week difference in the amout of required time. It's pretty daunting when you think about it.

[Chianti]

I love their games, but based on the math ****bethy worked on in the previous post, it's obvious that in order to play the game in any reasonable fashion, Lava is forcing people to buy gold. The game is free to use, yes. However, as soon as an element is introduced which makes the game nearly impossible to play without purchasing gold, (i.e. the new light dragons) there is grounds for a lawsuit. I sincerely hope Lava understands the severity of the situation here.