questions about trading and crafting dragons

[Phoenix406]

So I am kind of new to DS. I played about 3 years ago for a while and probably got at least to level 100. I was never really interested in trading dragons and crafting new ones at that time. When I started a new park a couple months ago, I felt the same way, but then I decided it might be fun. I have become almost a little obsessed, actually, with finding duplicate dragons that I can trade. However, I just realized (yes, I can be a little slow sometimes) that the dragons that you can craft through trades are now pretty much all breedable. Is that correct? And they are listed as rare, not even super rare. So am I better off to try to craft them, or should I just try to breed them? Honestly, I only think 2 or 3 of them are that cute to begin with.

I have mostly been trading common dragons, so of course it takes a long time to get enough material from them to craft a dragon. I have 2 Super Rare Winter Rose dragons, so I was planning to trade one of them, but I just saw someone in another thread who is super happy to have gotten a Winter Rose dragon, so am I better off to hold on to both of them? I know they make good money, but when the habitats don't hold much money anyway, what is the point (to having 2 WR dragons)?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

[FireballFarm]

So I am kind of new to DS. I played about 3 years ago for a while and probably got at least to level 100. I was never really interested in trading dragons and crafting new ones at that time. When I started a new park a couple months ago, I felt the same way, but then I decided it might be fun. I have become almost a little obsessed, actually, with finding duplicate dragons that I can trade. However, I just realized (yes, I can be a little slow sometimes) that the dragons that you can craft through trades are now pretty much all breedable. Is that correct? And they are listed as rare, not even super rare. So am I better off to try to craft them, or should I just try to breed them? Honestly, I only think 2 or 3 of them are that cute to begin with.

I have mostly been trading common dragons, so of course it takes a long time to get enough material from them to craft a dragon. I have 2 Super Rare Winter Rose dragons, so I was planning to trade one of them, but I just saw someone in another thread who is super happy to have gotten a Winter Rose dragon, so am I better off to hold on to both of them? I know they make good money, but when the habitats don't hold much money anyway, what is the point (to having 2 WR dragons)?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Keeping doubles is a matter of personal preference. As far as I know, the only strategic benefit to keeping a double is coin production, or keeping doubles of the dragons who do quests so you always have one available for breeding and Bingo tasks (but, those are all just commons, so not hard to reproduce if needed). As you get higher and higher in the game and collect more unique dragons, you'll eventually run out of habitat space to display them all. If you look at the 'we need land' and 'habitat cap' sticky threads, there are many players who have dozens of unique prize dragons stuck in storage and nowhere to display them.

Personally, I rename all doubles 'Trade' and eventually evolve them up to level 4 and trade them off. I also keep a list of my dragons with their evo times, that way I can plan out evolutions during events for maximum points. Lots of my doubles get taken care of during events. Any doubles with long evo times (more than 15 hrs.) I sell right off the nest, regardless of rarity- unless they are black- or pink-types.

if you don't yet have all the crafted gemstone dragons, super rares are great for trading because they give large gems. I wouldn't have the Onyx and the Quartz Dragons if not for super rare trades- and I'm still waiting and hoping to breed a double of one of my super rare black-types so I can craft the Tigers Eye. I've tried breeding all three with no luck (the gemstone type almost always splits into blue and green during breeding, which throws Island into the mix...and game over. All Island fails, all the time). Crafting them is much quicker and easier, imho.
All that being said, the blue and green gems a Winter Rose would produce aren't terribly hard to come by- certainly not as difficult as breeding another Winter Rose Dragon. She's probably more valuable as a coin producer, source of pride, and pretty-ing the place up than as a trade.

I understand the reticence to sell or trade certain dragons, though. I bred a second Mask a couple weeks ago, have him named Trade, but just can't bring myself to do it! It took me literally years to breed the first one.

It's really just a preference until you get to the highest levels. If you like the way they look together in their habitat, or are just proud to have bred two of a tricky dragon, there is no harm in keeping twins. (until you need the space, that is, lol!)

[Phoenix406]

Thank you @FireballFarm for your derailed response. This is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I think it's so interesting that you name your dragons "trade" because I started doing that myself about 3 weeks ago. Lol! Great minds think alike!

[katali119]

I name the first dragon I get of any type with their evo time at the end of the name, so my Smoke dragon is Smokey9. That way, I can see how long just by looking at the dragon. I tend to mostly get multiples of fairly common ones so I remember their times fairly well, but if I get an unusual one I can just find the first one I got and check the time. (harder when you have more dragons/habitats to search)

Then when you click on the evo temple and get the list of dragons you can see how long each would take right there.

[packergal27]

How do you rename a dragon? I've never seen that option.

[FireballFarm]

I name the first dragon I get of any type with their evo time at the end of the name, so my Smoke dragon is Smokey9. That way, I can see how long just by looking at the dragon. I tend to mostly get multiples of fairly common ones so I remember their times fairly well, but if I get an unusual one I can just find the first one I got and check the time. (harder when you have more dragons/habitats to search)

Then when you click on the evo temple and get the list of dragons you can see how long each would take right there.

Ooo! Great idea putting the time in the name!

I wish we had more than 8 or 9 spaces for names- I'd go in and add the times for everyone right now. Will do it for the ones with shorter names and in the future. And, numbers will defintely fit after the name 'Trade.' Sweet! I usually name dragons by what I think they look like (Lost Bones looks like a Gordon to me, Winter Rose looks a Maria), or for their meaning (like naming a Winddancer Dragon Upepo, the Swahili word for wind, stuff like that). Oftentimes, I don't have enough spaces for the perfect name.


Packergal: If you tap on a dragon's name a cursor will appear and your keyboard will pop up. You can rename the dragon whatever you like (as long as the name doesn't exceed 8 or 9 characters, that is ) Here's a pic:

[katali119]

Yes, I often can't use the perfect name because it would be too long. I keep them to <= 6 characters, then I have room for the time.

[Phoenix406]

@FireballFarm I'm sorry, I meant "detailed" response, not "derailed" response. *eye roll emoji*

@katali119 Including the evo times in the name is a great idea! Thanks for sharing!

@packergal27 Click on the dragon, and his info box comes up. Just tap in the area of his name, and a keyboard will come up. You can type a new name in there.

I also wish we had more characters for names. I usually allow them to keep their original name (except for the ones I rename "Trade", but I did rename a couple, like my Sunrise dragon is now Sunny, and my Peacock dragon is Strut.

I recently bred two SR Atlantis dragons very close together, and I already had one. I don't think they are particularly cute, so I traded both of the new ones. I am now crafting my first Sapphire dragon because I got 2 large sapphires from the trades. yay! Sapphire is the one I wanted most after Topaz, which I already crafted, and Tiger Eye, which it will take me forever to craft.

[katali119]

You're welcome, but I won't take the credit for the original idea, as it was someone else's first

[Phoenix406]

Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of redundant to have to craft the dragon and then also incubate it? I think crafting it should actually create the dragon, and you could place it in a nest directly from the spell shop.