Putting dragons out to pasture

[kruppe]

Yes there comes a time when dragons become surplus to one requirements and they need to be retired to the back paddock. This is the counter thread to "wow I got dragons". The countdown to the last dragon being quietly given a gold watch and thanked for all the hard work.
I am nowhere near that but sitting at 500 superior attacks units and much more than that for defence. But with the ltq's the rate is accelerating. Happy to hear how others are progressing....

Of course this may all be derailed by the addition of better gold/honour units but I am not holding my breath.

[MSH]

[FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=4]Dragons are obsolete, as GREE nerfes anything gold, making it increasingly more irrelevant as an in game currency. An avalanche of ever more powerful gem units, including not only LTQ based, but also mere "chest "commons and stronger than dragons entry level "action figures", such as rather cheap Gaian NInitiate 133/121, Gaian Novice 128/301, etc. that anyone could acquire notwithstanding one's level/skill, as a player, threaten to transforms KA from strategy game to "who gets more/better gem based trinkets" competition...Of course, there might be some people who like that, why not?

Anyway, the dragon age is over and if nothing interesting (new strong gold/honor units, for example) is introduced really fast, KA as a strategy game is over, at least for the free players (you are welcome to insert your "dedicated free players" jokes here :)) and for majority of light gems spenders, as well, IMO.

[Altergray]

As of right now, I have 1290 Dragons but after 1283 or so they have no effect on my stats. Simple maths says I'm in the 200'ish area of superior units. I was somewhat excited when I got my BD up to 10 followed by the BK. Then Gree changed the stats on some of the units and my ATK jumped around 20k....and all was good in the world. But to all things, an ending. When I hit lvl 100, The last of the Dragons will be bought. Months from now, all the dragons for me and most high end players will just be a small pic in the beast section of units that you scroll by while looking for your newly gained shiny unit. Thank you my Dragon horde, you got me through the hard times...here's your Plaque. (Exit, stage left)

[Lord VIX]

[FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=4]Dragons are obsolete, as GREE nerfes anything gold, making it increasingly more irrelevant as an in game currency. An avalanche of ever more powerful gem units, including not only LTQ based, but also mere "chest "commons and stronger than dragons entry level "action figures", such as rather cheap Gaian NInitiate 133/121, Gaian Novice 128/301, etc. that anyone could acquire notwithstanding one's level/skill, as a player, threaten to transforms KA from strategy game to "who gets more/better gem based trinkets" competition...Of course, there might be some people who like that, why not?

Anyway, the dragon age is over and if nothing interesting (new strong gold/honor units, for example) is introduced really fast, KA as a strategy game is over, at least for the free players (you are welcome to insert your "dedicated free players" jokes here :)) and for majority of light gems spenders, as well, IMO.

I am not really in line with this conclusion.
1) Should someone opt for the route of only buying the units, it would be really expensive. I hence do not see something wrong in the fact that heavy spenders gain an edge for the amount spent.
2) Free /light gem spenders can always benefit from this, as it is actually less expensive to buy strong units, so we can access this as well.
3) I believe that building Dragon army is still a 'must' for the vast majority of players if they want to optimize their army, notably in perspective of boss events.

So, strategy is not over yet, there are still plenty of players like us, but I reckon that tiers are appearing in the game. Hopefully, the fact that we can ally with all players partially offset this.

[Proprioc3ption]

Agree... I've had an idea for a while. I posted it here some time ago. I'll try to explain it a little more.

I think you could expand the focus on Dragons by introducing a Dragon Breeding Den. Could include a number of options.


http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1280/dragonsbreedingden.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/dragonsbreedingden.jpg/)
[
Dragon Breeding Den: Level Requirement 100
*This idea is completely different to Monster Quests Fusion.*
*These Dragons can have their own inventory section.
*Players can actually name Gold Dragons when born... AWESOME!

#Tier 1 Dragons: In-game cash/gold option. (Stats are slightly better than the original dragons)
Purchase a Bronze Mother Dragon (unusable in-game...just for breeding and remains in the Den) to breed Dragons with for 32 hours. Cost: $50,000. Only 1 per 32 hours.
Original stats of Dragons (from the Breeding Den): Stats A/105 & D/69

Bronze Bred Dragons Cost $15,000 each.
- Stats vary at random with a combination of A&D between: A/ 115 & A/150 – D/115 & D/150
*This way you can get combinations of Dragons with similar stats but that next step above basic Dragons.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
#Tier 2 Dragons: In-game Honour option. (Stats are slightly better than the original dragons)
Purchase a Silver Mother Dragon (unusable in-game...just for breeding and remains in the Den) to breed Dragons with for 32 hours. Cost: $100,000. Only 1 per 32 hours.

Silver Bred Dragons Cost 2,500 Honour each.
- Stats vary at random with a combination of A&D between: A/ 215 & A/250 – D/215 & D/250
__________________________________________________ _______________________
#Tier 3 Dragons: Gem option. (Introducing the subscription model.)
*Want to make more money GREE from free based players looking to make a leap into the gem market? Bring in a small subscription fee per month to give free or low spending players a chance to participate in breeding units for a small subscription price. That’s basically $10 from most likely ‘every’ KA player who has the ability to breed Dragons from lvl 100 onwards. Most people who even play for FREE would consider this.

Purchase a Gold Mother Dragon (unusable in-game...just for breeding and remains in the Den) to breed Dragons for 1 month. Cost: 100 Gem’s subscription a month. (Can start at anytime.)

Gold Bred Dragons Cost $25,000 in-game gold each.
- Stats vary at random with a combination of A&D between: A/ 315 & A/350 – D/315 & D/350

Let me know what you think guys! Tried to balance it as best i could in a short amount of time, but gez this would add some fun for all players!

Cheers
Hammer

[kruppe]

It is always a good sign to see people looking for ways to expand the experience and make it more enjoyable. I am sure that there are things that make the idea difficult however I do like the approach. A little of everything, expansion, subscription, better use of honour points.
A most creative individual...

[Perfuzzie]

a wonderful idea Proprioc3ption

[Rapido]

Generally a Good idea. Just remember that the game will be very boring if you end up with every player having higher D than A. The best D unit must be considerably weaker than the best A unit.

[jonny0284]

Deleted by me.

[kruppe]

I notice there has been a flurry of activity with purchasing the randomish boxes. The demise of dragons is accelerating...
Unless the guild battles introduce new gold/honour units, investment benefits in breeding dens, and water temples will be ephemeral

[Bazi]

I think it will still take a long time to replace 1500 dragons for the majority of players, so they should be a useful part of any army for a year, maybe two or more. Plus, everyone should enjoy the excitement of doing a BD 10 run ;)

[kruppe]

You are correct, may be resurrect this thread in a year or two and see where we are, (KA retirement village)

[Proprioc3ption]

Prop, I like your ideas. But, when everyone always suggests something; the Gem amounts are too low.

100 Gems for that Dragon Mother? Yeah, I understand the 25,000 Gold each afterwards but that is still nothing.

It'd be equivalent to a Mountain of Gems...or more. There's no way Gree would allow for that much unit building for 100 Gems. Especially at 300+ stats A/D each.

I know Jonny, but my main point is that if GREE want free players to jump in, they won't do so with something that requires a $109 dollar purchase, but they will for a small subscription of $10 every month. The new gem units stats are already increasing with room between them and the original dragon stats. My idea is to add flexibility and randomness to the stats for each dragon bred as this would create a variation in players armies which would add to the game play experience even for free players. It would allow you to play around with the stats of your army at higher levels rather than having this massive attack but crap all defence. No strong army is great without a great defence.

From a business point of view you make more money having more people with realistic purchasing regularly every month than you do with a small percentage of customers contributing large amounts at various intervals. The small subscription would give you a base profit margin where the large spenders would give you the top %. It would be a win win! GREE can't loose anything by doing this, only gain.

[Jixx]

well, i started the game when the LTQ's were just beginning to lift off, and I dont have dragons yet but I already have well over 100 units with a stronger atk already. By the time ill be able to get dragons, they'll be obsolete already.