Specifics for the race are HERE

Race tips can be added or reviewed HERE

You can recruit or try to find an Alliance HERE up until the midpoint of the race. At or after the midpoint you will not be able to kick from your team or join a team AND receive the race rewards. I emphasize AFTER the midpoint of the race if you join a team you WILL NOT receive any race rewards no matter how much you participate.

Players who are doing their first race should read this:

ALLIANCE HEROIC RACE TIPS

You are in a group of 20 teams. To get the dragon, you must qualify by finishing lap 4 and win in that group of 20. NOTE: Check the special rewards to determine if there are orbs being rewarded for those teams NOT in first place.

Breeding: To breed Rare's use two low level dark dragons. To breed epic's use two low level pure dragons. It is best to keep at least one breeding building available for breeding requirements.

Hatching: To hatch Rare's buy dark dragons from the shop. To hatch Epic dragons, buy pure dragons from the shop. Since pure's have a long hatch time, it would be best to always have two pure dragons waiting until they are needed. It is best to keep at least one hatchery slot available for hatching requirements.

Feeding your dragons: Save your hatches from previous nodes to use for the feeding nodes. Feed to level 7 but no higher than level 10 to save on food.

Farming: Grow Mass Harvester's on all farms, but only collect what is needed for the node. It is best to have at least 10 farms growing food. If you do not have ten farms then it is best to have one or two growing Producer's, or at least enough food to be able to meet a 150,000 requirement.

For collecting gold: Only tap on habitats to collect gold as needed, frequently check the node requirements to ensure you have reached your goal. Activate your Midarian tower as often as possible to maximize gold output. NEVER USE SPEEDY & GREEDY AS IT DOES NOT WORK FOR THE RACES.

Arena battles: Fight ONLY the number required for your current task! It is best to leave individual battle nodes for the strongest fighters. All members should contribute for joint effort nodes unless the strongest fighters are able to complete the nodes in the shortest amount of time.

I will open up the discussion when the race begins, right now this is just a placeholder.

@Nynaevelan a lot of arena battles, early laps one person doing 10 battles, seems hash

I have been busy trying to race to catch up and pass the first team, but yeah what is up with all these arena battles. Is this what the team calls improvements, arena battles in every node?? I am not liking this at all!!

And repeatedly they're "one person does 7" which is of course more than you can have in stock at a time. Ridiculous.

And "one person must do 10" on lap 3. No quest nodes, no league nodes, in fact nothing which is the least bit challenging except having to do hundreds of arena fights.

This is by far the worst designed race yet.

What's worst is we are in a fight with another team, all the rest don't care. Neck and neck since lap 1. Now lap 4

I'm just wondering what the later laps will be like. "100 arena wins from one person" or "500 arena wins total" nodes by lap 5 wouldn't surprise me at this point.

@Scott-Clark lap 4 node 3 is 36 arena wins

@Kevin-N-Scott said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

What's worst is we are in a fight with another team, all the rest don't care. Neck and neck since lap 1. Now lap 4

We are trailing behind by a lap, closed it from 2 but we too only have us two teams actively racing. But who knows if they will make a run for it.

Chiming in to protest against the ridiculous arena setup of this race, both in terms of frequency of it appearing and also the quantity of what is needed to progress.

Totally. Ridiculous.

I am thinking that I will be giving up on this race soon, between being behind 2 laps, lack of real participation from over half our alliance and all these outrageous arena battles I am already frustrated and disgusted with this race and it is only day one.

Good Grief - enough with the Arena Battles!!!!! How about a few League Battles.
This is very frustrating.

I have 2 “teammates”, but they do not do anything. How can I communicate them and how can I kick them out or go to my own team?

First node and I’m already defeated. I’m in the war 1 arena and I’m still training my team, meaning the only opponents I ever get are an onslaught of high scores and boulders. I’m lucky if I win once a day. I’m stuck in the downward spiral of arena heck. Unable to gain enough trophies to leave, can’t lose enough to go back and train.
But we could just not stress ourselves out and refuse to do this race. We’ll lose if we try. We’ll lose if we don’t. I have one heroic and it’s all I’ll ever need. Plus, SP will notice if nobody’s doing the race and tone down the difficulty...
Right?

I joined alliance some minutes after the race started. In english version it states, that if I joined halfway through the race, I won't get rewards. But in russian version (my native language) it states , that if I joined DURING the race, I won't get rewards. Will I get my heroic if we will win? Our leader can still kick players, though it states "Now, members of an Alliance cannot be kicked out halfway through the Race". I hope halfway = on the six day. Please help if you know something about this.

@David-Eilers said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

I have 2 “teammates”, but they do not do anything. How can I communicate them and how can I kick them out or go to my own team?

How do you know they do nothing since there is nothing in the game during a chest or race to show what anyone is doing? Are you the leader? If not then no you cannot kick them, that is up to the leader only. Since a race has started this is a very bad time to create a new team, especially if you want to win the race.

@Nynaevelan you can see who has helped click on 123 bottom left of race screen then click on team tab, shows points each player earned

I agree that the arena battles are a bit much. Nearly all my team is working hard and we are on lap 7. I love that you can now see how many point each team member has contributed.

Question- has anyone made the lap charts so we can see what is coming up? this would be really helpful, especially in the (R, VR, E) specific breeding and hatching nodes.

Thanks and good luck to all.

@Nynaevelan You can now see how much someone is participating on the team tab.

@Kevin-N-Scott said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

@Nynaevelan you can see who has helped click on 123 bottom left of race screen then click on team tab, shows points each player earned

THANK YOU I did not know that and that will be VERY helpful. I think I need to be more aggressive to kick non or low participants!!

@prpldva said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

I agree that the arena battles are a bit much. Nearly all my team is working hard and we are on lap 7. I love that you can now see how many point each team member has contributed.

Question- has anyone made the lap charts so we can see what is coming up? this would be really helpful, especially in the (R, VR, E) specific breeding and hatching nodes.

Thanks and good luck to all.

So far I have not seen any posted on facebook.

@Nynaevelan I have only seen odd screenshots of laps, we are on lap7 so far omly common and rare, no VR or Epic, not even in screenshots up to end lap 7, good news we have got a lap ahead

@Corvin said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

I joined alliance some minutes after the race started. In english version it states, that if I joined halfway through the race, I won't get rewards. But in russian version (my native language) it states , that if I joined DURING the race, I won't get rewards. Will I get my heroic if we will win? Our leader can still kick players, though it states "Now, members of an Alliance cannot be kicked out halfway through the Race". I hope halfway = on the six day. Please help if you know something about this.

The race is 11 days so any switching of teams after 5.5 days will result in no rewards for the switcher.

@Kevin-N-Scott said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

@Nynaevelan I have only seen odd screenshots of laps, we are on lap7 so far omly common and rare, no VR or Epic, not even in screenshots up to end lap 7, good news we have got a lap ahead

You team will need 30 Epic hatches in Lap 8 Node 2.

Found a great alliance. I’m on Lap 4 Node 5. In 1st Place. A possible High Zephyr for me!

@_TheSpaceBeing_ said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

Found a great alliance. I’m on Lap 4 Node 5. In 1st Place. A possible High Zephyr for me!

You're mainly lucky in having no competition. In our group there's one up to lap 7 already, and I've heard of many much further along.

Which shows up another big problem with this setup - how massive the effect of the luck of the draw of your opponents is. In most normal Heroic Races, you can get to L15 with some dedication, strategy, and maybe a small amount of strategic gem spending, earning the Heroic even if you don't place first. This time around, you have to get to L16 and progression is MUCH more difficult (plus you're still majorly behind the first-place finisher even if you pull that off since you can't empower). It's just not in reach for the great majority of players, even if they genuinely work hard at it.

SP simply has not figured out how to make Alliance Races work yet. Those who already have big advantages get even more big rewards, while those without said advantages or a lot of luck get bupkis.

@Kevin-N-Scott said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

@Nynaevelan I have only seen odd screenshots of laps, we are on lap7 so far omly common and rare, no VR or Epic, not even in screenshots up to end lap 7, good news we have got a lap ahead

This is so strange, not only are there no lap spreadsheets but I am not finding anything on the race on dcguide. Perhaps that is why there are no spreadsheets.

Nor do they have maps up for the Catacombs Island. Presumably the relevant person is otherwise occupied and hasn't had time to get to it.

@frankenberry said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

@Corvin said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

You team will need 30 Epic hatches in Lap 8 Node 2.

Seriously, yikes!! We are still a lap behind, I am ready to give up, it does not seem like I have alliance participation to catch up and pass them, and this is with me have access to do 8 accounts. If not for the fact that most of them being so active during the chests I would be tempted to kick after this race, but most of them are active for specific chests.

@Scott-Clark said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

Nor do they have maps up for the Catacombs Island. Presumably the relevant person is otherwise occupied and hasn't had time to get to it.

I did see a post on the DCP page, they are still working on it so as soon as they post it, I will copy it here. I am sure it is taking them longer between them trying to do it, double check the work and race all while not have Bettina to help them. Luckily racing will keep us occupied until it is ready. Too bad for the pc only players though.

I'm in a smaller alliance and was initially excited about this race, until one node required a number of people higher than I have in my alliance to win arena battles. It's one thing to have ridiculous requirements, but at least make them POSSIBLE. I wouldn't mind paying gems to just pass it, but it's 12 gems to do so. Er, no. Looks like I'm stumped in Lap 2. And possibly done ever paying money to this game again.

@jerbear said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

I'm in a smaller alliance and was initially excited about this race, until one node required a number of people higher than I have in my alliance to win arena battles. It's one thing to have ridiculous requirements, but at least make them POSSIBLE. I wouldn't mind paying gems to just pass it, but it's 12 gems to do so. Er, no. Looks like I'm stumped in Lap 2. And possibly done ever paying money to this game again.

Sorry this is a team event so if you do not have a team of 10 or more, this is not going to be doable without lots of gems. Heck even with a full team it is not doable without lots of gems.

We are not going to pass #1 and will not making it to lap 16 to get all the orbs, looks like there will be no Zephyr for me unless they give up and stop, which I doubt they will.

@Nynaevelan kenapa saya tidak ada eveb alliance race ?

Is it possible to change team during the race? Seen some say yes, others no...my team has a couple players who have not done anything and they need booting.

@Glaceon you can boot players up to till half way, 5 days basically, we kicked one today

Expanding a bit on the problem here, the extreme emphasis on Arena fights means that the only alliances who can hope to complete in a typical field are those who have 20 players all with a wide slate of L40+ dragons, to cruise through arena battles with ease. So the people with any shot at the Zephyr are those who already have such strong teams no typical player can hope to compete, and don’t need it in the least.

Add to that the fact that the activity level required to make any meaningful showing in the race is AT LEAST 10x the level required to max out the “activity meter,” probably more like 50x, and the idea that the recent alliance changes help anyone find a competitive alliance is revealed as a complete fiction.

The only people who will get Zephyr are those who have a group of friends who have been playing since day 1, cheaters, and the insanely lucky. Utterly botched.

@Scott-Clark I think we need to do whatever we can to persuade SP not to have anymore alliance races, no-one wants them.

@Scott-Clark said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

"the only alliances who can hope to complete in a typical field are those who have 20 players all with a wide slate of L40+ dragons"
Not true. In my alliance the bottom 5 players have just 2 to 5 heroics and no dragons levelled past 40.

"the activity level required to make any meaningful showing in the race is AT LEAST 10x the level required to max out the “activity meter,” probably more like 50x"
I'm not sure how you came to these figures? Or how it's relevant? Most players do player harder during a race, but the ones who play hardest are the same ones who play harder than the rest anyway.

"The only people who will get Zephyr are those who have a group of friends who have been playing since day 1, cheaters, and the insanely lucky."
Aside from my child, my group is all strangers. 5 are relatively new, including 2 added the day before racing. We don't cheat and gemming is completely voluntary. But I am very lucky to have an alliance where most players contribute as fair a share as they are able, and a few go above and beyond. And we are in first place, 3 laps ahead of 2nd, on lap 10.

@Susan-McLaughlin I come to those figures because we max out the activity marker, routinely get L5 chests, but are many, many times short of what we’d have to do to get Zephyr. It simply cannot be done for the overwhelming majority of people, and the fact that you apparently were lucky enough to find yourself in the minuscule minority that can come close to L10 doesn’t begin to act as countervailing evidence.

It’s like Jeff Bezos concluding that all is well with the economy because he’s making money. 95% of players not only will not get Zephyr (without cheating), but cannot do a single solitary thing to improve their odds of getting into the 5%.

Compare to an ordinary Heroic Race, where IMX ~50% of people get the prize, because with diligence and focus you can get to L15. But from what I’ve seen, no second place finisher has a prayer of reaching L16 without massive coordinated gem spending.

And the 5% will mostly be those who already have overwhelmingly powerful dragon lineups, while a few just get lucky and have no competition.

I think the quest "ALL FOR ONE" need to go as they in no way promote team work and isnt the point of alliances just that?

This race is a byproduct of the rampant greed and capitalism that has lead socialpoint to leading this game in an unfavorable direction. This is where I draw the line. We need to protest, and protest LOUD, or nothing will change...

While I am not in the doomsayers camp nor I tend to agree with some of what Scott Clark is saying, I do agree that in order to be succesfull in these alliance races you have to have a team full of fighters only. I get where they are trying to go with these races but to me they seem to be all about the arenas and have nothing to do with the rest of DC. Which I find very distasteful and has nothing to do with the features of DC which I love the most.

At first I was disappointed that I would not be getting Zephyr, then I was angered both at my team and at SP because this race was flawed from the start. At first I told my team that I was going to start kicking members who were not more active in the race, our numbers of participation are very varied, with me with over 1000 points and a few with less than 150. But then I thought why should I change the dynamic of our team, which is based on members with strengths in different areas, I finally told the team that this was going to be our last race where I was actively racing. I wasted close to 100 gems to end up with nothing new and nothing worth my time. At this point I have pretty much given up, we are 3 laps (and climbing) and with all these arena battles and now epic hatchings I am not going to waste more time and gems trying to get something that I never will. Individual races are bad enough but these are even worse. They are sure going to get an earful from me when they put up the survey for this race. Improvements my &&&^(insert MANY foul words here)!!

At first the Catacombs island was supposed to be PC only to compensate the PCers who are not able to race. Now I think they did it because they knew 90% of the community was not going to get Zephyr so they are giving the real, honest players inferior dragons and saving the best for the hackers and the few with the fighting teams.

I'm one of the lucky 5% who has no competition (I actually joined a new alliance created for this race since my previous one wasn't communicating and had no hope of winning) so take what I have to say with a grain of salt, but...

You don't need people with level 40 heroics in order to win a ton of arena fights. You need enthusiastic low-level players who are still in the easy arenas. I think this is maybe one of the reasons SP focused so much on arena fights for this race. Low-level players have no hope of hatching epic dragons. They can't collect millions of gold or food. But they can win arena fights, and that means they have something to contribute to their alliance. In this race, unlike the alliance chest, an arena win in Terra I is just as good as an arena win in the Masters.

Having the spreadsheets would be really useful though! Assigning people to start hatching/breeding for upcoming targets would make everything smoother.

@BDOG said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

I'm one of the lucky 5% who has no competition (I actually joined a new alliance created for this race since my previous one wasn't communicating and had no hope of winning) so take what I have to say with a grain of salt, but...

You don't need people with level 40 heroics in order to win a ton of arena fights. You need enthusiastic low-level players who are still in the easy arenas. I think this is maybe one of the reasons SP focused so much on arena fights for this race. Low-level players have no hope of hatching epic dragons. They can't collect millions of gold or food. But they can win arena fights, and that means they have something to contribute to their alliance. In this race, unlike the alliance chest, an arena win in Terra I is just as good as an arena win in the Masters.

Having the spreadsheets would be really useful though! Assigning people to start hatching/breeding for upcoming targets would make everything smoother.

Hmmm I think you being in the the lucky 5% is a little off base....only because you started a new team after the race started which means most of the teams were already matched up and who you got were more new or inactive teams.

But I agree with the remainder of what you said. This reason alone is why I like having such a diverse team setup, we have members who can accomplish different tasks. But while your analysis makes sense it actually doesn't work too well with this race because there are so many nodes with arena fights, with a lot of them being joint efforts back to back to back. Even with the best setup there are just so many nodes with arena fights that there is no or little to no recovery time between the fights.

And with all that said don't let the MLers see your comment regarding starting a "race" team, they consider that cheating and are very adament and against them.

@Nynaevelan said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

While I am not in the doomsayers camp nor I tend to agree with some of what Scott Clark is saying

Care to expand on that a bit? If I'm missing something I'll be glad to be corrected.

@Scott-Clark said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

@Nynaevelan said in Race for the Lost Temple - High Zephyr [Alliance Race]:

While I am not in the doomsayers camp nor I tend to agree with some of what Scott Clark is saying

Care to expand on that a bit? If I'm missing something I'll be glad to be corrected.

I do not agree that players who have been playing since day one will have an easy time to win the race. Most high level vets aka me are up against the same high players and more hackers/cheaters, which means winning arenas is much more challenging. Yes us high level players will have an easier time with the other parts of the race but since there are so many arena fights and winning is probably only half or a third of each set it will take vets much longer to win. Plus if you are one of those vets who have used up all your food you will have just as hard a time as everyone else to rank up the correct dragons to be competitive in the arenas. For someone who has over 900 dragons I still have only a small selection during each season in order to fight competitively with. Last season for instance I felt like a newbie with the few that I had to use.

@BDOG Well said (nodding head in agreement)

@Nynaevelan Point taken. My “day 1” mention was intended to be synonymous with “very wide range of L40s.” But now you point it out, yes, I can see that isn’t necessarily the case, and moreover I seem to have implied a broader range of impacts than I intended. Thanks for the correction.

Gotta say, this is the suckiest heroic race ever. The rewards aren't distributed well. Little to no chance of winning the heroic if your team isn't 100 percent active all the time. The battles are defeating most players moral and they are quitting. First time I've felt like throwing in the towel myself even though I play everyday. NOT LIKING THIS RACE. Don't do it again! These races should entice players to play, not beat them down so they quit.

Another point has occurred to me - SP clearly expect progression in this race to be a lot slower (one might even say "half") than a normal Heroic Race, as the Ultimate Chest is on Lap 25 instead of 50.

But the fallback to get the Heroic is Lap 16 instead of the normal 15. Logically it ought to have been moved FORWARD, not back, to Lap 8-10 or thereabouts.