I always knew that the Breeding Event Island was meant to drain all of your gems en masse, but it becomes increasingly aware since the whole "VIP Breeding" event they had. The chance had to have been practically non-existent to get the right dragon from breeding.

The temptation to breed your current dragons for that chance is strong, but don't fall for it. All it does it waste gems. By the time you acquire the dragon you want, you'll be broke again. They make the chance deliberately very low just to encourage you to spend money on gem packs.

Stockpile your gems for more important things if you're just getting into the breeding island. It's not a complete scam-- the dragons are obtainable, I've gotten several from it with tons of persistence and offers-- but it's as close to a scam as you can get.

In addition to that, thanks, Social Point, for Viktor and Viktoria, who aren't even being used during this current event now. I thought they'd be future proof choices, but I think I realized they'll be rarely included in breeding combinations, just to further manipulate people into buying maze coins to get the right dragon from the specific island.

Nuh-uh. Not doing that anymore. It's not worth it.

If they add the chances of getting that dragon, it would be better as we Can decide to breed it or not

@nathan-r said in Breeding Event Island Just Isn't Worth the Hassle:

Stockpile your gems for more important things if you're just getting into the breeding island. It's not a complete scam-- the dragons are obtainable, I've gotten several from it with tons of persistence and offers-- but it's as close to a scam as you can get.

GREAT advice

I disagree with most of what you said. First, the higher the rarity, the harder they should be to accomplish. As one who purchased VIPs with real money, they should have been very hard to get. But other than them, others have had reasonable chances of success. If you are attempting to get one it should and has been possible. If you trying to empower then yes they should cost. If you are expecting many for free or cheap then that is an unrealistic goal.

I do agree the jokers are not used often enough but I do not think they should be used for every combination.

I dont know what is happening here. While I am checking the breeding island to find out what dragons are there that I dont have... I try to breed these to get one... I see others that spend tons of gems to get several ones to bring one to five stars. I never thought to do that. Might be a good idea because we will need more and more 5 star dragons for arenas in future. But!!!! When players are doing that they should not moan about SP being greedy because odds are to low. These players are greedy too in my opinion.

I am in agreement with @Nathan-R saying to “Stockpile your gems for more important things if you're just getting into the breeding island.”; it is good advice for newer players; if the newer players can accumulate or afford to buy gems, then that’s fine, also.

Personally I’ve had little success with the breeding island events ... only success was way back when I got a Banana dragon ... since then my breeding success from the island has been -0- % so I’ve chosen to avoid most of those offers and definitely do not waste my hard earned gems on it.

@nathan-r Yes, you're right. I think the chances of getting the dragons in breeding events have dropped a lot since the VIP Breeding event. Before that event, I have obtained quite easily many legendary and epic dragons. Now, I tried to obtain the animation(R) and sheep(E) dragons, doing many attemps (many more than i usually do for a success breeding) and nothing...

Well since I need K-Pop and Black Metal for the Rescue I cannot test it so I will have to take your word for it, for now. I will give it a test or two or three once combos come up that do not require dragons that are being used for events.

ty ty @Nynaevelan ... will be interested to see your percent of success rate
(some ice cream and drinks for your wait times: )

@nynaevelan said in Breeding Event Island Just Isn't Worth the Hassle:

Well since I need K-Pop and Black Metal for the Rescue I cannot test it so I will have to take your word for it, for now. I will give it a test or two or three once combos come up that do not require dragons that are being used for events.

It took me 8 tries to get a Nightnare that is on par with breeding before the VIP event began. It may be one or two over/under. Now testing Macha.

@bettina-löffler said in Breeding Event Island Just Isn't Worth the Hassle:

When players are doing that they should not moan about SP being greedy because odds are to low. These players are greedy too in my opinion.

No. The majority of players simply cannot afford it because they're simply too young. When entering the game's chat room, I realized I might have been one of the older players. A lot of the game's fans are children. Not all of them, obviously-- I'm an adult-- but a lot of them are.

I could go into the many details I've learned when researching how mobile game developers follow a formula made deliberately to manipulate players into paying money, but something tells me I'd be ignored and dismissed, even with evidence of bad deeds that CEOs commit. Let's just say that there are videos out there of developers talking, without a hint of shame, about tricking young players into spending money by luring and hooking them into obsession and purposefully making them game annoying and challenging so that they become frustrated enough to pay the big bucks.

As for the rate/chance, for me, it's always been insanely low. Like, less than one percent chance. I have had to breed dragons 20+ times just to get one dragon, only to watch my gems get emptied within minutes. This is the breeding event island's entire purpose: to entice you into spending tons of gems for the next gambling opportunity. It's basically a loot box system without an actual box to open.

@nynaevelan said in Breeding Event Island Just Isn't Worth the Hassle:

I disagree with most of what you said. First, the higher the rarity, the harder they should be to accomplish. As one who purchased VIPs with real money, they should have been very hard to get. But other than them, others have had reasonable chances of success. If you are attempting to get one it should and has been possible. If you trying to empower then yes they should cost. If you are expecting many for free or cheap then that is an unrealistic goal.

I do agree the jokers are not used often enough but I do not think they should be used for every combination.

You can disagree if you like, and I'm glad the chances are reasonable for you, but they haven't been for me. The chance is totally random, so not everyone is going to acquire them at the same rate. You could get it in two tries, sure. That doesn't mean I ever do. It almost always takes 20+ tries, even for non-legendary dragons.

Secondly, no, I am not trying to empower them. I'm just trying to obtain one dragon. I couldn't possibly find the time, or the gems, to obtain multitudes of them for empowering. I couldn't even fathom such a thing.

As for me "expecting them to be free"... technically, no, they're not free, unless you already had thousands of gems at the time of attempting it. If you run out of gems while trying over and over again... you have to buy more. You certainly don't have time to start a new offer on the offerwall to get enough to breed another twenty times. I'm not even talking about the VIP dragons here, I'm talking about R or VR dragons, or sometimes E ones that are apparently being bred at a "reasonable rate" for others. Even those have drained hundreds of my gems.

And no, before anyone makes this baseless assumption-- I'm not using the island "incorrectly."

Again, I'm glad it works out so well for you, but to me, it's just a waste and really not worth it at all. All it has done is cost me way more gems to breed one dragon than that dragon was worth.

@nathan-r so why do you keep using it and more importantly keep throwing hundreds or thousands of gems at it? If you rates are that low then keep your gems, it would be cheaper and guaranteed to wait to buy it on sale or get it in a event. Yes I am sure these are geared to lure people to spend but ultimately if you keep walking into the trap knowing it is a trap then you have yourself to blame not them. This is a company trying to make money, it is their job to do what is best for them. Each individual gamer has a job to do what is best for them, for minors then it is the responsibility of their parent/guardian to ensure they are not buying where they shouldn't be. Yes the rates are random, with some being easier to accomplish than others but based on my experience I use my experience to judge my rates of success and how much I am willing to spend to keep trying. Your one experience does not offset the experience of others.

This reads to me just as one person's rant. As such you need to reevaluate your budgets and stop walking into the trap.

@nynaevelan said in Breeding Event Island Just Isn't Worth the Hassle:

@nathan-r so why do you keep using it and more importantly keep throwing hundreds or thousands of gems at it? If you rates are that low then keep your gems, it would be cheaper and guaranteed to wait to buy it on sale or get it in a event. Yes I am sure these are geared to lure people to spend but ultimately if you keep walking into the trap knowing it is a trap then you have yourself to blame not them. This is a company trying to make money, it is their job to do what is best for them. Each individual gamer has a job to do what is best for them, for minors then it is the responsibility of their parent/guardian to ensure they are not buying where they shouldn't be. Yes the rates are random, with some being easier to accomplish than others but based on my experience I use my experience to judge my rates of success and how much I am willing to spend to keep trying. Your one experience does not offset the experience of others.

This reads to me just as one person's rant. As such you need to reevaluate your budgets and stop walking into the trap.

So the breeding events are a trap??!!

@nynaevelan
I'm pretty sure I already said in my initial post that I'm not using it anymore, so your advice was taken long before you've given it.

And no, it isn't a rant. It's a concern. It's a warning to other people. That's why I said, "Save your gems for more important things." I'm trying to help others based on my own experiences, and you dismissing my concerns as a "rant" just comes off as defensive and insecure.

No, it is not "my ONE experience." It is multiple experiences.

And by the way, I've also bought VIP dragons. I know you mentioned that earlier, and I just wanted to say that I have no problem spending real money on the game. I have a problem with real money being spent on gambling mechanics.

What interests me most is that my early usage of the island yielded much better results. As time went on, it mysteriously got harder to breed. I wonder why.

On another note, you mentioned that the company needs to make money. I've heard that excuse a lot. I just want to say this: There are other, better ways for a company to make money than introducing deliberately inconvenient mechanics to take advantage of a human's natural impatience. This is just the best way to get very rich off of people. There's profit... and then there's greed. I don't remember the earlier days of DC being so inundated with spending lures. When a company introduces mechanics that take advantage of a person's need to collect, gamble or their desperation to claim something, it's no longer profit. It's seeing the opportunity to earn money from psychological harm.

I'm sorry that I'm so against that sort of thing, but I consider it wrong, and nothing will convince me otherwise. When people get very deep into something, they fail to see the damage it causes, and refuse to give it up, and will even defend everything about it. The sad thing is, I'm very fond of Dragon City's overall design and clever creativity. But as time goes on, I feel too disgusted with their practices to continue interacting with them.

I don't even understand why this is really an issue. Nobody is forcing or even expecting players to use gems during breeding island events. It is completely the player's own choice to speed up breeding or hatching, over and over again. I rarely do so because I am content with whatever I get by chance there. Sure i am disappointed if i don't get the dragon, but they usually come around again some way or another.
Some players are always going on about the game being a money trap, but what they really are complaining about is the cost of purchasing gems. Just use what gems you earn in game play, they add up quicker than you think, and put a limit on what you are willing to spend per event.

@nathan-r For me the breeding island is just like a spin in the race. If I want one of the dragons, I try. If I get it ...ok. If I dont get it... also ok. I got some and I didnt get others. But I never used gems to speed up anything there.

@bettina-löffler said in Breeding Event Island Just Isn't Worth the Hassle:

@nathan-r For me the breeding island is just like a spin in the race. If I want one of the dragons, I try. If I get it ...ok. If I dont get it... also ok. I got some and I didnt get others. But I never used gems to speed up anything there.

basically my philosophy also @Bettina-Löffler ... am very picky about using gems to speed up anything actually; mostly use them in Heroics to speed up the 8hr fight wait ... occasionally for puzzle event if close and only need a few gems to grab a dragon ... other than that, use gems for expansions to make room for all these dragons

i do understand what @Nathan-R is saying too ... truly there are strong and proven marketing gimmicks and game mechanics that appeal to a player’s wants/desires and, especially, impatience ... something young people and some adults have yet to learn to control.

when I first started playing, the anger and frustration with/in the game was extreme and i questioned and ranted often to Support ... then the realization hit me that many games/developers (DC/SP included) employ these measures ... and that i am/always have been aware of it ... if the game keeps my interest and provides some enjoyment, i keep it ... when it angers/frustrates me enough, i delete it without looking back ... and I have deleted lots ...

so far DC/SP has yet to send me over the edge, yet, when/if it does, it too will be relegated to the “trashed app” area and i’ll be taking my with me ...