Talk:Game Updates/@comment-24790838-20171013024955/@comment-6613158-20171013065513

Not too long ago you put the question here, apparently again (I missed the first time around…J ), what makes this game last for all these years. I never replied. Not because I don’t have an answer (there’s not many things I do not have an opinion about), but because I believe there isn’t an easy answer. The reasons people stay on board are rather divers, I suppose.

What has been really appealing for me, almost from Day One, is the ability to play the game strategically. The more difficult the challenge, the more rewarding the feeling of accomplishment at the end.

My first challenge were the Shrines. Eight Shrines, getting them to Gold. It took me some five months, if I remember correctly. I started within a month after I bred my first Flower Dragon. The old parent rule helped, true, as did the fact that I started during the first BEB and had two Leap Years before it was over. But even without these ‘benefits’ I would have reached the goal. It might have taken another few months, but what the heck: it wasn’t as if there was a deadline or anything like that. (Although it turned out there was: only about five months later Shrines became just another decoration – and one that couldn’t be stored at that…)

The second challenge was getting all the Dragons. I never bothered during the Shrine phase. Getting these took me another three or four months, although I only had all the ones that were available at the time. I needed the next BEB to complete the set. But I did achieve the Game Center Goal. Which was a rather nice feeling. BTW: I never used to spend any gems on speed breeding in those days. It felt like cheating… Another thing that changed over time!

The third challenge was getting all the Dragons leveled up to 20. This has turned out to be the easiest one: not a lot of strategic thinking involved here… The only ingredient required is time.

The fourth took a while to appear on the horizon. Twins. Getting my Tower Dragon to belch blue fire. I still have to finish this. The plans was to do so by this year’s BEB. I only need about half the Crystallines and Gemstones, and perhaps a few of the newer ones. The Rift Dragons may push the finish line a little back. Perhaps even a year. It doesn’t matter. Twins were introduced in May 2015. A path of 30 or 40 months: the feeling at the end will only be better.

The Rift is the fifth challenge. Combined with challenge number three this is something that will take about a year. If a lot of limited Dragons are introduced that have a Rift version, this may prove to be a rather optimistic estimate. It doesn’t matter: the line may move slowly backwards, but I will eventually cross it.

All of this doesn’t answer your question. Or perhaps it does. I like the Rift. Which should come as no surprise after the above. Am I on schedule? Yup: in about a month or so I will have all the clouds cleared, all the Rift Habitats filled with five Dragons. They will not all be level 20’s yet. 12 or 13 should be doable. A lot of these Dragons are ones I don’t intend to keep. But they will generate Etherium. Eventually in abundance. Once this is in place I will start completing the collection. Finding out that Traits can be had for Etherium rather than through breeding knocked off a couple of months from the first estimate. Finding out that limited Dragons can have Traits added an as of yet unknown length of time. Will eventually even Epic Dragons have Traits? Who knows: there used to be a time when they couldn’t get above level 10 either. I’ll just go with the flow.

And if you ask me in another six years or so what the life expectancy of a game like DragonVale is: I may still not know the answer. For everyone else. As for me, I kinda like it… J