Suggestions

My main suggestion, as a fairly new player, is for when you first join the site and pick out the customization of your dragon.

The page goes on about how important it is to pick out the colors you want on it because your later generations will be affected. And then, once you pick out the one dragon, it randomizes a mate's design for the one you pick. ...Why?

It goes against what was just told to me about how important it is to carefully pick colors. Now, I wouldn't pick another type of dragon for its mate (is that even possible for a guardian and fae for instance to mate? Haven't been here long enough to know), but I sure would've liked to customize the coloring on it. Especially since you're stuck with it no matter what. The male mate looks "ok" but it wouldn't have been what I chose for my dragon. So, I hope the admins look at this suggestion.

Yes, guardians and fae can mate. ANY two dragons of the appropriate age and genders can have offspring together. You should just assume that they're magic, maybe the stork brings their eggs, who knows. :P

As for the second progenitor being randomized, I get why they did it. The random factor means that a)you will get a taste of variety in your first nest and b)you will have to actually play the game and save up money if you want another breedable dragon of very specific colors.

This ensures that people can't just give themselves two progenitors that are white/white or black/black or something else very desirable and get rich with no effort whatsoever.

EDIT: Also I am pretty sure you can exalt your progenitors if you dislike them that much. You just don't get rewarded for it.

@theraphos, yes, you can exalt your progens. But you don't contribute to flight dominance and you don't get any treasure for it.

Personally, despite the hate and back luck that plagues players in their random progens, I wouldn't change it. It's nice to have that random variety, and you might be surprised how well the progens work together. Never have I been on a site that allows you to customize a complete pair of creatures from the get-go as a new user.

I just don't understand why it's told that being careful with colors is important, then they turn around and give you a random. Maybe it's because I'm new and haven't seen what's desirable. As a new user, it was still upsetting to me.



@SeaCrest,

I know for sure FelisFire allows you to customize 6 starter pets - 3 males, 3 females.

@Raftina - It's because you are given the opportunity to customize one so that there is at least a chance that you will like the offspring of your two progenitors. Like @therapos said, a random mate also ensures that people don't just create white/white or black/black pairs that will fetch them a ton of money when they breed, and also because breeding isn't really explained in the beginning. New users don't know whether colors are a combination of the parents' colors, or if they are midway between the parents' colors, or if it is the range like it is.

FelisFire might allow you to customize 6 starter pets, but I still haven't seen any other site, and it fits with the lore of that site. A random mate here also fits, because your clan begins with one dragon.

Seriously, if it bugs you so much, go buy a new dragon that fits your expectations better. There are plenty of people out there who got fugly random progens and either a) exalted them, b) changed their breed and/or gave them new genes, c) found them a different mate, or d) just let them sit there. Heck, you can even buy a skin, although that doesn't effect their breeding colors.

I think it is a perfect example of the site and what makes breeding games exciting, in a microcosm - you can carefully agonize over what you're planning on breeding, but there's also an element of chance, of unpredictability.

I don't like my random progenitor very much, but I like the system a great deal. It's not terribly difficult to get another dragon if you don't like the one you're generated. Plus, changing it would make it too easy for players to 'stack' dragons. I'm trying to breed a set of certain colours. It's not easy, because of that random chance aspect, but that, for me, is the challenge and the fun. The net benefit is that in the long-run, I'm going to be able to breed colour combos that are desirable and valuable. If someone could pick both their starters, they'd just have that off the bat and I don't think I'd care for that, from an economic perspective.

Don't worry! You can get rid of your random mate and replace it with any dragon you'd like. I would recommend breeding them first, though, so you at least get some eggs.

After that, if you really cannot stand having it in your lair, you can choose to "exalt" it. This basically kicks your dragon out. You can buy new dragons from the auction house or from the forums.

If you don't like the random mate then just get rid of it. I didn't like my random mate for Nightscratch so much at first either, but Seastrider's colour has grown on me. Plus they make very pretty dragon babies. I would at least breed them first, you never know their babies might be beautiful.
Personally, I kind of like the random factor.

Even a little note of warning below their "Choose carefully" bit would be nice for new users, I think. "Be warned, you may get some unexpected company when your dragon makes his/her home," or something of the like.

I admit, I came in expecting to be able to choose my starter's mate in some fashion and the dragon that was generated for me isn't at all, in my eyes, attractive. Luckily, though, they've only made one ugly baby, but I'm trying to avoid breeding them together from now on (since they also have a horrible habit of only giving me one egg on top of the questionable offspring).

Forgive me if this was mentioned before, but the reason you have to choose carefully when making your first dragon is because you will presumably never be able to choose the coloration/breed/gender of a dragon ever again. This is the only time you can get a custom dragon you want.

Furthermore, your starter Dragon cannot be exalted unlike your randomized mate. So if you are careless with the coloration of your custom dragon you are stuck with it forever on your account. So it's a pretty big deal.

Finally, I don't support being able to customized your second dragon. While that would be nice, I think it would also encourage people to make ideal pairs for profit, as said earlier. Not only that, but I think it would create stagnant colors around the site. Less randomization and creation of different colors instead of always having dragons that are popular or trendy, though this will obviously be a less serious issue once the site ages some more. If its not a non-issue already.