"Any flight that's actually committed to winning can (and has) beat their default (or even fest/notn) exaltation levels without hosting a raffle/pb."
I don't think that's been proven, and I'm skeptical that it's true (at least these days). Some flights have done solo conquests and succeeded (like Wind), but to use mine (Nature) as an example, it's either taking OOF dragons in some form or profit pushing, no in-between, and no matter how hard it feels like we're trying (I always train my ass off and pre-hoard through IF programs, and I see many others say the same), even if we're the only flight with any kind of a push going, we get beat by Earth. Maybe we could do better if we called it a solo conquest, but I feel like the flights that do that have IF raffles at the very least.
This isn't an anti-Earth rant or a dom ratio rant or a rant at all really. But I still don't think the quoted statement necessarily holds.
I asked once why Plague called it "IF conquest" and got told that if they put a push under "profit", people trained to lv8-10, while the average drops to 6 when word "conquest" is included and there is more participation overall.
Huh, interesting, thanks! If it's not being too nosy, can I ask if there were IF raffles in those pushes?
Like, I get why announcing an IF conquest without some kind of incentive is risky; if you do try that and then don't pull it off, it demoralizes everybody, where profit pushes aren't expected to be successful for anyone besides Earth/Light/Water. (Although I think it used to be different.) But it would provide some good data if it were occasionally attempted, and would be almost as exciting as a battle (but much cheaper!).
(Traditional conquest/fest pushes are boring as hell, imo. Yeah, you get a week of benefits, but as long as you put in a modicum of effort it's a foregone conclusion, so there's no reason to get hyped or keep your eyes peeled on the dom standings.)
There are raffles, usually around 20-25 packs. Mostly stuff that is somewhat easily replacable (Genes, coli bosses, Joxar tokens, eliminates) and some lv25 dragons, ocassionally some art.
That said, there is usually around 3-4 weeks preps time where they encourage hoarding fodder. I'm not sure if we can impromptu start a push on Monday and win on a random week.
Sorry! When I said raffle/pb I definitely meant OOF raffles specifically - and was thinking of an IF raffle being included in the "actually comitted to winning" part. So I'm talking about solo conquests or eventful profit pushes.
Let me actually look at the Dom Watch archives and see what flights have placed higher than Earth on a push without OOF raffle or PB...
2022: Water (x2), Arcane 2021: Lightning (x2), Fire (x2), Wind (x6), Arcane (x3), Light (x3), Water (x2), Plague (x4), Ice (x2)
So yeah, your experience is real but unique to Nature/Shadow.
"When I said raffle/pb I definitely meant OOF raffles specifically"
Gotcha, and yeah, that makes sense. I usually don't scrutinize the Dom Watch links closely enough on non-OOF-participation weeks to see if there are IF raffles, so I don't know how common it is for solos.
And thank you for the data, interesting to see. (Also, dang, Wind. I thought I was already impressed by your annual IF-only House Cup victory, but that's some awesome stealth powerhousing you've got going on there.)
I think IF raffles are the standard for a conquest that doesn't have an oof raffle or PB! Some flights like Arcane have an IF raffle for almost all of their pushes (including profits, I think)!
& Yeah, Wind is a bit of a sleeper threat. I think they're going to smash Lightning in May and people might not expect that despite their handy victory against Plague in 2020 & their very consistent placing in 2021.
Lightning actually just did this, we had a profit push last week without any sort of raffle (we had a fundraising one but it wasn't related to exalting dragons) and we beat Earth. Just to provide some proof that it is possible!
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Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 08:35 am (UTC)(link)I don't think that's been proven, and I'm skeptical that it's true (at least these days). Some flights have done solo conquests and succeeded (like Wind), but to use mine (Nature) as an example, it's either taking OOF dragons in some form or profit pushing, no in-between, and no matter how hard it feels like we're trying (I always train my ass off and pre-hoard through IF programs, and I see many others say the same), even if we're the only flight with any kind of a push going, we get beat by Earth. Maybe we could do better if we called it a solo conquest, but I feel like the flights that do that have IF raffles at the very least.
This isn't an anti-Earth rant or a dom ratio rant or a rant at all really. But I still don't think the quoted statement necessarily holds.
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 09:52 am (UTC)(link)Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 10:20 am (UTC)(link)Huh, interesting, thanks! If it's not being too nosy, can I ask if there were IF raffles in those pushes?
Like, I get why announcing an IF conquest without some kind of incentive is risky; if you do try that and then don't pull it off, it demoralizes everybody, where profit pushes aren't expected to be successful for anyone besides Earth/Light/Water. (Although I think it used to be different.) But it would provide some good data if it were occasionally attempted, and would be almost as exciting as a battle (but much cheaper!).
(Traditional conquest/fest pushes are boring as hell, imo. Yeah, you get a week of benefits, but as long as you put in a modicum of effort it's a foregone conclusion, so there's no reason to get hyped or keep your eyes peeled on the dom standings.)
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 11:07 am (UTC)(link)There are raffles, usually around 20-25 packs. Mostly stuff that is somewhat easily replacable (Genes, coli bosses, Joxar tokens, eliminates) and some lv25 dragons, ocassionally some art.
That said, there is usually around 3-4 weeks preps time where they encourage hoarding fodder. I'm not sure if we can impromptu start a push on Monday and win on a random week.
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)Thank you for the info! Planning and hoarding do seem to be important elements regardless.
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)Sorry! When I said raffle/pb I definitely meant OOF raffles specifically - and was thinking of an IF raffle being included in the "actually comitted to winning" part. So I'm talking about solo conquests or eventful profit pushes.
Let me actually look at the Dom Watch archives and see what flights have placed higher than Earth on a push without OOF raffle or PB...
2022: Water (x2), Arcane
2021: Lightning (x2), Fire (x2), Wind (x6), Arcane (x3), Light (x3), Water (x2), Plague (x4), Ice (x2)
So yeah, your experience is real but unique to Nature/Shadow.
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-05 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)"When I said raffle/pb I definitely meant OOF raffles specifically"
Gotcha, and yeah, that makes sense. I usually don't scrutinize the Dom Watch links closely enough on non-OOF-participation weeks to see if there are IF raffles, so I don't know how common it is for solos.
And thank you for the data, interesting to see. (Also, dang, Wind. I thought I was already impressed by your annual IF-only House Cup victory, but that's some awesome stealth powerhousing you've got going on there.)
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-06 08:45 am (UTC)(link)& Yeah, Wind is a bit of a sleeper threat. I think they're going to smash Lightning in May and people might not expect that despite their handy victory against Plague in 2020 & their very consistent placing in 2021.
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-09 12:48 am (UTC)(link)Lightning actually just did this, we had a profit push last week without any sort of raffle (we had a fundraising one but it wasn't related to exalting dragons) and we beat Earth. Just to provide some proof that it is possible!
Re: N v P "battle terms"
(Anonymous) 2022-03-09 07:03 am (UTC)(link)Cool, I wasn't aware of that, congrats to you guys!