(Not so random) Dragon hunt queue

cellx

The behavior of dragon hunt queue seems a lot different this week. Generally I am playing with complete random people in the public queue (so no premade party). Until this week, I was getting all dragons in a kind of random fashion; sometimes red, sometimes blue, sometimes black etc...

However, I am getting only ancient black dragons this week (with exception of only 1 blue in between). I got 5-6 black dragon in a row and in total more than 10 blacks (they were all new runs; no reinforcements). I asked party some party members and they also confirm that they are getting all black dragons this week.

This behavior seems very shady; the chance of getting only one type of dragon is very low if it is really a random pick. Especially it is really annoying to get the black always for known reasons...

Do you also have similar observations? Is it possible that something is messed up?

rjc9000

Because you and the other random queue people are filling in the Black Dragon runs that premades/other PUG teams abandon.
If you only go in premade parties, you'll get the random assortment of colors.

cellx

rjc9000 said:

Because you and the other random queue people are filling in the Black Dragon runs that premades/other PUG teams abandon.
If you only go in premade parties, you'll get the random assortment of colors.

Thanks for your reply; but that cannot be true; because as I mention in my post, non of those runs are reinforcement joins. When the queue pops up, it shows you acceptance as x/5 for a new run and 1/1 for filling abandoned runs. In all cases, I joined a new run, not as a reinforcement request. Additionally, this only happened this week, I haven't seen such "randomness" until this week.

plasticbat

cellder#3436 said:

rjc9000 said:

Because you and the other random queue people are filling in the Black Dragon runs that premades/other PUG teams abandon.
If you only go in premade parties, you'll get the random assortment of colors.

Thanks for your reply; but that cannot be true; because as I mention in my post, non of those runs are reinforcement joins. When the queue pops up, it shows you acceptance as x/5 for a new run and 1/1 for filling abandoned runs. In all cases, I joined a new run, not as a reinforcement request. Additionally, this only happened this week, I haven't seen such "randomness" until this week.

For the efficiency, the instance that has just been abandon (that can happen to any instance and not just queue related instance) will stay in the system for a while before it actually terminates. Before this 'leaving' instance leaves, if there is new client asking for that, the instance will be re-used. In this case as mentioned by rjc9000, your 'new' run was re-using the 'leaving' instance which 'equipped' with the same dragon.

cellx

plasticbat said:

cellder#3436 said:

For the efficiency, the instance that has just been abandon (that can happen to any instance and not just queue related instance) will stay in the system for a while before it actually terminates. Before this 'leaving' instance leaves, if there is new client asking for that, the instance will be re-used. In this case as mentioned by rjc9000, your 'new' run was re-using the 'leaving' instance which 'equipped' with the same dragon.

Thanks again for the explanation; if system re-uses abandoned instances as a new one, this may happen. Especially when too few people queueing for the hunts, then some people always get the same dragon. If this is happening, it is a serious design issue. Obviously, people do not want the black dragon, forcing other players into the same abandoned instance is not a solution. I hope developers realize this and give at least give players some chance to roll a different colored one.

plasticbat

cellder#3436 said:

Thanks again for the explanation; if system re-uses abandoned instances as a new one, this may happen. Especially when too few people queueing for the hunts, then some people always get the same dragon. If this is happening, it is a serious design issue. Obviously, people do not want the black dragon, forcing other players into the same abandoned instance is not a solution. I hope developers realize this and give at least give players some chance to roll a different colored one.

That depends on when it was abandoned. That is if the instance is "re-usable" for the next client. It is a general design and has nothing to do with RQ or black dragon.

cellx

Thanks for the info again; but as an end customer, I mainly care about my gaming experience. If I am getting the most unfavorable dragon/dungeon etc... again and again in a random queue, it annoys me and I raise my voice. If it can be solved or how it can be solved, that's a different matter. In worst case, I stop running dragon hunts as I already finished the campaign and I have all gear that I need. I continue running them for fun, but it is not fun anymore like this.

greywynd

What you consider unfavorable, others may enjoy.

karvare

Ran about 10 dragons today, mostly white and blue. A few red and black. A green. Rather random for me. YMMV.

mentinmindmaker

While I agree there could be some effect from reuse of old abandoned black instances, my personal experience is I very rarely get re-used instances as far as I can see. I am not even sure that can happen if the instance is completely empty.

I sometimes get put in as replacement in instances that are restarting though - but I don't think I have seen black much with those.

I would tend to explain OPs experience as just Bad Luck. Did you do your daily prayers to the RNG and sacrify your weekly elven virgin?

cellx

Thanks for your feedbacks again. I kept getting black dragons until Sunday; I even dont remember how many I got last week. It seems like one in a million possibility! somehow happened. I wish that kind of chance happens looting premium rewards; but that never happens...

Yesterday, I again got random dragons; almost one of each. That is more in line with earlier weeks.