Dec 23, 2012: Turning off comments to this blog because 1) This blog was created over a year ago, shortly after Dragonvale's release and before we knew much about how breeding worked and 2) there is nothing in the game that suggests it keeps track of dragon heritages or anything of the sort. The blog creator has been absent for a while, but he is free to open comments again if he so wishes. Until then there is no reason that people should still be commenting to severely outdated information. -Tatz

My RAINBOW Dragon Success Strategy, AKA "Parents and Genes"

DISCLAIMER, READ THIS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE:

This is purely a theory that I tried and felt I could share with the community. If you subscribe to the theory that breeding results are all just chance, please don't comment any rude or inappropriate comments below. This is simply how I got MY Rainbow Dragon. The fact that I produced results in so little tries (with the final parents) makes me think my theory was right. If you think I'm wrong, that's totally fine by me, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But knowing that simple yet respectful fact (you're entitled to your opinion) please have the maturity and mutual respect to leave appropriate comments. Anyway, we've all got nothing but time (after level 18) so why not try it out and let me know if it worked, eh?

Through my long and arduous journey to get a Rainbow Dragon I've stumbled upon a fact that I deem to be true, Parent's and Gene's matter. Now when I say Parent's AND Gene's I really mean one and the same thing. Parent's ARE Gene's, so from here on out it'll be one or the other. Let's start at the beginning, I'm sure everyone has tried the Seaweed + Firefly combo to death by now and I had definitely done it for a lot longer than I ever really wanted to (probably 30+ times). But I figured I'd give this gene theory a shot before I completely gave up and succumbed to a life of random breeding for the rest of the game.

So where did I start? Well, first you need a Seaweed Dragon and a Firefly Dragon (duh), but the theory suggests that they both have to have all 7 major elements (Plant, Fire, Earth, Water, Cold, Air, and Lightning) accounted for in their genes. So how do you do that? It sounds hard but it really isn't...

First let me explain the "Gene" theory. It can be considered the opposite of the "Chance" theory, anyway. If I got a Seaweed Dragon from a level 6 Plant Dragon and a level 8 Water Dragon that particular Seaweed Dragon wouldn't have very good "genes" (since his parents were both below level 10). Once you get to a higher level and start breeding repeats of the same dragons you eventually replace those older Dragons with "better" ones (who's parents are both level 10). Now the "Gene" theory takes this a step further and adds elements into the parent genome. So... you breed a Seaweed Dragon using a level 10 Water Dragon and a level 10 Plant Dragon, that Seaweed Dragon is going to have a genome of Level 10 and the Water and Plant elements (10x2). If however, you breed a Seaweed Dragon using a Level 10 Ice Dragon and and Level 10 Flower Dragon, you get a Seaweed Dragon that has Level 10 Parents and the Cold, Water, Plant and Fire genes (10x4). I reflect this in the names I gave the dragons, because it started to get confusing. So I named the Seaweed Dragon "Loki10x4", meaning the Dragon's name is Loki, his parents were both level 10 and he has 4 elements present in his genes Cold, Water, Plant and Fire aka "Loki10x4"

So eventually you will need a Firefly Dragon with some decent genes. If you just bred one with Plant and Water it would only have 2 genes and that's no good, also the Firefly Dragon has to contain the elements that "Loki10x4" (the Seaweed Dragon from above) doesn't already contain (Air, Earth and Lightning). Eventually you will figure out that a level 10 Sonic Dragon and a level 10 Lava Dragon will give you a Firefly Dragon with level 10 parents and the missing genes (Air, Earth, Lightning; it also contains Fire but thats ok) So we'll name him "Thor10x4" (Dragon's name is Thor, his parents were both Level 10 and he has 4 elements in his genes. Lightning, Air, Fire and Earth). Now, if you breed 'Thor10x4' and 'Loki10x4' together, you have all 7 elements present in the breeding process and both Dragons are from level 10 parents. Fire is in both Dragons but that doesn't matter, I'd rather have more than less eh? Basically they've got sweet genes.

So I should be getting my Rainbow Dragon any minute now huh? Unfortunately no. I tried breeding them over and over again and it wasn't giving me anything new. Poison, yay... Mud, wahoo.... Firefly, yipee.... Flower, hooray... --wait a minute!!! I realized that by breeding both of these 10x4 dragons together, that worthless Firefly Dragon (Mr. Yipee up there) that I cast aside to take an empty spot in my lightning habitat now has ALL seven elements present in his genes ALONE (fire is in there twice from the Lava & Flower so I don't count it as an 8th)! That got me onto something and I started breeding "Thor10x4" with the new "Firefly10x7" until I got a "Seaweed10x7".

Ok, basically I now had 2 Dragons that had Level 10 Parents and Grandparents plus every possible element in both of their genetics. I bred them once and got a Poison Dragon (30 minutes, no biggie used a gem), bred them again and got one more Poison Dragon, (used another gem but started to lose hope now). Bred them a third time and the clock said 01:23:59:45.

R

AINBOW SUCCESS!!!

I was level 19 when this happened. I can't guarantee this strategy to work or not (It sure worked like a charm for me) I simply believe that this strategy will raise your chance of breeding a Rainbow Dragon. Hence the 2 Poison Dragons I got before the Rainbow (proof that it IS an element of chance, but my chances were increased) However, if you are like me and have tried the Seaweed + Firefly (with "bad genetic" Seaweed and Firefly Dragons) 30 or more times with nothing but the usual garbage dragons. I recommend trying this as you've got nothing to lose. Also the fact that I tried this a whopping 3 times and got a Rainbow further advances my theory that your chances increase with every element you add to the breeding parents. Now some people will get a Rainbow from the most random dragon combinations and no strategy at all, some won't, but it sure seems to me like the my percentage of a Rainbow greatly increased after trying my two 7-element dragons. So is it Luck or Gene's? I'll let you decide. Daveprince13 12:41, October 30, 2011 (UTC)

P.S. I'll be repeatedly breeding these two dragons and keep you up to date on how successful this really is. I'll also be posting pictures of my Rainbow Dragon and his Parents and Grandparents.

UPDATE: 12/31/11 - Happy New Year! I've been if a facility with no access to the internet so I've been away for quite a long time. I'm pleased however to say that I bred a Blue Fire Dragon with a Crystal Dragon10x7 and have a Sun Dragon wandering around my merry island now too. I'm glad to hear about all the success stories and I'll keep you all updated as I progress in the game.

UPDATE: 2/12/12 - Still stuck in no-internet land. I really wish they let you play this offline. I play whenever I get the chance but I'm mostly breeding Air Dragon's and selling them for money, then buying food with the money so I can get the shrines up and running. I have a Rainbow, Sun and Moon Dragon these days with the Moon Dragon coming from a full Pedegree (all elements present) Mud Dragon and another full Pedegree Blazing Dragon. Thanks again for all the positive feedback and for the ones who aren't getting any Rare Dragons. Remember that I'm just increasing your chances, not guaranteeing them. Thanks all! Daveprince13 21:54, February 12, 2012 (UTC)

Step by Step Easy Guide

1. Breed a level 10 Sonic and Lava (in that order) until you get a Firefly Dragon.

2. Name that Firefly "FF10x4" and feed it to level 10.

3. Breed a level 10 Ice and Flower (or Plant if Flower isn't giving it to you) until you get a Seaweed Dragon.

4. Name that Seaweed "SW10x4" and feed it to level 10.

5. Breed "SW10x4" and "FF10x4" until you get a new Seaweed Dragon OR Firefly Dragon (or a rainbow as your % of obtaining one has improved at this point).

6. When you get either of the dragons above, name them FF10x7 or SW10x7 (depending on which one you got.)

7. Feed the new dragon up to level 10.

8. Replace whichever new dragon you got from step 5 with it's parent dragon that you were breeding with from step 5. i.e.-(if you got a Firefly Dragon, replace "FF10x4" with your shiny new "FF10x7", if you got a Seaweed Dragon replace "SW10x4" with your new "SW10x7") Now you've essentially replaced one "grandparent" with a "parent" and we need to replace the other "grandparent" now.

9. So... Breed your new 10x7 dragon with whichever 10x4 is left in step 5. i.e. - (SW10x7 with FF10x4 OR SW10x4 with FF10x7) until you get a replacement for the 10x4 dragon that's left or a Rainbow Dragon (as your chances have increased again)

10. If/When you get a replacement for the older "grandparent" 10x4 dragon that's left. Then feed it up to level 10 and replace it with either FF10x4 or SW10x4, depending on the dragon you got. (If you want to take this a step further and get 10x14 dragons, go ahead, but I doubt the chances increase after both dragons contain all elements).

11. Now you should have two dragons that are 10x7 (meaning their parent and grandparents were level 10 AND they both contain all 7 major elements (Plant, Earth, Fire, Water, Cold, Lightning and Air). At this point you have (in my theory) the HIGHEST possible chance (not counting your level, which I believe increases the chance as well) to breed a Rainbow Dragon.

12. Breed your SW10x7 and your FF10x7 (always in that order) and see how many tries it takes to get a Rainbow, it took me 3 (which makes me think this theory is correct) but it could take you longer. Post your results here. Thanks!

DISCLAIMER (again)

Again, this is just my theory about how to raise the chances of obtaining a Rainbow Dragon. If you feel it's all just chance then please don't try this method as you will only discount any positive or negative results that you may find to "pure luck" or chance and it wouldn't serve to further test this theory. If you want to test the chance theory, breed the same 2 dragons over and over until you get a rainbow and see how long it takes.

Also (theoretically) let's say you start with a base 1% chance to breed a rainbow, with every element added say that chance increased by 1% also you get a 1% increase from the habitat and with every level past level 15 you get a 1% increase (I highly doubt these percentages are even CLOSE to accurate, I'm just using them because it's easier to understand) so if my theory is correct you will have a 10% chance to breed a rainbow at level 15. 11% at level 16, 12% at level 17, 13% at level 18, 14% at level 19 and 15% at level 20. (like I said before I highly doubt these are correct or even close to that high, I was thinking they are more like %0.00001 anyway....) That's a max 15% chance with everything covered and at level 20 which means that you should get 1.5 rainbow dragons for every 10 breedings, right?? Absolutely wrong. One thing some people don't understand about percentages is that they never change. I could go through 1,000 breeds with the same 15% chance and never hit it. Every breed (no matter how many you've tried before) theoretically has a 15% chance of breeding a Rainbow Dragon. So you could be at it for a long, long time. Like I've said a ton of times before. I simply believe this theory increases your chances of obtaining a Rainbow Dragon. It doesn't guarantee them by any means and anyone trying the strategy should not expect a single thing.

I have written a message to the heads of Backflip for any hints or "off-the-record" information or insight they could give me into the logistics of how the Rainbow Dragon is programmed and coded so we'll wait to see if we hear anything back. Until then, give it a try, or not, but if you do.... remember that it's all a crap shoot, I'm just trying to load the dice. :)

If You Still Don't Get It...

User Whatthelump? has created a blog post about the "Gambler's Fallacy" basically I've said and explained everything about it up in my post but if you have a hard time understanding the fact that everytime you breed any two dragons together, the probablility will always be the same, I recommend heading over here . Now if you understand that factor and buy into my theory (I would, as it seems from the comments that I'm onto something here) you should understand that I'm only INCREASING an already low chance to breed a rare dragon. It's still going to be hard and it may not work, but if you're like me and you tired everything... give it a shot.