May's Dragon Lord Spotlight - Red
Whether you're looking to step up your leadership or add more power to your Dragon Roster, long-time player, Red, has a vast amount of knowledge to share. Read on to learn from her experience she's gained over the past two years of playing War Dragons.
What is your current level, team, and league?
[A]: I actually have four accounts: levels 239, 161, 127, and 30. The 239 and 127 are on Rulith in Sapphire, while the others are teamless when I am on my work season.
How long have you been a leader of your team, Rulith?
[A]: I have been leader of Rulith in some form since late April/May 2015. This “version” of Rulith I started in July 2015 and have been leader since, except for a few vacations when I step down if needed.
Can you tell us a bit more about how Rulith began and what your process looks like for recruiting?
[A]: Of course! For the very original Rulith, when I started playing in April 2015, I was so excited to join a team when I hit level 6. Rulith had an interesting name and had a ton (20) of people, haha. I loved the people on the team, but our leader and officers all had an activity status of “Inactive,” and soon the Leader was demoted. Groot, one one of my current officers was promoted. Many other members of the team wanted to make me the leader, and while I argued against that decision, a vote took place. The team ended up voting me into the leader position on the team, and I took over at the big level of 10.
We went to Platinum, and then Diamond when that league was created. With this version of Rulith, we actually made it to Global Rank 5 back in the day before we decided that we wanted to restart and form a different version of the team to relax a bit. We made LegionOfHeroes with me leading again. Due to some differences soon on, I left that team and floated around Silver teams to help as much as I could. Eventually Groot found me again and we made the Rulith that exists today with the philosophy we now have. We learned a lot from our time shifting around on teams, and I would not change it for the world.
I typically recruit in three different ways: the forums, personal mails, and responses to inquiries. Anyone can see my topic “Join the Rulith Family!” on the forums where I mention what we are, who we are looking for, and I encourage people to mail me if they are interested. In game, I send personal mails when I meet players who may be on a lower activity team and who look like they might be carrying their team, bored, or are being held back by their teams. Sometimes I just send mails to great players I meet in League Chat that I’d love to fly with too, haha. I tell them a bit about us, our rules and what makes us fun, and then make an offer sometimes. Lastly, I have a “questionnaire” I send to all interested parties asking them a bit about themselves and their account to see if we are a good fit for one another.
For other aspiring leaders in the War Dragons world, what are some tips you can offer to help others maintain a successful team?
[A]: Promote Officers that you trust and who do good for the team. An officer position, in my opinion, should never be used as a reward or incentive to get a player or keep a player for leaving. I trust my four officers (as the fifth is my other account, haha) with our team in every way. We discuss everything from wars, the policies, to events, to member issues, to the weather, haha. Anytime a decision has to be made in the team that is a “gray area” for us, my Officers vote on the subject while I only vote to break a tie. They make decisions and I trust them. For a long time, honestly, I only had two officers and I wouldn’t change that for the world.
Find your motivations, goals, and boundaries and stick to them. What is it that you want out of your team and yourself? If you want players that only have active or very active statues, then you have to keep your word. A lot of times I see new leaders who advertise, “low activity will be kicked!” but cannot keep their word because they realize they need the players. Mean what you stay and stick to it. Also know what you do and do not want your members to do and stick to that! For instance, Rulithians are not allowed to “farm” (hit a member multiple times purposefully) or engage in revenge circles without my permission. This comes from our main rule: Don’t be a ****. I hold each and every one of my members to this set of rules. I understand some teams are okay with one or all of those things and that is totally fine! Leaders simply need to communicate and hold their team to the boundaries they set.
There will always be someone better than you. There will be a stronger team, a more organized team, a team with more active players, etc. Don’t get cocky and don’t get an ego bigger than you earned. This also means that it’s okay to lose a war now and then. Learn from it and try to find a way to improve yourself. Lastly, be careful who you farm or treat with disrespect. People may have friends in high places and it may come back to not only bite you in the butt, but also to bite your team.
Your team comes first. Always. You have to keep the needs of your team in mind at all times. They are counting on you for leadership and it’s your role to set a good example for them.
A team is only as active as its leader. Want a more active team? Be more active. Want higher levels to join? Be a higher level. Want players with good dragons to join? Get good dragons. The team will always be a reflection of your actions and beliefs in some way, shape, or form.
Activity trumps level. Take the very active level 30 at the gate over the low activity 80. That 30 will do more for your team and will be more loyal than you can imagine. Look at Rulith; Pappe is currently level 321 and joined at level 30, Groot and I have been together since level 6, Jade has three very active accounts (levels 216, 202, and 101) and has been with me since she was in the teens, Q is level 223 and has been with us since level 10, Cribby is 260 and has been with us since level 25ish, and I could just go on. Their loyalty was earned because Rulith helped them and never kicked them just for a higher level. Build a team.
Be organized. I track everything from medals, to level growth, to dragons, to event scores, and so on. I also created a website for my team to ensure I could share our collective knowledge in a pretty and neat way for my team.
Have fun! Know what motivates your team and what makes the game fun for them. That’s what we are all here for!
In addition to leading a team, you're also highly active on the War Dragons forums.
At what point did you start venturing in there and what motivated you to create resources for other players?
[A]: I think I actually originally went the forums when I first started playing to figure out how we could replace our original, inactive leader. I stayed active on the forums then to gain as much information as I could for my team. Before Amoeba became the god-send that he is and made his site for us, in-game Wiki’s were gold and highly guarded. I never shared much, haha. Now, however, I want to help others grow into better players so they can enjoy the game more.
Breeding paths were always how I wanted to help my own team so they could avoid the pitfalls I experienced. When I first started, I was in my high 90s still rocking Hugin as my top flier and I know how frustrating it was to be so underpowered for my level. So for my team, I made custom breeding paths and eventually my master breeding path to help them get better dragons at a lower level. Eventually, I saw some…not so helpful…items being posted on the forums and, again, I wanted to ensure players did not hit the pitfalls I experienced. It was then I started making breeding paths, sharing my “master” paths, teaching people how to make custom paths for themselves and their friends, and updating my own information for the community as often as I could.
Among the many contributions you've made, the subject of Breeding comes to mind!
Can you share the tools you've put together and let players know why they should check them out?
[A]: I have four major resources players should check out!
1. Red’s Sapphire to Emerald Breeding Paths
I have 10 Sapphire – Emerald Breeding paths for players wanting different things. There is even a tab explaining how the sheet works, the differences between each path, and gameplay ratings for each. It is my understanding that I have the only updated and current Breeding Paths given to the public. Each tier changes breeding paths (so those ending at Garnet or earlier are usually 1) wrong with steps that no longer exist or 2) are more expensive), so I like to link players to my Google Sheet, which I keep updated and live at all times.
2. How to Build YOUR Ultimate Breeding Path
This is a guide explaining how I make breeding paths to help people make their own to suit whatever their needs are!
3. Rulith’s Red-Emerald Breeding Paths
This page on Rulith’s website has my Red-Green breeding paths (2), my Gold-Platinum breeding paths (5), and four of my most popular Sapphire-Emerald paths, with a link to my master sheet.
This website contains a lot of information that players and teams are welcome to use. It has information such as a “Dragon Check-In” to ensure you’re not over leveling, a “Dragons, etc” page to check and see which dragons have what spells (useful for runes), “Red’s Guide to Flying Hunters” with a few videos on basics that my teammates have requested, and a lot more. I am always adding things and take everything into consideration.
What have been some of your favorite moments in War Dragons so far?
[A]: Oh this is a hard one! I have played so many events, done so many wars, and flown with incredible people.
I really enjoy landing in the “perfect” league where I can chat with all my friends – I’m currently in a league with Eq and I love chatting with them. I got to hang out with AbuzementPark last week too! When we “accidently” go to Diamond (my accident or PG’s last time, haha) I also love chatting with the guys up there. We’ve been playing so long and it’s a bunch of fun to hangout.
I remember last year that I managed to solo Ken’s base with a Dima and he sent me a mail like “what, how?! Nice flying,”and I felt so, so, so, proud in that moment. Since then I have loved flying against and with great fliers to make myself better.
The people are always my favorite moments – I absolutely love the people.
Out of all the various things to do in the game, what is your favorite aspect and why?
[A]: Strategizing of all kind! I love talking flying, breeding, set-up, events – everything! It’s a load of fun trying to be as clever and as skilled as possible.
When you're not playing War Dragons, what else are you up to?
[A]: Sleeping? Hahaha. I do play too much, but I love going to baseball games, playing other games (just got the Kingdom Hearts remix – that is a blast from my past), and visiting new bars. Dave and Busters has been my recent favorite! It’s like an arcade, plus alcohol, and I just won a giant unicorn with my tickets! I suppose I am also obligated to say “play music with friends” being a musician and all.
If you could pick a theme for new dragons, what would it be and why?
[A]: Seven Deadly Sins! It would be super cool to see a Sloth dragon that can slow the attacks of towers around it, or a Wrath dragon that has an increasing attack as it takes damage, or an Envy dragon that can steal the color from mage towers plus Steal Essence, etc. I think the Seven Deadly Sins would allow a bunch of fun creativity with new spells and old alike!
Lastly, where do you fall on this chart?
[A]: Haha – I think I would be True Neutral.
Each month we feature a stand out player in War Dragons to celebrate their accomplishments and contributions to our community. If you would like to nominate a fellow player for this honor, please let us know by sending us a message on Twitter @wardragonsgame and briefly tell us why you think they would make a great person to feature!
View our previous Dragon Lord Spotlights:
2017
April: Psarus | March: xOdinsNemesisx | February: ImanGHR | January: Adored
2016
December: LegionSlayer13 | November: ChefJen | October: BeledinesSoul | September: Alleviates | August: Gary72 | July: SupermanRR | June: Mortium | May: Amoeba | April: JennaDragon | March: Bulldog