Site Blog

Egg Cave is quite the happening place! Visit our blog for the latest updates on everything new that we add to the site — new creatures, exciting worlds, account updates, and unique activities to do!

The Desana

May 14, 2022 at 12:00 AM 46 Comments

The Desana

A jungle butterfly—affectionately called Fairies Of The Jungle—the Desana is one of the most colorful moths in all of Ark. This creature will be available in the Cave today and tomorrow and then go on sale in the Cash Shop Park for 200 CC on Monday.

Moth Sized Coffees

May 12, 2022 at 6:00 PM 27 Comments

Moth Sized Coffees

It looks like this moth really wants to drink this coffee. Find these now restocking at the Bean Sack.

The Revii and Keekee Are Returning In June

The Revii and Keekee are returning in June and will be unvaulted in the Cash Shop Park. They're both from 2014 and are 8 years old. Get ready! They will both be 1000 CC each.


New Cave Common: The Augga

May 11, 2022 at 4:15 PM 20 Comments

The Augga

After reviewing the mass of CDWC entries, the winning description for the Augga has finally been chosen. Congratulations to @mightyeglantine for writing the winning description—the first Augga of its kind has been added to your account free.

With each egg bearing a striking resemblance to the eggs of its cousin, the Augga egg has a very large azure eye spot marking the middle of its egg. The eye spot has been proven by the Science and Research Center in Ark City to be a non-functioning eye perhaps only existing to benefit by way of mimicry... read more.

May 2022: Double Feed Day

May 8, 2022 at 12:00 AM 18 Comments

It's Double Feed Day!

It's the second Sunday of the month... for today you can earn double the Egg Coins for feeding creatures everywhere on the site. So, start visiting your friends' profiles and take advantage of it!

black_magic_carpet_platter.png pumpkin_seeds.jpg st_patricks_day_swirly_cake_pop.png spicy_cricket_snacks.png 

You Can Now Formally Link Your Mains & Sides

May 6, 2022 at 4:00 PM 216 Comments

Formally Link Your Mains & Sides

There is a brand-new feature under Preferences—Main & Side Accounts—where you can formally declare and link your main and side accounts. Everything to do with linking your mains and sides are done directly from your main account and you should do this immediately. First, verify your identity via SMS to specify an account as a main account. Once you're verified as a main account, you can enter the username, password, and email credentials of your side accounts directly on the page, and link them instantly.

Since this is now a formalized feature of the site, we will no longer be accepting or acknowledging main and side account designations as they appear in your public profile text. This is no longer a valid way to verify your identity and who accounts belong to.

mo_3.png

Why do you verify main accounts via SMS?

Email and IP address spoofing is relatively easy to do. Asking you to verify your main account via SMS is a way of ensuring that it's really you and that you're really a human (and not a bot).

What happens if I do not declare my main account and side accounts?

We understand that people will need some time to link their main and side accounts. In the next 3 to 6 months, Egg Cave's moderating team will become much less lenient toward accounts that are not formally declared as either a main or a side account. When suspicious activity occurs on accounts that are not declared as either a main or side, harsher and quicker penalties will be issued against these accounts.

More information can be found about main and side accounts in a new section of the Player Guide: Main & Side Accounts.

macbot_2.png

Earn CaveCash For Free: It's Coming

This feature of verifying your mains and sides is released in preparation for a brand-new feature at Egg Cave that'll be released in late summer. It will be an achievement-type system that will allow you to earn CaveCash without a direct buy from the site. In this achievements system, you will be rewarded for completing activites that you're probably already doing (like feeding and many other activities!).

Because this feature will allow players to earn CaveCash for free, it is vital that we have tools and controls to fight and combat illegitimate accounts, abuse, and fraud. Only main accounts verified by SMS will be able to access this new feature when it is released and accounts declared as sides will be unable to access this feature. Get ready!

Is verifying my identity via SMS required to play Egg Cave?

No, you do not have to verify your identity via SMS to continue playing Egg Cave. Egg Cave is free to play, without a phone number. It is not required at registration. Certain Egg Cave features that may be big targets for abuse and fraud may require identity verification via SMS to access in the future.

May Cash Shop Travels Plus Macbot And Doovoo Trinkets

May 3, 2022 at 3:00 PM 20 Comments

May Cash Shop Travels

May's butterfly and moth-themed Cash Shop Travels are now available for a limited time. Get yours there today.

February Cash Shop Travels Retiring

These February Cash Shop Travels will retire on May 6 at the end of the day.

Macbot and Doovoo Trinkets

Macbot and Doovoo Trinket Travels are now available. You can give your Macbot egg LEGS or give your hatched Macbot DRONE WINGS! What a time to be alive...

Explanation Of What Happened

May 2, 2022 at 6:00 PM 67 Comments

The Macbot And Doovoo Unvaulting

On May 1, the Macbot and Doovoo were unvaulted and available in the Cash Shop Park. Whenever a rerelease occurs, the species population is allowed to double at most and no more. This is in the interest of protecting creature rarities and their values. This past unvaulting, the Macbot and Doovoo were limited to 35 creatures each. However, due to site lag and the server being overwhelmed with requests all at once, a total of 90 Macbots and 100 Doovoos were obtained in this past rerelease cycle (in 2022).

We sincerely apologize for this. This was not supposed to happen. It was not because we were attempting to sell more creatures than allowed as a cash grab or because the Cash Shop was incorrectly configured. Never before has an unvaulting generated so much interest and traffic at the site. These "traffic surges" are difficult to test for in development environments alone. They are unique scenarios that happen live on the site and then have to be analyzed and fixed after they happen.

Now, why did this happen and what is Egg Cave doing to prevent this from happening again?


What Happened

This unvaulting generated an enormous amount of traffic at Egg Cave. Many users were attempting to buy the Macbot and Doovos at once. Here's an example of what occurs with site lag.

  • 30 users submit a request to buy a Macbot or Doovoo at the same time, but only 10 are available
  • The server is overwhelmed with these requests
  • As the server processes these requests all at once, the server thinks that there are 0 Macbots or Doovos that have been bought, because when the requests were submitted, there were only 0 Macbots or Doovoos bought
  • The server isn't aware that 29 other people are waiting in line with you
  • Thinking the server needs to "catch up," it oversells the creatures and fulfills all 30 creatures at once

What Has Changed

In order to prevent this from happening again, we have implemented something called mutex locks when purchasing Cash Shop creatures. Mutex (MUtual EXclusion) locks are a programming concept that force the server to handle requests on a first-come, first-serve basis; the server will actually reject other incoming requests if they're occurring at the same time.

What this means: In future Cash Shop rereleases, customers will begin seeing a "Server is busy" error message if the server rejects your request to buy a Cash Shop creature. This message means somebody else beat you to it in that particular timing window to buy a creature, but that there may still be other stock available. A "Server is busy" error doesn't necessarily mean the creature is sold out already, it means that you need to try your request again.

Why wasn't it configured this way to begin with?

In general, servers actually do handle incoming requests on a first-come, first-serve basis. Mutex locks are generally not required to enforce this. Mutex locks are something that are applied in special cases and scenarios. This is obviously a scenario where they need to be applied. The change above has been implemented.

What about the supply of Macbots and Doovoos?

We sincerely apologize that more Macbots and Doovoos were sold than what was allowed. In terms of retroactively correcting the amount released, we find it particularly cruel to remove Macbots and Doovoos from players' accounts that already feel that these creatures are already theirs—even with a refund. Some players have already traded or begun auctions with their new creatures, which would lead to a messy, disastrous domino effect of corrections (what if you're already traded for a Macbot or Doovoo that would be retroactively removed, due to no fault of your own?).

If you've obtained a Macbot and/or Doovoo during this unvaulting, it's yours. Based on the fix that we've implemented above, it should not happen again.

Random Theme Month: Butterflies and Moths

May 1, 2022 at 12:00 AM 208 Comments

Welcome To May!

Welcome to May, from all of us at Egg Cave. This month's random theme is BUTTERFLIES and MOTHS! Which creature are you the most excited for? Drop a comment below.

May Cash Shop Monthlies

Please welcome the Mechamotte and Fantily to Egg Cave, Arkians! These beautiful creatures are now available in the Cash Shop for this month. Congratulations to @pbarr for writing the winning CDWC entry for the Mechamotte—this description is among the most creative that we've ever seen. The first of its kind has been added to your account for free. Thank you to @iia for creating the Fantily! One has been added to your account for free.

May Cave Monthlies

These Cave monthlies are now available, too. This is the Plia and Itea! Whoohoo! Find yours in the Cave for this month.

Unvaulted Creatures

Last available in 2010, the legendary Doovoo and Macbot are available once again. Stock is EXTREMELY LIMITED because there are simply not many of these creatures in circulation. With stock so low, there's a chance not everybody who wants one will be able to get one.

Find them in the Cash Shop. Waves of new stock will be released throughout the next 24 hours.

Earth Day: The Galith

The Galith is now available for 200 CC in the Cash Shop through the end of May, in case you couldn't get enough from the Cave. Beginning today, it's no longer available in the Cave.

April 2022 Lottery: Drawing 2

April 30, 2022 at 3:00 PM 9 Comments

Lottery Winner

Congratulations to @solaris and @chihiro_sang and @kairinrose, the winners of drawing 2 for April 2022's Cash Shop Creature Lottery! A Bemiee has been added to each of your accounts.

Buy your tickets for the next drawing now!

Easter Ice Cream

April 30, 2022 at 12:00 AM 6 Comments

Easter Ice Cream

Stay chill and cool with these new ice cream flavors. New from Finley's Flavors!

Last Day For The Galith In The Cave

Today is the last day that you can obtain the Galith from the Cave. Beginning tomorrow, May 1, it will be available for 200 CC in the Cash Shop through May 31.

Want to go back in time? Keep reading our older site blog posts below.