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Passive Method
When your dragon have reached adulthood, it can starts its journey towards the "Elder" stage.
An Elder tick is given to your dragons every 6 hours if you connect ingame for at least 1 minute. (need to be done per dragon)
This method is called the 'passive' method.
You should see this message confirming your elder tick;
"You feel stronger..."
Wait to have actually received your tick before logging out, it isn't instant when getting the message. (tick confirm 30 seconds after the message) You can watch if your orange growth bar appears at the bottom of your screen or check your growth bar in your character panel ("i") to verify if you've really received the tick.
When received, you can disconnect and wait 6 hours again to get your next passive tick.
Active Method
The active method is linked to crystals, also named "Geodes".
These crystals are located at certain spots on the map and activate randomly. It works with a color system.
Three criterias need to be considered; time of day, dragon element, the current percentage towards the elder stage.
One crystal can gives a tick to more than one dragon at a time.
Tip: A non-safelogged dragon can also receive an elder tick. So, if a crystal corresponds to more than one of your dragons, you can plan to gather them all to the crystal and all will get the tick - you don't need to play them, your dragons just need to be in the crystal radius, not safelogged.
Day - The crystal you need to search for depend of your current dragon elder growth percentage;
White: All % / Dragon
Green: 0% to 15%
Cyan: 15% to 30%
Blue: 30% to 45%
Magenta: 45% to 60%
Red: 60% to 75%
Yellow: 75% to 100%
Night - The crystal you need to search for depend of your dragon element;
White: Unique / Special
Green: Acid
Cyan: Ice*
Blue: Plasma
Magenta: Lightning
Red: Fire
Yellow: Venom*
*The Ice and Venom elements aren't ingame yet.
You can detect an active geode on your compass. But, only if your current played dragon need it.
*To see the geode icon, you have to set your compass to static in your settings first. (Settings > General > User Interface > Compass > Static)
Day time: 2h10 minutes
All these periods are considered for day time duration.
*Open your Character Panel (i) to know which time period it currently is.
Dawn
Morning
Noon
Evening
Dusk
Night time: 50 minutes
Only 'Night' is considered for this period.
Night
Crystals Locations
(On PC - To zoom in the map, right-click and open it into a different tab)
As of now, there's 38 crystals on the map.
When active, a crystal produce a noise similar to a burning fire. A dragon need to aim the center of the crystal (the white part) and use its "Roar" emote to make it explodes. (need to roar around 10 times)
If done right, you should see this message confirming your tick;
"You feel stronger..."
Here's an example in video;
Miscellaneous Notes
Crystals activate randomly.
A crystal can stays active for around 15-30 minutes, more or less.
The class 1 and 2 dragons doesn't have an Elder stage and cannot use the crystals.
Any dragon can change the color of a crystal if it can activate it in the first place. If the dragon roar (the 1 emote) one time on the crystal than let it 'calm', it will change color.
All dragons in a crystal radius can receive an elder tick. You can plan to gather more than one dragon at a crystal if all of these answer the recommended criterias. (a non-safelog dragon still receive the elder tick if it is simply sleeping right next to it)
Example; Your Inferno Ravager and Flame Stalker can both receive the elder tick of the same red crystal at night time.
As an extra below, here's a complete sheet if you prefer keeping everything in one spot;