It's time to say goodbye to the Dragon Slayer Quests

[#1]

Hello All, do you remember the tag line "Beware, all ye who enter, for here be dragons!"

With a heavy heart we are getting ready to say good bye and take down the original “Here Be Dragons!” Dragon slayer quests. The original pages have been archived and removed so the quest is no longer viewable.

We have seen a lot of feedback and discussions surrounding the “Here Be Dragons!” Dragon slayer quest over the years since it was initially released. Much of the feedback pointed out how out of date the content had become and we were aware that the once great quest had become much less useful.

A couple of the feedback examples can be seen in the following posts:

• https://community.developer.atlassian.com/t/why-is-here-be-dragon-tutorial-so-out-of-date/14589
• https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-discussions/Here-Be-Dragons-should-be-updated-or-not/td-p/749477

To those unaware of what the Dragon Slayer Quests were, they were released as a set of install and integration tutorials placed to a lighthearted story of The Knight Charlie saving the kingdom while deploying the product sets as the stages of the quest.  The Steps listed in the various stages had intentional failure points and gaps in the integrations built into the quest so that it would test your abilities to the max.  As a reward when all the tasks were completed you had a fully functional and integrated suite of atlassian Products ready to go, as well as an option to claim a one off T-shirt piece of swag that could only be received by completing the tasks, as well as the  bragging rights that you slayed the dragon! 

Some of the use cases for the Quest were to familiarize new administrators to the platform, onboard new admins, & training for new admins as well as having a configured system that can be used for demoing the product to see if the feature set fits the needs of your organization.

Due to the volume of Dragon Slayer T-shirts we have handed out with the initial release and Coupon codes to the Swag store given out once the Highly coveted one off Shirt was discontinued back in 2016, We know that many of you have participated in, and completed the Dragon Slayer quests. 

Moving forward we my revisit and update the Quest in the future with new content and design, BUT we need more of your feedback before we will consider doing so.

To Everyone that has done the Dragon Slayer Quest, please take a moment to tell us about your memories and stories of your adventure and what elements of the quest did you love, like, or dislike? What benefits came out of it, and do you feel like an updated version would would help you out now, as a well established admin, or possibly just as a refresher?

Regards,
Earl

[Kat]

@Aline Staudt and @Mirek may have some thoughts to share about their favourite part/s of these quests.

[Jean-Claude_Chauveau]

While we came along too late to participate, I think the Dragon Slayer Quest was and remains a brilliant idea from both a technical and marketing public-relations standpoint. I would encourage you to revamp the Quest as there is nothing quite like getting into the details of any system to achieve proficiency. You may even want to consider creating and maintaining an opt-in list of Dragon Slayers that prospective employers can query to confirm an individual's Atlassian Proficiency, as well as issuing a serial numbered certificate of completion worthy of hanging on one's wall! ~JC

[Mirek]

Thank you @Kat for mentioning me on this thread. My feedback was of course in the separate thread, and I did not change my mind about it. Dragon Slayer idea was great and it should continue in a form that people can benefit from it.

Of course over the years Atlassian products evolved from a software development products installed only on prem to products that could be used by everyone on every platform, but this does not mean that we can simply forget about Dragon Slayer. I like the idea of redesigning it a little bit instead of complete removing from the Ecosystem.

We could define a paths that people usually follow right now and make similar game to would be good not only for new users but also those more experienced. After completing user should be able to know what is Cloud, Server, Data Center.. connect tools together and see what is the benefit of doing this.. what are the differences.. what is Core, what is Software.. there are many basic things that would not change quickly.

The quest should be no longer to do than a week (standard trial Cloud offering is for 7 days so it should be not a problem). If people have issues there should be a special dedicated group on Community to help users pass though exercises or simply celebrate that they passed and claimed the reward. Progress could be tracked in a Trello board(s) where users can move tasks between columns.. In general .. Possibilities are endless! :)

I see a lot of benefit of keeping this up to date. That would heavily engage people from the begging and might end up with promotion of Atlassian products.

I personally liked old Dragon Slayer. When I was new to Atlassian products it was challenging, but after I passed it it was easier to understand what is the true goal of installing everything and integrating together. I hope that new version would also have similar goal (not only that there is only one best solution which is Cloud). People should know whole picture what products exist, how those are installed/used and how to (and when) ask for support when they really need it. That is the true goal of slaying the dragon (which is scary on the beginning with many heads but step by step people are able to cut all the heads and reach a goal :)) I hope you know what I mean ;) ..

If you need any help (get feedback, comments or help with testing) let me know :)

[Alvin Chan _Ease Solutions_]

I agree with @Mirek 's idea of a redesign of the Dragon Slayer Challenge instead of abolishing it as well. I find that it really helps as an initiation for new admins.

I was away from administering Atlassian products for 2 years due to change of job, and coming back to it now, I found that there are many new features and some new products added. It would have been nice to run through some kind of Dragon Slayer Challenge as a "refresher" :)

Perhaps there could even be different quests to embark on, for example:

• DevOps toolchain: comprising products like JIRA Software, Confluence, Bitbuckert, Bamboo
• IT Operations: comprising of JIRA Service Desk, Confluence, StatusPage, OpsGenie

Just some ideas, hoping to see a new kind of Dragon Slayer challenge in the near future :)

[Giovanni Schiano-Moriello]

Just coming by this post after trying to complete the Dragon Quest in 2021, which was still active for some reason, it's unfortunate that it has been discontinued instead of updated as it was a very cool and engaging community event and had a fantastic T-shirt associated.

What kind of feedback or insight could I contribute towards progress on an update or rework, having just attempted starting it?

[Moishe Goyette]

How do you live now? For me, it has become a part of me.

[Ruddy Oreb]

Oh no. That's very sad. I remember that game. And I think Dragon Slayer Quest was and still is the best idea. I have yet to come across anything of such quality and thoughtfulness from technical and marketing public relations perspectives. I am an avid dragon fan. I've always been attracted to them, especially during my teenage years. But now, since I've grown up, t-shirts, bracelets, and hoodies with dragons are unacceptable to wear at work. But to keep at least some of my love with me, I bought myself a gift for https://dragon-vibe.com/collections/dragon-rings/. A piece of the real me is always with me. Sometimes I feel like dragons bring me luck.

[lnelson1]

I have the green T-shirt from completing this back in 2015. But it's too small now. Can I get a new one?

[spaceshipdev]

Wow they killed it off, nooooo.

I just recommended it to a friend interested in BitBucket and suggested the whole Here be Dragons path to include Jira, Confluence et el.

All I know it I did this here be dragons thing at least three times so can understand the documentation slippage, live product evolved but docs stagnated ugh I know I never got a damn t-shirt and for that I’l forever by disappointed.