Players using the dragon in a suspect way

[2pazzi]

I have played now several times with the dragon, and many times it happened to me things like

1) Player A can eat a nearby meeple from player B, no meeple of player A are nearby, but player A moves the dragon away from the meeple.

This behaviour has no reasons to me. Why would you let player keep their meeple?

2) Player A can move dragon towards a lot of meeples of player B, C and D. No meeples of player A are nearby, but player A moves the dragon to a dead end.

This behaviour is also unexplicable to me. If, in that direction, you have nothing to lose, why moving the dragon to a dead end?

Is this kingmaking? All the players spotted with this behaviour were ELO 200+ so we cannot talk about inexperienced players.

[euklid314]

I never play with dragon but I am a very experienced player in Carcassonne.

Without seeing the specific situation I can imagine a lot of situations when eating an opponents meeple would be a stupid mistake. The most obvious one: if the meeple is blocked and you know that your opponent will not get the meeple back till the end of the game.

Please note that a meeple in hand is usually very powerful whereas a meeple on the board can be very strong or very weak.

[2pazzi]

Yes, the times I've seen it it's not blocked meeples.
Like the last time: a giant meeple on a countryside who had like 5 or 6 towns... not eaten.

[Ludi Expand Tuum]

Some folks find the Dragon a negative play experience and refuse to use it against others. Nothing wrong with that, personal preference.

[Tuttakunka]

Some players play the dragon without knowing or understanding the rules. I recommend to anyone that they fully read the rules (multiple times across multiple days), and then watch/spectate several games before playing with dragon mode on.

[fluffy-chick]

A giant meeple in a field with 6 towns? Yeah, I'm not going to eat him with the dragon either. What a waste of a big meeple to sit on the board just to score 18 points at the end