Add a Pup/Wolf selling/compensation mechanic [14/12/20 - New Community Suggestion Added]

Overall, from everyone's consensus I think it's safe to say that a huge part of the economy atm is so reliant on breeding the "right" pups people want or having a stud they want to breed from - which is especially difficult for new and FTP players - and that just means that alot of "undesirable" pups and adolescents end up as resources suckers until players have no means to keep/feed/amuse them so they need to be chased. You sink currency into breeding if you're not lucky enough to have a decent stud of your own in hopes you get the kind of pup you're after to raise into your next generation of wolves. BUT. If you get a bad batch of pups you don't want and can't sell, there's currency and items spent that you'll never get back to help you invest in future breeding and items that could have gone to the wolves you do keep.

I believe the infertility wolf explore encounter idea has A LOT of merit and deserves consideration. 

We're in desperate need of some sort of compensation that doesn't involve other players buying/adopting them off eachother to start cleaning up the over saturated pup market on the Trade Market, Threads and Sales Chat. And if we can have a means of getting our bred wolves, no matter the age they leave our dens, into the explore pool to build more variety - all the better. These will no doubt go a long way to start making pup sales less essential and more rare which might help get adopts turning over again at a decent rate when players want fresh or particular kinds of pups in their pack that they can't or don't want to get via Explore.

Support, It's needed but not another Giving Tree suggestion, huge props for that.

I really like it, i currently have 32 pups/adolescents up for sale in the trade house but i am not good at priceing them since i don't understand it all that well what "worth" they have. I dont want to chase most of them because i think they would make nice looking packmates for other people but i am also not sure if they are to "overpriced" either.

I would love a similar idea as the giving tree of lioden or this suggestion here if possible. Cause i just used up all my food today, i might not have enough for all of them tomorrow and have to chase some pups away. :(

I support esp for the Infertile wolf explore idea ^ ^ 

I'd love something in return for my unwanted pups <3

FWIW, even just 5 SC/pup doesn't seem overtly generous, nor is it a practical method of making SC. It's basically just a pittance if you're constantly running out of food/amusement and have to rely on the trading post to make ends meet.

This is a great idea! Here's another based off a befriending wolf needing pups: another NPC like the quest snake, who once per day would ask the user to deliver a puppy to an adoptive family.

The adoptive wolf/wolves are picky, though, and are looking for a specific trait. Examples could include a particular base, marking, number of markings, eye color, certain stat, anything! It would have to be made be very clear that the wolf will not come back to your pack to avoid people accidentally giving a desired wolf.

Upon the successful completion pup delivery, a random reward would be received. It could be SC like the quest snake, or a random item like the consecutive rollover rewards - usually common items such as herbs, a small amount of SC, or a small carcass/amusement item, with a very very small chance to receive a RMA or other grove item. The reward could be scaled to the rarity or specificity of the request, or just completely random.

Hopefully this would encourage people to keep their pups around for longer in case they might be a quest reward, or cause cheap pups listed on the TC to be bought out to fulfill another user's request for the day.

I haven't read through the entire thread so sorry if this is a repeat, I just got the idea and wanted to jot it down when it was still fresh in my mind!

I would say 'small amount of SC' should be for the default forfeiture of a pup.

For what you're talking about, a more substantial amount would be appropriate. SC is difficult to come by already if you're not an early adopter that's already more or less "set," some folks are going to be desperate enough to give up a desired wolf for food money. Having it come back with something like 25 SC or a single amusement item for your trouble would sting a bit.

Quest snake is a butthole about doling out hunting quests in really inopportune moments anyway, and 'complete six hunts' has popped up in my queue a couple times. If I had only one hunting party, there's a non-trivial chance I just couldn't make that quota and have to forfeit the XP/sorely needed SC for that day. So, chances are, people are going to feel compelled to give up a pup they really wanted to make ends meet. May as well make the reward closer to what the Quest Snake doles out if you're able to fill the 'order,' with items/etc tacked on if you meet additional trait requests with a single pup.

Like there's the base request - a single trait. Then there's 'and it would be marvelous if they had (trait 1, 2) so they blend in with our family.'

I could see people who play for lore chafing a bit at that though, because that's a lot of wolves out there looking for designer babies.

Those are all fair points, if the reward is too random or too low then it wouldn't really ever set a minimum price for traded pups.

I hadn't thought about the lore aspect either, so it could be just as vague as the quest snake perhaps? Maybe another snake NPC, so the existing snake skull would work there as well. Then the prompt could be as simple as "Ssssssend me a wolf with X Y Z" and you could select the wolf from a dropdown of all available that match the snake's criteria - wouldn't necessarily have to be a pup.

What happens to the wolf after is up to the players! Lives a happy life in another pack? Sacrificed to the RNGeities? Sent off to a human genetic testing lab? Goes on an epic adventure? Eaten by the snake? Who knows!

Another option would be to "Ssssshow me a wolf" and you could get the option of whether or not to let it go with the snake.

I think another NPC in the Crossroads who asks for a pup or two per day for some SC would be really useful. It would give the site overall a base for what to price pups at (eg. if the NPC gives us 25 SC, pups can be priced at or above), so we're not seeing so many pups going at 5sc or less. I wouldn't want to leave it up to a random snake quest if people have multiple pups that they can't sell or otherwise be rid of. 

Awesome ideas DogBlud and Websteak

I've noted a summary of your joint suggestions on the main post!