Mutation Carrier Revealing Item

Okay, hear me out: an npc who looks over the pack (option of just the adult or just the pups/adols) and tells you if a member is a carrier. Not what mutation they carry, or which wolf, just if there is a carrier. Then, later on, possibly adding an item to tell you which wolf is the carrier, maybe bribing the npc with a hefty amount of gold (5gc?) for an in-depth look.

I’d love to have this option, and it would be great to have This implemented within the grove or events.

I'm not too sure I like the idea, I'm leaning more towards agreeing with Coal on this one.

Allowing users to know carriers might make it too easy. It was left ambiguous and random for a reason - I feel like it would remove a lot of challenge if you could just buy yourself the answer. Even on LD you see event items floating around cheap year-round so that idea might limit it, but probably wouldn't help that much

I support this idea!

With how odds work, even if your wolf has a 10% chance of carrying a mutation thanks to parentage, it could take 3 or more litters with another carrier before you'd have ten pups- the most basic number of tests you'd want when gambling with percentages like this- and even then, it'd be entirely possible to not get a mutation in those breedings even if they were a carrier. I can foresee a lot of people breeding once, assuming their wolf doesn't have the gene, and throwing the entire wolf out, thereby missing out on a chance at a mutie.

I think any mechanic to allow one to know if their wolf carried a mutated gene should only tell you that at least one gene is there, not which gene it is or if there's more than one. I'd prefer it having some pricy but not unreasonable cost in SC or GC- similar to the personality and marking changers- and being a per-wolf purchase like the fertility revealer is. If it were an NPC-related purchase, perhaps a conjoined snake could be the one studying your wolves?

I do not support this idea. Not really looking to debate so I will unsubscribe after posting. I would maybe support an NPC that orias described that tells you if a litter has a carrier, but a smaller litter would make it more obvious. But pretty much this would be a very pay to win feature. 

Even if it was like 5 GC, richer players could waste 5 gc on each pup like it's nothing and dump it. This is coming from a player with 1k gc and 25k sc saved. I have lots of money and it would not only be a huge gc sink for new members struggling to get by, it would give an advantage to gc buyers, while tanking the mutation market.

Event item? This is possible. But even when certain mutation items were added it could tank mutation markets. The mutation market is a very delicate balance.

Jackpot item? It's more possible if it's super insanely rare, but the items would be sold for mega gc. So maybe? idk it's hard to know possible ripple effects. I'd like to see the currently planned slots items before weighing in on this.

I don't think a carrier detector would make it all that much easier to get an actual mutation, especially if you weren't told the specific mutation(s). As nerdofnerds said, it would still take a lot of breeding with no guarantee they'd ever result in a mutation.

As for it becoming a pay to play problem, with a scrying item that shouldn't be a problem. All prices at the scrying stone are relatively small SC amounts. Even if it was a high SC price like 100 or even 200, SC isn't too hard to come by. If this was a GC only item, I can understand that could be an issue and that would be my least favorite way to implement this idea.

Making it an event item is also an option, but personally, it'd be a bit annoying to first wait until events are put into the game, and then potentially wait almost a year for the month they chose to assign the item to to come around.

Thanks everybody for the support and critiques!

I personally like how its sort of left up to chance that you find out if you have a carrier or not. In other breeding games I've played, mutations became not-so-rare because it became all too easy to breed for them. I understand the percentages of how it passes on make this easier to counteract, but I still fear that having a way to easily tell if your wolf is a carrier defeats the purpose of having the muties be super rare. 

I did see the idea of an NPC looking over your pack and telling you if one is a carrier, and since that doesn't narrow it down too much I could really see that working!

Overall, I agree it's a fair thing to want, but I personally enjoy the mystery it has to it right now!

An NPC looking over your pack to tell you if one is a carrier doesn't narrow it down *the first time* but it sure as hell is abusable.

Say I use it on my pack of 40 wolves, no carriers. I breed a wolf, have 3 babies. Oh, suddenly the NPC says I have a carrier, now I know it's one of those 3. Which *also* means I know one of it's parents are carriers. If the mother was mine when I 'scried' it the first time, I know it's the father that's a carrier. Now I've confirmed 100% a carrier, and have narrowed down another to 1 of 3 babies.

Alternatively, I use it on my pack of 40 wolves, no carriers. I grab a NBW, scry again - oh look, I have a carrier now! Now I've 100% confirmed it. 

I think the only way I'd be OK with this item is if it's rare, not purchasable with GC or SC maybe from an event or event currency (or maybe a rare explore encounter or something) or like, a reward from chasing X wolves or something. Whatever it would come from, I'd rather it not be straight purchasable. 

I support this. I would love to be able to tell if my wolves were carriers or not. 

Conflicted support. I think it could use a bit of adjustment (like being an event item thats equalized and limited) but at the same time, people are talking about how its pay to win feature potential... but at the same time I'm seeing pups sell with the "it /might/ be a carrier!" trait as a price bump perk because their father was, and that means that they might be, even though you cant really tell so you're buying that pup on another gamble that might not even be true. With a little bit of rarity and adjustment I think this item would be nice, even if it was vague