Retire lead wolf early without ”killing” it.

My suggestion:

Make it possible to switch out your lead wolf without retiring/killing the previous lead. Instead the previous leader would become a regular pack member and can be assigned another role, like hunter for example. A former lead wolf would not be able to become leader again. It would die of old age like any other pack member, but would then show up in the dynasty as a former lead wolf. The GC cost to remove a leader early should still exist, but the removal should not kill the wolf. Maybe there should be a limit on how early you can switch out your lead (4-5 in-game years?)

Why?

For lore reasons you might want to let your chosen heir take over the pack while the previous lead still exists in the pack.

For gameplay reasons you might want to replace your lead with a younger wolf, but still be able to "use" the wolf you have worked hard on to level up.

What is needed from the WD team?

Coding.

Thanks for reading! :)

Support.
I'd like to see them able to be removed at any age but agree that once they've stepped down they cannot lead again. Seems fair.
I also wouldn't like to see it for GC since Wolvden is already very pay-to-win IMO and heavily favors people who will spend real money but at least the prescience is set for that and it wouldn't be a new thing requiring premium currency.

I was just thinking about this the other day with the 5-level down trophy restriction that is actively penalizing people for having high level wolves. My lead is only level 18 and I can pretty much only find one canine worth fighting per full bar of energy and it's rarely a fox.
Barring a helpful tweak/fix by the devs (and since they don't communicate who knows if they even care,) is to kill off your existing lead which really... shouldn't be the only way people can participate in trophy collecting.
I like my lead.

It would also solve the issue of people who want to make their lead immortal, since they could have them step down before they die, then they could make them immortal like a normal wolf.

I think this idea's good!

I think it'd be interesting instead of giving the old lead a role, the old lead helps to guide the new lead, so they level up faster, but the price would have to be GC or something.

Support! I planned on immortalizing my lead but now that I know this isn't possible, I'm a bit sad tbh. I would really love to be able to still use my retired lead in other roles (and later on make her immortal), especially as she's my first custom wolf (and very first in general!) and as such holds some sentimental value to me.

I agree this retirement option should come with restrictions. Never being able to set them as lead again sounds perfectly resonable.

Huge support from me! I like to "retire" my beloved wolves from their roles in the pack to being pupsitters so I can bring in the next generation of stalkers, chasers, etc and have them still help out the pack until it's their time. I'd love to do that with my lead, since she was my first wolf and I have so much fondness for her.

I wonder if there could be a stipulation for non-lead leaderboards that any wolf that has been in the lead role for any amount of time wouldn't be able to show on that list? Like maybe leader could be a skill bar for pack roles that is either at 0% for never being a leader or 100% for having been leader for any amount of time? My apologies if that sentence doesn't make much sense- it's been a long week haha ; ;

Support, I want to make my lead and his mate immortal and currently cannot do this because of the whole killing-your-lead thing. I have a limited amount of time to actually make him immortal because he ages every day... Please, mods, let us do this.

Support, especially because of what greahound mentioned; being able to immortalize lead wolves, the first lead wolves especially, would be very helpful particularly for lore reasons.

Big support, I'd love to be able to immortalize/assign a normal role to an old lead.

Strong Support!  I also think this should be done for breeding males, and that breeding male and lead wolf retirement should be separated. Otherwise, I think it de-incentives people to make their lead wolf their breeding male, since it then takes more GC to early retire. 

In my perfect world, the retiring process would be a series of options. The following example is for a breeding male/lead wolf combo, but the idea would be the same for a wolf that is only a lead or a breeding male. 

◯ Retire Wolf to dynasty? (removes them from breeding male and lead wolf positions, puts them into the dynasty. 25 GC if only lead wolf, 20 GC if only breeding male, 55 GC if both) 
◯ Retire from position? The wolf will remain in the pack. 
             ☐ Retire as Lead Wolf? (25 GB, keep the wolf in the pack. If option below is left unchecked, the wolf remains breeding male) 
             ☐ Retire as Breeding Male? (25 GC, keep wolf in pack. If option above is unchecked, wolf remains lead wolf.)

I would even be okay with their being some penalty to keeping the wolf in the pack after lead wolf / breeding male retirement - ie, loss of stats or level.