Let's talk Tiers

Okay so for someone who got into the hype of Wolvden then vamooshed to another game where my projects have fired off rather well, I've noticed there is literally no board that explains tiers to anyone O.O But when you join the Discord, you hear talks of Tiers 2 or 3 and you get to wondering "did I miss something while working on my own project?" and the obvious answer is, you probably did. So naturally you go to the HELP section, thinking the admin team may have archived some information, but hmm nope. So you go to CHATTER and you get tackled, more or less, with Tier 2 and 3 ideas, projects, etc, but no clear explanation as to what a tier is, what players are searching for, etc. So let's get a conversation going ^^

No projects unless they're being used as examples to help with an explanation. Keep your explanations simple so that newcomers can understand your jist! And let's just have fun ^^ 

Excuse me, my project manager is screaming at me lmao x'D 

A tier is literally the complexity of a base, for example, Tier one base has about 1-2 basic colors, while tiers three and two have a couple of colors. Also the rarity of a base, people just want what they don't have and tier threes are very hard to breed ;)

(Just my interpretation, might be mistaken, I had some trouble understanding the difference)

To explain this simply, Tiers are the "rarity" and complexity of a base.

This is different than the percentage of the base, meaning tier 3s are harder to breed than tier 1s. The pass rate of a base tier gets smaller the higher up the numbers go, with tier 1 the most easily passed.

Also, by complexity I mean the fact that Tier 3 bases tend to have unigue patterns, multiple colors and brighter colors.

Basically, Tiers mean that the base looks better, or can more easily breed a better base.

To give an example, this is a Tier 2 base ( higher rarity )

And this is a Tier 1 Base

Now, markings can make a really beautiful Tier 1 or a really ugly Tier 3, but due to the market being really bad right now, Tier 3s tend to sell better than Tier 1s, even if they are beautiful.

Now, about Tier 3s:

The only way to get a tier 3 is through breeding to a fox or applying a fox base. 

Tier 3s are pretty rare, but the fox base is at 0.09 %, when some tier 2s are 0.2 %

There is an 1 % pass rate for tier 3 x tier 1

There is a 2.5? % pass rate for tier 2 x tier 3

Tier 3 bases have only recently been released, making them even more rare.

Thats how I understand it, at least, please someone correct me if I'm wrong!

So if I'm understanding this (I probably anit lmao) - I'll use my lead female as my example. She's a Glaucous (3.88%) Base. 

If I wanted to breed for a tier 3 (from her), I'd need something with a higher pass rate from her original base coat (guys stop tempting me, I anit rich lmao) - I have a project in mind but honestly, not sure where I want to go with it, or how to achieve it (and I don't want to revel it cause people are mean and steal ideas : ( 

Can you tell I hate genetics lmao x'D 

The % that WD shows in the appearance section of a wolf is just what % of wolves on the site have that base. T1 bases have the highest pass rate in all breeding combinations, so they are all more common than tier 2 and tier 3 bases. (Also, there should be a I, II or III next to the base name. This is the tier of the base in Roman numerals :))

In any breeding, you can't get a higher rarity base than the rarity of the parents (i.e if you breed a T1 to a T1 you will only have T1 pups). So yes, to breed a T3 pup one of the parents has to be T3. A T1 bred to a T3 has the lowest chance of a T3 pup (around 1% as said above). A T2 is slightly better and a T3 to a T3 has the best chance of having a T3 pup. To get the higher pass rate you can change the base of a wolf via customising them (wouldn't suggest unless you want to change markings and things as well) or with a base changer from the Grove. 

Another way to increase the chances of breeding a T3 is to match the base genetics. So if you wanted to breed a Fox pup, your best bet is getting a T2 Warm Medium base (such as Tawny) and breeding to a Fox stud (Fox is Warm Medium III). 

To find a good match for what you want to breed the search option in the crossroads is very useful. Search the existing wolves and narrow them down with the 'For Stud' option and the base genetics you want to breed to.

I suggest having a good read through the genetics guide here for more info: https://www.wolvden.com/chatter/topic/9 :)

Hopefully that helps and doesn't just repeat the other replies lol

Saying that Tier 2 or 3 bases look 'better' than Tier 1 is a matter of opinion (and it's also unfair to call them more complex when you're posting example wolves with extra markings). There are plenty of TI bases with nuanced pelts, like Glaucous and Skarn and Howlite. And there are TIII bases, like Tombac and Argent, that are more or less flat color.

It's not about how 'good' a wolf's base looks, it's literally just that some bases are genetically more or less likely to appear than others. The guide linked above explains it pretty well and also has images of every base!

This is in reply to  BurntCookies|Mel breeder this is my Alpha female's coat - If I'm reading it correctly but I'm not entirely sure what Cool Light is as a gene? Nevermind as a base. I always thought it was a modifier of some sort. I could be wrong and am eager to be corrected if need be! I have a project in mind with the Bronze color base coat, so I'd love any feedback on going forward (and just in general as my friend joined today and I'd love to be able to help her!)

@KhaleesiKiyiyaWolf Base Genetics refers to the category your wolf's coat is in and is primarily what the game looks at when determing what coat your pup will have. If you bred two Glaucous wolves together, for instance, they would definitely have Cool Light I puppies, which means they would all be either Glaucous or Honeydew, as those are the Cool Light I bases in the game. If you bred your Glaucous girl with a Cool Light III base, however, they could be any Cool Light base at all, of any tier (though they'll be most likely to have a Tier I base, then a Tier II, and then a Tier III, as the tiers largely refer to the difficulty of breeding that tier). 

Meanwhile, if you bred your Glaucous wolf to a Warm Dark I wolf you could, hypothetically, get any Tier I coat in the game. If you bred her to a Warm Dark III wolf you could hypothetically get any base in the game. Some base categories have higher odds than others depending on the parents genetics, and you'll always have better odds of a Tier I than a Tier II and better odds of a Tier II than a Tier III, but that's the basic breakdown. 

If you're after a Bronze coat that's a Muted Dark III coat. In order to get that, one parent would need to be Tier III. And for the categories the parents would need to be Muted x Anything, Cool x Warm, Cool x Monochrome, or Warm x Monochrome AND be Light x Dark, Medium x Medium, Medium x Dark, or Dark x Dark.

All of that's pulled from the Wolvden Genetics Guide that BurntCookies|Mel breeder linked, but I get that that's kind of a lot of info to sort through and contains a lot of numbers. Probably not much fun if you're not into genetics or probability, but I find it fun! Hopefully that made sense and wasn't too much of an infodump. Let me know if I can clarify anything!

These are my Tier IIs

Chinook = Base Genetics Warm Dark II

Ezra = Base Genetics Cool Light II

Carrot = Base Genetics Warm Dark II

Anna = Base Genetics Muted Dark II

Puppy 1 = Base Genetics Warm Medium II

Puppy 2 = Base Genetics Warm Dark II

Nyla = Base Genetics Warm Light II

Not sure who I'd use for my Bronze project that I have in mind.