What Do You Do With Studs?

I was curious about stud playstyles other players go with. It was a pleasure reading yours and I'm gonna share mine.

Before my lead was a fox, he was set a stud but not studded at all because he was one of the many common wolves that players would stud instead. Once I used fox app on my breeding male, I was so enjoyed with such achievement that I wanted to share the joy with others. I wanted to have some players who would think positively about my stud.

About the price: I set it decently high to the extent that allows me to do about 30 studdings a week. Financial benefit is obvious but the minor reason of why I set such a price. I don't think about getting riches from studding and if it was only about the money, I could just set a low price on a whim. But I don't set it low for other reasons.

One of them is competition: I respect other studs. If I set my price low, it's like demanding to stud to my wolf and only my wolf and I'm afraid that other admirable studs would be given less attention - with my current price I'm giving players a healthy choice about picking a stud.

Another reason is that I believe customers respect services for respectful prices: when I receive a stud request, I'm positive that the user is serious about this. And I can treat with deference all the customers. I don't have to enforce rules that are out of my control such as no stud racing or chasing pups. When the stud request is cancelled, I believe it was a mature decision even if the reason was not provided. Whatever is done after the studding from the customer, it is done with an awareness of cones spent - they are broadly more attached to the pups and may give reasonable prices when selling or making them stud so customers of my customers are also respectful with their decisions.

Also, it's good to get studding requests throughout the week rather than have all slots used within a few days then wait the majority of time till they refresh.

I have stud designed that follows trends because depending on them I get studdings done. The difference between casual studs and demanded studs is sadly huge. I choose the latter so I can continue studding. Studding is fun in itself.

Before I had a fox, I used to stud for stats with tier II studs. Once I got a fox, I didn't look at other studs. I sent my females to my stud for tier III base and usually grinded on it. With time going, I started sending some of my females for new tier III base stat breeding and the remaining ones for casual studding, to donate cones and non-verbally interact with other stud owners because as I mentioned, studding is fun.

I use pair bonds exclusively for stat breeding. Highest stat wolves get to bond to make pups with unpopular lineages. Occurrences of pair bond breeding are quite rare so I don't even look at the limit.

do you have a stud?

I don't actually.

If so, why? Is it for money, to spread lineage, etc? Do you keep up with current trends or go more casual?

If you don't have a stud, why not?

 I love lore, but more than that I try and keep my lines and lineage to myself. Usually. I had a dust based, high stat male who stood in for the first quest, but after that I never reinstated him, I just made him the pupsitter. A little later I found a NBW who I thought was neat, but I also didn't make him my stud due to lore, and the fact that I knew I wouldn't be happy if he was the stud I had the next couple of months. I'm just waiting at this point for the /one/ stud who I know would work well, be pretty popular, and have it fit with that character.

Also, what's your opinion on other people's studs, generally speaking? Do you send stud requests? How often/little?

 I think people with other studs are neat. They put their money on the line to make a nice male for other people to breed to, and they gave more people /options/- I also think that they're probably really profiting from it. I send a stud request when I have a nice female who would definitely not have pretty pups or high stat ones with any of the current males.

And lastly: does your pack primarily consist of females that you send stud requests for? How often do you pair bond your wolves?

I have one who I sent a stud request for, and that was because she was too pretty not to. I have a couple more females than males, but that's mostly on accident- the males kept dying, or they weren't high stats. 

 And when I can, I literally plan out pair bonds as soon as I can; I find the notion cool and sweet, and I like the fact that I can have puppies from other males and not risk inbreeding later on. It's pretty useful, ya know, and it just makes more sense in the long run. On that note; I treat most of my wolves as characters rather than just breeding machines because 1 projecting 2 I'm a writer

My stud is a russet boy that I picked mainly for my own breeding purposes. He's not trendy at all but I like him and he's gonna be stud for life. I spent 30 gc on customizing him and honestly never expected to make it back - I just wanted a good-looking boy - but I'm pleasantly surprised that he's managed to turn a profit. Also, my next stud is going to be his son to carry on his lineage.

I also use outside studs for a variety of reasons:
- Specific base breeding (I like cool t2s and russet is obviously not ideal for that)
- Merle
- Albinos for my one albino girl
- Specific role stats (my stud has a strength/speed build, so he's not particularly useful if I'm trying to breed chasers or stalkers)

My pack is a pretty good mix of males and females. A lot of them may never breed and that's fine; I wouldn't have room for so many puppies anyway.

I haven't done any pairbond breedings yet, but I've paired off some of my hunters. Many of them are over 5 years old, so it'll soon be time for them to breed their replacements.