Help me perfect a pup pricing formula!

i never said i thought it would be perfect, i just think it may not be a good idea bc prices of things fluctuate and its mostly newbys that take in the info from this, aka people that have 0 idea how to price anything at all

I think having a formula will work really well! Especially because it will be about what you PERSONALLY value in puppies as much as everything else!

I don't know if this would make it too complicated but I wonder if age would add to the value or take away from it. A lot of people don't want 11 month olds since they age up pretty quick and they might not have slots atm. Maybe something like 

3-4 months =

4-5 months = 

etc... 

Just an idea though lol.

Age is a REALLY flexible one, so it may not work well as a metric! Purely because I specifically prefer adolescents and adults over puppies, because there's no risk of them dying from low survival. But also Skyrolo is right that some people ONLY like young puppies!

It feels like a slightly more malleable/unreliable figure than things like coat tier and markings!

Ahhh, this is something I've been needing! I've been wondering if I've been pricing my pups right. Definitely going to compare with what I currently have priced to see if they line up!

This is a nice idea but you also have to take into consideration personal preference. I would not pay 1200 sc for a lavender pup because I don't like lavender that much :)  but I would pay a fair amount for an ebony, which is one of my favorite bases. The bottom line with pricing anything, is: does someone want this, and how much do they want to pay for it? I do see the value of this exercise, in that a formula/spreadsheet is a nice place to start thinking about what each player values, and what they are willing to accept for (or pay for) those attributes.

I have enjoyed reading everyone's comments so far and wish you the best of luck in working it all out!

Oh also in the T2 value debate - T2 that is available in the base change applicator or the customizer is easier to get than a breed-only T2, and personally I value those lower than the breed-only. So would you apply a modifier for things that can be purchased and applied vs things that depend on your RNG luck to get?

@Derpy you mentioned a bit ago that you feel pricing is more art than science - so maybe in non-mathy terms, you could talk about what you consider when you do set a price? that could be useful for us to think about!

@Skyrolo like OwO said above, age is really sticky! Lots of folks seem to like getting pups (and tbh who wouldn't, they're cute as hell) whereas I've seen plenty of others say they don't buy pups at all because the pay-off takes forever and they've got to feed them in the meantime! If the devs include any sort of skill training for the pups then that would definitely change the equation, as training puppies to be exactly what you want would be way more valuable to each person.

@RhettChee please do let us know your findings!! comparing this equation to what is working in the "real world" is super helpful to adjusting it for tweaks :D 

@bonibaru yes that's the tricky bit!! and we haven't even touched with this mutations or base preferences at all! and thanks for the luck :D EDIT - oh dang thats a good point about t2 rarity!!! okay yes that should deffo be a modifier... but how is the question! thoughts?

I think another factor, particularly with relation to high stat pups, is specific heritage - a 450 unrelated to any of the leaderboard studs is going to be a lot more desirable to a certain subset of users than one related to both Michael Scott and Shadow, for example. I don't even consider buying pups with more than 2 leaderboard lines in their heritage currently, because I know it'll limit my stud choices later on, as I don't want to inbreed. Obviously this is something that specifically interacts with stats, it stops being relevant pretty quickly as a pup's stats drop off.

Stats also evolve quickly so you would have to keep updating your formula as they keep Rising with each subsequent generation.

You also want to consider in the stats area that for Scouts and Hunters, particular stats are more valuable. A scout with 101 wisdom or 101 strength can scout the challenging biomes even if it's total stats are not that high, and for someone trying to get into the rainforest or the glacier, that's a valuable Wolf. Age may not be a factor. Inbreeding may not be a factor. I have sold some of my linebreeding test wolves for very good prices because of their high overall stats, because people don't intend to breed them, but they need them for something like scouting the glacier so whether they've been linebred or not doesn't matter. Wolves still have value outside of breeding in this game.

For your Rarity modifier, you're going to want to also consider that some bases are rare because people don't like them and they chase them off or intentionally don't breed for them. There are some tier 2 bases that are more common than some Tier 1 bases because the tier ones aren't popular and nobody keeps them. So Rarity alone is not necessarily an indicator of value. And the more wolves we get in the game, the more apparent that will become as people start settling into what they like and don't like. For example I think Willow and Tumbleweed are very pretty and their Rarity percentage is pretty low because they are breed only Tier 1 bases (I think?) but so many people chase them off because they just don't sell.