Dier - to your point, "It's a bit hard to respond to criticism in a constructive way if alternatives aren't provided"
Alright, let's develop an alternative. And then tell you why even the alternative is probably a bad idea

First question- what makes a good event?
Frankly- features. Something unique, something special. We have storylines with applicator rewards, we have storylines with claimable lioness rewards, we have studding- let's mix a few.
The first way I can think of to make this feature a little more unique is to add a storyline to February with studding being the reward. My catch? You can only stud once. One breeding. You screw it up, that's on you. Kind of like the claiming of the lioness of April, kind of like the high price of the Maneater studs.

Second question- how do we make it less disappointing?
There's a lot that can go wrong with breeding. Getting one breed out of an entire storyline and that breed going badly? I can see how there may be some vendettas towards our hypothetical event over the years. So, we add some guarantees.
>The male lion has the effect of a buffy. 3 cubs, minimum.
>The male lion is some variation of primal/piebald, for a higher mute chance. Alternatively, dwarves and hybrids have a (slightly) higher pass chance.
>The male lion's genetics are overpowering. His features have a higher chance of passing. Not definite, but higher
**MAYBE** Small (1%) to clone his features entirely. Every mark, same base, same eyes, same mane.
**MAYBE** Even lions that aren't in heat (In the spirit of Aphrodisia and all) are so turned on, that they can breed with him anyways. [Infertile lionesses, Cooldown lionesses, and CRB lionesses are excluded and unable to be instantly bred]
To keep it "balanced", breeding items of any kind cannot be used on these lionesses. Nothing to make mute pass rate higher, just straight breeding (cuz he is kinda overpowered, I'll admit)

Third question- what is the story behind this?
There has to be some justification for the reward being breeding. And there has to be an interesting Aphrodisia-related story to go with it. Clarifying because my words have been twisted in previous posts- I don't support adding a February storyline for reasons I'll outline later. Maybe I'll accidentally convince myself this is a great idea after typing this all out and post my own suggestion thread for this specific mechanic. Who knows. I'm indecisive. Also in the spirit of being indecisive, there's two options. I hate the first one significantly more because Romeo and Juliet is overused and there's like 3000 suggestion boards of this already. I actually don't entirely hate the second option, I'll be honest.

OPTION 1: I'm thinking Romeo and Juliet type romance, two adols from different prides who value different lifestyles. One's super obsessed with beauty, one's super obsessed with strength. Referring to them as B/Beauty and S/Strength because I don't feel like developing names for them right now.
B's Uncle was super in love with S's Aunt for a while when they were adols, and B's Uncle is hell-bent on getting B and S together. We follow B, S, and B's Uncle in this storyline, and S's Aunt is kind of the "Antagonist." We get B and S together, their prides are fine with it, and B's uncle reveals his ulterior motives at the end: to get with S's Aunt after all. He then realizes that if B and S are mates, that makes them related by Mate-ship or something, and he's no longer interested. Instead, he's interested in one of your girls. And that's when you'd get to breed with this hypothetical stud muffin.

OPTION 2: Much simpler, you help this absolute unit of a man (very attractive) with his flirts. They're not going too well. This is an incredibly condensed version and there's no climactic battle (except with his inner anxiety) and he eventually decides to opt out of the flirt game, and as consolation you offer him one of your lionesses to "practice on." In this storyline it doesn't necessarily have to be the end of the story, it can still keep going. It's just a "chapter reward" per se, and you can still keep going with it until he does have the confidence to successfully flirt and then rewards you for all your help.

So, we have a "unique" storyline, unique characters, and a hella unique feature, even if it's an amalgamation of a few different features. But, it's probably a bad idea to actually implement.

(1) That's a LOT of work on the dev's end. To come up with a new storyline, new characters, art, designs, etc. It's just. A lot, especially with the March anniversary event right after it this year.
(2) It's February, already one of the most grind-heavy months. It doesn't need anything else, but it doesn't make sense to stick this specific event anywhere else. Hell to help my brain develop this idea I hopped in the wardrobe and made a few mockups. It'd be HELLA cool. I love this idea personally. But February doesn't need anything else.

If I were to post this in the suggestions thread, I'd get a lot of people with the same criticisms I just had. I'm sure there'd be people singing praise for it, but in the end it makes the most logical sense to leave it out. August gets studs, February gets slaps and flirts.

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@Solarah Fab, thank you for the constructive feedback on how to implement something like this. I already implemented your suggestion of it possibly being in March - could this sort of feature be added in better then to overcome the "February heavy" part of it since that seems to be one of the biggest criticisms of this, and March does definitely need something a little more (without being heavy, and this could potentially work well).

You were saying in your other post about making something more meaningful for the poaching event, so perhaps helping this particular stud - rather than being a long storyline - could be an educational opportunity instead? Some stats provided and then a related quest. E.g.:

"Did you know, [Name], that human poachers are killing around 12,000 elephants every year, and all just for their tusks."

The quest could be simple, such as "find evidence of elephant poaching" with the baby elephant/dead mother encounter, etc. Potentially, you could develop fondness with the stud (similar to reputation in July) and you could spend that on a breeding with the stud perhaps once or twice during the month with the guarantees you mentioned? Then, as time went by in future events, the storyline could be more developed with new characters, exploring local villages, etc.

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I feel like with the guarantees, it would have to be a one time thing, or an absurdly high price. Being able to grind to get multiple breedings seems good in theory, and quests could definitely be worked into it. But I feel that this would work most cohesively in February hence making it unattainable. Especially considering the severity of March's event topic, I feel like offering studding as a reward feels a little insensitive and blegh to me. With this I'd prefer more of a "They came to clear the poachers and developed a relationship" kind of like the Maneaters, but the Maneater's are August's thing.

I'm starting to hate my Feb suggestion less and less however. I suppose it could be a separate suggestion thread but that's an issue for another day. Tweak to make less balanced, more clear, thought out mockups, etc. I feel if you come back with a more developed plan on how to implement your specific scenario in March, it would be easier to critique. :)

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I definitely agree a Romeo and Juliet theme would be too cliche, and I think a full storyline in February would be too much to keep tabs on.

Without having a clear thought in mind, if it was to go down that route, I'd imagine it would work something like this. It would be simple for the first year, and a more specific storyline could be developed in later years.

A new male lion enters your territory, seeking help to fight the poachers. The lion lost his own pride due to poaching as an adolescent, which caused the herds to move on and his pride starved. He has now come to you to help stop the same fate happening to your lands, be it to prevent poaching (good karma) or to prevent your pride from starving (bad karma).

The lion would send you out on quests - perhaps once per day - to start controlling poaching. These quests would be related to explore encounters or hunting. For example:

"[Name], I can smell poachers approaching. I don't know how much damage they have done in your lands, but we must act now to stop them.

Did you know, [insert statistic here]. During your travels, please watch out for signs of [relevant species] poaching. If you find any evidence, please let me know so I can begin tracking these poachers!"

The quest would be to find X relevant explore encounters based on poaching from that specific species. Half-eaten elephant carcasses, etc may also count towards this. Once you'd met this goal, you'd gain perhaps a mix of experience and +1 fondness with the stud. He would leave for the next 24 hours to track down the poachers.

Once you hit - for example - 25 fondness (minimum 25 days), the stud would then inform you that he has been tracking the poachers, and your help has been immensely helpful. He asks how he could ever repay you for helping with his quest, at which point, you could ask for a studding with one of your lionesses.

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Alternatively if that was too low chance to pass his base/markings/etc, it could be +1-3 fondness each time, in which case, some players might be lucky enough to get two breedings with him.

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Wow this blew up.


Clean breeding gave people a challenge. “No recorded father” lions is just… difficult? I don’t see the community paying more then G2 lions are worth. February is packed enough, and you’d destroy both the groupie market and the heart shells market as it costs event currency to breed.

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@Kosmelle - Thanks for the reply again. The current theme for the original idea is more focused on March (less going on) and/or as a relatively rare explore encounter so that it was free.

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I wouldn’t recommend March as it’s too close to May, when groupies are available.

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