So lately I've been seeing more and more Degen pets out there and personally I'm not happy with that. I try to avoid inbreeding altogether and while it doesn't matter too much if I get a Degen 1 pet I would never buy (or otherwise take) a pet with 2 or higher (on purpose).

Of course this is mainly a matter of preferance, but I just find it makes breeding for that perfect pet quite a bit easier if you inbreed. Sure at Degen 3 you have a (higher) chance of getting random mutations into your line, but this doesn't seem to deter people much. 

So, in my opinion, Degen should be made worse than it is. Like, do what GP does. GP gives +10 stats for each grade. How about if Degen gave -10 (or at least -5?) stats for each grade of degeneration? This would still not affect a pet all that much if it's just for breeding but it might still deter people from overly "abusing" the Degeneration.

Most noticable to me is the Arena, where a GP3, Degen 3 pet decimates my own pets, but in my opinion this heavily inbred a pet shouldn't be THAT good anymore.. 

What do you think?

I support. There isn't too much of a punishment, and to be quite frank, it is often used as a means of breeding for certain traits as strengths. Unfortunantly there goes some of my nice pets that I've bought! Often I buy and look at genetics, and not so much degen- because there hasn't been a downside yet! But you need to have balance between the two... so this makes sense. It's not a fun idea that will be popular, but necessary for game balance!

Yes please! Degen isn't really that bad, so people aren't motivated to NOT breed pets with it. This will be good for game balance :)

Support here. Higher rates of inbreeding do result in a lot of problematic outcomes in reality so why not in the game as well?

Thanks for your support, guys =)

Nightingale: I have the same problem. I bought a few pets where the genetics were nice and only later realized that they were inbred. But honestly, I don't care. Especially since my suggestion wouldn't really be a deal-breaker. The genetics would still be the same. It would only make the pets a bit weaker in the Arena and on island exploration. 

I really feel as if Degen is very often just used as an easy way to get strong pets and this should be - in my opinion - made a little less inviting. 

Of course ^^

I support this. it is very useful to get certain genetics. Establishing new dog breeds often means breeding lines that are very close together to enhance certain traits. However, as any dog owner would tell you, most pure bred dogs have certain genetic diseases that they are prone too. For exmple: Dalmations and blindness, GSDs and Hip Dysplasia- etc... I do like the idea of maing them weaker in battle...

It would make sense since we do not have a system in place within the game for diseases/death of pets (thank you, because I very much dislike games where they die/are sick). Would be interesting if some were randomly sterile or something... Hrm.. Maybe only in Degen level 3... Ahh, now that would just make things very complicated and not be fun to install while the game is already running without upsetting people and throwing off what we have come to accept as "balance".

I think weakness, or even random "bad" (or even any) genes pop up. Maybe a 1/10 chance for a random gene at degen lvl 1, 1/5 chance for degen level 2, and 1/3 for degen level 3 (roughly)... That is another thought though... I think that these chances should be less if there is a negative genetic modifer due to inbreeding. Meaning no "weaker in the battlefield AND random bad genes".

That could also upset game mechanics- throwing in a random genetic change with inbreeding.... I mean not so common in real life. So making already bad existing genes more prevalent makes more sense than random...

Sorry for thinking out loud! Just going through a thought process to see if anything good comes of it.

Nightingale, according to the FAQ, degen already includes the chance for negative mutations.

I would prefer to make degen worse by significantly increasing the occurance of bad mutations and/or make it so that degen parents are more likely  to pass on any bad genes they might have.

I feel that method would be a much better solution than the addition of a negative pedigree modifier since it would only affect pets born after the mechanics are changed. This way there won't be a massive influx of compaints from people who suddenly have pets with lousy stats, and yet, because the changes will be genetic, the long term consequences are actually far greater.

Lytala: The reason why I didn't suggest it that way is precisely because that system is already in the game. Sure, raising the likelihood for mutations would be fine with me too, but obviously the way it is right now, the chances are too low. In my opinion, it would have to be quite difficult to get a pet without any mutations at degen level 3 or people would just stick with inbreeding.

I don't know what the current mutation rate for degen is but what if it was increased with each degen level until by degen 3 each gene has a 5-10% chance of mutating badly.

Also, I was thinking that bad genes from degen parents could have greater chance of being inherited (maybe 5% per level of degen).