New features

I'm going to copy my posts from INT over to here, I apologise if I'm irritating players and for the multi-post I'm about to make.
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Oh great, that ugly hideous page is here. Congratulations howrse, you've put me off events, objectives and now more recently I can't stand my trophy page (which I will NOT be using) nor the visual pollution on my profile page. The overview for my trophies are gone and now they're a pain to navigate. I hate this change, thank you for ruining some of the good game interface just to replace it with non-functional visual pollution that doesn't even tell you your progress towards trophies let alone the rewards you get.

I HATE this update, thank you for ruining a feature that was actually good. Again. Well done Howrse, not impressed at all.

I'll be closing the trophy page that I kept open while working my mares to check the foals' coats.. I can't stand looking at that visual pollution. You can keep your trophy page, I won't be using it any more.

And well done for completely ignoring all the testers who pushed to have the ugly page added as an extra instead of ruining a good feature to add it. Way to go to show that you care about your players. Then again, this is Howrse.. since when does feedback actually matter here??

Or maybe this is just Howrse doing their best to make me buy passes to get VIP so that I can get that visual pollution off my profile page and never look at it again

Oh yes and thank you for ruining the trophy display on our player pages by changing the meaningful stuff into hideous visual pollution that reflects back to the new hideous ugly page that you ruined our trophies to add. Very much appreciated, not.

Please undo this horrendous update. Thank you.

Now how do I vote 0/5 stars for this update? I suppose I'll figure it out in a bit.. if not then 1* will have to do

Honestly, this update has scared me into trying to imagine what Howrse will do next. What big important good feature is next in line to be utterly ruined? And honestly,i don't want to even try to imagine it because that scares me even more.

I said this on the test version, I'll say it again. If you want to start redesigning stuff, redesign all those boring repetitive horse coats to make each breed unique. The graphics can use a redesign- the graphics on this game is sub par to graphics on several other games. But DON'T ruin things that are beautiful or things that don't need to be ruined. We pointed out that this update won't be taken well when it goes live on the test server because it is unnecessary and it looks like you're ruining a good feature to add something that NOBODY asked for, wanted or liked. And it's just plain hideous and generic and has no meaning. Well, guess what? You didn't listen to our feedback so now you can deal with the backlash that comes with it. And that backlash is more than just words. It's players losing their trust in the developers and losing their motivation to play the game because their games have been ruined. It's players telling their friends not to join the game because all the developers do is downgrade everything irrespective of feedback and tester backlash. It's players opening their eyes to see how they get treated like horse droppings because the developers are outright showing that the players don't matter to them. It's players who have or have not spent real money (aka your income) deciding that this game is not worth spending money on.

I wonder just how many players have been rethinking things thanks to your horribly-thought-out lazy attempt at modernising the game in a way that nobody wants except you. This wasn't thought through and it shows. I mean, just look at all those mobile games and whatnot that have the same trophy page layout and yet they're still better than this because nobody had enough sense to realise that players actually want to see the prizes that they are working towards. For the hundredth time or more, NOBODY wants less detailed information. More detail is always welcome, less detail is not. We pointed this out when you tried that bad English thing with all the item descriptions- another lazy downgrade that just made you look unprofessional. Now there's legitimate coat item and info on coats that I search for and can't find because you ruined the descriptions AND removed the help centre so all the old info is gone. You're making this game more and more unplayable with your unnecessary, unwanted updates that nobody asked for. Because of what? "This game is old and needs to be modernised so it will be updated whether you like it or not"? I remember being told that by an admin that probably isn't around anymore when you added tax to the game. Those words stuck.

And you know the worst part? I distinctly remember a tester pointing out that Howrse has time on their side; they don't need to implement this change immediately and they shouldn't because it clearly wasn't thought through and there's far too much need for improvement. But of course, this is Howrse, I suppose something like that would only happen in my wildest dreams

Maybe you should start playing the game so that you can see what it needs, because it definitely doesn't need this. We liked having our true trophies displayed on our pages and now they're gone. We liked knowing how many items more we need to get a specific trophy and now that's been replaced by useless percentages that don't move unless you add x amount of items. Talk about discouraging. We liked having an overview of our BEAUTIFUL trophies where one click would list everything that we have, almost no scrolling need (then again I play classical on my phone, so maybe desktop will need a bit more scrolling). Hell, we liked that our trophies were beautiful and unique and not generic, and now that's gone too.

*Pop ups rant*
Some of us - I'm probably speaking more about myself here - liked having no unnecessary pop ups in events and objectives, now those things are so incessant that I don't bother with those "features" any more entirely because I can't stand the pops. And honestly, I'm starting to find them offensive. It's almost like you were telling me that I'm too stupid to understand that clicking "confirm" on the objectives would get me passes so you just had to shove a pop up in my face to shout at me, which honestly I find rude too. Not to mention that there's some stupid pop ups too - why do we need a pop up to tell us that we got fragments when we're on the page of the luck items and we have a fragment counter for the divine on that page already? All that tells is that you like doing unnecessary things.
*pop ups rant over*

And honestly, I would hate to say this if it wasn't true, but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the backlash the same way that I was so looking forward to seeing all those 1* ratings for the lottery that only gave us droppings. The main difference being that you could hide your 1* ratings but you can't hide your backlash unless you go through the effort of deleting every comment or deleting/hiding this topic. But if you tried that, players would just vent somewhere else, most likely the spoiler zone. Maybe think things through before implementing them next time? Like actually use your brain in an attempt to IMPROVE the game instead doing what you always do (downgrading everything)?

It's almost unbelievable that you went ahead with this change despite all the backlash about it on test server. *Almost.* (this is Howrse after all, this is what they do best: downgrade everything that could possibly be downgraded) Now if you could kindly undo it just as quickly as you added it, that would be nice. Thank you.

Anyways, I'm gonna sit back and enjoy the backlash after checking if you fixed that link thing for the coats. There's nothing more satisfying than - ignore my phrasing - watching the developers ignore the players (give them a middle finger) and watching the players give that middle finger right back to them. And I say that with the smile of satisfaction, if that's a thing.

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Yip, the link to our coats in the "collection" (our real trophies) is as useless as ever, still linking me back to a random fail in my sales tab when I've got the allocated horse coat blupped and bolded and showy in my trophies tab. That link is utterly useless because I still need to manually search all my tabs to find the allocated coat copy that is meant to be blupped and bolded. Plus the interface was ruined so now i can't stand even looking for the coat. I dread it. Well done Howrse, you've successfully turned the interface into more of a hassle than it's worth and I can't stand that update either. Thank you for ruining features of this game that was so nice. I gave you the suggestions on the test server; go look at that to see what you can do to improve it. I'm tired of having to retype everything I wrote on the test server because you guys couldn't care less about using tester feedback, or any feedback in general unless it starts costing you money.

Please UNDO THIS UPDATE. The previous interface was far better. Thank you.

I would like to further add my frustration at the fact that RC collections are useless now and that companions and customisation items will only count if you add them onto the horses yourself. Howrse has single-handedly ruined the market for companions and RCs.

Furthermore, they have chosen to include the Card Event within the collections for some completely unknown reason. Bare in mind, most players have not been playing since the first Card Event in 2011, and subsequent Card events are held every year, meaning players are physically unable to ever get this completed. I joined in 2012 and have participated in most Card events but have struggled to ever get a complete collection due to the rarity of the Diamond cards, and I'm not the only one.

So they have destroyed the markets and added a completely impossible collection.

And there are companions such as Ermine, that unless you bought a Xmas pack (for real-life money during a cost of living crisis!) you cannot obtain and therefore cannot complete the collection because we are unable to buy a horse with the companion on it for it to count towards the collection.

Usually any special horses/companions offered in the Christmas packs only, will be available in future luck items/weekend promos. It was the last years that way, so I assume you just have to be patient. That way I am able to have my collection always nearly complete, I just have to wait a couple of months now

The more I think about the impacts of these changes the more I think how I play this game is no longer going to be possible. Anyone who knows me knows I mainly play to be able to buy and sell horses and this could be the death knell for that sort of game experience.

I'll see what happens over the next week or so before making any drastic decisions - who knows, it might be like pass horses and there is a game to be had on the other side - but I'm starting to think this may actually be the end of the road for me. 10.5 years is a good run though ..

I completely agree with ShadowKokufu's statement regarding graphics needing updated. On every possible feedback form we have been given (which is minimal, as Owlient rarely ever asks for opinions or feedback on anything), I have stated that we need graphics updates, new horse coats, markings, etc. Using the same template for almost every horse is downright lazy, boring, and not drawing me in to want to breed or spend any sort of real money on them.

It may have been fine when there was little competition from other online games, but now there are loads of online horse games, which are far more advanced, enjoyable and rewarding than Howrse to play purely from the graphics aspect.

This game is a disaster, and has been for years now. It's a real shame because it feels like hundreds of hours, and lots of money down the drain for a lot of people.

I am convinced that there is no team behind this game anymore.

I am also very curious what the blocked comments in this thread were, as some were from well established players. Are we censoring players opinions now too?

I fully agree that Howrse needs to stop implementing unnecessary and unwanted changes or so-called 'improvements'.

They need to start listening to feedback because it rarely seems like they do.

I agree with the above comments about the need for a graphic update and it would be nice to finally introduce markings or different clips for horses that aren't just letters but real-life clips like a hunter's clip.

Howrse has become too money hungry at the expense of the players and game experience.

I took a bit of time to reflect on the eyesore update, and I can conclude that I still don't get why it was implemented, other than to make sure the website shuts down in the near future.

Trophies and collections are the ugliest pages on the server, which unfortunately the trophies page has infected the pages of players who don't pay for VIP or Pegasus accounts to allow them to remove the poorly made graphics from their page.

It isn't even trophies really is it? They're just another type of long term objective to achieve and in return you get a useless number added to a useless trophy because it doesn't tell you what you've even achieved the trophies for.
I would have liked the concept of it if it was added as a separate quest page, which you then gained actual old style trophies for. I don't see why you had to remove, in my case, 200 of my trophies and replace them with ugly graphics and collections on another page that I won't ever look at because it seems pointless.

You don't get recognition for your collections of pretty coats, different breeds, or companions in the form of trophies anymore. The game has fully shifted its' focus onto the side that brings the team money rather than the enjoyment of players. While it is a fine line between enjoyment of people and monetary value that comes from people buying passes to get divines that get them the new style trophies, the Howrse team has once again shown that lining its' pockets and driving the game into the ground is more important than maintaining a game that is playable if you don't spend money on the game.

It's such a coincidence that one of the objectives of "Get 50 mineral ores with your Precious Mineral horses" has been introduced just before the last weekend of Christmas packs - where if you spend the small sum of £80 you get one of those aforementioned mineral horses

It's taken me a while to collect my thoughts on this one. As someone who doesn't actively collect trophies anymore, I never had any problem with the 'old' trophy format and still enjoyed to check the page (albeit once every so often) to see my former accomplishments. After seeing the new trophy/collections page designs, it doesn't compel me to take it up again any time soon.

I'm quite stunned that the wall of trophies players had accomplished on their profiles now appear as numbers on a page, next to 4 generic medals in diamond, gold, silver & bronze. All information on what we had achieved in our games seems to have vanished. The little trophy designs that we had before with pictures of horses or items relating to what the achievement was (and in actual trophy-looking shapes) were lovely; it was a lot more satisfying to collect those trophies in various shapes/symbols and with the descriptions of what was achieved, rather than the new numbers that appear both on our profile pages and the trophy page. It's disappointing to see those original ideas & designs gone, and it is a shame to see some of the more 'main' trophies have now become collections, even though I'm sure I'll get used to the new system with time.

The list of percentage bars will only continuously show our next objectives, rather than cherish what we have achieved. While I don't mind the objective-driven appeal of it all, and I have personally seen long lists of objectives/percentages which work well on other websites, it is a major change and not sure I can wrap my head around it just yet.

The sales market for trophy horses is a concern, as it appears that obtaining horses through sales no longer count towards certain trophies.

The reward system is nice and very generous; I was very surprised to have been bombarded clicking through gifts when the update went live, however I do share concerns with a couple of other players about receiving the divine Tarpan. I don't tend to breed rare coats intentionally and I like the surprise of coming across them when breeding common coats, so without trying to sound ungrateful, this divine in particular will cause more of a disadvantage to my game.

That being said, having divines and various BMIs up for grabs is a wonderful and very much welcomed addition to the game, and perhaps will help newer players and non-pass-buyers to earn some great gifts & divines.

Just wanted to add that the latest trophies obtained section hasn't updated once for me despite getting new ones each day since the update. Of the 3 that originally showed, I now only have the gold trophy "Fountain VI Have unlocked the fountain 50 times 03/01/2023" showing.

I've never written in forums before; I am a very quiet player for the most part. But I have loved this game since it first came out when I was a child, and although this is not my first account by any means, it is the one I have held the longest and put the most devotion into.

I've had this account for ten years.

And now I'm seriously considering leaving horse permanently.

I don't know what else to do, no one seems to be listening to the players when we say how much the updates are awful and seem to unwrite all the progress we are making. For me, I have never been competitive but loved collecting the horse coats, and now they have changed the whole formatting and given me Tarpan, who I did not realise at first would complete wreck the percentages for the whole reason I play- to collect the coats and breeds. I don't like buying them, I enjoy the time it takes to breed them myself; it feels like Howrse is now actively tripping up what makes this game fun for so many people.

The new pages are messy and fractured and have taken away our history.

And, in many ways, seem to be preventing us from making futures here.

What is this, except blindness?
I- and I think I speak for many of us- never asked for this.
I keep reminding myself it is but a game, but it still feels like a friend I've had for so many years has suddenly died.

This update is a very no-gainer update in my opinion. It's certainly not what I see as a "good" change or even a minor "improvement", especially after having come back from a rather extensive break.

As I near in on a full 10 years of having this account, playing off and on, I've been reflecting on WHY I kept coming back. There's been A LOT of rocky patches with many of the updates in recent years but honestly, this one about tops the cake. A big reason for why I kept coming back is because I thoroughly enjoyed viewing other player's hard work in the form of unique and colorful visuals.

The new "trophies" isn't trophies at all. I don't understand what the goal was with this update other than possibly trying to chase players away. In my eyes, the new trophies system is just a bad attempt at copying PlayStation's achievements system(and appearance). Unfortunately, the system with PS works because the the majority of the games aren't 2D sims like Howrse.

With the type of game Howrse is, players have an extremely limited selection of playstyles with coat/trophy collecting being a MAJOR direction. Other than that? We have stat building, hoarding, and just plain old care for your horses. So we can do collections instead now? Okay... What's the point when my collection is only visible to myself, less than half what the old trophies amounted to, and miserable to navigate?

Ultimately, this update is just leaving up a lot for consideration. I'm pretty positive devs won't care about the backlash seeing as they didn't listen to the testers but, trying to be PlayStation seriously won't work for this game.

So.. someone on INT said that an admin on the French server confirmed that Howrse is trying to make the desktop version of the game look like the mobile version so that there's no difference between them. And apparently using actual numbers in the trophies is not compatible with the mobile version, but percentages are. Hence Howrse ruining the trophy page.

And also

The mystery has been solved. It turns out Howrse isn't actually updating the game to make it better. They're updating it to make it identical to the mobile counterpart instead of doing it the other way around. Which honestly, I find stupid because desktop is so much better than mobile. _Was_ so much better than mobile.

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My 2 cents - I play solely on my phone browser in desktop mode because I HATE the mobile version and its layout. I might just quit if they're going to force the mobile version like this. Someone on INT said that it's cheaper to run 2 copies of the same version than 2 different variations of the same game, so I'm assuming this is Howrse's miserable failed attempt at being cheap.. Well, being cheap rarely gets awarded. Congratulations on losing your desktop player base, Howrse. Hope you're happy with how you ruined the game for us. We're definitely not.

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A little laugh:

Someone on INT sent in a ticket to contact us and got a response that included the following:
"..Despite this, at Howrse we believe that the ideas and wishes of the players are valuable, as they enable our game designers to develop Howrse in the desired direction."

*stares at the silence on Howrse's side about all the complaints* Yeah, sure. Feedback must be very important to you. Ah huh. I believe every word.

Ah cool we're just ignoring the generalised dislike of the trophy update then are we? Allowing people to vent and get their upset out their systems and then giving no updates on what is happening with that feedback? Good strategy Howrse Team

Happy that ECs are now on mobile for the quick log ons during the day where you get a notification that your EC has finished production - will save time going onto classical mode. Still unhappy that the classical web version is being manipulated to replicate the mobile version when there are two different versions for a reason, think I've looked at the trophy page about 3 times since the update because it is an eyesore.

Oh fantastic, a monthly update for us to be told how our feedback is being totally ignored, not acted upon, and raving about more useless changes made that nobody asked for!

It's been two weeks since admin posted that our feedback was being shared with the team, and we've heard absolutely nothing since then regarding whether it's been read, acknowledged, or if anything is going to be done about it, even in this update!

This game has serious issues... I'm sure there are plenty of players who would give up their time to have in depth conversations or take part in focus groups with the devs about the game, features, updates etc. if we knew it would actually make a difference.

I can't think how Howrse is generating a profit at this point or how it will in future without listening to the players.

HellOw,

Thank you for your messages, I hope I can clarify some things for you.

As with all feedback and suggestions we receive, they are all shared with the whole team. Unfortunately, once a feedback or suggestion has been shared, we cannot provide status updates for the feedback/suggestion or guarantee that additions or changes will be how you wish.

Rest assured that your feedback and suggestions are always shared with the team. While it may appear that I do not check here often, I do check the forums for all 5 English versions multiple times a week. Unfortunately, responding to each message or topic is not possible.

However, I am happy to report that the team has been reading all of the feedback, criticisms, and suggestions regarding the update from players of all versions.

With all due respect - telling us that our criticisms and feedback is being read doesn’t mean our criticisms and feedback are being acted upon. Whilst I can get that you personally are not responsible for how the team takes action on matters, as you are more of the public representative, people are raising valid points that I think a lot of players are feeling at the moment.

As Harley-Quinn says above, we don't want to know if they've been read. We want to know whether its been taken on board and whether anything will be done, or a response at least to justify decisions if not, when evidently players are frustrated and dissatisfied.

I would LOVE to love this game again. I seriously mourn what this game used to be, how fun the game was, and how great the community was. There was so many active players and it made the game fun and competitive.

It's evident from this thread alone just how far the game has fallen - only a handful of players commenting and liking comments. The forums used to be filled with players. Can't believe I'm saying this but I even miss all the 'mini mods', at least there was activity

Whilst I'm liking some of the trophy updates, especially the action based trophies that you can now collect, there are some massive flaws in other parts. For example, all of the Special Horses collections are no clumped together, so you only get a 'Diamond Trophy' once all of those are collected. That's a huge trophy to obtain, where as there are some that aren't nearly as worthwhile, but still carry the same prize. Similarly with the Special Coats, and Companions.

Could they not be spilt out, and every time someone completes an individual set, they get a 'Gold Trophy', and once they complete all, they get a 'Diamond Trophy'?

Anyone else get really excited when they read “In the breeding farms, it is now possible to search for only wild horses, chimera horses and pet horses” thinking we could now search for companions only to find out that’s not what they meant and it’s still impossible to find them in the breeding farms/sales �

Sorry if I'm being thick, but what are "Pet Horses"?