HGG Community Forums

There are a lot of us feeling that way. It's very hard to manage when you just don't have the time.

My strategy has been to reduce the number of pastures I breed each year, and, if possible switching out which ones get bred. I'm not so good at that, I confess. but it helps a little to control the flood of foals.

I have the same problem, with the halved season.

The rollover into the next couple game years is going to be rough as a population balloon ages out, so once I ride out that - I'm to the point where I'm looking to stop growing and start stabilizing. My last barn was 1,335 IVs if I remember right, so my plan is to start auctioning more of my low-generation (thus lower pt) alters and have 2 game years to buy a new barn. Maybe by this time next real year, slow down to one every 3 game years? I want just a trickle of growth so I can always breed at least as many as died.

Plus, the more I breed the more I can auction, the faster I can save up those hbs!

Since Hj2 has always run at this speed and it isn't an issue over there, the problem isn't the rate. We know the rate is viable and sustainable. It's just the change compared to the old rate.

Johara's point of population balloonage is a valid and important one I think. It is going to take a while for things to restabilize.

I understand where you're all coming from, as longtime players with thousands of horses, and I sympathize with your situation. As a player who joined yesterday, I find myself in the opposite situation!


As a first time player, it took me only about 20 minutes on my first day of gameplay to run completely out of things to do - all training, all breeding, all showing for all horses completed, with about 35 HBs left in the bank. If at this point I had felt that I would have nothing to do for the next 2 months, I would not have stayed here. So from that point of view, I feel that the shorter breeding period is definitely a move in the right direction. (A month long breeding cooldown is still the longest I have encountered in any breeding sim, so I feel we're still well within the range of a slower, adult paced game at a one month turnaround.)

But based on what I'm seeing here, it sounds like there's still some balancing to be done on both ends. No matter where you are in your gameplay experience, you should feel encouraged and engaged, not frustrated by hitting constant barriers to forward progression. Toward that end, I would suggest:

For new players (<4 weeks): <br />When you're first starting out, the game is shiny and new and you want to devote large chunks of time to building up your new herd. It might be beneficial, therefore, to start new players with more money and give greater boosts to their first few Create A Horses' points, to make sure they get a more satisfying start and are able to accomplish initial goals in a timely manner. Also in the interest of accomplishing goals, I'd recommend adding a greater number of easy user achievement tasks that can be done quickly (I recommend a minimum 10 per day for a player just starting out) that pay high early sums of HB. I personally didn't encounter any accomplishments that paid HB and enabled me to keep playing within that first 20 minute period that marked my first "day" of gameplay. I feel it's likely you may lose players at this point by failing to engage them; adding more easy accomplishments very early on, with HB rewards that at that point feel extremely significant, could mean the difference between quitting on day 1 or continuing on. A player who feels engaged, who has devoted more time and effort to the game, is more likely to stick around and also more likely to pay in! (That said, after hitting that 20 minute wall, I did personally choose to pay in cash to buy more HB and keep playing, at which point I did encounter more satisfying achievements - which felt very good!)

For all players:
To satisfy players with thousands of horses in active use, it seems the main issue described here is that they're no longer able to maintain automation where their barns are self-sustaining and continuously moving forward. Like new players, it seems that older players are now hitting barriers to progression. Being frustrated isn't fun - for anyone! It may be beneficial for everyone, therefore, to either increase the daily bonus payout per point by double, or to reduce the cost of additional barns by half as many HBs. Doubling the daily point payout would benefit all players in the short term, but may cause longer term changes to the game economy that may result in similar problems to the ones that we're seeing now. Lowering the HB cost of additional barns, on the other hand, would primarily benefit more established players, enabling them to get back into the self-sustaining endgame that they're accustomed to. Therefore, I think the best possible solution would be to combine new player perks with reduced barn costs. To best satisfy truly endgame players, I feel the barn cost reduction could be applied as a 50% off discount for upgraded players, since it does appear that maintaining at least a basic upgrade is essential when your barn gets beyond a certain size.

I think that by some combination of these changes you could make gameplay feel more satisfying for all players!

I’ve only been around since November, but it seems that one of the cornerstones of this game is patience. Patience to build your herd, patience to build and establish your show string, and patience to realize your goals.

That’s not a bad thing. Does it mean that you run out of stuff to do in the beginning? Sure. Is that a bad thing? No, not really on a game that intended for busy adults. By design, we aren’t supposed to spend hours a day building and maintaining. That’s a good thing. Does it take some getting used to? Sure, but I don’t think it needs to change.

In my experience, offering players more hbs in the beginning only gets them into more trouble sown the line. How do I know? *points to own stable*

When you start, your exploring. You don’t really know what you want to do yet so you’re doing everything and anything. You also don’t know how to succeed and have your stable pay for itself. I paid to add extra money a heck of a lot more than I ever should have and my herd, of course, exploded. And I bred a lot of horses. And I GMT’d a nice stallion. But I got myself into a hole where I couldn’t sustain my growth. I ended up having to sell my stallion (I’m still kind of sad) because he ended up not fitting my program anyway so I could get more barn space.

Thanks to the Christmas event, I was able to get myself to a point where I’ve mostly stabilized. Although I still have many more horses than a new player can easily sustain, I’ve gotten focused and I’m reaching a point where I’m able to play without single handedly funding a yacht for Ammit (lol)

Over on the hj2 server, I’ve challenged myself to not spend any real money on the game outside of the new player basic upgrade. It’s slower paced, but honestly better. My account there is much more stable, and I can more easily afford almost anything I want. Already! And I started that account later. I’m on a much, much tighter budget over here. Over there, I bred all my mares are still have something like 100,000hbs left. Over here, it’s a struggle to get all my mares bred and have hbs left.

All this to say, more money will not help new players. Be patient. Stay within budget. And grow slowly!

Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with the game as is, although I can see how it would be a rough adjustment from the 2 month season down to the one month season.

Ammit has said this server is doing much better than it was a while ago.

I think you may have misunderstood me, Paradox! I'm not advocating for a system by which everyone has to spend hours every day to play the game. Quite the opposite! My suggestions were aimed towards spending a greater amount of time in the very earliest days for new players, when they are most excited and most eager to spend that extra time, then weaning the player off into a long term situation by which your barn becomes self-sufficient and requires less and less expenditure of time to continue succeeding.

My suggestions also aim to do this without requiring players to buy in with cash in their first few days. I find it likely that most players here (myself included) DID buy in with cash right at the start, to get through the slow slog for a new account. But examine why we did that: we paid in because not progressing is not fun. I imagine there have been many players over this game's long lifetime that didn't make it far beyond their first day or first week, because not all people are willing to buy in to the pay to win model for a game that they're not already enjoying. In fact, most people are actively opposed to spending money on a game they've just begun, have put little effort into, and aren't yet enjoying. By creating a higher level of engagement for newer players, the game would benefit from higher retention of new players, meaning both increased activity to the game's economy, and also potentially increased income from recurring memberships and other cash purchases. By and large, a player who has invested more time and effort in a game (and gotten more enjoyment out of it) is less likely to leave and more likely to buy in to the cash shop by small expenditures of $5, $10, or $20 repeated over a longer period of time.

As time marches on and interest wanes, the time expenditure necessary to keep your stable moving forward should reduce in kind. Once you have a stable breeding program and a solid foundation of show horses, your barn should become more or less self-sufficient. I think the complaints of the long term players here are based in a situation where their barns WERE previously more self-sufficient, but after shortening the breeding season, they are having to spend more time than before culling herds and trying to manage the ballooning stables, while seeing less progression and therefore feeling less satisfied. So for these more established players, I suggested it may be important to make it once again easier - by whatever means - to continue growing their stables with a lower time expenditure to maintain the same degree of satisfaction in the game.

In other words, to maintain satisfaction, the time it takes to accomplish all of your goals in a single game day should begin higher for a new player and continuously decrease over time.

The last thing I want is for the game to die, and I LOVE the new life and energy alle the new members are giving to the community!

As for the changes. Some parts of it has gone smoother than I believed it to go when it was first announced. The thing that bothers me most, is that I don't have time anymore to name the foals and geld/spay the non-breeding stock.

I would love for the toll on barns to be lifted a little bit, as it is quite heavy. For example, I would love to buy two new 100 acre pastures to further develop my line, but I know that I can't afford to buy the stables for the extra foals after they are born.

But if I must choose between not getting to develop my lines as I want to, and not having the game at all, I would choose to have the game any day!

^^ If we can get the bulk edits, that would be a HUGE help! Bulk naming and bulk spay/geld would make life so much less stressful in game. Having stress in a game is not ... conducive to having fun.

I didn't realize the timing had shifted. I'm very happy I don't have to wait two months to get more foals, but the formula I used to see if older horses where worth their purchase price was a little off because of it. (Dont ask me how I missed the fact that March is listed as the next season)

We have been bogged down in unexpected life and technical challenges that has slowed work on the new layout. But edits, and automatic naming are still things we very much want to see happen. We have just been hitting an unfortunate number of set backs.

I am a long time player on this game. I liked the long term nature of the game, it meant we had mature players (in terms of attitude not necessarily age) which led to a very supportive community. This is why I enjoyed the game so much. Like other people, I have struggled with the shortened breeding season, but I still like the game. I am trying to adjust my game play to the new reality, but that also keeps me interested because I am having to figure out how I want to play. Despite the changes we still have a fantastic (and mature in attitude) community - and I still like this game!

Ammit - I am sorry to hear that things have been difficult recently. Everything you have ever done for this game has been worth it, even if some of us didn't appreciate it at the time. We wait patiently (well mostly) to see what happens next.

I'm so glad we can have conversations like this and have you chiming in, Ammit! It really helps us know we're still moving forward, too bad about the setbacks, but what is life without challenge :(

The game's been around for almost 13 years, change is inevitable, and we as players need to change as much as the game does.

@Forestshadow me too!!! Tobiano, gray, and frame would be great to see redone. I am waiting patiently, I know it will happen some day soon! Still doesn't stop me from getting some amazing looking portraits.

I'll start by saying that I am a new player. This isn't my first breeding sim game but, it is my first horse breeding sim. I really enjoy playing. I agree with slowing down as a player gets really large. Large numbers really bog down the system. With horses there is a more difficult task of taking animals out of the game.

As a new player, I hit that "20 minute wall". I'm sure most of you have seen me asking "now what?". I agree with paradoxphoenix that this is an over time game that is geared more towards busy adults. With me working 50+ hours, being an active parent to tween girls, building a house and working with horses. I would be overwhelmed if there was a lot more to do when my stables and pastures reach max. I think ConfluenceStable has a good point. Being more active in chat. I met a few great people in here over the weekend. Talking with these few members made me not feel that need to hunt for more tasks to accomplish. Now, I know that I am not like everyone else but, I like searching the for sale ads and looking for deals that I think that I could make a profit on. That is my real life nature. I was a little disappointed when I went to the auction site and I couldn't find anything.
p.s. I have a few horses that will probably die in my pasture or pass along to some newcomers. Thanks guys.

Ichigo, I remember those days too! I stopped playing for a bit and then I came back, the forum was so much slower! Glad things are finally picking back up again. :)