General Discussion

I have been playing Howrse ever since I was 9 (I'm now 21). I've had about 6 accounts through the years, all very long-lasting ones that got deleted due to inactivity. It was my favourite browser breeding game until now. FR is so much more fun. And I only have space in my heart for one browser breeding game.

For anyone who likes and plays Howrse, please don't take offence as my critiques are purely subjective!

First of all, Howrse has always been P2W and it's only gotten worse over the years. For all my years on Howrse, I've only had one divine, which was a Greyfell that I got lucky enough to win in an event. It's not fun that divines are so thoroughly locked up tight behind a paywall. I'm not that upset over it, because I am not that interested in divines, but I imagine there are many who would like a chance of getting a divine without paying real money.

Contrast with FR, which gives all players a fair chance at everything. I think the gem MP items are reasonable, because it's usually just one set of a collection that's on the gem MP. Even then, it's not improbable to obtain. It just might take a long time to get the whole set of apparel from the gem MP. Probably the most difficult to attain is fest gem MP apparel, but you've got players selling those, so you still have a chance at getting it for yourself.
I never bought passes on Howrse because I didn't want to give in to something I felt was forced on me, but I do buy gems once a month because I really like the game and want to support the devs of FR.

Second, I have never used the forums on any breeding game as much as I have on FR. FR community is by far the friendliest. On Howrse, it's almost kind of corporate. People are friendly there too, but not as much as here I believe. I think the inherent nature of Howrse is just that it's more competitive than FR, so players might be more prone to being stand-offish. I know I've definitely encountered a few bordering-rude replies in forums to my questions.

I also get that many adults play Howrse and have jobs, meaning they have little time to enjoy Howrse. I really do understand that. But I think it's unnecessary how in so many presentations (and I've seen a lot because I congratulate back), the player has something like "Only replying to important messages (aka not you)" or "You probably can't afford my horses, so don't bother making offers"
Most of them are a lot more subtle and less on the nose than those two, but I remember those clearly, word for word.

I understand that it can get annoying when players DM you asking for your BM items or horses. But I just have a notice on my presentation saying that I'm not up for selling anything on my account, and to please not make any offers on anything. If I do get DMs about it, I just ignore it. I don't make a passive-aggressive jab at them on my presentation (which I have also seen).

My last main gripe with Howrse is that breeding can be pretty stressful. I eventually gave up trying to get noticed by a breeding team. I was in one once, but they let me go because I couldn't keep up (understandable). BLUPing makes my blood pressure rise like nothing else on this earth lol. The frustration of enemies dodging eliminate thrice does not even compare.

I have many other gripes with Howrse, as it has been deteriorating for a long time, but It would take me all night to type them out.

Needlessto say, I love FR and can someone make me that "friendship ended with ____" meme?

[img]https://i.imgur.com/yRV0JYE.png[/img][font=American Gothic][size=4] Sorry for lazy editing I didn't have my normal editing tool with me, so I used computer instead.

@Requacy Lmao thank you I'm going to use this everywhere now

[quote name="@Vasarul" date="2021-07-19 14:26:08" ] @/Requacy Lmao thank you I'm going to use this everywhere now [/quote] [font=American Gothic][size=4] You're welcome! Thank you as well! I'm glad you like it!

oohh I used to play Howrse a REALLY long time ago. I don't remember it being that bad store wise, but this was literally years ago. I definitely saw it heading that way, I think the last "god horse" or divine I was on there for were Harlequins or Sleipinirs? Not sure. I had my own small 'lil community and even in there, some of the players were pretty snooty.

yk i waz rlly tempted 2 play howrse but now readimg diz im glad i didnt bother!!

Kinda givez off a similar vibe 2 pokefarm lol

Wait, there's fest gem MP apparel?? holy hecc I didn't know that

This is unfortunately the reality of many games that continued for a long while, even just game franchises. But console/some pc gamers have the bonus of having the older, less PTW games accessible. Where as more recent pc games are blessed and cursed by updates, over time being integrated with as many greedy tricks as possible.

FR really is a rare case, and i hope it never becomes corporate or PTW, even though often i wonder how they make a steady income if not from FR

In saying all this, i am surprised to say that i am hoping all my favourite old games are gone, mind you even in the early 2000’s there was PTW but it wasn’t nearly as rampant. I never got into howrse but i played bella sarah and more commonly horseworld (i think thats what it was called?) and Super Secret. I fear the day that i go to the website to find it still up and running, with all the cunning, deceptive, PTW marketing on display

@Orbeez Yes there is. You can find them all here on the 2nd page: https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/2205043/1

Oh and apparently, a lot of old players of Howrse have left the game due to being fed up with the devs and the changes they made to the game. In Howrse, you have foundation horses (or foundies) like FR has progens. These foundies have a genetic potential (a value for how high their skills can get, sometimes they can have higher skills than their GP dictates). It used to be 250 when I made my first account. Now it's around 4500.

This is a problem because foundies compete in competitions of a certain difficulty. So you now have beloved foundies of old players being beaten by the foundies of new players. It was pretty upsetting.