[ADDED] *modify breeding formula

I realize that many players breed for multiple attributes. I was referring to those who don't. I imagined that players who breed for both will breed at the best possible times for stat gains, but simply breed horses together of desirable color, which was my plan when I was more active in breeding.

Of course it depends on how badly you want a certain color, I guess.

^{As far as I understand it, it sounds like current pedigree horses wouldn't get any kind of "generational boost" being already past 5 generations, I don't know how that rewards that hard work when it sounds like we'd have to be starting from foundations just to get that extra boost. Could you also not just cheat that 5 generation cap by breeding to a third or fourth generation with your fifth generation horse or would it stagnate? Without definite numbers and example it's kind of difficult (for me) to imagine how it would work in all scenarios, not being especially into maths myself. However, what if you didn't know about the generational bonus when you started and got to your fifth generation wanting to play with stats? Your only choices would be to buy from another player at what I imagine would be an extortionate price since 2-5 generations of horses is a lot of work and stats, and I don't imagine the 10k per 100 stats rule that older players still employ would change with this, or to completely restart. I can understand the benefits of the boost and encouraging well cared for/late bred horses as a stat breeder, but it would also be pushing players into a certain way of playing for 5 generations just to get that boost and be on a similar playing field to older/more experienced players. So I completely disagree with this proposal, there shouldn't have to have any sort of credit item to 'fix it' (we have training conversion to 'fix' horse specialities already) nor should there be a penalty for playing the game how you want to play. I understand it's a competitive sim, but it seems like you're starting to expect people to come to the game with full comprehension of what works and what doesn't on EV, and it's unfair to penalise them for that. I know I didn't grasp how to play best immediately when I first joined, and I didn't fully understand the mechanics for at least a year of playing. Of course players are going to mess around for a while when they join, and if they learn they have to restart because they didn't know there was a breeding bonus for disciplines, or how stat distribution affected shows or that there was x boost for doing x, 9 times out of 10 they're not going to stick around to restart all their "work" that they enjoyed up to that point. And, to be completely honest, I don't understand why we need an extra stat boost when we already get an insane amount of stats compared to the old EV.}

^^^ That right there.

^^ I've been keeping my eye on this thread and maple about sums up my thoughts so far. I would also like to see points put back into play on this game in I think this would not only accomplish that but still maintain the level of "play your own way" what we have currently. I'd like to explore this idea little more

The way Abbey described her proposed bonus, it appears to me that it doesn't add to the actual stats, but is more like the bonus you get from tack, only given based on the growth of the horses each generation rather than bought outright, like tack.

If this generational boost was an opt-in thing rather than something that started automatically the moment you breed that first horse, that might help it not get wasted by new players, before they realize what they're dealing with.

my eyes are swimming and I've only skimmed through this, but I would just like to add that I am very strongly against adding in credit items to make the game playable. This game has never been pay to play and that's the #1 reason why I have loved and supported this game so much. If someone were to ignorantly screw up their lines and found out they had to pay to fix it or trash their work and start over that's very much bordering on pay to play imo.
This is a kids game, most kids are going to make mistakes, the moment you make them pay to fix it is when they're going to quit because most parents aren't willing to put their money into a sim game their kid plays.

Last edited on 2018-02-06 at 19:11:18 by

^{I recognise that they would be "invisible" stats so to speak, but they'd still technically count as stats like the tack as you said even as a generational boost. They might not be visible as a breeding stat, but it's still there.}

Yeah, I'm not wild about the generational boost idea, honestly, but I thought I'd explore the concept since Abbey suggested it, and see what the pros or cons might be, and look into potential pitfalls and solutions to those pitfalls.

^{It's not necessarily a bad thing that it would take so long, and it would certainly show commitment to your own showing quality lines, but the amount of players that would be able to realistically put that amount of effort in just for a generational boost for 2 years would be relatively low imo. Especially with the turnover that EV has, where even the 'resident' players being off and on a lot of the time, as is to be expected. It doesn't seem like a lot of players would be interested in such a long-term plan when they could just as easily keep breeding to higher stat horses and not need the bonus with the availability of stats on EV. I just don't think it's a totally viable option for the way people play EV at current, and very few players would truly utilise it.}

Thank you for bringing more light to the idea of returning to a point based showing system.

i have so many thoughts on this, but i think i'll save my fingers the novel and wait until Abbey weighs in again.

i will say that i'd love for points to mean something again!

Points based grading isn't really ideal. How are shows won in that system? If you have grading done by points and shows won by stats, foals starting with 300 stats would just dominate shows up until they reached the grades with other 300-stat horses, at which point there is some competition but then it's just essentially grading based on stats again?

I haven't read thoroughly because there is a LOT of text - but in the old system where points mattered, there were no grades and there were no stats and shows were won at random.

i didn't necessarily mean that points would affect showing, just that they'd have some meaning or value. of course now that i think about it...what would that even be? i'll think some more.

i think that the all-stat counting yet discipline-specific scoring stat-based showing system we already have is absolutely ideal.

Last edited on 2018-02-07 at 15:16:14 by kahzie

It does seem to me at this point that point-based shows isn't the best answer to achieve showing that is accessible at the low levels and competitive at the high levels, and neither is generational boosts, not without getting really complicated.

So my personal opinion is still that maintaining shows as they are now, and hopefully changing the breeding formula eventually to allow for breeding down non-discipline stats, looks like the best option.

I feel less antsy for that breeding formula tweak, however, now that I've figured out that there is at least some scope for breeding down those stats.