[ADDED] *Another Way to Get Rid of Unwanteds

Abbey, would it be reasonable to make RC drop off free on an experimental basis for a period of time, then at the end of that period examine the economy, the horse market, the state of the RC, and player satisfaction, and reevaluate?

It's very difficult to get a grasp on those things from an objective standpoint though, especially as new features are added to the game.  I don't track statistics such as horse trades, how many horses are dropped off or picked up in the RC, etc, so even if I started tracking those statistics now I wouldn't be able to get a good read on what is "normal" before and after if I make this change within the next week.

I also did say reduce the fee, not make it free :)

Ok! It was only an idea. ;)

Last edited on 2017-10-20 at 12:07:09 by North

I'm just trying to explain why that's something I can't really do right now :)

No problem! I had an inkling it might not be feasible, thus why I began with "Would it be reasonable...?" Personally I don't mass create or cull, but as we see suggestions along these lines so often I figured there must be a solution that would fix some of the economic issues EV has currently without requiring additions of new game features  (or, now that we know about Shifty Jim, the return of old ones!).

Edited to add: Unfortunately as long as the RC bears a drop off fee there will be some $1 horse sales, because most people would rather earn $1 than even spend $100. Unless, of course, there is a return of Shifty Jim, in which case the RC will become obsolete as, once again, the average person prefers to earn money than spend it when trying to be rid of property (especially given that we are dealing with pixel ponies and therefore operating in somewhat of a moral vacuum; real life value judgements - ie. "I would rather spend $50 to surrender my dog to the Humane Society than abandon it alongside the road for free" - aren't really applicable here [although I am sure some of us do get the feels for our EV horses]).

Pease note I am *very* shy and adding my opinion to a discussion like this is very difficult for me, but I felt that some of these logical issues were being overlooked!

Last edited on 2017-10-20 at 13:30:40 by North

I think a good solution to this issue would be to remove the rescue centre fee, and additionally also make it possible to spay mares.

The whole point of the RC is that "one person's trash is another person's treasure", so it's a good place for newbies to find cheap horses, for others to find good foundations where they can see what they're getting first (instead of buying tons of foundies and picking through them), and also serve as a place where people can dispose of their unwanted horses.

I feel the existing fee is too much of a deterrent, so it's now common to see the RC deserted or with a very limited selection of horses available. Removing this fee will mean the RC will be the most convenient means to dispose of a horse, thus allowing it to serve in its original capacity as a trash-and-treasure horse market. For those who don't want to have their bloodlines available to others, there's the option of gelding/spaying the horse before dumping in the RC. Still more convenient than neglecting it to let it die, plus it now has potential as a riding school or show horse. Anything that's genuinely unwanted will get deleted after three days in the RC anyway.

@Ulysses

I want spaying of mares so bad.  >.<

I'm constantly buying up parts of my lines that are for sale in order to keep them clean when I can, and it would be incredibly helpful to be able to spay foals I pick up rather than having to hold onto them for 15+ weeks while they age out to retirement.

Ah! Yes, UB! I was actually just talking to my husband about about that - yes, we talk about EV - saying that the whole problem would be solved with free RC dump and spaying mares! 

would love to see the free  rescue center fee come back. It sure did help me as a new player and I would love to see a good selection back in the rescue center. One mans trash the other mans treasure kind of thing. I am always looking for rnrn, tsb, hidden Ff, and low non specialty stat foundations!

I agree with Get er Dun because even though I am not that new I still go to the RC looking for horses and horses to help. If it was free then yes there would mostlikly be more in there but also a better diversity of Horses that range in all kinds of breeds, colors, and stats.

@Nittrous; I mean, you could always just let them die? You don't need to wait until they reach retirement age and die, they will die of hunger way before that.  In fact, my Former Horses section is literally a graveyard of test horses that I purchase one day and let them just rot: http://www.equiverse.com/former.php?id=1

It takes approx 1.5 weeks to reach that stage from a fresh EV Center purchase (in fact, I should probably make that faster, but hey ho).



Spaying mares is something I'm tentative to add.

Firstly, it's awkward as all hell because how EV is set up, it has 3 "sexes" (Mare, Stallion, Gelding) rather than just 2 and a variable to say that stallions that are gelded can't breed.  I'm not saying it's impossible to add, but it will just take a lot of time refactoring some code because I was stupid when I set it up :'D.

Secondly, the main suggestion topic for spaying is quite controversial at 66% support. I don't really tend to like adding ideas unless it has 70-80% support, or higher - I don't really want to add divisive updates, I want to try and keep the large majority happy.

@Abbey: It's really what I should do, haha.  I'm just terrible at paying attention and end up feeding them halfway through their hunger bar and reset it.

I'll just have to pay more attention to not feeding them.  Luckily I only have one or two at them moment.

Ok so I might be a little insane.  I've been making a googledoc sheet and keeping track of horses that are in both of the Rescue center and sales. 

Googledocs here

I'm only three recordings in, but I'm doing it every other day.  I thought it might get a better grasp on what's going on in those two places and see what kind of "horse traffic" it gets.  I haven't been keeping track of what horse goes where, just general numbers and prices.

In the sales line, I thought it fair if I took only the horses that were 1k and less, and still make note of how many of those were actually less than 1k in sales.  So reading that, when you read something like "19 (14)", that means that there were 19 horses total in sales that were $1000 or less, and 14 of those were less than $1000.  I chose 1k because that's what it costs to make a foundie, so it covers people just making foundies and reselling them at what they paid for.

Abbey, I hope this helps you, even just a little bit?

Last edited on 2017-11-20 at 17:26:09 by Tyr

If you see horses for sale for a horse sold for $1 or $2  and I am the one who's selling it, its got nothing to do with it being a " throw away" but everything to do with I need it moved fast, or I am being nice to that new upstart or even old upstart, that's looking for the perfect conformity, gene, or wants a second horse, but doesn't have the $$ to just create one. 

I am honestly wondering, just how much of it is what I am doing Vs what people think is going on??

Well, but you bring up another point if you are putting them up for $1 or $2. - the "unwanteds" isn't necessarily that you want to throw them out. But you still don't want them, and you want them gone fast. So this would be an alternative way to get them out of your stable, and another way to "dispose" of them quickly for a new upstart/old upstart/whatever.

What I AM finding a lot of the super cheap or Rescue horses that are named "Cull", or something similar, or a slew of foundation horses that are at 100 stats that seemed to have been rejects because those people did not get the colors they wanted, or the colors they didn't want from the foals.

I don't get why people would need to buy them for so cheap when they can create one in the Equestrian Center at 1k?  Even if they didn't want to create one that way and wanted to buy one, let people save up the funds. It doesn't take very long to accumulate the funds for a horse if you play the games and do the wishing well every single day.  If they already have horses, they can put one in Riding School. It's ok to make people work for a horse.  Newbies get quite a bit of funds to start with to buy several horses, so are not hurting for funds at the start.

Alternatively, maybe we can just have a "retire" option that sends them to our former horses without killing them? Sort of like we retired them out to the pasture.  You wouldn't get any funds from them, but it would be a place to put those "culls"

EDIT: Today (11/22) in adding in the rounds, I am definitely noticing that the most common price in sales is around $500.  There is still a good handful in a lot of breeds that are $10 or less.

Last edited on 2017-11-22 at 07:48:04 by Tyr