How can we improve Equiverse?

Just a quick note as it was mentioned before, I'm not really a fan of sites that have a ton of mini games to play that aren't really relevant to the game. To me it just feels cheap in trying to keep players busy, though that's just me.

For more things to do, I'd really like to see more with leisure rides! I think it's a great area to add on more to do while being relevant to the game. Currently I have no reason to come back and ride multiple horses throughout the day, I spam click through one in the morning and that's it. I think if there was a very very small chance to find rare/credit item, EVD, come across something that gives that horse a small stat boost for a day or two, just something to give people an incentive to ride every half hour I think it would help. I think something hidden was hinted at in the tutorial, maybe a shop or something, I don't remember as it was awhile back. But something like that would also be cool. Perhaps you could also come across some sort of mini game, who knows.

I'd also like to see some events come back such as the snowball fight, or even possibly integrate new events. Not only would it be fun, but possibly encourage community involvement in having everyone collectively aim for a site wide goal, or team up to achieve smaller goals.
I know there hasn't really been any time to code events in yet as there's been actual gameplay and bugs to sort out, but just something to remember for when it's more do-able.

In relation to shows, I think them being available immediately isn't a bad idea. Though if there's a limit on how many can be entered in one show from a single player, I'd be a little concerned with the amount of shows running out for those of us with 100+ horses as some divisions/specialties can get slightly neglected o~o
Though, this problem might be pretty minuscule since divisions are very spread out. People generally have more than one specialty if they have that many horses, but those who have say, 200 racing horses might run into a problem.

As far as cron goes, I'm happy with the way it is now as it gives me some motivation to actually log in every day, though I wouldn't complain if it were individual to every player, much like another certain game you help out with.

I'm neutral to the idea of personalised cron. It'd be nice not to have my horses die, but it would remove my incentive to log onand I'd just stop playing

I think the idea of clubs can be greatly expanded upon. Polls, better areas to display horses for sale to your group, polls, etc.

Somewhere to easily find and collaborate with other players who have the same goals as you (not a forum thread, it's infuriating to scroll through 3-5 paragraphs just to find 'I breed high stat mustangs with the champange gene').

There needs to be a better way to make money that art. I am not an artistic person and as a compulsive horse buyer, I rarely have more than 100k in my account. We need to encourage players to buy horses at higher prices, though how I don't know.

Broodmares. Please.

Last edited on 2017-01-07 at 18:21:10 by Dusty

i'm just going to chuck my two cents in here.

i personally like the idea of personal cron systems. there are a lot of adult players on this game that have jobs and families and other obligations that sometimes keep us from being able to spend even an hour or two on the game every day (as do some of the younger players when things like finals come along). i can't always anticipate when real life is going to get in the way, so it doesn't always occur to me to log into the game to lock my account or divisions.

i do agree that something is needed to keep people logged in after the care/feeding/treating/showing daily routine is done. i think something that would help people get SMALL gains in stats and/or money would be nice, but personally i'd prefer if it wasn't something that would give people with a lot of time a big advantage because like i said in the previous point, a lot of us don't always have a lot of time to spend.

i think something that might be kind of cool to have within the club registries would be some kind of breeding evaluation system for mares and stallions. because i get what people are saying about the inconsistencies in what quality of animals are allowed to be registered. i think an open registration would be cool for horses that meet fairly minimum stats (say, 200 - easy enough to get to that new players could achieve it but high enough that people actually need to be involved with their horses rather than just breeding them like bunnies), but then in addition to that, you could have different quality levels that are determined by the game rather than club presidents. kind of like how warmbloods, friesians, icelandics, etc are evaluated in real life. you could have, say, third tier stallions/mares that have a minimum of 500 stats (and/or a certain confo percentage), second tier with 750+ stats (and/or confo) and first tier with 1000+. i imagine there would be some kind of benefit for having horses that met those standards.

i'm also going to take this opportunity to agree that there needs to be some way for non-artistic people to make money on this game. i'm not saying it should be EASY or FAST because i know that good art takes a lot of time and talent, but i do agree with the others that i find it slightly off-putting that the people who have the most money in this game made it off something that's more or less an add-on to the game (and honestly, at least with the reboot, people seem to be making the most money off character designs which really have nothing at all to do with the game itself - it's not like they're selling graphics for layouts or custom horse images).

one other thing that i'd like to see addressed somehow is the fact that people really aren't selling horses. i know the in-breeding cap was supposed to encourage people to sell horses and/or breed to other people's stallions, but mostly it just means that people are buying HUGE amounts of horses to avoid having to introduce lines from other players. i'd like if there was a real incentive for people to sell horses (this would also give the in-game economy a boost).

The issue with selling, is that either people aren't going to want to sell their high stated horses because of the time/money spent raising them...Or if they do, they horses are really high priced due to the aforementioned time/money.

To further complicate things, there's the issue people have with horses having "too many foals". So, a foal that's by of a stallion whose had a lot of offspring is less likely to sell than a foal whose the only foal that a stallion had.

Honestly, I've been grabbing a lot of foundations because there's only a handful of breeders who have horses with the same level of stats as mine...Which means I have to be very careful when breeding my horses.

I am new to this game, but very much enjoy it! Actually LOVE it :) Finally found a game to replace the game I was playing for over 10 years.

Here are a couple of few ideas.

Leisure Riding - make the ride more interactive:
- Add different images to show progression of the ride
- Add the option to go down a different path
- Instead of the treats being automatically added to the Riders Inventory, the Rider must click on the treat when found (different locations on the page) to have it added to Inventory.


Clubs:
- make the pages more dimensional to draw a person in, like the Town
- On the Registered horse page
----- show an head shot of the horse
----- add Owner comments to personalize the horse - some people have good
imaginations and it could be fun to read the personality they created for that
horse

Riding School:
- add different types of jumps, poles, barrels, etc.. with possible stat point increases to the General Store - so the Stable can purchase them for the school
---- by having the different equipment added to the school this can provide the potential elevated stat
---- this could increase the dollar value that school could ask for each session

Thank you,
summerrain

Last edited on 2016-05-25 at 18:14:46 by smilesummerrainII

Showing head shots would clutter the page when there's 100s of registered horses. And we already have a notes page on the horses, it's just not public. It doesn't really need to be, though.

I apologize if I'm re-hashing ideas from anyone else. Some thoughts I've had:

- Limit the available items in the general store. I can currently buy unlimited quantities of anything standardly available, and usually for cheaper than what I would pay a player in the item market. Supply and demand would stimulate the economy, driving users to purchase items from players directly. The store could restock every x minutes to ensure things don't completely dry up, but with a limited quantity available at any given time it would force interaction.

- Stealing an idea from the good ol' Ludus Equinus days: medallions. Breeder, trainer, farrier, vet, craftsman, etc. Require players to reach a certain level or have earned so much experience or be upgraded, etc., at which point they can pay x dollars/EVC to buy a medallion. Each medallion brings its own benefits--breeder foals are born with 5% more stats, horses owned by trainers gain more stats/experience per show, craftsman are the only ones who can upgrade tack, etc.--and then limit medallions to two per player or something so that someone can't be all things and instead creates a need for other disciple areas--stimulating the economy.

- Allow some limited cross-breeding, but don't sell cross breeds in the equine center. Typical Anglo Arab, Quarab, Appendix QH, Azteca, etc. I know it brings a cost as it requires artwork, but at this stage it would also promote collaborative breeding efforts because someone who has historically focused on QHs will suddenly need access to solid TB lines in order to start breeding Appendix QHs--which will again stimulate the economy.

- Add in additional breeding factors. Something as simple as height gives folks another area to breed for; maybe they want a 12hh Welsh Pony instead of a 13.1hh. Temperament could add a competitive complement--hot horses gain something additional in racing, calm horses in dressage, etc.

With the available games, I don't feel like there's a problem earning money so much as getting people to spend it, and all of the above would help to alleviate that in some way.

^^^ I actually love all of your suggestions esp. temperament and height!

bring back horse tokens!
there's currently no reason for players to buy foundation horses from others when they can (with enough funds) purchase an indefinite amount of horses.

As far as economy is concerned, I second the ideas about adding an in game "skill" or "trade."

Pricing is what it is, and honestly it is fair.

Jobs would keep players on the site. The general store could still offer low stat boost "starter" treats and items. Each player could select a single profession. Switching professions would mean starting over, as each player only gets to do one at a time.

Maybe make most jobs available to all players, and another job or two only available to deluxe members, to encourage people to get/keep deluxe.

Maybe tack maker, orchard, vet, farrier (lvld vet and farrier could offer temporary stat boost)

Each profession could require purchasing space (workshop, land, clinic, truck) after selection, that would show up under "Ranch."

Items or treats produced by the player could have progressively better stat boosts based on lvl. Examples: lvl 1 tack maker would be the same, or 1 point higher than general store items. Max lvl (5?) would be 4-5 points over general store. Lvling Should take a fairly long time, so one needs to be invested in it. Lvling would be based on exp. pts from producing items.

Jobs would require a financial investment per item sold, to be recouped in the sale price, which should keep prices from dipping too much. Small, say 50 per bag of apples, 100 per saddle, 200 per horse vetted....something like that. So pricing would be pressed to be like 70+ for apples, 150-200 for saddles, 300 for vetting. This could depend on lvl too.

This way buying player made items is not necessary, but helpful. It would offer a way to make money in game, rather than art.

I could also see this being a pita to add, and would be a definite shake up for the game. What happens when many players max out job lvls might be weird. It may throw off showing quite a bit. Maybe not if balanced well. I know I would participate, and it would add a new dimension to the game.

Also, this may be out of character of me, but I also second the return of horse tokens.

Last edited on 2016-05-25 at 05:00:39 by Kaioti Blue Ranch

I would really like the idea of maybe being able to grow crops at your stable and sell them. It could be a deluxe perk. You can buy fields like how we do arenas and choose which crop to grow. Yes, this is on another game, but I think it would be a nice addition to EV. Player grown crops could have special properties once the player has leveled up enough in the skill of growing things, like a small 1 or 2 stat boost as compared to store crops.

I also have an idea that would stimulate the horse economy, but I don't think anyone is going to like it. I've seen other games pull this off quite well, one I played in my childhood and was still able to be a moderately successful player. Make foundations cost real money in the form of credits. A game I played long ago only allowed you to get foundations if you donated to the game, and it also implemented a waiting period before you were able to own so many horses and breed them. Kind of like what we have now with the leveling up, only back in 06. Maybe allow newbies to get the tutorial horse but that's it. It will make people think twice before making new foundations from the equine center because now it costs credits. People will be essentially forced to purchase horses from other players. The game I was talking about had a pretty good horse economy back in 08 when I was most active and I believe that this is partially why.
Want to start a new breed? Hit up a reputable breeder of the breed and work out something!

You're right Shinku, I really don't like that idea. I feel that takes Equiverse completely out of the realm of a free SIM game. I love this game, but if that were to be implemented I'm not sure I would stick with it.

Also at Kahzie I really don't like the idea of horse tokens being brought back. Since we now have the inbreeding block and horses die rather than going to the RC, I feel that the horse token system might be too constricting now.

That's because the mentality here is being very greedy with horses. No judgement, I'm guilty of it myself, but that's just a fact. The game in question had a lot more players and a lot more horses. Horses were bought and sold quite a bit and players collaborated more with breeding. There, however, was no inbreeding block even though most people avoided it as much as they could. It wouldn't take EV out of the realm of a free sim game, though because no one forces you to buy store horses. They should be a luxury, not a commodity.
Maybe when EV is a bigger, more mature sim with more horses and more established players a system like that could be implemented. But for now we just have to deal with the fact that the horse economy WILL NOT change unless there is a restriction on store horses.

I don't like the idea of charging 1 evc for foundation horses. It WILL cost us players. I know that I will leave the game. I like to raise my own lines and that suggestion would prevent me. I rather to have tokens back instead of paying 1 evc.

I'm not a fan of store horses costing credits at all.

The inbreeding block and dying of neglect have resulted in players buying an obscene number of foundations from the store, which they couldn't do before because of the tokens. that in itself isn't a problem, but it does suppress the horse-buying economy, bc why bother buying from someone else if you can pick through 50 stores to get what you want?

Another option is making stores cost more money. If it's cheaper to buy a horse from another player than from the store, it seems logical that it would boost the economy as well.