Ocean update

Well, the skills keep on gaining. My Ocean has just 'grown up' and is now 1 year and 6 months old. His skills have increased again and are now 1707.60. However, things are still a little bit weird. I spoke to another player today who told me that their Ocean who is still only 4 months old also has 1707.60 skills! I had to check to see if it were true. And indeed it was.

So just a few days ago, there were no Oceans as young as 4 months with 1707.60 skills. We've even checked the parents' BLUP and age and Oceans with identical parental skills, BLUP and age produced Oceans with different inborn skills.

Very strange. So if you have any ideas about the weird world of Oceans' skills - leave a comment. and maybe we'll work out what's going on!

Patsy

UPDATE: As of 12 Jan - skills are now 1711.60 .....

Ocean Divine Horse

Well most of you will have seen these wonderful new Divine horses by now. They are unique in that they are the first Divine foals on Howrse. They could only be born by breeding a Snow horse with a Mist. And having looked through the Directory (on Howrse) it seems as if hundreds have been born so far.

At the time of writing, we are still a few hours away from seeing the first adult Oceans, although there have been images of them floating around the site. But as foals, there have been some interesting discussions taking place in the forums about their skills. Some people reported that their Ocean foal had 1693.20 skills when born but others had 1695 and 1696 skills. However, it was soon clear that Oceans' don't gain any skills from foal games but they do gain skills as time goes by - every two days. Some players were saying that they were gaining skills at different rates to other players. So, for example I spoke to someone who's Ocean had 1702.80 skills aged 8 months, but my Ocean only acheived 1702.80 skills when aged 1 year!

Very interesting. A huge debate took place about this and people were suggesting that the BLUP of the mare (Mist horse) was affecting the Ocean's inborn skills or that matching the Snow's top skills with those of the Mist (Mist's top skills change each day) was affecting the inborn skills of the Oceans'. But no-one could explain why some Ocean's gained skills faster than others.

Well one thing seems a little clearer now - all Ocean foals aged up to 1 year and 4 months have reached the same skills - 1702.80. Right now, we don't know if they will keep increasing but we shall definitely let you know.

I think that's enough figures for now. My head hurts!

Patsy

New versions of Howrse

Well, the big surprise that Howrse have been promising has arrived. And the surprise is ..... four new 'versions' of Howrse. According to the posting from Ow - Owlient have decided to offer more "more culture specific animations" (whatever that means!) and allow players to have a better, more localised gaming experience.

Now there are a number of other language versions of the game already in existence such as the original French version as well German, Russian, Spanish ones, amongst others. However, these new versions will be English language sites but, we are told, will be more tailored to the country's specific culture. Hmmm.

So, USA, UK, Canada and Australia will be first up with their own version. The current 'international' site (www.howrse.com) will continue. You can choose whether to just keep playing the current version, switch to one of the new ones or do both. In fact, you can register with as many as you like. Actually, this is already the case with all the non-English language sites. I used to play the Spanish and Russian versions as well as the 'international' version.

So, the big questions are: Why have Owlient done this? And: What will you be doing?

As far as we're concerned, it seems that Owlient, as a business, have realised that there's a whole new market out there. Thousands of players who want a chance to play a new, shiny version of the game (in their own language) that they will have a chance of being successful at. It will be a (fairly) level playing field to start with and so many people will want to be there at the beginning with a chance to be top of the rankings. And how will they do this quickly? By purchasing passes of course! Cynical, but true. And, in fairness, making money is what business's do. Owlient are no different. So it's actually a clever idea. Especially if large numbers of players decide to play two or more verions of the game. That's a lot of extra passes needed isn't it?

Aside from the money-making side, how successful will these new versions be? Initially, they're sure to be popular for the reasons stated above. But will they last? We shall have to wait and see. Maybe the novelty will wear off. Maybe the clutter-free new versions will attract players who have become disillusioned with all the breeding groups and 'elite' players found on Howrse.com.

So, let us know what you think. Talk to your friends and other players. We'd all love to know what our fellow players feel about this. Excited? Unhappy? Not bothered?

Get posting!

Patsy

UPDATE: I just had a look at the statistics for Ultimate Howrse. Most interesting. Guess which countries rank as the top 4 (out of 61 countries) for visitors to this site?

USA 57.3%
UK 20.7%
Canada 15.5%
Australia 6.5%

Poseidon's Pack

Well as it's now 2011, we thought we'd kick off the New Year with a look at the new Poseidon's Pack. Now, essentially, this new tack pack is designed to replace the Centaur's Pack (for Western competitions) and the Atalante's Pack (for English competitions). Here's how Howrse describe it:

During each storm, Poseidon sheds some scales that are preciously kept to make magical saddlery items.These saddlery items offer a great amount of Poseidon's power to the horses bearing them. You horse owns tack that offers the same performances in Classical or in Western competitions.

To be able to use this Pack you horse must be over 3 years old.

So, the Poseidon's Pack is the new tack pack for every competition. So exactly what benefits does it bring to your horse? Some pretty good ones actually. Here's the list:

• Poseidon's Horseshoes - Speed +12
• Poseidon's Bridle - Stamina +12, Dressage +12
• Poseidon's Saddle - Gallop +12, Trot +12, Jumping +12
• Poseidon's Scale - Stamina , Speed, Dressage, Jumping, Trot and Gallop - ALL +5

Now we've heard that if you add Poseidon elements to a horse with Atalante's tack, the Poseidon elements replace the Atalante ones. So you don't get an Atalante's Saddle AND a Poseidon's Saddle. Pity though.

So, whether you're training or entering your horses into competitions, the new Poseidon's Pack looks like a must-have item. And we're pretty certain it will soon be available to buy in the Black Market, rather than having to dispatch reindeer to the North Pole to get one!

Patsy

EDIT May 2011 - The Poseiden's Pack is still not available to buy from the Black Market for passes. You have to win them in HoPs or other promotions.

Mist - the new Christmas Divine

Well here it is. The brand new Divine Horse! And you can get one by purchasing a pack pf 30 passes before 23.59 Game Time on Christamas Day 2010. Or if you've been lucky enough to collect enough Reindeer you may win one through the advent calendar.

Now Mist is the very first Divine that can reproduce. Here's what Howrse have to say about it:

Mist is a divine mare that has the ability to share its skills. Its skills vary from day to day: One day it'll be good at galloping, the next day it'll be good at endurance... It can reproduce with a Snow to give birth to Ocean.

Mist and Ocean can not be sold.
Mist can only have one single foal.

Now we believe that you cannot use BM items on a Mist when breeding. So no Tears, Arrows etc. We'll let you know more as we find out.

Since Divines can only age naturally overnight it will take a few days before we get to see what Ocean looks like - so keep your eyes peeled!

Merry Christmas everyone,

Patsy and Lucy

UPDATE: We've both just received out Mist's and they are lovely. Let the breeding begin ....

1400 'skillers' are here

It wasn't that long ago that LucyLou and I were excitedly trying to breed our first '1000 skiller'. Well, as you probably know - things move fast on Howrse and the top breeders and breeding groups work day and night to increase the skills of their horses.

And only in the last few days, we've reached another Howrse milestone. The '1400 skilled horse'. The one on the left (click to enlarge the picture) is number one as I write although, depending on when you read this, it will already be old news. Not long ago, when 1000 skills was the highest you could get on a horse, the Divine horses such as Xanthos', Sleipnir's, Snow's etc all seemed to be infinitely better and more valuable than 'ordinary' horses. And whilst Divine and Special horses are still valuable, the skills gap is narrowing every day. But, it's worth looking at this in a bit more detail.

Whilst the overall skills of one of the new, '1400 skill' horses is 200 higher than, say, a Xanthos; it's trotting skills may be only 87 and its jumping skills only 160. The Xanthos has 200 in every skill. But the 1400 skiller, may have more than 200 skills in four of its six skill sets. So which is the best horse? Almost certainly the '1400 skiller'. This is because more of its skills are SO much better than the Xanthos. Even in trotting where the '1400 skiller' has 87 against Xanthos' 200, the '1400 skiller' has 403 in speed which is double the Xanthos' and more than makes up for the lack of trotting skill. So in a trotting race, our '1400 skiller' would win every time against the Golden One!

However we compare Divines & Special horses against 'normal' horses, one thing is for sure. Eventually the skill levels of these ordinary horses will be higher than every current Divine & Special horse. Even the Cowbra which has 2000 overall skills.

But... Howrse won't let that happen will they? If we could all buy an ordinary Irish Hunter with 2300 skills then the market for Sleipnir's, Gypse's, Harlequins' etc would disappear. True, there are some horses such as Falabella's, Croesus' and Archimedes that are not highly skilled but still fetch a lot of money in the sales. But we, as players will always want a magical horse that is far, far better than any ordinary Arabian, Thoroughbred or Quarter Horse. So I think you can be sure that there will always be a new 'mega-skilled' horse just around the corner.

Like the new Divine horse 'Mist' which will be appearing at Christmas 2010. Now how many skills will he have I wonder?

Patsy

Objective 90 - Horn of Plenty

Objective 90 is an interesting one and we're keen to know how it works for you too. This objective simply involves opening a Horn of Plenty (HoP) and finding another HoP inside. I managed this with the first HoP I opened (click to enlarge the picture), so I'm wondering if it will be the same for everyone. Or was I just hugely lucky?

Let us know your experience. We tend to think that Howrse 'fixes' it so that the first HoP you open after completing/validating Objectve 89, will give you another HoP. In all the time I've played the game, I have only twice found a HoP inside a Horn of Plenty, so the chances are very small. If Howrse didn't artificially increase our chances, it could take years to complete Objective 90!

So let us know how you get on. Good luck.

Patsy