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

Secret Page Number 2 Objective 73

The link to Secret Page number two on Howrse can be found at the bottom of the Black Market page.

This is achievement/objective number 73. You have to visit the page above and click on the link.

However, you can only ever visit it once - when you are completing the objective. If you visit it before you have unlocked this particular objective, or try to visit it again afterwards the link won't be there!

Not the right secret page? Read our posts on Secret Page Number 1 and Secret Page Number 3.

Lucy

Owlient's 5th Birthday

Well we hope you're all enjoying the wealth of stuff going on to celebrate Owlient's 5th birthday. There's a stack of amazing prizes to be won in certain, lucky 'Horns of Plenty' (HoP's) including an iPad, Divine horses and other goodies. You just need to buy a HoP and then cross your fingers.

There are also a new set of objectives for us all as well. We'll be posting help and tips for those of you who are working towards these. We love helping out and have received loads of positive feedback from players who have found the answers they were looking for - on the last objectives.

So keep checking back and we'll be right here to help you!

Patsy

The Bewitched Pumpkin and more

It is nearly Hallowe'en (note the correct spelling!) and of course, Howrse have created lots of special things to keep us entertained. We'll be looking at them all in a bit more detail soon. But for now, here's a quick summary of what's on offer.

Firstly, there's the Bewtiched Pumpkin which gives your horse a special Hallowe'en-themed coat along with additional bonuses for your horse. There are four coats: The Bat, The Vampire, The Skeleton and The Ghost. They cost 2 passes each and are all animated! So they look fabulous.

Secondly, you can buy BM items (including the Bewitched Pumpkin) in 'Flash Sales. These sales allow you to buy BM items with equus, rather than passes. And you can choose between direct sales, at a fixed price, or auction sales where you can bid on the Black Market item of your choice.

Thirdly, there's a sweet fight taking place! You catch sweet 'UFO's and receive one for you and one for a friend. The 'sweets' are actually just like normal UFO's, so you'll mainly get stuff like apples and aging points.

In essence, this is all pretty similar to the 'Beach competition' of a few months ago. So expect to see plenty of spooky horses in the sales!

Have fun,

Patsy

Gypse crazy

Well Howrse know how to create a buzz don't they? In case you've somehow missed it, this weekend (until October 18th 2010) you have a chance to win a Gypse Divine horse in a Horn of Plenty (HoP).

Now the Gypse or 'sand' horses first appeared in the beach contest back in the summer when you could buy them in the beach sales and auctions, using sand as cash. You mainly earned sand from entering and finishing in the top three of competitions. Anyway, Howrse have decided to give the rest of us a chance to own one of these unusual divine horses.

As always these days (!) you're going to need a HoP to get a Gypse for free. However, as we all know - passes cost money. Either real cash or virtual 'equus'.


Now this mad scramble for passes has sent the private sales crazy, with people desperate to get hold of a precious pass. LucyLou and I have seen dozens of Harlequins up for sale for 500e and 12-20 passes. Also 'pass' horses (horses that are over 30 and not immortal, which, when they die, give you a pass) have shot up in value. Typically, we sell them for 35,000e but people are paying 55,000e and more just to get a pass.

And it's not just the private sales. The auctions are now starting to see Gypse sales too. And the prices are amazing. We're seeing bids of 3 to 5 MILLION equus as we stand. That's the same as Xanthos prices. Crazy indeed. However, last night I spotted (and missed, sadly) a Gypse in the private sales for 200,000e and 20 passes. Wish I'd grabbed it as I'd happily pay that for this rather wonderful Divine horse!

So, if you want a Gypse either buy a HoP (with a pass), buy one in the sales (if you're lucky enough) or bid on one in the auctions (have lots of equus). To search for a Gypse just enter 1200 in the GP (Genetic Potential) box which is listed in the 'advanced search' section of Private or Auction sales pages.

Good luck.

Patsy

UPDATE: Well fancy that. I'm now the proud owner of a Gypse, thanks to my dear friend - moonbean. I'm a lucky Patsy indeed!