A masterpost about recent changes

Hello

It's been almost a year. Uni is always keeping me busy and after writing a 1800-word essay, one has no energy or will to write a blog post. But on the contrary, I have so much now to write about! Howrse has made several major changes in the game during the last year and I decided to break them down and give my opinions on them. Have a nice cup of tea and enjoy!

Pouring out the tea for you ;)
Source: Giphy

All the pictures in this post are official Howrse graphics, except the gif and picture of Yggdrasil which was taken by me!

New pass currency system

The most significant changes were made to the currency system. Passes got a whole new value, 1 pass of the old system was turned into 100 passes in the new system. So, if you had, for example, 5 passes, you now have 500 passes. Howrse tried to raise the value of passes this way and stop trafficking, which is against the rules.
I like that pass prices are now more flexible thanks to this new system. Some BM items now cost a little less and there is a bigger possibility of getting a small pass profit when selling horses that are not top-notch.

New pass icon

Piggy Bank (or taxation tbh)

Every time you sell a horse, 10% of its final price will be going to the so called Piggy Bank. The Piggy Bank operates on a scale where after certain amount of money has been put into it by the community through selling horses, two BM items will be available to be bought for equus for 24 hours.

So basically, we have to pay taxes now just like in real life! Not to mention, that this has risen the prices of horses, because we will get less profit. The 24 hour BMs for equus is, nonetheless, a good idea for the more competitive players, but I, personally, have not bought anything through this system. I would like to buy GAs and Harmony packs for equus, but so far they have never showed up there. I can get the items that they offer there for free when completing events. To put it simply, I think this system sucks :(

Some Piggy Bank icon I got here for illustrative purposes.

Yggdrasil and daily objectives

Pass horse system was removed and a new one was introduced. You will no longer be able to receive passes when killing horses over 30. After the change was incorporated, you got a free new divine called Yggdrasil when a horse over 30 died. Now, horses that die at 25 years or later, will be "fed" to Yggdrasil, who ages according to how old the horse was when it died. As he ages and grows, he gives you prizes when he reaches a new size.

So no more free passes? Actually, there is a new way to make passes. There are now two daily objectives that give a summary of 30 passes daily if you complete them both. The objectives are, allegedly, made according to how far the player is in the game. If you complete all the objectives seven days in a row, you get to open a free Horn of Plenty. The HOP doesn't stack into your inventory, you open it right away.

If you now do some calculations, you will realise that one gets less passes out of this system per month than before with pass horses. Nevertheless, I personally like this system better. I rarely got 10 horses killed in a month (this lazy ol' ass can't bother to age so much lol), but this system kind of guarantees at least a little amount of passes if you complete at least one objective. The fact that I have never had so many passes before might be a testimony that it works. I am a little salty about the choice of the objectives though. As far as I understand, they were supposed to be made according to how far one is in the game, but one day I get objectives such as "wake 5 horses" and then the next "win one rosette". I have never bred horses that could win rosettes so I will never be able to complete this objective, unless every time this objective pops up I pay a ridiculous sum of money for a rosette horse to get some lousy 20 passes. I think this needs a bit of correcting. If there are no horses in the user's stable that could win rosettes, they should not get this objective. In other news, I like the free divine, although it takes ages to get the prizes.

My baby Yggdrasil

It is early in the morning and my dorm room is so freaking hot, I might have forgotten something important. If I did, I will update this post later. 

Anyways, thank you for reading! I hope to post more often again (as always lol).

BHF

A guide to blupping your horses

Hello again!

What is this? Two posts in one week? When did that last happen? Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you, this is the second post this week! Hooray!

Every third post on Facebook Howrse groups is asking about blupping. I have to agree, it took me years to understand this system, it can be very confusing for beginners. But worry no more, I am here today to share with you one way to do it - my way!

Please note that all pictures in this post have been taken by me!

The base for blupping is the horse's three best skills. You can find it out, when going to the "Genetic" tab. There you will see your horse's full genetic potential (or GP) and its breakdown. The top three best skills are the ones which work towards increasing your horse's blup. Fully train these skills.

Here is the GP breakdown of one of my horses. Circled are his

three best skills, which count towards his blup.

When you finish training these three best skills, start entering the horse in competitions. Having 20 wins* is vital for getting 100 blup. All wins are counted towards the 20, no matter the discipline or the event. I suggest you to use tack with as high bonuses as possible, to have a bigger chance at winning. Competitions also gain your horse skills, so make sure you take part in competitions that increase your horse's three best skills also. Skills can be gained only in a limited number of competitions, meaning your horse won't be able to forever gain skills competing. Make sure you gain all that is possible to gain in your horse's three best skills.

*Some horses happen to be less lucky and getting even a few wins might seem impossible, but if this is the case, I suggest you to finish rides first and then try competing again, because skills is usually what the non-winners lack.

Simultaneously, when there is some energy left after entering competitions, you should take the horse for rides. Each ride increases three different skills. Take your horse on rides where it's three best skills are increased. Often you have to complete both forest and mountain rides, but there are breeds which require only one ride. You have to complete rides, which means you have to perform this activity until there are no skills left to be gained from it.

This horse has no skills left to be gained from rides.

This horse has skills that can still be gained from rides.

If you have finished all these three steps, your horse's three best skills should now be bolded (see picture below) and you horse fully blupped! You can complete this in a different order, but it is a great idea to train and ride your horse before entering competitions, so it will have bigger chances to win.

This horse's three best skills are bolded, which means the horse

has gained all the possible bonuses in these skills in addition

to training.

Seems easy? Yes it is, once you get the hang of it. Blupping only affects breeding, but what about the skills? It is an important aspect, if your aim is to compete and get good results with your horse. But this will be discussed in a future post!

See you around!

BHF

Hunting the GA trophies!

Hello

Summer is upon us and so are finals...I don't think I need to elaborate here :P Anyways, I have been running around Howrse too and have gone Golden Apple crazy! The fact that I have achieved the 50 coats trophy pretty much is the result...

Well who doesn't love to give their bland and basic looking horses some life and colour! I managed to snatch up a good little lot consisting of eight GA horses, plus I've been exchanging and participating in events to get the items needed. Just a few minutes before writing this post I managed to score the one GA coat for every species trophy.

This inspired me to share some tips with you! Whether you are just a casual get-a-GA-once-in-a-while or aspiring to have the biggest collection on the game, I hope here is something for everyone!

• If you have a lot of Black Market items lying around that you don't use, you can trade some for Golden Apples or even Harmony packs! For example, 2x Poseidon's packs or Bonus packs will definitely give you a Harmony pack or a GA. You have to look around the market and see which exchanges are most likely to be get accepted. If you have enough funds, you can also trade with equus, but this is the more expensive option. If you want to give it a go, you can check out my guide on how to make equus for tips!
• Participate in events! I am guessing most of you are doing this anyways, but if you are not a very dedicated "eventer" or usually don't participate, I very much encourage you to do so! In recent years, Howrse is giving out bigger and better prizes more easily and these include customization items. If you want to get a free GA or even a Harmony pack, then just actively participate in events! You don't even need to pay passes to get that far! A big chance is that at some point, you will snatch up that desired item! You will also get other items on the way that you can put up for exchange!
• Facebook groups! I have mentioned them before, but they really are very useful for finding the best deals! The lot that I mentioned above I got thanks to an ad on Facebook.
• If you are a true hoarder, you can use up every chance to get more customization items. You can have a pass farm to get free passes (if you are wondering what it is, read my older posts!), use any Hermes staffs, Themis scales you get. I don't really recommend this option if hoarding coats is not your only purpose on this game...
• Don't forget about the horses! GAs alone won't get you trophies, you need horses to put them on to! I have often run into this problem in the past, but now have worked out a system. It is wise to stack horses that need a coat so you'll always have one should you get a GA. You can use horses that don't sell, horses from AP and pass farms. If you happen to get more valuable horses, such as those with pets, it's also a good idea to give them coats to increase their value.

I don't think I invented anything new here, but if at least one beginner found something useful here, then this post's mission is complete!

Happy hoarding!

BHF

Looking back at the Memory Game

Hello!

Phew! This semester in uni has been extra crazy! I've been wanting to write a blog post for a long time, but literally every free minute is spent on stuDYING -.-

A new event started today, but let's take a look at the previous event, the Memory Game. I used to do Yay or Nays about events, this is something similar, but gives a broader overview and also has pictures!

Please note that all the pictures in this post have been taken by me!

The Memory Game was just as you'd expect it to be - a memory game! There were 26 levels altogether and every one of them granted you a prize. You could also get some smaller items for matching tiles with the item's picture it gave out, but these were simpler ones, like APs, tack, fortunes etc.

With a little help in the form of a paper and pencil, this game could be made fairly easy! I just wrote down all the tiles and progressed pretty fast! I made it to level 21, which is so close to 22 where I could have gotten a Falabella divine! As always, there was a divine at the end of the board, but for non-pass-using players those are always out of reach, tough I have to admit, this time it was closer!

There was something new with the jokers that I liked - every day one of them was offered for free for one use! One of them revealed some unturned tiles for a few seconds and the other ones indicated tiles from the same family for a few seconds also. The former was very useful, the second I found great when the board was down to fewer tiles.

You couldn't go on forever, there were lives, that you received every day when logging in. It was great that they stacked as I was some days only able to log in for a sec to collect them.

On the second picture I have the level I managed to get to. I forgot to log on in the last morning, which I regret, because I was really hoping for that Harmony pack, but there will be another chance for sure...

The new event, Icelandic hike has proved to be promising also. It has a new and interesting platform. Iceland is also a very interesting place, I would really like to travel there one day, so it's kind of a win-win.

That's all for this time! Have a nice day and good luck, the purge starts in just five days...

BHF

What's the deal with stomping

Hello!

I am changing the focus of my blog a bit. I won't be writing so much about my personal game, I will post more game tips and discussions and my own opinions. This is the perfect way to practice writing essays which is very useful for an university student like me!

Today I managed to find some time to add a new page to this blog! You can find the "Useful" page on the top bar under the logo. I will gather there all the useful information that my brain can't or doesn't want to memorise lol. There might be something useful for you too, so go and check it out! Anything specific you want to see? If you comment, I can add it!

In this post I want to dive into a controversial topic: stomping. Let's make an example: a team is blupping their horse(s) and, as we all know, they need to have 20 wins in order to complete that. So to make sure that the wins stay in the team, they take up several competitions and fill all the spots with their horses. But suddenly, a player outside team takes up a spot on the competition and wins, meaning the team gets no gain. This is where the opposition forms. When someone stomps repeatedly, it can be very frustrating for the team, wastes their time and the horse's lifespan, if it is not immortal. On the other hand, the player stomping might have no idea they are doing so, plus they have every right to enter any competition they want to enter into.

Teams have the right to be frustrated, because stomping can greatly affect their progress, but there are no rules against stomping and it is all fair play, unless it's a rival team doing it on purpose (unfortunately, Howrse doesn't have any rules against this either). On Facebook drama groups I've seen the pettiest ones sending an angry message to the stomper, who didn't even know they were doing it. Why waste your energy doing so? Focus it on blupping for the team instead, don't let the inevitable get to your head. I think teams should just be patient and keep trying, eventually, the stomping, be it intentional or not, will come to an end.

Now, on to the stompers. Majority of them have no idea they are doing it. They are just entering competitions to do the same as teams do - blup their horse(s). They all are aiming for the same goal and in such situations a little (or alot!) of competition is inescapable. Also, it is possible that the computer is basically stomping: if the stomper has VIP and auto comp, then the system is entering horses in competitions itself and it can't do anything about stomping - the computer just enters, it doesn't choose.

To conclude, stomping is inevitable. There are no rules written down about it and there is really no way out of it. I suggest teams and other bluppers to just keep a cool mind and just move on and keep trying and if you are not an intentional stomper and just are blupping your horse, just keep doing so and do not worry about anything. If a petty and rude user unexpectedly pops up in your inbox, you have every right to report them.

Keep calm and Howrse on!

BHF

New year, new Howrse

Happy new year!

I know it is late, but I've had no chance to tell you guys this, exams have kept me busy. New year, new mes are popular right now, but let me turn it around a bit - new year, new Howrse! I have given a thought about the state of my breeding farms and in conclusion, I've decided to clean them up a bit. Many of my horses have been around for years and inside this time, Howrse has also made several changes to the game. For example, the new blupping system has turned my system upside down and it was in need of some rearrangements. Here's what's going on in my breeding farm right now:

• I have finished breeding Arabians. Nearly all of them are up for sale. The new blupping system kind of ruined it for me and I am just too lazy to sort things out xD Currently, everything in the "Arabian horses" tab is for sale. All of them are purebred and have whips, also some rare coats are included! Go and check them out and drop a mail with an offer if you are interested!
• The Arabs will be gone...what's next? Well, I have an idea that has been going around my mind for some time now. Project Super Horse?! Got to think of a better name for this lol, but the thing is, I want to try and mix horses who have different weaker and stronger skills, meaning, if they merge, their offspring's skills are all great. This could be a nice outcome and would really help me to aim a bit higher on the game. I just first have to sell horses I don't need and then see which two breeds I am going to use.
• I am also planning to do a "spring cleaning" in my beloved Trakehners stable. Most of the horses there are still the offsprings of the foundation mare Ebony, they are low skilled and because of the new blupping system, it is hard for them to win comps (which reminds me I should change their specialty...). Yet, I don't feel like selling them. A good solution would be to move them to AP farm, where they could all be useful and produce me passes. But I still got to give it a thought, let's just see what comes...

In other news, I have some Eye Candy c:

I found a mouse gray Arab with a goat companion in the sales for 50,000 equus and I just had to snatch him up, because I am eyeing that companions throphy. He got a 5th element and a nice look, go and see Ghaith.

More Vintage Apple coats, because Howrse keeps hoarding them as easy-to-get prizes in events:  Emoji, Excel.

A beautiful GA: Gabriel

A Wanderers' Spirit, gonna sell him in the future: A Man After Midnight

That's it for this time! See you!

BHF

How to make equus!

Hi!

Christmas is knocking on the door, which means it's time to think about presents! I am pretty sure, that many Howrsers also want to treat themselves with a nice present in-game. But what if you are a beginner (or why not a more experienced player) and are not sure yet how to collect equus efficiently for this expensive treatment? That's why I am dedicating my blog post to earning equus this time. I have recently found out ways how to make good equus myself, so I am going to share my ways with you. Certainly, there are better ways, but I am pretty sure that this one is more simple, any player can follow these tips easily! You are welcome to copy my methods!

• Sell your horses. Let's be honest, we don't always have horses to just put up for sale with a bigger price, but having smaller sales more often can also bring in a bigger amount of equus! Here's what I do: I run an AP farm, which means I need to produce useless foals all the time to keep the system up and running. I breed no longer active mares and stallions with each other to produce these foals, I also use current AP farmers. Consider using cheaper public coverings, there are a lot of lowers skilled studs out there, whose owners would be grateful if you used them. After these foals are born, I put them up for sale for an amount that is a bit higher than the amount it took me to breed it (unless it is a rare coat, then I will take a look at the market prices, but will always price it a bit lower than the lowest market value). Usually, majority of them will be gone, but those who will not be sold, will be going to my AP farm where they will one day produce me a pass, so it's kind of a win-win situation. The amounts are small, but selling 100 foals like that can bring you in about 450,000 equus! (and I didn't count in the income from the more expensive rare coats!) *To use this method, you don't necessarily need to have an AP farm, but you should consider having it because then you have a use for the foals that don't sell.
• Enter in competitions. Okay, not the most exciting one, but taking a look at my financial history, I found out that competitions are my 3rd biggest income, which means that this point should not be neglected! Here's how I do it: I already have a lot of horses who are competing, but there can always be more! I have set myself a goal to achieve all the coat trophies and this is an endless work, but you can make it profitable at the same time too! I never buy the coats, I breed them myself. Simultaneously, I use these horses for competing and even if they are low skilled, a lot of them may turn out to be good competitors! Also, any leftovers from this scheme can be put up for sale or be moved to AP farm! Again, win-win!
• Sell leather. I learned this tip from my ex team members and to be honest, this is a really good source of income, my financial history says it's no.1! First of all, stock up on 25 acre meadows, they are expensive, but worth it in the end. Raise longhorn cows in them. Again the pricey variant, but believe me, you are getting double back later! Longhorn cows take a month to produce leather, so you need to be patient! After you receive the leather, sell it. Leather's reselling value is 5 equus, but from 25 acre meadows you will get a lot of it which means a lot of money! Two meadows produce you 55000 leather and selling it you get 250000 equus! This is the BEST way of earning equus!
• Exchange with other players. Also a good source of income if you have a lot of leftovers in Black Market. I have joined several Howrse groups on Facebook, where people post when they are looking for something. Keep an eye on these posts as BM items are worth a lot of equus! Also, many players include their wants in their presentations too, so when you are congratulating someone, be sure to check this too, they might be looking for something you have and don't need! Remember, always be polite and kind, because if you are rude and do not fill your promises, you may easily get a bad reputation, which might lead to no one wanting to do deals with you!

So this is pretty much it! Of course, there are a lot other ways to earn income, but I listed the bigger and the more important ones here. So is that it? Of course not! Thanks to all of these exchanges I've managed to score several customisation items, which means eye candy!

Every year in celebration of christmas I give one horse a christmas or winter themed look, this year's chosen one is Everwood!

Manolito Wanderers' Spirit

Airlift 5th Element, he will be for sale once the team's GP limit allows me to! Keep an eye on him!

Chardonnay Vintage Apple

Shaelin Vintage Apple

And the last one has the most important meaning to me. From the recent cards event I got a Holsteiner filly and I decided to give her one of my all time favourite coats. I once had an Irish Hunter named Dreams with that coat who was the foundation for my farm of hunters. I was an inexperienced player then and put her into safe haven, but I still stroke her. So I turned this Holsteiner into an exact replica of her and named her Dreams II. She will stay with me forever and will keep the memory of my beloved Dreams! If you look around the blog, I even have her mentioned a lot of times here, years ago tho.

Wow, this was a very productive blog post I must say lol! If I only had that work-hard attitude in university also xD

See you!

BHF