HGG Community Forums

thefrostflower · Jun 1, 2022 2:21 PM

Hello everyone! Brand new to the site, just started... Last week I think? Saw the new user event, and decided to chime in!

My first impressions and thoughts:

❖ The site's UI... definitely looks its age. I also feel that it's not... The most intuitive to navigate? Maybe it's just me, but I spent quite a fair bit of time clicking on links to see what they were, and getting lost in menus within menus and all the 8 million Things To Do options that have been all grouped together (such as the mess of options on the My Barns page, with all the breeding and testing and this and that). This latter thing, I feel, is more geared towards the veterans for their convenience (oft-used options in one place), rather than, well, anything else.

❖ How to move horses doesn't seem very intuitive either. I went to My Barns, saw the Move These Horses option, and immediately thought I had to select the horses, then the barn said horses were in on the left drop-down menu, and then the pasture I wanted to move them to from the right drop-down menu, and was very confused when nothing happened. Took me like 10 minutes to figure out I needed to select the horses from the list, then choose a barn OR a pasture that I wanted to move them to.

❖ The FAQ user guide is very informative! But it's... A Lot. A Lot at once to take in for someone who's brand new and has no idea about anything. Not to mention, you have to hunt for it, rather than the site giving you the basics as you explore. The pictures included in the FAQ Guide are fantastic though! I'm a very visual learner, so if it had just been a looming wall of text, my eyes would've glazed over entirely by line 3 and I would've learned nothing. I feel you could make the Start Guide portion of it it's own separate thing, and then maybe link to it in a banner on the My Barns page or at the top of the site for new accounts? They can read it, or just X out of it to get rid of it.

❖ There's not a lot of direction of what to do or how to use the site. I supposed it's very freeform and 'make your own fun'? Which is awesome, but I created a few horses, did a few shows, annnnnnd... Then what? Do I just do my two weekly shows per horse and then spend the rest of the week... Chatting in the forums and otherwise not participating in the main draw of the site? As a new user, it feels like the experience starts off INCREDIBLY slow (apart from getting lost in the UI and having to dig through the FAQ guide to see what everything was, I spent maybe an just hour or two total playing around with my horses?), and gives no incentive to visit daily, especially once you get your Weekly Goals done and/or have an auto-trainer for your horses.

❖ There's like, NO information on what Rank Specials actually are. No list or anything that tells me what I can expect from X Rank Special, at least none that I could find. Some of them have explanations tacked on at the end of their very poetic descriptions, but most of them are just very pretty quotes and fancy names with NO indication of what they're gonna give me, which I find very frustrating, since money is in short supply when you're new, so do I risk taking a chance on this complete mystery of a Rank Special, or do I save my money? I suppose the mystery IS part of the draw? In which case, keeping the descriptions as-is would be fine, and then just putting a list explaining each one somewhere -- maybe in the gene wiki thing? -- so if anyone doesn't care about the surprise aspect, they can look up exactly what they'd get. I feel I wasted quite a bit of money gambling on Rank Specials that sounded cool and in the end did not live up to their descriptions or my expectations.

❖ This one is purely my own personal opinion, but all the fun options (such as unnatural colors, fantasy genes, etc) being Real Life Money Only is... Very off-putting. I get it, the site has bills to pay, and I do not begrudge that in the slightest! But, like... A gene that puts a flower-looking pattern on my horse? Oh neat! How do I--? Oh... It's $10 for one copy? And to 'use' it, I have to make use of a complex-seeming gene splicing system that I do not understand in the slightest? And many of them won't actually pass down to offspring through breeding? I'll... Hard pass. And then I'm left with my very plain-looking horses and get bored very quickly.

❖ There's NO explanation on, like, how to put backgrounds and things on your horses? Tack, I think it's called? Just like, one off-hand line buried deep in the FAQ Guide that I have to Ctrl+F to get to. So I see someone's horse has flowers in their mane and go, "Oh! What item is that? We have items here, right? That we can put on our horses?" and then have no idea about that or how to go about finding out, apart from asking in the forums.

All in all, I feel like the New User Experience is... Pretty much non-existent, and the site throws you right into the deep end with the assumption that you already know what to do or how to play, while its systems are very clearly made for veterans, or veterans playing on new/alt accounts. What in the world is a "pointed create"? What's a stall and why are all the achievements awarding me points to build a new one? Every user-made guide/Advice For Newbies thread says, "If you're new, don't breed your horses! Geld/spay them and work them in shows! Make money money money!" But... I'm here to play around with genetics and breed cool horses to see what the babies look like, not have a second job. ):

thefrostflower · Jun 1, 2022 3:18 PM

Oh, some more things!

❖ Horses can die? WHAT? I had NO idea about this until I was knee-deep in the FAQ Guide (and even now, I can't really find WHERE I saw it to double check if that's true), and I feel that information should be FRONT AND CENTER for new users. If I spent real money on genes, and then the horse DIED, I would be so upset.

❖ GMTs? Like... The timezone? The site throws acronyms at you from the onset and only explains them later on, or in the FAQ Guide if you bother to try and look up said acronym, reinforcing the feeling that it's being assumed that you already know what to do and what everything is.

❖ So I created my account, like, last Monday, and quickly ran out of funds, even with the super discounted newbie upgrade. Mainly because of vague Rank Specials and lots of testing options that weren't very well-explained so I, as a newbie, was like, "Well... I gotta get these tests right? They tell me what my horse, like, is? Or does? Or is capable of? I dunno, but the guide said I should?" And then I had to spend the rest of the week just twiddling my thumbs because I was dead broke and couldn't do anything until my allowance came on Sunday lol. Not very fun, but I honestly have no suggestions on how to smooth that particular scenario out.

❖ I was also very confused about what Herd Helpers were for a while. Based on the name, I assumed they were "people" you could "hire" to take care of your horses (e.g. the in-universe name for all the automation systems). It took poking around on the forums to realize they were... Like, guarantees for types of horses you could create? I do love that you can share your Herd Helper on the forums with one button, though, very nice. And the concept in general is also very nice! It was exciting to browse the Herd Helper subforum, find a Rank Special that sounded cool, and going to create a horse! But then... I'd get, like, a brown horse, and just be like, "Oh... Ok..." because all the 'specialness' was Invisible Genetics Stuff.

❖ And going back to the Rank Specials, if a potential list was made, I feel it should also include a picture of an example? A daunting task for sure, but when I see a string of gene abbreviations, it's all greek to me, so having a visual example would be a huge boon.

BossScorpio · Jun 1, 2022 3:50 PM

This is exactly how I felt when I started in March. I have had fun since though

cloverbunny · Jun 1, 2022 5:40 PM

So since you're actually new let me help some! Maybe some of your questions can be incorporated into future updates.

Sell some of your pointed horses. The game says they're worth 2500 hbs but that isn't correct and I hope that will be changed. You can sell horses with points for about half of their lifetime payout. So for example if your horse has a payout of 50,000 hbs you can list it for sale for 25,000 and have a good chance of selling it. The horses with more points are likely to sell more easily. Only new players can create horses with points so older players will happily buy them since we can't make them ourselves. Ammit recently increased the number of points on the creates so you can make a lot more money on that than you could even a few weeks ago.

In the main forum section on each server there is an ongoing thread where you can sell a horse to another player for a good number of hbs. The price varies for each server but please do that if you haven't yet. That's not an official game giveaway just something the players do to help out.

Once you have made some hbs you want to get a basic upgrade. You can get the new player special for $1.99 which is super worth it if you can spare 2 bucks. If not you can buy it with in game money. You can use your horse bucks (hbs) to buy investment vouchers (IVs). 1 IV is worth 12,500 hbs. To buy IVs go to the upgrade section of the menu and click on voucher exchange. Click on buy IVs. You'll need 30 to get the upgrade so you may have to sell a few horses to save up. Once you have 30 IVs go to the voucher exchange and click on IV shopping and Purchase Basic Upgrade. That makes everything you do easier and more automated so it's totally worth it. Follow the same process to buy barns, and check out the tack because a lot of holiday items are for sale right now super cheap.

If you're unable to spend real money for genes you can save up your hbs and trade them for genes in the forum. Some people are willing to spend money and add the gene to your horse in exchange for hbs.

GMT is gene modification token and they can be used to change the genetics of your horse. One token costs 10 IVs so it's 125,000 hbs. They're pricey so I suggest not using them until you've played for a little while and understand the generic component of the game better.

Rank specials all have some unique genetics that are not normally available in created horses. Some of the descriptions don't go into great detail but if you click on member home then account and stable management then my herd helper collection, it lists every herd helper and the special genetics are explained for most of them.

Edit: here's the link to get sell a horse for 75,000 hbs if you haven't done that yet. https://hj2.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/82064/new-to-the-server-with-less-than-10000-daily-bonus-let-me-give-you-75000-hbs#Item_52

Also! There are some super rare rank specials in June. Create all of them and if you don't like one enough to keep it, check the sales and forum to see what they're selling for. I don't see any hidden gates for sale on Forest right now but I know they're going for about 500,000 hbs on Mesa right now. Some will be worth less than that and some could be worth more potentially but they could be worth a lot to you.

BossScorpio · Jun 1, 2022 6:04 PM

Thank you so much for this information I definitely struggled when I first started and dumped a bunch of real money being the new addiction that I got into. Always felt like I was going nowhere. I finally found the actual forum 2 months after I started playing and was reading peoples information and how to get more RS helpers and to help others by buying rare genes for Hbs. Since when I first started playing, I ran dry super quickly trying to build what I thought I was looking for. I did have a tough time learning where a lot of things were way later then was needed personally speaking. I had no idea about IV's or where the heck to find them or that I could transfer hbs like you said till this past month of May. I have just bumped up my daily bonus also with vry aggressive auction searching. I also don't know the actual death age. I'm unsure about how to make certain genes i know in the real world. like there's a little bit of a disconnect on how to make certain color genes that someone may be looking for. I very much think the achievements could go longer so as it walks you through every portion of the game.

cloverbunny · Jun 1, 2022 6:19 PM

There isn't an actual death age. They all live to 17 and I think there's a hard cap around 30 or 35. They can pass each season after 17. Some will live much longer than that.

BossScorpio · Jun 1, 2022 6:23 PM

Thank you for being so helpful. I think the community is very helping but being a new person, I didn't want to reach out to anyone being I'm not the most social even online. :-)
It's a little daunting. It is a very fun game and always keeps me on my toes. Thank you for clarifying the age portion is it a generic 17 minimum age?

Seaswell6 · Jun 1, 2022 6:45 PM

Starting at 17 each horse has a 1 in 5 chance of passing every month at rollover. No horse will make it to 41.

Starstruck2 · Jun 1, 2022 6:48 PM

I think that's really interesting because I found the site pretty easy to navigate from the beginning, but it did take me time to learn all the different "levels" of the game. I spent a lot of time reading old posts and experimenting.
I wonder without getting too personal if it's an age/generation thing? As in, I grew up playing very different sorts of computer games in the 80s, whereas I see what my son plays with games and apps. The way I learned to interact with games and computers in general is very different than younger generations.
I do remember that it felt very slow in the beginning, in many ways it reminds me of real life breeding though which is one aspect I appreciate. But when you want to get on a game and log on and kill time it's hard as a newbie. I did a lot of dressing up my horses with different tack in the beginning, which I tend to neglect now that I have a pretty large stable on my main account and lots to keep me busy

Some good advice I got was to stay away from the gene mods until I have a good solid income built up. That also gave me time to learn the ins and outs. But it's hard because everyone is always talking about GMTs and it makes it difficult to resist!

BossScorpio · Jun 1, 2022 6:56 PM

I am a 90's baby so not a bunch of computer gaming honestly didn't pick that up till past few years ago. I rode horses when younger and that took all the spare time I had out of school. I got very stuck on creating as many horses as I could and got lost from finding out all the different levels being all the pretty coats and cool combinations.

VenomVixen · Jun 1, 2022 8:03 PM

Im 89' and found this site to be easy to navigate, but the deeper nuance to the game to be pretty deeply layered like an onion. Im really new and know Im barely scratching the surface- there is SO much complexity to each piece that I have yet to figure it all out. I've honestly been more intrigued by the breeding portion than the show portion of the game, as a bio major I love geeking out over the genetics and generational breeding goals. As of now, I've just been kind of throwing things together to see what happens before forming my goals- but definitely been widdling down my interests to what direction I think I want to go.

I've noticed there's a lot of finite details as to what works and when. One of which I just found with the coming of June - is that I've been debating maybe picking up some of the gene upgrades for fun, however I did notice it's not available for all horses. What are the qualifications to apply these genes?

I definitely need to research breeding and sales more - been flying by the seat of my pants and know there's so much more info I could benefit from in the forums. Ive been pretty shy keeping to myself until now for the most part, but Im seeing there's a lot to be gained by reaching out and investigating the forums.

BossScorpio · Jun 1, 2022 8:38 PM

To apply a gene, it has to be a foundation, no babies, and color/gene tested

Ammit · Jun 1, 2022 9:05 PM

Ya, I would need someone to walk me through what a more intuitive navigation would even look like because to me this is very intuitive. I am always open to suggestions though. :D

Ammit · Jun 1, 2022 9:13 PM

@thefrostflower thanks for the amazingly in-depth feedback I am going to send you some free stuff as a thank you.

BossScorpio · Jun 1, 2022 10:10 PM

I think to go along with @thefrostflower maybe have the achievements require you to find and complete those extra layers in game ex:
-Having you place tack/background on your horse.
-Buying an Iv with horse bucks that you would get from completing a different achievement maybe.
-Buying items with Iv's *small things like a tack pack, or background pack
-sing straw/egg collection.
-How to navigate through public auction ex: buy a bay horse with sty genes.
-How to name your barns/pastures *trying to keep it organized
-putting a horse in a show and where to look it up.
Something along those lines and even for the bigger players just something like donate to new player, or just reaching out with helpful information. Something to where everyone can be included. I know this community thrives on helping one another and it make this more enjoyable once you've played for a bit.
having a walk through for banners, signatures, and tattoos would be helpful also. *If it's a matter of always asking it might not be as fun to others if they are wanting to solo game for a bit. Personally, it gives me a little anxiety talking to new people right off the back *honestly this took me a few hours to come up with*
Again, I did find a lot of these things that i probably barley know by clicking everything that it lets me click on. I've had a lot more time than most in the past month to be able to look into everything I can but not a lot of players have that free time to dig and dig all day long. I defiantly pulled out the ctl + F key to find exactly what i needed but then at the same time I would go to the chat room to see if that would be a faster way to help me.

cloverbunny · Jun 2, 2022 5:53 AM

Actually, a few of the things you mentioned are included in the achievements! Tack is one of them so maybe you haven't reached that yet? Selling and auctioning a horse are too but maybe how to do it could be explained more clearly.

EmKatze · Jun 2, 2022 7:02 AM

I didn't see that anyone else mentioned this yet - yes, horses die, but it's still worth it to spend real money on genes if there are some that you really like, and want to breed for in your herd. You create a young horse, add your genes that you like, and this becomes a main breeding horse in your stable. You end up with lots of horses with those fancy genes, which can then breed later on, so you will spread those genes all through your barns, through multiple generations, plus you also get the gene license for good so you can always buy other horses with those genes. Paying for genes goes way farther than just the one horse you start with!

SummerMonarch · Jun 2, 2022 9:12 AM

The game is a lot more fun once you have 75k or so. Then you can create and sell pointed creates and make a ton of cash.

…I should write up how to do this, as I came over here from Mesa to figure it out, and it’s been WILDLY successful. I bought money over there but now I’m drowning in money here because of pointed creates and not being afraid to price them at half their lifetime payout.

silverborn · Jun 2, 2022 10:22 AM

One bit of advice is that you can only GMT horses that haven't been bred yet. If you create a foal, you have 3-4 IRL months (depending on gender) before it can breed. So that gives you that time to add genes. Even if not, as long as you don't breed you get until they're 10 to add genes. Then you get at least 7 IRL months with them to breed them before they are at risk for dying.

This game requires a LOT of planning ahead and it was hard for me at first, but now it's easier.

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