in the upcoming bug smash promo one of the prizes is a Holsteiner foal. We have these already, but I think the rationale is that some servers don't have them yet and they are introducing them there.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get the divine in the Insular Mines without spending any passes?

The Great Challenge usually comes before a Lottery, but the next Great Challenge will unlock a heart battle, so it could be another 6 months yet as this promo tends to be twice a year.

I used a Fire Elemental horse

I believe that the Great Challenge divine, which will also be in Titan's Challenges, is going to drop Hera's Packs. There will also be love divines (which give 20 passes once a month) in HOPs somewhere around Valentine's, probably during the Heart Battle.

Golden Fleeces, but yes, Aengus is going to be in the Great Challenge along with the love horses.

I'm not sure how we will get this - we were just given them on the test server and there is no payment option other than using the Dials I have in my inventory - but I've tried it out on a XC skiller so far and it allows me to get a couple of extra comps in per day with the time saved. It will help when BLUPing too - less chance of running out of time to train when the horse still has energy left.

Do we know yet if this divine comp will offer equus? I have heard others say that the current Ow Grand Prix does not give any equus winnings. Just curious if this will be any different.

Yes it gives equus. Ow's Grand Prix works the same way any normal competition does. It disappears once the comp has run but that just means you can't see what horses entered against you; your horse gets placed and you still get your winnings as usual. That includes the current one, so I'm not sure why people are saying the current Ow's Grand Prix doesn't give equus. I've had several horses enter Ow's Prix comps in the past few days and all of them have won equus from it (though not very many equus because they keep coming 5th).

They are changing the competitions a bit. They are adding divine comps when there are no divine comps available. Which I like. But you can only do divine comp option not both divine and rookie. So it is one or the other.

They are taking away rookie designation and calling it low level comps. You cannot put the skill level difficulty past what they consider to be rookie gp.

Adding a new level of comps for horses that have less than 20 wins. Those comps are for horses with less than 20 wins and once your horses have won those 20 wins they will be booted from the comp to make room for other horses still needing thier 20 wins. Horses with 20 wins cannot enter these comps. Which can take time from these comps to run.

Then there is comps for horses with more than 20 wins. Horses with 20 wins or more can enter these comps only. It is this comp level you need if you want to have a rosette to run in your ec. Which in my opinion most people will choose because they want that prestige.

Then there is the special horse choice that is for Divines only. You cannot make it for rookie divines as well, so it is just divines. I have no thoughts about this change.

Of course for vip you have for team horses comp selection where any horse with the team's affix can enter the comps only. Still trying to figure this one out.

Personally I think this will make things more complicated then actually fixing things. Especially if people are trying to blup and cannot enter comps because people want there comps to be rosette level. But I have to wait and hope it will not be as bad.

should be sometime next month, seeing as the great challenge theme is hearts battle and the love divines are offered

testing is for vip only, you can get invited (randomly...????) and after a few times maybe become a regular i believe (testers correct me if im wrong - lol)