[UPDATED] Devs' Corner: February 2026

By Ow, 28th July 2020 10:48:55
66

New features



HellOw,

Our developers have something to tell you!

Every three weeks, approximately, our devs will provide you with information about their work in the “Dev’s Corner.”

This topic is a way of keeping everyone updated on what’s happening with the game. We invite you to discuss and leave your feedback for each of the publications.

Note: All posts must adhere to the forum guidelines and be constructive.

Take a look at our Devs' Corner here!

Warm wishes,
The Howrse Team
 
Ow
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By avelexa, 6th January 2026 15:22:25
33
Super disappointed to see they went ahead with the changes to Ascent, despite our own feedback. I don't see why they HAVE to take it away rather than repeat divines or give us "lower value" ones. There are already so many Divines in the game, and they've just begun two new series. I can't wrap my head around it, this is so disappointing.

And I'm not going to even mention the Ephemerals. They're for a totally different category of player. I'll just wait and see how it actually plays out in-game, maybe the additional prizes will be nice.
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By MatchaBlossom, 6th January 2026 16:30:49
25
Neither of these things sound great. I don't exactly have hours on hours to breed and raise horses for an event. Might be the first one since I started here that I skip
MatchaBlossom
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By Ravenknight, 6th January 2026 16:38:17
5
This is the first one i plan on skipping mostly because most of them are not staying. It would be cool if one of them becomes a divine if others stayed. I hope they cant release them in sales. How if i had passes and they could give one of them a special coat like a 100 use? I gave it a one star since i had to rate it or it would be negative 5. The ascent i gave a two star especially since i wanted it to look like it was rated higher. One star for ascent change and negative 5 for Ephemerals. They could release a old divine for the 3 weeks even if perks didnt stack like isis, the sun twin mythologicals etc or non pass dropping divine.
Ravenknight
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By kittygirl03, 6th January 2026 16:42:00
22
Will the max amount of obols that we can have be increased? 30 days of no ascent will mean that at LEAST half the time waiting will be unable to collect more obols (since we're currently capped at 15) and that's not including any that players collect from obol-dropping divines. For the players who DID pay for those divines and get capped long before the 30 day break is up, will they be compensated another way, or are they left high and dry?

The month long break just doesn't make any sense to me other than to slowly phase the ascent out as a whole and make a bunch of divines that people paid for obsolete. Especially with the taunting of the gods "going away." Is the ascent going to turn into just a way to get items and regular horses instead of divines? That's what I'm getting from it, which will do nothing but make people upset (understandable, they bought divines to get more obols to get DIVINES, not just more items/horses) and drive people away from the ascent and even the site.
kittygirl03
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By Argorok, 6th January 2026 16:54:18
19
The way I've read it, is that we won't even be able to collect our obols. Which would mean we will be missing out on 630 passes worth every 3 weeks that it is gone. Even if we can, we will still miss out on at least 180 passes worth if the cap stays at 15. I just wish we would get an answer on this, as 630 passes worth is a lot to take away from us. At least tell us before it is gone and we have to find out when it returns three weeks later.
Argorok
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By Sincerely, 6th January 2026 17:25:57
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The only thing I'm interested in with the Ephemeral Breeds is the new avatar frame. Otherwise I wouldn't participate. I don't like getting horses that you can't breed or sell.
Sincerely
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By SusanG, 6th January 2026 18:40:23
6
I am planning when the Ascent go for the 3 week break. The divines that give obols and drachmas I would work until they collect them until full then they would just sit there until the ascent comes back.

But it would be nice if they raise the amount you can save up.
SusanG
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By Ravenknight, 6th January 2026 19:22:53
2
I read we use up our obols and then we come back with 15 obols and no drachma rounds. 3 weeks too long even / weeks would be better but no drachma rounds unless we have the divine that drops them.
Ravenknight
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By Wildmage, 6th January 2026 20:32:34
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Ravenknight wrote:

I read we use up our obols and then we come back with 15 obols and no drachma rounds. 3 weeks too long even / weeks would be better but no drachma rounds unless we have the divine that drops them.


But… what if we don’t use them up. I don’t always have the time to grind at every part of the game. I have whole months out of the year where I only get on to get the very basics done daily (daily pass droppers/obj, events, a daily round of Obol if I’m at my capacity so I can get my free daily Obol). In fact there are months at a time I will OFTEN be at capacity in my Obol/Drachma capacity, simply because I both have no particular interest in the four divines so I’m saving for the next round, and because while I love Ascent it IS a time suck and I only have maybe 15 minutes that day to be on Howrse, for months at a time, so I may only play Ascent sporadically at times.

Heck, Howrse already steals your Obol/Drachma if you are unfortunate enough to have a game active when the divines swap out. Now they are stealing your ENTIRE INVENTORY plus three weeks of daily Obol + every five days of Drachmas?? And you lose anything from your divine drops? I feel like I’m in Crazy Town… no I feel like I’m in Cloud City “This deal is getting worse all the time.”
Wildmage
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By fletcher, 6th January 2026 21:45:01
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Just... yikes.
fletcher
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By mortyar, 6th January 2026 21:47:26
1
So do we lose regular Appaloosas with the upcoming event? I collect breeds, so need to plan for that if I'm going need to start over. Doesn't sound like an event worth doing.
mortyar
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By Crookedstar915, 7th January 2026 02:03:34
24
mortyar wrote:

So do we lose regular Appaloosas with the upcoming event? I collect breeds, so need to plan for that if I'm going need to start over. Doesn't sound like an event worth doing.


Regular Appaloosas stay. You basically breed a little squad of "Ephemeral" Appaloosas just for a 3 week event and then at the end of the event, those ones disappear. Any regular non-event Appies you have remain untouched.

The event still seems completely pointless though, I have to admit.
Crookedstar915
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By Ravenknight, 7th January 2026 03:47:10
3
I posted best case scenario and you still lose obols and theres no chance to make new drachmas. I mostly win ion drachma rounds.
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By Hiraeth, 7th January 2026 03:47:19
22
GP race 2 electric boogaloo: fortnite battlepass style. ok then

also, tomato tomato loud boo for the ascent news.
Hiraeth
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By ShadowKokufu, 7th January 2026 05:21:14
32
Rant.
Click to display
There is absolutely no reason for any average player to bother with ephemeral because there is no chance of being in the top few players or win prizes unless you pay. Your rewards are worthless. So don't be surprised if nobody sinks cash into it because we get NOTHING out of it. Some useless divine with skills has no value anymore after all the other useless divines with skills have been released. Maybe just maybe I'll breed 5 of them to get ot for an easy trophy, but that'll be it. But otherwise, if you're not going to spend money on the event then there's no reason to bother with the event because you won't get anything out of it.

I hope you're not planning on integrating this pay to blup thing into normal blups where you give paying players a bonus... I do not trust howrse one bit. default smiley (li)

And making ascent rarer won't make players play it. What it will do is guarantee that we must pay passes to get the divine because the time to get it is hugely reduced. And that will guarantee that we will not get any decent fragments towards the actual horses on offer because we won't get that last 25 at the end. That last 25 is very important for collecting normal divines... not to mention the obel and drachma thing? Are you trying to make players hate ascent and stop playing it completely? Sorry to break it to you, but if players see an event that requires them to pay fortunes of passes for no reward then they're not going to bother with it. That applies to your useless ephemerals too. And making ascent intermittent just makes it easier to avoid if you're not interested in it...

Seriously, fire whoever is coming up with these ideas because they're not doing you nor the players any favors. And when are you going to start learning from your past mistakes?? How many times has a change that got TONS of negative feedback on the test server actually gone well when it reached the live server?? Do you remember what happened with the trophy downgrade and gow it pushed players away from spending money on the game?? Or how your mods had to censor everyone when you added tax because NOBODY liked it and the forum was overly unpleasant to read because it was just complaints?? And now I remember at least 1 comment asking to reverse the pass tax change??

The fact that you're STILL doing things like this is why players don't give you as much money anymore. Stop breaking features that we like and and adding obvious cash grabs that players don't benefit from default smiley (li) If you want to make money, then try doing something that players actually ASKED for. Like a graphics update or fixing your major trophy downgrade from a few years back. Even adding a toggle to get rid of the pop ups will help. The only problem is that you have a track record and you'll need to consistently add and fix things in the interest of the players to earn back their trust and convince them to pay up... because you keep making changes that nobody wants like this. Actions have consequences. Don't be surprised if this change backfires and makes players lose interest in ascent instead of earning you money. As for ephemerals, there is no reason for the average player to bother with it, so I don't expect too much engagement past getting a divine for breeding 5 generations there. And I'm not even sure if the top players will be interested in side blups and whatnot when they're already busy with their main game. Maybe it will work if they don't sink cash into ephemerals so it can be a fair playing ground where nobody spends money on it. But I doubt it when I think the 1st place prize is a divine... Someone will pay up and make it pointless for everyone who's not paying up to bother with the event. At least that's what I expect because the final reward is a divine.

At this point, I'm not even surprised that your intended upgrades are just disappointing downgrades. That's the norm on this game after all.
ShadowKokufu
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By CowboyCrazyGirl, 7th January 2026 06:13:15
13
Once again, people who pay for things get better and better rewards....sounds like the stupid key thing in certain events, where the better prizes are locked unless you spend passes. I really am starting to think that this game is now becoming pay to win. And, it makes me want to quit the game even more.
CowboyCrazyGirl
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By thunder22, 7th January 2026 09:05:38
18
Seconding Shadow's rant. What is our money even going toward these days? The same events over and over and the status quo? I get it costs money to just keep the lights on and everything up and running, but I'm not seeing many actual improvements to the site. Maybe there is a bug fix here and there or a small QoL change, but those are far and few between at this point in time, but there hasnt really been anything BIG since Accent. If we're seeing the same thing month after month and the only changes we see are actually downgrades...revenue is going to drop. That's Businuss 101...not even really: Quality=revenue.

Honestly...I thought we were turning a corner with Howrse learning something about listening to testers/players after the December debacle, but unfortunately I was wrong. Ephemerals being very heavily paywalled is a VERY dangerous move. Best case scenario is there is low engagement with it and they finally get it...worse case is a lot of potential customers(or even current pass buyers) quit and take their money(or potential revenue) with them and they still don't get it.


Also, something I didn't see addressed in the change log is that Ephemerals will NOT be mobile compatible. I repeat: Ephermerals are NOT mobile compatible, and we have NO eta on when they will be. So if you're a mobile only/occasionally player, you'll have to force classic in order to care for your Ephemerals on the go.
Click to display
Which makes no sense to me since it plays like the mobile version anyway
thunder22
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By kachar, 7th January 2026 12:51:11
28
I'm just gonna say it. Not every game needs a season pass.
kachar
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By amn127, 7th January 2026 14:03:29
13
Both changes are a major shame. They got back lash in testing; back lash when it first dropped in the spoiler forum and now look at it.

The event is pointless. We already have a lot of events that are time consuming, and this one takes 1st place. As someone expecting their first child, but wanting to continue to play some, there is no way I can keep up with events like that and have any chance of ranking. It’s pretty sad; you’re finally rolling out a ‘new’ event after saying that wouldn’t be the case, and it’s an event that has a large portion of your players disappointed. Especially since unlike the Keys for some events, you actually have to use cash and not passes(which people still buy with cash) you completely leave out players who are minors and can’t buy, or those not in the position to in the first place. That’s a pretty exclusive business model, and not in a good way.

And then the ascent: the fact we can’t collect coins other than by divines for the 3 week gaps is pretty sad too. Not everybody has paid for the packs to get divines that give them as gifts. I don’t play it constantly, because I don’t always have the time. But I’ve been highly appreciative of the fact that for the main boss I don’t have to grind through round after round after round in a short time frame to achieve it. It makes it a bit more inclusive for my time allowance. Now with the lack of a coin stash, especially drachma, it’s going to be a constant push to attempt winning a divine in the time frame. UNLESS: you rebalance the stats and make the obol success rate more in line with that of the drachma. But that likely wouldn’t make you money so I don’t see that happening.
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By Ravenknight, 7th January 2026 14:28:12
You have to win 20 times to get the boss. I got where i was winning the boss the middle of thr 2nd round. The last round i could work on the other divines. This season might get brave tailor but i wont use passes from objectives unless k get close to 900 fragments. I have a little over half for the brave little tailor. The only one i want from this round. I don’t particularly like artwork from fire horse lava or perk. I have about a third of fragments for that one.
Ravenknight
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By Ravenknight, 7th January 2026 14:42:06
3
I agree with shadows rant this time. I don't want the great challenge other than donate to ow thing will pop up on the bottom. I just work my divines first. Im just planning on skipping the ephemeral breeds. First event i skipped while actively player. I even got thru urban legend wanderers somewhat i just used coats like white lady and avoided bloody mary. Thankfully my older child was a year old and i played it when he wasn't watching. Im a mobile player. I look at classic mode some but for certain things.
I would still buy passes if i could for cute coats and divines etc and vip if i could. I regret selling horses before hiatus.
I have the greek horses that have high skills. Looks like they are not getting a special item added ro them. Coolest thing zeus gives zeus lightning bolt, hestia gives hestias gift, and not sure what apollo could give maybe golden apple or golden fleece.
Ravenknight
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By Crookedstar915, 7th January 2026 21:42:16
13
Ravenknight wrote:

and not sure what apollo could give maybe golden apple or golden fleece.


Apollo has an item on the game, Apollo's Lyre, which players have been asking to be revamped for *years* in order to fix the interface and give more selection in terms of font. Currently it's capped at 3, and every single letter requires you to go in edit it separately. More font styles, the ability to edit all letters at once (as well as individually) and more symbols to choose from would make the item SO much better than the current version.

But instead they're focusing their efforts on, I guess, setting up blatant cash-grabby events that favor 0.5% of players and aren't even available to anyone on mobile, anyone underage who can't pay to unlock it, or anybody who doesn't feel like wasting a bunch of time since the event is completely prize-less unless you're in the top 5. :/

I know they're mad Ascent didn't make them as much money as they wanted but I'll be completely shocked if the Ephemeral thing doesn't bomb. Maybe I'll be wrong but I don't think I've seen a single person express desire to play it.
Crookedstar915
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By Ravenknight, 7th January 2026 22:07:16
Thats right i don’t use it much. That they could add their perk to divines we got high skills and they can arrange for like hestia to give her perk later than apollo.
Ravenknight
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By Ravenknight, 7th January 2026 22:11:20
Maybe just 0.5 percent even if i was playing with lots of passes. I would save the passes for apples, and divines mainly. Maybe buy actual competitive horses again.The epidermal event is a hard no for me. Partly i don't want to see the four horses go. Too much cash for not even a divine like jade, croesus, solar etc or a silver apple i really want.
Ravenknight
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By CowboyCrazyGirl, 8th January 2026 03:59:53
9
kachar wrote:

I'm just gonna say it. Not every game needs a season pass.


I agree with you. Star Stable Online does it every 3 months or so, and it is really annoying to have to basically do things on the game to get items. But grant it, the items are free, like an outfit and tack. Better than having a season pass, plus items locked behind a pass wall. I would rather do the Trailblazer on Star Stable than on here. Here, they are locking all the GOOD STUFF behind a pass wall.
CowboyCrazyGirl
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