You'd think I'd agree with you. I have been lectured many a time about how "they're just pixils" when I expressed my refusal to 'kill' horses. I've been schooled on how if I really wanted passes and can't afford them I can earn them by killing horses. Well, who's sorry now, like the song goes.

But I don't like this change one bit. These players have been on this game a long time, longer than me, in many cases, and I have to admire the hard work they put in! Even if I didn't want to play that way. I know this will hurt the game, not just the players directly affected.

I would like to trust the game owners, but I can't. I don't like how this new pass system is essentially a guessing game, no one knows how to earn the points, and it's probable that we may not be able to get passes at all. I'd prefer a lot more transparency in just what rules are in place and what has to be done to get the points.

I don't like being told to trust those whose trustworthiness has been questioned so many times. As Joseph Wambaugh said in one of his wonderful books, "I'd like to trust you, but you've got too many priors."

I've seen a lot of changes since I started, watched all my original friends bail on the game because it's changed so much that they lose interest.

I've been attacked in the forums, in my own forum, so I don't post in it any more.

We all have our limits. Relying on The Sunk Cost Effect to maintain the player base isn't working, and newbies rarely stick around.

Makes me wonder what the real motives of ubisoft is. They can kill this game and it won't make a ripple in their profits. In fact, killing off games often makes the most sense, business wise, if there isn't enough income, not enough players to get the maximum ad revenue.

If I'd spent real money on this game I would feel ripped off.

I don't want this game to go the way SPP did. I loved that game. And they did pretty much the same thing as howrse is doing.

Is ubisoft sending the game to the "kill pen?"

Greyfell and other horses are sent, or not, to heaven. Under the new system once horses are sent to heaven they can no longer be revived with a P. Box.

For Greyfell, the option to send him to heaven will be removed. Once he dies you automatically get his perk and then you can revive him.
Just speculation, but likely to keep players from abusing getting the tree rings or increasing their dead horses ranking

On the higher GP of foundation horses:

I started playing, I believe, around the time the higher GP was being introduced. I have so much respect for the players who bred their horses from the initial GPs and have managed to take breeds into the 5000, 6000, and 7000s. HOWEVER, it is a daunting prospect as a new player to try and compete with that. Especially considering that you are required to win 20 competitions to BLUP your horse. It's massively disheartening, not to mention frustrating, trying to get these wins when the majority of the horses are light years ahead of your own -- even when you begin, as I did, with about 2500GP. It doesn't encourage new players to stick around. Why would they when they have no particular attachment to the game and they are so far behind the other players that it seems pointless. I'm all for new players coming into the game; hence, I am also supporting making it easier for them. This is not to say it should be too easy and everyone should be winning competitions and taking on the top teams at the get go, but chuck the newbies a bone and encourage them to love the game as much as everyone in this community already seems to.

On the new pass system:

Again, I don't have the infrastructure in place for this to particularly affect me. It seems rather unfair that so many players are facing the loss of much of their hard work. In saying this, many of the complaints I have read come from the obscurity of the point system proposed to win passes. It's clear, given that this is the company's second time attempting to make this change, that for whatever reason they feel they need to do it. Surely, the argument should move from 'we absolutely reject this new system' to accepting that some change will need to be made and working to ensure that these changes are somewhat more of a compromise. For example, pushing for further clarity over what the point system will entail or looking into a point and pass horse combination.

On Ubisoft/Owlient:

I don't know if this is just some crazy conspiracy theory but what I've been reading about Ubisoft buying a brand and then draining the player base of all it's funds before turning the game out to pasture (see what I did there? ) is kinda scary. It's these sort of rumours, more than the proposed changes to the game, that will make me far more cautious about investing my time and money in the game.

it is indeed a capital error to constantly disregard the opinion of the players who actually keep this game alive and fun! These people know the game, and have invested money or hours and hours a day making game money. They WILL stop playing if you're completely oblivious or indifferent to what they have to say. And there goes the income for the game developer and after that, there goes the game.

If you listen to the people that pay your salary and enjoy and think and develop this game (the, in this matter, real player base) and take their suggestions into account - respect them, the game can stay alive. That's not what's happening now.

As pointed out earlier, this points in one direction; Howrse taking a trip to the Safe Haven without a Pandora's Box when people have spent their money and refuse to spend more.

Just as meglons mentioned, that causes me to be very, very careful with the money I spend here. If I chose to start spending again, that is.