Assistant Trainers

[Argent II]

Assuming stables get large enough to justify it, it would be nice to have the ability to train more horses per turn or automate training a little. I'm suggesting that an additional player bonus be added that allows members to hire an assistant trainer. The AT would be purchased for $10 or so, and would require a 10-step training process before they were able to train with 100% of the member's current player skill. When you first hire the AT, they would have 0% skill, and would train horses as well as a fresh account with no player courses completed. For 50PT, your AT can go through the first training course, after which they'll earn a star and be able to train horses with 10% of the members' skill. That course would take 1 day. For 150PT, your AT would take the next course over 2 days, earn a second star, and train with 20% of the member's skill. And so on. It would take 5000PT and 55 days to max out your Assistant Trainer. Regardless of the level of skill, the AT would be able to train as many horses per day as the member, who would have to individually set the desired training regimen (surface, gait, duration, and exercise, possibly with the option to rotate through several or all exercises) and schedule (each turn, every other, every third) for each horse they wanted to assign to the assistant. If more horses were assigned than the AT could handle in that turn, they would just be skipped. The AT would not stop training a horse because its fatigue was high or its energy was low, and they would not skip an exercise that was too difficult for the horse, so there's a tradeoff.

[Devolare]

I like the idea and everything behind a training assistant, but I don't really care for them being "upgraded" with PT like that. If anything, I would turn this into a premium perk since you can still play the game without it, and it could give another reason to become a premium member. I think once you start having things take multiple payments of PT just for one thing like that, it turns into something that's kinda gimmicky. At least, that's my opinion anyway.

[Alaina]

Don't care how it's implemented just support 100 bazillion percent! Training 20+ horses per turn is exhausting XD

[Argent II]

I like the idea and everything behind a training assistant, but I don't really care for them being "upgraded" with PT like that. If anything, I would turn this into a premium perk since you can still play the game without it, and it could give another reason to become a premium member. I think once you start having things take multiple payments of PT just for one thing like that, it turns into something that's kinda gimmicky. At least, that's my opinion anyway.

They aren't being "upgraded" they're being trained. Just like you, the player, have to train your current avatar with training skills in order to improve their abilities. Except it will only take you 55 days and 5k PT instead of up to 418 days and 870k HWOD (assuming you complete training tech, adv training, both energy savers, and 4 skill trainings from I to III). Being able to basically replicate yourself is a huge advantage in gameplay that should not be given lightly, thus it should require courses for the assistant trainer and should not be included in the premium upgrade. Premium features are mostly "nice to have" things, not huge game changing features, like the rest of the player bonuses. Requiring upgraded status in order to hire an AT in the first place and keep one on the books might be an option.

[Sypherthrax]

Don't care how it's implemented just support 100 bazillion percent! Training 20+ horses per turn is exhausting XD

I agree with Alaina. Training horses on here is practically a full time job, and I've even slogged through most of the training courses at this point.

[Devolare]

I like the idea and everything behind a training assistant, but I don't really care for them being "upgraded" with PT like that. If anything, I would turn this into a premium perk since you can still play the game without it, and it could give another reason to become a premium member. I think once you start having things take multiple payments of PT just for one thing like that, it turns into something that's kinda gimmicky. At least, that's my opinion anyway.

They aren't being "upgraded" they're being trained. Just like you, the player, have to train your current avatar with training skills in order to improve their abilities. Except it will only take you 55 days and 5k PT instead of up to 418 days and 870k HWOD (assuming you complete training tech, adv training, both energy savers, and 4 skill trainings from I to III). Being able to basically replicate yourself is a huge advantage in gameplay that should not be given lightly, thus it should require courses for the assistant trainer and should not be included in the premium upgrade. Premium features are mostly "nice to have" things, not huge game changing features, like the rest of the player bonuses. Requiring upgraded status in order to hire an AT in the first place and keep one on the books might be an option.

I see what you're saying, but I'm still rather hesitant about this idea. I just don't like that it's tied to so much PT, that's the biggest issue I have. And the reason for this is that it could easily turn this game into something that's just another 'pay to win' game. If someone dumps enough rl money into this, which isn't a bad thing in of itself, then they could get way further than other people who don't have that luxury. So the people who want to play this game, but don't necessarily have the rl money to put forth, might never get to the point where these people are at and that's concerning. I've seen so many games die that way, because there are a few people on top of the game and no one thinks they'll be able to get there unless they pay for it and leave.

I might just be a worrywart, but I can't support it like that. My thoughts are that it should be a premium feature to begin with (ie. hire an AT in the first place), and then from there you'd have to pay in HWOD (some reasonable amount in comparison to how much it'll boost you in the game). While hard, most people have the chance to get premium status without having to pay money, but still have the option to, if they want, so at least it's fair for most everyone.

But these are just my thoughts anyway...

[Argent II]

I see what you're saying, but I'm still rather hesitant about this idea. I just don't like that it's tied to so much PT, that's the biggest issue I have. And the reason for this is that it could easily turn this game into something that's just another 'pay to win' game. If someone dumps enough rl money into this, which isn't a bad thing in of itself, then they could get way further than other people who don't have that luxury. So the people who want to play this game, but don't necessarily have the rl money to put forth, might never get to the point where these people are at and that's concerning. I've seen so many games die that way, because there are a few people on top of the game and no one thinks they'll be able to get there unless they pay for it and leave.

I might just be a worrywart, but I can't support it like that. My thoughts are that it should be a premium feature to begin with (ie. hire an AT in the first place), and then from there you'd have to pay in HWOD (some reasonable amount in comparison to how much it'll boost you in the game). While hard, most people have the chance to get premium status without having to pay money, but still have the option to, if they want, so at least it's fair for most everyone.

But these are just my thoughts anyway...

Except PT can be earned through gameplay and it's ridiculously easy to do so, so that would never be an issue. Sure, it would be easier if you had the money to donate, but it would not be difficult to accomplish if you couldn't. I donated to the Kickstarter campaign, so I started the game with nearly 17k PT between my two accounts. I've earned at least that much just doing local shows, and I know that because I used to frequently clear out the AC, run low on PT, and then earn my way back up to my original stock or higher. For example, this account started out with just under 2k PT and is currently sitting at 9k, and I've spent several thousand PT buying horses for my own projects, and for my friends' when the appy patterns came out. 99.9% sure I haven't put a single dollar into buying PT since the game opened.

As I've already said, you're getting a huge deal with just the 55 days and 5k PT. The conversion from PT to HWOD is variable, but going off of the pastures and such, the range is about 290k to 670k HWOD per 5K PT. That's 33-77% of the cost and 13% of the time. It should be pretty darn expensive and a true luxury feature.

[Devolare]

There are quite a few variables to take into account when it comes to getting PT. Especially the amount of time you spend on here playing. I've been playing for what, a little more than 2 months now (give or take a couple of days) and have made roughly 400-ish PT, while actively trying to get them through local shows... I'm trying to work my way up to a premium account to see if I like it. At this rate (200PTs per month), I would probably get enough in 25 months/a little more than 2 years and that's if I continue to actively try. By the time it takes an average joe like myself to get it, I'll be left in the dust by people who could get it all by buying it that day, so why should I even bother?

I'll also say that I'm most likely really slow... I do vaguely remember seeing someone say that they could get 500 PT per month for a premium (I think it was Aela, but don't quote me on that), but then stopped doing that and just bought PT because it was just too stressful to try to do. But it's do-able, so with 500 PT per month, you would end up with the 5000PT in 10 months. That's assuming you're not trying to make enough to get premiums every month or buy from the AC, tho, so it might take even longer. Granted this does fluctuate depending upon the amount of time/number of days you have. I imagine you've had longer days and more of them with the 17k PT you started with, giving you more time to wrack them up... at least I'm guessing that, so I could be totally wrong and you could just be good at what you do, so I apologize if I'm making a generalizing statement. It also depends on how you spend your time during the days. I don't want to have to spend all of my time doing local shows, I will if I have to, but I want to be able to train and breed and actually play the game.

I'm also not really trying to start up an argument or anything, I just kind think that this should be noted, especially because hindsight is 20/20. I like the idea, the execution I'm a bit worried about, but I could always be wrong, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Also, as a bit of an unrelated side question, does the chance of getting PT depend on the level of local show? I've been wondering this for a while.

[Argent II]

There are quite a few variables to take into account when it comes to getting PT. Especially the amount of time you spend on here playing. I've been playing for what, a little more than 2 months now (give or take a couple of days) and have made roughly 400-ish PT, while actively trying to get them through local shows... I'm trying to work my way up to a premium account to see if I like it. At this rate (200PTs per month), I would probably get enough in 25 months/a little more than 2 years and that's if I continue to actively try. By the time it takes an average joe like myself to get it, I'll be left in the dust by people who could get it all by buying it that day, so why should I even bother?

I'll also say that I'm most likely really slow... I do vaguely remember seeing someone say that they could get 500 PT per month for a premium (I think it was Aela, but don't quote me on that), but then stopped doing that and just bought PT because it was just too stressful to try to do. But it's do-able, so with 500 PT per month, you would end up with the 5000PT in 10 months. That's assuming you're not trying to make enough to get premiums every month or buy from the AC, tho, so it might take even longer. Granted this does fluctuate depending upon the amount of time/number of days you have. I imagine you've had longer days and more of them with the 17k PT you started with, giving you more time to wrack them up... at least I'm guessing that, so I could be totally wrong and you could just be good at what you do, so I apologize if I'm making a generalizing statement. It also depends on how you spend your time during the days. I don't want to have to spend all of my time doing local shows, I will if I have to, but I want to be able to train and breed and actually play the game.

I'm also not really trying to start up an argument or anything, I just kind think that this should be noted, especially because hindsight is 20/20. I like the idea, the execution I'm a bit worried about, but I could always be wrong, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Also, as a bit of an unrelated side question, does the chance of getting PT depend on the level of local show? I've been wondering this for a while.

Yes, there are variables in the number of PT any one player can earn. But if you're playing that slowly, the chance that you'll even need an assistant trainer is minimal at best.

My amount of PT has nothing to do with the length of my game days. That's a completely separate feature. I could have started with the base 100PT, a basic account (donating to the KS campaign earned me a 6 month upgrade), and no additional player bonuses, and still have made it as far as I have. I just play the game well. I have plenty of time to breed horses; I've literally bred tens of thousands since the game opened. Currently, I only train horses that seem worth the time -- meaning they'll set new records and just generally dominate the competition -- because training is tedious and shows aren't very lucrative (not that I need the money). If awards, ribbons, trophies, and such were added, then I'd take an interest in competitions.

Disagreement is not automatically arguing. People are so delicate these days

I remember Larissa saying that competing a horse below its ability would lessen the chance of earning things like turns and PT, but I don't remember if that was a planned feature or a current one.

[Devolare]

Well see, that's where you and I are different then. I really like the idea of having champions so I have a tendency to train for champions over doing the local shows. And I was just making sure, because I didn't want to seem rude or anything. Glad that's not the case. x'D