So I was talking with sam about The newly added Drum Horse. It is just a another name for a few draft breeds. So my question is why are we adding breeds when other breeds, that are very similar (clydes and gypsys), have little or no breeders? Not to mention more breeds are added than is really used. More than half of the breeds on the game have less than 3 breeders as is.

I requested Drum Horses be added a crossbreed, NOT in the store. Drum Horse is a name for a cross between a Gypsy Vanner and amother draft breed, most often a Clydesdale or Shire. http://drumhorseassociation.com

i don't really understand why it matters so much about more 'rare' breeds, either........ It doesn't affect you in any way...........

There are SO many breeds that have little to no breeders. That much I can agree with. There is already such a wide variety. Why add any more?

It would be kinda cool if, when you breed a Gypsy with another draft breed, a Drum horse is produced.. instead of having the Drum horse available in the store. c:

That is how it is, Ophelia. :)

I personally think the more breeds the better. Sure, it might not mean there are "breeding communities" but if someone wants to start a breed like Bassett Hounds and they aren't in the store, that kinda sucks. I have my little breed that I'm the only breeder of, and I'm fine with that. Doesn't really effect me that much :P

Sorry, I didn't know that was how it worked already. -derpmoment-

cx

I agree with Duckie.. I never understand why people are so adamant about limiting the number of breeds? Both of my breeds are relatively small (I think I'm the only CBR breeder left, actually), but it doesn't bother me, and I always offer my backups to try and get new people interested. Does it really impact the game in a negative way if we have a lot of available breeds?

^I can't imagine that it would.

I like the variety. I think that HP has a good selection of breeds, without the ridiculously obscure ones like HL had.

I definitely like the variety. I try to have atleast one line of the more rare breeds just because it can be good to build up a line and get recognition for it - and also hopefully get some other people interested.

And variety is good, having a good selection of breeds doesntreally have a negative affect..well none that i can think of. 

I think the fact that there are strict rules for getting breeds added, like 5 people need to agree to breed it and they still need to be training them a month later or the breed gets deleted. If that many people are dedicated to a certain breed, then they can form their own little community and I see nothing wrong with that.

I guess if people were really interested in making breeding communities and trading foals and such, they would do it. Sort of like the breeding community that Adranth has started.. I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out :)

I'm the only active player doing Kelpies >_>

I don't see what the big deal is with some breeds not being active. As I understand it HP is in more of a beta right now, and when we get more people coming in, I'm sure that the breeds that aren't active will be picked up. As for right now we're a smaller community, and that makes it special. The fact that you can be the only person breeding a certain breed is actually appealing to me.

Marixel--I think that little limit is only for getting breeds added. Once breeds are added and that month is up, there are no consequences for being inactive. 

I think I recall a clean up, once?

Anyway, we just need to recruit more members, so we can get more breeders ;D

I know a few people that have come to join HP, but left because the breed they want isn't here and it seemed like too much effort to get it added, with the possibility of losing it if the supporters decide they don't want to continue after a short while.
I never liked the whole removing inactive breeds thing. I think it's a little pointless. Limiting the breeds isn't really going to help to build breeding communities as much as people would like to think. If people start to breed something, it should be because they WANT to, not because they don't really have many options. Trying to force people into a breeding community by limiting their choices doesn't really seem very friendly. I know we want HP to bloom and for everyone to share lines, but the only way that's going to happen is if people start opening up and trusting other players with their lines, regardless of the breed.

I got Curly Coats re-added a while back which took a while with trying to get people interested in them, paid 1bill for a retirement breeding to re-start my 4 generation long lines, but then life and work got stupid busy and I forgot about them, and when I went back to see if I could salvage them and start some new stores, I found the breed had been deleted again.

The reason we remove breeds now is because of popular demand in the past. Before when we just added them freely and never removed them players complained that there were too many breeds and so they couldn't share lines with other people or sell their animals since there was no one else who was interested in their breed. Which also caused people to leave the game because they couldn't have a community with their breeders.

So we put in the rules about getting them added and having them deleted. Which, to some extent, has been working to keep breeds active and have more than one breeder for a certain breed.

At this point, I feel we have most of the "main" breeds that people expect to see when they come to a game like retrievers and doxies (and if we're missing one, feel free to let us know, we generally just add those common breeds without needing breeders since it's an oversight that they're not there to begin with and they're part of the permanent breeds list which never gets deleted), and most of the breeds people ask us to add are more obscure and aren't really breeds that people would come onto ANY game expecting to find. We have more breeds than almost any other game out there, and most games don't add new ones in at all.

If the majority of players really wants us to re-evaluate our system for adding breeds in, then we will. But we've found in the past that just freely adding and never deleting breeds does not work, so if the system is re-done, then we would need to try something we have not yet tried. So if this system causes players to leave, going back to an old system that ALSO caused players to leave is not the answer to the problem.

Also Urox, HP isn't in Beta, we've been around for 4 (going on 5) years, and we're fully open and "complete" (as complete as any game ever is). We're pretty small still, and it would be nice to grow (we are planning to start paid advertising soon, but we have a limited budget), but a lot of growth on these games comes from word of mouth from players, so it's really a group effort to grow games like this, haha.

Adding actual breeds with no removing is, in my opinion, better.  I think having the options available keeps people interested in the game because of the availability of "projects."  Some breeds are going to be popular that's just the way it is on a game and even in real life.  I think you will find more people will want to do projects if they have more options and can establish themselves among a smaller community of breeders.  Just my thoughts. :)   

I agree, Ice. I like the rules of getting a breed added, but I don't like that they get deleted if they no longer have breeders.. Maybe increase the amount of people you need to agree to breed them if you're worried about people just saying it to get a breed added, but that's going to happen regardless if someone really wants a breed. And a lot of people will say they'll breed them and then lose interest after a week or so.

A lot of people get busy with life and have plans to come back and pick up their breed and start some new lines, and it's a real bummer when you go to do that and find that your breed is no longer available. It's a major deterrent for people who like to play during the holidays or when they've got some free time. They know they might fade away after a while but knowing their favourite breed is there to start up again when they come back would always work in favour of the game. Maybe re-evaluate less known breeds after 6 months or a year, and if they haven't had active breeders in that time, then delete them, but at the moment I think the whole deleting thing is happening too fast.

People like HP because of the simplicity and people will come here because of that. I've lost count of how many people i've seen come to HP and say "this is just like old HL!" and they love it. We all love it, that will never change, but people will leave as fast as they came if keeping their favourite breed is more effort than finding a different game with no breed restrictions.