EQ Economy and Weekly Allowance

Well, when it opens to new registration on the 26th, I'll join with a new account. I might be able to find my retirement account, but I don't know if it would still be level 1 or not.

EDIT: My retirement account is level 2, 0% - so I'm going to be using that with a starting amount of 50k + whatever is given after the tutorial.

93667 is the account number, if anyone would be interested in peeking in on it.

Last edited on 2016-02-19 at 21:48:19 by Nittrous

No offense to those advocating for new members but my experience in many, many sims as mod, admin or even a player proves one point - new members will mess up, have no budget and either get fed up & quit or start over, learn from their mistakes and play the game as it is designed to be. It doesn't matter how much money they start with, how much allowance they get weekly or daily they all mess up one way or another.

To quote Confessions:

"I'm more worried about the new people who start out without a clue, and end up getting themselves into a real bind before they have the chance to learn the ropes. I'm concerned that, once you mess up, it may be nearly impossible to recover and learn from your mistakes. "

In just about ANY sim I have played I ended up in a bind, either by doing things complete opposite the rest of the community does in regards to breeding/showing or by blowing my money right off the bat. I did not simply quit, I read all the source material, conversed with other members and, sometimes with some help, started over and worked my way up into the upper echelons of the game world....EV included.

The Games Tent, Fountain etc. are all designed as other sources of income outside showing horses - members don't have to rely on shows alone to generate an income when they start out.

Last edited on 2016-02-19 at 22:00:59 by roXas

^ Well said.

Should be so lucky to have the fountain/games/daily interest.

I play a racing sim where horses cost you money for sitting in your account (but this almost equates to paying for food treats here). You do not get an allowance/pay/anything. You do not get freebies. Either your horses pay their way or you tank. This game is quite generous and forgiving if you are at least minding your spending/saving.

On the other hand, the other horse sims that I have played have all either had a set, predictable income, or ways to increase your income by doing jobs/missions. As someone who has to operate on a tight budget in real life, I know the value of a predictable income, or when I can make a little extra money doing odds and ends.

The fountain is great, don't get me wrong, and I credit it with keeping my one struggling account afloat.

However, in news articles announcing this update, a lot was said about making it a little easier for new players/those without multi-millions to stay afloat, and hopefully get ahead.

Since that was an expressed goal of the recode, I don't think it's out of line to point out ways that things have not quite yet achieved that balance. After all, that's what beta testing is all about. So we the players can take things for a test drive and make sure everything functions as planned. That can't happen without our input.

Who knows. It could be we're just worried about nothing and it won't actually be that bad. But at least it was discussed.

Please excuse me, I haven't found the time to read through all responses to this topic, but it seems that the main complaints are lack of interest and the loss of allowance.

Let's think about this.

The reduction from 1% to 0.5% (for Deluxes) - if you're careful with your spending over the course of a week, you'd actually be earning more money on your interest than on old EV's weekly interest.

Just to note, there is no cap as to what money you are allowed to earn interest on, that was the old game. I may introduce a cap as we go on, but the idea is to make the richest members feel a little more generous ;) whether that works or not, we'll see.

If you had $100,000 in the bank on old EV, on a weekly basis you can earn 2% interest. That's $2,000.

If you have $100,000 stored in the bank on new EV, on a daily basis you can earn 0.5% which is $500. Over 7 days? $3,500.

As long as you collect your interest every day, you earn way more than old EV.

As for the allowance? That system is very static and boring now. It's old-school. Think Horseland old-school, year of 1998 game development.

I want to introduce more fun ways of gaining money - like earning money from shows, participating in events, some leisure riding "missions", member jobs, etc.

It won't all appear in a night, or even in a month. But I do have plans for the economy here that are more exciting than pressing a button once a week.

I love, love, love the idea of other ways to earn and spend money! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us!!

Shows are the main way to gain stats, so with more people participating in shows, the more money you'll make creating and winning shows. With the different levels it makes it more fair that lower stat or beginner horses are paired together and etc.

We just opened so we just need to figure out the right amount of shows to be made.

If everyone locks up or doesn't show we will never figure out the right variables. I only have 6-10 horses that I'm showing for now on each account while things get figured out.

But I don't think everyone should completely lock up.

I find a lot of new players overspend and buy like 20 horses off the bat from the RC bc they are cheap but don't think about the expenses to show feed and board them.

I love the idea of missions. I like that better than an automatic "allowance" or "paycheck." I've liked that in other games that I've played, and I think it would be a great addition to EV. And it works especially well for people who don't have much in the bank to generate interest. It's far more worth the effort for them than for the ones with millions, who get significant interest. And it can help create the money that is necessary to make money.

(redacted)

I've been playing this game for over 8 years, back when EV had just opened up maybe two years before or so. Basically, I was the newest newbie you could think of. I bought
WAY too many horses, spent WAY too much money, but when I was starting to get into the hole; I didn't quit. I sucked it up and asked what to do from a veteran player. The person looked through my horses, asked what breeds did I want to raise, as I had like a pair of every breed, I told her, she suggested I sell the ones that I didn't want, which I did, and kept on with the three breeds, which was about 6 horses. Then, she helped me find some foundation stock in the breeds from the EC, I worked REALLY hard with them, actually did pretty good with them, bred my first foals, didn't buy any art till almost two years after I joined EV, and continued to work hard with my horses. Within two years, before I bought my first tag, I had save almost 1.5 million, which was super exciting to me, and continued to work with my lines.

Fast forward 6 years, I now have three accounts, expanded my breeding programs, still have some horses on one account whose lines go directly back to my foundation stock when I first started playing EV (including some ex Belgian Drafts that need to be reassigned a breed this summer), about 3 million average on each account, and lots of horses. My Mustang account, I have several horses whose lines stem straight back to the foundation Mustangs I started with back in 2009. :)

Did I make money with those horses at first? No. But, I just took what the veteran players suggested to heart, didn't give up, and kept plugging along. Oh sure, I felt like quitting several times, but never did. Took a break now and then, but always came back after some time.

Most of my money I earn is from stud fees and the occasional sale of foals from my stock. I strive to breed, buy, and sell the best stated and conformation foals possible. If I don't think I'll get a buyer for the pair's foal; then I simply don't breed them until they are 20 years old ages in 1 day and keep the foal for myself.

Do I sell art? Sometimes. It depends on if I need the money or not. Of course, I had peppermints to sell when I needed extra money on the old EV, but since that option is gone, I may pull out the drawing pad again, and offer some one-of-a-kind custom lines to artists since I've been going horse crazy with the new colors for the Gypsy's; as well as buying a few credits here and there. :P But their so pretty and fluffy I swear I'm gonna die................. I have now decided to try breeding these colors into my herd of fluffy poneh's, instead of buying them, or spending my credits on expensive Coat Applicators.

I have sorta calmed down with buying horses, thinking about long term effects, and trying to make money while still providing for my 73 horses on this account. With the new divisions that can be locked, that is going to come in very handy if I don't have time to work with all my horses at once. I usually work with one account at a time, to cut down on time spent on EV, and think ahead before I randomly breed my horses.

Basically, it takes time, patience, making wise decisions, and if you are stuck; just suck it up and ask someone who's been playing longer than you. :)

Last edited on 2016-02-20 at 22:45:07 by Feathered Gold