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Ammit · Apr 23, 2024 6:19 AM

First thank you to everyone who gave feedback on the last thread. Particular thank you to those who read the entire thing and gave feedback on limiting newer eras only, and those who gave detailed insightful feedback with considerations to how changes would impact both their stable and the game as a whole.

Here is the need to know about the issue. The newer eras are designed to be a level playing field for stables winning a few leaderboard awards a month to compete with barns winning hundreds of awards a month. There was some confusion of people thinking the new eras are for brand new players and that really is not the case. You need a decent show barn to compete on any leaderboard but the newer eras are the most level playing field because they are pretty much pure strategy to top them.

Maxing Out foals is effectively a requirement to keep up in those new-era races. That is fine as long as everyone has a fair chance at that. The problem is not everyone does have a fair chance at it. Barns with lots of GMT wins each season get maxing for free and some can max enough foals to be hyper-competitive on every single newer era board. I want to give space on those new eras for more mid-size players to have a shot, and force people competing in the new eras to focus on a single era. Once an era has reached cap quality maxing really loses its punch and has basically no impact on the leaderboard.

The solution I found that allows later eras to max freely (where it is used mostly for fun, not for competition) while still protecting the competitiveness of new eras is just to limit maxing for primary and newer eras.

Each stable will be allowed to max out 4 horses a season in the impacted eras. No other restrictions or changes are being implemented.

You only need 1 max-out token a season for the most efficient strategies to stay at the top of an era so I reserve the right to tighten that down if needed in the future.

What eras are impacted?
Bluegrass
Era 12-16

Forest
Era 10-14

Mesa
Era 2 -6

Starting June 1st
Bluegrass
Era 14-17

Forest
Era 12-15

Mesa
Era 4 -7

What about boosting?
I did some investigation yesterday and found there was very little correlation between boosting and GMT wins. The number one indication of how many GMTs an account will win a season is how large it is. The accounts winning the most GMTs are winning them from the points categories, and being smart about how they enter clubs and how they show. Even if I limited boosts almost no one on any server does more than 2 or 3 5% boosts a season. It's already self-limited and is not the key factor here. Smart playing and laws of large numbers are the deciders here and I think that is completely fair. Accounts that are very large win because they are very large. They boost because they can afford to because they are very large. Both are a result of being large but boosting is not a prerequisite to making lots of GMTs.

Why not switch to IVs?
Switching to IVs would help limit maxing but it does not address the core issue as elegantly as just limiting maxing for newer eras. While it would be better than nothing, many members gave elegant arguments about why limiting was superior to IVs.

Walywoohoo · Apr 23, 2024 9:12 AM

Thanks so much Ammit. I still think of myself as a new player, but I'll be 2 in September! And it's been a fantastic time :x I feel like I took the time to read a lot when I joined, and learned quickly to get as many pointed/high PT show horses as possible. And when I accidentally won 2 GMTs from a colt I picked up at auction, I was HOOKED on the leaderboard game! It's definitely helped me grow exponentially, and a change to unlimited IV maxing would only be helpful to the barns with huge cashflow, so this is definitely the best move. I appreciate you always looking to better this game, when it's already the best thing online! :D

SummerMonarch · Apr 23, 2024 9:32 AM

4 horses per affected era or four horses, period?

Will we be getting 4 max tokens a month or will the game count on the backend? (This feels like a lot of programming!)

The actual primary era is the lower (closest to 0) of the two active primary eras?

Why is there a two era jump in June?

I agree with era 4 being limited until December. That’s smart. Then one real year from now, era 5 would get the limit removed. That seems like a good amount of time for non-hyper-focused individuals to get to cap horses.

I wish that there was an addition to this: one cannot boost into restricted eras. (Restricted eras being the ones that we have max limits in.) In three months, era 3 (which I think would be the oldest protected era but I don’t know how we are counting) will be fully dominated by *** studs from era 4. That will also change the GMT haul in favor of those with those studs (right now there are two.)

If 3 was a protected era, like it will be on May 1st, we couldn’t do this until the next era. Khithanth (sp sorry) and I work the era 3 leaderboards and I’m not sure we are at cap yet. If we are, it’s recent. (I’m guessing, of course.) I think having the horses in the era at cap before boosting in would also protect that leaderboard until it’s just funsies.

I like how you explain that the challenge isn’t just barn size. I’ve been thinking about that— I don’t think I have a top three daily income but I spend money, so I get extras from that. I spend a stupid amount of time considering what LB are competitive and splitting up siblings in leaderboards. I think this does a great job of balancing it out.

A+

Ammit · Apr 23, 2024 10:00 AM

4 horses per affected era or four horses, period?

4 horses total among all limited eras.

Will we be getting 4 max tokens a month or will the game count on the backend? (This feels like a lot of programming!)

There is no such thing as a max token. The game will count.

Why is there a two era jump in June?

The two current primary eras now will no longer be primary eras in June. Era 4 and Era 5 are primary from June to December.

Then one real year from now, era 5 would get the limit removed.

In December the limited eras will be 6,7 and 8.

Era 3 will only have maxing restrictions because we are in the process of moving when the primary era falls. It's a side effect not intentional. The primary era is moving because once an era hits cap you can out-compete it using boosting. Era 3 has been at cap for months now which is why younger eras can be boosted past the pure era 3 lines. Boosting is useless before an era hits cap as a 5% boost will never allow you to catch up to an era already 6 months ahead. Same reason why no one uses expro for their era competition lines.

I think having the horses in the era at cap before boosting in would also protect that leaderboard until it’s just funsies.

I think you are starting to see why I am moving the primary era. ;) I am moving it so the era hits cap while it is the primary era and after that it becomes for funsies and not so competitive anymore.

RamshornRanch · Apr 23, 2024 11:07 AM

Thank you for soliciting feedback on this. I was pretty disappointed when the original announcement about going to IVs for maxing was made, and I am much happier about this change instead. I appreciate the time spent brainstorming and asking for feedback. I think this is a better resolution to the issue in the long run.

WillowRidgeFarm · Apr 23, 2024 1:52 PM

I think this will be so much better in the long run! I'll admit I was a little bit disappointed at first. Then I realized how important it is to give the newer players a chance and to level the playing field.
Excited to see how this affects things in the future.

SummerMonarch · Apr 23, 2024 6:46 PM

“The two current primary eras now will no longer be primary eras in June. Era 4 and Era 5 are primary from June to December.”

Huh. I thought we’d have 3 and 4 next month. Whoops.

SummerMonarch · Apr 29, 2024 9:19 AM

Well, this was my lowest leaderboard month in awhile!

Ammit · Apr 30, 2024 7:14 AM

This has been implemented. It is a day early because that what works out for my schedule but if you need to max more than 4 horses today for some reason just let me know.

LookingGood · Apr 30, 2024 12:43 PM

I'm excited to see how this impacts Era 7!

Walywoohoo · Apr 30, 2024 6:48 PM

Ammit I sent you a message about some horses id planned to max

SummerMonarch · Apr 30, 2024 8:17 PM

LG, me too. I’ve decided to wait for era 8 because I don’t know what I’m doing with my existing mess. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out.

RKOHaven · May 2, 2024 5:12 AM

Thanks Ammit :)

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