Enter All revamp concept

Kaye [Platinum || 128 posts] on 7/19/2022 12:07 am

Hi hello!

 

One of the reasons the site lags is probably how people show. Most of us use something like LinkClump to open 10 tabs of each tier at once, up to 80 for a single discipline, then control+tab between them to enter each one with EA1. This is by far the most efficient way to show, taking half an hour or less per account for most people vs. the hour + it can take with other methods. I can imagine this gives a pretty intense lag spike. Neither option is very accessible, either, requiring a lot of time at the computer and manipulation of the keyboard that people with carpal tunnel, hand nerve injuries, etc might struggle with — not to mention how time consuming it is for parents, people in school, and the like.

 

Plus, the way the Enter All buttons function isn't super intuitive; neither of them actually "enters all," and new users run into confusion with a) settings placement and b) what the item they're buying actually does.

 

I propose a complete revamp of Enter All to address new user confusion, UX, accessibility, and value (please click for full size):

 

Major changes include:

  • Instead of two Enter Alls, there is now one Enter All that adds major functionality by combining the features both and adding some bells and whistles
  • All settings and use happens via the Shows Arena (more intuitive)
  • The Enter All can be used for Halter by one breed at a time, or one disc at a time, but not both — Halter could further be broken down by stars if this feels too OP
  • You can set it to random
  • You can set it to enter the primary or secondary discipline, but not both
  • Careers would function the same — you would still be able to select all of them and send them to work if you have EA

 

Inspiration and research:

  • Games that have a high volume of individual pet ownership like HoFa does (Furry Paws, Equiverse, Horse Eden Eventing, Hunt and Jump) have much simpler competition entry systems, and I suspect this is part of the reason both games are still active after so much time; they're easy to enter competitions, meaning the effort is put into what actually matters, like training and breeding. Since competitions don't add anything other than levels like in these games, it makes sense for HoFa to have a similar functionality
  • However HoFa can stand out by having a system that is even more accessible and cleanly designed, giving users one page to manage their entire herd (similar to an office functionality)

 

Other opportunities:

  • This functionality could be a subscription service — an a la carte option for $5 or less per month. To avoid making it pay to win, it could also be available for ingots, to move the economy around more as well. Users who have already purchased the EA1 and/or EA2 could get the first ~month or two for free.
  • Alternately, to avoid making it pay to win, an additional currency tied to activity could be introduced.  Elder Scrolls Online does something similar with its premium feature — players who play often (not daily but I think it ends up being more than half the month) are able to collect Seals of Endeavor that they can exchange for a month of ESO Plus. You need to actually do things to get seals of endeavor, but they're usually simple, like harvesting X number of world nodes or whatever.

 

Thanks for reading this wall of text! I'm so curious to hear what everyone else thinks of this concept!



Okapi

Post Count: 31

7/19/2022 12:28 am

I love this idea! I definitely wouldn't mind paying extra for this feature, as long as it's a reasonable amount.

 

I'm curious how big of a difference in site speed this would make. I would hope it'd be a considerable amount but I can imagine the server chugging to show hundreds of horses in thousands of shows in one click. Though I'm not very familiar with how that server stuff works, I just fear that it wouldn't make a difference versus the tsunami of tabs. I'd love to hear input about that. 

 

Show burn out is very real, it's what has shied me away from this game in the past (even with all the nice additions to the game.) I want to play but showing is painful, especially when the site is chugging or if I have to show on my phone (oof). 



geeoharee

Post Count: 44

7/19/2022 1:46 am

With my developer-but-not-a-HF-developer hat on: you're right that it might not affect the server lag, it would depend on how it's implemented in the back end. But building a 'show entire herd' function would allow for optimisations which currently can't and don't exist, because every user has to push a bunch of buttons and thus make a bunch of server calls to make that single task happen.

But it's not my code, so as a user: yes please! I only have a small herd, but showing with EA1 (which for me means opening a tab *per horse*) is already a complete pain. I see big-name users on the Discord saying "I just don't have it in me to show today, I'll freeze my herd again" and surely that isn't how we want it to be.



Okapi

Post Count: 31

7/19/2022 1:58 am

Unfortunate. :( Perhaps it can be implemented in a way that doesn't happen instantaneous, maybe you put in a request to show you horses for the next day and at some time in the night and morning when the site is low traffic it'll enter horses? 

 

That's probably too complicated, but worth a thought.

Edited 1 times



Qeni

Post Count: 73

7/19/2022 6:55 am

It's actually a bit strange, because last time I actively showed, back in April I think, opening 10 tabs at once didn't lag at all, definitely not as much as it does today. Maybe it's because more people are online at once?

Edited 2 times



StillOaksFarm

Post Count: 72

7/19/2022 8:19 am

I absolutely support a change to Enter All! I currently open 10 tabs at a time for each level which takes me about 15-20 minutes to enter all of my horses. But that's with a herd that is all in the same discipline so I can only imagine how long it takes with horses in multiple disciplines!

I'm not a huge fan of subscriptions and I think a recurring charge for Enter All feels a little too much like "pay to win". I think a one time purchase for a high ingot amount would give players who can't pay with real world money the opportunity to save up by trading for ingots with bits, in-game items, art, etc. Similar to how the current EA1 and EA2 are purchased.

 



KD10PLJ

Post Count: 36

7/19/2022 10:05 am

I don't know anything about the coding aspects, but I do think that Enter All features on games exist mainly (1) as accessibility features for people who, for whatever reason, can't do all the clicks every day and (2) to save time for larger herds or for people who just don't have a lot of time to spare. As such I think that Enter All should be as "one click" as the devs can make it without breaking the game or the game's economy.



Alfalfa

Post Count: 64

7/19/2022 10:10 am

I 100% support this idea! 

 

Right now, and especially during my peak work seasons, I can't keep up with all of the things I need to do on HoFa. Because my horses are spread out into multiple disciplines (5 total), it takes me about an hour to show each account. And an hour is about the maximum I have a day to play. So if I need to breed or plan other things, I end up having to freeze or lose the show points due to just not enough time to play. 

 

I would absolutely support a re-design of the Enter All function. I personally hate subscription models, but I would definitely support re-purchasing it as a one-time upgrade to help fund the cost of the redesign. 

Edited 1 times



Astral

Post Count: 170

7/19/2022 11:02 am

I support this idea enthusiastically, especially from the Accessability standpoint.



Rheanimation

Post Count: 1

7/27/2022 4:53 am

This is such a great idea! Although, I would propose to have something seperate for careers.

As some of you might know, this is my side account, and I'm currently only doing careers with it. It feels a little weird to buy something that has so much functionality that I would never use on this account.

Right now to make entering careers easier I would have to buy EA2, for which I need EA1. And just to have the little 'Select All' checkbox in my career center. Yes, it does make it easier and faster, but not enough to justify spending all those ingots (especially when I have no interest in the showing functionality).



Talitha

Post Count: 146

7/27/2022 5:06 pm

I like the idea of updating the enter all buttons. Entering 10 shows on all levels for all carrers is quite alot. If checkmark boxes or something like them could be added, to let you enter your horses into multiple shows that would help a great deal


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