@Champagne, I'll think about it! However, the reason for the new ID's neck position, is that to me it seems more accurate to its alert/interested expression and the way they usually carry themselves on the photos I've found. The neck itself is also set on the shoulders in a very similar way between the old and new ID, but the neck and head proportions are very different - the neck itself is a lot less thick and the head is overall lighter.

Frankly I'd rather money and effort go 100% into just updating all the old bases. I can wait for new tack, and I'd like to keep the old art that I've loved for so long just a bit longer. That being said, Thunderbolt your art keeps getting better and better! The Appy in particular is great.

I think going the generic base route is the best idea tbh. They'll all still get new breed art and we'll get new tack. If not, new tack is gone and the tack realllyyy needs updated speaking from the viewpoint of someone that's been around since this game was made. To get both, going to generic bases is the only option and I personally think it's the only logical option.

i'm currently withholding my vote for now because i'm undecided, though i see good points for either side!

from a practical standpoint switching to generic bases makes sense and would help simplify the work needed for new tack. and it also would give HoFa the uniform look it really needs. HoFa is kind of… unique? for having 3 different styles of art at once for its breeds? 😅 hardly any other game has kept an “in-progress” look for this long and few have done this many art redos in their lifetime. i think that would certainly reduce new player confusion and frustration, in turn reducing the frustration of having to explain the same things to new players many times. so it would set things back a lot with the art, but then set the game up for easier upgrading in the future.

but yes, the big disadvantage is losing all the art we've become attached to all at once instead of redo by redo, which doesn't sound like an easy time haha. i think it would heavily affect both new and old players honestly. while new players could settle into the “work in progress” state if they're not familiar with old art, i can imagine the older players coming back to all their breeds being set back to generic would not have much motivation to play at all. i think it could eventually cause frustration for new players too, if the breed they like doesn't get updated for years and stays stuck on generic art. and it would affect our general gameplay a lot because much about this game is looking at the artwork and gathering info from just the visuals alone. i can imagine catching wilds and sorting through foals/pulls would be less streamlined (or fun) this way.

i think when it comes to redoing artwork on these kind of games, it should always come as an overall upgrade over the old art. and i don't mean in terms of art style because that's incredibly subjective, it's impossible to please everyone. but all other aspects should offer something better to what was in the game before. so far art redos have been a mixed bag in terms of breed accurate conformation, realistic coloring and markings, and many bugs for both regular features and new ones like grooming. meanwhile older art does have its fair share of bugs and a few coloration issues, along with some marking issues from the more recently implemented pattern variations. but it has been functionally consistent despite those problems. i completely understand though, that given the situation during when redos were being implemented, they were sort of doomed to fail in some ways.
so i think if i could know that features will have more testing before launch and have smoother implementation, making redos something to truly look forward to and not worry about how things will break, then i could probably form a better opinion on this? my main concern is sort of like… which path has offers the most gameplay functionality to players?

As a slightly unrelated thing. I don't know if it's already planned or not, but when it comes time to redo the registered crossbreed art, can we possibly have different poses for the Azteca and the American Azteca? Sometimes it gets a little confusing when it comes to breeding them. 

Forgotten makes some good points as well, on top of what I said earlier, with new players being thrown off by all horses looking the same, and having to eventually redo all the tack and manes again for each new breed.

But it would also make wilds and foals and such frustrating and I hadn't thought of that aspect either. Everything is just going to look the same and you never really know what they will truly look like. Players already freeze campaigns to wait to see them in campaign art. Now they might just freeze even more to wait to see them in breed specific art

And is it all just going to be the generic light, draft, pony, etc? 

I think a lot of confusion can be avoided by disclaimers on tack and grooming tools, maybe a link to a page that will update with current breeds it works on. The problem now is there no explanation on these items. I just really dont see every horse looking the same as enticing for new players. 

My main gripe with everything getting “generic bases" is the light cross art. It was made with zero input from players, looks very out of place among the other redos and still has colouring issues with some layers that have yet to be corrected. The vast majority of breeds currently in horse fable are of the light body type, here's a list: 
Akhal-Teke
American Saddlebred

Arabian
Dutch Warmblood
Hanovarian
Knabstrupper
Marwari
Morgan
Paso Fino
Tennessee Walking Horse

Throroughbred
Abstang
Anglo Arabian
Appendix QH
Araloosa
Hispano Arabe
Iberian Warmblood
Quarab

That's 15 out of 43 breeds (arabian and TB have been redone) that will have the generic light cross base (until the art gets updated, which could be up to 2 years away based on the current rate of progress).
for comparison, the other numbers are 6 Draft, 5 Light Draft, 5 Pony and 9 Stock. Light breeds make up a vast majority of breeds and cross breeds in game & while they don't look terrible, they're not something I'd want to put up with for 2+ years waiting for updates.
I also feel like making/releasing new tack could delay breed redos even further too. 

I also agree with Maki in that it will discourage active play- people will freeze a lot of breeds to wait for the redo. I froze my account for probably more than a year in total while waiting on the Brumbian art, and depending on the order of the redos, that could be how long some people have to wait to get their favourite breed on the new art. At least with the old art there's some visual difference/interest to keep us going in the meantime. 

@Maki i agree that clearly communicating how certain features cannot be used on old art would be really good to focus on. like yes, there's always going to be people who just refuse to read anything. and there's the occasional language barrier which isn't anyone's fault. but if the game has that disclaimer attached to the items and pages in question, that definitely takes out a lot of confusion. can't fault the game for misleading someone if the info was there all along for that person to read haha.

going off what Mouse said, i think this topic would actually make more sense if we had the redone generic art already? right now we're just… voting blindly. we don't even how these bases will look. though i have faith in Thunder that they'll be beautiful, i think i'd be in a position to vote if i truly knew what i'm getting out of voting yes. but i know that the redone generics will likely take a long time so hmm…

It is a hard call. And I am definitely in the boat of others who wanted to see recoloring on the breeds who have been released. I love Thunderbolts style and can't wait to see all the redos, but I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed with the colors. They just feel undersaturated. The blacks look grey and the browns kind of look all the same. I want to love them 100%, but that little detail is holding me back. I am both excited and also a bit bummed my appies are getting a redo soon because I don't want to loose my pretty rich colors. If that is addressed then I am all for new art for everything, full steam ahead.

@reddRookk & others - Yes, we would be able to implement the edits to base colors if we switched to all new art styles. Not only due to the support for it but it is much much easier to work on the new bases and I'd rather dedicate time towards that. We haven't touched the player dev ideas since we are still cleaning up since the transition. I think this may address some folks hesitance?
 

@Champagne - We would consider the 2 different bases. I think we've planned to change that for awhile but things kept getting in the way.