Can anyone explain what 'The Book of Monsters' is? I've been absent, so I haven't a clue what it means

River, its a new coat thing like the bewitched pumpkin and magic hat, you can create it in the current promo We haven't had them before so you haven't missed much

If anyone has further data on the new BLUP changes, message me. I have collected some data already, and below are my findings.

The old formula for how BLUP affects GP is known, as shown below.

Based on preliminary data, the new formula for how BLUP affects GP (currently on preprod) is also shown below, but the exponent value of 2 has not been confirmed, and may be anywhere between 1.8 - 2.1. I do beleive an exponential formula is being used however.

Old BLUP/GP modifier formula:


New BLUP/GP modifier formula:


Basically, by using exponentials they can make higher BLUPs more and more rewarding. Here's a table showing the differences. So for 70 BLUP before this change, you could get up to 85% of the GP gain. Now, with only bolding and no wins being only 60 BLUP, PLUS the drop, you'd get only 64% of the GP gain.

They are Loki on top and Thor on the bottom.

Seems there will also be a new divine trophy as well.

Thor

Lift the veil that has descended on the Nordic worlds by winning points with rides to Asgard, Midgard and Niflheim. Take care when choosing which ride to go on!


When you get to 900 points, the veil is raised and Thor gives you a prize:

1 x Zeus' Lightning Bolt

This horse cannot be sold.

My beautiful trees.

Choose a tree which Blitzen (your divine reindeer-like mare you got from the tutorial) will go get for you immediately and decorate it with the required amount of baubles, hanging ornaments and tinsel strands.

Once the tree is fully decorated, you can choose to retrieve the gift OR make your tree evolve to get a more valuable gift.

If you retrieve the gift, the tree is added to your Forest.

If you make your tree evolve you have to add more decorations. When that part is complete, then you can choose to make your tree evolve or retrieve the gift, and so on until you reach the highest level of the tree (level 3 for normal trees, level 4 for those with divines).

Note: if you choose to take your tree to the next level, you don’t get the gift.

There are 5 divines to win, at the end of 5 different trees: I love you, Sequoia, Tangaroa, Taranis and Thor, a new Nordic divine.


Trees

Each tree has:


3 or 4 levels

a required amount of Skills from Blitzen to be unlocked

Each tree level has:


A required amount of each decoration

A gift that can be chosen when full

A certain amount of skill given to Blitzen with the gift if chosen (skills will be equally added to the different skills of the horse)

At the beginning, there are 2 tree slots and a 3rd one when the community goal is reached (decorate X number of trees). You cannot decorate more trees than that at the same time. You can’t go back once you have chosen and started to decorate a tree. (Also you can’t see how many decorations a tree requires before choosing it.)



Decorations


There are Baubles, Hanging Ornaments and Tinsel Strands.

How to get decorations:


with Blitzen :
give her a candy cane so she’ll give you decorations on the next day.

Win a Skijöring competition (1x/day)

Go on a sleigh ride (1x/day)


by opening Advent Calendar Windows

buy them with passes (permanent offers & weekend packs)

with UFOs during the first weekend (not sure if they will be activated on the preprod)

Tree decoration:


Each tree requires a specific number of each decoration (the colors don’t matter, only the type of decoration).

You decorate the tree by drag-and-dropping the decorations where you want (there are no specific spots anymore).

It is also possible to “skip” the current decoration level by using the button to automatically decorate the tree by paying X pass(es). When doing so, no additional decorations are placed on the tree, but the level is instantly completed. Also, if player already placed decorations on tree before activating auto-complete they are NOT placed back in inventory but lost in the process.



Blitzen
Blitzen is a divine mare looking a bit like a reindeer. Everyone gets her after completing the tutorial.

She’s the one who retrieves your Christmas trees. Her skills increase every time you get a gift from a tree. Some trees require higher skills than others (especially the divine ones) which is why you can’t go get the divine tree immediately.

During the contest you can:

give her Candy cane so she’ll give you decorations on the next day

participate in Skijöring competitions (if you win, you get decorations 1x/day)

go on a sleigh ride (1x/day you get decorations)

She’ll stay on the player’s game after the contest ends, but won’t bring any bonuses.

Howrse DE 10th birthday!


To celebrate the 10th birthday of the German version, there will be a new edition of the Candle search contest we had for FR and COM’s birthday. It works exactly the same, will be on all servers, lasts 24 hours, with a Vintage Apple as a jackpot.


Concept


Players take part in an event in which they must find all 10 candles hidden throughout the game. Clues will help them find the candles. Those who find all 10 candles win a Vintage Apple.

Advent Calendar


The graphics have changed but the principle remains the same as last year: every day from December 1 to 24 players open one window of the advent calendar and receive presents. The “day” is counted from maintenance time to maintenance time. You can open a window for a previous day by paying Equus.

There is a slight chance to win a divine horse on each Sunday (the divines aren’t the same as last year).

now i hope people will stop saying Horwse wont give you a divine for free as here one is

BLUP Revaluation


The BLUP calculation has been reworked to ensure greater equity between breeders.

There was a certain imbalance in the way BLUP is calculated as well as in how the genetic potential and skills are passed down to foals. For example, training a horse in their 3 best skills counted more than age or wins when it came to calculating BLUP. On the other hand, an average BLUP that was lower than 100 would still give you a high enough genetic potential gain so that reaching 100 BLUP lost its interest for some people.

We wanted to give value back to the efforts of determined breeders who make the effort to get to 100 BLUP with their horses before breeding them and thus ensure a greater reward for breeding quality. So here are the changes we've just made.

For more comprehensive list of changes, please see the changelog.


BLUP Calculation


There’s now a better distribution of the 3 factors determining BLUP calculation: the BLUP calculation is less weighted toward training so that wins and horse age count more.

Win weighting: Each win gives you more BLUP than the previous win. The 20th win is therefore the most significant.

Age weighting: Each month gives you more BLUP than the previous month, so you get to the maximum when the horse reaches age 10.
Note: A horse’s BLUP updates after their first aging after the update.


Calculation of a foal's genetic potential


The formula for calculating a foal's genetic potential has been adjusted to change the BLUP factor in the formula.

If the parents' BLUP is below 100, the GP gain is weaker than before, whereas if the parents' BLUP is 100, nothing changes.

Note: Nothing changes for coverings that took place before the change: the genetic potential and innate skills of foals will stay the same as they were expected to be when the covering took place.


Other adjustments: Morpheus' Arms and Nyx Pack


You don't need to wait for a horse to be 3 years old now. You can give a foal Morpheus' Arms or even a Nyx Pack any time after they're born. So you can now save on some aging points!

On the other hand, any horse over 30 years old now loses their Morpheus' Arms.

It's apparently the Cards, with a New Zealand theme.