How to Increase Your General Ranking

I see many players ask how to increase their General Ranking, any many relatively unhelpful answers simply posting the equation used to calculate the ranking scores. This is good information to know, but it is not always easy to understand.

I thought I'd go ahead and break it down in simple terms.

1. Obtain more horses.

Your General Ranking takes into account your top 10,000 horses. If you have fewer than 10,000 horses you're missing out on a lot of potential points towards your overall ranking score. You'll notice that the top players have many, many horses.

So your first step should be getting as many horses as possible. Breed them yourself or buy them - it doesn't matter. Just get yourself some horses and go from there.

2. Age your horses.

In order for your horses to earn you the maximum amount of ranking points, they need to be aged. Young foals aren't really going to help you much here. A thirty-year-old horse is ideal, and obviously immortal horses will work best for this. However, I find keeping my horses just below age twenty-five is fine.

Work your horses every day in order to age them naturally.

3. Skill your horses.

It is not necessary to formally skill all your horses, but if you want them to help your General Ranking you must be training them and increasing their skills to the best of your abilities.

Train them. Go on rides. Get your competition skills. Do lessons. It all helps. The higher the skills, the better.

4. Earn trophies.

Trophies directly influence your General Ranking score. The more trophies you have, the higher your score will be. You will notice that the top players in the General Ranking also have a high rank in Trophies.

I suggest going for the easy trophies first and working up from there. Remember to maintain your trophies so that you do not lose them.

Remember

It takes work to climb to the top of the General Ranking. Even if you follow my suggestions you will not become a top ranked player overnight – but you will be well on your way if you keep working hard.

Being an active player is the best way to increase your General Ranking! Join a team. Breed high Genetic Potential horses. Take part in promotions. Try your best!

You may want to consider saving your Equus so that you can purchase high skill horses to help with your ranking.

The General Ranking is very competitive, but that's half the fun! Don't be discouraged if you can't seem to progress. Just keep trying.

Another Way to Earn Money for Passes

You probably know by now that I'm always looking for ways to earn money. Anything to fund my Howrse addiction, right?

I just wanted to share an awesome site with you guys. It's called MintVine. It's a survey panel but it's much more streamlined than other popular services. The surveys are highly targeted. They pay much more than other sites, and they don't try to trick you into endless click-bait and spam.

MintVine is honest, easy to use, and they offer fast payouts.

The site even gives you money simply for being told you don't qualify for a survey. Sometimes they give out as much as $0.30 for each disqualification. It adds up pretty quickly! There's also a fun daily poll and special rewards for answering it for ten days in a row (it's free money, guys!).

To date, I've earned $180 using MintVine. I've only been actively using the site since October of 2016 so that's pretty darn good!

MintVine is also unique in that you only have to be 13 years old to use the site - all you need is permission from your guardian. So this site is an awesome way for teens to earn money, too.

I definitely recommend this site. If you ignore every other recommendation I make, that's fine. But this is one that you seriously don't want to miss. Try it out, and let me know how it goes!

Ugh. Howrse.

I swear the only reason I still play this game is because I have too much invested in it to stop.

Anyone else feel this way?

Let's Talk Affixes

Affixes. We've all got them. Some communicate a sense of grandeur. Some are silly. Some are pop-culture references we slyly slip into game to express our off-site interests. Some are with us from the beginning, while some are nothing more than placeholders.

All in all, affixes are pretty personal. They say a lot about our horses, breeding projects and even about ourselves as players. Which is why it's so frustrating to see lame affixes. So let's talk about this, shall we?


1. Why are you using your username as an affix?

For real. This is stupid. There's this awesome field in your horses' information tab marked Producer. This handy tool tells everyone who bred the horse. You don't need to put this information into your affix. Anyone who cares will already know to check out who the producer was if this information is somehow pertinent to their interests.

2. Numbers in your affix? Whhhy?

Sorry, but if the affix "Arabian" is taken, "Arabian1" is hardly a worthy substitute. You can do better than that. It looks ugly and it communicates nothing aside from your laziness and lack of imagination.

3. Please stop insisting your horse is great or awesome or top quality.

You probably think very highly of your horses but "High Quality Quarters" or "First Place Flyers" sounds ridiculous. What's more, it looks silly on a low-quality horse. Even if your horse were to be top ranked, it would still be a goofy affix. A horse's quality speaks for itself. If you need your affix to tell me how great your horse is then it probably isn't.

4. What does that even say???

ɟคгՇ๒ɭ■ꙅꙅ■๓ꙅ

Seriously. Don't do this.

5. There are some things better left unsaid.

All things being equal, I'd rather buy a horse with a nice non-committal affix. I'd just rather have Ponykins of "Meadow Lark Estates" than Ponykins of "MEAT IS MURDER", or Ponykins of "JESUS LOVES YOU".

Even if I agree with your sentiments, there's a certain amount of tact that one should exercise when choosing an affix. You risk looking very juvenile if you bring your propaganda into the game. Not to mention, you could be violating the terms of service depending on the affix subject and content.

Hope your parents aren't paying for that

Soooo... You want an expensive art tablet so you can trace your shitty 3D renders more efficiently?

Bitch please.

Critique Etiquette

Yup. It's another Black Pearl bitch fest. I can't help it, there's always so much bullshit to wade through in those threads.

We're going to talk about Critiques and etiquette. This has always been one of those tricky topics that can quickly turn ugly. Generally, people are pretty good about critiques. They'll ask for some opinions on their latest work and, generally, they do care about what others have to say. The same goes for those critiquing. Usually, everyone is helpful and fair.

Usually. Usually... 

But you've always got some complete morons who just like to hear themselves talk. 

If you're asking for critiques

Don't ask for critiques if you're just going to brush them all off.

Take into consideration what others have to say, especially if they've taken the time to provide references that may help you.

Answering every critique with "It's supposed to be like that" or "it's too late to fix that" is lazy, rude and inconsiderate.

If you're going to say that your work is correct when compared to your reference - then show it! So many artists (using that term reaaaal loosely, folks) have lately been referring to these mystery references that they're unwilling to show. What are you hiding, bro? It makes you look very untrustworthy.

On a related note, understand that even if you think something is correct and even if your reference is showing it to be more-or-less accurate, it may still be wrong. Or it may just be aesthetically displeasing. The best artists get this and work to overcome it.

If you ask for critiques and then choose to ignore them, don't be surprised when people stop answering. Don't play the victim. No one is ignoring you. We're all just tired of your bullshit.

If the same critiques keep coming up it probably means it's something you need to work extra hard at. A big part of improving in knowing your weaknesses and working to overcome them.

If you're critiquing

Be nice. Shouldn't even have to say this.

If you see a problem, especially with anatomy, try to find a reference that you think exemplifies what the artist should be aiming for. This is usually more helpful than saying something like "the hocks look weird."

If someone posts a work-in-progress, don't be stupid and tell them the horse's eyes aren't finished, or that it's hooves are missing. No shit, Sherlock.

Try to leave personal preferences out of it. We've all got things we like to see on coats. Maybe you like big manes. Or lots of accessories. These things aren't really critique worthy. It's one thing to suggest the artist add some embellishments, it's another to expect them to bedeck their horse out in gem-studded armor.

If an artist isn't receptive to your critique, don't press it. At the end of the day, they're responsible for the quality their own work. Your critique may be fair and accurate but it isn't worth turning it into a debate.

Free Lotto App

So, you all know that I sometimes post about websites and apps where you can earn money to buy passes, right? Because I'm too cheap to spend anything on this game. Anyway, I found a good one I want to share!

It's called Mooojo and here's how it works. Instead of toiling away at surveys and signing up for sketchy partner offers, Mooojo lets you watch short advertisements for a virtual lottery ticket. At the end of the week, they match your numbers against the real-life German lottery draw and you get cash based on whether or not your ticket numbers match the real ones.

Neat, right? There's no surveys. No weird third-party downloads. No spam email from companies you've never heard of.

The minimum payout is only $0.10 and Mooojo will send it right to your Paypal account. European users can also get paid using SEPA but the minimum is set a bit higher.

You win money if you match just two numbers. The more numbers you match, the more you win. I recently won $47.00 so yes, this app really does work. I received my payment very quickly.

If you want to give the app a try you can download it from the Apple App Store or from Google Play if you're an Android user.

If you decide to try the app, I'd love if you used my referral code. I know you're probably rolling your eyes at me right now but hear me out. Using my referral code will make you one of my teammates, and vice versa. Teammates help each other get bonus entries and if I win the jackpot, you'll automatically get a share of it, too. It's win-win. I didn't know that when I joined and my referer is inactive - which kind of sucks for me.

Referral code: eprfx6

Things Howrse has Taught Me

Foals don't poop.

Training aids make all the difference.

Unicorns are real. They are just very finicky breeders.

Crossbred horses are pretty much trash.

Under the correct circumstances, horses can poop gold.

It's Your Problem Now

That moment when someone buys a horse you've had sitting in sales for weeks and attempts to sell it for a higher price.

Have at it, sweetheart!

Pro Tip #10: Setting Pass Limits

For many players, school is starting back up and that means you may be spending less time on Howrse. This can be problematic when it comes to completing promotions, as many require that you log in frequently.

If you miss a few days during a promotion cycle it can seriously set you back, resulting in the need to spend more Passes to catch up.

I'm going to suggest that players know their limits and play smart. If a promotion requires that you spend 30 or more Passes - skip it! Save your Passes and wait for the divine to be offered in a random chance item or the reserved sales.

Waiting can be rough, I get it. So many of the new divines have been absolutely lovely. But, let's face it, they're not worth shelling out 50 Passes for especially since the Howrse team has been seriously cutting back on the BMI rewards offered in promotions (but that's a rant for another time). Be patient and wait. Howrse wants to make money. They will offer the divines again - probably sooner than later.

After all this time, you still suck

So, if it isn't obvious by now, I'm pretty active in the art side of Howrse. I do a lot of art. I offer helpful critiques where I can. I redline. I try to be helpful and positive since I firmly believe that art should be inclusive and beginners should be encouraged and supported.

But I will make it very very clear - I hate cheaters. And even more than cheaters, I hate serial cheaters. People who continue to cheat and lie after being called out on it many times? They're scum.

Which is why I take serious pleasure in seeing just how much some players, who will remain nameless (I hope you're reading this) suck. Despite all your stolen art, your photo edits, your traced images, and your completely illegitimate use of the Horse Pose Tool app (you think we can't tell?), you still suck more than a high-end vacuum cleaner.

Your work is artless, as most traced images are. Your color palettes are absolutely terrible despite all the kind suggestions you're received on improving them. We all know you're trying to trace photos you're taken yourself - which is why you seemed to magically improve overnight but won't show references and claim you didn't use any (we're not stupid). And now you're using a pose tool for tracing. Again, we can tell. Many artists use the same app for inspiration and help with tricky poses. However, pose tool models are not meant to be traced. They're basic 3D models - they're not terribly correct in terms of anatomy, but I doubt you care. If possible, these look even worse than your previous attempts. They're bad. You're bad. 

I'd support you if you actually tried. If you put in the hours and effort it takes to become a better artist. But you cheat time and time again. You have no coats in the game. Your work sucks as much today as it did when you first started posting it. And you've been at it for a while now.

You're the worst. And I love seeing you fail time and time again.

Possible Ageing Point Change?

It has been brought to my attention that some users have recently noted a potential change to the rate at which Ageing Points are found when waking horses.

I'm researching this now and will have my results finalized soon. I cannot say anything for certain, but it does look like Ageing Points have been made more scarce.

Fyber Offers

Seems like Howrse's deal with Fyber is in limbo. I'm keeping an eye on the situation, and will update my guides to reflect whatever the outcome is.

Bad Advice

The amount of bad advice I see on the Howrse forums is astounding, and always from the same core group of active posters.

Really guys, you're idiots. If you spent more time playing and less time attempting to increase your post counts maybe you'd actually understand how the game works. Just saying.