I hear you but don’t agree with you around providing DLC tracks to players that don’t own the DLC. The expansions are arguably dirt cheap and most players own them. There is an argument around making this game free to play, but I think people will scould me for even suggesting that.
My reasoning is I don’t think having access to a track in open (specifically) really gives you the experience of owning it. You don’t get to practice lines, you don’t get to do rivals, you don’t get to drive around the map or do the accolades or whatever. And so on. I think in particular, racing games is the one genre where DLC tracks (maps) don’t have to be gated because there’s more to racing than just being on the map.
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Regardless of the inevitable problems + issues I am looking forward to this, some actual new, fresh + sizeable content will be most welcome.
And we’d best savour it the best we can as this is most likely it for the rest of the game’s life unless we get a surprise like we got with the Eliminator in FH4.
Even more Midnight Battles/new tracks of any kind would be a surprise.
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I wish that these expansions would have a weekly Trials event. I know they kind of did in FH4 expansions, but it seems like there were just 4 of them on rotation and after you completed them once you didn’t get rewards anymore so consequently people didn’t play them.
Maybe I’m wrong on the details but I could rarely find a match, which made me feel like it was kind of pointless to even return to the expansion maps.
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In many cases I would agree that free to play models are bad, but certainly not all. Rocket League and dear I say Fortnite are 2 extremely popular free to play games that have no restrictions on content.
The way Fortnite makes their money for example is by scamming kids and profiting 7 billion and then paying a one off fine of 200 mill. Seriously though both these games have excellent free to play models and ultimately don’t require a dime to play. They profit via unique character customization without having to restrict game play.
Forza Horizon could do this aswell by allowing all players to play the game for free. They could then make their money via car packs, liveries, character customizations and potentially features like fast travel. Horizon will never go free to play though. Not while it’s on game pass.
If Horizon did go free to play though then it could also reward players with credits for playing the game. Which could be used to purchase things instead of paying cash. Many free to play games do this to encourage players to simply play the game as it beenfits them. In Horizons case it could reward players for designing popular tunes, liveries and evemtlabs.
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I remembered yesterday that i had seen some gameplay of storm island from horizon 2. And i noticed something.
Fh1 - Rally expansion
Fh2 - Storm island but its still heavily offroad,rally based expansion even through its not named in that way
Fh3 - Blizzard mountain - Offroad expansion also a weather based but still based on dirt/offroad racing
Fh4 - Fortune island at least its mixture of all racing disciplines, the only exception
Fh5 - Rally expansion again, emphasis on offroad
All of them except h4 are offroad based. And about h2s storm island welll when you think about the name or ar least when i do i think of h4’s fortune island. Which wasnt offroad based expansion but horizon 2’s was. I remembered that time i saw gameplay and kind of changes everything.
Turns out all the expansions so far except 1 were all offroad based expansions. Not only they rehashed the themes which was obvious already but with a proper non offroad suggested naming they managed to make offroad based expansions look like something else. So naturally when looking at it the average player could go well yes Blizzard mountain, storm island, rally its all different. But in hindsight they’re very similar. And they follow even stonger the trend of recycling content.
It doesnt draw from the fun potential of the expansion. But its a definite red flag. And i wrote months ago that if this expansion is another 
content we can crown h5 the king.
So here it is to you Horizon ! 
Maybe players enjoy off-road expansions?
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There was definitely a demand for something different. Road or street racing based. Or thats just their understanding of what creativity is.
Players asked for a remake of the Hot Wheels expansion and PGG delivered.
Players then asked for a mini Mexico expansion and again PGG delivered.
Point being PGG don’t listen.
I dont think anyone asked the creative teams that work behind the game to stuck themselves in a creative rut. I think more than anything players were reminiscent about horizon 3’s hot wheels and how it was the best game expansion. I dont know about the mini mexico though ive never head that
Creative rut or hell bent on sticking to a model that seems to work. After all FH5 is highly rated and has had over 20 million player who have tried it. So love it or hate it I can almost guarantee they will stick to this model in FH6 and beyond.
And just to clarify this model is:
1 country themed game to entice players to purchase the game.
1 kids themed expansion to keep the kiddos happy.
1 off-road themed expansion to draw back players, at least for a few hours.
1 major new feature to set it apart from the previous title.
A weekly playlist where new cars and items are time gated and drip fed to players to encourage players to login weekly but only for an hour, just enough to maintain the player base but not so much to keep you playing and wasting precious resources.
“It seems to work then why change anyhing” should be stamped from now on next to the horizon logo. Its not an excuse tho
I wasnt pushing that the game needs to necessarily have a street racing expansion. Be anthing, whatever it is these guys have talented professional teams that work behind the scenes. They should know better that this isnt the definition of being creative.
The longing for a big city environment is as old as the series itself.
Given that cities are the most time consuming & most diffucult environments to create in high production quality hoping for one as an expansion has been an unrealistic wish.
Full game or never. With Dirt & CC needing their place in the game - providing further challenges for the layout - I tend to never.
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Rally Adventure map seems to be heavy-loaded with asphalt roads so I’m not sure about that “emphasis on offroad” (unless we speak about cars added with the expansion). I perceive it as a mixture similar to Fortune Island 
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I argued against it every chance I had but it’s undeniable. People were asking for a Hot Wheels expansion. Have been since 4.
I honest to goodness would have preffered Lego. No tie in at all would have been ideal, FH5 already has way too much advertising in it, but at least Lego had some good tracks and some replayability. Both Hot Wheels were all spectacle no substance.
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Im a big fan of the ACE COMBAT series and years back they released a free to play game, ACE COMBAT INFINITY. I played but refused to spend money to get more fuel to do be able to do more sorties. Every few weeks they would have an event where the top 200 players (based on score) would get a special in game reward. One time there was a reward in which I wanted it bad enough that I was willing to spend some money to achieve the item. I spent $80 to get more fuel for this stupid item and i still didnt even achieve top 200 to get the reward. I never touched that game after that day.
You’re talking about a pay-to-win model, there are plenty of f2p games that don’t use that model.
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If Fortnite is a shallow game as you put it then what is this game if not more shallow?
7 days to go!!!
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