As someone who has played since FH1 it sure seems the glitches, rampant bugs, cheaters, obvious speed mods in online lobbies, the sea of 2,999 level players you see, among other things, appear to be connected to the introduction of two things in the Horizon series: Live Service & PC access. Prior to the implementation of both, there were occasional issues in FH3 (gimmicky blueprints), I don’t recall any from FH1 & FH2 although I’m sure there were a few, but overall nothing even remotely close to what has permeated FH4 & FH5.
I’m not hating on all PC players at all. I’m just stating there is an clear link in the timeline to many of the game play issues today & the opening of access to platforms other than an Xbox console coupled with the constant updates of trickle down content. I have no problem, in theory, with opening up access to other platforms but if PGG & MS can’t maintain the same standards of general fair play that previously existed then it just drives long term console players like myself away. Why am I purchasing an expensive, dedicated console & paying for Gold or Ultimate GP if not to have a relatively grief free, meaning free of mods, hackers, etc, game play experience online? That’s been the whole selling point of Gold since it’s introduction. Do you really feel like that’s the case with FH5? I know I don’t.
I do know that after FH4 & FH5 I won’t EVER buy an Ultimate Edition with the DLCs unknown prior to purchase again. Just a guess here, but I’m not the only one that feels this way. I’d also be to willing to wager that many more console players purchase the “full freight” Ultimate Edition than PC players. I urge anyone to go browse through the old forum posting from FH3 or FH2 6 months to a year after release, if they’re still up. There is no where near the overall expression of dissatisfaction that has permeated these forums for the last two games. It’s a sad state of affairs.
At some point, someone needs to ask Mike Brown: “Do you love cars, or even really like them?”
In the end, TDU 2 Test Drive Unlimited on the XB360 is what pushed me to FH1 prior to it’s release and I know I’m not the only by a long shot. It’s an interesting turn of the world that as the Horizon series is crumbling before the eyes of many long term players TDU is about to arise from the ashes of the past. FH1 was a response to the question could an open world car game like TDU be better. The obvious answer was yes and FH/PGG flexed those muscles amazingly well through FH3; not so much since. Will the roles reverse now 10 yrs later?
Just to let you know there are some people that have reached 10/2999 fairly. It seems that people assume that everyone on that level is cheater but it’s not true.
This is a problem of PC Cross Play and game being on Game Pass. Cheaters just create new accounts and new Game Pass trials for almost free and keep coming back. Just like in FH4.
It’s why I recently turned off Cross Play on my Series X. There are still rammers and children that don’t know how to drive but the blatant cheaters (speed hacks, etc) haven’t been in the online open lobbies I’ve been in since. I know that’s anecdotal but it’s been my experience for the last 2 weeks.
As a previous poster mentioned, I’m only aware of two and I’ve seen a lot more than that in Freeroam & online Open Lobbies. Do you have any idea of the amount of time required to get there? It’s almost surprising there are even two.
All us console players want is a fair leveling playing field. PC players whether Microsoft or Steam have access to things us console players dont. When you arrive at that junction it comes down to integrity. Do you wanna “cheat” the system to have an advantage over other players or take the time to “git gud?”
As anyone would guess, fewer players would go with the latter approach. The OP @Incog_Bus is not wrong when pointing out these issues almost never appeared in FH1-3 but now its so common, most people wont even take time to report it. If PG doesnt seem to care, why should we?
I’ve seen the writing on the wall, thats why i’m spending less and less time playing FH5. The last couple updates I kid you not, i’ve been gritting my teeth and forcing myself to 100% for the playlist. I just dont enjoy it anymore for numerous reasons and thats coming from someone who played well over 10 thousand hours in FH4.
I still spend all day gaming but not playing this game. I dont need the frustration of rammers or hackers. The game I spend my days and nights playing now listens to its players and has put in code to prevent cheating and there are zero boosts to help you win. There is a well established level playing field, you just have to be good to be successful.
You said it more eloquently than me. I totally agree with you. This is the first monthly update I only bothered to get enough completed to get the “new” version of the chinese car this past season. Prolly be the same for all the seasons of this update.
I’m not special or anything but I have been here since the beginning, FH1. I know @DaReoCharmer has been as well, along with a number of others on these forums. If you poke around you’ll see there is a general consensus among veterans that the direction of the franchise has been heading in the wrong direction since FH4. Someone at PGG should take notice, even though they prolly won’t.
Most veterans of the series, myself included, were willing to overlook a myriad of issues with FH4 because the graphics and handling did improve even while the rest of the game play experience regressed. These same incremental improvements happened this time around with FH5 as well. I think the handling improvement is larger in 5 than the jump between 3 and 4. It’s actually impressive and implemented well, for the most part.
It’s just not enough this time around to overlook the mountain of crap that’s being shoveled our direction by PGG, whether is due to chasing profits, player engagement #'s over any other metric or simply resting on their laurels and not caring. I don’t know which of these it is, or some witches brew of all of them but frankly, I find myself caring less and less each day. Much the same as it appears PGG does.
I mean something as simple as the monthly livestreams, they were lively and fun in past iterations of the game. Do they feel like that to anyone watching now? Does it feel like they’re putting any effort in and maybe run a rehearsal or two before they broadcast? Or does it feel like they just grabbed whoever happened to be coming out of the kitchen when Mike Brown was in the hallway? It’s just emblematic of the obvious lack of effort across the board.
As DRC said earlier: If PG doesn’t seem to care, why should we?
Hey Oliver! Thank you for the s/o. My good buddy Kofize was the first (GT: RC KofizeYT) I believe I was second then IcedTortoise third. I’ve also just completed all the accolades, notwithstanding Evolving World, of course, so I’m in a fairly small club, maybe exclusive, for having max rank and The Completionist.
Ahh I see, Forgot this was an E for Everyone forum. Apologies. Here is my post again without offending acronym:
For further context I just took this photos from my XBX.
I believe that’s 3,799 hours. No AFK.
Yes I’m that addicted and IRL health issues afford me the time to spend all day Pokemoning (yeah I just made that up) the crap out of this amazing, brilliant, addictive, frustrating, buggy, glitchy and hacked-beyond-limitations game which I love!
DRC said it best. It’s not hard to choose investing in making sure the playing field is level or ALLOW us to turnoff crossplay properly. It’s done purely for metrics and in my opinion it’s wrong. In other games like the Crew 2 we are not forced into facing people using high speed gaming PCs and third party tools. It’s obvious that there is an unfair advantage and Sepi proved just the fast PC alone is free time.
@PassionWagon69 Having the option to disable crossplay is the quickest way to level the playing field. Its been obvious to anyone with 2 eyes that PC players have an advantage over console players. I had always suspected higher FPS played a role in it but another game I play, players on PC can play up to 300 FPS, 300! Thats 5 times higher than my Series X, how can I compete with that?
The guy did a speed run of an event, the 300 FPS run was 2 to 3 seconds quicker than the 60. If the translation to FH is similar or identical, thats an advantage you can NOT contend with if youre on any circuit race. The gap between X vs Y player will increase the longer the race goes on.
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