The more I play this game, the more strange the experience becomes. I played Horizon 4 for two years and I’ve RARELY come across other players online which GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to avoid human contact. Virtually everyone in Horizon 4 online was friendly and engaging and wanted to at least have some surface level interaction.
There is virtually none of these people in Horizon 5. I literally feel like the online players aren’t actual players. It’s almost like they are bots which are meant to look like real players so that the game doesn’t seem like it’s completely dead.
Almost every single interaction you attempt to have with someone in Horizon 5 online ends up extremely awkward.
You drive up to someone - they immediately go into the AFK menu.
You honk at someone - they do a 180 degree turn and drive away
You follow someone on the road - they instantly stop what they are doing and either go AFK menu or do a 180 and drive away.
What the literal F is this? Why are players behaving this way and what is it about this game in particular that is causing this extremely suspicious behavior?
I think it’s a combination of the state the game is in discouraging people from multiplayer and a lot of people still being busy going through the single player content.
I have noticed this behavior also its very odd. Meet someone running the hill climb try to have a friendly sprint with them and they stop or take of down the mountain. Its like i have leprosy or something.
Just wear your mask lmao. Never know, since they added the coof mask in the game, people might actually think they can catch the coof from an online video game. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit tbh.
Trying to think if my actions might appear as you describe. I think they could though there is no intention for them to. If I’m in that free roam time, I am headed to the next item I want to do. I’m not actually just roaming freely. I have a goal in mind already so keep going past people. I do get people honking on drive by and I try to honk back but likely over 50% of the time I can’t remember what to press in time. If I pause, or turn around, anything like that, it is because that was what I was about to do anyway. It’s not meant to be unsocial. Just me sticking to my plan.
I mean generally speaking if you’re lucky enough to see me in Freeroam (I don’t normally see more than half a dozen people online) I’m normally in the middle of doing something else.
Are there not Horizon Life phrases that can be used to ask people if they want to Convoy up or similar?
I try to give a friendly “beep beep” to everyone that I drive by while I’m out and about. If someone were to start following me around for more than a short while though, I would totally bring up my map and fast travel away. The majority of the time I’m driving around it’s either to test a tune or to head to some destination. Having someone follow me around just feels creepy.
Oh, you must have found me then. Sorry. I’m usually just minding my own business and don’t play the game as an MMORPG.
My favorite interaction though was when I was in a 2020 Shelby GT500 and met another guy in the same car. We roll raced and I pulled on him, lol. Pretty funny.
Funny you should mention that, because I started playing Star Trek Online last year, and most people play the same way. On the console version, anyway. You encounter other players at the social hubs and such, but most people I’ve seen go about whatever business they have at those places, and seldom interact with people they don’t know. Unless you know somebody, you’re probably going to leave each other alone. It’s nice.
That’s odd, I’ve had the opposite experience. While the world is still in its infancy and can feel empty at times, the other players are much more sociable than I found them to be in FH4. I like how the horns seem louder now too, it’s surprisingly enjoyable to honk back and forth with strangers.
I’ve bumped into a fair few people while online. I usually honk my horn as I go by. On a few occasions, usually at the airstrip in the south of the map, while I’m busy racking up skill chains, someone might do little donuts around me, and I’ll honk the horn and do some donuts of my own, and then we both get on with what we’re there to do. Them to do jumps, or drifting of their own, and me with my drifting. Other than those few times, I’m mostly on my own, which I prefer.
As I almost do driving around without the PC speaker on I won’t hear anyone’s horn. But I have to say that I almost getting in solo player mode as I like to have some traffic on the road while driving.
Maybe the players are almost used to it being alone on the whole map when they are logged in to horizon life they get a little panic attack if they indeed come across another player.
In FH4 I almost did any race that wanted someone as coop or competitive (I passed only playground games and the too short drag strips). But in FH5 every convoy or group activity from the free roam ended in being in different sessions even if we were in the same session before prior to getting into a multiplayer activity. Some time the game crashes for some of us. So it doesn’t really surprise me that some don’t want that experience. But to be honest, I wonder why they don’t going to the solo mode then. Maybe to avoid the suicidal drivatars? Even on the highway there are some drivatars that breaks through the central guardrail only to try a frontal crash at you…
The game has so much to do that most people are simply checking things off their list.
Personally I’d stay in Horizon Solo all the time if it didn’t trip up my online connection occasionally. I only prefer Horizon Life when I have a specific need to be there.
I’d use Horizon solo if not for two reasons: it constantly nags you to go online, with no option to turn it off or even say ‘no thanks’. You can only say ‘yes’ or wait for the timer to run out… beep beep beep shut up…
And the traffic and drivatars in solo mode are too much, and very aggressive and annoying.
One way or another, this game is designed to get up your nose.
I’m not interested in other players outside of the team game modes.
Can only apologise when I am wrong but unless I know them from here/TA or they’re well known for something in the game I’m unlikely to want to interact with or even think anything of them.
3 years of FH4’s trials made my opinion of the average Horizon player go down the toilet, being in a Tour where 3 people fail to score 100pts between them only reinforces that prejudice even more for the current game.
