Ive had this on my mind recently and i thoguht it would be a good topic to discuss.
We’re now doing the festival playlist for a second time around in the new horizon game. Its changed quite a bit since Horiozn 4 but more or less its still the same reskined feature. Its not nesessary terrible while it does do some things better than the previous.
I know for a fact a lot of players just dont want to do it. And not nesessary because its too difficult. Its just such pain going through the same races, same pr stunts just to unlock a car. And then what? Tune it use it for a bit then to just become one more car in your garage that you’ll likely not touch. I know the game has turned into a sandbox but that just becomes a bit bland after a while dont you think?
PG basically relies on getting new cars every month for us to just unlock and likely not touch because guess what? We have over 600 other cars. We need something better to keep us coming back. We need a better way for post campaign/ post launch content getting added to the game that doesnt include a playlist that ultimately just ends up burning us out. Or getting us FOMO over cars to just collect and gather dust? We’ve done that already in horizon 4. The players that regularly come back to play the game know how the playlist feels. And its not just us. How about the devs?
I bet even Turn 10 and PG is having such pain creating the playlist. Look now its 22nd and i feel like they announced the new series just a moment ago. And in about 2 weeks and few days we gonna get the next series. What? That just went in the blink of an eye. I know for a fact that they are preparing ahead. For example if now they’re working on the 10 years anniversery update they probably also work on the next series after that. Its just insanity!!
THE QUESTION: If there was a better way for us to get fresh new content post unlocking the main campaign/ post launch what would it be? Not including the 2 expantions or any paid dlc.
Something that doesnt put a burden on us the players and the devs. Something that allows the devs to work on better things and better content rather than the same repeating playlist. Doesnt matter how well decorated it is. IT STILL IS THE SAME THING.
I watched a vid of Blackpantha calling the festival playlist seasonal depression. And it just couldnt be more accurate naming for this feature.
One of the things I feel is missing from FH5 is permanent additional content.
FH5 has already had many unique updates.
However, much of it is one month of limited time content, and once that period is over we are back to the same maps and the same content.
This was not the case with FH4. They actively added new business and unique and permanent content like Horizon Story, or Root Builder, and it felt like the game was evolving and adding more fresh content with each update.
FH5’s limited-time content system may temporarily catch people’s attention, but its effect is as temporary as the updates, as it does not contribute to increasing the appeal of the base game.
This is my personal idea, but I think it would be better to keep the current one-month-only content only for more special occasions such as Christmas and Halloween, and make the other months permanent additions of features and content to the base game.
Limited time content is exhausting. The OP eschews the suggestion of paid DLC, but I’d honestly rather have some decent paid DLC instead of the seasonal garbage.
I thought the stricter stunts were a very good thing, actually. Go back to that, have one of each every week, with the requirement to do 1, 2, 3 or whatever for the points - the others still remain. That gives flexibility to do ones that look easier and satisfaction in doing all of them. It shows us how to drive more cars that we might not and investigate upgrading and tuning for the best scores. That’s indirectly heading in your direction - “Hey, this car is actually pretty good” is definitely going to help people view the game positively.
New stunts is not really a thing. Custom stunts (careful with typing that) would be good, make-your-own specific-car stunts. I suspect a lot can be done with the parameter space without having to get too complicated. More collectible challenges to get a wheelspin, maybe community challenges to get a super wheelspin (like Assassin’s Creed maybe?); Horizon had those online free-roam challenges.
I suppose it’s the rewards that make life hard. The currencies are all that can be given other than an enjoyable driving experience. I think the playlists are okay but yeah, something.
This thread has already been made about 8 weeks ago. I said that wheelspins are the best way to add new content, but keep seasonal events to win Skills that can be added to a car’s skill list… such as FE skill can be added to any car that you choose with an FE skill ticket.
Personally I don’t mind how the chores are set up now for the most part other than they’re limited time events, I’d much rather see the different seasons/series be changed into almost like different “chapters” that can be revisited at any time
This won’t add new content to the game for players who are active and play weekly, but imo it’d make the game a lot more attractive for everyone who is taking a break to want to return, since there’ll be more than just 1 week of chores and 2 cars to work towards. They’d feel a lot less left out if they can go back and unlock the stuff they missed. At least that’s how I felt when I took a break, coming back and seeing I’ve missed new cars like the SF90, F8 Tributo, GTR NISMO etc was a pretty feelsbad moment since I have the ultimate edition yet I’m gated from content that’s already been released, def made me rethink if I even want to bother playing the game again