I agree with those that have stated they hope the new company stays true to the vision TG has laid out for Horizons, the player base they have nearly demands it if infact the game is to survive. The expansion that was planned could be back burnered for a while but they really should look at trying to stay true to that too as most if not all of the veteran players need some new content to help keep the game fresh and fun(and worth paying for).  Hope springs eternal!

to the moderator, its hard NOT make personal attacks on david bowman, the individual (with assistance) ran a promising game into the ground, some of the comments by bowman on the boards about horizons is simple proof that his vision and no one elses was going to be it and everyone else be damned, i played horizons for about 7 months, its a fine example of not even wanting to try and listen to the customer base. something a dev should never do, delete posts on ideas, though i posted one or two times, reference lag in game (as i was currently happy with gameplay) tons of "new" posts were promptly deleted, they cant take critisism? the boards turned into a warzone, more so than the wow boards, only instead of help, the only thing the player base received was silence.

the customer service in the game was abysmal, the PAYMENT FIASCO, double and triple billings while normal billing occurred, continued billings for months after the game was cancelled and bowman simply claimed it wasnt horizons fault, it was the "seperate billing department" this one thing drove hundreds, if not thousands away as they were billed multiple times with no refunds. i am one example of a cancelled account, a deployment to iraq, and i come back and find i was billed the whole time i was over in iraq. david bowman and devs answers? you never cancelled, the email quite matter of factly stated. despite my showing the cancellation email. this happened so often everytime another request hit the forum boards it was promptly deleted. the folks at tulga are not to be trusted, neither is david bowman, personal attacks aside he simply cant be trusted.

and i am sorry if my personal feelings get in the way of typing this forum reply, i truly hope bowman and crew never find work again.

I played Hz vor almost 3 years on the european "Unity"-Shard. I do not know wether Bowman was involved in anything, but what I cant truly say is: There wasn't any support in europe, and that was the reason I cancelled my account.
I cant understand why people call the graphics outdated. As most roleplaying people I know havent that high end first-person-shooter optimized machines, it is still one of the most beautiful looking games out there, especially if you havent the hardware to max all graphic options.
I just hope EI will listen to the community and fire the european team. Or better: Merge all servers (except blight) to create a richer player base and start a new raise. If so, I will be back and my teeth and claws will again strike back the blight.

No personal attacks eh... we wish.. ;)

Goodbye Mr Bowman.


Longlive flying dragons and true crafting in mmo gaming.

Horizons was probably the best idea to ever hit mmo gaming.. it was utterly ruined by the one person we're not allowed to make personal attacks against. And as a result 99% of all the players quit the game.

I remember seeing guilds organising with each other to help release the Satyrs, lines of players running from forests and mines with supplies of matierials for builders to craft into the tunnels to begin the rescue of the satyrs.  Teams of fighters to hold back any attackers... organisation to build the towns and cities.. awesome game. Build you own house.. have a dragon which could grow and finally after a long long wait fly.. but even by then they game was dying rapidly.. and it was obvious in the end that they just wanted everyone to quit so they could pack it up and forget it.

But some never did leave.

There were some oddities to the game... and the total lack of pvp really did ruin it ultimately.. it was the lack of communications between the devs and the players, the lack in content, the broken promises then changes to gameplay without warning..

dragons were supposed to be mountable, the were supposed to be more of the great events, but the 2nd main event to release the elves or whatever it was we were doing in the jungly bit rapidly grew boring...building those things to push back the green plague stuff... so long ago now.

horizons is a could have, that could truely have been great in proportions even wow cannot reach. But one man got in the way and trashed the game. Changed almost everything in every way. Forced one of the best leading devs to quit the company and lied continuously to everyone.  But we're not allowed to make personal attacks so i won't mention names.

Still...

bye bye mr bowman.. hope you find happyness somewhere else.  I'd like to make suggestions...but i better not.

Sincerely.. Lochy Connel (Crafter extrodinaire)

Originally posted by Ulujain

Give Bowman some credit guys; if the "other Dave" was left in charge, Horizons would still be dreamy vapourware in search of funding, like virtually everything else the "other Dave" has thought up.

I feel sorry for HZ's close knit community though, I really do.

It'll be interesting to see where this outfit takes HZ.

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I don't want to start an argument here. But the "other dave" was the visionary, if they'd followed his ideas... horisons would still be playing packed servers today.   When he left..or was pretty much forced to leave, horisons went through the floor.   The dreamy vapourweave you talk of was the idea that horisons came from.

Okay theres no denying that horizons might have been released about 6 months later than it did.. but be honest.. on release.. horizons still needed 6 months more work put into it.  Dragon 'housing' and other ideas which should have been in release were trashed and the game released months ahead of schedule.  Remember the posts about people needing to get paid.. and them running out of money? Which was the reason for early release.. remember the posts about playing and paying for a beta?

The wrong dave left. And as a consequence.. 'what could have been' become a 'no chance of ever being'.

tell me when david bowman has nothing to do with the game ot company what so ever and i might think about going back to horizons

I agree with Holy...

If they can, go back to the "Original" Horizons. That was what I WAS all excited about eons ago

"Give Bowman some credit guys; if the "other Dave" was left in charge, Horizons would still be dreamy vapourware in search of funding, like virtually everything else the "other Dave" has thought up."

crusade anyone?

"The wrong dave left."

He is a game designer.. I bet the guy knows jack about what it actually takes to code all those ideas into a working mmorpg. either way , the wrong david might have have left.. but the other david is now probably quite rich.

and that my friends is how you do business.

 Gee i see alotta  blah blah no pvp,   blah blah dave bowman bites, blah blah game going nowhere,    one thing i don't see anyone pointing out is the fact that the game is still here and rolling along after nearly 3 years and doesn't show any signs of fading.  Other than  the trash talk and poorly enunciated posts in this thread i rarely see anything bad said about the game at all by anyone who actually plays it, not just the forum trolls lookin for someone (you know who) or some game to bash, with total disregard for the actual game or is core or potential players.  Horizons may have a few quirks and bumps in the road but its a solid game and has lots to offer in both the adventuring and crafting aspects. Bashing the game and/or its former or present managment serves no one's cause .

I am playing the game again. And I see the signs. Kion which was once a great marketplace is now empty. Its even worse on Unity due to that GN dudes unwilling to give support to the users.
I am now playing on order, and its still the most fascinating MMO I ever played. But if EI isnt capable to show they are interested in hearing the peoples voices they will also fail to grow again.

Finiaroth on Order
Eisdrache on Unity

I am playing the game again. And I see the signs. Kion which was once a great marketplace is now empty. Its even worse on Unity due to that GN dudes unwilling to give support to the users.
I am now playing on order, and its still the most fascinating MMO I ever played. But if EI isnt capable to show they are interested in hearing the peoples voices they will also fail to grow again.

Finiaroth on Order
Eisdrache on Unity

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Originally posted by lysanding
"Give Bowman some credit guys; if the "other Dave" was left in charge, Horizons would still be dreamy vapourware in search of funding, like virtually everything else the "other Dave" has thought up."
crusade anyone?
"The wrong dave left."
He is a game designer.. I bet the guy knows jack about what it actually takes to code all those ideas into a working mmorpg. either way , the wrong david might have have left.. but the other david is now probably quite rich.
and that my friends is how you do business.

---

Which Dave are you talking about here? Just to clue you in, the Bowman variety was sort of behind critically acclaimed titles like Myth and AC1.

The other Dave made one game, made in Visual Basic and he named it after a place in Middle Earth (imagine that!) and it was universally canned for being crap when it was released. This particular Dave can do nothing but talk up a game and post renders of these imaginary and never-to-appear video games.

My seven year old daughter can do the same and in fact, I may encourage her to get into this business as it seems to something anyone can do.

NB. I'm no fan of David Bowman, do not get me wrong, but I will call a spade a spade.

Horizons, as dreamt up by David Allen, would never have gotten past ooh aah stage at the rendered picture level. In fact, it never did.

Facts.

To help those who do not play the game, nor participate in its forums...

What I see is a very sick child (Horizons) with a curable disease... but it has no parents and the guardians and doctors that have been given the task of caring for the sick child are distracted and/ or not competent to attend to her needs...

She's squirming and crying now, but the fever is rising and her vision is failing...

She needs experts and love...

Her friends (the players) love her, but alone, they cannot save her.

The new "doctors" won't even talk to her... except to pat her on the head and say "It'll be alright" as they walk out the door... Even as her "friends" cry out for some kind of news or help...

And then Haunt woke up and realised that it's just a video game after all and that the adage that games come and go but true friends last forever is so very much true.