This title sounds like a line out of a poem. Ok, so ever since the shadows came out, I've wondered if they moved throughout the day. As soon as the photo feature turned up, I was able to test this, and they do. I didn't think they were in the right directions but I decided it was a magical island, so it didn't matter. However, when I was playing around with the time of day a few days ago, I noticed this. My time of day is in the middle of the night and yet there is a shadow? At first I thought, maybe a light or the moon. But the moon doesn't exist in SSO and there were no lights. I just...had a random shadow. So weird! I understand why it might have been hard in SSO's programming to set it for the shadows to disappear but still, it would have been more realistic.
Have you noticed this before?
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Goooood day lads! I need to be up at 4:50 tomorrow (yes, I know, I am doomed). Anyway, I thought I'd write a little post about dressage clubs. They've been around for a fair amount of time but I've seen more and more popping up recently (sadly it's because a couple have done quite well so several other clubs are shadowing that idea, rather than being original, in hope of being successful). For those who haven't seen the crazy, a dressage club is a club that practises (almost entirely) dressage routines coming up with big ones as a club (but I presume they may do other kinds of dressage as well). So today, investigator Li is here to figure out why these clubs have become so popular in game. Let's go! Before you read any further, I suggest you have a little YouTube of 'Star Stable Club Dressage' and watch some of the videos that come up. I think that'll mean you'll understand the rest of this much better. I don't want to name any clubs directly so this is the best way of you having a look at it!
Big group dressage has been a thing in SSO clubs since the dawn of time, but it is only more recently that the popularity of whole clubs being devoted to dressage has happened. Ok, so the first and simple reason people want to get involved in this is it looks awesome. Watching the formations that they make is so cool, it's so beautiful and when it works, looks amazing. People want to be involved because of this but there's also something more. I think people are actually attracted by how well these clubs act like a team and really wish to be a part of that team. So, people think 'oh that would be fun' but they cannot do it without a large group of people (probably a club), therefore, they have to join a dressage club to do it or make a dressage club. This is why dressage clubs have become so common! People are making and joining them very actively. However, a good dressage club requires lots of knowledge or the patients to make it up. There are some tutorials online (when are there not?) but it does require actual hardwork and dedication from the members - something that I think will be the downfall of many of these smaller dressage clubs. I think that it's really cool that there are different types of club on SSO and, as long as everyone is having fun, I think that these clubs are a lovely idea and create some excellent results. In conclusion, people want to join them because they look so cool and they like the idea of being a part of a big team and exploring something knew. Thanks for reading! Yay, more late night blog writing, who could want more? I really liked the previous three remakes of the Jorvik pony, so I was quite excited to look at the new ones and I got a really nice surprise! I'll talk about each of them individually in a minute but first I thought I'd talk about them more generally. I really like how SSO is moving away from the plastic look. Although it's still slightly, in some places, a little bit too plasticy, it is a lot better and I really like the new look! Plus, I think that the ponies in general are super sweet. Ok, let's look at each one in detail. This one has got the common nickname of the 'leopard'. I see why. I really like the irregularity of the spots and I love the little pattern around the face. The face itself is really really nice. The mane is really cool in the way that it 'belongs' to the body, rather than feeling it was just stuck on there. I feel a few more streaks of brown would just add a little more to the pony. Also, I think a little more going on with the legs would be great too. The hind ones look particularly plain. I don't mean that there has to be anything on them, just a bit more texture. Overall, I think quite a sweet little pony Aw, this one is definitely my favourite - look at the eyes! I love the 'cow' pattern, especially how the grey patches have a lot of texture. I think that the white on this pony could do with some texture as well though, it looks quite plane at the moment. The face is nice and the mane and tail are simple, but they work with the horse. I feel the legs here could do with something more, particularly the way the black changes to white on the front right one, it is a very sudden change and the black on that leg doesn't match the rest of the horse. However, I thing I love most about this horse (and I'm sorry to have to go with the crowd here) but the heart is so sweet. I love how it's clearly a heart but at the same time still looks natural, like this pony was born with it rather than it was designed! This one really reminds me of my Icelandic pony. I really like everything about this pony. I think, on the design front, it is the best (but it isn't my favourite, as my favourite was the previous one). I love the texture on the coat and the face is to die for. The legs are so much better than the other two and they look much more finished, blended and like they match the horse (a tiny bit more work could be done though). The mane and tail is the best part of this horse. They're just very textured, detailed and feel very low-key, like they belong there. Finally, I love the little white stripe just above the back right hoof. It just makes the pony feel more real and is really sweet. So I think a really successful breed, just a little more work needed on the legs! I feel I should mention that the reviews I do of the horses are my opinion and everyone has their own. I'm sure that people at SSO have worked hard on these but ultimately, I see them as a product (considering the star coins cost really money) that SSO have released and therefore will review them as one. I've seen a lot of people getting crazy on IG about various things related to this topic so I just wanted to make it clear that I think everyone should be able to (respectfully) review products released into the game.
Oh dear, that's enough seriousness for now, it doesn't really suit me. Ok, time for me to press that big shiney orange post button, see you tomorrow (yes, I have a post already planned)! Spoilers from latest story quests Hey! I thought I'd blog about what I got up to today. It's now quite late and I'm getting tired (picture me half asleep on the sofa in a Harry Potter "I solemnly swear I'm up to go good" t-shirt). Today was probably one of the most active days on SSO in months which certainly meant it was time to get screenshotting and show the blog my day. First I finally completed the latest story quests. They were really good and I hope that next time we'll find Anne! They were really well animated but I wish the circus didn't have to turn sinister, it was really nice just having a circus. I think the awesome animations were worth it though! I used to be so good at keeping on top of training, but I'm not now as I'm playing very little. So I decided to hit the track and give my morgan some training. At the same time, I recorded a little video for YouTube. I'm not sure if I'll edit it or not because I don't know if anyone will want to listen to me muttering away, but we shall see! Over the past 2 months, it has been my project to recreate my blog. Today was finally the time to get some photos for the recreation. I hope that you will see my new look on here in the coming days. I'm not quite happy with how it's looking but I think it'll get there in the end. It was certainly time to celebrate the new Jorvik Ponies with some friends! We all met together to do a little Jorvik Pony photo shoot for Instagram. Here are some of the shots we took: As you can see I have played around with the contrast and brightness a bit and I'm not sure if I like it. Credit to Elizabeth Ponyson for the first photo because mine didn't come out well! Then, this happened... Honestly, because it's only a warning I don't care. I've been warned twice in the past two days for saying nothing bad (and I know what I said each time). First time, was saying 'dam' as in the object that holds back water. The second time was for saying the phrase "you annoying" which wasn't meant in a rude way and isn't a bad thing to say either. SSO are giving warnings for things that don't even break their terms and conditions which really gets on my nerves.
Finally, it was time for a Moon Explorer's open event. Spoilers of the latest story quests Hello! I'm still trying to get back into blogging and my blog is a bit of a mess on my view because I'm half way through editing it to a whole new theme, so everything is a bit crazy right now. I have about 150 photos from the new quests to look through (and I haven't even started midsummer quests). I think instead of making a blog through of it, I'm just going to upload a gallery of the photos for me to look back to. But today I'm going to write about the update! A while ago now, I made a post talking about 'badges' in Star Stable and, on Wednesday, they came to the game. (Don't you just love it when your theory is proven correct?) So here they are: There are currently three pages of achievements that all look like this. They are all, at the moment, racing related which isn't really my favourite thing to do (although I don't mind it from time to time). I hope that they add ones related to other things at another point because I think that it would be more enjoyable for me. This is the screen you get when you complete an achievement. You can complete achievements at 'bronze', 'silver' and 'gold' level. I think that this idea is good because it means that, especially beginners to SSO, could have a shot at getting 'bronze' but would have to work a bit more at getting silver. I also liked the way that some achievements could be earned through normal playing of SSO while others are earned if you go out especially to complete the achievement. I think that this, overall, is a really cool addition to the game as it just adds another dynamic of what you can do in Jorvik. I think that many players will find that this feature gives them a little bit more to do in game. I would especially look forward to some achievements related to social activities or clubs. Finally, the other main part of this week's update: story quests. I don't want to talk too much about story quests here but I really enjoyed them and thought they had had a lot of work put into them and were really cool. It's nice to see SSO releasing more main story quest lines and putting more work into them. I hope to blog about the quest lines over the weekend (I probably won't write anything on Friday).
Night - Li x I remember reading about 3 years ago (or possibly even more) a blog post by Alice Starnight talking about how much she wanted the remake of the Jorvik pony to come to the game. She spoke about how cool it would be for ponies to be able to feed off the grass (at that point, it was a new feature for horses to bend their necks down). Anyway, I just thought I'd give it that bit of context about how I felt when SSO announced this - it was a nice little flash back! Ok, let's get onto the three horses. I really liked this pony with one exception. The mane is so lovely and textured and so is the cote. I love the legs and the nose is so so so sweet. However, for me, there's something off about the lack of colour in the face. It's just something that isn't my style but I know some horses in real life have faces like that, and the white isn't blocky (it's fairly textured), so I think that this horse was a really good job! The face of this one is so sweet. I love how the blaze (is that what you call it?) doesn't just break off. It trails down the face in a really nice pattern. I also love the nose and the texture in the mane. In fact, I love the whole face. However, I think the body is too 'samey' and that ruins it for me a bit. So this was the one that was designed via an Instagram poll in the star stable live stream. Only one of the things that I voted for won, which was the leg markings. I was really worried that the face would look bad but I think that it actually matches this pony and the broken coloured pattern really well. I think that the mane is especially nice. I love how the face markings are irregular and how the colour on the nose fades into pink. Interestingly, I don't really like the legs even though I voted for them. I think the white starts too suddenly and almost looks plasticy. However, the rest of the horse is really well textured. Weird legs or not, I decided to bring this little pony home and call it Vanillacookie, or Vani for short! I was really impressed with these pony designs overall. I think that, mostly, they were not too plasticy and were nice and textures. I really feel like we're starting to get nicely texture horses again. The ponies are also really chubby and cute - which I love! I don't like the fact they've been named "Jorvik Starter Ponies". I think that the "starter" makes it seem like the pony isn't very good when they're really cute. They're also really affordable.
Cheers for reading ~ Li It's currently far too early in the morning to even be awake. So, for those who don't know (and I'm guessing that's not a lot of you), on the 31st May, I passed my club, Frosty Roses, onto a new owner - the wonderful Allison Cloudmore. Reason? I'd lost all interest in SSO (with the exception of hanging out with friends).
And yet here I am, on my SSO blog - again. In the last few days, I've felt myself more and more drawn back to blogging about SSO. I hardly log on anymore but I put so much time and effort into my blog, how could I not want to continue that? Honestly, I have no idea if this is just a flash of the second impulse or if I actually will continue with SSO blogging. Leaving SSO for me was never about stopping myself doing the things I want to do, I left because I didn't want to play anymore. I don't want to commit myself to doing anything but I will let you know what I do over the next few days. Until then, do expect some blog posts! Cheers, Li Ps. to everyone who has been checking the blog for the last month and a half (I can see over 200 of you have) thank you so so much, it means a lot. Major project is due in in a week. Give me time to panic please! I hope to have time to post soon but I need to focus on IRL and I haven't been on SSO as much because of that. I love y'all millions and I promise a post by Tuesday, whatever it happens to be
I'll be surprised if you haven't seen this on social medias yet, but here is what SSO announced today: As you can see, on the 10th June, SSO will be hosted a live event in Stockholm (capital of Sweden). *Pauses blogging for a couple of minutes to sort out the moth that has just flown into my room* There will be all sorts of things going on that are quite common to live events. You will be able to purchase t-shirts and the new book (and meet the author). There will be goodie bags, meeting SSO YouTubers such as Stacy Place, Esme Silverforce, GM Doris, Matilda and Ylva. Also, they will be designing a new variation of a horse breed and showing you a bit about what goes on behind the game. I think that it's really nice that SSO are trying to meet with their players in the real world, but I do worry about it becoming too "commercial". Of course, I am a bit annoyed that I cannot attend but at least they're making an effort to live stream it so hopefully everyone will be able to join in from all over the world!
This post contains spoilers from the latest story quests. Wow, this is overdue... I completely forgot that I hadn't done this yet! Oh well, here it is, the blog through of the latest story quests. Awh, look it's so cute. I better check if it's a starbreed. Yes but we still need to find a starbreed. We better keep searching, right? Let's go and report back to Valedale. Come on, there must be something we can do? The quests can't end here - I need more XP! What about Justin Moorland? Wouldn't he be able to do it? Elizabeth, stop being the classic book adult. I'm going to go and talk to Alex, Linda and Lisa, which obviously isn't at all suspicious! Excellent! Let's go! We need to get in without anyone seeing. We need a distraction... Wow, it looks nice in here. But it's not exactly a jail. Oh look Alex, it's a secret door. There's a lot of strange things in here. We better hide before one of the druids see us. Oh look, it's Justin. You already have, mate, by giving me xp (although more would be appreciated). Ok dude, let's get you out of here. Well, we know there's a primeval tree at South Hoof. Oh no, it's Rianna and she doesn't look happy. Let's run! Here we are. Excellent, glad to hear it but we do have an angry druid on our tail so can you hurry up and do the horse bond thing with Justin. Cheers! That's...interesting...and not really that helpful. A location would have been helpful! However, it is possible that I know the horse you speak of... Oh no, it's Rianna and she still doesn't look happy. We're in trouble! And then she gave us this rope to put in our saddle bag, which is cool. I really hope we have more druid lessons soon! I loved breaking into the jail and I got some inspiration for writing while looking around it. Maybe another story coming soon...
This week's update was a brand new running pet to the game. At first, I was very excited at the thought of running pets but have since decided that they cost too much and are not that different to pets that just sit in the saddle bag. However, SSO have added this new dog to the game. Although I think they look very sweet (and I love their collars), I think that 299sc is far too much for a pet. I love the way they look but I don't think any amount of cuteness is good enough for the extreme price that SSO are asking for from us. However, regardless of this, I do think that it's nice that they've taken what the players want in the game on board and are expanding on it. I'm sure some people somewhere in the world will love this update! Also, fun fact, when SSO first released the dogs yesterday they were too small so today SSO increased the size.
There are also some mini quests with Jojo and her dog. It's nice to have a little quest to fit with the main part of the update but I don't think they had to be with Jojo. Couldn't we have just had the quests with another NPC unrelated to Jojo? Guess whose birthday it is tomorrow... But anyway! SSO have announced on Instagram that they are releasing a new book. This was actually something that they said a couple of years back, so it's cool that it's finally here. So here is the book: Looks quite cool right? It's all about Lisa arriving to Jorvik for the first time. I think it might be a bit young for me, but it would be call all of the same. Rose Shadowlee commented that it made her want to log on and see all of the places in Jorvik that are featured in the book. I think that it's nice to have a book written in a universe that you can actually explore, even if I don't necessarily want to read it myself.
However, what's the fuss about? Well, the book is released on Wednesday, in Swedish only and will only be available to Sweden, Norway and Finland. I see why they're doing this, because they want to test the market, but still I can't help but feel frustrated that they have a global community but continuously only release content for their part of the world. It just makes players from other countries feel excluded. Do you think SSO should have had the book translated into more languages before publishing it? Hey guys! This weeks update included two main features: customisation of the starter horses and a brand new camera tool. First, I took a look at the camera tool. The camera tool is something that players have been asking for for a very long time. Although I have a MacBook and therefore have no issues with taking photos in game, many people with windows computers do so this new feature is very helpful for them. Here is the interface when you open the camera: The game freezes when you go into the camera which means you can get some awesome action shots, like above. You can move around the perspective and zoom a bit, which is very useful. In addition, you can do some basic editing with some basic filters and you can add the SSO logo in the four different corners. However, the thing that excites me the most is the fact that you can change the time of day. As a player who cannot get on until after 6 most week days, I often miss the good light so now I can take nice quality photos again. For example, this one was taken at midnight! I think that this is really good for players to boost their creativity. I'm not that happy with SSO at the moment but this was a great addition to the game and I really enjoyed it. The second addition was the ability to, for 299sc, change the appearance of your starter horse, much like you can change the appearance of your player. I think that this is a good feature since when SSO updated the breed, many horse coats change appearance so players may not have chosen those coats, so it's nice they get a chance to change it. However, I personally will never change my starter. He has always been that colour and it is that colour that he will stay. Horses in the real world don't magically change coat!
Have you managed to take any cool photos with the camera yet? Hey, it’s Li here just finished kayaking. Had a good evening and saw a pretty interesting update awaits (although I need to sleep now so it’ll have to wait for tomorrow). It’s nice to see that SSO now allow for photos within the game as players have been asking for ages. I don’t know if I’ll use it because I can take good quality screenshots anyway, but we’ll see tomorrow!
Aaaaah, no posts in so long! I haven't been on SSO much due to chat ban but I did pop on today for a bit and discovered something...interesting. But first, before I talk about that, I am currently in the middle of updating my blog! I'm really excited to give it a new feel and hope it'll be done this weekend. I just need some photos and a bit of editing magic to be done. I feel like for a while I've wanted a new style so here it comes. Today I was exploring Jorvik when I saw a little path coming out from behind one of the Jarlahiem doors. I became curious and followed it. As you can see, there were about three houses at the end! I'm sure this is nothing new, I've just never seen it before and after playing the game so long it's always a thrill to find something new about the little island of Jorvik. I just thought I'd share this before doing a proper post tomorrow.
Love yous for reading, x To say I'm livid is an understatement. I was far to angry to write this properly yesterday, so I'm writing it now. Yesterday, in the middle of an open event, I was given a 10 day chat ban. Despite the fact that I'm open to have some banta with my friends, I tend to do that outside of SSO purely because of the chat ban. Therefore, I did not break their terms and conditions but I was banned anyway. I have read through them and I know that this is true. The thing the makes me angriest is the fact I cannot even update FR calendar or FR info for 10 days. That is 49 other people being affected by a ban which was given out unjustly because SSO are using a system that makes mistakes on paying customers. I have contacted support and they have replied (with a clearly copied and pasted reply that has been very rushed) and have not even bothered checking to see if my ban is valid or not. Despite saying on their website:
"We understand that this new system is not perfect and it is currently a work in progress. The system itself is learning every day, based on the behavior and actions of our players and on adjustments made by our team. All reports are investigated, so every report helps our team to improve the system in some way overall. If our team reviews your suspension and decides that our terms and conditions have not been violated, your suspension will be removed." Well, this isn't true because customer support isn't bothering to invest the situations. I have requested that they send me the chat logs, if they don't I will take it further because I paid for this feature, I'm not going to have it taken away without contravening any terms and conditions. Especially as in the mail back from support, they threatened taking away my account without me actually doing anything... I'm 99% sure there's some legal case happening outside of SSO right now which is why they have felt the need to do this but it's too much, it's too far and, at the end of the day, they are taking away PRODUCTS WHICH WE HAVE BOUGHT. Sometimes there's a reason but sometimes there is not. To say I'm livid is an understatement. Wondering what the update will be. Well, here's a 'little' hint... So, what is a Lusitano. It's a horse which is closely related to the Spanish Andalusian and is often used in classical dressage. This would explain the theory that this horse will come with a brand new gait to be used in dressage - wouldn't that be awesome! It currently looks like it's coming in white and chestnut, but there will also be a third colour that will be a surprise. I think the horse is ok but I'm not feeling "wow". I do like the mane quite a lot but besides that I think it looks clumpy. I will have to wait to see it in game!
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Li Silentland
Hello!Welcome to my little space on the large internet where I can share my thoughts, views and fanfics! I am you 'normal' teenaged girl, who loves writing, gaming and horses. I've played Star Stable online since 1st June 2014 and I am currently a level 20 player on Cupcake Valley where I hang about with Frosty Roses and my 18 pixel horses! Disclaimer: All images and anything else to do with this blog are taken in the game Star Stable Online produced by Star Stable Entertainment AB. I have nothing to do with Star Stable and own none of their graphics. But I can tell you it is a great game and you should play it!
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