I started playing Star Stable Online at the end of the 'golden years' in 2017, before the massive graphics and story overhaul. With the current state of the game, I can not in good faith recommend anyone sign up to the game or play into the predatory marketing practices established by the company.

The entire gameplay loop is very shallow and numbingly boring. When you create an account, you have about 50 hours worth of questing (which is, for the most part, running to another area of the map and running back to complete the quest - it's extremely difficult to stay engaged and focused while completing them). As an end game player that's finished all the quests, your only option in terms of gameplay is to shell out more money into the game so you can buy new horses to grind to max level for ~8 hours each. It's important to mention the price of every new horse is equivalent to $20 if you purchase the premium currency at full price.

Why would someone pay money to do more grinding? Status. In the Star Stable community, teenagers are ruthless on judging other players based on their presumed wealth or style in the game. Low spenders or free players will be ridiculed by players who have dumped thousands of dollars into acquiring a large number of horses.

The only reason I haven't completely quit the game is the fear of losing all my money and effort, as well as the nostalgia of the world and friends I made through it. As someone who paid for the Lifetime membership ($70 I will never get back), all my 'gameplay' is logging in every 6 months to purchase a new horse with accumulated currency before logging off. While the characters and worldbuilding mean a lot to me, the current state of the company and its money-hungry priorities have ruined the franchise.

Fucking abhorrent. Laughably unbalanced matchmaking, toxic player-base with cringe e-daters, no player freedom by being forced to run meta only; else you'd be hated for "throwing the match", a tutorial that teaches you jack shit on how to actually win, annoying abilities that don't feel fun at all to fight against, an irritating focus on competitive play that sacrifices good game design and ruins any sense of fun, literally the worst micro-transactions I've seen in a non-mobile video game, even anti-cheat that apparently is malware, all of which combines into this piece of "entertainment" I absolutely despise to no end. Just spend your $100 on many other, BETTER games instead of some lousy cosmetic pack that only gives you around 8 subpar skins.