Is this game still active and running?

[Effect]

Seriously I'd like to know. I used to play back before new owners came into the mix but the main site last at a update (news wise) back in November of 2006 (very end of it). It is not April of 2007. That's 5 months now. I heard about billing troubles from other sites so I'm not willing to reinstall the game let alone put in any billing information since I can't really get an up to date information on the game. Can anyone pass any along?

I was thinking of maybe shooting an email or two to a few gaming news sites to see if they had any information but figured I'd try here first to see if I got an answer before go in that direction.

Thanks.

[Solitaire]

Horizons is still up and running and still in the state it was at the time of the sale. There are going to be no more updates. No fixes. No new content. And judging by the fact that the new owners seem to have vanished, not even any live events.

It is still a fairly solid game and enjoyable to play. But the billing system has not in any way shape or form been fixed despite their claims a few months ago. So you are taking a risk giving them any of your info.

Tis a real shame. Horizons is a good game that many people would enjoy playing. Tis unfortunate that it fell into the hands of people that are incompetant to run it.

[AA0]

You don't need to enter billing information, just hit play and you'll log in, even if you haven't paid for months or years.

[Flindar]

Thats gotta be real good for business.... I left when they screwed up my billing .... like 7 mos ago... comon... thats pathetic that something as important as that still isnt fixed....

[Solitaire]

"Pathetic" only begins to cover it. You could probably run the list all the way down to "criminal" while you are at it.

[Thamoris]

What I don't understand is...why is anyone still paying into this game? Everyone knows without a shadow of a doubt that PME simply does not care about anything. It's a no brainer. They don't care about you or the game or anything. By continueing to pay and play one is enabling a company to continue to practice boderline criminal practices according to many folks.

I was die hard as die hard for Horizons..for over 3 years. I had 3 accounts and spent thousands of hours taking new players into my guild in efforts to offer them the best start possible in game...made many great gaming buds along the way too. I still am die hard Horizons....but I refuse to give PME a single dime of my money.

I cherish the memories ..but happy I've moved on.

[Thamoris]

I would like to state...for fairness sake..I was charged again for my subs after I cancelled them and then a week later was issued a refund. I had not called and asked for the refund...it just showed up. So their is somebody doing something....sometimes.....

[DLMyth]

You don't need to enter billing information, just hit play and you'll log in, even if you haven't paid for months or years.

Are you kidding? So you're saying tha anyone can cancel their account and still play the game?

[Varraven]

Are you kidding? So you're saying tha anyone can cancel their account and still play the game?

LOL, now that is an incentive to play this game in the state it is currently in/will be for who knows how long.

[Solitaire]

No, he is not kidding. There are a lot of people doing it though I'm sure that few would admit to it. Tis not the only problem with the system. I know of some people who's account came due, it renewed but they were never charged anything. There is also the problem with canceling but then having all your information mysteriously reappear after a couple of weeks and if you don't do anything, you will be billed for it.

Tis kind of funny. A few months ago they made a big noise about how they fixed the billing system and were giving people playing for free a chance to become paying customers or get permanantly banned. Well, looks like that was nothing but an attempt to squeeze a few more bucks out of the game without really doing anything.

[velveeta]

before i lost all interest and quit playing altogether, i played for over 6 months on a cancelled account. prolly still could play on chaos, if i wanted to and could get horizons to play on vista.......

i don't know if you can cancel now and still play, but i def was playing for free when i did play, up until about the middle of jan or early feb, i think...

[Fyrentennimara]

Are you kidding? So you're saying tha anyone can cancel their account and still play the game?

It's no joke. I removed Hz from my computer awhile back, but I never did imput any billing info back when they revamped/redid/screwedup the old way of billing and could play reguardless. I currently have NO billing info put in and I've checked my CCs and we're not being charged for our two accounts yet we can still log into them to this day. I'm not going to complain about that too.

As happy as I am in the other endeavors I've plugged my time into, my heart and soul will always belong to Valley of Repose, Istaria.

[Nayuaka]

Heh, I'm playing with a cancled account and I will admit it and even shout it out. I still play mostly regularly, although since I got Shivering Isles I havn't been on as much, but that will change soon. But yeah I don't pay at all and can still log in and have access to my plot and my charactors and such. Do I think it's right no..but my only other alternative right now is to make a completly new account and start all my charactors that I have had for over two years from scratch. It's not happening and believe when I say I would pay if I could but I cant. My credit card ran out on the account a while back because we changed card and could not update billing info. I didn't know at the time that PBT would have helped us so I will admit that was my fault but at soon as I credit card ran out on the account I started to ticket EI for help and that was a few months ago. I get as far as them saying that they will send me to their billing department and then nothing after that....it's been a few months. *sighs* So yeah. I am cheating by playing for free but I would rather be doing it the honest way and paying for my account.

[AA0]

You can only try to pay and be honest, if their ignorance prevents that, then it is not your fault

[Hal`cyon Sskyler]

You don't even have to have an existing account. You can create unlimited new accounts and never be forced to enter credit card information. Before the sale there was a major change in Horizon's billing provider, and the game was sold while the transition was nearing completion but still bugged. EI was aware of this, but given they wanted to do manual billing for a ~6000 subscriber game they weren't exactly the brightest monkeys in suits.

Little bit of an anecdote here. I remember overhearing Raymon Rask call up Pay by Touch and attempt to have them send everyone's CC and billing info to them, unencrypted, so they could set up a new system. All I remember was hearing a woman laugh very, very hard.

[Varangaard]

Some people might remember back when Tulga experimented with transatlantic accounts and entered active EU subscriber info into the US HZ database. EII/PME seems not to have removed that information, and as of two minutes ago I was still able to log into HZ US website with my EU login information. I assume this is the same for everyone who had active Unity account during the experiment.

On Tulga's behalf it was basically an invitation to play around a bit on US servers; EII/PME seem not to have said anything that would renege said invitation.

[Effect]

Wow, just wow. That is really sad. Though I agree if they are allowing this then why be concerned. If this is really happening I'm not even sure if I want to even bother looking for my CDs. What type of company owns and is running the game now that allows this to happen anyway?

[Solitaire]

What type of company owns and is running the game now that allows this to happen anyway?

A bad one.

But to be honest, Horizons is still enjoyable and I would recomend people to play it but forwarned as to what to expect from these..."stewards" I suppose you could call them. They don't deserve to be called developers. But the biggest problem lays in if you want to give your money to people who are just sucking out what they can get from Horizons with little to nothing put back in it or if you want to take advantage of the situation and their inability to fix the billing system. Either way, Horizons is still there. It is still a good game even with issues that will never be fixed now.

BTW, don't bother installing from the CDs. You can get the installer from the website that is far more up to date. You will probably spend more time patching from the CDs than you would if you get the installer. Took me on a cable connection about 2-3 hours to download and another 20 to patch.

[C`gan]

I'll agree with Solitaire on this one. When I got my dual core, I couldn't find my CDs. I downloaded the installer and .98 GB patch from the website, installed them, then run the normal patcher through the website login with the full scan option. It took an overnight to do it.