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Sdorfman
Joined: 06/14/2015
Posts: 33

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
I've been playing for 6 months and love the game. It is challenging but I feel as though I learn something new every day. Any simulation could be nitpicked but for a free game, this is an incredible community and a terrific game.
Slug5373
Joined: 12/23/2014
Posts: 376

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
Great post Li! I just want to give my brief opinions of the same topics you discussed.

1. League structure -- I really like the tiered system. It gives users a great satisfaction to watch their team climb the ranks from Division VI no-name to a legends division champion (Which has happened quite a few times in the game's history.) In addition, it makes the season exciting for more teams. For example, I fought until the last day of the season trying to stay in DIII. I ended up finishing the dreaded fifth place, but it was exciting to watch my team fight and scrap to stay up.

2. League size -- I think it is fine the way it is, but I would not dismiss a larger league size, maybe 14 or 16 teams. But this is certainly not a huge deal.

3. The Cup -- I love everything about the cup except, as you pointed out, the timing. I think this would be best served either right after spring training, or just after the season ends. It is annoying to login and see that your ace and #2 guy threw in meaningless games against weak D VI teams. They would be better served to throw in the regular season. So, I agree with Li.

4. Spring Training -- Agree with Li. Keep the way it is

5. Draft -- Ugh, difficult subject. I think the current system is acceptable, but it would really be nicer if there was a little bit less luck involved. If someone came up with a simple, non-time consuming way to minimize luck, I would be all in favor.

6. Sim engine -- Agree with Li. Not great, not bad. I think the standard deviation in player skills needs to be a bit higher. In the upper leagues especially, there are too many "average" players and not enough superstars. The batting leader in my league this year batted .310 and my stud led the league in OBP... and he didn't even crack .400. Even in the MLB, each season there are multiple players who crack that plateau easily. (Joey Votto had a .459 last season and Bryce Harper checked in at .460) However, overall it is not bad at all.

7. Playoffs -- I have thought about this many times, and I think Li's suggestion should be seriously considered. There would certainly be more excitement with the top two teams in each division competing for promotion and an opportunity to play in the league championship. There are many very good teams who get duped out of a promotion because there is a team ahead of them that wins 125 games or whatever. I strongly support the playoff structure Li suggested.

Just my two cents

Updated Friday, January 22 2016 @ 10:54:19 pm PST
CoryCates
Joined: 08/05/2015
Posts: 80

Rocket City Trash Pandas
IV.6

Broken Bat Baseball
((( Draft -- Ugh, difficult subject. I think the current system is acceptable, but it would really be nicer if there was a little bit less luck involved. If someone came up with a simple, non-time consuming way to minimize luck, I would be all in favor.)))

Just had to weigh in on this subject. I think the draft is great the way it is. Here's Why?

I think some of it has to do with people being too picky. I would love to pick a 14, 15, or 16 POT every time with my projections of the player having the exact SI boosts in the places I want, but that is unrealistic. I study numerous other teams and see where they might only keep one draft pick a season. That's fine if you only need to keep one player in the draft, but if you wanted to keep more and you don't, then I question if you know how to evaluate players.

Here's where everyone will start saying, "You're only in league level 5, players that work good down there wont do good in the higher leagues". That is true if we're talking 11 POT or below, I'm talking about 12 POTs and up. Legends league has 12 POT scattered throughout which is the highest league level. If you know what you're doing, it isn't too hard to draft 12 POTs. Along with that when you get your choice of five players in the drsft, some people think if a player has one negative in his scouting report he's not a player that should be drafted. This is totally wrong. I have a player that I drafted for the OF that is a 13POT, his only negative is "he will never be a decent hitter". It says he will be an above average slugger, and outstanding in the field. Sounds like a good bench player. Most bench players in real life are not the best hitters, if they were they would be starting.

Anyway, I think the draft is pretty good the way it is. I look forward to Friday's because of the draft. I'll quote an awesome movie about a baseball GM speaking of drafting new talent, "You think you know, but you don't".
That's what makes this game great, realistically a player can look awesome on paper, but he may not channel all his potential on the field. Just like real life though, most of the time players that scout well, do play well on this game.

Just my opinion, was not saying any of this to demean anyone. I just think GM's on this game are being way too picky. We need to accept the fact that you're not always going to get to replace an aging 14,15,or 16 POT with another 14,15, or 16 POT. It's nice when it does happen, but most teams in real life rarely ever get to replace a Hall-of-Famer with another Hall-of-Famer.

Updated Saturday, January 23 2016 @ 5:51:20 am PST
MukilteoMike
Joined: 08/09/2014
Posts: 3294

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
I think you misunderstand most of the complaints. Speaking for myself, I have two major complaints about the draft both of which kind of go hand in hand with the other.

One is that they're completely luck based and, as a result, produce drastic draftee imbalance. A common argument is "that will balance out in time." Yes, they will, if you have a millenium. I don't think any of us are going to play that long no matter how good the game is. Some people have gotten two 15+ potential superstars in a season, while others have played a decade without ever seeing one. That's ridiculous and exactly what all-luck drafts produce.

The other thing that goes hand in hand with that is there is no real way to properly build a team. If you sorely need a specific type of player, tough. It's all luck whether or not you get one. With a real draft where you could actually review the players, you could weigh all aspects of what's available and what you need. You know, kind of like a real world GM. I don't think any of them get five cards dealt to them that vaguely talk about the players when it's their turn to draft, and tell them to pick one.

As I've stated before, I wouldn't recommend a real draft for the entire draft as that would be cumbersome and overkill. The top players are really all that's important, like one or two picks each season.

For whatever reason, the majority here are against anything that requires something more than luck for player acquisition. It's easily the most bizarre thing about players here, in my opinion.

The other suggestion I've made before is much simpler, but only addresses the first issue. Don't give owners any choices--simply dole out the highest potential SI players in the order of being drafted. The complaint I've heard about that is "but he might not be as good as the next guy do to his build." No, he might not, but at least you know you're getting the highest potential guy available. That's a lot better than not having any idea what you're getting.

Now let's get back to the dice rolling. Good luck.
Benchwarmer
Joined: 01/06/2015
Posts: 445

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
I've been playing for over a year now, and I do agree that I'd like to see a little less randomness in the way you acquire players, but I'm not sure there's really a good solution that will make everyone happy.

One thing I do like a lot about this game it that while the skills of a player may say one thing, the stats are really what counts. I have seen several players that on paper should be all-stars, but their stats say otherwise. It also allows you to take a chance on guys who have the good skill but don't have great stats to back it up. Maybe he was just on bad teams?
mcrmoe
Joined: 09/24/2014
Posts: 290

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
Been playing for a little bit over a year too and fully agree with the drafting luck/randomness.

This being an odds game in drafting players, I think a simple solution would be to increase the number of players in the draft from 5 to 7.

This would give a bigger pool and force managers to really ponder their decisions. For example, most GMs will take a "very good potential" player without any negatives. However, having two or more players with good looking scouting reports would give GMs the real opportunity to fill their needs.

Also, a greater pool size will decrease the effect of the variance (randomness).
Crazy Li
Joined: 01/25/2015
Posts: 879

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
The only thing I like about the draft is that it favors no one. It is entirely neutral and tanking can't give you a better draft pick.
Benchwarmer
Joined: 01/06/2015
Posts: 445

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
That is a plus. That being said, there might be ways to reduce the randomness some. Perhaps like mcrmoe suggested we have a larger set of options to choose from. Another way would be to select a position, and you are guaranteed to get at least 1 or 2 players at that position. Or perhaps choose between P and NP to pull from, or like I said in the previous sentence depending on which you pick you are guaranteed at least 2 choices of what you want. Nothing is more frustrating than needing a pitcher and pulling none in your draft for the week.
Rock777
Joined: 09/21/2014
Posts: 9568

Haverhill Halflings
III.1

Broken Bat Baseball
All good ideas. I'd go right to 10-15 players though. No need to stop at 7. The only thing to be careful of is that more players means increasing importance on drafting as soon as players become available (which makes the game more time sensitive and stressful). Maybe start out with 15 players in round 1, and reduce by one player each round. So by round 10 you are drafting from a pool of only 5 again, but it makes sense because there aren't that many left.

Updated Saturday, January 23 2016 @ 12:06:46 pm PST
Mig2015
Joined: 06/17/2015
Posts: 162

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
That's a great idea! Increasing the draft pool is an excellent compromise. It keeps the randomness element in the game, but gives owners a better shot of getting one or two good pulls early in the season. So, it will be less random than it is now, but still random. I would be in support of increasing the pool to 8 players.

I understand that the draft pool would be extremely depleted by drafts 8-10 in the season, but isn't that just like real life? The results of the draft will be more realistic than now, with the better players being claimed first, and the worst players last. I know this happens now already, but it will occur more distinctly with a larger pool. There will be fewer frustrated owners seeing the 5 dreaded "above-average potential" in the first draft of the season, and more owners will be able to land 1-3 solid picks in a season.

This would be an interesting thread to bring up in the suggestions section, just to bounce it off of Steve and other owners and see their reactions. I think there could be something there.


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