just for the record folks should know that the original poster can see who voted for what options, possibly giving him advantages in recruiting against that person by knowing what values they place on certain efforts.... battles are all about knowledge...

Not saying that was the intent, hell I'd love to know the result, but since I might have to recruit against z as we are both in D2 Tark GLV, I'll pass up voting for now   

Very true, dac, although I can't imagine anyone has ever based  a recruiting strategy on calls or letters.

Posted by isack24 on 5/18/2013 1:01:00 PM (view original):
Very true, dac, although I can't imagine anyone has ever based  a recruiting strategy on calls or letters.

really? using calls and letters for long distance recruiting was one of the best options in the game, before they capped it for national recruits. using unlimited letters on internationals gave a 100% advantage on international battles up until about 8 months ago when seble changed the internationals having different responses. now they have been toned down greatly but are still the most effective tool in those cases until you hit the cap.

for sure, 3 calls = 2 letters. roughly, 75 calls = 1HV

OK, so how many equal a CV? Seems like that would still be the most effective method of recruiting long distance.

Posted by isack24 on 5/18/2013 2:36:00 PM (view original):
OK, so how many equal a CV? Seems like that would still be the most effective method of recruiting long distance.

Now you're essentially getting into how many HVs = 1 CV and that's a debate in itself.

Right. Although I think billyg has said before he believes it's closer to 2:1, which means that a CV equals $1,500 in calls/letters. I suppose if that's what you believe, calls/letters could certainly have been effective at really long distances. Never tried it, so I don't know. Although it sounds like seble put an end to that.

What's the "cap" on letters? 100?

Posted by isack24 on 5/18/2013 3:00:00 PM (view original):
Right. Although I think billyg has said before he believes it's closer to 2:1, which means that a CV equals $1,500 in calls/letters. I suppose if that's what you believe, calls/letters could certainly have been effective at really long distances. Never tried it, so I don't know. Although it sounds like seble put an end to that.

I've heard it mentioned that calls/letters used to be the most effective method of recruiting internationals.  Never tried it myself, but this isn't the case anymore.

Posted by isack24 on 5/18/2013 2:36:00 PM (view original):
OK, so how many equal a CV? Seems like that would still be the most effective method of recruiting long distance.

well, at the 360-1360, its CVs, but over than its 2000 dollar CVs, where letters win out. before the cap, letters across the country could compete with a guy 400 miles away pretty effectively (roughly 1350 vs 1500 for the same amount of effort, not that big a disadvantage). internationals were the money, because you could only do  HVs, not CVs, at 1500 a pop.

the cap on letters and calls varies by player (you can do both), something like 60-100 or so

Posted by clouseb on 5/18/2013 5:17:00 PM (view original):

Posted by isack24 on 5/18/2013 3:00:00 PM (view original):
Right. Although I think billyg has said before he believes it's closer to 2:1, which means that a CV equals $1,500 in calls/letters. I suppose if that's what you believe, calls/letters could certainly have been effective at really long distances. Never tried it, so I don't know. Although it sounds like seble put an end to that.

I've heard it mentioned that calls/letters used to be the most effective method of recruiting internationals.  Never tried it myself, but this isn't the case anymore.

it still is the case, until you hit the cap and no more effort is accumulated. but with the cap so low, its not nearly as big an advantage as it was, just a minor thing, although the savings in the lower divisions can be meaningful. not gonna make or break a big d1 battle or anything anymore, it used to be a very valuable tool

If you exceed the cap, you'll start getting negative messages from the recruit about how you don't need to keep calling/sending letters. I've always wondered if you are you actually getting penalized with negative effort at that point.

Posted by professor17 on 5/19/2013 11:25:00 AM (view original):
If you exceed the cap, you'll start getting negative messages from the recruit about how you don't need to keep calling/sending letters. I've always wondered if you are you actually getting penalized with negative effort at that point.

you are not, you just are not getting any more effort. ive sent a **** ton extra to see if a guy would stop considering me, like, at least ten (and probably closer to twenty) thousand dollars worth, and he didnt. so at least its not a significant negative, but i doubt its any negative.

For those of you who say sending hundreds of letters does not happen in real life ...

Drew Barker talks about getting 115 letters in 1 day from UK