Letters are the other type of recruiting effort that recruits can't refuse.  You can tack on a little more effort at a low cost that way.  If there's any little bump for sending multiple kinds of effort in a cycle, you'd get that too... but I think I'm pulling that out of my ***.

Posted by zbolton1 on 9/12/2013 9:04:00 AM (view original):
well heres a scenario....   i'm trying to pulldown a d2 player whose decent (in d3 not good in d2).... i had him sold on my school, considering after just a couple cycles... well overnight a C+ prestige d2 team came in and now he's considering them but word on the street says he's not sold.... is this a losing battle with a d2 school, regardless how good the school is i'm competing against? even if I could offer minutes and a starting spot as a freshman, is this a losing battle?

you left out the single most important factor in d2/d3 battles - how far are each of you?? if you have a major distance advantage, you can have an overall advantage in the situation.

Posted by llamanunts on 9/12/2013 3:25:00 PM (view original):
Letters are the other type of recruiting effort that recruits can't refuse.  You can tack on a little more effort at a low cost that way.  If there's any little bump for sending multiple kinds of effort in a cycle, you'd get that too... but I think I'm pulling that out of my ***.

there is no type of bonus for multiple kinds of effort. also, letters can be rejected just like phone calls, after so many go through, no? somewhere in the 60-100 range

Posted by coach_billyg on 9/12/2013 3:38:00 PM (view original):

Posted by llamanunts on 9/12/2013 3:25:00 PM (view original):
Letters are the other type of recruiting effort that recruits can't refuse.  You can tack on a little more effort at a low cost that way.  If there's any little bump for sending multiple kinds of effort in a cycle, you'd get that too... but I think I'm pulling that out of my ***.

there is no type of bonus for multiple kinds of effort. also, letters can be rejected just like phone calls, after so many go through, no? somewhere in the 60-100 range

I have a fuzzy "feel" with letters.   In certain situations, letters can push a recruit into accepting effort or a schollie offer.   A couple examples: a senior x'fer that I offered 10 minutes & a schollie, but still wasn't considering me, but with 6-10 letters I was on his considering list; a D3 listed recruit is sent a HV by a D3 team - result - rejected, but accepted when sent with 2 or 3 letters.  It may be that sending them with scouting trips isn't worth much, but they do get a response that will tell you whether you are still a backup option or something has changed, they're relatively cheap and they do count for more than nothing.

It could be that the same thing can be worked with phone calls or that I am hallucinating...could be...

calls and letters have the same value (coach calls are substantially less). of course in the 10 range they will take effect - the cap is in the 60-100 range - and they definitely have value in terms of considering credit (so what you say is consistent with how i see them). it used to be unlimited and that was awesome, but people exploited it so old admin took it away. but you could still use unlimited for internationals, it was really valuable, you got a 2x advantage over everyone else, using HVs at 1500 a pop. when seble took away the international responses because someone complained it was racist or something, there was a side effect of letter now being limited for all players. at least, as far as i know. its really a shame, calls and letters were awesome for distance and international recruiting. but they still have their application, you just can only use them to a certain extent and no further (so its still pretty useful in d2/d3 but in d1 its sort of ruined)

the value of calls and letters is about 750 dollars of calls/letters per HV

when seble took away the international responses because someone complained it was racist or something

I've played HD for years but I don't remember this, maybe because I didn't recruit any international players back then (and I rarely do it now).

Does anyone know what was actually said in the international responses? I'm curious.

Pidgin english.  Broken, busted up syntax that made all international recruits sound like all the non-white cartoon caricatures from the 20's, 30's, 40's.   These actual messages were different, to some small extent, but the syntax was essentially the same. Think of the bad imitations of Native Americans and Chinese in older cartoons.

yeah, like "me love you long time" i believe was in there exactly... or something like "me no heard of you school, but me interested"

Interesting.

I don't think broken English is racist, it just represents the idea that someone who is just learning English may speak that way. It's the same for anyone who only knows enough of another language to have broken conversations. It's not about any specific race or ethnicity.

The "me love you long time" line is kind of amusing.

yeah i had no problem with it. just old admin's attempt at incorporating humor into the game :) but i can see where they are coming from taking it out. just wish it didnt have the unintended and/or unannounced consequence of actions being processed differently...

I actually liked the old international response to letters that was something like  "why you kill good tree?"

Internationals used to write some wickedly acerbic rejection letters. Just flat out mean.
Good times. Good times.

I only got a few "Me no play basket for you"...it's like watching Hop Seung on Bonanza.

Posted by gillispie on 9/13/2013 3:15:00 PM (view original):
yeah, like "me love you long time" i believe was in there exactly... or something like "me no heard of you school, but me interested"

That particular response evoked Vietnam flashbacks and I woke up kicking my dog.