My entire class was signed during my overnight...in addition to getting the next player I was targeting, I picked up a couple kids for whom I was not the leading candidate when I went to bed (one of them, I was sitting fourth on...not sure if I surpassed everyone ahead with AP's during the overnight or what).
Anyhow, to summarize -- with a C prestige D2 program, I was able to pull in the No. 109, 119, 120 and 139 freshmen at their respective positions. All four of these players would surpass my present record (grabbing No 148 with an A+ prestige at this same school in Naismith) and two JUCO players who were sitting empty well into the signings window. I accomplished this while spending just $1,296 from a $12,000 recruiting budget. (I also have more than $19K left in my scouting budget...I kind of gave bailed on finding "the best" talent and just looked for easy signings after WIS sped up the world while I was away on a trip and I returned to find myself well behind in recruiting.)
I know of at least 2 D3 schools that have managed to sign top 100 talent. The strategy of sitting and waiting to see what falls through the cracks appears to be a potent one...and from a game theory standpoint makes the most sense since schools' visions will cluster around the major regional camps they attend and the top 100 players that are visible to everyone. The good players found there will create a mosh pit mentality as many go grabbing for the few good players found via such avenues. Running your own camp at max capacity and FSS'ing nearby states for not only your own division's talent but ESPECIALLY that at levels above you (I doubt I even FSS for kids at my division next time...I'll focus all my energy at D1) seemed to get me a lot of "unique" views (players that I could see that many could not). Then I just used my recruiting cash to take to Level 2-3-4 the kids that nobody was on that continued to look good and moved on (again, to be clear, I had to adjust my strategy due to the acceleration...I was looking for competitively functional kids, not the BEST kids by doing this).
Side note -- does anyone know the breakdown of how many humans coach teams at each level of the beta world?
Final assessment of the first round of recruiting -- I had the "big hammer" of a 6-person class to swing, but really didn't feel like I needed it to pull off what I did. If anything, it was too easy. This class surpasses anything I've been able to grab at the "real" UMSL team I've recruited for, and by a significant margin, despite sitting on only a C for prestige. I don't know what's going on above me in Division 1, but I am stunned that so many "good" players are sliding down without anyone on them. Assuming that I am correct and the beta world is more populated with humans at D1 and D2 than anything we're running in the real game at the moment, I shudder to think of what this will mean for the game in worlds that are already high on the Sim count. It will be like walking through a candy store -- I never had to use more than 40 (of a possible 120, to start) AP's and a scholarship offer to get a kid's attention. I used barely more than 10% of my recruiting budget, so realistically I could have waded into a battle late in the process and probably had a hell of a chance to steal someone of high caliber...(but why do that when I can grab for free and without hassle?).
Has this changed recruiting? Absolutely, and not just in a window-dressing sort of way -- I pulled in a class that was COMPLETELY out of line with anything that I've experienced at the same school, having coached there for roughly 40 seasons in the main game. I garnered that class with a C prestige in the beta where an A/A+ prestige would not in the real game. I grabbed it on just over 10% of my recruiting budget and a fraction of my scouting budget. And I don't remotely think that I happened to blindly "luck into" some wildly awesome strategy here. As it stands right now, the door is wide open for some incredibly stacked D3 and D2 teams. Again, I won't comment on D1 because I'll leave that to those with the proper frame of reference to make observations, but the gap between the have's and the have-not's in D3 and D2 will widen under this system. I assume Sim teams are locked into going after players listed as "their division," meaning they will be at an inherent disadvantage against human teams that are in no way constrained similarly. I've been trying to keep an open mind throughout the process, but you may now color me as somewhat concerned.
Here are changes that I think absolutely need to be made (keeping in mind that the second recruiting window hasn't even opened yet...) and that I reserve the right to change this list based upon seeing "the rest of the process"...
-- It seems entirely too easy for a player to get interested based on just AP's and a scholarship. I never offered more than 40 (they are apportioned so 20 would be "normal"). I could have offered up to 120 at a single target. Since they add up every 3 hours, I suspect this could have allowed me to blow pretty much everyone off any recruit I really wanted. I didn't test that theory this time around, but if I knew then what I know now, you can bet your arse that I certainly would find a nice 3 or 4 star to test that theory on.
-- How on earth was I able to sign players without spending a recruiting dollar on them? Yeah, I had to pay to scout them and we can rationalize that the kid probably knew I was scouting them and we had some sort of contact. But no home or campus visits needed? Again, it seemed all too easy. Maybe that's a function of me missing the early part of the signings window and the standards were relaxed because signings had started, but honestly it just felt too easy.
-- I felt that running scouting stuff every 3 hours was a bit overkill. I felt a need to "camp out" on my computer...and I don't like that because I have a life. I think running the process once every 6 hours would make for a more relaxed feel where I can just casually "look in" and see where I stand and, in battles, adjust AP allocations accordingly.
-- As much as I benefitted from it, there really seems like there needs to be some sort of a capping for lower divisions, much as there is in the current game where a D1 player won't give the time of day to a D3 school. Without this, you're going to see a feeding frenzy with every program going after D1 talent and, due to sheer numbers of D2 + D3 vs. D1 programs...winning that race. I don't need to play D1 to be able to state for the record that this is not a healthy environment for D1 in the game.