I'm willing to give it a try and see what happens.

It would be very helpful to those of us who are still learning all of the nuances of this very elaborate game to have some sort of guidelines concerning retirement.
What is age/level appropriate?

18-20 = rookie
20-21= Low A

I mean to be honest, I have absolutely no idea, nor can I find any information in the "help" section.

I never leave any but the crappiest of crappy players in Rookie for more than one year.  As long as they've earned a promotion, I just use 1 year/level as a guideline.  Less if they're drafted older.  Which gets most players to the bigs at 23.

Posted by mchalesarmy on 11/11/2010 8:55:00 PM (view original):
It would be very helpful to those of us who are still learning all of the nuances of this very elaborate game to have some sort of guidelines concerning retirement.
What is age/level appropriate?

18-20 = rookie
20-21= Low A

I mean to be honest, I have absolutely no idea, nor can I find any information in the "help" section.

Max of two seasons per level, and don't go backwards.  Don't get too caught up in age/exp. 

i like or don't care about all of the planned updates except this one:

"When comparing max contracts to a free agent we are now incorporating loyalty with their previous franchise. If a player has been with a franchise for more than 5 seasons that franchise will have a significant advantage during the negotiation process."                                                                                                                              

Money talks in real life. Make-believe money should be the most important factor for make-believe players. I think it's really the "significant advantage" that bothers me without a more specific number for "significant". Is a 5% "advantage threshold" deemed "significant"? Or are we talking a 20% advantage? 5% would be ok. 20% would not.              

"When comparing max contracts... "

ahhhh...

There has been a few times that I forgot to resign my own minor league free agents. What I did was I bid on every one of them in the regular free agent process, it was the easiest thing for me to do. I probably retained 90-95% of the players.......

The only thing the changes will do is cause a pain in the butt. Any player worth a damm will be protected, or if they are not protected they will be seeking a major league contract.

How is making one bid a "pain in the butt"?    If your guys reject your offer, you move on to the next group.    Maybe even after FA when you get the instant signing.

Posted by prezuiwf on 11/11/2010 6:55:00 PM (view original):
I like most components of this update very much. One thing I saw, though...

"When comparing max contracts to a free agent we are now incorporating loyalty with their previous franchise. If a player has been with a franchise for more than 5 seasons that franchise will have a significant advantage during the negotiation process."

I wonder... does this ONLY apply to max contracts? It seems like if two teams both bid $15 mil a year on a player, the player's loyalty rating should factor in there as well. What if two teams bid the maximum $110 million contract but leave off the player option? What if one team bids $110 million and the player's previous franchise bids $10,000 less? Does loyalty factor in there? I would like a much clearer explanation of when the increased loyalty rating actually kicks in. It would be disappointing if it were truly just max contracts.

I'll have to clarify that in the post. It should read any conrtact that is the exact same value. It usually applies to the max contract offer because that one is the most common to be the exact same value. A typo of sorts on my part, thanks for pointing it out.

what bothers me about the update is the fact that we havent had a dev chat in ages...shouldnt they have had a dev chat...to see what we want changed...then incorporate those changes in the update...not sure where these updates came from...

Next door is a suggestions forum. I recognize a few.

Posted by deathinahole on 11/12/2010 2:15:00 PM (view original):
Next door is a suggestions forum. I recognize a few.

Yes we reviewed all of the suggestions in detail and we added in as many as we could. This updates primary focus was the addition of more private world options and ways to make filling private worlds easier. We also needed to add the AI processes to keep the balance of worlds in check. Too many franchises were losing top quality Rule 5 players.

Many times the losing Rule 5 players is a function of a team which uses the Rule 5 draft as their AAA development squad. They draft 10, hope a few get through on the offer back, and eat the $50,000 cost if they lose them, knowing the team getting the player back is out $272,500 to retain the player they have developed.

Posted by patrickm885 on 11/12/2010 10:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by prezuiwf on 11/11/2010 6:55:00 PM (view original):
I like most components of this update very much. One thing I saw, though...

"When comparing max contracts to a free agent we are now incorporating loyalty with their previous franchise. If a player has been with a franchise for more than 5 seasons that franchise will have a significant advantage during the negotiation process."

I wonder... does this ONLY apply to max contracts? It seems like if two teams both bid $15 mil a year on a player, the player's loyalty rating should factor in there as well. What if two teams bid the maximum $110 million contract but leave off the player option? What if one team bids $110 million and the player's previous franchise bids $10,000 less? Does loyalty factor in there? I would like a much clearer explanation of when the increased loyalty rating actually kicks in. It would be disappointing if it were truly just max contracts.

I'll have to clarify that in the post. It should read any conrtact that is the exact same value. It usually applies to the max contract offer because that one is the most common to be the exact same value. A typo of sorts on my part, thanks for pointing it out.

Does this mean that it is not a factor unless they are exactly the same?  Seems like it should be a factor regardless.  Either way, this is a good change.  The minor league free agent change, however, seems like a solution looking for a problem.