Posted by keith43 on 4/27/2014 4:21:00 PM (view original):
Congrats WIS on once again completely ignoring the issues that are costing you customers and expected growth/profit. 

Your current, much larger issues are the following: 
-     Improve what you have or perhaps just do it right the first time... Getting, and using, feedback from those of us who've fed this machine for years would be a good start.
-     Actually give coaches an incentive to move up and aspire to D1, don't force their hand. More credits, better competition, anything. Why would anyone take the time and effort to build a dynasty, not to mention the cash, for no reason. What, at a chance to coach at a better known school? Hell I'm a vet, not a great coach but decent, and I went to Notre Dame and would love to be the coach of that team. But with the way you have things set up now there's absolutely no way I have a legit shot at doing that. And how long would it take if I actually took a run at it? And how many "updates or engines" would I have to go through in the process?
-     Customer service. Maybe responding to people at all would be a start. Then perhaps actually listening to their ideas and implementing them would get you closer to solving your current problems.

Again, congrats on running your business into the ground - by not giving a damn about the people who've supported you for years for the chance of enticing new coaches to sample your product. If those who you lure stick around they'll find out the same thing, you care nothing about them and their time and effort, just their cash.

Posted by majsheppard on 5/2/2014 3:19:00 AM (view original):

Posted by vikesrule69 on 4/30/2014 3:30:00 PM (view original):
They better fix the SIM BS. Losing to a SIM that is 60+ points lower than a human is unacceptable. It would never happen if 2 humans played with that much difference in ratings!!!

Nope that happens to me way too much.  I have lost two games last year to ****** teams, because my QB decided to run too much even with 2% play call set to run and five fumbles in the two games by him... even though he is the best QB in the division. For whatever reason, only certain positions dominate with high skill sets.  OL, and DL don't dominate with high skills, but DBs and RB with high skills do. 

First, I totally understand the frustration of coaches on this board.  While 3 of my 4 teams are at higher levels, I do have one D3 team that I've become quite partial to, and don't want to lose the advanced functionality.

However, it wasn't always like this.  When the Beta was rolled out, I was pretty ticked at the amount of effort to set up playbooks and formations.  But, I was "hooked" on this game, and over time, I was able to build out my offensive and defensive system over the course of a few weeks that I'm not pretty comfortable with.  But, it wasn't easy, and at least I had some game experience to draw from.  The vast amount of new users simply are not going to put that amount of effort into the game, which is why retention of new coaches was low when 3.0 was launched.

Creating the basic version will allow new users to come into the game, and not be overwhelmed at the work that advanced requires.  As they grow in their knowledge and desire to move up, they'll have a foundation and enjoyment for the game, where the increased work won't be such a burden. 

The bottom line is we need new coaches to fill worlds.  We all want that and the game is more fun as conferences expand with more humans.  If WIS creates "basic worlds", we don't solve the problem of near-empty worlds, because new users won't choose the advanced worlds, nor would we want them to because they'll get fed up and leave. 

Yes, it absolutely does stink what is happening to those D3 coaches who want to stay at their programs they built.  But, we need change and we need an influx of new coaches to fill worlds and stay around.  I'm not saying this is the answer to bringing growth to the game, but doing more of the same isn't either.

As Yoda said, "patience, Jedi".

Posted by chetty1963 on 5/3/2014 12:27:00 AM (view original):

First, I totally understand the frustration of coaches on this board.  While 3 of my 4 teams are at higher levels, I do have one D3 team that I've become quite partial to, and don't want to lose the advanced functionality.

However, it wasn't always like this.  When the Beta was rolled out, I was pretty ticked at the amount of effort to set up playbooks and formations.  But, I was "hooked" on this game, and over time, I was able to build out my offensive and defensive system over the course of a few weeks that I'm not pretty comfortable with.  But, it wasn't easy, and at least I had some game experience to draw from.  The vast amount of new users simply are not going to put that amount of effort into the game, which is why retention of new coaches was low when 3.0 was launched.

Creating the basic version will allow new users to come into the game, and not be overwhelmed at the work that advanced requires.  As they grow in their knowledge and desire to move up, they'll have a foundation and enjoyment for the game, where the increased work won't be such a burden. 

The bottom line is we need new coaches to fill worlds.  We all want that and the game is more fun as conferences expand with more humans.  If WIS creates "basic worlds", we don't solve the problem of near-empty worlds, because new users won't choose the advanced worlds, nor would we want them to because they'll get fed up and leave. 

Yes, it absolutely does stink what is happening to those D3 coaches who want to stay at their programs they built.  But, we need change and we need an influx of new coaches to fill worlds and stay around.  I'm not saying this is the answer to bringing growth to the game, but doing more of the same isn't either.

As Yoda said, "patience, Jedi".

Posted by katzphang88 on 5/3/2014 1:59:00 PM (view original):
Exerpt from samson75 - The second goal is faulty though because no matter what, someone has to lose.  If you have a world with 100% new coaches, 50% of them will lose each week.  You can't take a game like Football which is built around winning and losing and try to impose restrictions to make it less likely losses occur to improve retention.  No matter if it is old coaches or new coaches, each and every game will have a loss.  

The biggest thing about this statement that WIS could do is make it much easier to understand WHY you have won or lost. You will lose more coaches if they become frustrated because they have no idea on how to improve so they can win, rather than just by losing some games at first.

Posted by oriole_fan on 4/23/2014 10:04:00 AM (view original):
Thanks for all the input and the well wishes everyone :)

When we heard the idea for a tutorial we knew that it was a great idea, in fact we had been contemplating something similar for a long time. In response we constructed the new interface to guide you though the pages like a tutorial might, easing the pain points and creating a much easier flow to construct the game plan that is desired. I know that there will be a some veteran users will see this thread and immediately be off-put by the creation of a new interface. I also know that some of our longest tenured veterans have been longing for a interface that will allow them to control their team like they want. Our first goal in this change was to ease pain points, and this we have done well. The second was to give as much control while reducing the complexity, this we have also done quite well. While you are reading this thread you will think the sky is falling, that much is already clear. Just remember, at What If we are striving to create a game that will not only keep the veterans happy, but also update a game that will make it fun to play. Before you give up on this, try the new features. I actually think that you will like them. Perhaps that's just me being optimistic and enjoying playing this game again, but as a veteran who has been with a while, I implore you to give this new interface a try before you condemn the unknown.  

Posted by katzphang88 on 4/25/2014 12:08:00 PM (view original):
The interface was never the real problem - the poorly designed game engine is the problem.