Quote: Originally Posted By shobob on 3/18/2010snapshot page

Where is the link to this from the World Office?

Didn't I make a joke thread about this topic this week? Whatever happened to predictability?

Quote: Originally posted by shobob on 3/18/2010snapshot page

dunno, I found it in the HBD update thread

Quote: Originally Posted By steelerstime on 3/18/2010

Quote: Originally Posted By MikeT23 on 3/18/2010

And in re-increasing them.

WifS will eventually cave to the loudest voice(s). I objected to the first change, I objected to the rollback and I'll object to another change. If changes are coming every 3 months to address the same "problem", the users will never have time to react because seasons are about 3 months long. And the whining will never stop because that's the way to enact change.

Mike- The Voice of reason. This is a DYNASTY game.

Players are drafted and Int'ls signed, based on the how the game plays. Then developed for 3 or more years. How can the game actually be played if the game is being dramatically changed every season?

The thrill of playing HBD and the moneymaking draw for WIS is that we can make the decisions that MLB GM's have to make (and to some degree, Managers). Great extravagance is devoted to simulating these decisions.

The managerial problem we are dealing with here, steelerstime, is an issue that MLB GM's and Managers have had to face. It is a part of the sim. The steroid and live-ball era happened and is no more. But MLB and HBD go on together and most HBD customers wouldn't have it any other way, IMHO.

Or, are MLB and HBD going on together?

FFS, Why are people so obsessed with power? One solitary statistic in a complex GAME that is directly open to bias by the players people select at every stage of a teams ML development.

No one would care if SB rates were 1000% over ML because the "ratings would allow it" yet as soon as people find HR rates not being to their liking its whine whine whine...

Quote: Originally posted by ArlenWilliam on 3/18/2010
Modeling the gradual changes of real MLB would be wonderful.

This is a computer simulation based on a number of complex variables, including unpredictable user choices. Each variable, which must first be programmed, affects the others in intended and unintended ways.

The best way to truly mimic gradual changes you seek would be to keep the dang environment set up the same over multiple seasons and let users accordingly adjust to it. This already happens in stable worlds full of experienced, knowledgeable owners. Tweaking the engine every season or two keeps even those owners, and certainly newer or less knowledgeable owners, from learning to make the necessary adjustments to succeed.

Best thing to do is to make the tweaks and not tell us then.

That would be worse. Imagine signing a player to a 5/50m deal only to find out the engine had been tweaked two days earlier making him a 1/1m type of player.

Again, making drastic changes every 3 months is bad business. I, for one, gave up on the 30/90/40/40/90 prospects so they didn't get any playing time. Since the power reduction update seemed to get HBD in line with the current MLB, I felt pretty comfortable in playing guys I saw as future BL players over those types. So, when it was changed back(not completely), I lost a full season of development for an entire group of players. That can't be given back. In a dynasty game, you can't afford to lose a season of development to a specific group of players.

Quote: Originally posted by ArlenWilliam on 3/18/2010Modeling the gradual changes of real MLB would be wonderful.

i STRONGLY disagree with this. no one knew in 1920 that offensive stats were about to explode. no one knew in 1939 that they were about to be dampened. sometimes there are logical explanations for swings in stats, such as the mound being raised in 1968, or the balls being tightly wound in 1987, and sometimes there aren't: swings occur because of shifts in talent or strategy that could not have been predicted.

if the homer rates rise in HBD because managers sacrifice defense for power, or because the draft and INT pool happened to produce fewer quality pitchers, or because a world had managers that preferred power to speed/contact, then so be it. what would most likely happen in some of these situations is that some teams would realize that speed/contact and defensive players are undervalued, would pursue those players, and would be successful with them, as the teams could acquire those players cheaply and have resources to invest elsewhere. eventually, this strategy would catch on, and the pendulum would swing.

if, instead, WIS revised the engine to mirror HR rates in MLB every season, we'd have two major problems. first, we'd be ignoring the natural tendencies and swings in given worlds (or across worlds) that make the game interesting. second, we'd be subject to a changing MLB environment in a harmful and artificial way.

i agree that the engine should try to mirror MLB, but i say that the mirroring should include the ability for these ecological changes in statistics, and should NOT focus on aligning stats on a season-to-season basis. furthermore, that mirroring should assume "correct" usage of players, not the actual usage in HBD. if i play nine 90-power players, i should hit a lot more HRs, and my opponents probably should too (as i couldn't get great defense at every position with a 90+ power guy). but if i'm playing a 50 range guy at 2B, that's my choice, and may be beneficial.

note that this also mirrors MLB, in that players are used in different ways. the first usage of a -handed specialist was probably considered an "incorrect" usage of a player, but then the game evolved, and there was also an impact to statistics. goose gossage and rollie fingers were used in ways that were revolutionary, as were maury wills and rickey henderson. if a henderson-like talent were to appear in MLB, he might change the nature of stats for a decade, as henderson did in the 1980s.

but this would NOT be a reason to change the engine. it's part of the natural evolution of the game, and preventing HBD from being able to experience those natural swings-- and instead tweaking the engine to maintain a consistent outcome, irrespective of talent and usage-- detracts from the game in a major way.

amen.

Quote: Originally posted by MikeT23 on 3/19/2010

Quote: Originally Posted By schedule1 on 3/19/2010too longI agree.

it's funny, i obviously knew you'd say that. but i know you agree with me.

i actually think that's the best post i've ever written (which, admittedly, doesn't say much).

I actually do agree that it's too long and pretty much dead on. In a "perfect" HBD, engines tweaks would be done infrequently. But they would also be minor. I despise both "too many homers!!" and "not enough homers!!" camps. As I said earlier, some owners look at their world/team and determine that HBD is broken. However, on the other hand, some things are broken. With that said, castrating a certain type of player with a drastic change is horrible in a dynasty game.

To me, a couple of engine changes per year is probably too many because we can sign players for 15 months(5 season deals). So, in my "almost perfect" HBD, engine changes that affect gameplay should probably come every 9-12 months and they should be minor. If WifS determines that they need to shave power numbers by 18%, go for it. 6% at a time over the next 27 months.

This game isn't new. It's an established game. You like it or you don't. Drastic changes to gameplay shouldn't be necessary.