Posted by ryrun on 9/2/2010 3:27:00 PM (view original):
Is that how the stats work though? Is it all or none?
I didn't know if you'd still be losing skill in the stat, but it just hadn't dropped to the point of showing yet. For example, does a stat max out at 83 or does it max out at something like 83.5, then when you stop putting minutes into it, it will start slowly dropping to 83.4, .3, etc - then you don't see a reflection of that until it goes from 83.0 to 82.9.
Doubt anybody knows for sure, but I was just curious.
you are right in your idea of how it works.
essentially when you max a category, you can maintain it with 0 minutes practice. now really, behind the scenes, over a season you might have dropped from say 88.7 to 88.6. what i've found is that the loss due to 0 minutes is very probably less than .1 per season, and beyond shadow of a doubt, less than .2 per season.
because there seems to be 1 improvement curve, when the rate of improvement goes to 0 (which, when maxed, is the case), the rate of decrease also goes to 0. in many cases, you can gain 1 point after getting the maxed email, which is a very slight rate of improvement, which is why you might see a very slight rate of decrease at the capped message. but at least 90% of the time you won't see even a single point drop.
as far as non capped categories, it varies significantly by playing time and work ethic. ive had plenty of guys gain a point with 5 minutes of practice, and seen it at 4 (not lp or per). so for some guys even at 4 you are going up, not down. for some guys, you will even be dropping at 6.
i put low potential freshman with points of improvement left at 0 all the time as well, and quite often see no change. so i wouldn't just use 0 when capped - i would use it for at least, any non critical low potential category on a player who has meaningful improvement gains elsewhere.
also, i think the 7 minutes for ft shooting is accurate.