Eras of HD Topic

rgerkin
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Could someone who has played for a long time (maybe since the beginning) be able to recap the "eras" of the game?  In other words, the periods separated by major changes to the game.  Major changes would include the addition of potentials, big changes to recruit generation, and I think even changes to the strengths/weaknesses of the offenses/defenses.  So for example, in the last 1.5 years (since I started playing) I don't think there have been any major changes, so I have always played in one era.  Or maybe there was a big change I missed.  
8/8/2013 1:26 AM
blackdog3377
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Ive been playing since 2007 and the only major change I have seen was potential but man was that a big change. The introduction of FSS and potential completely changed the way recruiting worked at all levels.

The closer to the start of HD you get the more rapidly the major changes were. I obviously wasn't around but there were fairly regular major changes in the early days.

8/8/2013 1:37 AM
rednu
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Posted by blackdog3377 on 8/8/2013 1:37:00 AM (view original):
Ive been playing since 2007 and the only major change I have seen was potential but man was that a big change. The introduction of FSS and potential completely changed the way recruiting worked at all levels.

The closer to the start of HD you get the more rapidly the major changes were. I obviously wasn't around but there were fairly regular major changes in the early days.

I'd call the roll-out of the new engine a pretty major change too. That took place between seasons 44 and 45 in Naismith (which is now recruiting for season 68, as a frame of reference) and made some pretty significant changes to the game (LP began to matter for guards, the out of position penalty was eliminated, the effectiveness of the press was scaled back, rebounding became more balanced, fatigue became more of an issue...you definitely had to re-learn how to play the game to at least some degree).
8/8/2013 3:02 AM
Weena
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Todays HD is much better than when it began (and it wasn't bad then). I started playing in season 2 of Naismith so I have been here almost from the beginning. I'm sorry I cannot break the following list into eras but I think you will get a picture of how this game has progressed.

In the first couple of seasons there was a recruiting loophole where DIII teams could recruit DI players. That didn't last long but for those of us who figured it out, it was fun.

In the player skills area, there was a category called Shooting. It was not broken down by LP/Per.

You could only manage your fatigue by Target Minutes. Managing by Fatigue settings didn't come till much later.

The gameplanning screen showed your opponents tempo so you actually knew if you were going to face an uptempo or slowdown offense.

There were no individual 3-point settings. You had to set your +/- for the team as a whole.
 
There was no individual non-conference scheduling. The engine set your schedule for you.

There were no player transfers, no SAT requirements for ineligibles, and no Health meter to judge degree of injuries.

You could not view next seasons prospects until after rollover.

There were no conference or national coach of the year awards.

There were no Early Entries and no Home Court Advantage.

There were minimal in-game statistics.

Dilemmas were added to the game in an effort to give coaches the same pressures that real life coaches deal with. Players commited offenses ranging from being late to practice, to shoplifting, to murder and rape. It quickly became the most hated change ever in the game.

Obviously, adding Potential and FSS totally changed how a coach dealt with recruiting. Unfortunately there was a large exodus of coaches who couldn't or wouldn't deal with the change.

Other long time coaches will certainly add to this list.
8/8/2013 4:15 AM
gillispie1
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Posted by rednu on 8/8/2013 3:02:00 AM (view original):
Posted by blackdog3377 on 8/8/2013 1:37:00 AM (view original):
Ive been playing since 2007 and the only major change I have seen was potential but man was that a big change. The introduction of FSS and potential completely changed the way recruiting worked at all levels.

The closer to the start of HD you get the more rapidly the major changes were. I obviously wasn't around but there were fairly regular major changes in the early days.

I'd call the roll-out of the new engine a pretty major change too. That took place between seasons 44 and 45 in Naismith (which is now recruiting for season 68, as a frame of reference) and made some pretty significant changes to the game (LP began to matter for guards, the out of position penalty was eliminated, the effectiveness of the press was scaled back, rebounding became more balanced, fatigue became more of an issue...you definitely had to re-learn how to play the game to at least some degree).
i agree, id call the new engine era, the potential era, and the pre-potential era the major divisions as i see it. seble's potential fix was a pretty big deal in terms of restoring balance in game play, but it mostly just slowed down growth, it wasnt much in terms of new functionality or innovation - so i dont really consider it as big of a change, but it was a significant landmark. then the new engine came out, which as rednu said, changed a bunch of stuff. the relative values of certain rating, especially ath/spd/def, was pretty dramatic as well. im not sure if recruit generation was its own event, i sort of think it was... but even then, it was a significant shift in d2/d3 because the rankings you could reach for (and the extent you could reach into d2 from d3) changed significantly. but in terms of new functionality or innovation, it wasn't really there. in d1 there was a shift in the quality of recruits but it was mostly butchered and didnt add much strategically for BCS play, and made it harder for mid majors to compete. the gap between top players and others was huge but there were so many guys at the top, you just get a group of 10-15 teams each year that are ridiculously good, with a team full of studs, who are mostly way better than players other people are competing for. of course, the most successful mid major teams have managed to compete, but its just a lot harder for people in general. anyway, i dont think theres much newness or evolution there, so i dont consider it an era-marker either.
 
8/8/2013 4:26 AM
gillispie1
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interesting insight weena! i think the potential change was good for the game personally, creating more variety in players, forcing creative and intricate team composition decisions, that i don't feel were as important before the change. of course, im bias, as thats by a huge margin my favorite part of the game... but anyway, i definitely mean that i think the change was good *ultimately*. the initial release, for those who werent here, was essentially an unmitigated disaster. its like the recruit generation change except the outcry was far louder. basically, players had insane potential, and would grow super fast - maxing out sophmore year. this totally changed the dynamic of the game - having a veteran team meant very little, it was just IQ. even end of season freshman were so good, they already had more than half of their growth behind them, in many cases. then, you had to deal with the frustration of having nothing to practice for most of players' careers. it was kind of stupid and lots of people hated it - and hated the hard caps. slowing growth went a long way but not quite long enough.

i think one of the best things about potential is that it added to recruiting. before it was just an auction style game, you just spent on your favorite guys. now, you have to decide between spending money just to find the best players, and spending money to win them. its a huge decision and a major part of recruiting strategy - and i think it makes things more interesting. plus, you used to have to recruit so nationally - it was ridiculously time consuming in d2 and d3! now d2/d3 schools can only scout locally which is much less painful. 
8/8/2013 4:36 AM
dbarth101
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Posted by gillispie1 on 8/8/2013 4:26:00 AM (view original):
Posted by rednu on 8/8/2013 3:02:00 AM (view original):
Posted by blackdog3377 on 8/8/2013 1:37:00 AM (view original):
Ive been playing since 2007 and the only major change I have seen was potential but man was that a big change. The introduction of FSS and potential completely changed the way recruiting worked at all levels.

The closer to the start of HD you get the more rapidly the major changes were. I obviously wasn't around but there were fairly regular major changes in the early days.

I'd call the roll-out of the new engine a pretty major change too. That took place between seasons 44 and 45 in Naismith (which is now recruiting for season 68, as a frame of reference) and made some pretty significant changes to the game (LP began to matter for guards, the out of position penalty was eliminated, the effectiveness of the press was scaled back, rebounding became more balanced, fatigue became more of an issue...you definitely had to re-learn how to play the game to at least some degree).
i agree, id call the new engine era, the potential era, and the pre-potential era the major divisions as i see it. seble's potential fix was a pretty big deal in terms of restoring balance in game play, but it mostly just slowed down growth, it wasnt much in terms of new functionality or innovation - so i dont really consider it as big of a change, but it was a significant landmark. then the new engine came out, which as rednu said, changed a bunch of stuff. the relative values of certain rating, especially ath/spd/def, was pretty dramatic as well. im not sure if recruit generation was its own event, i sort of think it was... but even then, it was a significant shift in d2/d3 because the rankings you could reach for (and the extent you could reach into d2 from d3) changed significantly. but in terms of new functionality or innovation, it wasn't really there. in d1 there was a shift in the quality of recruits but it was mostly butchered and didnt add much strategically for BCS play, and made it harder for mid majors to compete. the gap between top players and others was huge but there were so many guys at the top, you just get a group of 10-15 teams each year that are ridiculously good, with a team full of studs, who are mostly way better than players other people are competing for. of course, the most successful mid major teams have managed to compete, but its just a lot harder for people in general. anyway, i dont think theres much newness or evolution there, so i dont consider it an era-marker either.
 
I came in after that, but was the whole dilemma thing the reason why they had personality tests and psycologists?
8/8/2013 9:00 AM
Weena
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I came in after that, but was the whole dilemma thing the reason why they had personality tests and psycologists?

Yes, that's the reason. That's also why many of the emails make reference to good or bad personalities.
8/8/2013 12:53 PM
poncho0091
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I havent been around as long as some (little more than 5 years now), but I remember when potential was introduced. I almost joined the bandwagon out of the game because I hated the hard caps. I really felt like there was a strategy in player development before because you could develop a player in any area you wanted. Looking back now, I almost can't imagine the game without potentials (assuming I hadn't already played the game without potentials). Potential really added some strategy to the recruiting game, it was so much easier before imo. It's a shame how many people left the game and missed out on what potential eventually became once it was tweaked. Its not perfect, but it adds another layer to what is a great sim.
8/8/2013 2:34 PM
moy23
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Posted by Weena on 8/8/2013 4:15:00 AM (view original):
Todays HD is much better than when it began (and it wasn't bad then). I started playing in season 2 of Naismith so I have been here almost from the beginning. I'm sorry I cannot break the following list into eras but I think you will get a picture of how this game has progressed.

In the first couple of seasons there was a recruiting loophole where DIII teams could recruit DI players. That didn't last long but for those of us who figured it out, it was fun.

In the player skills area, there was a category called Shooting. It was not broken down by LP/Per.

You could only manage your fatigue by Target Minutes. Managing by Fatigue settings didn't come till much later.

The gameplanning screen showed your opponents tempo so you actually knew if you were going to face an uptempo or slowdown offense.

There were no individual 3-point settings. You had to set your +/- for the team as a whole.
 
There was no individual non-conference scheduling. The engine set your schedule for you.

There were no player transfers, no SAT requirements for ineligibles, and no Health meter to judge degree of injuries.

You could not view next seasons prospects until after rollover.

There were no conference or national coach of the year awards.

There were no Early Entries and no Home Court Advantage.

There were minimal in-game statistics.

Dilemmas were added to the game in an effort to give coaches the same pressures that real life coaches deal with. Players commited offenses ranging from being late to practice, to shoplifting, to murder and rape. It quickly became the most hated change ever in the game.

Obviously, adding Potential and FSS totally changed how a coach dealt with recruiting. Unfortunately there was a large exodus of coaches who couldn't or wouldn't deal with the change.

Other long time coaches will certainly add to this list.
I see no mention of plumpy's retirement ;)
8/8/2013 2:45 PM
girt25
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I think potential and FSS as they stand today are great additions -- they bring added elements of texture, strategy, etc. to recruiting. I don't think it's even close.

Unfortunately, the initial implementation was badly botched, which is really what sent a lot of people running for the hills.

But mostly, I just think of HD in terms of when moy was here, when he left, and then when he came back. Everything else is just a blur.

8/8/2013 8:41 PM
colonels19
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what was wrong with the initial "Potential" rollout?  I was on hiatus at that time I think.
8/8/2013 8:52 PM
mullycj
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players gained 100+ pts their FR year and maxed out by the time they were sophs
8/8/2013 9:53 PM
colonels19
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Ahhh, thank you mully...that does seem whack
8/8/2013 10:13 PM
jenningss
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I'm the one coach who liked dilemmas. When your as mediocre as me anything that could be a wildcard was great! 
8/9/2013 2:10 AM
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