One of the biggest issues as a new owner is dealing with a low training budget which puts a hurting on your current players. This makes it difficult to hop onto a playoff team with high hopes. If you find a trash team, low scouting essentially dashes hopes of signing some prospects your interested in seeing where they go in following seasons. There is no good start on a new team for an EXPERIENCED HBD owner.
I would wager if budgets are unlocked for your first season, more players would help fill other worlds and taken on additional teams. I suggest any new owner who pays for a season with a fully paid or rewarded credit, should be able to set budgets how they like. This should also continue throughout the life of the ownership because owners can scrap budgets in real life, re-vamp training or scouting talent, all in a single off season. It should be possible in HBD.
This also retains veteran owners who have had their playoff run come to an end. Who wants to spend a few seasons, just waiting for their budget to get swung the other way as they dump 120 million in payroll budget etc to rebuild. It's not realistic, and it makes continued ownership more attractive.
My suggestion is 2 parts;
1. Keep the $5 trial offer, but leave payroll locked as new players spend time learning the game, they will essentially go through the motions of what we have now, and will appreciate the unlocked feature in season 2. Also, you get what you pay for. leaving the lock on trial accounts keeps people from taking advantage.
2. Allow fully paid seasons to set budget however they like. I understand Hardball Dynasty is about creating a dynasty from scratch, and the current budget restrictions are literally one of the only mechanics promoting this type of gradual satisfaction over a long duration ownership, however, experienced owners will find more joy in having a fair playing field when taking on a new team. You will get more business, more new ownership out of your current player base, than any new traffic you are driving to your site. In an age where we need to attract owners to fill worlds, this should be priority #1.
3. The negatives are far outweighed by the positives. It's ridiclous to foster arguments that owners will have too much control, or can become too powerful too fast. Maybe they have more of an ability to come right out of tanking, to a huge free agency budget in the same year. I can understand some of the negatives, however, at least people are playing. It is still a free market as well in the game and nothing is being handed to anyone. In reality, baseball in real life can also have the same type of runs where a ton of talent comes up, allowing them to drop max contracts in FA. They make a splash and may be dominant, it can happen in RL and it may happen here. What other negatives do you guys see? And ask yourself if they outweigh stopping 30 players from rolling over just because a few elitists have decided to hop aboard and try to out smart people. Chances are their plans include multiple seasons of planning. This is not a bad thing when it comes to filling you up.