Any user staying at the entry level for new users is going to have an advantage. And it will be huge. It's just that simple.

Posted by rednu on 11/16/2016 11:39:00 AM (view original):
I picked up a new D3 team in 3.0 just to see what it was like recruiting and developing a team at that level since I spent the beta exclusively at the D2 level and evaluating the game from the perspective of a team I had coached in a live world for 40-some seasons.

My initial impression (I've gone through one recruiting cycle) is that the cash is a little thin for scouting. I really think the $5K (or $3K, or whatever it was) that seble magically pulled from the scouting budgets "to see how this works and then we can discuss" (but never discussed because the product was so busy getting rushed to roll out...) hurts here the most. I have a scouting pool, but it isn't overly large with regard to people I'd actually want to sign when building a competitive team.

I'm also not sure I'll ultimately like the feel of D3 after 2-3 seasons. Right now the game is very much the same in so far as what a "good" team looks like, what an "average" team looks like and what an "elite" team looks like. In 2-3 seasons once the bottom-dwelling D1 and legit solid D2 recruits start filtering down, the average teams will continue exactly as they are today, but the taffy pull on the top end of the scale is going to really distort the game. At that stage, I'm just not sure how much fun its going to be for coaches at either end of the distribution curve. And, unlike D1, I think the mechanics of the game will allow for dynasties at the D3 level (and, by extension also D2) to entrench themselves pretty solidly.

I agree with this. I've played a lot more D1 overall, but my D3 team felt very thin for scouting. Seble did say he wanted to minimize national level recruiting at lower levels, and I think that is happening for sure.

But then I'm sitting on some D2 guys, what would have been an easy pulldown before, for second season to hope I get them. Falling through the cracks? Ignored by D2 guys who are waiting on D1 guys? I don't know yet. I feel like I'm recruiting the same types of players I did in 3.0, but I don't know if that puts me back in an NT in a couple of seasons or I'll be crushed by teams that have D1 players at D3. But it makes the biggest part of my recruiting happen ... after the season. Like it was in 2.0.

I am a borderline elite d3 guy and I don't feel like my teams are that much better than they were. There is currently less competition but I was pulling in low d 1 talent before and am still doing it.

Posted by Trentonjoe on 11/16/2016 6:56:00 PM (view original):
I am a borderline elite d3 guy and I don't feel like my teams are that much better than they were. There is currently less competition but I was pulling in low d 1 talent before and am still doing it.

To me D2 hasn't really changed, timing did maybe. I scout D2, get on what I want, then search in D1 and wait at moderate, getting sims the lowest possible, until I get to session 2. For D2 new users: don't spend a dime on a D1 player if you see a D1 team on the first cycle (human owned), don't spend a dime, promised minutes on D1 but if no SIMS D1 don't get to high or very high, work the AP. Then succeed in session 2. You will get slightly better player overall than in 2.0. Hope nobody gets a HR player that will disbalance the whole division for four seasons. I think D1 need changes, it's not fun now and if we had more owners, it would be even less enjoyable, just to much random in it.

With ALL the D1 owners jumping ship, others will take their place. And they will be the owners who like the game. D2 might be a ghost town but I don't believe for a minute that no one wants Duke, UNC, KY, etc, etc because recruiting isn't the same.

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2016 7:48:00 PM (view original):
With ALL the D1 owners jumping ship, others will take their place. And they will be the owners who like the game. D2 might be a ghost town but I don't believe for a minute that no one wants Duke, UNC, KY, etc, etc because recruiting isn't the same.

It's more a question of whether interested guys are qualified for it. Duke was nabbed in Naismith by the Utah coach, who had an A program, which will probably go simmy for a while now.

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2016 7:48:00 PM (view original):
With ALL the D1 owners jumping ship, others will take their place. And they will be the owners who like the game. D2 might be a ghost town but I don't believe for a minute that no one wants Duke, UNC, KY, etc, etc because recruiting isn't the same.

In IBA we still have 11/12 owners. In Rupp, we are 8/12 but losing one, hopefully someone replaces him. D2 seem more stable. I think once you have played the game, the division does not really matter, it's the competition.. I always liked D2 better and still am.

Thinking about it, this might just be a purge. As I mentioned earlier in another thread, elite owners tend to take "ownership" of the game. It's their game and WifS shouldn't be screwing with it. After all, they've been loyal customers for 12 years and have played 350 seasons.

Truth is, and I say this as a HBD pain in the ***, they're a pain in the ***. I'm not an elite owner but I commish elite worlds. And when changes **** off my owners, I get ****** and, quite frankly, I'm a pain in the ***.

So, if they lose 50 elite owners who feel they own the game and add 50 who enjoy the game as presented, WifS wins. It's a weird dynamic.