im just really seeing that worlds are struggling to fill and people aren't joining .. In fact most are leaving the site entirely...

Worlds have a serious problem. They can't fill if they suck.

I'm just about done with this game. Players hurting their neck for 265 days with 95 Health rating. Just about DONE.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/9/2016 7:21:00 PM (view original):
Worlds have a serious problem. They can't fill if they suck.

This was not helpful.

Many of the worlds who have a bunch of unfilled openings have a bunch of unwanted teams. Whether it's mismanagement for seasons on end, bad trades, ineptness, a revolving door, etc, etc, the league has created in imbalance.

This may have been "It's my team, I'll do what I want". It may have been the world "leaders" being concerned with their team only. It might have been out and out collusion/alias abuse.

Whatever it is, the world let it happen.

That said, WifS has failed to retain owners. I suspect some of it is frustration with CS. I've had my share of that. But, more importantly, an even playing field has to be created by the world. Sometimes the finger needs to be pointed at oneself.

my biggest complaint is that the budget restrictions disincentivize adding more franchises. The +/- 4 thing is completely stupid, I get the restriction going downwards but the +4 thing is so damn stupid, specifically because it takes 3 full seasons to get to 20 training (and medical and scouting, but most importantly training), so it takes an ice age to field a competitive franchise.

I have sent recommendation via ticket to allow for budget chop from Player Payroll into Training, Medical, and/or Scouting (but never the other way around), and interestingly enough it is the only ticket I've ever submitted that they have left open. So maybe this is something they plan to do but imo it needs to have been done yesterday, because there is literally no reason for anyone to add a new team unless you're picking up an abandoned team (with a favorable pre-existing budget) for free

You can keep the previous owner's budget now and do the +/-4 from there.

Posted by pjfoster13 on 10/11/2016 1:57:00 PM (view original):
my biggest complaint is that the budget restrictions disincentivize adding more franchises. The +/- 4 thing is completely stupid, I get the restriction going downwards but the +4 thing is so damn stupid, specifically because it takes 3 full seasons to get to 20 training (and medical and scouting, but most importantly training), so it takes an ice age to field a competitive franchise.

I have sent recommendation via ticket to allow for budget chop from Player Payroll into Training, Medical, and/or Scouting (but never the other way around), and interestingly enough it is the only ticket I've ever submitted that they have left open. So maybe this is something they plan to do but imo it needs to have been done yesterday, because there is literally no reason for anyone to add a new team unless you're picking up an abandoned team (with a favorable pre-existing budget) for free

I would like to see more flexibility here as well. I do understand their reasoning behind it, but I think the current system does more harm than good.

I recently took over a team with no money in draft scouting that had the #2 pick. I was able to get my college scouting up to $6M, but still - how does that help me rebuild when I can't get a good pick in that slot? It also harms the world, IMO, because that means a better team behind me will end up getting a very good prospect that likely should've gone earlier.

Thankfully my pick turned down my offer, but that still means I'll be drafting 3rd and 7th next season with a scouting budget of $10M. That still isn't gonna help the rebuild process. I'm one of the more committed owners in this game, but new players or casual owners are going to be hesitant to rebuild when they potentially can't even get value for those high draft picks.

Here's my 2 cents:

HBD is fun, but its appeal is limited. People get into the game because they want to pretend to run a team, tinker with different ways to build a roster, and get a "I'm-the-GM experience."

The fun they're looking for is centered around the (mostly) offseason activities--signing free agents and making trades. But the offseason is very condensed and rushed. Nothing can really happen before you set a budget and 48 hours later you're at arbitration.

Not that spacing out the offseason a little would magically solve the retention issue, but allowing owners to be a little more methodical about their moves would make the game more fun.

Also, I think it would help new owners if there was a baseball reference style stat database in each world. As is, pulling comprehensive stats together is a huge pain in the ***.

Holy ****. I somewhat agree.

For those of us with essentially unlimited computer access, the pre-season is a pain in the ***. But, if you can only check in before/after work, you might miss a day. And, if you miss a day, you might re-signing FA or arbitration. Those are pretty big events. If nothing else, expand those two activities.

Of course, that might irritate long-term users who already know what has to be done and ensure they check in on said days.

As to the 2nd point, it would be nice if you could look at "average" ratings for top 25 at each position(games played). While that won't do much for the experienced user, newer users could get a feel for the world right from the jump. That said, n00bs tend to NOT no where to look for things so you'd need to create a field under Reports for this.

The easy solution to worlds not filling is to create a way to play HBD, pretty much as it is, where your team is not locked to that world.

You win enough, you move up to a world of winners.

You lose enough, you drop down to a world of those who didn't win last season.

Worlds would fill and roll within days.

Worlds with fewer openings would stay mostly intact. Worlds with a lot of opening would be broken up.

Adding this does not mean WIS has to stop offering the current World Is Most Important version of HBD. They could add a Customer Is More Important option.

Well, they could offer varying world sizes and/or "mobile" teams. IOW, if you purchase a team, you can take it to any world that will have you.

They could also start offering top owners (perhaps based on winning % and championships) free credits to take over a hopeless team for a season or two, so it's more appealing to a newcomer.