I am a longtime player of Hoops Dynasty and I've been trying to adjust to the new recruiting system. The absolute worst thing about the new recruiting system is that it ruined the camaraderie within conferences. When there was more recruiting money to be had if a conference did well, being in a full conference was a good thing and encouraging and helping your fellow conference members was not merely altruistic, it benefited you as well. Now, being in a full conference just means more competition for nearby recruits.

My suggestion is that additional attention points and additional money should go to all schools in a conference based on the success of the conference in the tournament. Benefits:

*Camaraderie will be back! Coaches will be incentivized to be in a full conference and not as far away from other coaches as possible.

*With the 20 home visit limit and the ability to steer all attention points to a single recruit, schools from lesser conferences would still win recruiting battles against top schools from top conferences, but the schools from top conferences (i.e. full conferences) would be able to go after more recruits, engage in more recruiting battles and ultimately get more players. As it is now, schools from full conferences wind up with too few players because there is much more competition for local recruits and winning a recruiting battle is almost random.

*Coaches who take over new teams have a virtually impossible time getting decent recruits in their first year because other teams have had the whole first recruiting period to dish out attention points. A little extra money for taking over a team from a full conference could give them more of a chance. You could also help them by not allowing any of the players who make it to the second recruiting period make a decision for at least four cycles.

*Finally, in D1, the extra attention points and money for top conferences would enable schools with EEs to have a little better chance to get late deciding top recruits because they could start giving them more attention earlier. In real life, schools who anticipate having lots of EEs do not wait to hit the recruiting trail. They anticipate the EEs and hit the recruiting trail as hard or harder than other schools (and tend to have little problem getting replacements). I've not seen the University of Kentucky filling its roster with walkons lately.

Can't speak for everyone, but I certainly agree that there is no longer any HD benefit to be in a human confernce. As it stands, it's pretty much down to friends and personal bragging rights.And maybe keeping your neighbor from recuiting a guy you'll have to play against for 4 seasons.

But everything else you mentioned (except new coaches and recruiting) were things they intentionally did away with. I hope they address the new coach/recruiting issue, but the only reason I have any hope for that is because shanking new coaches wasn't one of their stated goals with the new format. But, I strongly suspect that that was intentional too. As a remedy for new coaches who have no clue coming in and recruiting trash and losing interest due to sucky recruits. Now you get an entire season (as a new coach to that world) of seeing what sucky players look like before you are allowed to recruit. Not really sure why they'd want to hobble transferring coaches though, so maybe they will adress that.

It always seems unusual that camaraderie exists when you are paid for it more than when you are not paid for it.

Hiding Conference Chat has also played a part in killing off " Camaraderie". I still like fuller Conferences.

10 of us from HBD are in the same conference(2nd season). Those that stick with it will stay in D3 or move up together. There is more to the game than winning credits.

It has really hurt my NJAC conference, we are all in a tiny state, if all of the top coaches hadn't left we would all be in a bloodbath.

Come on Turtle, recruiting in the NE is hardly difficult. It isn't like NJ has a small # or recruits and NY and PA are both less than 50 miles away from all those schools.

For some people fun is finding and being in the best situation possible to win. For others they like kicking the crap out of humans. I think when the rules changed, the people that were in the first camp bolted from the full conferences which made the second group sad....

Even in the old system it was hard to recruit with 4-5 A+ schools with like 50 miles, had those schools stayed I would constantly be getting in battles with other A+ schools and only one of us would win and the other one would be screwed. There's not that much room for falure in 3.0, its hard to give yourself a chance to win a battle while makiing back-up options. I like the challenge of being with other top coaches, had they stayed I would have stayed as well, but I can imagine how bad that would have been.

Posted by Trentonjoe on 1/17/2017 9:06:00 AM (view original):
For some people fun is finding and being in the best situation possible to win. For others they like kicking the crap out of humans. I think when the rules changed, the people that were in the first camp bolted from the full conferences which made the second group sad....

Well said!

I think It's interesting to have conference's goals. It always is fun to be the top conference in any division. I truly dislike non active conference or empty conference. To be honest, except for some aliens, I doubt people are inclined to stick around when they are by themselves in a conference.

I agree, but I think there should be a reward for doing well in the NT. I liked that about 2.0.

Posted by MonsterTurtl on 1/17/2017 9:43:00 AM (view original):
I agree, but I think there should be a reward for doing well in the NT. I liked that about 2.0.

I'm with you. I think we already get strong conference preference though. It's an advantage. I know in IBA, RUPP D2, my two teams get VERY GOOD. It's not an edge though in D2... Cause we just go for D1 or D2 players unchallenged. I have yet to battle in D2... I did in D3 though but was switching job.

In D1, that preference plays a part though. It's battles everywhere.

I suggest strong conference with good NT success could get something.

Posted by CoachSpud on 1/17/2017 12:43:00 AM (view original):
It always seems unusual that camaraderie exists when you are paid for it more than when you are not paid for it.

Considering you only play in SIM conferences where you can beat up on SIMAI, that's not surprising

Posted by zorzii on 1/17/2017 9:48:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MonsterTurtl on 1/17/2017 9:43:00 AM (view original):
I agree, but I think there should be a reward for doing well in the NT. I liked that about 2.0.

I'm with you. I think we already get strong conference preference though. It's an advantage. I know in IBA, RUPP D2, my two teams get VERY GOOD. It's not an edge though in D2... Cause we just go for D1 or D2 players unchallenged. I have yet to battle in D2... I did in D3 though but was switching job.

In D1, that preference plays a part though. It's battles everywhere.

I suggest strong conference with good NT success could get something.

A national championship.