They tried. Maybe it will work. FOX seems to think this version of the game is more likely to retain new users than the old one. I agree with them.

Considering that Mike posts the same stuff 50 times a day I'm pretty sure he has the time to read posts longer than 3 lines. You know that guy in meetings that talks for 20 of the 30 minutes and says nothing valuable? That's what mike is to the forums. Even if you agree with him on something (Rare) you still just want him to shut up.

It's not a time thing. It's an interest level thing. I've found long-winded posters to be hugely uninteresting. They think they're saying something important but they are not. Sort of like what you just posted.

I think the game could be better than the previous version. There is a lot to like about it.

But I think there needs to be some tweaks and changes. We've talked about them quite a bit. I think not being able to recruit prior to your first season was a mistake. You could fix this by just having the job period and new coach signups together.

What about the new game do you think helps with new user retention?

You know the obvious answer. Newer users(because it will still take a year or more to reach D1) will be able to compete for top recruits with the entrenched veterans who have had a team for 40+ seasons.

And the Participation Trophies. Everybody loves a trophy.

"
What about the new game do you think helps with new user retention?"

1. Many of the " hidden tricks" are gone like drop downs, pull downs, international letters, 70 mile rule, etc.
2. The high level D1 teams inherent advantage has been reduced. It is now possible that normal users can compete with the established elite.
3. Recruiting is no longer: 1. a defined mathematical equation 2. competitive,
4. Recruiting seems to make sense. The actions make sense, who you can recruit is clear, when people sign is clear.
5. The six hour recruiting is also much more user friendly, IMO. While I really liked the hectic 3 hour windows, I think I prefer this option better.

In short, the games has less "cheat codes" and has a better competitive balance.

Posted by Trentonjoe on 4/27/2017 8:58:00 AM (view original):
The game the grognards liked wasn't popular. WIS was losing customers every year. They tried to do something to keep player retention.

You can hate the changes, you can blame participation trophies, you tell people they aren't as smart as you but in the end the opinion that many of you had was the minority.

It isn't a coincidence that the people most upset about the changes are the people that mastered the old system. Hungry people have revolutions......

I suppose you could call me a grognard, because I'm still playing Civilization V. But it's not because I'm not excited for the new version, it's because my old Mac probably can't handle it, and I can't justify a new computer just for a new game.

Grognard and Luddite are some of my favorite words.

Cant speak of DII or DIII but THIS is how popular this version is with users....
Not a HUGE deal that the WCC is the 5th ranked conference in Smith.............until you actually look at the conference...and their ONE human coach.
So while TJ's points may be valid, there are many negative issues with 3.0 that seem to carry more weight. But at least WIS has programmers banging away at the updates/improvements like they promised.........

Conference	Prestige	Record	SOS	RPI
1. Big East	B	180-148	.5466	.5480
2. PAC 10	B+	177-151	.5485	.5475
3. Big 10	B+	174-154	.5361	.5357
4. SEC	B	168-160	.5364	.5321
5. WCC	D+	180-148	.5192	.5270

1. Many of the " hidden tricks" are gone like drop downs, pull downs, international letters, 70 mile rule, etc. Agree
2. The high level D1 teams inherent advantage has been reduced. It is now possible that normal users can compete with the established elite. I'm not sure this really impacts new users. I'm talking about people who play for 1 or 2 seasons and drop.
3. Recruiting is no longer: 1. a defined mathematical equation 2. competitive, I still think there is quite a bit of math going on with unlocking actions and trying to determine preferences. Heck, it's better to look at the math behind this since now you know EXACTLY the budget of the other team. Before this was clouded by rollover, bonus cash and a mixed scouting/recruiting budget.
4. Recruiting seems to make sense. The actions make sense, who you can recruit is clear, when people sign is clear. It's not intuitive or clear why a D1 projected guy is staying at moderate even though you've sent 5 HVs. You get people asking this about this still from time to time.
5. The six hour recruiting is also much more user friendly, IMO. While I really liked the hectic 3 hour windows, I think I prefer this option better. Thank god it's 6 hours and not 3. Very good change. I wish it wasn't 5 and 11 though. Not a huge deal.

Do new users get to start in D1? No? Ok, good talk.

Posted by mullycj on 4/27/2017 11:16:00 AM (view original):
Cant speak of DII or DIII but THIS is how popular this version is with users....
Not a HUGE deal that the WCC is the 5th ranked conference in Smith.............until you actually look at the conference...and their ONE human coach.
So while TJ's points may be valid, there are many negative issues with 3.0 that seem to carry more weight. But at least WIS has programmers banging away at the updates/improvements like they promised.........

Conference	Prestige	Record	SOS	RPI
1. Big East	B	180-148	.5466	.5480
2. PAC 10	B+	177-151	.5485	.5475
3. Big 10	B+	174-154	.5361	.5357
4. SEC	B	168-160	.5364	.5321
5. WCC	D+	180-148	.5192	.5270

I don't know that it's bad for gameplay, or is something that needs to be fixed, but it is becoming apparent that sims in low and mid D1 are ending up much stronger than sims in Big 6 conferences. I'm guessing it's because Big 6 sims attempt to recruit a higher level of recruit, and therefore take more walk ons when they're almost always beaten for them. I don't know if that's by design or not. If it's a problem, they could just notch down the level of recruit all sims shoot for. I don't notice it affecting my gameplay at all, though. I imagine it's really only a problem if this particular discrepancy from real life is particularly bothersome to you.

I've noticed this too, shoe. the SEC in Tark is has 4 top-10 teams but is ranked 9th as in conf RPI, and wasn't even in the top 10 until a day or two ago. we have 3 sim teams around 300 in RPI. that's actually an improvement from a couple seasons ago, as some human players nabbed a couple teams. at one point LSU was the only team in its division that was human-owned, and sbank was playing 10 conference games with sub-250 RPI. just brutal! i wish the sims were better at recruiting in HD3...seems like a step back to me. in HD2 it seemed pretty consistent that the sim teams had cycles where they were at least competitive every 3 or 4 seasons.