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I love this game so I don't want to rag on it too much. But it seems a little baffling that one of the key pillars of the allure of this game is supposed to be "love for stats" as stated on the home page and yet we don't have league player stats for the playoffs! On top of that, something I have previously brought up, if you look at the team history page not a single manager can decipher where a team finished in the playoffs based on the current description of where they finished in the playoffs. While implementing a player statistics page for playoffs may be a large amount of work to include surely just changing the phrasing of "playoff 2" or "playoff 3" to "round one exit", "round two exit", "lost in GHL Cup finals" would not be that hard to adjust. That being said, still love the amazing achievement Anders has done with creating this game. I just feel like some of the smaller things are getting overlooked in favour of larger projects that are continually pushed back because of the scale of work required to complete them.

Shortly after I wrote the initial post I did some research between teams who had Heroic WI and teams that had bad or just OK WI.... and.... I couldn't find anything that would solve the mystery. Over the last week I acquired 3 players. There was nothing special trait-wise about these players, but it has increased my WI to Heroic and subsequently knocked my Teamwork down a few rungs, although still Harmony. So.... I still have no idea. What I do know is that the two teams facing off in the S3 GHL Finals do not have Heroic WI. One is just OK and the other is Strong, but seems to border more on OK than Heroic. I'm sure WI has an impact, but it seems like having talented players has the most impact on winning and losing.

A great Finals matchup for sure! Defending champs and beasts of the East, the Dragons against the West Chicago Hawks (formerly West Chicago Protons, and multiple time champions, of Biscuit). I can see dynasties starting for both of these teams.

So I may have had a rather busy Friday and forgot to put up a match up preview for the finals. Oops. Well your getting one late anyways. #3 Sheshegwaning Dragons vs #2 West Chicago Hawks Regular season series: 2 wins Dragons I think this is likely to be a close series even though one game has already been played. The Dragons have the better offensive team talent wise while the Hawks play a more complete team game that emphasizes strong defensive play. If the Dragons had a goalie I felt like I could trust I would say that this is the match up of the two best teams in the league. Outside of the net it certainly is in my mind. I am really looking forward to seeing how this series plays out. Honest confession: I'm pulling for the Hawks in this one for the simple fact that he has his entire team playing in a way I wish I could get my team to play. Either way, best of luck to both teams.

If there's one thing that is a complete mystery in GPHM it is how to raise your team's Winner Instinct (WI). Although I thoroughly enjoy the fact that the Admins have only shared a fraction of the information, leaving managers to figure it out for themselves... I also enjoy the conversations it creates - so why not try to crack the code together... or use the information contained here to crack the code on your own and keep it to yourself I feel like getting this value perfect is like piecing together a puzzle. There are many factors and you need the perfect balance of those factors, including: Big Games trait, Ego Trait, Team Captains, Reputation of Players & Certain attributes of players. Below are the "official" notes from the Help Files. http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/10834-team-spirit-done/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/10844-roster-captains-and-lineup-done/ Here's what I gather from the two links above: - WI is mostly impacted by the Big Games trait. You need quite a bit of Heroic/Determined players, but not too many as it will create disputes within your team. You will also need some Anxious/Nervous, but not too many. - In line with the above, you also need some Arrogant/Cocky players to boost your WI, but too many will negatively impact your Teamwork. - Team Captains have a large influence on WI. From other help files, it is known that Player Reputation and the Spirit Attribute factor into the Captains influence on a team, so if your Captains have a larger influence on your WI, then those values may also have an impact on your team's WI. Other personal observations, related to the above: - I always struggled with WI (couldn't get it above a blue rating) as I mostly focused on Teamwork being Harmony (Friendly/Compassionate players). It wasn't until I acquired some Arrogant & Cocky players that my WI rose to a green rating. (Others have shared this opinion - see links below). - When I have more Stars (players with higher reputation) on my team, my WI is higher. Below are some other links to various conversations around WI that have been created over time. As you can see... if you are confused about this rating, you are not alone! There are some interesting opinions in these threads, so if you are truly interesting in this topic, be prepared to do some reading. http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/7564-q-about-winner-instinct/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/7400-teamwork-winner-instinct/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/9702-improve-winning-instinct/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/7242-winners-instinct/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/10669-trait-preference/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/7461-winner-insticnt/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/8247-traits/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/7957-team-spirit/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/9702-improve-winning-instinct/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/8759-so-nervous-i-peed-a-little/ Below are a few opinions from the link above that stood out to me. I can't confirm whether they are true or not. They could be 100% correct or way off. - Captains with Heroic or Determined Big Games trait increase WI. - Only players in the immediate lineup impact WI, not affiliate or scratched players. In another thread, the exact opposite was also stated. - Big Games of Goalies factor more than Skaters. - Don't worry about WI at all. It is not required to be successful. - WI is established over time as players get to know each other. - Big games is overrated. An Anxious/Nervous player can be just as clutch as a Heroic/Determined player. - Line placement matters (i.e. 1st line players impact more than 2nd line and so on). Personally, the questions I keep asking are "when does WI come into play?" and "how much does it even impact gameplay?". I have seen nervous goalies play lights out in the playoffs and win it all. I have also seen team's with Heroic WI get relegated. But I am sure the opposite happens much more, so it is yet to be known exactly how much this rating matters overall. As with most things in this game, it is chance based, so I'm sure it does have an impact. Managers just need to figure out for themselves how much emphasis to put on getting the perfect team chemistry. Enjoy.