Steve

Interesting first round for me... as 2nd overall team with best PP and PK in the league, I was not really expecting 0-5 loss after 4 PP goals in just one 5 minutes major. I know how Las Vegas felt against SJS

Yeah, I would prefer if players didn't raid CPU teams.
 
CPU trades should be disabled entirely.

I totally didn't mean it that way (so don't cancel those trades)!  My comment was not in response to anything I've seen recently.  As Steve said, we used to chat about this topic a lot in Biscuit and I only brought it up again because it seems some managers with really good players have left recently.  The specific player I was thinking of was Piercy (Dman - Brass Castle).  He's actually untouchable, so that's good, but I was thinking how easy it would be to acquire him if he wasn't. 
 
A gentleman's agreement is a pipe dream since not all managers are around the forums enough to make that happen.  I guess either computer trading needs to be locked down by the admins or we just allow and accept it. 

I like some of the odd names in the league.  Wish some of the mascots and emblems were more creative, but I'll take what I can get.  I love the black jersey.  

I like some of the odd names in the league.  Wish some of the mascots and emblems were more creative, but I'll take what I can get.  I love the black jersey.  

Okay, so I've been rebranding a lot during this season. First I found the colors I want to have, then I found my old town name from Fishbowl, freed after a manager quit. Now I'm still wishing my old team name would become available, but maybe it was removed being "Wings". So now I'm Pixley Flame, which sounds pretty nice. Hopefully it's the final incarnation and lasts through seasons to come. Reposting jerseys. Like I declared earlier, Pixley is playing playoffs using away jerseys. They go in order of Home -> Away -> 3rd special.

Decided to tweak mine in time for playoffs to get more merchandise revenues!

Wish I had more time to do a more in depth analysis, but here's the round 1 matchups.
 
EAST
 
#1 Union vs. #8 Duhawks (Union won season series 3-1)
#2 Leopards vs. #7 Bulldogs (Leopards won season series 3-1)
#3 Stray Cats vs. #6 Minutemen (Stray Cats won season series 3-1)
#4 Red Tide vs. #5 Nightmares (Nightmares won season series 3-1)
 
WEST
 
#1 Prairie Stars vs. #8 Tomahawks (season series tied 2-2)
#2 Hawks vs. #7 Rage (season series tied 2-2)
#3 Ricochet vs. #6 Outlaws (Ricochet won season series 3-1)
#4 Pirates vs. #5 Wolverines (season series tied 2-2)

The fact that I finished 1 pt behind have home ice advantage in the play-in playoffs is a major victory for me no matter what happens!  Although, I'm clearly the favorite against Turkey Creek, haha!   
 
The second half of the season my record was 16-4-2-18.  Not great, but considering I was convinced it would be auto relegation around game 45 and did my trades accordingly, kind of crazy.  Multiply the second half of the season by 2 and I'd (in theory) would have been competing for 7th or 8th place.  Had I not had a bit of an unlucky 5 and 4 game losing streaks in the last 20, I would have been solidly competing for 10th place.  Two of those losses were to Steelers!  Winning those alone would have brought me within 4 pts of him.  Every game really does count!  Excited to see what the playoffs bring for all of you, good luck!  

The fact that I finished 1 pt behind have home ice advantage in the play-in playoffs is a major victory for me no matter what happens!  Although, I'm clearly the favorite against Turkey Creek, haha!   
 
The second half of the season my record was 16-4-2-18.  Not great, but considering I was convinced it would be auto relegation around game 45 and did my trades accordingly, kind of crazy.  Multiply the second half of the season by 2 and I'd (in theory) would have been competing for 7th or 8th place.  Had I not had a bit of an unlucky 5 and 4 game losing streaks in the last 20, I would have been solidly competing for 10th place.  Two of those losses were to Steelers!  Winning those alone would have brought me within 4 pts of him.  Every game really does count!  Excited to see what the playoffs bring for all of you, good luck!  

The fact that I finished 1 pt behind have home ice advantage in the play-in playoffs is a major victory for me no matter what happens!  Although, I'm clearly the favorite against Turkey Creek, haha!   
 
The second half of the season my record was 16-4-2-18.  Not great, but considering I was convinced it would be auto relegation around game 45 and did my trades accordingly, kind of crazy.  Multiply the second half of the season by 2 and I'd (in theory) would have been competing for 7th or 8th place.  Had I not had a bit of an unlucky 5 and 4 game losing streaks in the last 20, I would have been solidly competing for 10th place.  Two of those losses were to Steelers!  Winning those alone would have brought me within 4 pts of him.  Every game really does count!  Excited to see what the playoffs bring for all of you, good luck!  

We can still steal the first ovr place from Kegashka Prairie Stars. Go Hawks!

The Cats have clawed back to the 2nd place in the East - down to the last game if we can keep it.
 
Some feline team will finish 2nd anyway...

I secured the play in playoffs! It’s all relative!

Decided to tweak mine in time for playoffs to get more merchandise revenues!

Here's some alternate jersey ideas I came up with.
 

Secured first place in the conference! Woohoo!

Would be very good to have an Achievement system within the game to add detail and set smaller goals during the season for managers aside from winning the league/cup. 

Examples (Each of these would be worth X manager experience points): 
 
1) Win 10 games 
2) Score 5 goals in a game
3) Have a player score 30 goals a season
4) Have a player score 100 goals for the club
5) Finish top 3 in league season
 
A screenshot of how Football Manager does it is attached.
 
This is a proven system in other sims, and it encourages active player participation, as well as the ability to compare yourself with other managers on a much more detailed level.

Finally, this would also be a much more accurate measure of manager reputation. More achievements/experience = higher reputation. Keep still the reputation that is based on placement but allow for greater variety based on gameplay. 


 
 

Congrats to whoever gets to play the Leopards in round 1.  You'll get a 2 day rest before you advance to Round 2.  Bunch of overrated divas.

Physicality is a pretty big part of this game.  You can even select offensive and defensive tactics that are based on physicality.  And there is fighting.  If you want more, I would recommend players with a high Physical attribute.  Tough and Agitator players should help, too.  And you can select players to be Enforcers.
 
My team averages a fighting major once every two games, which seems about right.

Took out Turkey Creek's 3rd string goalie in our key matchup! Don't be bringing your scrubs in against me, haha. Actually, thank god he got hurt since he had a shutout going 30 mins in!!

I'm ok with the current, slower development schedule.  Also, having the draft for Season will also give teams a chance to juice their development by ideally getting 1 or 2 players that can slide into their starting lines either the current season or 1-2 seasons down the road, very similar to NHL now.  I like how some, not all, older players are tanking.  I find it realistic, if annoying to have one of those guys.  But not everyone plays to 35 as a top 6 player, nor should we expect them to.  
 
I definitely don't want to see FAs pop up during the season.  As for trading, it's tough to find the perfect balance.  I see both points above.  I do like the idea of allowing trades and holding them until the end of the season.  It's a bit unrealistic, but does allow some "backroom" deals that go on between real GMs to be played out.  In fact, maybe not even have the game announce them until after the playoffs are over?!?!  Like a big trade/FA day in NHL!  Tune in to just see where everyone moved!  

I'm ok with the current, slower development schedule.  Also, having the draft for Season will also give teams a chance to juice their development by ideally getting 1 or 2 players that can slide into their starting lines either the current season or 1-2 seasons down the road, very similar to NHL now.  I like how some, not all, older players are tanking.  I find it realistic, if annoying to have one of those guys.  But not everyone plays to 35 as a top 6 player, nor should we expect them to.  
 
I definitely don't want to see FAs pop up during the season.  As for trading, it's tough to find the perfect balance.  I see both points above.  I do like the idea of allowing trades and holding them until the end of the season.  It's a bit unrealistic, but does allow some "backroom" deals that go on between real GMs to be played out.  In fact, maybe not even have the game announce them until after the playoffs are over?!?!  Like a big trade/FA day in NHL!  Tune in to just see where everyone moved!  

I'll start with these two, because I love both suggestions.  IMO, the more in depth, the better.  About a year ago, I made a suggestion that teams should not be limited to a single offensive or defensive tactic.  Instead, it would be cool if we were allowed to play different tactics per line.  For example, Line 1 could use Possession, Line 2 is Dump and Chase, Line 3 could Crash the Net and so on.  Or if we wanted to limit it in any way, allow teams to become familiar with 2 offensive and defensive tactics, each, instead of all of them.  That way we could build a more versatile team, which would drive interest.
 
 
 
This one I don't agree with.  I think player progression is right where it should be.  One of the main reasons for the game refresh was to get ratings back in check.  If players increased like they used to, every GHL team would again be full of 90+ players and it would take a lot of the strategy out of it.  IMO, it's good to see some top line players in GHL that have an attribute flaw here and there.  Also, I've seen some younger players who are improving quite nicely.  But overall, I think current development is optimal for the game long term.
 
*Edit: either that, or we increase the rate of improvement, which would add some excitement, but start the ratings much lower.  Top 6 guys in GHL draft right now are 85-88.  We could start them at 75-78.
 
 
 
My original suggestion was for a trade deadline around day 66, which happens now, and for it to be locked through end of season.  Anders went a different direction and opened it up again during playoffs for a few reasons (1) to keep eliminated managers interested (2) to allow the team that got relegated via playoff a chance to make moves before next season.  Both of these are understandable.  To your point, it definitely is not the most fair approach, but the goal should be to make the playoffs and try to win it all.  If eliminated teams are making moves during that time, then it is what it is.
 
I think there is a simple solution here.  Teams who are still in the playoffs can make verbal offers.  If I'm in 11th or 12th place and have to battle for relegation, I would already be talking to all the playoff team managers and coming up with a plan in case of relegation.  But I guess I'm also optimistic that relegating managers would accept the "best" offer for their players to keep things fair and not the very first offer thrown their way.
 
This is also the reason why I think players should ask for a bit of money during negotiations, so it's harder to score a guy like Elie Breton and also have a lot of depth.  I feel that if you have a few 94+ players on your roster, they should come with a high cap hit and there should be holes in your roster elsewhere.
 
This topic is definitely worth a lengthy discussion.  Interested to keep it going and see what others have to say.

Hey,
 
I am still somewhat a n00b, but here is what I collected so far after the new game started (season and some little in Buzzer and almoust a season in Cage)... as I said, take it with a grain of salt, maybe someone more experienced will have some more things to add.
 
In no particular order...
 
 
- Development of players: They seem to progress too slow. Especially the young ones... I would expect them to grow a bit more. Can't say I have older players regress quick, as I don't have too many.
 
- Underestimation and overall performance of players: Now, regarding this I already notified Anders, but current Buzzer GHL season is really weird. Top team on Eastern division is performing way above their players skill (even the goalkeepers). There is also team in Western that is 5th or 6th, that has even worse players (both teams are promoted from SHL). Also, players on Buzzer with most points are 80 to 82 rated, with some serious flaws in their skills (like shooting for example, but still topping the charts). Now sure what is going on there, looks like a bug to me.
 
- Signing free agents during season: I was one of those who asked for that to be removed, however I do think that whole idea would be better if there would be a player or two that showed on free agents. I would keep them in lowish average rating tho. No superstars popping up. Just a journeyman, now and then. That way, people could patch a whole or two, without unbalancing the whole league, or devalueing players too much/if any.
 
- Trading when playoffs start for non playoff teams: Now, here is the tricky one. I almoust wanted to get knocked out of playoffs last season (eventually I did, but due to being outplayed by better team) so I can start trading as soon as possible and having advantage over those who are still there and want the same players I do. Not sure how to approach this one, but current system is somewhat abusable. For example, the best player in Cage GHL (Elie-Breton) is in possibilty of getting relegated trough possible playoffs and manager could trade him to some teams for picks or prospects before he losses him due to 1w contract. Teams that are out of playoffs can move in for him if he relegates, since they will have small chance of signing him for free later due to team reputation, while many other teams are still locked in playoffs. Its just a stupid example, but its abuseable. Maybe to allow all teams to trade when playoffs start, but those trades would start being effective last day of the season when everything is played and before relegated people lose players to contracts.
 
 
 
now to suggestions... (I am sure someone already suggested some of those, but still...)
 
- Chemistry between the lines: We need more micromanagment, please. To give more control in putting our lines/teams togeather. Maybe even of personality effect of how certain people blend with each other.
 
- More tactical options: Possiblity to set playstyle individially, like for example, telling players individually to go tough or gentle. That way we could have certain lines doing that, or even just players. Not just entire team. This is just an example, but I would get things complex here, I dunno, FM style The more we feel in control of our team, the more we will dive into the game.
 
 
Thats just it, from top of my head. Sry for spelling mistakes