BuzzerBeater Forums

I think what Darth means, and my contention as well, is that players are unable to do anything to get the players that they want. If I want to draft inside guys there's nothing that lets me do that. I have as much of a chance at getting them as I do at getting all guards. This, in no way, mimics reality.

I'm okay with randomness since the draft is never a sure thing and should never be. But real life randomness is in the quality of players you are drafting not in the position or height of the players. I like the idea of telling your scouts to focus on a certain type of player. That way most of the information that you have gathered will be along the lines of your team's training strategy.

As it is developing a long term strategy isn't viable since there is a once per season crap shoot that could derail your strategy in one fell swoop. If I spend money on scouting why can't these scouts provide me with actually useful information?

Thanks Batman. Yes that is a very good summary of the point I am trying to make.

"Real life randomness is in the quality of the prospects, not in the position or height".

As I mentioned earlier, I too like the idea of telling your scouts to focus on a certain kind of player. I think the ability to tell them to focus on PF or PG or whatever (and be able to change that focus each week) will go a long way towards giving teams the ability to institute a long term strategy for their team, which is in a nutshell, the main concern I have with the draft as it is.

I think what Darth means, and my contention as well, is that players are unable to do anything to get the players that they want. If I want to draft inside guys there's nothing that lets me do that. I have as much of a chance at getting them as I do at getting all guards. This, in no way, mimics reality.

I'm okay with randomness since the draft is never a sure thing and should never be. But real life randomness is in the quality of players you are drafting not in the position or height of the players. I like the idea of telling your scouts to focus on a certain type of player. That way most of the information that you have gathered will be along the lines of your team's training strategy.

As it is developing a long term strategy isn't viable since there is a once per season crap shoot that could derail your strategy in one fell swoop. If I spend money on scouting why can't these scouts provide me with actually useful information?

I do understand the point. I really do. The problem is balancing the solution with the simplicity required. For whatever reason, some people feel their self esteem is directly tied to their perceived competence in these online games. That is why some people will go to lengths to find a way to cheat the system. Multiple teams, sharing draft info, whatever it takes to make 'em feel better about themselves.

I don't have the answer, but there should be a way to give us extra information about the draftees.....I agree it would be helpful to be able to draft a big man in the first round, a good passing/driving PG in the 2nd and a 3 pt shooter in the 3rd, but I don't know how that can be done in this environment. I'm a question guy, not an answer guy!!

As I mentioned earlier, the only means we have now to identify players is for those showing their best skill. That is the only way to identify, barely, what type of player or what position they may play. Not so good, I know.

Edited 10/15/2007 6:04:55 PM by snuzers

You only get 3 players per season, so it reasonable to spend some time. And it was a schedule that addressed your concerns about having to be online all the time or at certain times.

You'd have an entire week to look at the players faces, height and age, and click on one skill you wanted to have revealed. The next week you would set your initial draft order, but it would only be necessary for the first pick.

I don't really like this idea as much as my first one, which would let you choose 3 separate weeks when you want to acquire a new player. You could choose the time during the season, but this one did preserve the draft concept as we know it.

The current format takes about 2 weeks, plus having had to invest most of the season of you wanted more information. I didn't find the menu to invest in scouting until it was too late for this season.

The problem I see with drafting with 16 teams in your league has a lot to do with bots. If I have 15 bots in my league, I've got a pretty good shot at getting 3 pretty good picks. My league has almost completely turned over (I think the 2 veteran owners had 7 regular season games, so I don't know how many will actually set their draft list.

I like what Darthmaul offered. The "half empty" guy in me says that the more complicated you make it the harder it will be for new players to join and stay with the game. so the simplicity of how the draft is now is somewhat appealing to a new user, such as myself.
However. with that in mind, perhaps a comprimise?? For Div IV and below keep the draft as it is now. for Div III and higher have a more "realistic" draft with some of the 'advanced ideas' being suggested.

as to one of DarthMaul's suggestions

3) Instead of age, give a generic identifier such as "underclassmen" or "senior". This will give you a clue as to the players age without actually giving it away.

this could also add an interesting twist to the draft. Perhaps 10-15% of the underclassmen decide to 'stay in college' and even though you draft them you do not 'sign them'. So a GM then would need to decide whether to take a 5 Star 'underclassmen' who might not sign, or a 3-4 star senior who most certainly will.

Okay, I was really hoping the GM's / BB's take that I just sit back and see how the draft turns out would show me I had been jumping to conclusions about the whole scouting process. Unfortunately, i was wrong. Here is a prime example of what I was trying to avoid:

I am training inside guys, and so had adjusted my draft order to take this into accnt.

My #1 guy which before the draft I only knew had respectable inside shot, well, I ended up getting him! Yea!

He came out with a nice complement of inside skills:

AVERAGE REB
AVERAGE IDef
MEDIOCRE BLK

to go with his Respectable Inside Shot. I was pumped! BB lists his best position as Center. There's just one catch.........

HE IS ONLY 6 Feet , 1 inch tall (185 cm)

Now I am going to assume that since he will be shorter than most other centers in the game by at least 7 inches, the BB game engine will make him a subpar inside player. If this is not case, please let me know. I already know that he is at a disadvantage in rebounding training due to his height.

Please please please BB's. I'm begging you. Please fix the draft scouting process so we can at least know how tall every prospect is. At least the ones we've scouted. There are ways to make this info not shareable and to prevent collusion as listed earlier in the thread. Who among us would have knowingly gone after a 6 ft center? Not a one.

The argument of "well put your draftee's up for sale and buy the one who wished you got" holds no water. Who want's a 6' 1" center? Raise your hand, and I'll sell him to you


Edited by DarthMaul (10/22/2007 10:41:50 PM CET)

Last edited by Darth Maul at 10/22/2007 10:41:50 PM

Height only affects training.

It does not affect how a player plays.

Darth,
The BB's have always indicated that "best position" for a player isn't necessarily that. Obviously, at 6'1", your guy is not center....he's a PG with Center skills......
he should dominate the other PG's in the lowpost!!!

I do see your point about more info, but I will reiterate that a guys listed position is sometimes not the one he is ideally suited to play.......just an FYI.

If playing a 6'1" person at center doesn't affect a game's outcome then there is more wrong with this game then just the draft system.

A 6'1" person will not train at center nearly as well as one of their taller brethren.

The skills that they have, though, still translate, and that's the way it should be.

The idea is that a taller player will find it much easier to develop their rebounding skills, for example.

This game is very young, and players are not even close to being as good as they can be, and taking a new draftee and comparing him to the best players available is poor judgment at best.

Ok as far as I remember the Game Engine does not take into account height.

However the training system does. So he will train slower than a taller player.

I would suggest a way to fix this for future is to show whether a player is above or below 6'5"

He really is not a bad player and can be sold for quite a bit. Being young you can still train him effectively. We do not know how much height affects the training yet so try and find out.
Just remember he will have no disadvantage in the game. The skills represent the ability of the player to play the position that the skill is suited to. So if the player has respectable Inside Shot he has the same capability as another player with the same skill level.