Subject: II.2

I don't think so - it seems like it but I'm well behind on a lot of key areas and my top players in the lineup don't match up as well either. I think I can be top 12 yes but not in a position where my team won't degrade and my OTR won't decrease whilst the teams at the top of II.2 get stronger due to the OTR boosts. It's more of a meatgrinder if you're not in the top 5

13 goals in a playoff game. That one was intense until the final five minutes.

4 season's ago, Opivy's team was a top 6 for sure. Now I think it's not the case. Those top 8 teams in 1.1 have improved so much because of the better money and better quality games (their players have higher experience as well.)

But whatever, we play for fun. I know I'm not even a top 12 team in 1.1 but I like the challenge. If I get an upset or two I'll be happy. Maybe I'll catch those guys once the development of facilities and arena will be finished for all of us. Now they're quite ahead of Opivy and I. Once we all have the same facilities and arena, that is maxed out, it is going to be more of a player management and game management thing.

Go back and look at my team four seasons ago - I wasn't even in the top 15 team strength. The only reason my team is this high is that a bunch of the people who started in season 1 have quit playing.

When was it that I promoted to 1.1 from 2.1? Either way, doesn't matter now. Get the bonus, build your facilities and even if you demote again, you have better facilities and you could sell a couple of veterans and still be a top 3 team in any league 2. That's not a bad deal if you ask me.

I don't think I'll demote, I'll just kick around in I.1 slowly losing OR and slowly losing money. I can't justify sticking around any longer though. The same with you - record setting season in every regard for league II stats. Granted it was II.4 so there was 0 competition but over +500 is insane.

Botu of you gotta stay here for 5 more seasons

I personally think that it is the only way to "build" a team that could challenge the guys at the top if I.1 the way that the game structure works. I've stated it time and time again and other teams have taken a different approach to the same method. The latest iteration is to fall into ii.4 and mop up quickly but it's the only method thats sensible to take if you want to move up. It's cool to say "I'm taking the high road" but this is a sports management sim, you're goal is to win not be morally correct.

I don't think it's even possible to build a team up to compete with those at the very top of I.1. The rate at which they gain money and OTR is something we simply won't be able to compete with until things just start stagnating in terms of facilities and staff, at which point it seems like the game will pretty much just be done. Still, it's fun to play for what we can right now.

It's not so much how much they gain now - it's just that they are mainly teams that started off at the beginning or were in the early stages if I.1 which was an extremely competitive division that gained OTR quickly as a divsion as well.

The only other option are to play it as I did or to do like JOJO and drop down to a league you can win easily for a season and then pop back up. This gives you the boost to get back in and compete.

I think the newest method will be the promote / drop / promote / drop and to gain OTR and money from the romotion and dominating a season in II. You then move up and focus on building and shooting for the league you want to drop down into.

It's happened a bunch in the past two seasons and it's nothing to be ashamed of it is just something that the developers need to figure out how to prevent via the game.

Congratulations Opivy for making it to the big league. I hope to join you someday.

Thanks Ziggy - I hope to make it a permanent home now. Hopefully more tottenham than leeds.

So - last seasons OTR 479.2 - Gen offer 4* with a low position after PO's. This season - OTR 509, 1st place in playoffs Gen offer 5*. Lower offer BUT with higher overall league OTR and strength.

So our league value went up, my teams value went up, my playoff performance (which they've always claimed had the largest impact) went up and I promoted. Losing money going in against 7 teams stronger than my team.

My best hope is to make 5th - 8th place and keep my OR the same for the season and pray that being in I.1 nets me a larger income or I will start to hemmorage money and never compete unless I sell all of my top prospects, only losing more ground to the top teams that keep their top prospects and also buy up other teams top prospects.

The bright side is that most of the other mid tier teams are in the same boat so there's a chance to rise up.

Looks like I'm going to be starting an unexpected training camp. My starting goalie just went down for 10 days and there is no way I am competitive without him. His backup is about a season away from really being able to help :/

I've somehow managed to beat two significantly better teams in one week in shootouts. I actually intended to throw the games by playing on low, yet my team somehow kept managing to find ways to win. I've also had inexplicably good special teams this year, staying near the top in most power play chances and fewest penalty kills; I still haven't given up more powerplay goals than the number of shorthanded goals I've scored. Hopefully my luck continues.