Asunto: II.1

The fact that the top 4 teams in SA are drafting 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th is not right.

I find it EXTREMELY odd/questionable that NONE of the 3 teams with a level 13 SA are drafting 1st or 2nd.

For that matter... I don't understand why there's ANY random factor in the midseason draft board anyways...

Fishy...

I'm mostly annoyed because my SA pulls have been SHIT all season, and I was really counting on having at least a top 2 pick to have a shot at a star player.

I mean seriously... I have yet to get a single 15 year old this season who sits at above 400 OR. None of the 15 year olds I have picked up are even remotely worth keeping.

Seeing that Cataclysm and [handball_team=16023] have FIVE 15 year olds between them that are 400+ OR... and knowing that they'll both get 2 more out of the draft is just frustrating.

Unless something turns around in the 2nd half of this season, this year's class is gonna be dead to me.

Umm, you've got two national team worthy players that have come from your academy, so I'm not sure you're allowed to bitch about how the pulls are being unkind to you.

My team is actually still pretty highly ranked with a level 12 facility and staff with good youth training (82%). I'm probably 5th after the Microwave Repairmen since it is only possible to move up or down three places.

The Shenanigans are actually one of the three teams drafting three times, so they probably have a really good sports manager relative to the other teams. Based on that, I think it would be fair to consider them number 3. The Rub and Tuggers on the other hand have a level 12 facility as far as the draft rankings are concerned, though they are really close to level 13 (they may even be in an unadjusted position).

Basically, the Shenanigans probably moved from ~3 to 1, my team moved from ~5 to 2, and the Coin Flips moved up to 5

The random factor provides a balance between making sure that the same teams don't always get the good players in this draft and making the investment in the sports academy (as far as this aspect of the sports academy) worthwhile. I wouldn't mind it being adjusted, but I there is a valid argument for the random factor (especially for discouraging tanking for the other draft).

Though you were unlucky this time, you might have better luck next time. I've only had one other pick in the top 5 in handball (4th pick one season ago). You've had two first overall picks. Though I moved up to the second pick in this draft, I had the worst record and possibly the best sports academy in basketball but only got the third pick both times this season in basketball.

Well... I have arguably the best academy and sporting directors in our division (lvl 13 SA with 98% youth training efficiency), so it sort of makes sense that I would have a couple of decent guys.

Lloyd Russ was pulled from the random pulls (luck), but his AQ really isn't even that great. Honestly, there were/are other decent goalies out there. The reason Russ is on the national team is largely because I've committed to training him properly, getting him loads of exp, and leveling up my TF even though it's not really in my intended blueprint to push it along as quickly as I have.

Keenan I drafted 12th overall... after everyone else in our division had a shot at taking him (including yourself). So excuse me if I don't apologize for having him on my roster.

And yeah... I'll complain about my random pulls, because I have had ONE noteworthy SA pull in the past 3 seasons: Rod Taylor . Problem is... he came late in the year, had average OR starting off, and came in at 5/6 CL. So even though his AQ is in the upper 70s... he's still a pretty weak pull, and probably won't ever be a staple on my team.

EVERY other player of consequence in the last 3 seasons has come from the draft (Ted Keenan Rolland Benedict Kev Reynolds Ryan Stapleton Quentin Wiley Josef Callison Kyle Couture ).

So yeah... I have a decent crop of young players on my team... but it's ABSOLUTELY not because of chance. It's because of how I've managed/built my squad and how I've taken advantage of the draft opportunities I've had.

It kind of bugs me when people suggest that I'm "lucky" or something... because I really only have maybe 2 players of consequence that I could attribute to "luck." Most teams have been far more fortunate.

I disagree with what you say about the random factor as it pertains to the mid-season draft (ie. the one that rewards building up your SA).

As far as I'm concerned, if someone invests heavily into the SA, they SHOULD be rewarded with getting good players in the draft during the mid-season draft. Why shouldn't they?

Furthermore... someone who has the best SA in the league cannot "move up" from the lottery, they can only "move down."

In a draft that's MEANT to reward managers who invest in their SA, it's absolutely retarded that the current system actually penalizes those managers who do exactly what should be rewarded.

----------------

I'm with you as far as the end of the season draft is concerned. Leave a random factor there. That makes sense. You don't want to reward people for tanking.

Basically i guess what I'm saying is that it's good that the lottery discourages tanking (a negative behavior), but it's bad that it discourages building up your SA (a positive behavior).

I consider being guaranteed a top 4 pick to be a pretty good reward considering that it is very unlikely that everyone will find all the A's and that managers may even scout the A's but see them as B's (I don't like this aspect of the draft).

As an example, I'm pretty sure that I had Ted Keenan scouted, but I saw Gaston Cason as an equal or better player. Yes, you had a better HR department. However, it is unclear what level is necessary for sufficiently accurate scouting, exactly how much each level contributes to the accuracy of scouting in a draft, and whether managers with equivalent facilities always see the same ratings below level 15 (which still might not be perfect).

Perhaps it should be a top 3 pick or a top 2 pick. Maybe it would be better if only one team moved up the rankings per draft.

In handball, most teams with good facilities probably started in season 1. In hockey and soccer (and eventually handball), the teams that started in season 1 in the same league would get the better draft positions for a very long time before the newer teams could compete, further contributing to their entrenchment (to a minor extent). Entrenchment of top teams tends to discourage new players from playing games like this, though yes, some managers can still find the process of developing a good team to be fun.

In addition, it might not be desired by the developers for teams to consider purposely demoting to the lowest divisions where they can scout a larger portion of the players available and also be guaranteed the first pick for every other draft.

You also already benefit from getting better versions of the players you draft from having a better sports academy.

In any case, my original contention was that an argument could be made in favor of the random factor. It seems I am starting to draw out this discussion too much and trying to argue instead that you are wrong for your opinion on what should be fair and proper, though a valid argument could indeed be made against the random factor in the mid-season draft as well. It also seems we are each approaching this discussion off of different assumptions, for instance, what constitutes a fair reward.

Sorry for bragging about getting the second pick and finding good players; this just happened to be one of the only two times that I've had a top 2 pick in any sport (the other one being a second overall pick in hockey).

No. No apologies needed. I'd be happy if i had a sure shot A player too. As it is, I've only found one in all the scouting I've done (4 players a day) so I'm not too too confident about my chances at this point of having the same.

I still say that the midseason draft is silly. I'd much rather have just one at the end of the season with 2 or 3x the number of A and A+ players. That makes so much more sense. And it's way more realistic... Oh well.

lvl 13 and 99 youth training. The reason it irks me is that last season I had the best SA then too. But I was running camps and had my player training staff members set up.

haha... well last year was your own fault though.

...dude. Not cool.