The IAFA stuff is a huge upgrade from 23 for sure. Fleshed out a system that was basically a stub and made it engaging and strategic. IAFA signing time is something I really look forward to while playing out a year now. The Dev Lab is fun to play with but feels half-baked and poorly-integrated into the game. Feels like something bolted on as a marketing bullet point rather than a natural inclusion.
There were problems with free agency in the original release, particularly reliever demands, but patches have improved it. I don't know what problems the steam users were having with trading, it doesn't seem worse than 23 to me. Maybe they're complaining that the AI is slightly less braindead and easy to scam? There's plenty of concerns with the trading but it's all stuff that was present in 23 and if anything it's been cleaned up a little.
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