Come April, and PT21...
 

Yes, it's still 3-4 months away, but with PT20 winding down, I wanted to begin thinking about how I wanted to set up my teams for PT21. In another post, I explained that I planned on managing three F2P teams - each limited in some way from using the entire PT player database. The reasoning behind this was to slow down my rise through the levels and find a place I was competitive - but not cannon fodder.

Here's my PT20 teams. Come hell or high water, these teams will remain intact for 12 months without changing my original goal.


Feel free to tell us what you plan to do...

I may just run a single team. I've had astronomical vet bills over the last several months so I'm not sure dumping alot of money is in the cards, no pun intended.

Ah, who am I fooling. I'll try but not sure I will succeed.

Steelport Saints - Main, P2W team. Aim for slightly more than 1 PL title?
New York Patriots - BFF F2P team (no auctioning historicals gold or higher)
Blitzkrieg Boppers - OL F2P team (if OL returns for PT21, meaning historical only)
Brooklyn Dynasty - Pack-only F2P team
Nico-Nico Kneecappers - Normal F2P team
Connor Joe Appreciation Society - Meme F2P team (if Connor Joe is not in game, find a new crap player to build around)

Plus 3 new teams that I assume you'd get with a fresh OOTP 21 license.

The Coney Island Warriors will return hopefully with at least one world series win before this run ends. Been around since season one, playing close to .600 ball with nothing to show for it.

If OL returns I am likely to reform the Boogie Knights.

That will be it for me, unless towards the end of the cycle I want to use my last license. I have 5 teams going now and it seemed a good idea at the time but I dont have the time to invest in managing 5 teams.


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Portland Raccoons - do whatever, no holds barred. Or no bars held. Something along that line. Just like the previous iterations, they will also be comically inept and never win a darn thing.
(Some Place) Mets - Team will be mostly Mets of all eras, with an allowance for pre-1958 Giants and Dodgers as "honorary Mets", and some spots (3-5, not sure yet) opened for potential "special guests" not connected to any of those franchises. You know, should Big Walt fall into the Mets' lap... Of course the team won't conform to the 20-22 player minimum for Mets and old Giants/Dodgers at the start, but they should get there at some point... an FTP mesh of what was the Accountants (only market) and Rebels (only packs), meaning no collections to keep the card base slim except for Mets/Dodgers/Giants-related rewards, while also keeping the trade ambitions (which will ultimately be without value or merit anyway) to a minimum.

No plans for a third team at this point.

I'm planning on whenever y'all all leave for 21, I can finally win another PL title.

I'll also not be getting 21 at least early on, and may just wait entirely for 22. Hard to justify a full purchase for roughly the same game.
I don't even buy FIFA but once in a blue moon now.

Depends on the logos I come up with, really. Logos sometimes inspire the team, kinda backwards.

Was toying with the EZ idea, might try it. [Roster limited to player surnames ending in 'ez.' Hernandez, Fernandez, Ordonez, Martinez, Mendez, etc.] Should be able to complete a roster, just not sure how much flexibilty it allows.

Might take the 'es' players too, if necessary.

Put a date limit on your historical team. It's much more fun that way. The Old Timers are all pre-1950(*), yet have a consistent play-off reaching record in Perfect, despite only ever having had one 100 rated player (Jackie Robinson).

(*) Well, except 'guest' Whitey Ford. Got him from a pack, and no way was I going to sell him for nothing resembling replacement cost instead of playing him.


In 21 I'll stick to two teams. The Bassets will be 'live' only again, as that helps this Brit keep up with the current MLB players, but I think the Old Timers will go to 1950-1980, for a bit of variety. Gawd, I'll miss Martin Dihigo, though. Most useful card in the game, that I've come across anyway.

Never mind.

I may also run a theme team next year for my main team, not sure yet. Depends on what changes are coming for PT21 that might affect my decision. Likely will run only one team and the rest of my teams are tournament squads.

I will run the same three teams shown in my signature ...

* Frankenthal Palatines - the best team I can build
* Frankenthal Frankenthal Brewers - the best team I can build with Milwaukee Brewers (and maybe Milwaukee Braves)
* Frankenthal Retros - the best team I can build with players from 1990 and before

The only way I can keep interest for a full year with this game is by documenting it. If it weren't for the kazillion posts I've made in "The Dog Park" dynasty thread, I'd have bailed around Halloween. Even now it's a struggle to log in every 3 days or so to check on just one team.
With that said, for next years game I'd like to further restrict my teams so my level climb is slowed. I'm thinking...
Team 1- packs only and I'll blog about them (similar to the Hiram College Terriers)
Team 2- packs only, any Indian, Nap, Spider, or Blue (this will be a slow build and yo-yo me between lower levels)
Team 3- packs only, any player pre-WWII. Not sure of the year yet.

Regardless, I'm not planning on buying anything in the AH, just selling. I'll also not concern myself with collections or tournaments unless something new is introduced that appeals to me.

It'd be interesting maybe if ratings other than overall were hidden. That's not what I want, that's just what I feel is an interesting idea.

Other than that I wonder about card types and strategy changes... I'm guessing live subbing isn't exactly realistic but I've thought of like a lot of possibilities where the game could potentially be improved or at least changed pretty drastically without suffering in quality when it comes to strategy.

And card types are something. What if there was just one card for every player but almost all MLB players in history were accounted for in packs from the get-go? Again, not what I want or am suggesting should be but just an idea, that way like Jackie Robinson would be Jackie Robinson & Cecil Fielder would be Cecil Fielder in the game...How? Well either you pick a stand-out year or favorite year for the version of the game or sort of a composite of their prime, a la peaks in PT 1.0. Almost...but more like, an average of their 'productive' seasons,

rather than their most productive season or their most productive attributes for any season.

Actually on baseball-reference.com, you can sort of highlight a player's seasons from when he started playing & producing regularly until his last productive seasons & get a statistical average. Not that the ratings are based just on stats but they could be...I mean we can argue all we want but nobody knows! ...Stats seem to do a pretty good job of telling the story...+ some OBVIOUS conjecture.?

P.S. One further point for those considering running a historical-only team who haven't yet done so. Take a look at the list of tourneys and you will see the prizes for historicals-only have been nerfed (basically halved) compared to Live! only and opens. TBH, this was/is a large reason for my rapidly declining interest in that part of the game, which is the only way of providing even a remote chance of obtaining any of the uber-cards (those 100 Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth etc.) that would strengthen my team. You can be competitive in opens up to diamond without those cards (when all those Live! 100s going for a relative pittance these days are introduced, you are largely screwed), but you are still operating under a restriction most, if not all, of your competitors do not share.

And a final point, while I'm here. PT tourneys need more skill elements introduced. As a Brit who knows b*gger all about the finer points of Baseball compared with most of you guys that's hardly likely to benefit me, but it's clearly necessary. I really don't care if the same dozen guys keep winning the tourneys at a particular level, if doing so is the result of their superior knowledge, experience and skill in OOTP, Baseball, or both. That's what it should be about. Better that than what amounts to a lottery in most cases.

To keep the iron, bronze and silver tourneys for newer players who haven't progressed far with team building yet, just boost the prizes for the higher level ones. Give every level the chance of a prize players can actually use to build their team, be it packs, a card at the next level up, or a realistic amount of PP.

This is also the time PT 1.0 will expire. If you have a PT 1.0 team, now is the time to use your reward points.


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What reward points do you refer to?

The Points you accumulated through the game while not being as active.


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Running six teams this year. Seems a bit much. I might go the three. all FTP again.
Aina Haina Parakeets - OL Historic only
Ewa Beach Fighting Chickens or Palolo Puppies
Mililani Manatees - BFF

I tried pack only before. It really is hard to do F2P.
Each team will focus on bronze, silver, or gold tournaments and maybe delve into the 1625 cap and 1750 cap later.

A number of interesting points I wanted to comment on...


1) I agree running more than 3 teams (maybe even that number) becomes a "job" rather than entertainment. I'm still hoping, however, that OOTP adds a "reset" option.

2) It would be helpful if OOTP let us know when the PT1 servers were going to be turned off. I still check in with those teams now and then and knowing exactly how long we have left would help to determine if I wanted to make one last push with any of them.

3) Hertston's comment about limiting your historical teams to by years or something else tangible is a good suggestion. An all historical team in PT is really the strongest combination of cards. If your truly trying to slow yourself down from racing to Perfect level, limiting the cards available to you will do that. I'm not sure, however, if I'll implement a limit initially because it may be hard enough to quickly sell all my non-historical cards and get the team ready to compete. That may be a move I make to slow down my improvement if I see I'm rising too fast.

4) Gemini615 mentioned documenting the team to help keep interest over the long term. Sounds like a good idea. Enjoying PT as a F2P player has to lean more on what you do to get where you are more than winning games - which as also why I want to play F2P, because I don't get any enjoyment being Steinbrenner.


HRB

One of my minor teams was limited to 1970s Red, A's and Orioles and Lou Gehrig of course, and I got a championship out of it before they couldn't compete and had to rebuilt.

Setting limits are fun.

My two minor teams have themes. One has mostly nergo league and future stars, and the other is all players who have 'special' cards. It's fun building the teams without using $$$