Perfect Team suggestion
 

I made a thread about this over on the OOTP subreddit and I wanted to mention it here.

I am really trying to give PT an honest chance at winning me over. I think the developers should consider splitting PT into two divisions: one that is zero-dollars invested and one that is a paid investment. It wouldn’t change anything about who is playing PT and for what reasons. It would simply level the competitive playing field for us as fans and players.

Backstory: I just got whipped in a Bronze Level WS by a guy who clearly spent a king’s ransom to buy his team (8 diamond level players) and he is in his first season of PT. I have been playing eight seasons and will not spend out of pocket on players. In fact, I banked all my points for 7 seasons, purchasing nothing and sucking along the way just to try and be good this season.

I intend to still play PT going forward. Having said that, I could envision it losing its luster if I’m never going to have a realistic chance at winning anything because the trophies are simply for sale.

For what it's worth, I'm at diamond level and this season lost the Sub-League Series in 7 games to the eventual winners. I haven't spent a dime, or made a lucky pack pull and sold it for oodles (I have pulled a couple of nice diamond cards but have built a team around them rather than selling them).

I've made the playoffs each of my 3 seasons at diamond - though the last 2 came down to a Game 163 - after making the playoffs at Gold Level 3 seasons in a row before finally winning it. I didn't get promoted in the initial wave, either, so have had to be competitive to work my up.

So, my experience tells me it is possible to be competitive at the higher levels without spending real money. YMMV :)

It has been stated by the devs countless times that this will never happen.

I must have missed that. Did they offer a reason?

Because it stops people from spending money that they might have spent. They didn't state that, but it's obvious. Same reason why you can add players in the playoffs. There is extra incentive to spend then to push your team over the top.

There will be tournaments though in OOTP20, which should be able to satisfy everyone's wishes.

I appreciate the response. I happen to disagree. We can already see other platforms that have free avenues and paid avenues, without a loss of revenue. Specifically, CS:GO is an excellent example. If there were competitive leagues and casual leagues of PT that modeled after CS:GO based on dollars spent, it would satisfy the end goal of OOTPD and benefit those fans who want the casual PT experience.

What is CS:GO?

Counter Strike: Global Offensive

It’s a game on Steam. Multiplayer first-person shooter

I have never played PT yet, and understand the concern.

Why does the company allow people to be given an unfair advantage that takes away from the great game? Simple, because money is involved. Those that buy extra cards with money, know they probably have a distinct advantage. Maybe they should look at different levels of the game.

I appreciate the response. And I’m of similar mind with your conclusion. It does favor those willing to pay for no reason besides them being willing to pay. And while other folks say we don’t have to play PT, I’m trying to be open about the future of where games like this are going. With that, I resent being asked to pay again after having already paid for the game.

It’s like going to a club, paying the cover charge, and then being asked to pay to dance.

One of my F2P teams is starting its second stint at the Perfect level. It's possible to win without plunking down a ton of cash.

You don't have to pay anything. You can just stand there in the club and not drink.

And also, there will be tournaments that will be roster restricted.

A poster on the Reddit thread had a great idea and I wanted to post it here; why not have salary-capped PT leagues? Different salary cap amounts for out-of-pocket expenses. Credit to QuantumCondor on this great idea!

Not a new idea by any means, and one the devs have also shot down. The sooner you accept that the core game is what it is, the sooner you can have fun playing with these stipulations in tournaments.

The tournaments seem like a way to give more vehicles for competition that won’t favor those who are buying points. Overall, if Perfect Team can generate more revenue for Markus and the gang then I’m all for it. On the self serving side, more revenue means that they can hire more people to keep improving the broader game. At the same time, I hope that this lets Markus put some more money in the bank. His dedication to giving us such a great game for twenty years has been beyond impressive. He has earned anything he gets!

I appreciate your response.

I guess my pushback is that I’m offering a suggestion. And that’s sort of one of the things we get the opportunity to do with this forum space. That being the case, I can’t understand what’s wrong with offering suggestions.

On another note, I am looking forward to the tournaments as a viable alternative. That may be fun.

It's not your fault because you weren't here for it, but these things have been discussed to death on the forums. I think there's a 90 page thread in OOTP19 about it.

The game is pay to win. You can either play or not play. And yeah, the tournaments will be great to address the concerns you have.

We also have two friends leagues that limits rosters in perfect and diamond. They're a pain to implement because everyone in the league has to manage their friends lists weekly, but it has worked well. I'm not sure if that will be made easier to manage in 20.

I'm sure it seems like I'm jumping at you personally, and that's not my intent, so I apologize. As zrog said, it's just residual effect from a megathread that all of these discussions kept getting merged into.

I appreciate your reply here and what Zrog wrote. It gives me some context to understanding how this topic has worn thin over the last year. To be honest, this time a year ago, I wasn’t giving any attention to PT and what it would become. I’ve been an avid OOTP player and only got into playing PT over the holiday break. Thanks again for the information.

I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of the tournaments to fill that void. Theoretically if things pan out there could be that guy who is quite skilled at the game but can't get above Silver because he isn't spending money, but can kick butt in the salary cap-esque tournaments and get some big PP/unique cards as his reward. I'm thinking the bragging rights from those tournaments will be as big or a bit bigger than the guy who's winning at the Perfect league level.