[Henry]

Originally posted by PineTar
I don't think that many of this thread's participants are sold on this being a random phenomenon Henry. The purpose of this thread (I think) was to try and convince Markus to go back and recheck the various parts of his code where there could be some corruption in terms of residual effects of coaches ratings still having influence when you turn off coaches. I guess everyone would have to take him at his word if he posted on here that this had been done. In this post, Markus has posted 3 times IIRC. Once to say talent bumps are random. Once to say that coaches influence this. And once to apologize for basically not comprehending that indeed the HBL has no coaches. I know Markus is a busy guy patching the patched patch and working on ITP, but it sure would be great if he'd dedicate a couple of hours to reviewing his code so he could lay this one to rest (or fix it) for good.

You know as well as I do that I can't speak for Markus or his schedule. Whether it takes a couple hours, or a couple weeks for him to research this - or whether he feels comfortable such research is not necessary - is totally up to him. On this question, I will thus leave it up to him and cease stating my understanding of the situation.

I think you tend to approach the issues presented from a single player mentality. This problem is especially of concern for those of us in online leagues. Al pretty well summed this point up in his earlier post. I think it is important that everyone knows where they stand in terms of potential for talent increases/decreases. From an online league perspective I think it is important that the game allow every team the same probability of getting talent boosts in a no coaches league.

The concept of the game is to mirror real-life. Real life is not "fair". If you were to purchase any team today, each team purchase would bring with it a different set of problems and a different approach to winning. I think OOTP mirrors this very well. What is being asked for here, whether it's realized or not, is a "level playing field". Equal chances for talents boosts, equal chances for drops, equal financial resources, equal chances for development of rookies, etc. In that world, how you manage your team is the only variable. I think OOTP offers so much more than that - and I wouldn't want (even in an online league) to lose that difference. This part of the discussion is central to what OOTP is - and I like it like that

In online leagues with intelligent humans I think an uneven probability for talent boosts becomes a much greater concern. We all know that the AI is not optimum.

True, but having less chance than others at getting talent boosts will insure that you never get to the top.

I disagree. There are three possible scenarios here. (1) solo play where the AI controls all teams (2) solo play where you control one team against the AI, and (3) online leagues where all players are human. In #1 and #3 all things are equal. Any limitations or areas in the game that can be taken advantage of are available to everyone. #2 however pits the solo player against the AI - so limitations in the game can, in this situation only, effect the outcome.

In terms of your posted UBA Player Development report... most of Boston's drops come from Sonnier and Felder. I'd bet dollars to donuts that those guys are in their thirties and full on coppaging.

I pulled this info from my player development report becasue I didn't have time to research my various draft picks - but the point I was trying to make is that ups and down - as they stand today - are accurate. If I were to look at a leagues 1st round draft picks I'm sure I would find what you find in real life - that not all of them meet their projected potential. I'm sure you'll find some that do - some that don't. Being a 1st round pick is no guarantee that talent boosts are coming.