Feedback Needed / OOTP 11 Features

[Afino]

Originally Posted by bubba22plus

More rules and restrictions to tinker with would be cool IMO, Like give us the ability to specify what nationalities to limit or ban. This would help with setting up Negro Leagues. Speaking of Negro leagues, give us the ability to limit or ban by ethnicity, also.

Oh yeah, and let us have ties and proper doubleheaders, please.

Racist.


(I'm kidding - I'd actually like to see this myself)

I don't want to hijack this thread into this debate, but if it happened in real life, it should be an option in OOTP just like not allowing players to have facial hair.

[Afino]

Originally Posted by battists

More immersion factor.

I'd like to see the return of messages from my managers, "So-and-so is doing really well."

I'd also like to see some things like messages that require decisions and have impacts down the road. Like a player demanding a trade, or a coach recommending you bench a player, etc.

Actually, I love both of those ideas. I do miss the "so and so is doing well" messages as well.

[damientheomen3]

GM ratings. Basically all GMs are random guys with crap ratings at all manager ratings...

[risp2out]

The ability to create leagues with different financials, but have progress through time appropriately. I want to have independent and International Leagues and be able to set them at different levels and check the update financials annually button without having them all equal out or without having a foreign league with million dollar salaries while my Major Leaguers are pulling down $80 grand.

[MooK881]

1.) More customizable playoffs that seed teams like in football...best seed faces worst seed each round....maybe even byes incorporated too.
2.) More Awards
3.) Customizable Achievments (50+HR screen, 5+ hits/game...etc...)
4.) More customizable Leaderboards (you choose minimum ABs or IPs to qualify for example)
5.) Playoffs Leaderboards (that also have customizable criteria to qualify)

Those are my biggest issues...but OOTP10 is an amazing game

[jbergey22]

Better Computer AI during games and when making organiazational moves. A release closer to opening day without having to wait for 3 patches throughout the entire season.

If time permits Id like to see more player interaction in the FM side of things. Such as instead of Eric Brynes being overpaid on the bench all year demanding a trade you could let him know that you are actively trying to trade him, he is in your future plans, you want to keep his veteran leadership on the team, etc... instead of having a useless player bringing the team spirit down that no one wants to trade for in the first place.

[BMW]

Originally Posted by BruceM

A release date that coincides with MLB opening day.

How does Opening Day 2011 suit?

Originally Posted by AirmenSmith

Oh since we can set a salary cap how about a salary floor. That is something I wish the real MLB had, then those teams, marlins, would actually spend the money that the yankees give them.

This is the Yankee-fan backlash to justify their obscene payroll. They complain that the zillions of dollars they pay into luxury tax go towards horrible non-ballplayer related things like keeping the team out of bankruptcy, making payments on their stadiums, or paying vendors at the ballpark. For shame that you don't have the endless resources of the Yankees!


New Pitches
Since we have a new pitching system, this is the rate of historical importance of each major pitch type that came from my pitch research (historical importance is roughly something like number of pitchers who threw the pitch combined with how important it was in their repertoire:

Pitch (Historical Importance)
Fastball (205527)
Curve (132346)
Slider (98897)
Change (91579)
Sinker (41087)
Palmball (14255)
Knuckleball (11533)
Splitter (11094)
Screwball (9686)
Cutter (8769)
Forkball (8648)
Spitball (8139)
Knuckle Curve (1669)
Circle Change (1544)
Slurve (1485)
Blooper/Eephus (286)
Foshball (285)
Gyroball (8)

As you can see, Palmballs and Spitballs are pretty high up there. I was surprised how many recent pitchers were reported by scouts to be throwing a version of a Palmball.

I would rank that Palmball as a pitch to consider adding in a future version, along with the Spitball and the Eephus. Of course we both mentioned the additional coding that might have to go into a Spitball, and frankly, the Eephus might need some special coding to prevent the AI from throwing it more than a few times a season.

Gyroball is a special case. It's not thrown in the US, but it seems to be a pitch attributed to a number of players in Japan. While it may not be useful for an MLB league, it would be useful for an *** league.

I also included the Foshball as a separate pitch, but I'd rate it as questionable as the Slurve. It ranks in about the Eephus, but frankly, the Eephus is clearly a unique pitch type, where as Slurves and Foshballs are less distinct than their Slider/Forkball counterparts.

And the best news is that with all that research done, I'm ready to generate another file for OOTP should any of these pitches make it into the game.

Extra Spitball Functionality
Spitballs would need need a lot of new functionality around them:

1. You'd need a bit field or year field at the league level for if the Spitball is legal.
2. You'd probably a bit field at the player level for those who were grandfathered after it was banned.
3. After it is banned in the league, if caught, they could have that Disliked rating that you have for substance abusers.
4. You'd probably want to still generate spitballers after they were illegal at a very low rate. To be honest, rather than generate the spitball at player creation, it may be better created for an older (30+ year old) player triggered by an injury event. In fact, maybe it can piggyback off those new "player has decided to retire" events during rehab. A small change that for a pitcher, rather than retire, they get a pretty good rated spitball and decide to return.

Standard pitches by year
And it would also be nice to have a group of acceptable pitches by year, possibly fed in through a database file. That way, you don't have Circle Changes being thrown in your fictional 1800s league. You'd have Fastballs, Sinkers, Curves and Changes. While I was researching, I noticed that every AAAA pitcher in the 50s and 60s seemed to have a knuckleball that they were using as a change of pace pitch.

[silvam14]

I know this has been mentioned by Markus as a "like to see happen" but a Stadium builder would be nice.

Other graphical/sound wishes:

Option for Home/Away/Alternate Jerseys

Option to have player inducted in hall of fame choose which jersey/cap is on his picture. (If you could make it a somewhat similar bronzed statue looking picture like in real life, so much the better)

Option for player announcements in-game (coming to bat/ now pitching) This would involve a sound clip for each player, and the ability to create your own with a microphone or something.

[OakDragon]

1. Robust support for short seasons so I can simulate a 10 or 20 game season without the game calendar going crazy (thinking it's regular season and offseason at the same time, e.g.)

2. More interaction with the GM and Owner so if I'm in danger of being fired I can know what is wrong and try to fix it.

3. Confirmation dialogs when adjusting pre-game and in-game lineups.

4. Player pics in the Hall of Fame, including allowing us to choose the team uniform and age they have in the HOF pic.

5. Allow HS feeders to be subordinate to college feeders (like minor league teams are to majors) so that they actually feed into said leagues.

6. Add support for Grand Central Dispatch (optimized processor/core usage) to the Mac version.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by Afino

Editable milestones and accomplishments. Not every league plays a 162 game modern schedule, which makes things like 20 wins, 50+ HR, 150+ RBI unreachable.

+1. I play short seasons quite a bit and it would be cool if you could edit the accomplishments, in the same way as we can with HoF criteria.

Originally Posted by professor ape

I continue my campaign for more flexible playoff formats and league structures. Most important are the ability to create byes.

I'd like to see the ability to have multiple leagues feed one playoff tournament so I could do regional highschool leagues and have the winners play for a national title.

Originally Posted by Afino

Racist.


(I'm kidding - I'd actually like to see this myself)

I don't want to hijack this thread into this debate, but if it happened in real life, it should be an option in OOTP just like not allowing players to have facial hair.

It would be cool if we could do this, I think a lot of people would actually see it as racist though. It would also be cool to ban say South Africans from a league because of Apartied, or Russians because of McCarthy or other such things that didn't really happen in baseball, but were world events.


Other stuff, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it would be EPIC if the historical import system was improved so that the leagues didn't have to be called AL and NL and various other things. It would let the community come up with an accurate (as possible) database of the MLB with minors, maybe even including *** and the Negro Leagues. A complete, automatically importing historical league would be possible.

[StyxNCa]

My dream feature would be:

All issues that have been posted in the past that weren't fixed are now fixed.

That in itself would make it a new game.

Or am I being completely unreasonable?

[Corsairs]

When it comes to back-of-the-box feature ideas that will move units, I know exactly where I'd start: Fleshing out the feeder leagues and the amateur draft. Sure, this is something I personally would be interested in, but until recently I wouldn't have suggested it as a bullet point kind of improvement. Over the last few years, though, the MLB amateur draft has become an increasingly big deal. All of a sudden you've got the draft being shown in prime time on ESPN. Players like Stephen Strasburg are getting extensive coverage from mainstream new sources. Fans are starting to pay attention to college (and even high school) baseball to pick out the rising stars. Some agents have reached almost celebrity status thanks to their negotiating tactics.

Clearly there's a buregoning interest in the amateur draft and everything that surrounds it. Since this is an area I believe a lot of current OOTP'ers would like to see beefed up anyway, OOTP XI would be the perfect opportunity to break these new features in. Amongst the ideas to consider (in no particular order):

• Enable high school players to "graduate" to a league's college feeder system.
• Add agents into the game, each with their own particular methods and quirks.
• Introduce signing bonuses.
• Allow top prospects to issue contract/bonus demands (through their agents) prior to the draft.
• Rather than automatically assigning new draftees, force GMs to negotiate contracts with them. While most lesser draftees will sign for slot money, negotiations with top prospects could prove more tricky.
• In addition to contract/bonus demands, allow for other means of player negotiating leverage, including:
  • Threatening to sign with a college
  • Threatening to sign with an independent league (or simply sitting out until next year's draft if no such league exists)
  • Pre-warning his desire (or lack thereof) to be drafted by a particular orginization
• Create other signing considerations beyond money:
  • Predilection for signing with a team due to its proximity to his home town and/or school
  • The presence (or lack thereof) of established players/high-profile prospects blocking the new draftee's path
  • GMs reputation
• Regadring GM reputation, consider tracking this. Teams with GMs who sign players to large contracts and generally show a willingness to funnel money into player development would be more desireable landing spots for new draftees, while those who play hardball could get blacklisted.
• Take the reputation idea farther by allowing GMs to make promises/assurances to top players and their agents. As examples: "We guarantee you this role in our organization," or, "You'll be with the big league club in no more than 2 years." If those promises are fulfilled, reputation increases (and vice versa).
• Build the hype by starting to show news stories about top draft-eligible players on the main league's page starting 60 days from the amateur draft, and also during the feeder league(s) playoffs.
• Imbue these players with personality! You often hear about the "makeup" of a player. Is he a hothead? Does he have a penchant for upsetting his teammates or getting into trouble off the field? If so, let's see some new stories related to this. These kinds of makeup issues could carry over to a player's pro career, giving GMs an extra thing to consider when drafting. Strive to make players as three-dimensional as possible!
• OOTP already allows the trading of draft picks, something that can't be done in MLB. I would suggest going further with this. For instance, the NHL allows for conditional draft pick trading (e.g. I give you a 3rd rounder, but it could become a 1st rounder depending on something occurring). Look to other pro leagues for creative expansions of the draft pick trading model.
• Live analysis of first round picks during the draft. ESPN has a panel of "experts" sounding off on picks as they happen; why not BNN?

By no means would anyone reasonably expect all of these features to get added into OOTP XI. This should be taken as a jumping off point. Pick and choose what you think would be the most valuable/easy-to-implement additions and have at it. Overall, though, I can't think of a more apropos area of improvement to explore if you're looking to attract the casual baseball fan's attention (and please your current user base at the same time).

[OakDragon]

Oh, and a couple more:

1. Records per game and team records. (fewest/most X per game in league history and fewest/most X in team history, respectively).

2. The ability to save a box score or recap or replay when a special event occurs (no-hitter, grand slam, triple play, etc.)

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by OakDragon

Oh, and a couple more:

1. Records per game and team records. (fewest/most X per game in league history and fewest/most X in team history, respectively).

A complete record book would be nice.

[OakDragon]

Originally Posted by professor ape

On a more basic note, I am constantly frustrated that the choices for saving box scores, and replays. The choices are none, human leagues or all leagues. I play a fictional solo league in 'god mode' and therefore don't have a 'human league' identified but I only want to save box scores for the US major league. This is very annoying.

Being able to save the box scores or whatever for a specific team would also be nice, since i usually just follow one team.

[Vinny P.]

Originally Posted by Afino

Editable milestones and accomplishments. Not every league plays a 162 game modern schedule, which makes things like 20 wins, 50+ HR, 150+ RBI unreachable.

^^^^^^This

Originally Posted by Steve

I'll throw a personal fave in:

Customizable manager home page ("widgets"?)

And this. I love me some widget!

[Vinny P.]

Originally Posted by AirmenSmith

Oh here is a great one that I know "Everyone" likes.

Bring back the having wife and kids option.

I WAS gonna suggest this one. Like seriously. But you beat me to you, you.....whatever you are....

[damientheomen3]

make pitchers learn new pitches at a higher rate, and have it's talent heighten as they play more, with their intelligence determining the speed of said event

[lordchaos]

I know it will not happen, but this is what I want. Actual Left/Right split batting and pitching ratings for historical players.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Originally Posted by StyxNCa

My dream feature would be:

All issues that have been posted in the past that weren't fixed are now fixed.

That in itself would make it a new game.

Or am I being completely unreasonable?

I would be willing to pay for that. Fix/tweak any remaining issues with OOTPX, update the rosters, add a few small features, and release it by opening day.