Money in the game

[mikezone13]

Originally Posted by FlipCup

I agree. A lot of people have spent thousands in other similar modes. While I do find it crazy at times, some people look at it as a hobby. Instead of going out and spending $100 at a bar or something similar, they put it into a game they like and competitive game mode.

I can understand a little bit here and there, but when the 'competitive part' is just for competition with yourself AND it will have an end life (i.e. when each version gets shelved) I just can't see why anyone would want to spend a heap on what is essentially 1s and 0s with some images

But the $1 her and $1 there can soon add up no doubt - and is why this successful in lots of other games.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by mikezone13

I just can't see why anyone would want to spend a heap on what is essentially 1s and 0s with some images

It is a recreational activity. I can't understand why people would want to spend thousands to get sick on a cruise ship, but people do it. I can't understand why people would spend thousands to go see some relic in Peru, but people do it. People have different opinions and there is no way to make sense of what everyone does from one person's perspective.

[mikezone13]

Originally Posted by Orcin

It is a recreational activity. I can't understand why people would want to spend thousands to get sick on a cruise ship, but people do it. I can't understand why people would spend thousands to go see some relic in Peru, but people do it. People have different opinions and there is no way to make sense of what everyone does from one person's perspective.

Am with you on the cruise ship... just sink them all

[runyan99]

I am a little concerned that the Free to Play experience isn't going to be great when facing the money players, but I guess we will see how it shakes out.

[el_gringo]

Originally Posted by FlipCup

I agree. A lot of people have spent thousands in other similar modes. While I do find it crazy at times, some people look at it as a hobby. Instead of going out and spending $100 at a bar or something similar, they put it into a game they like and competitive game mode.

Also, PT will probably be pretty streamable, so for at least a few people doing that I imagine investing hundreds or thousands to be a top-tier manager (especially once head-to-head comes out in following versions) will be a no-brainer.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

I feel you - franchise modes have gone utterly down the drain as companies seem to focus solely on the multiplayer modes.

But if there's one company that I have utter faith in to not fall into that trap, it's OOTP. Markus hasn't led us astray in almost two decades.

It's going to get even worse in the gaming industry with all these companies starting to focus on mobile. I just don't get why there are billions of people in Asia who want to play PUBG on a phone. I don't want to play any games on my phone.

Get off my lawn *grumble*

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by el_gringo

Also, PT will probably be pretty streamable, so for at least a few people doing that I imagine investing hundreds or thousands to be a top-tier manager (especially once head-to-head comes out in following versions) will be a no-brainer.

I'm not sure how you could make a PT stream that interesting. Spend a really long time opening packs in between the 30 minutes waiting for a new game?

In fact, I wish there were a sound notification when the 30 minutes is up because the game is always in the background for me because I run out of things to do.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by runyan99

I am a little concerned that the Free to Play experience isn't going to be great when facing the money players, but I guess we will see how it shakes out.

Teams will be promoted/relegated at the end of every season (which means every week), based on standings. Within a month, things will start to balance, and the best teams will be in their own leagues, which means you should be playing with teams at or around your own team's talent level. Then it won't matter how those teams acquired their players.

[zrog2000]

You should get achievements for winning your league with the least amount of money spent.

[el_gringo]

Originally Posted by zrog2000

I'm not sure how you could make a PT stream that interesting. Spend a really long time opening packs in between the 30 minutes waiting for a new game?

In fact, I wish there were a sound notification when the 30 minutes is up because the game is always in the background for me because I run out of things to do.

Right now, it would just be the AH. I don't think 19 will be the biggest streaming hit, but once there are head-to-head modes, extra tournaments, etc. added in 20, 21, and so forth, there will be more than enough to do.

Even in 19, the AH can be a full-time thing if you're churning through enough cards/PP that auctions are ending every couple of minutes.

Plus, if there is a downtime, the player can always switch over to a nice, relaxing single-player Challenge Mode league to try and get an extra pack or two that way while they wait.

I'm not saying it'll dethrone Fortnite or anything, but it'll have some fans for sure. Plenty of people want to see what it's like to spend thousands on PT without actually having to spend the money themselves.

[runyan99]

Understood, but that seems to mean that the free to play teams will end up topping out at the AAA level. And then what? The winner of that league gets promoted to the Major League division and is then the worst team in that league due to the talent differential?



Seems like a potential problem.

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Teams will be promoted/relegated at the end of every season (which means every week), based on standings. Within a month, things will start to balance, and the best teams will be in their own leagues, which means you should be playing with teams at or around your own team's talent level. Then it won't matter how those teams acquired their players.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by el_gringo

Right now, it would just be the AH. I don't think 19 will be the biggest streaming hit, but once there are head-to-head modes, extra tournaments, etc. added in 20, 21, and so forth, there will be more than enough to do.

Even in 19, the AH can be a full-time thing if you're churning through enough cards/PP that auctions are ending every couple of minutes.

Plus, if there is a downtime, the player can always switch over to a nice, relaxing single-player Challenge Mode league to try and get an extra pack or two that way while they wait.

I'm not saying it'll dethrone Fortnite or anything, but it'll have some fans for sure. Plenty of people want to see what it's like to spend thousands on PT without actually having to spend the money themselves.

I have a twitch stream on almost all day every day so I'll definitely check some out. I can't watch the regular game though, because I'm not really interested in watching someone else go through all the details that I do when playing myself.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by runyan99

Understood, but that seems to mean that the free to play teams will end up topping out at the AAA level. And then what? The winner of that league gets promoted to the Major League division and is then the worst team in that league?



Seems like a potential problem.

A legitimate concern. However, with the volatility of baseball in general, not to mention the clear effect management has on PT just from what we've seen in the Beta, the chance that the talent level will be such an enormous gap that you're going to get promoted and be immediately smacked back down is slim to none. I'm sure it will happen from time to time, but it shouldn't be a pressing issue. If you're good enough to get that high, you should be good enough to hang.

[Whoofe]

Originally Posted by runyan99

Understood, but that seems to mean that the free to play teams will end up topping out at the AAA level. And then what? The winner of that league gets promoted to the Major League division and is then the worst team in that league due to the talent differential?



Seems like a potential problem.

if you are winning the division level you are probably going to be earning plenty of PP by achievements, so it may level things a bit. if not, big deal, you were the best team then the worst, you get relegated back down to the level you won previously. so you have a great week then an awful week. *shrug* sounds like baseball to me

[Matty86]

Originally Posted by el_gringo

Right now, it would just be the AH. I don't think 19 will be the biggest streaming hit, but once there are head-to-head modes, extra tournaments, etc. added in 20, 21, and so forth, there will be more than enough to do.

Even in 19, the AH can be a full-time thing if you're churning through enough cards/PP that auctions are ending every couple of minutes.

Plus, if there is a downtime, the player can always switch over to a nice, relaxing single-player Challenge Mode league to try and get an extra pack or two that way while they wait.

I'm not saying it'll dethrone Fortnite or anything, but it'll have some fans for sure. Plenty of people want to see what it's like to spend thousands on PT without actually having to spend the money themselves.

I would spend more time in the AH if the statistics showing average sale price ect were working. I never know what to start my auctions (plus I'm impatient and don't want to wait 2 days to get top dollar lol).

[Maddox]

Originally Posted by zrog2000

You should get achievements for winning your league with the least amount of money spent.

Because that is what every business wants to do, give customers incentive to not spend money in their store.

Originally Posted by runyan99

Understood, but that seems to mean that the free to play teams will end up topping out at the AAA level. And then what? The winner of that league gets promoted to the Major League division and is then the worst team in that league due to the talent differential?

Seems like a potential problem.

Not necessarily. It will take longer to build a team if you do not purchase point but I think you will eventually be able to get there. It is too soon to see how the market plays out but as the market gets more mature the cost of obtaining gold or better cards may go down as more and more of them are put up for sale.

[ASURay]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

I feel you - franchise modes have gone utterly down the drain as companies seem to focus solely on the multiplayer modes.

But if there's one company that I have utter faith in to not fall into that trap, it's OOTP. Markus hasn't led us astray in almost two decades.

I'm interested in what the long-term vision is for PT. I'd be surprised if this game mode doesn't eventually move to a mobile platform for which it would be ideal. There isn't currently a good MLB card collecting game for mobile and I'd be fine if this were to replace MLB Manager as I was never really able to get invested in that game. CC games really appeal to younger gamers who often aren't interested in being tethered to a PC outside of the eSports arena. If the game went mobile, I'd be concerned that it would end up as a F2P game and that the microtransactions would get out of control. Making it a paid mobile game would really limit downloads, though. Maybe it would be F2P but players that buy the full OOTP game get some significant bonuses.

[ASURay]

Originally Posted by Maddox

Not necessarily. It will take longer to build a team if you do not purchase point but I think you will eventually be able to get there. It is too soon to see how the market plays out but as the market gets more mature the cost of obtaining gold or better cards may go down as more and more of them are put up for sale.

I'd be surprised if this were the case given that the slate is wiped clean every year. It's entirely feasible that a player that doesn't invest any money would be able to build a championship-caliber team before the end of that year's cycle, let alone having the time with that team to climb through the ranks.

[ike121212]

Originally Posted by ASURay

I'm interested in what the long-term vision is for PT. I'd be surprised if this game mode doesn't eventually move to a mobile platform for which it would be ideal. There isn't currently a good MLB card collecting game for mobile and I'd be fine if this were to replace MLB Manager as I was never really able to get invested in that game. CC games really appeal to younger gamers who often aren't interested in being tethered to a PC outside of the eSports arena. If the game went mobile, I'd be concerned that it would end up as a F2P game and that the microtransactions would get out of control. Making it a paid mobile game would really limit downloads, though. Maybe it would be F2P but players that buy the full OOTP game get some significant bonuses.

If PT were the game, it would only make sense that it were FTP. It's an un-apologetically pay to win game that needs a broad player base to thrive, like all of them.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by ASURay

I'd be surprised if this were the case given that the slate is wiped clean every year. It's entirely feasible that a player that doesn't invest any money would be able to build a championship-caliber team before the end of that year's cycle, let alone having the time with that team to climb through the ranks.

You have a new chance to be promoted every week. While OOTP19's run will be short due to the timing of the release, in OOTP20, that gives you 52 chances to be promoted 4 times. And that's only if you stop playing and move on to OOTP21 as soon as it comes out, because Markus has directly said that each game's servers will remain active for several years.

But even if we say that it would be impossible for a F2P player to make the top leagues, why is that such a terrible thing? The entire point of promotion/relegation is to ensure that your team ends up in a competitive league. If you can't enjoy playing the game without being "the best of the best" then why play it at all? There's no prize for being #1 in the world.