New Features

[Habsfan18]

- Historical minor leagues

- In-game player symbols

- Automatically generated game headlines and recaps

- Historical exhibition mode

Plus the apparent improvements to the AI, career arcs, interface, sim speed etc.

Looks like another winner. Looking forward to March!

[sandman2575]

Originally Posted by Habsfan18

Looks like another winner. Looking forward to March!

+1

Have taken a few months off from OOTP but pre-order season (the 'real' preseason so to speak ) always fires up my interest again!

Best. Sportsgame. Ever.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Don't forget the MLBPA license with real FaceGen player pics for the major leaguers.

Regarding the "owner mode", that refers to the commish mode essentially, so it's nothing new.

[hefalumps]

I'm especially curious about the historical minor leagues.

Anytime I start a new historical "alternate universe" league, I always start out with only one minor league level because it takes several game years to accumulate enough players to fill up a AAA team (and I don't like playing with fictional players in my minors).

So does having historical minor leagues mean that OOTP will automatically put real minor leaguers on a roster every year when they debut? Does that mean that minor league teams will automatically be moved and re-affiliated (i.e. following historical expansion/movement)?

That would be mind blowing. Over the years I've perfected a system that works for me, moving teams and re-affiliating manually, but I'd love to see how OOTP handles that all itself.

[DustinthePOWERHOUSE]

To obviously be greedy and selfish I'm assuming there's more under the hood features as well.

Are we getting a road to release this year?

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by hefalumps

I'm especially curious about the historical minor leagues.So does having historical minor leagues mean that OOTP will automatically put real minor leaguers on a roster every year when they debut?

They enter the draft at the correct year, yes.

Originally Posted by hefalumps

Does that mean that minor league teams will automatically be moved and re-affiliated (i.e. following historical expansion/movement)?.

Yes.

Markus, what are new smaller features? There were owner goals last year, HOF voting and manager personalities. What are some text-flavoured features of OOTP 17 (besides game recaps which is the awesomest feature)? After all, MLBPA license isn't very beneficial for the fictional game players.

What are the features that help to immerse in the league? Just curious

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by DustinthePOWERHOUSE

To obviously be greedy and selfish I'm assuming there's more under the hood features as well.

Are we getting a road to release this year?

Yes and yes. Plenty of new little stuff....

[Habsfan18]

Markus, two questions if you don't mind. And I understand if they didn't make it in this version. Hopefully in the future if that's the case. But I still wanted to ask:

- No World Baseball Classic? I thought I read that it was a "final cut" in each of the past few years so I thought this was going to be the year for sure.

- Any improvements to associations?

Thanks.

[kq76]

Personally, I'm having such a blast with the 3D animation that it's rekindled my love for the game. I also think the new trading stuff is a big step and there's been some great stuff done with the game recaps, but I can't stop from watching the little pawns making plays left and right.

[hefalumps]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

They enter the draft at the correct year, yes.



Yes.

Um wow.

A couple of follow-up questions:

1) Will this be an option (the historical minor league expansion and player import)? I love the idea in a brand new league but will want to exercise caution integrating into a league I plan on importing over from OOTP16.

2) Will there be an option preventing any of these historical "minor-league only" players from making it to the majors? Honestly, I wouldn't mind it if some did - it'd be cool if in an alternate universe some guy who almost made the show had a different break and ended up with a nice big league career.

Thanks!

[Padreman]

So when you import your game and continue your game will the gavegen face automatically change in your players or do you have to start a new game?

[ecd1973]

OK, I'm gonna be the morbid guy...

Are player deaths making it into this year's version? I can see why it may not be allowed for real MLB players, but in fictional leagues it would add to the immersion greatly.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by hefalumps

I'm especially curious about the historical minor leagues.

Anytime I start a new historical "alternate universe" league, I always start out with only one minor league level because it takes several game years to accumulate enough players to fill up a AAA team (and I don't like playing with fictional players in my minors).

So does having historical minor leagues mean that OOTP will automatically put real minor leaguers on a roster every year when they debut? Does that mean that minor league teams will automatically be moved and re-affiliated (i.e. following historical expansion/movement)?

That would be mind blowing. Over the years I've perfected a system that works for me, moving teams and re-affiliating manually, but I'd love to see how OOTP handles that all itself.

I'm curious about this as well. How will guys debut if we use minor leagues? Right now guys debut the year they made their Major League debut. Will they now come in at a younger age as minor league players? Will minor league players be subject to recalc or are they strictly governed by the OOTP development engine until they reach the minor leagues.

[Habsfan18]

Originally Posted by ecd1973

OK, I'm gonna be the morbid guy...

Are player deaths making it into this year's version? I can see why it may not be allowed for real MLB players, but in fictional leagues it would add to the immersion greatly.

I remember Markus mentioning that they would be in. But that was a few months back.

Not sure if he was dead set on including them though.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Habsfan18

Markus, two questions if you don't mind. And I understand if they didn't make it in this version. Hopefully in the future if that's the case. But I still wanted to ask:

- No World Baseball Classic? I thought I read that it was a "final cut" in each of the past few years so I thought this was going to be the year for sure.

- Any improvements to associations?

Thanks.

No. The next WBC is in 2017, I guess we'll have it next year.

Associations remain untouched.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by ecd1973

OK, I'm gonna be the morbid guy...

Are player deaths making it into this year's version? I can see why it may not be allowed for real MLB players, but in fictional leagues it would add to the immersion greatly.

Not sure. Maybe, maybe not.

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I'm curious about this as well. How will guys debut if we use minor leagues? Right now guys debut the year they made their Major League debut. Will they now come in at a younger age as minor league players? Will minor league players be subject to recalc or are they strictly governed by the OOTP development engine until they reach the minor leagues.

They come in the year they started their MiLB careers.

As for recalc, it's the same as in OOTP 16, you can make everyone subject to recalc if you want or leave them up to the development engine, just as you prefer.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by dmytron

Markus, what are new smaller features? There were owner goals last year, HOF voting and manager personalities. What are some text-flavoured features of OOTP 17 (besides game recaps which is the awesomest feature)? After all, MLBPA license isn't very beneficial for the fictional game players.

What are the features that help to immerse in the league? Just curious

We'll have a Road to Release article to cover these later.

[bp_]

Any online league specific improvements?