Random Thoughts...

[HRBaker]

Like many of you, I have played both PT19 and PT20, although I started later than some of you. I have, however, managed 6 teams, 3 in PT19 (2 F2P & 1 P2P) and 3 more in PT20 (2 F2P & 1 P2P). With this 6 team experience, certain patterns have developed.

Based on my experience, it seems F2P teams will (assuming average managing ability and average luck) will eventually find themselves at the Gold Level before they stabilize. In my case, 2 of the 4 F2P teams are in that position now; 1 is in Iron Level (mostly because I targeted it as a 20th Century players-only team, and paid the price to swap out a number of players to get there); and 1 team (which was my first attempt at PT19) was total disaster (currently last place in a Bronze League).

My two P2P teams, however, have done better. The PT19 team (with about $85 invested) is currently at the Diamond Level with a small chance to eventually reach Perfect (unless I pour more dollars into it). My PT20 P2P team ($100 invested) is in a similar situation; in Diamond playing just behind the leaders with no real chance to progress without some serious luck or money.

The "pattern" I thus mentioned is this; F2P teams will likely end up competing in Gold - and P2P teams will likely end up competing in Diamond. This is, of course, assuming up to $100 investment for the P2P teams and average luck and competent management.

Not that I think this is bad - but it is somewhat predictable. We all know that if you throw more money into it, you will have more success, but we also know not everyone can afford that. We also know that an extreme amount of luck in opening packs could also get you there - but the time it takes to accumulate that amount of achievement points is significant

It was at this point in my thought process that I started getting more interested in the Tournaments OOTP has planned for the game. I think it is imperative that Tournaments throw in enough variables to actually "break" the pattern I mentioned above. IF I already know where my team will end up based on how much money I spend, it likely won't be more than a few game versions before I start to lose interest.

There has to be variables involved that enable the unexpected to happen; such as a F2P team reaching Diamond, or a P2P team reaching Perfect.

We all know that the Perfect Level requires (for the most part) Perfect and Diamond players to compete, so there has to be a way (other than good luck by opening packs) to find those higher level players occasionally without having to open our wallets. I'm hoping the tournaments accomplish that.

I'm sure some of you will point out you made it to the top without a $100 investment or without exceptional luck, but I think even you would admit that is a rarity.

It is my hope that the Tournaments will infuse Perfect Team with the "unexpected" and give everyone the potential to compete at a level they didn't expect.

Thoughts?

[quickstep76]

Okay, I’ll bite. What does F2P and P2P refer to?

[Whoofe]

I made it to diamond without spending a dime in ootp19 PT. wasn't very competitive once I got there, however. and several months later, still don't have the PP to buy any but the most common perfect 100s

[atabakin]

I had (have) two F2P teams in 19. One has TWO Diamond championships, is currently in Perfect for the 6th season, and is leading the division for a second straight year. The other is in Diamond for the 9th season and on track to make the postseason for the 7th straight year (without any major breakthroughs yet).

Neither team has pulled anything better than a low diamond from a pack. RNG luck in games, sure, I guess, but no pack luck involved here. Maybe it's a rarity, as you say, but it's honestly not hard to be competitive at Diamond or even higher if you iron out a strategy and stick to it.

Now in this year's version it will be harder for F2P to make it to Perfect, let alone compete, but it'll be possible.

[Boomcoach]

Originally Posted by quickstep76

Okay, I’ll bite. What does F2P and P2P refer to?

Free to play and Pay to Play.

[<Pion>]

My experience has been more along the lines of atabakin. I have five F2P in OOTP19 that I did not pull packs on (up until PT20 started and the prices for the players I needed were twice what they had been). One team has been in Perfect for the past six years after spending two in Diamond. A 2nd team had a cup of coffee in Perfect and in six seasons at Diamond have been to the playoffs five times. A 3rd has bounced between Diamond and Perfect with five seasons at Perfect and 12 seasons at Diamond. A theme team of all switch hitters peaked at Diamond with six seasons there but has settled into Gold (I can't improve my defense much when you're totally limited to switch-hitters). The final team was also a theme only with only Left Hand hitting batters. They spent four seasons at Diamond before settling in at Gold.

Looking at the teams overall, the only teams with limited success were the two theme teams. The other four all used pretty much the same formula and rode it to Diamond league titles/playoffs and some of which have been competitive at the Perfect level though no playoffs or titles (defining competitive as a 500 ball club).

[stl jason]

Originally Posted by Whoofe

I made it to diamond without spending a dime in ootp19 PT. wasn't very competitive once I got there, however. and several months later, still don't have the PP to buy any but the most common perfect 100s

about the same experience for me in v19.... made it to Diamond with my pre-ww2 theme team (never really expected them to get even that far).... languished at best .500, and worst basement/relegation territory for 6 seasons before getting pushed back to Gold.... of course, earning enough points to afford an upgrade using just old timey historical cards makes it a monumental task (and now that the AH is a ghost town in v19, all the more difficult).


running the same F2P pre-ww2 theme squad in v20 and have no delusions of grandeur of conquering the Perfect leagues with them... content to hang out in Bronze for now and just enjoy the ride as I try to acquire upgrades now and then (though I am keeping all the non-duplicates of any card I get on the reserve roster for possible tourney usage and collection tasks; so there's an added piece to it this version).

[dkgo]

I only have one f2p team in 19 but it reached diamond easily and now is on track to make perfect where I will start getting crushed. This team started very late, probably played 8 total seasons, but I did come in with experience from ultimate team.

I put in 15 bucks for 20 and started at the beginning. I am still in iron since all my points are focused on investing in live players for the long run.

[neugey]

I have a feeling the Tournaments will indeed infuse a lot of variety and opportunity to keep us from getting bored. One tournament might be only Iron/Bronze live cards. The next one might be a whale tournament with only gold+ cards allowed and you have to have at least 2 perfect cards. They've already mentioned possibility of a 'salary cap' tournament which would be pretty interesting across the board whether you're F2P or P2P.

As far as the regular PT game, I do remember the OOTP staff saying promotion/relegation spots would be tuned up this year. Gonna have more opportunities to move up or get shot down as opposed to chronically being the middle/low-middle and being a punching bag constantly at one level.

[webdox]

Great post HR.

With my 6 teams my results are pretty similar especially my FTP.

For my PTP teams I have sank over $500 (> $1000 total) in both '19 and '20 and cannot even come close to competing at Perfect. My teams are a punching bag for the uberwals... They belong in Diamond where I am at least somewhat competitive.

I'll still hope beyond hope they add another level between Perfect and Diamond but with the naming convention they have run with I can see it would be hard, no pun intended... Platinum? Meh...

Perfect should be for by all intents and purposes for those perfect rosters that can only be achieved by spending a lot of money or waiting a decade for the insidious crawl for the millions of PP's to add up on their own. Playing against 5 starters that cost a well over a million PP's can be frustrating.

Not as frustrating as it probably is to them when on the very rare occasion my Brown shuts them out and I light up Pedro...

[Calvert98]

Good thoughts all around.

This is my first time playing Perfect team. I started to play, while waiting for the roster updates before setting-up my actual OOTP MLB universe.

I am in my second season of Gold now with a free-to-play team. I have tried to be conservative with the pack purchases as this is a FTP team. I bought about 39 packs and really should have bought half that, but as this game mode was new to me, it was fun to see what was in those mystery packs; especially after pulling a perfect in my first pack with my starter 1000 points! So, I pulled 1 Live perfect, 3 or 4 golds, 3 or 4 silvers (I think), and no diamonds. Mostly, I built the team using the AH to acquire players after I sold the perfect live Chris Sale and another gold card, and from earning some in-game points along the way.

I think this mode is fun. It is a nice kind of a "side-car" addition to the game. That said, I have noticed a slow-down as of late, but I think that is the nature of the game in FTP, especially as I was vaulted into Silver out of the gate, where I made the play-offs once. The team is not earning enough points, however it is not doing that bad to be relegated, and all of the cards I would need to make any real improvement to my team were like 3000 to 4000 PP at this juncture, which would basically leave me with almost nothing. So I finally was able to get something a bit better than a marginal improvement, and afterwards went and threw caution to the wind (or points out the window, depending on your view) and spent the remaining 3000 PP on packs (where I pulled 4 bronzes), and that left me with 54 PPs!

I started my MLB universe about a week ago or so and that takes up most of my game-time anyway, so unless something dramatic happens to my PT Team, I guess it's time to put them on cruise-control, and check-in once in a while. The tournaments could be interesting.

Anyway, I am glad OOTPD added this feature, as it will give me something to do in that waiting period for the MLB updates every year, or on days when I only have 10 or so minutes to spare, and don't have enough time to delve into my MLB universe. Also, I am glad to hear that it is generating more revenue for the company, which in-turn will lead to more resources for the main game.

Those are my random thoughts.

-Cal

[Charlatan]

I did not play PT19 so this is all new to me. And from what I read, it seems clear that you guys are better managers than I am. I mostly manage F2P in that I only occasionally dump PP into my teams.

I'm managing three teams: one is a F2P defense oriented team using only historical players. That team has been a great surprise as we currently lead our division in Silver. But I've noticed that my offense is ever so slowly getting weaker and weaker, and my run differential is growing lesser and lesser, leading me to think I will start to see a dropoff when I make it to Gold. But I'm pretty sure I'll make it to Gold, and it'll feel good! This team is engaging and fun to tinker with.

I also have a packs-only team that opens roughly 7 packs a week on a fixed schedule (that's so I don't give in to spending $100 weekly on it). I picked that number out of thin air and that might be a bit low given my luck, because it's turning out this team is having trouble competing in Silver (it didn't help that we started 5-20 in Season 4). The team has 5 golds on it (unfortunately two of them are Khris Davis and Joey Gallo, so it appears my team specializes in guys who swing from the heels and only occasionally hit a HR!). The pitching staff is terrible (at 71OVR is my best starter) and many of the batters are replacement level. I don't see them advancing from Silver until I get a really good couple of pulls. But it's been an interesting experiment and I have to resist fiddling with the lineups too much (there's only SO much you can squeeze out of a bunch of random bronzes!).

Then there's my "real" team, the team I'm managing how I want to. This one makes me depressed! It has shown a familiar progression. Great in Bronze, above .500 in Silver, just below .500 in Gold, and now playing .400 ball in Diamond. I've blown some cash on packs but it was more of a fling with extra cash than a real strategy to get good players... and my pack opening luck is nothing like you guys - I've gotten maybe 2 Diamonds out of packs and never seen a perfect. So this team that has maybe 4 Diamonds on it is facing much better teams with regularity and is constantly getting it's butt kicked. I tried to make it over this year into a HR/BB team with decent pitching but that hasn't worked out as expected. And since I'm losing regularly we're not generating much in the way of PP. It would be a mercy to get this team kicked back to Gold so I can straighten it out.

Looking at what I wrote, I wonder if the managing process gets less engaging the higher you go in the leagues. After all, when you're in Diamond or Perfect and your team needs 10K or 20K (or 200K) to get its next upgrade, will it be interesting to log in daily and see how it's going?

Eh, not going to think about that now!

[HRBaker]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

Looking at what I wrote, I wonder if the managing process gets less engaging the higher you go in the leagues. After all, when you're in Diamond or Perfect and your team needs 10K or 20K (or 200K) to get its next upgrade, will it be interesting to log in daily and see how it's going?

Good question. There's no doubt that managing at the higher levels follows a common pattern; "You need an upgrade and can't afford it... AND your likely NOT going to live long enough to accumulate enough points through achievements."

I do love the game, but there's only 2 variables that will both get you to Perfect Level AND make you competitive; (1) an extreme amount of luck or (2) an extreme amount of money. There simply isn't enough points available at that altitude.

On the other hand, that's why it's an advantage that the game starts over each year... gives us the chance to "do it over until we get it right".

[LandiHero]

In PT 19, I had a similar issue as you talked about with hitting a wall at gold on my FTP team. Once I started to really stagnate there, making it to the playoffs but not far enough to get promoted, I got pretty unmotivated to keep playing. At that point, I decided to change up how I played PT. I opened up 2 new team and gave them certain playstyles/goals. One of them was to go completely defensive and try to win 9 gold gloves. The other was a packs only team where I would try to build around one good player I got early that I don't remember. I loved the defensive team, even though it also hit a wall around gold. I got up to 7 gold gloves and still check in on them occasionally. They found there way up to diamond, so maybe it all payed off? The packs team was also fun, just because I love ripping packs. They never did great even though I pulled Lindor, Donaldson, Arenado, Bryant, and Justin Turner. But I really enjoyed opening those packs, so it was worth it.

For this year, my goals are similar. On my first account, I'm trying to collect all of the Future Legend cards. I don't know why I'm particularly enamored with them in particular, but I've already gotten 11/50. For my second account, I'm going back to my defensive efforts to work on some unfinished business there. My team is pretty close to max defense, so my next step is to work on pitching to help the defense and a great DH so that I can actually score runs (any tips on a good and cheap 5k-10k DH are much appreciated). My third and final team is back on the pack ripping grind. I've done pretty well to get myself a solid outfield including Harper, decent infield with Correa, and a solid pitching staff including Buehler, Ohtani, and Will Harris to close games. I really enjoy these playstyles of going for a specific goal rather than targeting the perfect league, but perhaps that's just me.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

I did not play PT19 so this is all new to me. And from what I read, it seems clear that you guys are better managers than I am. I mostly manage F2P in that I only occasionally dump PP into my teams.

I'm managing three teams: one is a F2P defense oriented team using only historical players. That team has been a great surprise as we currently lead our division in Silver. But I've noticed that my offense is ever so slowly getting weaker and weaker, and my run differential is growing lesser and lesser, leading me to think I will start to see a dropoff when I make it to Gold. But I'm pretty sure I'll make it to Gold, and it'll feel good! This team is engaging and fun to tinker with.

I also have a packs-only team that opens roughly 7 packs a week on a fixed schedule (that's so I don't give in to spending $100 weekly on it). I picked that number out of thin air and that might be a bit low given my luck, because it's turning out this team is having trouble competing in Silver (it didn't help that we started 5-20 in Season 4). The team has 5 golds on it (unfortunately two of them are Khris Davis and Joey Gallo, so it appears my team specializes in guys who swing from the heels and only occasionally hit a HR!). The pitching staff is terrible (at 71OVR is my best starter) and many of the batters are replacement level. I don't see them advancing from Silver until I get a really good couple of pulls. But it's been an interesting experiment and I have to resist fiddling with the lineups too much (there's only SO much you can squeeze out of a bunch of random bronzes!).

Then there's my "real" team, the team I'm managing how I want to. This one makes me depressed! It has shown a familiar progression. Great in Bronze, above .500 in Silver, just below .500 in Gold, and now playing .400 ball in Diamond. I've blown some cash on packs but it was more of a fling with extra cash than a real strategy to get good players... and my pack opening luck is nothing like you guys - I've gotten maybe 2 Diamonds out of packs and never seen a perfect. So this team that has maybe 4 Diamonds on it is facing much better teams with regularity and is constantly getting it's butt kicked. I tried to make it over this year into a HR/BB team with decent pitching but that hasn't worked out as expected. And since I'm losing regularly we're not generating much in the way of PP. It would be a mercy to get this team kicked back to Gold so I can straighten it out.

Looking at what I wrote, I wonder if the managing process gets less engaging the higher you go in the leagues. After all, when you're in Diamond or Perfect and your team needs 10K or 20K (or 200K) to get its next upgrade, will it be interesting to log in daily and see how it's going?

Eh, not going to think about that now!

One of my teams, defense only is in Gold and leading its division. I am trying to get the best defensive players at each position while completely disregarding offense. I am almost at my goal. To compensate for the lack of hitting, I spend my PP on pitching. Going for 9 great gloves and 33 shutouts.

Another of my teams is pack only and in Diamond. They haven't seen an upgrade in some time. It is nice though to be able to open packs and not have to worry about finding upgrades for the team from the auction house.

I have another team tin bronze that is going for speed and power. I'm trying to see how many 20/20 guys I can get on the same team. It is still early to tell if this will work because I just started making the changes to this team after it was a power only team,which did not have much success.

A fourth team I play is a Gold contact/gap team, which has been cranking the ball. Its defense is bad, so I replaced a few guys for defense. Still trying to upgrade Manush at LF.

F2P and no live players has been very fun for me.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by LandiHero

In PT 19, I had a similar issue as you talked about with hitting a wall at gold on my FTP team. Once I started to really stagnate there, making it to the playoffs but not far enough to get promoted, I got pretty unmotivated to keep playing. At that point, I decided to change up how I played PT. I opened up 2 new team and gave them certain playstyles/goals. One of them was to go completely defensive and try to win 9 gold gloves. The other was a packs only team where I would try to build around one good player I got early that I don't remember. I loved the defensive team, even though it also hit a wall around gold. I got up to 7 gold gloves and still check in on them occasionally. They found there way up to diamond, so maybe it all payed off? The packs team was also fun, just because I love ripping packs. They never did great even though I pulled Lindor, Donaldson, Arenado, Bryant, and Justin Turner. But I really enjoyed opening those packs, so it was worth it.

For this year, my goals are similar. On my first account, I'm trying to collect all of the Future Legend cards. I don't know why I'm particularly enamored with them in particular, but I've already gotten 11/50. For my second account, I'm going back to my defensive efforts to work on some unfinished business there. My team is pretty close to max defense, so my next step is to work on pitching to help the defense and a great DH so that I can actually score runs (any tips on a good and cheap 5k-10k DH are much appreciated). My third and final team is back on the pack ripping grind. I've done pretty well to get myself a solid outfield including Harper, decent infield with Correa, and a solid pitching staff including Buehler, Ohtani, and Will Harris to close games. I really enjoy these playstyles of going for a specific goal rather than targeting the perfect league, but perhaps that's just me.

We ended up in the same league, which is going to hurt our quest for the Great Gloves. McCovey has been money for me at DH.