Park factors

[offerman7]

I think we shouldn't be able to change these. Maybe have MLB stadium cards that you can build your team around.

[Markus Heinsohn]

I dunno. I like the fact you can change these to a certain degree. We are running sanity checks on them when the server imports the changes, by the way, so you won't be able to set extreme values.

Look, in real life teams could also plan their new ballpark to fit their intended style of play, I think we should offer the same possibility in PT. After all, it's your team, and your ballpark

[RchW]

Originally Posted by offerman7

I think we shouldn't be able to change these. Maybe have MLB stadium cards that you can build your team around.

IRL park factors change all the time. They are in fact a post facto representation of the home lineup and the various visiting lineups results for a given time period, usually a season. BR has multi season factors


http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/parkfa.../sort/HRFactor

[runyan99]

But, couldn't the player adjust the fences every day to adjust for a LH or RH lineup?

Either the player should have to pay coins to adjust the park, or the player can only adjust the park before the season, or the player should have to collect parks as cards.

[offerman7]

Originally Posted by runyan99

But, couldn't the player adjust the fences every day to adjust for a LH or RH lineup?

Either the player should have to pay coins to adjust the park, or the player can only adjust the park before the season, or the player should have to collect parks as cards.

^ This is the problem that I could see happening.

[mitchkenn]

Originally Posted by runyan99

But, couldn't the player adjust the fences every day to adjust for a LH or RH lineup?

Either the player should have to pay coins to adjust the park, or the player can only adjust the park before the season, or the player should have to collect parks as cards.

when (if) that happens, there'll be less people playing, myself included. i like the ball-park adjustments just the way they are.

[Fyrestorm3]

Yeah, I'm okay with it as-is. At the same time, I think it'd be quite fun to be able to "build" a ballpark with cards, but in terms of a potential gaming of the system, I don't think there's a whole lot to worry about here.

If it does become an issue, I would recommend maybe doing something like the reserve roster rules, where you can only change park factors every 14 in-game days.

[Maddox]

Here is what Markus answered the other day about updating various parts of your team.

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Uniforms etc. can be tweaked all the time. The ballpark not, it can only be customized while in the Entry Pool or prior / after each regular season.

So it seems like it is not possible to change it on a daily basis based on the lineup/opponent.

[el_gringo]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

We are running sanity checks on them when the server imports the changes, by the way, so you won't be able to set extreme values.

Nobody on my team can hit HRs and every other team seems to have lots of power, so I tried setting my HR settings to 0.25 and my OF distances to 500-600ft, but I had to settle for 0.8 and 450 (at CF)

I like that parks can be adjusted, because it will provide players with limited roster resources a way to gain an advantage if they build their team/park a certain consistent way (at least at home). My home record has been at least slightly better at every stage of the beta than my road record, because I am able to play to my strengths and lightly temper my weaknesses. Then again, my road record suffers some because my team is tuned to play in a huge park, not a smaller, power-friendly park.

And, people still hit 450ft+ bombs off my pitchers all the time at home, and it doesn't feel like the system can be overly abused. It's not like my record is way better at home, but it's noticeable. I recall the post somewhere about the all-lefty team in a super-custom park not losing any games, and I don't think that sort of thing can be created here given the limits placed on park customization factors.

Edit: Also, if anyone can create a broken team by abusing park factor changes, do it! That's part of what the beta is for: ensuring there aren't brokenly exploitable strategic balance aspects of the game.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by el_gringo

Nobody on my team can hit HRs and every other team seems to have lots of power, so I tried setting my HR settings to 0.25 and my OF distances to 500-600ft, but I had to settle for 0.8 and 450 (at CF)

I like that parks can be adjusted, because it will provide players with limited roster resources a way to gain an advantage if they build their team/park a certain consistent way (at least at home). My home record has been at least slightly better at every stage of the beta than my road record, because I am able to play to my strengths and lightly temper my weaknesses. Then again, my road record suffers some because my team is tuned to play in a huge park, not a smaller, power-friendly park.

And, people still hit 450ft+ bombs off my pitchers all the time at home, and it doesn't feel like the system can be overly abused. It's not like my record is way better at home, but it's noticeable. I recall the post somewhere about the all-lefty team in a super-custom park not losing any games, and I don't think that sort of thing can be created here given the limits placed on park customization factors.

Edit: Also, if anyone can create a broken team by abusing park factor changes, do it! That's part of what the beta is for: ensuring there aren't brokenly exploitable strategic balance aspects of the game.

Yes, all the factors have limits on them, so you can't go too crazy with them. And as mentioned, they can only be customized before/after a season, so you can't micro-manage.

[MmmRocks]

I absolutely love that we can change our park factors. Whenever I play in a new online league I try to pick a park that matches my preferred style of play and I've had a lot of success with that strategy, putting together 100+ win teams more often than not.