FHM2 Thoughts

[Mickeyb37]

I decided to wait until all the Updates/Patches had been made to FHM2 before trying to really get into the game. I have just completed my first two seasons as GM of the Expansion Las Vegas Aces and did pretty well. Managed to finish 4th in the Pacific Division and 9th in the Western Conference first season and then made it to the second round of the Playoffs in season two.

I started in 2016/2017 by simming the first season to get a better Free Agent class and signed up Okposo, Kopitar and Yandle. I also forfeited a lot of my picks in the expansion draft to keep plenty of cap room free and to be honest the expansion class apart from Netminders was pretty poor anyway.

Now I loved my experience of playing both of these seasons and enjoyed making trades, fixing my tactics, battling to keep most of my roster after season one, signing free agents to make my team stronger and drafting two guys in the first round (I managed to package up my 2nd , 3rd, 4th pick and the rights of a player I acquired to get a second 1st round pick which was 10th in the Draft). Both my draftees were great additions and big contributors especially Nathan Patrick a RW. I even enjoyed tearing my hair out when I lost games I really should have won on shootouts or in overtime. For those two seasons I was totally immersed in my Aces team.

Problem for me was that after season 2 I didn't feel that I wanted to do it all again. There was nothing that was really pulling me back to the game for season 3. I have been playing sports games for years and Football Manager is my main vice. With FM I have had multiple 20 year plus careers and I keep going back season after season. I am not a huge Baseball fan but I did at one time have an 8 year career with the Mets in OOTP baseball. I think that career only ended when FM16 came out So it's not that I can't get hooked by a game and play it season after season. Something is just missing in FHM2 for me.

I guess what I am saying is that FHM2 is a brilliant game that I have really enjoyed playing but it needs to find something in FHM3 that will keep me wanting to play.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

If you could say us what is missing to you for long time motivation and what other games do better in this regards would help us to improve this aspect of the game (what our main goal is for FHM 3).

[Mickeyb37]

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

If you could say us what is missing to you for long time motivation and what other games do better in this regards would help us to improve this aspect of the game (what our main goal is for FHM 3).

Thanks for the reply Sebastian.

Since my post I have been trying to think what it might be. If you take a game like Football Manager its a game that has been around for a long time and they have probably worked hard over the years to get that sort of addictive quality about the game. In saying that there has been a couple of versions of FM I struggled with (I hated FM15 and couldn't get into it but FM16 is better).

I think with the level of interaction with your players on FM you really build up a connection to your team. In FHM2 if a players isn't playing his morale indicator (face) goes red. In FM the players literally harass the hell out of you to get playing time with demands to play, threats to see out their contracts unless they get a move or threatening to disrupt the team harmony. The fact you can praise players performances or criticise them again develops the connection to players. If a player respects you they take the criticism if they don't they moan to the media.

In FM you have to put a lot of work into training/developing your players. In FHM2 the training aspect of the game isn't really there yet. In FM you have to put a lot of work in to have your best prospects turn into stars but in FHM2 my two top draftees went straight into the team and started scoring and became permanent fixtures in the roster.

In FM you really use your staff. You have staff meetings and get advice from them on players to pick/drop, changes to training. Scouts recommend players rather than just give you a list of players. They do give reports on loads of players but recommend maybe 2/3 in your inbox.

The media interaction in FM is good but does start to get a bit tedious but again defending your team or yourself in a press conference is good at times.

As an expansion team the expectation was to rebuild. However, after achieving qualifying for the playoffs there was no real feeling of having been succesful or having achieved something beyond their expectation from the club board. In FM you get messages about your success. When I played a game as the Kings and won the Stanley Cup the success was a bit of an anti-climax as there was no real congratulations from the board just one message saying they thought I was doing well or something like that.

Some of these things might be way off in FHM but they are only suggestions.

As I said I have really enjoyed playing the three seasons I have played. Tried another (the Kings one this morning but again season 2 seemed a bit like a chore rather than fun). I don't want it coming across as I don't like the game as I genuinely think it is a really good hockey game. The difference between the first version of the game and FHM2 is amazing and is even more evident now I have played the game for a few seasons. So congratulations on that is well overdue

[Orioles1966]

The ability to expand before every season and too move teams too other leagues would be the top two reasons(for me) too continue playing.

One reason I don't play the modern day NHL(and other leagues). It's too boring teams playing the same teams year after year. Expansion spices thing's up plus the ability too move team's brings more new rival's.

I never play OOTP the same two years in a row(for the same above reasons) . If I did play the same league set-up year after year it would seem like one season that never ended. This could be said for both OOTP and FHM.

[bialanoc]

Originally Posted by Mickeyb37

I think with the level of interaction with your players on FM you really build up a connection to your team.

Just wanted to pick up on this in a slightly different way, because I do think it's important as an FHM 2 GM's career goes into its second or third decade or beyond - as the familiar, real-life players exit the league and are replaced by computer-generated players, the game would really benefit from some sort of narrative overlay that better highlights storylines, milestones, rivalry games, divisional races in the standings, teams that are overperforming or underperforming compared to the previous season, point streaks, emerging rookies, etc. When 2045 comes around and the league is full of names I'm not familiar with, I'd love to have a better reason to click on, say, the Winnipeg Jets and have a casual sense of where they've been and where they're going, even though they aren't my team.

The game already tracks things like milestones and rookie performance to generate the milestones screen and the Calder award, so it'd really just be a matter of bringing these storylines to the forefront more and developing criteria to generate news stories for some of the others. I'd love to help with this in any way I could, I think it'd be an amazing addition to the next game version.

[ike121212]

The immersion killer for me (if I play fictional or sim far enough into the future) is that there's no attachment to the players. Once you take away the real life names that you know, everyone looks and feels so similar. The average rating for any given attribute of an NHL player is around 16. An 18 is great, a 14 is bad. Often it feels like reading a really boring spreadsheet. Nothing stands out. In contrast, I feel invested in my backup SS in OOTP, and have from the moment I drafted him.

[Mickeyb37]

Originally Posted by ike121212

In contrast, I feel invested in my backup SS in OOTP, and have from the moment I drafted him.

This is something that really works in OOTP. You draft a player, then you see him work his way through the farm system and then there is a feeling of success when you get to pick him for your MLB roster and starting lineup a few years later.

[tward13]

Online play. One of the fun things of OOTP is playing against real people who make their own decisions.

Online in FHM is tedious and unrealistic. The AI messes with the roster too often, you can't set goalie rotations in advance. There have been problems with leagues not having playoffs, expansion not working.

[GMO123]

I think it's similar to any relationship.
The more you know about a person generally the more you care or are interested in the person.

So the more a player (or staff) becomes like a real person with characteristics then the more people will become attached to the player and team.
How a player plays, type of play, aggressive or less aggressive, how player deals with pressure, how player deals with teammates, how he deals with fans and the media, happy person or negative person, wants to stay on team or not - why?, how player deals with culture change and language, how player reacts to staff/coach directions - follows instructions or ignores instructions or someplace inbetween, does player like home city or not and why, how much influence does money salary have on a player whether he's happy or not, or playing for a contender or doesn't care as long as he's playing hockey, how does he deal with playing in some hockey-mad cities where he can never go anyplace without being recognized or does player prefer a more low-key hockey city where he can go out for dinner and not be bothered by fans, is he married, have kids and how they influence him, does he have a temper, or soft-spoken etc.

[ike121212]

Originally Posted by GMO123

I think it's similar to any relationship.
The more you know about a person generally the more you care or are interested in the person.

So the more a player (or staff) becomes like a real person with characteristics then the more people will become attached to the player and team.
How a player plays, type of play, aggressive or less aggressive, how player deals with pressure, how player deals with teammates, how he deals with fans and the media, happy person or negative person, wants to stay on team or not - why?, how player deals with culture change and language, how player reacts to staff/coach directions - follows instructions or ignores instructions or someplace inbetween, does player like home city or not and why, how much influence does money salary have on a player whether he's happy or not, or playing for a contender or doesn't care as long as he's playing hockey, how does he deal with playing in some hockey-mad cities where he can never go anyplace without being recognized or does player prefer a more low-key hockey city where he can go out for dinner and not be bothered by fans, is he married, have kids and how they influence him, does he have a temper, or soft-spoken etc.

Not sure if you play OOTP. Despite the obvious similarities, there's some big difference in how they handle core attributes, options, and screens. Looking at a simple roster or player screen side by side, the differences are glaring. Presentation goes a long ways, and FHM is very utilitarian.