Meet the 5-time PL Champion, Free-to-Play Gold Saucer Wonder Squares + AMA

[One Great Matrix]

How do I come up with a price for the cards I..."offer", sir.?

[ElementalKnight]

Originally Posted by Sipimi

Isn't it "good" for the game to have bottleneck cards ? I mean, I'm the first hurt by this (FYI I have none of the top cards) but would it be more "fun" if everyone was playing 100 Ozzie ? I wish I had him, but at the same thing I wouldn't want everyone to be able to collect and play him, there would be leagues of Ozzie playing against Ozzie. Since I'm not spending money nor quitting my job to watch the AH full time, I have to accept the fact that I'll never get to play him.

I did also say this, which is in line with much of what Dogberry99 said:

Originally Posted by ElementalKnight

There are ways to ameliorate this and not destroy competitive or market balance.

If OOTPD wants my take on how to make collections or the market a better experience for all, they're more than welcome to hire me as a consultant.

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

Amazing how 75% of this thread is just people hating

It's funny you say this. I expected a way harsher reaction from people than what happened here. Lots of people have been super friendly and have asked helpful questions.

As far as "hating" goes, people _should_ be skeptical of claims like the ones I'm making. They should want proof. And I completely understand people being upset that I've helped drive prices up for things they want. But, again, while I might have sped up the metagame a little bit, these are all systemic issues that would have revealed themselves in time.

[ElementalKnight]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

How do I come up with a price for the cards I..."offer", sir.?

There are no hard-and-fast rules here. I refer back to a little of what I said before about experience and experimentation being important.

Some of this depends on how quickly you as a seller need to move something. I try, as much as I can, to be comfortable with the notion that some big ticket items might not move for a while. Maybe weeks. The more patient you are, the more likely you are (as a buyer or seller) to get the price you want.

I bought 98 Ripken at 60k a few weeks ago. I tried to move him for about two weeks for between 120k and 150k (all time average on the card was just under 150k, L7 was 0). No one bit. I dropped him to 100k because I wanted the points quickly for other things, and he moved in short order. Would he have moved at a higher price? Maybe, maybe not. But I got tired of waiting (and worried that more supply was coming).

So pay attention to supply. If you're selling the only supply of something people want, you're in the driver's seat. I try also to be sure (as much as is practicable) that I'm offering the cheapest one on the market, so long as it doesn't fall below the minimum amount I'd want to receive for it. I'm a pretty ruthless undercutter when I'm focused.

I hope at least some of that helps.

[ElementalKnight]

By the way, if anyone wants more specific advice about how to handle a particular market situation, feel free to PM me on Discord. I'm ElementalKnight there as well. Happy to offer what I can.

[DonkeyKongSr]

So, Elemental Knight would have set the PeL ERA record last season, if it weren't for Willie M/jairywestside doing even better last season. Amazing work doing that with a F2P team.

[ElementalKnight]

Originally Posted by DonkeyKongSr

So, Elemental Knight would have set the PeL ERA record last season, if it weren't for Willie M/jairywestside doing even better last season. Amazing work doing that with a F2P team.

Thanks! I use the same park dimensions that the Wonder Squares have in my fictional league, which is slightly above neutral for offense, so that's part of why it surprised me. jairywestside absolutely shattered that record.

By the way, the biggest temptation I had to spend money was on your spreadsheet. I decided against it on the notion that it wouldn't be free-to-play for me, but I think there's no better resource out there for understanding the statistical side of the game than what you provide. There's also probably no better ROI in PT than spending money on that. You've also accomplished some remarkable strategic things in the game, and that's been neat to see.

[ElementalKnight]

The Wonder Squares have turned it up to overdrive the last several seasons:

[bailey]

Is that the same team you use in tournaments?

[ElementalKnight]

The roster is the same, but I moved people around to try to compensate for the lack of position training. You and I have run into each other a lot in those small tourneys.

[bailey]

Originally Posted by ElementalKnight

The roster is the same, but I moved people around to try to compensate for the lack of position training. You and I have run into each other a lot in those small tourneys.

I had to pick up Jackie Robinson to play 2B and wish I had not sold Cap Anson and Norm Cash at 1B although my replacement is not bad. I can't figure out how you get those low team ERA.

[ElementalKnight]

I'm less willing than most to sacrifice defense for offense. SE Appling at 2B and 100 DiMaggio in RF are the biggest defensive sacrifices I make (though I'd like to change that in time).

Position training not carrying over to tournaments kills the interest for me, so I'm holding out for the next waves of collections to make improvements to the team. I sold off most of the possible backups I had in order to create a more solid foundation for some of the remaining collections.

[bailey]

You sure participate a lot for "killed interest"! Anyway, I'm on board with no training for tournaments, just wish they had been honest about it from the beginning and had the poll a whole lot earlier than they did. My team doesn't sacrifice defense, Cobb and the catchers are the only ones below 90, my starters are mostly the same, so it must be the bullpen, but I consistently have #1 ERA in the bullpen, too.

[ElementalKnight]

Haha, it's still free points! I agree completely with you about how they should have handled talking about training. I would have been much more okay with that decision if they had announced it earlier.

I forgot to mention 100 Cochrane—that's actually my biggest defensive sacrifice.

I'm really not sure then. My bullpen is good, but I don't think I do anything remarkable. Bullpen here:

[ElementalKnight]

I was thinking about he ERA thing a little more. The only other thing I can think of that might be relevant here is that I bring my defensive subs in early (7th+ inning) and when leading by 4 runs or less. 100 Boudreau, 99 Mays, and SE Rickey are my D-subs against right-handed pitchers, so that could matter.