Feedback Needed / OOTP 11 Features

[BostonRS14]

I think it would be nice to incorporate the dynasty/blog boards into the game more, enabling writers better access to the mass data the game creates and easier ability to write our stories in the game and export them to the ootp blogs.

Seems like a win-win, where the writers are given better tools/options, and ootp gets a chance to shine a light on the depth of the game and use the blogs on the front page to advertise.

[conception]

This is one that I thought of because of another thread today- make the Rule V draft eligibility settings customizable. For leagues without extensive minor leagues, it doesn't make sense for a player to be in the minors for 4 or 5 years before they are eligible when they have been languishing in the penultimate minor league or only minor league for 3 years. Also, even for more MLB style leagues, being able to reduce the timeframe till a player is eligible could add some real spice to the rule V. Teams would have to decide whether to protect very under-developed prospects or risk a team grabbing them and stashing them on the major league roster the entire season, much like teams do in real life.

I imagine there may be some AI programming issues involved- the AI would have to understand that players taken in the rule V and stashed could be longterm investments, and not necessarily the best option for the roster at a given time. Still, I think this is something that I would really like to have the option to do if possible.

[IronMan2632]

Originally Posted by Jontler

It would also be reeeeeeeally nice if the next version of OOTP had screen resolutions that were compatible with a netbook. I had high hopes when adjustable screen resolutions was added in the recent patch, but the lower bound was too big for my netbook.

I know I'm not the only person who would get use out of this.

+1.

I use my netbook a lot more than my desktop or laptop, so I don't play OOTP as often. Being able to play it on my netbook would be great. Yeah, I could use a utility to fake the screen size, but I shouldn't have to.

[endgame]

I'd like to see this section include the # of innings next to the number of pitches for the day.

[I_Got_Wood_34]

In Game Navigation:

- Please let me use my mouse buttons to click forward and back from previous screens.

- Please implement the new windows 7 feature that allows you to open up two windows side-by-side so that you can look at two different screens for information/comparison without needed 2 monitors.

- Bold any mention of the players on my team (or players I have shortlisted) in any of the general league stats/news/history pages involving my team or player. Currently, some screens my players are bolded, sometimes they're not.

League News (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT).

- Add more customizable options to the 'news' feature: I just want news about the division I'm in (al west, al east, nl central, etc), some want news for every single team ... some want news for just their team .. etc this would dramatically increase the functionality of the news feature, imo. I'd love to know when an in-division rival has lost its star player to injury .. or made a trade .. or signed an FA. These are the teams I compete with all season.

- Send me an 'email' when a player I have on my shortlist retires (or does anything else noteworthy).

Statistics

wOBA (offense) and UZR (defense) need to be added. If not UZR .. then atleast ZR (zone rating). Defense is becoming a very important part of evaluating players.

ORGANIZATION REPUTATION (the most important of them all):

Free agents, rookies, etc should all evaluate the "reputation" of an organization ... A winning organization will attract A1 free agents, talented rookies, and their money demands might be less because of it. An organization with a poor reputation will simply (like old versions of ootp...won't be interested in taking your offer).

An organization with:

* a good coaching staff
* minimal roster turnover
* Great power ranking in previous season
* good farm system rating

etc..

will be attractive to marquee blockbuster free agents.

A team that goes cheap on coaches, and is constantly investing in youth development .. and has tanked several seasons for high end draft picks ... won't be as attractive to marquee amateurs and free agents.

Right now the game is too easy to horde money and prospects and then wait for a young healthy superstar to file for free agency .. and then outbid everybody for them. I constantly have tons of young talent .. young prospects and left over cash.

With organization reputation being a factor .. it would combat this "problem".

Lastly, I like the idea of investing cash reserves back into the team. Say you're able to field a competitive team with a small budget and still have plenty of cash leftover ... a good way to build your organization's reputation would be to invest in fancy clubhouse items .. better transportation vehicles .. and other perks for the players to improve their morale.

[JackRules1]

A very small item, but one I would love to see:

In the position drop-down menu we already have the option of choosing all pitchers, all starters and all batters, as well as every individual position. I would like to be able to look at all infielders and all outfielders. It would make it much easier to deal with changing lineups when an infielder or outfielder gets injured.

Thanks for all the hard work you guys do to make this a great product.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by I_Got_Wood_34

League News (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT).

- Add more customizable options to the 'news' feature: I just want news about the division I'm in (al west, al east, nl central, etc), some want news for every single team ... some want news for just their team .. etc this would dramatically increase the functionality of the news feature, imo. I'd love to know when an in-division rival has lost its star player to injury .. or made a trade .. or signed an FA. These are the teams I compete with all season.

Like this idea. Sporting News, in particular, reads through the divisions in each league and it makes sense, personalizes and drives home the real contentions going on, and gives a better picture for projections as the year ensues. Very good point.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by JackRules1

A very small item, but one I would love to see:

In the position drop-down menu we already have the option of choosing all pitchers, all starters and all batters, as well as every individual position. I would like to be able to look at all infielders and all outfielders. It would make it much easier to deal with changing lineups when an infielder or outfielder gets injured.

Thanks for all the hard work you guys do to make this a great product.

That would be very useful.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

That would be very useful.

Personally these are the first filters I make every version and I never regret the 1 minute it takes to set them up.

It's a simple query: Position is Left Field OR Position is Center Field OR Position is Right Field for Outfielders, and a similar one for Infielders. Usually the Role field is also useful for creating a Starter and Bullpen filter as well. Just thought I'd let you know if you weren't aware already.

[Sparrow]

This is a relatively minor nuisance, but I wish that when you "Load Online League File" it wouldn't take the time to save the file it overwrites moments later.

[simcrazy]

***1) It seems that the "AI" minor-league managers don't play the top prospects all the time.

2) Is there anyway to un-do a mistake? For example, I place my replacement right-fielder in the game as a pitcher - can I un-do it if I catch it right away, i.e. before another pitch is thrown?

3) There are too many balks. A major league team will have maybe 5-10 balks in a year and my teams experience more like 5 a month.

***4) I'm sure this has been discussed plenty, but I like the injury *frequency* because I like challenge and realism. However, the amount of season-ending injuries and severity i.e. length are definitely not realistic.

***5) PBP: I've seen the play 2-6-3 multiple times with no one else on base. I'm not sure how this could possibly happen.

6) Is there an option to make everyone's financials "fair"? Everyone on an even ground to start (I want things to adjust as teams play poorly or well) - can it happen?

7) Is there a way to make all parks grass without going to every park and making the individual change in commish mode?

8) I've seen a player's actual rating listed as higher than his potential rating (I use a 1-100 scale)

9) I try to use a 1-100 scale for everything, but overall and potential ratings are on a scale from 20-80

***10) Opposing AI managers misuse the intentional walk. No manager would ever, ever walk a guy when up in the game and the batter hitting a homer would not change the lead in the 9th inning. I see this often. For example, Team A is up by 3 in the 9th and there is a man on second for Team B. Team A would never walk the batter because a homer doesn't change the lead.

***11) I once saw a player's history indicate that he was selected by two different teams in two different rounds in the innagural draft.

***12) I have had a couple minor leaguers with no service time on minor league contracts get injured and my minor league manager (AI) puts the player on the 60-day DL where he starts accumulating service time. This is an error. Also an issue with spring training minor league injuries.

***13) Can't put your DH in the field - big deviation from reality.

[simcrazy]

Originally Posted by lt2cents

There are a lot of things to fix--- some for several versions-- that are identified elsewhere on the forums. Clean them up and have a good foundation before getting into new features.

+1

Items like not being able to put your DH in the field, or the 60-day DL issues with minor-league players need to be fixed before more "frills". When you sort minors, there shouldn't be THAT much movement, stuff like that is the most important.

[houheffna]

trade deadline!

This is such a central part...I have been playing OOTP for years and the fact that during the trade deadline and even during winter meetings...major players are not moved and I am the only one trying to move these major players is shocking to me. The game has come so far and is so great, yet this is such a glaring omission.


Also a gallery, each team should have banners (in team colors or whatever colors the commissioner wants to use), retired numbers, trophies and even for your once in a century greats...statues!

Great players should announce that they are retiring at the end of the season. Some should contemplate retirement in the press. Some say they will retire...and don't.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by simcrazy

+1

Items like not being able to put your DH in the field, or the 60-day DL issues with minor-league players need to be fixed before more "frills". When you sort minors, there shouldn't be THAT much movement, stuff like that is the most important.

I think some of that stuff comes under the heading of "design decisions", so wont be fixed any time soon.

[jmknpk2]

I would like more in-game play by play flexibility in selecting plays.
Hold runner should be handled like fielding position shifts, so that I can pitch-around and hold runner for example.

Likewise, the offensive plays should be broken out. So that I can send-forced on any play (hit away, bunt,...). So I could have runner steal options: steal at will, send forced, lead runner or both, or no steal. Then for batter options: take, hit away, bunt for hit, bunt for sacrafice, protect runner (i.e. hit and run). None of these need to be mutually exclusive.

I am the manager, and I should be able to call any play that I can in real life. There have been many times that I wanted to call a play (even if most consider it a poor decision) which was just not available in the game. This is frustrating in a game with so many other options.

Seems pretty doable.

[clamel]

I confes I haven´t read over this thread so this might be in it already

I just finished season 1998 and in the last game Mark McGwire broke his own HR single season record of 74 with a dinger in the ninth inning.

The only textmessage was he hit HR nr 75 and nothing at all in any news summing up the season.

I was never "in game" for the previous 74 HR season of 1996, but surely it would be fun if such records was mentioned either in the news or in the game itself.

The hipe when Big Mac actually broke the HR record RL was enourmos, so just a little news bulletin in OOTP should be nice (Drugs or no drugs)

This goes for all MLB records of one or the other kind...

[simcrazy]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

I think some of that stuff comes under the heading of "design decisions", so wont be fixed any time soon.

um, why?

They made a "design decision" to not have the game mirror REALITY? Isn't that the whole point of this game?

I for one will not buy another version unitl realism is made a priority.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by simcrazy

um, why?

They made a "design decision" to not have the game mirror REALITY? Isn't that the whole point of this game?

I for one will not buy another version unitl realism is made a priority.

It's more that certain things are difficult to replicate for whatever reason in the game engine. Apparently the problem with the DH thing is that the game doesn't like one team having a DH and the other not.

[Number42]

Originally Posted by conception

I think most people like the Sim screen. Certainly, I think you have an idea for what it could become that if done right wouldn't be a bad thing either, but even though we can't read the articles during simming, seeing the headlines scroll by (which is all they are really supposed to be in sim mode) and having the stats and standings really helps to keep in touch with the league.

I'm more interested in keeping in touch with my own team.

I'd suggest something like the following (please forgive the graphics; I don't have much luck with screen captures). The data on the batting and pitching parts would be updated daily. If you want to add in a headline monitor, fine. I have never found the headlines (or the news stories) very interesting.

[conception]

Originally Posted by Number42

I'm more interested in keeping in touch with my own team.

I'd suggest something like the following (please forgive the graphics; I don't have much luck with screen captures). The data on the batting and pitching parts would be updated daily. If you want to add in a headline monitor, fine. I have never found the headlines (or the news stories) very interesting.

I like the idea and even with your mock-up I can imagine what a version with more time spent on it would look like.