FM Live Council & all that

Unfortunately due to being away I'm not really able to log on to forum for any length of time (expensive on board the Queen Mary 2) and due to a massive clanger on the wife's part (holiday ends later than thought) unlikely to be able attend.

The council to me says that SI are REALLY doing something apart GW activity. If you were harsh then you'd say they were now having a meeting about doing something but I think it's progress.

I think my gripe is that the game seems to lack direction or a vision. I may well be way off the mark here but it seems to me that FM Live started as Fantasy Football using the FM database / match engine and became something more.

It seems to have moved so far from the original vision that SI no longer have a vision as such. If I was to be harsh again you'd say Si were making it up as they go along. To get things back on track that needs to be sorted. Maybe the council will allow them to really home in on exactly what direction to take.

It seems to me it's one direction or another

1) What we have now - GW's are not dynamic and remain as they are. New managers need to be given a boost in order that they can find their level in a GW.

2) The entire concept changes to 'rags to riches' or 'minnows to giants'.

Just to repeat what I wrote on in a forum post I'm of the opinion that a new GW launches with 1000 managers, 100/200 will be happy with a lower league manager type of game; into the community, chatting about players, the Fa set up, the games, youths, and generally just enjoying the game.

800 or so will be desperate to get to the top; owning the best players, top 30 ranked, winning premier leagues, getting into UFFA, etc.

After a few seasons your left with 200 / 300 managers, 100/200 are happy with their lot and the rest are either at the top or think they will be at the top soon.

The reminder have come the conclusion that it isn't going to happen and either leave the game or hit the forums to beg for a new GW.

If you accept that as the reason for the levels of activity that we see then really it's back to SI to ask if they have to make a more commercial game. That's not a given, there vision for the game may well differ and it may not need be a mass market product. In fact if you can find enough managers happy with a lower league / simulation type of game then why worry?

If they do need to make a more commercial game then the only one that is viable is 'rags to riches' in some way. The hardcore of the community will generally argue against this, yes it's a long term game they will say but

How that's implemented exactly is open to debate, high pa youth teams to new managers, force top managers out, hard code regression to top teams, allow managers to move clubs, Prestige forced restarts etc etc.

Isn't it already like that though?

In a way it is, I can get into a GW slowly build up the stadium to support a galaticos squad and head on up to the top 50 ish. It takes a long time and with changes to the FA's in some GW's (like Clough) it's a fun journey. Not everyone has played the game for the same amount of time as me though, whilst I'm not amazing at FM Live I'd say I'm above average so very often others can't experiance the game in the same way.

Very early on the hit the wall and are left bored with what is basially a Lower League Manager / Simulation type game.

Also if I started a new seprate account in Shearer I can't see that 2nd account overtaking the first account, so I will be limited as to how far I could progress anyway.

The solutions put forward by the community don't follow this either, if the vast majority of the community that is left are generally happy, their suggestions are often pre occupied with preserving the staus quo. Give new managers a boost seems to be touted around a lot but the second you start suggesting boosts like high PA youth team, hands are thrown up in horror but that's a real boost they say! :)

The one thing that SI seem fairly convinced about is that database players need to remain for an old GW to be attractive. Is this the reason why GW's are not popular? When I've debated with managers who advocate this as a reason why they won't join an old GW it comes across to me as an excuse and not the reason.

Youth

I'll show you a youth player! Make your eyes bleed this one!


Yuuummm and locked for a season on £800 a day.

Clough Season 2 Squad - Old GW Easier!

Nice wages too!

1.4 Injuries and their effect

After this new system was introduced and logged in to find my main striker out for four games. I hadn't even realised I did this but my mouse hovered over the log out button, hang on though he'll still be injured tomorrow!

There is no dodging injuries now, we reached the end of season and I'm looking at squad thinking I have to have a proper squad, many of these players will be out for key games. It really does add a lot to the game.

Beta - What a glorious season, took three stages of Div.1 won the Mid Season Open. I don't think any team has done that previously not even in Alchomedia's glory years did they take 3 out of four.

I've always kept a youth team going and thankfully have managed to produce some first teamers, their not drop dead stunning but are 25+ now and high profile standard. This at least allows me to pump some serious cash at the 28-30yo players subject to being able to find them. Somewhat odd that players now age end of season, so during wage auctions looking at 31yo not just 30yo:)

Clough - Well it's a competitive team for the league we're in for sure but results are not exactly spectacular. Still play some nice football and will further strengthen in the close season. I think we're headed for a mid table finish from what I've seen thus far. UPDATE: A mini good run later and we hit the top of the league around six of the cheapo's I have have turned high profile and the team that was 4th we beat 4-1. Ohhh.

Shearer - Finished 3rd in AEFA once again a UFFA spot so good result there, already have bagged a £1m + Aq Fee AMC who's 30. New leagues which I pray for the sake of the GW won't be qual. Still carrying two / three players really in this team but I'm not going to buy unless we're talking jaw dropping. Some decent youths coming through but it does take sooooo long before their as good as half decent 30yo.
Still managed to bag the Best of Fed and U21 League in AEFA this season.

Latest vibe on the forums seems to be player progression, some ME problems all due to be fixed very soon and the never ending 'what you gonna do about activity SI, open a new GW'. I suspect there are around 9/10 managers who've bounced into every new GW that contually ask the new GW question.

I get their point, playing short term in a long term GW must be a buzz.

Ohhhh Sometimes you win the lottery

During my desperate efforts to strengthen the Clough squad during wage auctions I chanced upon a player that hadn't played much but was still well known.... Strange, anyway I managed to get him on £4k a day £65k Aq Fee.

We won our first game 6-1 have limped along with a defeat a draw and another thumper 5-0. In this time he's gone £170k High Profile with some amazing goals in the process.

Div.5 is pretty well balanced there is one team on a good run and another with wages of £230k! We lost 1-0 to them but actually had more chances. I really hope I'm not in Div.5 when my wages get to that stage:(

I've got Sega fright in Shearer I think I should move but don't really know if I should so I'll just do nothing :)

It has been a bit gritty on the forums recently, 1.3 had a progression bug which no one liked naturally. Everyone thought that the new injury system was ace. There were at least a hundred posts about the progression bug and six on the new injury system. Not nice being SI sometimes!

It is getting a bit flaky on the forums again as managers sit in their GW's with plans for world domination coming to fruition, only to find the world is now 20 odd managers.

Had a good debate with someone in the forums (not naming names) and it went like this:-

Them: I justify my position due to this real life example.
Me: That is not comparable to real life because it's more like ....
Them: It's a game stop using real life examples.

I do like a debate and I think it should remain as a debate, it is strange that many months back I had a debate with someone in the lobby. Who was right or wrong is irrelevant (well I was right naturally) but the guy the following day pm'd me to apologise. I was quite shocked, it's ok to disagree about something!

My favourite is, 'do you think this player is worth X', do you want a honest answer I say, I then say no, and here is why. Someone once told me after that I didn't know what I was talking about and should shut up! Hehe.

Gah look at that me just with just another random wibble, what was this post about again, errr something about football.

Jak's Football Manager Live Player Price Guide

I suppose prices are subjective, I've had a lot of players that have great stats but they only tell you the type of player not when or how often they play like their stats. In other words i've owned some right duffers that should be great but are not.

I always look for Rep (relative to club played for, a high rep player at a low rep club is going to be nice!), Aq Fee (ability) and finally stats (will give you a clue as to the type of player).

I did this more really for the sake of my own sanity! I bagged a £1m household name at 29 in Beta for £1.4m and got to thinking is that expensive or not?

Comments on Players
Household Names - These players are the regular match winners or as defenders will almost never make a mistake and are amazingly consistent.
World Famous - Either consistent or occasional match winning performance. You might see the odd mistake at the back but it's going to be rare.
High Profile - Great players above average in every respect.
Well Known - Your bread and butter type rep can be quite variable so these can easily turn into High Profile. They should be VERY cheap!

1.4 Injuries - Rough Outline

Ok Mr. Collyer has just outlined the new injury system that will be rolled out to beta. As ever this is Work In Progress and may not make the final game, we're just trialling it:-

Injuries:

- an injury can occur in any match resulting in a player having to leave the field
- only after a major competition match can an injury become lasting, but the chances of it lasting are reduced by up to 50% if the user has general physio skills (10% per level)
- lasting training injuries can occur from time-to-time but with the likelihood reducing by up to 50% if the user has general physio skills (again, 10% per level)
- injuries prevent a player playing for X number of major competition matches only; a player is eligible to play in any other matches
- if a team has no scheduled major competition matches, or the player is a free agent, injuries recover over time at a standard rate based on the usual 1 month = 1 year timescale, but as soon as his team (if he has one) has a scheduled major competition match this recovery freezes and the team must play a match to continue the recovery of any injured players
- the length of an injury can be reduced by any general physio skills and any injury-specific physio skills

From my own point of view I'd have liked to have seen only the League count as recovery time giving us some real depth to the squad management side of the game but still overall a MASSIVE improvement.