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Main - Beta Chat

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By kicker10bog
7/17/2017 11:14 am
Every offseason, just have updated 40 times and 3-cone drills and bench press reps and the like.

The only thing about this idea is that it would favor those who can spend more time studying the game even more than the current version does.

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By Black Adder
7/17/2017 3:40 pm
Mr Average Gamer here.

Didn`t really have a clue what kind of player I drafted (why scroll down the list ,see somebody you like the look of ,then scout him,so highlighting that person for 31 other teams??),didn`t get any indication what he`d do or become after Training Camp,so the whole process was a complete shot in the dark,just as I thought.

"How is this Draft of Fog going to be an enjoyable part of the game ?"

The draft should be a chance for the not so good to get better ,this doesn`t achieve that IMO.

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By Mcarovil
7/17/2017 4:21 pm
Having drafted players on both ends of the spectrum......I can't get over the 24 speed for my 1st rd pick!!

It would be nice if the player card could reflect the hidden, scouted, and the final attributes after TC. It would be nice to look at all three and use that for future drafting.

Also, if you can't see the final attributes until after TC, there should be some process in place to cut players without incurring a cap hit. Currently it's not as hard to see if an early rd pick will make the roster. With the obfuscation, you run the risk of having several early picks bottom out and your hooked into their bonus and salary. Just a couple thoughts.

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By raymattison21
7/17/2017 5:17 pm
I wish we went back to volatility being hidden..

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By mwd65
7/17/2017 7:33 pm
After going through the obfuscation draft and training camp, I wanted to give some feedback:

- Do I like it as is: No.
A couple things I don't like about it:

1.) It is very time consuming compared to the "old way" and the more time I put into it, the farther behind I felt I was. I believe it was more of an "I'm lost feeling" that I haven't had since the early days of playing MFN. I just feel there should be a smaller range to go on than what was given.

2.) I'm not a fan of the "community" scout even though I feel I benefited by it in this draft. I chose a LDE in the first round. I didn't scout him, but other(s) did. He ended up +6 above his median range. Although I'm not sure who did scout him (and thank you), I probably would not have picked him if it was left to me to scout due to other needs in the draft. Even though I benefited from this, I don't think it is fair for everyone to see each team's scouting results. To me, this gives an unfair advantage to those picking earlier in the rounds.

I have heard many suggestions about how to better this process. One was to have combine results listed. I'm not for this idea. I do like how the draft system (before obfuscation) works. The great thing about this game is that everyone has their own philosophy of how a team should be designed and I think the player card information should stay the way it is without adding or substituting more information to it. Each GM uses this information in different ways.

However, even with the above said, I do like JDB's intentions of making the back end of the draft a bit more exciting and productive. I don't think the obfuscation system needs to be scrapped, but maybe some tweaking to make it easier for users, more fair to those drafting in the late part of the round and still get the results we're looking for.

I'm hoping there will be continued conversation on this topic, and more ideas brought forward about how this can be made better. Although I don't like it in its current state, I think the obfuscation system could be a great asset to the game.




Re: Draft player obfuscation

By jdavidbakr - Site Admin
7/17/2017 8:18 pm
I agree that the way it went down this year pretty much made everything completely random.

Here's a thought for a tweak: what if scouting the player actually removed the obfuscation? And we gave all teams a few more scouts (maybe 10 instead of 7). That would theoretically remove the question of the first few rounds - unless all scouted players ended up being duds - and still leave some chance for later picks to be better than expected.

My biggest concern is the one voiced by Tecra and others, that it is too time-consuming to do the scouting process.

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By Mcarovil
7/17/2017 8:23 pm
I'm torn between sharing the scouting reports and keeping them exclusive to owners.

Honestly. The owners that want to play the game fairly won't share scouting. I think it's worth it. Especially with all the custom and private leagues where most if not all owners believe in fair play. I'll just leave the leagues where there is collusion and keep to the invite only where I know we all are on the same playing field.

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By setherick
7/17/2017 8:33 pm
jdavidbakr wrote:
I agree that the way it went down this year pretty much made everything completely random.

Here's a thought for a tweak: what if scouting the player actually removed the obfuscation? And we gave all teams a few more scouts (maybe 10 instead of 7). That would theoretically remove the question of the first few rounds - unless all scouted players ended up being duds - and still leave some chance for later picks to be better than expected.

My biggest concern is the one voiced by Tecra and others, that it is too time-consuming to do the scouting process.


I love drafting, so I would love having 10-20 exclusive scouting reports. That said, I don't think it's worth it after listening to everyone. I was able to pull a decent draft together by gaming the **** out of the system (knowing what attributes to weight because they wouldn't boom or bust to determine a player's floor, etc.). And while I do think it's easy to game the system that way, and I could easily write out a full guide how to do it, most owners aren't going to want to spend the time to do it. (But when you're working away from home, there isn't much else to do in your hotel room in that hour or two between work and sleep.) The general vibe I get is to go back to the old unobscured way. At least then you're only gambling that a player's improvable, technical attributes don't bust when you take that 80 vol player in round 1, etc.

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By raymattison21
7/17/2017 8:38 pm
If one were to go the way of separated GM scouting I would like to see the coaches have a play in it. Similar to the way they have an impact on growth rate. Except they have a scouting rating. Better the rating results in a more accurate depiction of the player and or more chances to scout. Points used for super focused accurate evaluations or many of a variety of players looked at, but with more vague depictions .

Like a 100 points for 100 players (vaguely ) or only ten (pin point) depictions. Still, that total is solely dependent on how good your coaches are at scouting .

Re: Draft player obfuscation

By Black Adder
7/18/2017 3:45 am
raymattison21 wrote:
If one were to go the way of separated GM scouting I would like to see the coaches have a play in it. Similar to the way they have an impact on growth rate. Except they have a scouting rating. Better the rating results in a more accurate depiction of the player and or more chances to scout. Points used for super focused accurate evaluations or many of a variety of players looked at, but with more vague depictions .

Like a 100 points for 100 players (vaguely ) or only ten (pin point) depictions. Still, that total is solely dependent on how good your coaches are at scouting .


JDB,

Please ,please ,please ,do not go down this road.

The best/most attentive GM`s (especially in a low active GM League) would sign up the best scouts,with their input, would sign the best draftees and keep on winning,thus forcing GM`s to just jack it in ,like has happened in countless FOF MP Leagues,which in turn forces the league to fold.

It would be interesting to hear CLE (JCSwish) views on how his draft went,as he decided to run the "every 4 year CLE re-build project" on Fog Draft 1.

Also someone running the draft on auto (time restraints etc) must have had some crazy picks compaired to someone who could be on the clock for each pick.

Again just my 50p`s worth.