Prospect Lists

[Gomer]

I was wondering if there's ever been a league-wide discussion regarding how the top prospects lists are handled.


Personally, I think one of the fun things in this game is watching prospects develop and perform, and watching how their development/performance affects their ranking against other prospects, and similarly how systems rank against each other, and how those ranks change throughout the season. In all of my other leagues, the top prospect lists (both league and team) are one of the first things I look forward to checking after each sim.

It's also a useful tool to be able to scout other teams' current best prospects without having to look at lists of a team's entire minor league system.

This league currently has a static top prospect list which is updated once annually, thus giving you a once per year snapshot of the prospect rankings.
I find this system a lot less fun and informative (and pretty much useless since the rankings are more out of date with each passing day) as compared to a dynamic prospect list that is updated much more frequently.

So I was just wondering how the rest of the league felt about it.

[Huckleberry]

No feedback on the weekend. Ha.

But my position is that the top prospects lists give too much perfect information and that's why I have them set for annual. The last I heard was that the top prospect lists were based on true ratings and there is not any fog of war applied when OOTP compiles the list. Now to be sure OOTP values certain things differently than a human GM might, but that's the logic behind our settings.

[Gomer]

Yeah, I'll take the lack of feedback as a lack of giving a shit.


The dynamic top prospects lists don't only take ratings into account. They also take players' performance into account.

For a game that is 100% based on ratings and numbers, I don't know why you wouldn't want as much info as possible.

And remember that all the info IS there with the current system. It just makes it a lot harder to sort through, and gives rebuilding teams one less point of interest and element to follow.

[Echo127]

Yeah, I don't care at all about the prospects list. If I want to check out prospects I'll just go to "list all players" and sort by whatever potential stat I'm interested in.

[Huckleberry]

I wish there were something in between annual and dynamic. Every month? Every three months? Seems like a new list every week as we're a weekly sim would be overload. But it seems like not many people care either way so it's not like I'm dead set against switching it to see how it goes.

[Havana_Jake]

I would love to see it go dynamic. I agree I think checking the prospect lists is really fun and makes minor league performance feel like it matters.

[APMP]

I'd be okay with updates occurring three times a year:

1. Before the season starts.
2. At the All-Star Break (which would put it before trade discussions really heat up in this league)
3. At the end of the season.

Any more seems excessive to me personally...that's basically how often the major publications in 2017 update their top prospect lists, right?

[Claybor]

But my position is that the top prospects lists give too much perfect information

For a game that is 100% based on ratings and numbers

The last I heard was that the top prospect lists were based on true ratings and there is not any fog of war applied when OOTP compiles the list.

Without scouts are we not seeing things without fog of war? Is there more info given on prospects then on players in the league?

[claphamsa]

gomer is gonna shit when he sees the development rates of players....so many craters

[Huckleberry]

Without scouts are we not seeing things without fog of war? Is there more info given on prospects then on players in the league?

We have the 1-10 scale to introduce some doubt/fog of war. The prospect list, as far as I know, is based on the full 1-255 ratings. That's all I meant by that statement.

[Gomer]

Prospect rankings are based on performance and potential, not current ratings.


I'd suggest maybe we can try the list in dynamic mode, and for those owners who think less information is more fun, they can look at the list once per year.

Because with the current system, the list is already outdated and pretty useless once you get about a month or two after the date it's compiled.

[squaredrive]

I wish there were something in between annual and dynamic. Every month? Every three months? Seems like a new list every week as we're a weekly sim would be overload. But it seems like not many people care either way so it's not like I'm dead set against switching it to see how it goes.

Is there a way to do this Huck? Monthly seems like a reasonable compromise.

[Claybor]

We have the 1-10 scale to introduce some doubt/fog of war. The prospect list, as far as I know, is based on the full 1-255 ratings. That's all I meant by that statement.

OK, thanks for the clarification. Yes, I can see that being an issue.

[Huckleberry]

Prospect rankings are based on performance and potential, not current ratings.


I'd suggest maybe we can try the list in dynamic mode, and for those owners who think less information is more fun, they can look at the list once per year.

Because with the current system, the list is already outdated and pretty useless once you get about a month or two after the date it's compiled.

I'm willing to give it a shot because of the answer below and because making the change means that it is information that is available equally to everyone. Although the trial period will also be available for feedback from everyone and if most people want fewer updates (which doesn't sound like it will be the case) then we can go back.

Is there a way to do this Huck? Monthly seems like a reasonable compromise.

Unfortunately I don't think so. It is either dynamic or annual.

I just changed it to dynamic in the game settings.

[CaseyBlakeDeWitt]

For my money, I'm with Huck on dynamic providing too much info. I like APMP's idea of 3 per year like in real life, but based on the rest of the thread that idea seems impossible. If I'm a rebuilding team I don't really want to just go to a top prospect list and let that decide who the most valuable guys are to me (though, given time constraints, I can understand how others might prefer that).

And "you don't have to do it if you don't want" doesn't seem like a particularly level playing field.

It doesn't seem like a huge deal to make the change, but I feel like it drains much of the fun out of scouting out other minor league teams for yourself when you're looking to sell off your pieces.

[Bob_Meteors]

I'm always in favor of more info so I'd like to see a move to dynamic. Some people don't have hours to comb every minor league team. I get the fog of war thing, so maybe once a month is a reasonable compromise?

[Gomer]

BTW-
I don't use the prospect lists to evaluate individual players.

I use them to provide a current snapshot of any given team's best prospects, but even more than that, I use them as a gauge of how my guys are moving up (or down) the ranks of the minor leagues.

Coming into this season, I have the #1 and #2 prospects in the league, and Black Forest has the #3 and #4 prospects. Conversely, Black Forest has the #1 minor league system, and we have the #2 system.
It's a lot of fun to watch these prospects and systems jockey for position against each other throughout the season.
For a team with no hope for winning anything meaningful at the ML level, it gives something to hold interest throughout the season.