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We all know developers hide from the general public how exactly the game works - what is the effect of certain properties, weight of certain skills, in-depth tactics, etc. etc. This in itself is a good thing - it makes people work things out for themselves, presents a greater challenge and also prevents people from exploiting the game.

But thinking about it more, wouldn't the game be more enjoyable if we knew more about how certain things worked?

One example I was thinking of recently is Player experience. Each player has this skill, but no-one really pays any attention to it. We all know the more the better, and that a higher level supposedly helps in decisive moments, but no-one can tell how exactly it affects players, so it's never taken into consideration. In effect, this skill might as well be removed without any loss of game-play experience.

Also, tactics! I believe the fact we don't know more about tactics and how they work prevents us from using them efficiently. And it is really difficult to work this out for yourself simply because game outcomes are always so different. In my opinion, that was also the reason everyone relied exclusively on LI until recently. It looked like it worked, and no-one knew how to make use of other tactics. A more in-depth knowledge might just help people put a little bit more thought and strategy when deciding how to select their team, and which tactic to use.

Any thoughts?

Of course, I'm not talking about code numbers here, but a better explanation of how vital parts of the game work, so that we as users can make better informed decisions and apply more strategy when managing our teams.

I am agree.

It would not hurt at all, if we knew certain details.

I agree, maybe a little bit more information can be released.

What kind of knowledge would you like to see released? I believe the qualitative knowledge is already out there in the forums, and by asking and reading long enough any ambitious manager can acquire this knowledge and thus gain an advantage over his lazier competitors. Most additional detail would have to be quantitative I feel, like what additional percentage of shots will be assigned to backcourt players in Motion. Because the qualitative knowledge - guards will take more shots, more shots will be taken from outside, and everybody's outside shooting skill numbers will be boosted - is already there. And having any of these numbers published too would make things rather tedious, I'd agree with Manon.

If you agree with Manon, then you didn't understand my post, because he didn't either.

For the third time, I am not suggesting we need to know exact formulas or numbers from the game engine. This will obviously ruin the game for everyone. What I am saying is it may be good to know more about how the game works, what do skills and tactics mean, etc.

I've been in the game for more than 20 seasons and have read everything there is to read in or outside the forums, have won multiple titles and cups and I still have no idea about basic things. Do you really understand how each tactic works? How positions are affected in each one of them? What skills actually contribute to in terms of gameplay?

For example, what is the effect of stamina... sure, more stamina, more minutes, better performance over time, but.. is the effect linear, or does stamina actually recover during half time, or during the time players sit on the bench? Is it affected by pace of the tactic you use, or by the pace of opposition tactics?

There are so many examples I can give you...





Last edited by Dodor at 9/16/2016 1:55:25 PM

Well, it depends on how you want to look at it. You can either see it as.... omg, this is really exciting, I have no idea how any of this works, but I can try different things and get surpised by the result every time! Not knowing anything is the best quality of the game because you have this "win the lottery" feeling every time you succeed.

Or you can look at it as... How am I supposed to do anything with this game when I have no real clue what to do, other than... higher skills - gooood, lower skills - baaaaad. How am I supposed to build a long terms strategy? How am I supposed to get the best out of my team or take advantage of my opponent's weaknesses, when I don't know how anything works.

Maybe that's the genious of the game. maybe everything gets down to... whoever has the higher total skill points sum wins, and the whole "we cannot reveal our complex secrets" policy is just there to make everyone think there's more to the game than there actually is.. And we're spending hours selecting tactics and positions as if it matters at all... haha

I like your way of thinking. To experiment with new tactics and player builds sure sounds exciting. It's exploring and conquering of new territories, who doesn't like that?!

But does that contradict what I am saying? In my view, having more initial input will make people more comfortable with the game controls and allow them to experiment even more. To explore new ideas, you need to have knowledge of old ideas, and I think noone has any idea. Even if your experiment goes well, and you win your games, leagues or whatever, you will not be sure what the reason is. It is like the confirmation bias theory, you may think what you are seeing is due to one thing as that's what you expect, but the truth may be something else.

With more knowledge, people will be able to make more educated guesses and experiments and can finally put some logic in their theories. Also, don't forget you always have an opponent against you. What you think works may not work against everyone depending on their set-up. In other words, more information available to the wider public may just make the game more competetive and challenging.