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My 2 cents:

1) proper tactics have been lacking from the game for a looooooong time and that has made the actual games boring. The tactics side of things for the past few seasons has essentially just been "Can my Look Inside beat their Look Inside?".
I'm not sure why this has taken quite so long to address but we finally have something with the game tactics predictor so hopefully that will put some life back in to the gameplay again.

2) Too many benefits from tanking. Not enough is being done to combat tanking i don't think and even the soft cap that has been introduced is still far too low. If you're tanking, the main benefit should be an awesome new trainee or two, not millions of dollars that then gives you an unfair advantage over the teams that have been actually playing the game for seasons on end, putting together the perfect team, training players etc etc

I think most issues are identified by the vast majority of players reasonably quickly but then it can take multiple seasons before they are addressed and often when there is a change, it's so minor that it barely effects anything anyway until a more major change is introduced.
When you're looking at sometimes a year or two of broken gameplay, it's hard to stay motivated to keep playing.

In my opinion a big reason why BB does not generate more users and loses some of the existing user base is its terrible support of mobile devices. Today´s kids use their mobile phones 24/7. They communicate with the phone, they are online with it and most importantly they play games on them.

Last weekend I was on vacation and I experienced firsthand that BB on a mobile device is a big pain in the ass. The menu is not user friendly and when I finally finished in the “set lineup” section I could not change the lineup...we do not have 1998 anymore were you had to play diablo 2 with a ping greater than 1000 because there was no alternative. Nowadays there are too many good free games out there to have such basic flaws IMHO.

From the perspective of a businessman I see great potential in offering a basketball manager app. Especially when it comes to BB. The game has some flaws but in the end it is the best basketball managing game available. Having the best of its kind and not using its full potential is simply a waste of time. And I do not mean my time.

I read somewhere that the makers of BB do not know how to do a app…I also heard they are from Boston…hence go to the MIT, look for a white pimpled guy with big glasses and let him do it. You guys have your game available in the app store with thousands of new potential users and the white pimpled guy with big glasses has one more thing to write about in his flawless CV. Problem solved. ;)

I also agree with DireWolf about the tactics and tanking. Could not have said it better.

Last edited by m0nkey at 11/27/2013 8:31:40 AM

Step 1: Make a BB playable on Facebook
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit

I think the biggest issue with the game isn't lack of players.

Its the time it takes to create a successful team. Seasons are too long. If they condensed the weeks to 4 days to capture all the games it would practically reduce a season to 8 weeks.

This would result in faster training sessions, faster economic buildup and less wait and see conditions.

Take my team for instance. I started in Div 5. It took me 1 real year to advance to the middle pack of Div 3 where most of the teams are active. I also consider my rise to Div 3 pretty quick.

My best trainee who I drafted is still not as good as my regular starters. Basically I have devoted a year to training him and he still isn't that important to my team. Also I have to somewhat weigh training with trying to win a title. So I have to balance that as a factor too which slows my progress down.

It will take another 4 months before I will likely reach Div II where I suspect the level of play is equal to how well I play. It could take 7 months if I am unlucky and a tanker team ravages my league.

Life tends to move faster than this game. Its hard for me to stay engaged in a game several years before I see the full potential of it which is somewhat depressing.

Its annoying to wait 14 weeks at a time to decide what to do with a team. Moving to 4 day weeks would speed up the process and with the reduced userbase it would probably not be that detrimental to the server.

We have to consider that we are competing against games that are more real-time and require much more attention.

An alternative would be to reduce the season to 10 weeks and remove the inter-league play. Also speed up training speed to coincide with that change. That may be simpler without changing the game to a semi-weekly format.

Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Last edited by lawrenman at 11/27/2013 2:58:06 PM

Good point, BBs should analyze what kind of teams are going inactive, if it's experienced managers, maybe the second team idea would help? Give them a new challenge, and get money for developing.

Be hard to believe that this capability doesnt already exist.

With regards to quality improvement, data gathering could be automated both in collection and how it is compiled to be analysed

Companies like Survey Monkey provide services which cost nothing.

Periodically a sample of a specific demographic of Managers could be sent BBmails or emails with a link to an online survey.
i.e. Break Managers down into categories of how long they have been playing the game or even on Division level that they play

Inactive Managers could be sent an email either after they have gone bot or even a week before they are due to go bot.

And I agree with m0nkey. I know the GM's dont think the same, but this game needs a good mobile app.
Could not have said it better xD

Some more examples of the drop off in numbers;

Barbados 11 is now down to 5
Bolivia 12 is now down to 9
South Africa 12 is now down to 8
Bahamas 14 is now down to 7
Hanguk 19 is now down to 11
Saudi Arabia 14 is now down to 11
Island 19 is now down to 16
Luxembourg 15 is now down to 11
Rep Dominica 16 is now down to 6
Ecuador 10 is now down to 7

and concerningly given the recent bbmail that was sent out on mass from a Nigerian Manager

Nigeria 17 is now up to 27

Step 2: Have all the anti-FB people complain like they did when BB tried to operate closer to FB.

Υοu can't have everyone satisfied...

Step 3: Totally change the population playing that game. Have instead of experimented players some fans of Candy Crush.

Hell, I'm playing Candy Crush too!

I agree 100%, also give them 1-2 season in draft money manidtory( meaning already there not out of the pocket) and the system pays for that. Also the draft needs to better laid out in a readable simple to understand way. its nothing more than a guessing games. A lot people over read and reach when you read about the BB draft. also player selection.

Money is critical in the 1-3 season also good young players., I think it would be great thing to reserve 1 season worth of draft money already paid to new member( not out his/her pocket) and better tutorial of how BB draft works.. Also I don't do Bb draft, but know it can be a very powerful and great thing is done correctly to start for new club.

I think it can be more in depth. What kind of player you should go after , what position is very needed. What are your team weakness that this player your getting is improving. This info is very needed. I don't think that is hard to do.

I think the start of the game need to soothe fear of the new user. Some might play for awhile but they don't see any hope or help to get better. Look at the draft, look at the market prices, no money, so they have to lose for a very long time. That's a huge confidence killer for a new player.

I feel if they can get a good player in draft or already on the team this helps, also with getting decent wins and some money in the bank, it build confidence or staying power. I agree with what you say more than my own points.