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Since we’re working on making the game more exciting, we are considering a new promotion system based on the one used in Utopia, where more than one team can achieve promotion in any one league. Of course, this means that more teams demote too. There will be some differences, for example, we are not planning on using the human team consolidation part of the Utopia promotion system. The change will need some time to be properly planned and implemented, but if Utopia has shown us anything, it’s that a system like this works very nicely and makes for a more exciting season.

Good thing you work on making the game better for new users!
But I'm not sure if I like the Utopia promotion system for other countries. More promotions? Great! But more demotion? Not so great. And not necessary! Why don't you just reduce the number of divisions on lower levels? For example in countries where Division IV is the lowest and only half (or less) filled with active teams, just reduce the number of leagues from 64 to 32. You can have 2 teams promote per league without more teams being demoted.
Also this would make the lowest leagues more active on average and generally reduce the number of users who have to play against bots all the time.

Yes, I'd prefer the promotion and demotion policies stay the same in our main leagues.

I won't disagree if the current 7th place is demoted to. Just repechage game for 6th place. Five teams will be demoted per league instead four in the current system.

I won't disagree if the current 7th place is demoted to. Just repechage game for 6th place. Five teams will be demoted per league instead four in the current system.

But why would you want this? I'm not sure I understand why people like the Utopia way better.

Because I always want to improve. Only can think that the other people too. Just one more chance. Not like Utopía.

Yes, I'd prefer the promotion and demotion policies stay the same in our main leagues.

Bonus prizes should be adjusted if twice as many teams promote. I think the Utopia system works just fine (and due to injuries I started the season 0-8...), but given the current (higher) cash prizes for promotion, the yo-yo strategy, as it has been labelled by some Italian managers, will become a lot more profitable: end 5th (so get decent gates all season) to 8th, relegate or lose the relegation battle on purpose, go for the top record in D2 or win the finals, promote and get both the cash prize and the promotion bonus. Rinse and repeat. Especially in smaller nations this is very easy to do.

I think we're at a point where D1 salary is decreasing on average and D2 vs D1 teams don't carry a $200k-300k difference in salary on average. So there is less and less of a case for handing a lot of free cash to promoting teams, especially if they double in number.

Last edited by Lemonshine at 10/27/2016 5:33:11 AM

Bonus prizes should be adjusted if twice as many teams promote.

I hope the people making the decisions are taking this into account. Utopia is responsible for the sick inflation, if we expand the promotion system across all countries I expect players to cost 10mil+.

Happy times for newbies.

Many teams can cruise pretty much on auto pilot even in top leagues season after season.

...and many teams tank for last place and picks, don't they? Cruising is not the issue. The main message should be that shuffling is good, both vertical and horizontal, it keeps the game fresh. However, be careful what you wish for because tanking will also become more profitable, but I'm sure you understand that.

Also the main issue with the Utopia system is that if I finish with on of the top records in my league level I will promote via bot promotion. There are 2 problems with such system in country leagues (on top of the yo-yo strategy some people loathe):
1) Leagues with more bots will have it a lot easier to bot promote. In Utopia the bot promotion tiebreakers were a) position in conference, b) record, c) point differential. This means you can have 3 teams promoting from the same league (maybe the only 3 human managers, while other leagues with 15 or 16 human managers only get 1 promotion)
2) Tanking will increase. If you fall behind in the standings, you might as well fold it as even crawling back to 7th will not give you a chance to stay up anymore. I started 0-8 and was 4 games back from 6th place in Utopia. Most people would just give up.

So perhaps you should think of making changes in the way the playoffs work as well.
1) Make a single ranking for teams 1-4 in both conferences (1 seed and 2 seed might be from the same conference). 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7 etc, you know the drill (but with removed conference playoffs). This will make it more interesting if the 2 conferences are unbalanced (and often, especially at lower levels, they are).
2) Make a single ranking for teams 5-8 in both conferences. Here you go with playouts. You win a series you stay up you lose and go down. Added benefit: tanking teams pay salary at least an extra week.

Ideally it would be better to have a qualification series for people ending 7th and bot promotion teams. Unfortunately that can't happen due to scheduling issues.

Last edited by Lemonshine at 10/27/2016 6:11:06 AM