So I have tried to do what you have done in the past, (ie: set starter = reserver) in order to get a different balance of minutes - but i found the result to be very inconsistent, and not similar to what you were experiencing.
There are two main factors which influence substitutions.
a) Stamina
b) Backup/reserve's stats.
Stamina is the main thing in my opinion. If i set a $150k PF with Proficient Stamina, he plays all game. If i set a $150k PF with inept stamina as backup, then id be interested to see what happens. Probably the starter plays 40 mins or thereabouts.
So what I would suggest is that the players that you are using have different stamina and different skilled players as your backups. And that in the past, you had a consistent way of replicating the minutes, but either the stamina or player skill has changed.
Pretty interesting though! In general, though, there is no set 'formula' for getting starters to play 20-30 minutes. The fact that you were able to achieve this consistently over so many seasons is pretty remarkable, but probably just luck as well!
I might try out some of your settings in a PL game and see what comes out.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by Coach Regan at 8/24/2014 11:13:42 PM