So what does everyone think of the new changes announced?
Our first announcement is an addition to the tactics page. BuzzerBeater coaches have discovered that, if they can correctly predict which strategy an opposing team will use, they can get in some last-minute practice and be stronger on the court. You’ll be given the option to predict your opponent’s strategy for a game -- if you guess correctly, your team will get a nice boost against that tactic for the game; however, if you’re wrong, your team won’t perform as well. Of course, you will still have the option of not making a specific prediction, in which case nothing will change. The coaches have suggested that this will help teams compete against opponents with one, dominant strategy.
Teams are arbitrarily penalised for playing the same tactic each game. I don't understand why this should be the case, if someone wants to play the same tactic each week they shouldn't be subjected to a penalty. Thumbs down for this one.
As you know, the global financial crisis is hitting everyone, and we strongly believe that BuzzerBeater teams should be able to run a sustainable franchise. To encourage managers to build a team that can operate within its means, we’re introducing a “fair play” rule into the financial system that gives teams an incentive to keep their salaries in line with that which they earn in in a given week.
Any thoughts on what this might be?
Some top-ranked players feel insulted when they are purchased by low-ranked teams, and have threatened not to play if that happens. As a result, some teams might not be able to purchase players that really shouldn’t be playing in their division. The BB labor union says the goal is to prevent possible bad mistakes for new teams and as a bonus, it should help reduce farming. Also, they say that the rule shouldn’t affect most normal teams.
I wonder how this is determined? My guess is it will be based on salary.
First, if you browse your league’s overview page, you will see some shiny new boxes that show various events taking place in your league.
Next, we are also introducing two brand new Supporter features. Always wanted to mimic your own face into a BuzzerBeater character? Supporters are now able to edit the faces of their newly-drafted players!
You will now be able to find teams that are looking for a PL or make yourself available for PL’s looking for teams.
Yawn.
In addition, we have some immediate changes to announce. The requirements free agents need to satisfy in order to appear on the transfer list have increased, resulting in fewer players flowing into the market. This means that the new salary limit for players to be released in the market when a manager retires is changed to $25,000 for players with their best position determined as point guards and shooting guards, small forwards have the lowest limit at $20,000, power forwards are upped to $30,000 and centers to $35,000. Bear in mind that those values are halved for players fired by active teams.
Who cares?
Also, after evaluating the effect of the shot-blocking changes, we believe some well-built teams are now able to defend better against inside tactics than before. However, we still feel that the overall tactical balance hasn’t yet been achieved. Therefore, we have decreased the contributions Jump Range and Shot Blocking have to a player’s salary. We expect that this change, combined with the new tactical “prediction” options described earlier, should bring us a long way closer to the desired tactical balance.
Seems like a good move to me.
The last change made is related to the Fan Survey calculation. We have tuned the calculations in the Fan Survey to better reflect the overall performance of your team instead of having as strong an emphasis on your last league game.
About time. Hopefully it has the desired effect and prevents crowds from dropping significantly on the ba