BuzzerBeater Forums

(I've managed to be mediocre in the top leagues of each...)

Hattrick

Pro
-Reply to everyone forum option
-text match reports
-youth academies

Con
-drastic changes implemented with little testing
-neglected (and broken) CHPP links
-have to pay for supporter in euros (stupid exchange rate)
-youth scouts

Buzzerbeater

Pro
-random cup draw
-private leagues (although the first con negates this a lot)
-playoffs
-training arrows
-game shape reset in offseason

Con
-lack of feedback unless you want to watchi realtime
-staff system
-ticket system (is it supposed to be a basketball simulation or an economic simulation)
-neglected BBAPI
-lack of coaching options
-random substitutions
-draft interface
-navigation

I've played both for awhile (although not super seriously). My biggest beef with BB is the lack of ability to develop young players. The draft system is more or less a lottery--it's terrible and terribly expensive over the course of a season to get an idea of which players are decent.

HT is a little too one-dimensional but I do love the YA system. It's more interesting than the main team to me now.

Never played HT myself, but it can be very hard and expensive to pick up a potential NT trainee in BB. Even with spending a lot on scouting you are subject to a roll of the dice.

It is the same if not harder on HT. Because of their aging system. You have to have a player that comes out with amazing skill and be pulled at the right time with the right age.

For me I've been playing hattrick since 2002. That is why I can glance over a couple of bugs they have when they are changing the game. The game is so different and yet the same from that time. All of which have been improvements.

Pros for HT:
Developing your own youth
Many different strategies
Constantly evolving

Cons for HT:
Huge random Factor
Loss of skill before a certain age

Pros for BB:
Exciting games
Easy to pick up
Chat for matches

Cons for BB:
Training is too fast
Too many pages to do simple things
Constant timing out in the forums

I like BB but the major problem with it for me is that the training is too fast. You can easily train players to bankrupt your team too quickly. Your income does not go up in proportion to how your salaries do. In order to make it to Div. III your team will be almost bankrupt and once you make it to III your team will get the money to support your old team, but it will not be good enough to compete fairly in that division. I imagine it is the same with most series.

The other problem I have is there are too many different places you have to look for things. The layout is much simpler and more effective with HT.

But honestly I know these are two different games both with different play styles which is why I play them both.

Honestly, I think the biggest difference is the players in BB versus HT.

Hattrick started out as a very simply game engine and the players were and for the most part are 1 dimensional. The value of a player is largely dependent on his primary skills and with the addition of secondary skills, that really determines how he is capable of being played. In fairness, they've tried to move towards a match engine that requires more multi-dimensional players...but its still fairly simplistic compared to real soccer. I don't know, maybe that's the way they want it, they've always prided themselves on being a game were casual players can excel.

In Buzzerbeater, the players have more dimensionality. Do you want a guard that can shoot? pass? with inside skills? with rebounding? with high potential to train 'em up? If he has decent inside skills, can you play him at the 3? etc.

In fact, if I had my choice, I'd move for a potential/training/salary system that resulted in more skewed players. Even in Buzzerbeater, there tends to be to many centers with the same IS, ID and Reb. In RL, there are a lot of players that are good defensive players or offensive players, but lacking the other area, yet in the NBA or college they serve an important role on the team.

The minutes management in BB is brutal, as far as I'm concerned.

If they could fix it so that I could put a cap on my coach's ability to play a player, I'd fall in love with this game. Sure there are differences and downsides but other than having no control over how much/if my players play the "right" amount of time, I can live with all of the differences. I didn't want to play the exact same game, after all. I wanted something different.


EDIT: Oh - I would change 1 other thing. The staffing system in BB is ridiculous. How many of the people playing this game have gotten a raise every week -- EVER? I'd venture a guess that no one in the world has ever gotten a raise every week. Not sure where the logic for that idea came out.

Last edited by Xarn at 4/30/2010 12:22:55 AM

Not surprisingly, Buzzerbeater employees get a small raise each week. [I think BB-CodeMonkey is almost at minimum wage :-) ]

Anyway, it seems like all these sports management games lack the long term contact concept what is pretty standard in real world sports. Still, I don't think the staffing system is a huge factor in Buzzerbeater...more of a nuisance.

this post shows that even non-Americans can occasionally say something insightful -- that we have a monopoly on only 99% of the world's wisdom, not the 100% I once foolishly thought. as a red-blooded, true-blue, gun-totin', god-fearin' American who is too damn big to fit into my F-350, it pains me to admit that.

or worse, to agree with you.