FOF wishlist: Start career in the off-season?

[Maple Leafs]

I don't think this sort of change would be the kind of thing you'd put in a patch, so we probably won't see it until the next version, if ever. Just wondering if anyone else would like to see this, though.

I'd really like to begin a career in the off-season. I don't know what it is, but having to start in week one of the pre-season just takes away some element of fun. I find myself starting a new career, and just trying to get through season one as quickly as possible.

For one thing, the off-season is obviously the best part of the game. But even beyond that, the current set up just seems like an odd time to join the game. After all, to some extent the game is simulating a situation where you've walked in the door as a new GM. What team would hire a GM after they'd already drafted, signed their FAs, etc? It's essentially too late to make any major moves, or even to do much in the way of budgetting for the coming year (your whole roster is signed, after all). Not to mention, you're already stuck with a coach and staff.

Wouldn't it be more immersive to start in the off-season? To really give you a feeling of controlling your team from day one? Right now I feel like I'm just riding out the season until I can really get in their and get my hands dirty.

I can see a few potential issues with starting in the off-season. For one, you'd have to start with a ton of free agents who'd wind up who knows where. So for those of us who play with real NFL rosters, we might wind up with something very different than the "real life" situation. You'd lose out on all the most recent rookies (unless they could all go into the draft, which would be cool). And of course some users might prefer to get right into the games before they worry too much about the details.

Maybe the answer would be to have two options: start in pre-season, or start in off-season. Not sure the details, but something tells me that might be a nightmare from Jim's standpoint.

Just throwing it out there for discussion... when would you rather start a FOF career?

[fantastic flying froggies]

It's something that was already mentionned in the TCY wishlist that was floating around a while back.

Yes, I think a lot of people definitely would like it better if they could start right after the superbowl ended...

[Ben E Lou]

I'd MUCH rather start in the offseason Maple. Often I end up essentially quick-simming through season 1. I don't have my coach, my scout, my coordinator or my personnel in the first season, so I can't run my offense or my defense with any measure of effectiveness.

[Honolulu Blue]

The expansion teams from FOF2 and FOF4 did start in the offseason. Not all options were available (I don't think you could change your coaching/scouting staff), but you could sign free agents, draft, train, etc. A small reason why I miss the expansion option in the new game.

I think there are two main reasons why the game starts where it does:

1) It's a holdover from replay and joystick games where all the fun is in the playing of the games.

2) It's much easier for a new player to start in the preseason with most everything already set than to start in the offseason when everything has to be done. The critical decisions are made easier by having a season to see how things work (or aren't working).

In the offseason, a GM has to review ticket prices, hire & fire the staff, sign free agents, run the draft, and run training camp. It can easily take me as long to run the offseason as it does to run the actual season, and while it's fun for me, I'm less certain that it's fun for the majority of players.

Oh, and to answer the question posed by the original poster, if I were starting with an empty roster (expansion or OPU), I would want to start in the offseason to get everything just right from day one. If I were starting with an existing team, it doesn't make much difference. The advantage of the ability to make changes is wiped out by the disadvantage of not really knowing what to change.

[cthomer5000]

Agreed. In future versions I would love to see two options:

A. Start in the preseason
B. Start in the staff hiring period.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by Honolulu Blue
The expansion teams from FOF2 and FOF4 did start in the offseason. Not all options were available (I don't think you could change your coaching/scouting staff), but you could sign free agents, draft, train, etc. A small reason why I miss the expansion option in the new game.

Good point. I would love to see expansion included again as an option, even if it was just done superficially (i.e. you pretend the Texans never existed and let the player start with an expansion team in the AFC South).

Combined with the new ability to edit team associations at the start of the career, it would let you start with a brand new franchise in a real NFL.

[amdaily]

Originally posted by SkyDog
Often I end up essentially quick-simming through season 1. I don't have my coach, my scout, my coordinator or my personnel in the first season, so I can't run my offense or my defense with any measure of effectiveness.

I do the same and just pretend I take the job in season 2 and ignore the GM rankings and all for that first season.