Online Hockey Sim - MetroHO

[Suburban Rhythm]

Finally someone signed with me!

I'm in, that makes 10.

Schedule starts tomorrow

[RendeR]

Alrighty boys lets play some HOCKEY!!

Bengals come out on FIRE shutting out the Rebels TWICE on opening day!! and taking down the River Rats twice as well.

Fantastic 4-0 start for the Newest team from Buffalo!

LETS GO BUFFALO!

[samifan24]

*bump*

We're now a few days into the season and so far I think the league is pretty competitive. I like that Adam has added "deadline dandies," the trading block and different round draft picks to the game.

[RendeR]

I'm laughing at myself as my two teams couldn;t be more the opposite of one another. The bengals are a powerhouse on offense with a great goaltender, while the Rats, well...they aren't called rats for nothin ya know...they suck =)

Trying to find a winning combination with them is tough.

Really liking how the game plays at this point. Unfortunately Thursday I'll be leaving for the weekend and I'll have to turn on AUTO sim for Friday Sat and Sunday's games. Gonna hurt to lose those revenues =(

But I should be able to play mondays in time. So its not so bad.

[samifan24]

I started a Facebook page for MetroHo to help spread the word. You may join here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MetroHo/20244871658

[samifan24]

*bump*

Thus far our league has been all crickets except for a couple of trades by Travis, including one I made. It seems like scoring is way up this season all the way around. I'd imagine some of that is due to playing with better teams this season but I wonder if Adam tweaked the game at some point after I started my first season.

What does everyone think of some of the suggestions being bandied about on the MetroHo forums? I personally think adding tournaments (which I guess are coming), special teams units (I haven't played a game out in a long time but I guess they're there?) and player numbers go a long way toward making the game even better.

I guess my hope is that MetroHo turns into a hockey version of Hattrick.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by samifan24

*bump*

Thus far our league has been all crickets except for a couple of trades by Travis, including one I made. It seems like scoring is way up this season all the way around. I'd imagine some of that is due to playing with better teams this season but I wonder if Adam tweaked the game at some point after I started my first season.

What does everyone think of some of the suggestions being bandied about on the MetroHo forums? I personally think adding tournaments (which I guess are coming), special teams units (I haven't played a game out in a long time but I guess they're there?) and player numbers go a long way toward making the game even better.

I guess my hope is that MetroHo turns into a hockey version of Hattrick.

I haven't been scouring the forums, but I think Adam is almost continually tweaking things. For a while it was home ice advantage as the big one, but I think scoring/penalties are an almost always on going thing. I've been enjoying this season more due to the lack of forfeits if nothing else. I'm curious to see if there are any other trades as the deadline gets closer and if my suggestion that some (either random or via loyalty rating) UFA's start signing their extension offers during the final season of their current deals rather than waiting to hit the market gets any play.

I do think for next season we should just do a public league as I'd imagine we shouldn't have a tough time getting all the FOFC owners in there so long as we're on the ball. I think this year we've got what, one "outside" owner and one person running two teams, so unless two more people step up between now and the end of the season (and nobody drops out) we could just plan to start a new public league and fill it up fast. Did kind of suck having such a long layoff between seasons.

That all said, that could be dependent on whether everybody can fill up their min roster requirements with their draft picks or if some will have to sign some free agents. As long as I don't get stupid with trades between now and the deadline I'll be good to go by using picks to hit mins, how're the rest of you looking?

[RendeR]

Tournaments are kewl, someting to do in between leagues.

Player numbers should definitely be in there, seems like something so simple but pleasing to the GM's.

There are no special teams units right now, but I'd love to see them added. Simply adding 2 specialty lines (power play) (penalty kill) and you set them just like your regular lines before the game starts.

I'm having a rough time with the Bengals, we were dominating and now we're lucky to play .500 hockey and we've slipped to 3rd in the league.

The River Rats continue to improve though. I've found that playing a defensive minded game with them keeps things a lot tighter. I also signed 3 FA's to help bolster the team a bit. As well as picking up a playmaker in a trade.

Fun stuff =) I definitely see the advantage an older (# of seaons played) team has over a brand new one though. The Rox have multiple elites/super stars compared to maybe 1 or 2 super stars at all on the rookie teams.

Going to be fun knowcking them out of the playoffs

[RendeR]

Roster-wise both my teams are set for at least 3 seasons. no worries there. I'll be ready to go as soon as the league is full. That 4th seaon I'll be looking at some issues, but if I played my contracts right, my draft picks and a few FA's along the way should cover any losses I take from year to year.

[Travis]

Been an interesting season so far for the Knights.

First 4 days: 8-8
Next 4 days: 13-1
Last 3 days: 5-5

Thank goodness for that middle streak and beware whoever I face from days 13-16

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Travis

I haven't been scouring the forums, but I think Adam is almost continually tweaking things. I'm curious to see if there are any other trades as the deadline gets closer and if my suggestion that some (either random or via loyalty rating) UFA's start signing their extension offers during the final season of their current deals rather than waiting to hit the market gets any play.

That all said, that could be dependent on whether everybody can fill up their min roster requirements with their draft picks or if some will have to sign some free agents.

I agree that Adam is probably continually tweaking things. I don't know if you saw my post in the "franchise player" thread on the message board but I agree with you on the UFA issue. Give the GMs some sort of feedback, even something as simple as a "yea/nea" response after a contract offer to an UFA. This way, teams are rewarded by offering an extension early. The current system forces you to wait until the off-season, when you hold no advantage over other GMs.

Speaking of the off-season, the biggest weakness in the game, as I see it now, is the way the game requires to you meet roster requirements through the FA process. I admit that I made one bad contract offer ($1m for two years) to a 59-rated defenseman just so I could meet the requirement to join the league. It was a bad decision on my part but one which I feel reflects a currently broken system.

I don't know how to fix the current system. I spent last off-season targeting a few players all at once. I'd have offers out to five or six top notch forwards. I'd be happy with one or two. Suppose, now, that three or four players signed with me all at once. Now I'm stuck with more players than I needed, especially all at the same position. I know, the easy answer is to not offer contracts to everyone at once and that's true, to a certain extent. I almost wish the game had FM's "delay transfer for X days" option so I could see if multiple players are willing to sign with me while avoiding the "everyone all at once" problem.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by samifan24

I agree that Adam is probably continually tweaking things. I don't know if you saw my post in the "franchise player" thread on the message board but I agree with you on the UFA issue. Give the GMs some sort of feedback, even something as simple as a "yea/nea" response after a contract offer to an UFA. This way, teams are rewarded by offering an extension early. The current system forces you to wait until the off-season, when you hold no advantage over other GMs.

Speaking of the off-season, the biggest weakness in the game, as I see it now, is the way the game requires to you meet roster requirements through the FA process. I admit that I made one bad contract offer ($1m for two years) to a 59-rated defenseman just so I could meet the requirement to join the league. It was a bad decision on my part but one which I feel reflects a currently broken system.

I don't know how to fix the current system. I spent last off-season targeting a few players all at once. I'd have offers out to five or six top notch forwards. I'd be happy with one or two. Suppose, now, that three or four players signed with me all at once. Now I'm stuck with more players than I needed, especially all at the same position. I know, the easy answer is to not offer contracts to everyone at once and that's true, to a certain extent. I almost wish the game had FM's "delay transfer for X days" option so I could see if multiple players are willing to sign with me while avoiding the "everyone all at once" problem.

I'm not sure how to fix it either, but adding the element of some upcoming UFA's signing extensions during the final year of their current deal would help a lot. Obviously not all should be willing to and some should command more than they would if they were to be RFA's, but it should still happen (as it should with some RFA's signing extensions).

That said, I don't think it'll ever truly be fixed until there are enough active owners to run full size, perpetual leagues where free agents would be spawned just for that league. Owner turnover would obviously happen, but with just the owners of that league having to battle for players it would be a lot more realistic than how it is now. At some point I'm also assuming that buy outs will become costlier and affect the cap in some way rather than coming clean off by using credits or draft picks (as it is now by my understanding, I haven't tried that yet).

[Travis]

Make that trade #3 on the season.

And hopefully the last one for my team anyway.

[RendeR]

Jesus, wtf is going on? the last week the Bengals have gone from powerhouse to joke? Now one of my best players is injured to add to it.

Are you guys changing how you play out the games or is this some sort of sick twisted "You're a Sabres fan you should be used to starting hot and failing miserably" type thing?

[samifan24]

I haven't done anything (I rarely, if ever, play out the games anymore since they take too long) and The Whale have won six straight. I wonder if it's our team or Adam's tweaks which cause this sort of swing.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Jesus, wtf is going on? the last week the Bengals have gone from powerhouse to joke? Now one of my best players is injured to add to it.

Are you guys changing how you play out the games or is this some sort of sick twisted "You're a Sabres fan you should be used to starting hot and failing miserably" type thing?

Heh, see above for my "interesting" season thus far. I've read that some style combinations for lines are supposed to be better than others, so I tend to play with my lines a bit here and there. I've found that I seem to have a couple guys on each of the top two lines who are clicking well, so I rotate some other players through, change where they're playing on the line in case that matters, etc. Just haven't had the patience to sit down and do enough shinnies to see if it really matters or not. I would suspect that tweaks on the engine will change things during the course of the season too, one of the "perks" of getting into the game this early.

[RendeR]

I think for tomorrow's games I'll just sim them and see what happens. Can't be any worse than 2-3 days worth o 1-3 records. Christ we're dropping like a fucking stone.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I think for tomorrow's games I'll just sim them and see what happens. Can't be any worse than 2-3 days worth o 1-3 records. Christ we're dropping like a fucking stone.

My team seems to do better when I sim the games, FWIW. By the way, I believe FM's term for it is "sinking without a trace."

[samifan24]

Adam announced yesterday that MetroHo now accepts donations to help him run the game. I'm fine with this in principle, but I'm not fine with his donation options.

1) Pay $6 for 30 days (game time) of donation "status." This enables you to open a new league. It is not possible to host a league without the league owner donating.

2) Pay $65 for 365 days (game time) of donation "status." This option includes the ability to host a league and gives you extra drills every day and an extra first round draft pick.

My issue is a) I can't see how a fledgling game like this can survive on a partial "pay to play" model and b) $65 is an outrageous amount. I think something akin to Hattrick's $20 annual supporter feature would be much more realistic. What do you guys think? Will this ultimately doom MetroHo?

[Travis]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Adam announced yesterday that MetroHo now accepts donations to help him run the game. I'm fine with this in principle, but I'm not fine with his donation options.

1) Pay $6 for 30 days (game time) of donation "status." This enables you to open a new league. It is not possible to host a league without the league owner donating.

2) Pay $65 for 365 days (game time) of donation "status." This option includes the ability to host a league and gives you extra drills every day and an extra first round draft pick.

My issue is a) I can't see how a fledgling game like this can survive on a partial "pay to play" model and b) $65 is an outrageous amount. I think something akin to Hattrick's $20 annual supporter feature would be much more realistic. What do you guys think? Will this ultimately doom MetroHo?

I'm relatively optimistic that if things take a downward turn that he'll adjust these options. He's seemed very open to feedback and changes so here's hoping that continues.

[RendeR]

As much as I know that he will have to develope a pay-to play system at some point, I think in general bringing that into it dooms the game on its own without any relation to how much it is.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by RendeR

As much as I know that he will have to develope a pay-to play system at some point, I think in general bringing that into it dooms the game on its own without any relation to how much it is.

As I wrote on the MetroHo forums, I think one way to "fix" the problem now is to remove the restrictions on creating leagues from the current donation structure. Currently, only those who donate are allowed to create new leagues. If I'm a new player and am looking for a league, what veteran player is going to risk allowing a newbie to join and then maybe be a deadbeat GM? I think if Adam allows everyone to create leagues, he will encourage the growth of the game. If he opts to keep the current donation structure, I think the game is doomed.

[samifan24]

*Update*

Adam posted earlier today that he is creating two new league structures in part because of the user outcry over new teams possibly being without a league when they first join. Now, Adam states that the game will automatically create a free, 10 team league for players to join each time a private league fills up (if I'm understanding his post correctly). Also, Adam stated that he is working on larger, 15 or more team leagues with "better" trophies. I'm not sure if these larger leagues will be open to everyone or just to those who donate to the game. Still, I have to give Adam credit; once again he listens to his audience and tweaks the game due to user feedback.

[RendeR]

Great first season ! Are we going to start up again right away and try to keep the same teams involved? I'll hold out my second team (River Rats) until we see that we won't get another full league, so that we can get new players involved.

Lets get back at it!!!

[samifan24]

It was a good season. I won't miss The Rox, though. They won the league and, I think, the first Medallion tournament.

Has anyone paid for the Supporter feature? If not, we could just all join a free, public league at the same time? Most of the GMs in the league last year seemed pretty active (Travis, RendeR, me)

[RendeR]

I haven't and I doubt I will at the price he's set, its a bit much for only a year's worth of playing time. 20$ a year is far more acceptable and would actually bring me back as a supporter every year. but 60+? not likely. If we're lucky we'll have someone who really wants to and will start the leagues so we can continue.

Not real big on some of his choices but thus far he has done a great job of introducing the things that the players want.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by RendeR

20$ a year is far more acceptable and would actually bring me back as a supporter every year. but 60+? not likely. If we're lucky we'll have someone who really wants to and will start the leagues so we can continue.

I thought a player could buy a 30 day donation pack for $6 and start a league, no? Regardless, if the others want to just join the next available public league, I'm all for it.

[RendeR]

I guess what we could do is rotate who buys the donation pack each season. Take turns paying the 6 bucks and getting the little perks to keep costs down for all of us.

I'll do that. FOFHL will be available shortly

[RendeR]

Alright, I flipped for a 30 day pack as the first guinea pig.

Do we want another 10 team league or 15? could we even find another 7 players (since 2 owners had 2 teams)

Its gotta pdate in the system before I can create the league so I will post as soon as I discover its ready.

[RendeR]

Oh kewl, my best Ofrward won rookie of the year =)

Jeremy Fehringer also won silver sniper (3rd best goals)

The boy is a phenom =)

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I guess what we could do is rotate who buys the donation pack each season. Take turns paying the 6 bucks and getting the little perks to keep costs down for all of us.

I'll do that. FOFHL will be available shortly

Thanks for doing this. Don't forget that you also get access to more drills every day as well as player numbers and team jerseys.

[Travis]

I'll be back in for sure as will at least one of my off board friends. I'll check with the other and update them on the situation and see if they're interested in continuing (considering he made the finals I'm guessing that's likely).

[RendeR]

Ok league has been created:

FOFCHL

password: 3koFHLkmgbjYUzllQaTV1

Sign up!

[Travis]

in

[RendeR]

The jerseys are kinda weak but certainly could be updated easily if he would put in a way to upload your own file. Then you have to assign the numbers from the lineup screen.

Not bad and it gives you something more to immerse you with the players.

[Blade]

Second place...I am happy with that, but to lose in two straight is disappointing.

I will get in to the new league as soon as I have enough players signed!

[samifan24]

Does anyone else think that the current FA system in the game is broken? It seems it's impossible to sign anyone over a 70 rating without paying the maximum allowable contract. If I wanted to sign a player 80 or above, I have to shell out $13 mil a year and hope that I'm the first one to do so to get the player.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Does anyone else think that the current FA system in the game is broken? It seems it's impossible to sign anyone over a 70 rating without paying the maximum allowable contract. If I wanted to sign a player 80 or above, I have to shell out $13 mil a year and hope that I'm the first one to do so to get the player.

It is, but at least now that you can resign your RFA's prior to their contract running out, that should at least improve the ability for teams to retain good players until they're 30+ and on the decline (making short term big offers a bit more "realistic"). I'm still hoping the FA model improves, but to this point I haven't had any good ideas to suggest on how to do so other than to really overhaul the buyout system and make it much more severe, but even then, for a lot of the newer teams who still have a lot of cap space after one season, they can just afford to max things while older teams can't. Depending on how the new draft system works it may self correct a bit (very curious to see what sort of results come from first round choices), but it is nice to see changes being implemented that should at least provide a lengthier work around.

[samifan24]

Speaking of the new draft system, I stocked up on picks when I traded a winger (to one of you guys, don't know who) for two 2nd rounders. I had five 2nd round picks and drafted the following players:

2-Way F, Age 19, 73
Playmaker F, Age 20, 60
Sniper F, Age 19, 53
Stay-at-home D, Age 18, 51
Stay-at-home D, Age 20, 51

I don't know if this is typical for 2nd round picks because this was the first time I used the new draft system. I would've liked the drafted players to be around 55 or 60 minimum but I guess they will improve given their young ages. I never had a 1st round pick because we started the league last season before Adam implemented the new draft system. I thought hording picks would be a good strategy to obtain young players on the cheap and control them for a long time but "pulling" very low rated players (60 or below) makes that very difficult, in my opinion. Please share your own draft picks, for comparison purposes, if you'd like.

[RendeR]

I would but I don't have any, I used them to get rid of the chaff on my roster.

[RendeR]

Who else was in the last season? Can we get most of them back? My team is all set to roll so lts get moving people

[Travis]

I'm assuming there'll be a few day delay for some as they get their roster minimums up to snuff. Other than that we had 1 outsider and 1 or 2 owners running two teams I think, so once everybody has checked in, might have to fill things out through the forums over there.

[RendeR]

Could be. I just entered the River Rats into a 15 team league that the owner/progrmmer is in (team #1 the slayers) Figured it can't hurt to try =)

Bengals are ready to roll, I have a few offeres out to FA's but I don't expect to get them. The 13 mill contracts for less than 90 rated players just seems silly. I'm sure he'll get the FA system hammered out over time.

Fun stuff =)

[RendeR]

If we really need another team I can always start a third one, then farm them out to a public league for their second go-round like I'm doing with the rats.

We can probably find someone via the forums as well. Put out a message looking for teams within a certain raqnge of ID number or something so we don't get any dead ringers who will wipe us out =)

[RendeR]

For anyone here at FOFC who wants to try this out, PLEASE go for it, join our league!

[Blade]

Just got enough D-men signed this morning, so I am back in!

[samifan24]

We still need four more teams in our league, FOFCers. If you want to give the game a try, please create a team and join our league. It's fun, we promise!

[Travis]

Personally I'd say if we don't have a full league by Monday, anybody with a second team not in a league right now should feel free to join up (I'd rather that than nabbing owners from the forums over there if we can). If others feel differently and would prefer 10 separate owners then maybe we should start spreading the word over there now?

[FrogMan]

hey guys, sorry for sort of holding you up. I wasn't gonna continue, even though my Pittbulls won the cup last year , but then I got an 86 rated 19yo sniper as one of my three 2nd round draft pick. Gotta do something with that kid...

Thing is, for now, I'm one d-man short of being able to sign up for the league. Got quite a few offers sent out so maybe I'll be able to join up tomorrow...

FM

[RendeR]

I got an email request from a noob that wanted to join the league, I sent him the password but he has yet to sign up. We'll give it a few more days then fill in as needed =)