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Hellisan · 07-13-2009, 12:35 AM

For anybody who is really into recruiting/dynasty mode and would like to read about a recruiting class from start to finish just to see the natural progression of things, read on. It won't be terribly in depth but you should get an idea...

Anatomy of a recruiting Class

This post will detail a full recruiting class from signing day to graduation. I will also point out changes in the recruiting process as I notice them. Some things I understand, others I don't, but I'll call everything out.

I'm starting with the Georgia Bulldogs, which will be my team in the Tradition Online Dynasty this year.

Our needs are at DT, MLB, and FS. Everywhere else, we are pretty much set. Especially on offense, where we are two deep across the offensive line in great players, have four or five great running backs, have a ton of tight ends, WRs, you name it. Even have a couple good young QBs.

HB is my pet position - sometimes to my detriment - so I'm recruiting of them even though I don't need any.

Here are the positions I'm recruiting to start off with:

QB: 0
HB: 3
FB: 0
WR: 1
TE: 1
T: 1
G: 1
C: 1
DE: 1
DT: 4
OLB: 0
MLB: 2
CB: 2
FS: 1
SS: 1
ATH: 3

Things I've noticed so far:

The squat numbers have been drastically changed. From what people have told me, the current way is more accurate. That is, that upper echelon skill players will have squat ratings up near 400. That is hte current way, while a year ago, upper echelon was 735 for a power RB... What gives? Why such a huge disparity? Whatever, offensive linemen, D-linemen and linebackers seem mostly similar to before.

There's some color coding that I don't quite understand. Each recruit has a certain number of teams under his interest list that have a yellow bar nect to them. Other teams have a red bar. The teams at the top are yellow and he might have anywhere from 1 to ALL of them that color. Then others on the list are red. Of course, the manual doesn't say anythign about this. Are these his "favorite" schools and he still has to have a top 10 but the others don't really have much of a chance? Maybe we'll figure this out.

If I go to search and sort for all teams that have Georgia in their Top 10, I get 339 teams at the beginning of the year. Assuming that number will rise somewhat with the extra recruits that are added in the offseason, that's similar to last year's figures.

Week 1
23 players on the list

For the most part it is easier to "find" a pitch than before. You don't seem to have to wait as long, and there's much less chance of calling the recruit, wasting an entire hour and getting nothing. When it comes right down to it, though, I still feel like quick calling on the opening week gives me the best chance of opening up a good number of pitches with very little risk. So for the most part I did that. The exception was players that had me #1 on their list.

The first cornerback on my list, who had UGA #1, seemed happy to talk to me. There was a little "X2" in the upper left-hand corner, which means (apparently) that your pitches are working twice as well on him as normal. For instance, when I hard pitch most recruits I'm getting around +18 per "tick" on the time clock. With him I was getting +36 and I filled up his interest bar for the call very quickly. I offered the scholarship after finding and pitching his most important pitch, and he didn't commit. But good talk, Russ.

Overall, I talked to 17 of the 23 players. No commits occurred.

Hellisan · 07-13-2009, 12:59 AM

Week 2

Um... I had 23 players on the list, and then after we played/won our first game, I had 21. They don't show the players you lost now. I really don't like that. Comparing the list from before, a center and a MLB signed with another team. But I have no idea which players. I'll say it again. I really don't like this! Why'd they change this? Overall, we had very good success in week 1, not losing ground on anybody and making good gains.

I'll note here that I really don't like the new menu style in recruiting. Where last year you could click on a player and see all his estimated ratings on one page, now you have to click through 2-4 pages because all of the ratings are displayed as bulky graphs. It's really senseless. I mean if you wanted to do all this by screenshots you'd have to take six screenshots per player just to show everything. Even when you click on "schedule a visit" you have to page through 2-3 pages to see each game that you have available for him to see, because they are huge labels that take up 1/4 of the screen on each page. You'll see what I mean if you don't already have this game.

If a player has a "high" level of interest in a particular category, then if it isn't locked, you can only try and sway it in your favor now. You gain small amounts of interest by talking to him about it (like +5 per tick), but there's no option to just hard sell a high, unlocked pitch now. I take this back. You can hard pitch it by pressing the D-pad right/left to cycle through the options for each pitch... However, when you successfully sway a pitch, you get a big bonus increase. a +44 popped up on the meter when I swayed one. If you don't successfully sway it, you get a small negative (-6 or so) when he finally says no I'm not going to listen to that.

One thing I really like is that now next to each recruit on your board, you can see not only if you have offered them a scholly, but how many teams total have offered them one. I don't think that was in there before.

In week 2, we talked to 16 players. Nothing close to a commit yet, or so it appears. First visits scheduled for Week 5.

AlbertaIrish · 07-13-2009, 01:08 AM

Thanks for the walkthrough. Always found recruiting to be the most interesting, unique part of the NCAA series.

I'm surprised you went after so many guys right of the bat. If you talked to 17 or so guys a week, are you basically doing one unlock/pitch per guy?

Hellisan · 07-13-2009, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlbertaIrish


	Thanks for the walkthrough. Always found recruiting to be the most interesting, unique part of the NCAA series. I'm surprised you went after so many guys right of the bat. If you talked to 17 or so guys a week, are you basically doing one unlock/pitch per guy?

The top guys I was going with 45 minutes which opens up 3-5 things. Toward the bottom of that list it was a scholarship offer and 1 pitch open (20 minutes)..

jello1717 · 07-13-2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellisan


	Week 2 Um... I had 23 players on the list, and then after we played/won our first game, I had 21. They don't show the players you lost now. I really don't like that. Comparing the list from before, a center and a MLB signed with another team. But I have no idea which players. I'll say it again. I really don't like this! Why'd they change this?

See how it looks the next time someone signs with someone else. In '09 if anyone signed with another team during the first week (and first week only) they would just disappear from your list (like what just happened to you during week 1. For all weeks after week 1, if they sign, they'll stay on your list for a week so you can see who signed and with whom.

If, in later weeks, you lose someone, and they stay on your list for that week, then it works the same as last year.

sportzbro · 07-13-2009, 01:15 AM

This is sweet Hellisan.. I'm a huge dynasty buff, and can't wait to hear about what is actually good about the mode this year since not much was done.

Hellisan · 07-13-2009, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jello1717


	See how it looks the next time someone signs with someone else. In '09 if anyone signed with another team during the first week (and first week only) they would just disappear from your list (like what just happened to you during week 1. For all weeks after week 1, if they sign, they'll stay on your list for a week so you can see who signed and with whom. If, in later weeks, you lose someone, and they stay on your list for that week, then it works the same as last year.

Ah! thank you sir! And that answers a couple of confusing questions I had about the last year hahahaha.

Couple of guys I really wanted disappeared but I never really noted that it was week 1 as opposed to any other week...

sportzbro · 07-13-2009, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellisan


	Week 2 They don't show the players you lost now. I really don't like that. I'll note here that I really don't like the new menu style in recruiting. Where last year you could click on a player and see all his estimated ratings on one page, now you have to click through 2-4 pages because all of the ratings are displayed as bulky graphs. It's really senseless. I mean if you wanted to do all this by screenshots you'd have to take six screenshots per player just to show everything. Even when you click on "schedule a visit" you have to page through 2-3 pages to see each game that you have available for him to see, because they are huge labels that take up 1/4 of the screen on each page. You'll see what I mean if you don't already have this game.

This sounds like a horrible process. I saw some of this with the dynasty screens that Steve posted, and thought it looked just plain dumb.

Also I wish the players you lost in season would remain on your list, but just be X'ed out.

07-13-2009, 12:59 AM	#2
Hellisan Fan of real schools OVR: 19 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 1,864 Blog Entries: 8	Re: Anatomy of a Recruiting Class Week 2 Um... I had 23 players on the list, and then after we played/won our first game, I had 21. They don't show the players you lost now. I really don't like that. Comparing the list from before, a center and a MLB signed with another team. But I have no idea which players. I'll say it again. I really don't like this! Why'd they change this? Overall, we had very good success in week 1, not losing ground on anybody and making good gains. I'll note here that I really don't like the new menu style in recruiting. Where last year you could click on a player and see all his estimated ratings on one page, now you have to click through 2-4 pages because all of the ratings are displayed as bulky graphs. It's really senseless. I mean if you wanted to do all this by screenshots you'd have to take six screenshots per player just to show everything. Even when you click on "schedule a visit" you have to page through 2-3 pages to see each game that you have available for him to see, because they are huge labels that take up 1/4 of the screen on each page. You'll see what I mean if you don't already have this game. If a player has a "high" level of interest in a particular category, then if it isn't locked, you can only try and sway it in your favor now. You gain small amounts of interest by talking to him about it (like +5 per tick), but there's no option to just hard sell a high, unlocked pitch now. I take this back. You can hard pitch it by pressing the D-pad right/left to cycle through the options for each pitch... However, when you successfully sway a pitch, you get a big bonus increase. a +44 popped up on the meter when I swayed one. If you don't successfully sway it, you get a small negative (-6 or so) when he finally says no I'm not going to listen to that. One thing I really like is that now next to each recruit on your board, you can see not only if you have offered them a scholly, but how many teams total have offered them one. I don't think that was in there before. In week 2, we talked to 16 players. Nothing close to a commit yet, or so it appears. First visits scheduled for Week 5. Last edited by Hellisan; 07-13-2009 at 01:11 AM.

07-13-2009, 01:08 AM	#3
AlbertaIrish Rookie OVR: 1 Join Date: Jul 2004	Re: Anatomy of a Recruiting Class Thanks for the walkthrough. Always found recruiting to be the most interesting, unique part of the NCAA series. I'm surprised you went after so many guys right of the bat. If you talked to 17 or so guys a week, are you basically doing one unlock/pitch per guy? __________________ Commish of the OFFL TeamBuilder Dynasty www.traditionfootball.com/offl

07-13-2009, 01:15 AM	#6
sportzbro MVP OVR: 39 Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 3,912	Re: Anatomy of a Recruiting Class This is sweet Hellisan.. I'm a huge dynasty buff, and can't wait to hear about what is actually good about the mode this year since not much was done.

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	Where Are Our College Basketball Video Game Rumors?

07-13-2009, 12:35 AM	#1
Hellisan Fan of real schools OVR: 19 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 1,864 Blog Entries: 8	Anatomy of a Recruiting Class For anybody who is really into recruiting/dynasty mode and would like to read about a recruiting class from start to finish just to see the natural progression of things, read on. It won't be terribly in depth but you should get an idea... Anatomy of a recruiting Class This post will detail a full recruiting class from signing day to graduation. I will also point out changes in the recruiting process as I notice them. Some things I understand, others I don't, but I'll call everything out. I'm starting with the Georgia Bulldogs, which will be my team in the Tradition Online Dynasty this year. Our needs are at DT, MLB, and FS. Everywhere else, we are pretty much set. Especially on offense, where we are two deep across the offensive line in great players, have four or five great running backs, have a ton of tight ends, WRs, you name it. Even have a couple good young QBs. HB is my pet position - sometimes to my detriment - so I'm recruiting of them even though I don't need any. Here are the positions I'm recruiting to start off with: QB: 0 HB: 3 FB: 0 WR: 1 TE: 1 T: 1 G: 1 C: 1 DE: 1 DT: 4 OLB: 0 MLB: 2 CB: 2 FS: 1 SS: 1 ATH: 3 Things I've noticed so far: The squat numbers have been drastically changed. From what people have told me, the current way is more accurate. That is, that upper echelon skill players will have squat ratings up near 400. That is hte current way, while a year ago, upper echelon was 735 for a power RB... What gives? Why such a huge disparity? Whatever, offensive linemen, D-linemen and linebackers seem mostly similar to before. There's some color coding that I don't quite understand. Each recruit has a certain number of teams under his interest list that have a yellow bar nect to them. Other teams have a red bar. The teams at the top are yellow and he might have anywhere from 1 to ALL of them that color. Then others on the list are red. Of course, the manual doesn't say anythign about this. Are these his "favorite" schools and he still has to have a top 10 but the others don't really have much of a chance? Maybe we'll figure this out. If I go to search and sort for all teams that have Georgia in their Top 10, I get 339 teams at the beginning of the year. Assuming that number will rise somewhat with the extra recruits that are added in the offseason, that's similar to last year's figures. Week 1 23 players on the list For the most part it is easier to "find" a pitch than before. You don't seem to have to wait as long, and there's much less chance of calling the recruit, wasting an entire hour and getting nothing. When it comes right down to it, though, I still feel like quick calling on the opening week gives me the best chance of opening up a good number of pitches with very little risk. So for the most part I did that. The exception was players that had me #1 on their list. The first cornerback on my list, who had UGA #1, seemed happy to talk to me. There was a little "X2" in the upper left-hand corner, which means (apparently) that your pitches are working twice as well on him as normal. For instance, when I hard pitch most recruits I'm getting around +18 per "tick" on the time clock. With him I was getting +36 and I filled up his interest bar for the call very quickly. I offered the scholarship after finding and pitching his most important pitch, and he didn't commit. But good talk, Russ. Overall, I talked to 17 of the 23 players. No commits occurred.

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Anatomy of a Recruiting Class