Hey guys, I've gotten a couple messages from people asking me about my Universe, and some of the ways I try and run it. For those of you who frequent the "Official: How's your Universe going?" thread, you know that I use a star based rating system on both my matches and episodes. I also have a few other "House Rules" some of you may be interested in. Hopefully some of you guys can get some useful info out of this. Mods, let me know if I'm posting this in the wrong place.
User Booking: My best advice is to go with your instinct. Personally, I hate when someone like CM Punk gets booked with Health Slater, so the first thing I do is think ahead to the next PPV. Do I want to give Punk a push, or do I want to give him a feud outside of the belt? Say I want Punk to feud with Edge. The first thing I do is go to both wrestlers, give them a high intensity rivalry with each other. If I'm not pressed for time, (say 4 full weeks until Money in the Bank) I set CM Punk in a respectable match up, and its only a matter of time before we'll see Edge get in on the action somehow. After that, the CPU is generally pretty good at running the feud so I'll typically just let it go from there. If you're more pressed for time, go ahead and pair the two of them in a match, where sparks are inevitably going to fly between the two.
Have a free slot on one of your cards? Let the CPU do its thing and see what comes of it. My best feud thus far came from an Orton/Kane match that was booked by the CPU. It was about 6 weeks before Wrestlemania, and towards the end of the match, the place went blue and Undertaker appeared (Undertaker had a low-intensity rivalry with Orton, and a nice alliance with Kane) officially kicking off the Orton/Undertaker feud that lasted me 3 months, and literally just ended last night during my Over the Limit title belt match between the two.
User Controlled Matches: A lot to say here, so I'll just give a rundown of how I go about this.
Rating Changes:
Gameplay:
Time: There are some exceptions here, for example if I'm playing an Undertaker Wrestlemania match, I'd be disappointed if it wasn't in that 20-30 minute range, so I don't take off for that.
1-3 minutes (no *'s)
3-10 minutes (half *)
10-20 minutes (full *)
20-30 minutes (half *)
30+ minutes (no *'s)
Finishers: Again, there are exceptions here. I wouldn't mind seeing Triple H put 3 pedigrees on someone (Example- Undertaker in Wrestlemania 27) and have them kick out. But I don't want one wrestler having 3/4 finishers and the other wrestler not having one at all.
0-1 Finishers, or 2 Finishers from same wrestler (no *'s)
2 finishers (one each, half *)
3-4 finishers (full *)
5+ finishers (no *'s)
Matchup: Sometimes just seeing Triple H face Shawn Michaels is enough for me to reward the match a star.
0-1 Superstars, mid-carders or below (no *'s)
2 Superstars, or contenders (half *)
1-2 Legends or belt-holders (full *)
Return Superstar, Ex: Jericho (full *)
Match Execution: This one is pretty subjective, but I usually just go by botches, glitches, etc. Basically just based on the fluidity of matches.
5+ botches/glitches (no *'s)
3-4 botches/glitches (half *)
0-2 botches/glitches (full *)
Intangibles: Another category thats pretty subjective. Sometimes I'll see something really cool happen, or an interesting cut-scene will take place. Sometimes a great match will take place, but nothing out of the ordinary happens. For example, if you were to read my post under Extreme Rules, Undertaker and Orton had a first-blood match in which Undertaker got punted in the face (no blood), Orton got tombstoned and put through a table (no blood) and Undertaker finally got RKO'd from the top of a ladder where blood was finally drawn. That is something that can bump a well executed match into legendary status for me.
House Rules
User Booking: My best advice is to go with your instinct. Personally, I hate when someone like CM Punk gets booked with Health Slater, so the first thing I do is think ahead to the next PPV. Do I want to give Punk a push, or do I want to give him a feud outside of the belt? Say I want Punk to feud with Edge. The first thing I do is go to both wrestlers, give them a high intensity rivalry with each other. If I'm not pressed for time, (say 4 full weeks until Money in the Bank) I set CM Punk in a respectable match up, and its only a matter of time before we'll see Edge get in on the action somehow. After that, the CPU is generally pretty good at running the feud so I'll typically just let it go from there. If you're more pressed for time, go ahead and pair the two of them in a match, where sparks are inevitably going to fly between the two.
Have a free slot on one of your cards? Let the CPU do its thing and see what comes of it. My best feud thus far came from an Orton/Kane match that was booked by the CPU. It was about 6 weeks before Wrestlemania, and towards the end of the match, the place went blue and Undertaker appeared (Undertaker had a low-intensity rivalry with Orton, and a nice alliance with Kane) officially kicking off the Orton/Undertaker feud that lasted me 3 months, and literally just ended last night during my Over the Limit title belt match between the two.
User Controlled Matches: A lot to say here, so I'll just give a rundown of how I go about this.
- Don't be afraid to make the Universe yours. What I mean by this, is take full control of the match if you're going to control one of the Superstars. Want Daniel Bryan to run away from Big Show, DQ'ing himself but holding the belt? Control Daniel Bryan, grab the belt, and run away.
- Another good example of this came from a recent triple threat steel-cage match I had with Christian/Edge/and Ziggler. Edge and Christian have an allience, and Ziggler and Christian have a rivalry. The match eventually got to the point where Edge and Dolph were climbing out of the cage at the same time, and Christian (who I was controlling) had the option of pulling one of the two down. I decided to pull down Dolph, and give Edge the belt which was a testimate to the alliance Edge and Christian had.
- Sometimes, I'll know who I want to retain and who I want to lose before the match. For example, during my Wrestlemania match between Taker/Orton, I controlled Orton. I was able to put on a great match, but in the end, I never really had any intention of Undertaker losing the streak to Orton. After Undertaker's second Tombstone on Orton (me), I all but conceded the match, and let Orton get pinned.
- Gameplay wise, I do a few things too.
- If the CPU reverses a move of mine, I let them do their grapple before I attempt any reversals.
- I only attempt one Reversel per CPU chain of attacks. This restarts after the CPU has done a grapple move.
- In Last Man Standing matches, I only begin attempts at kicking out after 5 counts.
- I win about 60% of the time, so typically I choose who I'd like to win the match.
- This type of advice is pretty rhetorical, but don't let yourself cheese (over use of taunts, running attacks all match, etc).
Sliders & Gameplay Options
Rating Changes:
- All Superstars/Divas recovery down to 0 (allows for better Triple Threat/Steel Cage/Ladder Matches)
- Charisma up 5 (more cutscenes?)
Gameplay:
- Legendary difficulty
- CPU Grapple all at 2
- Human Grapple all at 0
- Finisher Strength at maximum
- Object Strength at maximum
- Finisher Reversel at maximum
- Object Reversel at default
Match Ratings
- I use a star based system on a scale of 1* to 5*'s.
- At the end of each episode, I take an average of the match ratings a put them together. However, sometimes I'll exclude a really bad match if the rest of the episode has been really good (looking at you Diva matches).
Time: There are some exceptions here, for example if I'm playing an Undertaker Wrestlemania match, I'd be disappointed if it wasn't in that 20-30 minute range, so I don't take off for that.
1-3 minutes (no *'s)
3-10 minutes (half *)
10-20 minutes (full *)
20-30 minutes (half *)
30+ minutes (no *'s)
Finishers: Again, there are exceptions here. I wouldn't mind seeing Triple H put 3 pedigrees on someone (Example- Undertaker in Wrestlemania 27) and have them kick out. But I don't want one wrestler having 3/4 finishers and the other wrestler not having one at all.
0-1 Finishers, or 2 Finishers from same wrestler (no *'s)
2 finishers (one each, half *)
3-4 finishers (full *)
5+ finishers (no *'s)
Matchup: Sometimes just seeing Triple H face Shawn Michaels is enough for me to reward the match a star.
0-1 Superstars, mid-carders or below (no *'s)
2 Superstars, or contenders (half *)
1-2 Legends or belt-holders (full *)
Return Superstar, Ex: Jericho (full *)
Match Execution: This one is pretty subjective, but I usually just go by botches, glitches, etc. Basically just based on the fluidity of matches.
5+ botches/glitches (no *'s)
3-4 botches/glitches (half *)
0-2 botches/glitches (full *)
Intangibles: Another category thats pretty subjective. Sometimes I'll see something really cool happen, or an interesting cut-scene will take place. Sometimes a great match will take place, but nothing out of the ordinary happens. For example, if you were to read my post under Extreme Rules, Undertaker and Orton had a first-blood match in which Undertaker got punted in the face (no blood), Orton got tombstoned and put through a table (no blood) and Undertaker finally got RKO'd from the top of a ladder where blood was finally drawn. That is something that can bump a well executed match into legendary status for me.
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