[quote name='Magicking610']I'm not complaining about being off the playoff roster, my internet sucks during the week anyway (you guys would be stuck with another AI half of the time). I respect the decision, but I recommend adding a "second playoff line" so that you could have 10 possible players online instead of 5. That way, in case one or 2 people are missing, you can fill up the roster. I look at it as a challenge for next season to make the roster.[/QUOTE]
I agree with Alan that it seems crazy anybody would call agility "useless". To me, almost everything in that "athleticism" section seems to be pretty important this year. I still think I'd rank acceleration ahead of speed...just for the reason that getting away from the pack is more important than reaching top speed. I'd probably rank agility and endurance even...since not falling down and not getting tired are both important. And balance SHOULD be important...but I'm not sure how much the attribute actually changes. Strength is also far more important than I initially thought. It not only allows you to resist hits, but also to shoot the puck harder (kinda weird though considering there are sliders for slap and wrist shot power).
As for having a "2nd line", if we could do that in game, I would be all for it (and I wish there was a way to do that). But in all honesty, I don't know that we even have 10 dedicated players. We easily have 7-8, but rounding out the 2nd line would throw people in who haven't made near as much of an impact on the team. It would just be tough to play line 2 with players with 15 games and 12 points over line 1 with players with 80 games and 75 points.
HOWEVER, it is a month to month thing. So, for October, everybody is back at zero and has an even shot at making the playoff roster. In the future, having two lines might work if more people increase their team involvement. But for now, anybody who cares that much about being on the playoff roster should play more and prove that they deserve to be there. You and Striker were easily the next top candidates and you both received very strong consideration for every position. But then the idea of mixing up the line and messing with the chemistry came up, which made it tough to decide how subbing someone in would work. Like I told Matt, the winger position just has multiple strong candidates.
As Alan mentioned, not many have bothered to learn defenseman, and the ones who have don't play very often. There was definitely less competition for those spots than there was on the forward line. The possibility of even putting me at the other defensive position was brought up, but we felt that could possibly weaken the forward line by either sticking somebody there who doesn't play center often, or by having an AI center (as we did last week...and then got destroyed on faceoffs). We really did consider almost every possibility though and tried to be as fair as possible.
And yeah, if people want a spot on the playoff roster, it should motivate them to play better next season...which ultimately, helps the team. And just to be clear, none of us are untouchable. If somebody outplays me at center and gives us a better chance to win, I will gladly give them my spot. I'm sure Alan would say the same thing. It's on every individual person to make sure their spot doesn't get taken.
[quote name='Vulcan2422']I don't understand why I keep coming to this thread. Maybe it's the useless banther back and forth between magicking and the rest.[/QUOTE]
I get that the conversation in here can get heated at times, but mostly for the past week or so, we've just been discussing changes to the game and how to best handle different situations. There have been some disagreements, but I kinda like that people voice their opinions...especially related to the gameplay. It makes it pretty easy to know where everybody stands on things.
I also appreciate it when Alan or Magic relay information coming down from the EA forums. I don't check on there as much as I'd like to, so it's nice to know what people are saying. Yeah, I know, we're taking it seriously. But we've won 9 out of our last 11 games and jumped from 10,000 overall to 3,118. We're having fun.
Also, I tried to give as much attention to your team in the OP as possible. People should have all the info they need to sign up. You guys have 3 members now. You should get some games going and have some fun of your own.
