2022 Wishlist

[LennyHayes]

Just wanted to write out a few items I'd love to see in the next version. This game is so close to being perfect but just needs some added features to get to that next level. Sorry in advance but I'm probably going to ramble on about a few things but this is something I'm passionate about. unfortunately have no experience in coding or anything so no idea how easily my ideas could be implemented but just wanted to throw out some ideas.
I know this game hasn't been out for super long but the season is almost over so no doubt the devs are working towards a new version. I feel like the game engine is great it's just some quality of life things throughout that perhaps hold this back from reaching great heights. I love the complexities of this game and similar games but sometimes it's nice to have things be simplified and streamlined. It brings a greater market into play and helps keep players engaged rather than getting burnt out by the demanding and sometimes arduous nature of this game.
Hoping the devs can have a read through some of these suggestions and look to implement some of them for future versions.

1. Editing. Text based sims need to be highly editable and while the game does indeed support mods and roster editing I feel that it just out of reach of the casual gamer. Being able to easily edit the rosters via an easy to read text document or spreadsheet would make things infinitely better. Converting files to different formats with a confusing layout does not make this task something that should be a reasonably simple process something most people are going to try. A separate file for historical stats (current players past seasons/career stats) that can also be edited would be a huge upgrade as well. Maybe an in game editor can be developed but I understand this is a hard task. I'd even pay extra for one if it was a well functioning tool. Even something as simple as being able to edit a players name in-game would make a huge difference.

2. Scouting. I think the whole scouting function needs a complete overhaul. I want to be in control of who I scout, how often and how detailed. If I am in no need of a CB why am I wasting resources on scouting them? There should be a scout/s to hire as staff. Why am I getting grades from my coaches? They aren't out there scouting these college players, I don't want 3 completely different grades from staff that have no business giving out said grades.
Similar to above the draft classes should be highly editable. If I want Trevor Lawrence in the 2021 draft I should be able to quickly edit him in.
Would love to see a teams needs or some positional grades in the scouting screen so i can quickly gauge what players to scout without having to fully analyze the whole roster.

3. Player profiles. Would be good for the skill ratings to be ordered depending on what position a player is would make a quick glance at their bio easier to read how good they are. Seeing Arm strength for an Offensive Tackle in the top half of the skills isn't really optimum.
There seems to also be some confusion as to a players true overall ability vs what is shown in their profile and also there overall ability for a certain position. This needs to be streamlined and made more accessible to the casual player. It's not really intuitive to have to always examine every players exact strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps an option to toggle an overall ability rating on or off for players who want a simplified version vs. those who want to take in every single stat and rating to make the perfect lineup. This leads me to my next point.

4. Player Ratings/ traits and personalities explained. Maybe this is all covered in a guide somewhere but not something I have easily come across. If we do need to analyze all ratings to decide who the better player is for certain circumstances then we need all these ratings easily explained. How is my RB with an intelligence of 81 better than another running back with lower intelligence but better physical skills? How does his disposition make him better or worse on the field. What about his Team player rating or competitiveness rating? And then there are traits too. What am i getting out of a proud baller compared to a careful jock? So many variables that should be easier to discern in game rather than searching the net for a guide.
There shouldn't be a shroud of secrecy to what traits affect with players.
There doesn't also seem to be any variation in terms of what type of player there is. For example I may want to sign a pass catching RB, it would be nice to see that kind of information easily visible. Player archetypes similar to Madden wouldn't be too difficult to implement using there major skillsets as a guide.

5. Almanac. This is one of my favorite parts of these simulation games. Going through seasons of stats and records, see standout performers. It's another reason why being able to edit in players past seasons stats is so important. There is no real fun in breaking a record that was only set in 2021 in the 2022 season. Breaking a 30 year old record that had forever seemed out of reach is the most satisfying part of these games for me. Knowing that I managed to put together a team/player capable of putting up those numbers is what brings the joy to the hours spent in game. Perhaps having the almanac as an editable file to add in whatever records you see fit would be an option.
I feel there should also be sections dedicated to the League Champions, MVP winners etc. I'd rather have a list of all these major accolades in one screen rather than going through year by year to see each individual winner.
A separate Hall of Fame area here would also bring a nice touch. Something neatly set out to easily see each member of the HOF would add a real touch of class and keep any players being forgotten about over the years of your simulation.

6. Transactions. A simple one here. Just add a drop down menu to filter out trades/free agent signings etc. I don't want to scroll through hundreds of signings to see if any trades have occurred.

7. Salary Cap. Maybe I haven't delved into this too much in game but would love to see some repercussions for going over the salary cap. It seems teams can just be over the cap and continue on happily without needing to make hard decisions in the offseason. Cutting players with large contracts should also eat up cap space if they still have multiple years left.

8. Standings/playoff seedings. Having 'x' 'y' 'z' in the standings for teams who have clinched playoff, divisions or conferences would be a nice visual addition. Another addition of seeing the teams playoff seed next to their name in the playoff bracket would be nice.

9. Training. Being able to place the whole squad or offense/defense or certain positions into certain training schedules would be a nice quality of life addition rather than having to place each individual onto those schedules. Perhaps even adding in a few more preset training schedules too such as pre-season, mid-season, injury recovery schedules in wouldn't hurt.

10. Game version. I haven't been around long enough to know how much changes from year to year but a yearly release cycle seems like a lot of development work plus a lot of money for gamers to put down to keep up with the latest version. Perhaps a lot of the time its just basic updates but I feel like Wolverine could be hurting their business by forcing everyone to buy a new game every year to keep it up to date. Having a cheaper seasonal pass that updates periodically would keep all players in the current version whilst not being charged for a full new version each year. I feel like this option will make players stick around longer as they are constantly on the current version. Perhaps this has been discussed and I'm by no means a business major but just seems like an idea to broaden the player base and keep everyone playing longer.

That's all I can think of for now, no doubt I will have some more ideas further down the line though. Everyone else is welcome to add items they'd like to see addressed for future versions of this game.

[Cleasby]

Hi

I do not work for wolverine studios but I run a multiplayer league. Looking at your feedback some of it is already in game so let me try and help point out a few areas for you

1. You can already edit any player in game or draft easily via spreadsheet's to out back into the game. The developer provides a JSON coverter for your to do this. You can also edit players in game via the commissioner option. However historical stats are not in there but maybe that's something for the modding community to think about rather than the developer. I would rather have a better simulation football game then have the developer spend time adding historical stats which are only of value to single players. As multiplayer leagues have their own historical stats to reference.

2. You can already scout who you want to. There is a scout next draft button in the top right that during the souting phase in the offseason you can scout or interview a player as well as see the combine. I suggest you check this out. Coaches scout players irl too not just the scouts. They provide an assessment on whether they would fit into their scheme culture etc so it makes sense coaches have an opinion on a player. I agree though having a head scout to hire would be cool and scouting over a season would be a refreshing change. Also I already posted about the scout grades need more work on the forum.
Regarding editing draft players you can do this easily as I explained in point 1.
3. Yeah the skill screen need to be refined but I don't agree with a toggle for 'casual players' only. If I look at football manager or ootp as the leaders in this genre their ratings presentation works despite showing everything. If you want a causal mode like this I suggest madden.
4. What you are describing is the skill of the game. Understanding which type of RB is best suited to your strategy is something that challenges you as a coach and GM. An RB with good strength may be great as a power back but you may want a catch and speed guy at RB if he is a pass option for certain plays. This is the skill to find the right guys to fit your system.
Regarding personalities this was added for the latest version and I don't think there is much impact yet as it is still a work in progress. I would hate for archetypes to be added to the game because it simply dumbs down the system again. There are already player tags which do something similar and give you a flavour for a guy such as legend nose tackle running qb etc.

5. Some valid ideas in awards. I am sure they will enhance the presentation of this over time. Just an FYI hall of fame is in the search player section.

6. Yeah I don't know about a drop down but getting the transactions in order of occurance would help. At the moment we see free agency days in the wrong order.

7. This is already in the game. There are options to enforce a hard cap and apply a salary cap hit for each cut. It's in the league options area.

8. Nice idea.

9. No way would I want to have a training schedule for the whole offence and defence as positions require different training sets. I do think the training area needs some further work to be able to deleted schedules and not have former players showing up there once cut or traded etc.

10. Could not disagree with this more. WS is an indie developer that is on a yearly release schedule. The price point is correct in my opinion and asking them to go to a cheaper none version update each year is definitely not the way they will ever grow. I do think that they should review the release schedule dates for all their games however as they are often squashed into the Q4-Q1 each year. Given the same developer works on pf and CF I would maybe space them out more to give adequate time to each.

[st0nfacd]

Just a quick reply re the things you listed:
1. Is already available in game. If you play sandbox, you will see the editing tool there. If you are playing career, you shouldn't be able to edit stats, cause, that's just cheating.

2. Scouting does need a revamp, but nothing of the things you listed are applicable. You can scout whichever player you want specifically, but your scout will not give you exact ratings, because that is just boring. Why do you coaches give you ratings? Because their opinions matter, as they will be coordinating the offense or defense that those players are being drafted for. Their grades will vary depending on if they fit your coach's respective scheme. If the coach prefers a 3-3-5 defensive scheme, but the player doesn't fit that scheme well, he will have a lower rating than if he was better suited to that scheme. This assumes you run custom playbooks, your coaches should still be suited to the playbook you plan on running. Teams needs are available in the dashboard. Draft classes are editable and uploadable.

3. Couldn't disagree more. Having to search each time for where a skill rating is located every time even you will find will get tiring. After enough looks, you know exactly what is where. Also, each of us look for different things for a specific player of a specific player. Someone would prefer agility for an RB, someone else would prefer speed. Someone might prefer tackling for a linebacker, someone else prefers intelligence.

4. I disagree with the description of the rating. They are already self explanatory. Player profile however could have a description. Hesitant jock for example means nothing.

5. I don't care about the awards.

6. Good idea. Doesn't change much about the game though.

7. Cutting players does have a cap. Other similar things have been discussed that are not included such as a cap hit for retiring players that were still under contract. Other contract suggestions have also been made, including having contract demands be league dependent rather than preprogrammed, and this is an absolute necessity, and non negotiable. More contract options such as signing bonuses etc will come in due time.

8. Doesn't change anything. You shouldn't really need help to see that the top 2 of each conference get a bye, as well as the next 2 get playoffs, plus the next 2 best records. Or top 1 if you play 2020 settings. Nice QOL update, but doesn't offer anything meaningful.

9. Training does need an update overall, including potential positional coaches, but if you have your QB on the same schedule as your Oline, you're doing it wrong. Along similar backroom changes, hiring a medical team would be a great addition.

10. If this was a good idea, EA and 2k sports would do the same thing with their games. It isn't, so they don't.

[LennyHayes]

Thanks for the response, glad I got some good feedback. My list was more just off the cuff thoughts so can completely understand some of them weren't super well recieved!
Just to clarify on my list...

1. I'm aware you can edit the rosters but I was more interested in a simple way to do so without needing to convert files etc. The ability to edit in career stats is a big thing for me though and would be a welcome addition to a future version.

2. The main thing with scouting was the full season scouting. I would like to learn about players I interview etc. as the season goes on not just days out from the draft. As others have said the draft file is editable as well but I'm struggling with it (I have an off-brand excel which is maybe an issue?) so can anyone point me or link me to a half decent 2021 draft class to import??

3. Just a small cleanup of the player ratings page to make it more visually effective but yeah it isn't too bad and the more I play the more I'll get used to it.

4. Again fair enough that it is something that will become easier to understand with more hours in game. I guess it's more I'd like to know exactly what effects a personality/trait is having rather than it being a bit ambiguous.

5. Whether other people care about the Almanac or not it's another area I'd just wish we could edit and include any historical records/stats for more realism.

6. Just a filter to only see trades would be fine.

7. Yep hoping the salary cap/contract stuff can be expanded/refined to better represent real life scenarios. It does need that balance to not become too complicated and demanding though so just some refinements to this area is fine.

8. Visual update only really for a quicker assesment of where teams are.

9. The traqining does seem a bit meh. Perhaps a better visual representation of how particular training regimes are going to easier tweak them as needed.

10. Fair enough, was just a random thought to get everyone on the same engine/version. Not questioning Wolverine's strategy just musing really.

[Skycast]

Gotta chime in as well on #10 because I see this same thing in other locations regarding this and other games. The current version of this game cost $35, I realize for some that may not be a drop in the bucket, but if you can't scrape up that amount every year to support a small developer then just play with what you have and deal with it. For many of us however that is nothing, while I don't always agree with the enhancements that have been made or where they (Wolverine) decided to spend their development time, I want to support them.

I mean, how many countless hours of enjoyment do you get over the course of a year for that $35? I challenge you to find anything else that costs so little and gives so much return value.

[slaphappy]

I'd like to see Fumble! across my screen if there was a fumble..

[zac]

Yes, I understand the below items are a huge task (and not even possible to get in by 22 for some of these ideas). This wishlist was just for fun for what I'd love to see out of the game as it continues to grow.

1) Improved Progression / Regression: DDSPF 21 lacks a solid regression system. Players play well into their mid to late 30s way too often. While there should be the anomaly that plays into their mid-30s, it should be very rare outside of QB. Positions that rely greatly on athleticism (RB, CB, etc.) should regress faster than positions like QBs. This leads to progression. It feels like progression is a bit limited because of the lack of regression (to keep leagues from getting too much talent). With better regression, it'll open the door to having more realistic progression as well. While very rare, there should be 4th round picks that are rated in the low 70s when drafted, that jump up to upper-80s OVR in just a couple of seasons. This all would make building teams, signing free agents, and trading all much more fun and challenging. Right now, it's way too easy to predict player's future skill changes. There's very little risk in acquiring a 31-year-old CB. There's not a huge advantage in having a young team because players don't progress all that much. The whole system right now seems out of touch with reality in how players age and overly predictable for GMs building a team. Also, injuries should play into regression much more than it does. While rare, you should have the star LB that breaks his leg at age 25 and is never the same again and has a sharp decrease in ratings.

2) Fog of War: This should be an option on league set up as I understand this isn’t for everyone, but I would greatly appreciate an option that allows you to have a scouting department that not only scouts draft prospects but also responsible for drafting every player in the league. Every rating in the game would be tied to your scout's views. How certain you are of a player's ratings would depend on how much that player has played and how good your scout is that you hired. A 5th round pick that is halfway through his rookie year and has played 8 snaps is going to have much less accurate ratings than an 8-year starting veteran LB. This also would put more emphasis on looking at stats before acquiring players in trades and free agency. If your scout says someone is rated pretty average OVR but they are coming off a huge season where they had 1,400 receiving yards, you would have to make a decision if you trust your scout or think your scout has it wrong and he's the guy who put up monster numbers.

3) Improve Game Clock Coding: Right now, there's really no hurry-up offense in the last two minutes. Even if you are passing, 30-50 seconds is common to run off the clock per play. If you have 1 minute left and 3-time outs, you still often can only run 2 plays. This shouldn't happen and hopefully is improved in future versions of the game.

4) Improved UI: The User Interface changed greatly with 21 but has many bugs that need to be ironed out and screens ideally should load quicker.

5) Improved Contracts: Would like to see contracts have a signing bonus (guaranteed $$) and non-guaranteed $$ to add more depth to the game. Players should have awareness if they are 35 years old, it's in their best interest to take a front-loaded contract over a backloaded contract as they won't even see the money from the back end of the contract if they retire. If a player retires or is traded, any signing bonus (guaranteed $$) should stay as a cap hit to the original team.

6) Improved Draft Scouting: I think scouting is ok, but room for improvement. I'm not a big fan of the current all or nothing scouting option for draft prospects (either you scout them fully by checking a box or you basically don't scout them at all). Not sure the best answer but a more strategic system that allows you to scout some guys 50%-70% with less accuracy. And if you want to put all your eggs in one basket and scout a guy to 90%+, it should cost a ton. Also, would be great if there was a way to scout potential / future development in players. If there was some sort of "potential" rating of some sort that was scout-able, it could add some strategy to the draft. Do you take the C+ OVR sure thing in round 3 or the D+ OVR player that you have as an A potential rating?

7) More Ratings: Find it odd that there are zone coverage and man coverage plays in the playbook but secondary players don't have a zone and man coverage ratings. Similarly, there's no route running for WRs among other examples. Would add to the game if you could build a playbook based on zone coverage and then build a roster that has guys that do that coverage best. Also could have a press coverage ratings added and better playbook and game-planning for press coverage.

8) QB Running: QB running, and user control over QB running, has never been great but seems even worse so far in 21. QB designed runs seem to not work well at all, for the most part, usually resulting in negative yardage or at best 1 or 2 yards even with the fastest dual-threat QBs. QBs don’t seem to scramble for enough yardage on passing plays either. This gets into the next point, but there should be more refined control on QB running on both offense and defense. If you want to have your QB scramble a lot, there should be great control to do so and see it play out on game day (even if it does have negative risks such as injuries or fumbles). Right now, it’s particularly challenging to get a game plan that has a noticeable impact on QB running as far as scrambling is concerned. If this is addressed and the offense is given more tools to game plan a QB to run, the defense also should be handled more tools in-game planning to stop a running QB (with negative risk such as opening up passing zones, etc.).

9) More Depth for Game Planning Overall: This did improve some in 21 with the 3rd down RB and ability to focus on a player for your defense. There's still more room to improve. Would be nice to set up specific strategies on when to go for it on 4th down and when to kick a FG. Don't kick a FG more than x yards. If between the 35-25 yard line, go for it if it's 4th and 5 or less, etc. How often you want to go for it for 2-point conversions. Also, while you can focus on a player now, it would be great to assign double coverage on a certain player regardless of where the other team lines him up. Or for another example, if a team runs left a lot, it should be simple in the game plan to have your team prepare for that.

10) Run / Pass Formations: I feel like these needs changed or should lead to negative results at times. Right now, the formations make it easy to have certain personal on the field for running plays and other personal on the field for passing plays. While this control is needed, it’s also easy to find specialized players that only are on the field for their play type. LTs that only play for running plays and another LT that plays on passing plays. In reality, this would be so easy to stop if you saw a LT come into the game just for passing plays. While personal control is great, might be better to have some type of negative consequences built in if you have a player only on the field for only one type of play (run/pass).

11) LB/DE Position Skills: LB and DE are often the same position and fluctuate depending on the formation. An outside LB in a 3/4 is very similar to a DE in a 4-3 or Nickle. A DT in a 4-3 or Nickle is very similar to a DE in a 3-4. To me, the positions make more sense as NT (Nose Tackle), IDL (interior DL), Edge Rusher, and LB. A IDL would be a DT in a 4-3 or a DE in a 3-4. An Edger Rusher would be a LB when 3 DL are on the field and a DE when 4 DL are on the field. At the very least, the position skill ratings shouldn’t be so hard to transfer between positions for LB and DE.

[guzzoid]

How is individual subbing in the 2d game mode not on here? Or did they fix that?