Although I won't really try and "sell" anyone on the new features/enhancements, below is how I think about the new features/enhancements per my own personal play style. Whether an upgrade is financially worth it to some one is completely subjective so not trying to convince anyone. Generally speaking, I think all the additions are welcomed and continues to help evolve the game forward, but my ranking is more about the things I personally enjoy and how I play the game. Just because something is in Tier #3, doesn't mean it isn't good, just means least impactful/important to me based on how I play. There are probably other subtle enhancements I have missed, but hopefully covered most of them. Even with this information, I recommend anyone that is on the fence to wait for the demo and/or buy on Steam where you have some time to refund (2 hours and/or 2 week) as everyone has different opinions on what is "worth it".

Tier #1
- Conference Realignment in between seasons (needed in college football as teams change---plus this has allowed me to update current moves within my real world mod without having the developer make game changes---love it)

- Pipelines feature to tie coaches and states to recruiting areas (anything to enhance recruiting experience, is good to me...still learning and understanding the impacts but I like the concept)

- Updated Transfer Rules (keeping current with rules is important)

- Tweaks to recruiting logic (anything to enhance recruiting experience, is good to me...of course might take time to see all the things and how they play out)

- Updated internals for the engine to better match DDSPF updates (zone plays, etc.) (any time game engine is tweaked, I look forward to them---will always be room for improvement but so far haven't seen as many crazy things although I tend to sim a lot so don't look at detailed play by play as much as others)

- Updated prestige calculations and options (big enhancement for me this year as much more movement, plus added a 'low' category for people like me that like more mild changes each year)

- Recruiting Summary screen (this is really cool where it shows positional rankings by school...see screenshot below and in latest build)

- Job Offer Screen (people will like where this is headed, in latest build and screenshot below....step in the right direction although I am sure still more that can be done in future)

- Updated UI to match current DDS game lineup (I really like the dark background better than the past versions but I realize others have different opinions)

Tier #2
- Updated Team Dashboard (like the new commit info on it)

- Updates for Coach displays and listings (ratings, history, etc.) (anytime more detailed tracked, the better, haven't fully explored all this yet)

- Coach Traits added (haven't experimented with this much yet but think something I will pay attention too)

- More details in history of seasons, wins, conf championships, etc. (anytime more detailed tracked, the better, haven't fully explored all this yet)

- Option to disable W/L tracking for coordinators (I really like this so I can turn on/off as I like...almost made my tier #1)

Tier #3
- Fog of War setting to hide or obscure ratings (all ratings and OVR are options) (1-100, 1-20, 1-10, 1-5 options) (think good enhancement, I am just not sure I will use it myself)

- New RPO plays (I don't create custom plays, nor do I play the actual games....I always sim)

- Signing Day Cutscene to highlight top classes (these are nice, but I tend to turn off all cut scenes---but they are nice for people who enjoying watching these things)

- Coach Watchlist to track your favorite coaches (just haven't used it much yet to have an opinion)

- Updates to custom plays to match DDSPF features (I don't create custom plays, nor do I play the actual games....I always sim)

- Config Option to remove historic/rivalry games (nice for flexibility but don't see me needing it...but good to have options)

Recruiting Summary


Job Offer Screen

Thanks for taking the time to do this, it does help, even if your play style is different. It's neat that the game allows for different approaches.

Looking forward to the Steam release. (Steam tip: In-depth games like these often require more than the 2 hours available to evaluate them. You can get around that by playing off-line, your playtime is not recorded).

Regardless, I'm sure I'll be upgrading upon release. And thanks for all your hard work on an excellent mod. Takes a great game te even greater heights!

Since you sim games (and I presume multiple seasons) I was wondering have you ever carried over your career sims from one game release to the next? To do that, if it's possible, is it a case of just copying the saved game file from one version to another?

I've only ever owned the 2021 version but had a 7 year save going until a power outage occurred during a game save and my file got corrupted. I've restarted my save and thought it might be cool to bring it into 2022 if that's possible as I expect I'll have a few seasons played again by the time the Steam version launches.

Hello, I have not carried seasons over since I like to start fresh but believe developer has stated you can and it’s just a matter of copying your league to the new folder but they can clarify if I am wrong.

Yup! Y2Y saves have been in for as long as I remember. It's simply copying and pasting the .bin or pointing directly to it.

Nice write up, Sly.

slybelle1 wrote:Hello, I have not carried seasons over since I like to start fresh but believe developer has stated you can and it’s just a matter of copying your league to the new folder but they can clarify if I am wrong.

Cheers.

BTW, I went ahead and got the FA version, I could not wait for Steam and I see there's a Steam key available upon final release.

Colly wrote:

slybelle1 wrote:Hello, I have not carried seasons over since I like to start fresh but believe developer has stated you can and it’s just a matter of copying your league to the new folder but they can clarify if I am wrong.

Cheers.

BTW, I went ahead and got the FA version, I could not wait for Steam and I see there's a Steam key available upon final release.

Nice…look forward to your thoughts

One thing I'd like to see less of is "internal hires" for head coaches. I understand if they dont hire someone but there are so many coaches in the coaches pool I dont think internal hires should be a thing, I just think "position coaches" should be auto generated for hire every season that are 30-40 years old.

Offers screen is an A+...only thing is somehow incorporate recruiting grades, maybe average over last 4 seasons as a reference to talent. Not complaining, this improvement is huge for me