Garcia's Blog XLVII- Live Draft Status
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:21 pmHey guys,
Just want to give a last status update on the Live Draft before we start our community tests. We have several more internal tests scheduled, one tomorrow and then more for early next week. Depending on how quickly we are able to run through those tests, community testing will begin the week of or after Thanksgiving.
As I've said before, our version of live draft will differ from what was used on The Sporting News as this had to be built completely from scratch. However changes from the old Live Draft used are upgrades. Again, the main difference is the addition of the salary cap to all live draft leagues. Not only this, but a strong auto-draft has been created for users who either don't show to the draft, miss a pick, or leave the draft early before the draft ends. The auto-draft feature will draft the best team possible naturally using both the salary of the player and positions of need. Users that are on auto-pick will be listed as "away" and will draft much quicker than waiting for their allotted time to expire to move drafts along quickly. Also, you may add players to your queue and then mark yourself as away when stepping away from the computer so has not to hold the draft up for everyone else. You can even add players to your queue and close out of the draft page. The auto-draft feature will use your queued players first before moving on to others.
Better sorting and filtering options have been added along with more information. In addition, All-Time Great Leagues will now have the ability to draft the year of their choice for players with more than one card. For example, all versions of Babe Ruth will be available; you are not 'stuck' with a certain year.
A chat feature will be available for drafts as well. Need to know who was the last player picked? Instead of going to to a new tab to see all of the results, a quick pop-up on the team name will show when a player is drafted and a line on the chat will as well. At a glance, users will also be able to tell where you're spending your money. Besides a total salary available and max salary left, a line will show how much you have spent your pitchers and hitters separately so you know where to invest your next pick.
That's all I have for this week. Talk to you all next Thursday!
-John
Just want to give a last status update on the Live Draft before we start our community tests. We have several more internal tests scheduled, one tomorrow and then more for early next week. Depending on how quickly we are able to run through those tests, community testing will begin the week of or after Thanksgiving.
As I've said before, our version of live draft will differ from what was used on The Sporting News as this had to be built completely from scratch. However changes from the old Live Draft used are upgrades. Again, the main difference is the addition of the salary cap to all live draft leagues. Not only this, but a strong auto-draft has been created for users who either don't show to the draft, miss a pick, or leave the draft early before the draft ends. The auto-draft feature will draft the best team possible naturally using both the salary of the player and positions of need. Users that are on auto-pick will be listed as "away" and will draft much quicker than waiting for their allotted time to expire to move drafts along quickly. Also, you may add players to your queue and then mark yourself as away when stepping away from the computer so has not to hold the draft up for everyone else. You can even add players to your queue and close out of the draft page. The auto-draft feature will use your queued players first before moving on to others.
Better sorting and filtering options have been added along with more information. In addition, All-Time Great Leagues will now have the ability to draft the year of their choice for players with more than one card. For example, all versions of Babe Ruth will be available; you are not 'stuck' with a certain year.
A chat feature will be available for drafts as well. Need to know who was the last player picked? Instead of going to to a new tab to see all of the results, a quick pop-up on the team name will show when a player is drafted and a line on the chat will as well. At a glance, users will also be able to tell where you're spending your money. Besides a total salary available and max salary left, a line will show how much you have spent your pitchers and hitters separately so you know where to invest your next pick.
That's all I have for this week. Talk to you all next Thursday!
-John