ATG 9??? Thanks/Hello strato community

I see Moose's email and post in the Barnstormers signup mentions ATG 9 and bullpen tweaks. In coming back to strato, fast in the last week fiending to get the PC game and cool leagues I see there's been talk of bullpen overhaul for online (i know nothing) but the great Barnstormers page and Moose mentioning ATG 9 is the first I've heard of it....https://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/37

That email was just a moment ago, on Friday! I know we all want the best for strat and hope it can grow in ambition, follow-through and synchronization. ATG 9?!?! When? What? As huge of a number that "9" is for sequels, its been a loooong time for a new ATG and strat has done things in the meanwhile---and I've drifted in recent years. Strat is such a great game, and just like its TCG brethren Magic the Gathering, or riding a bicycle, one never leaves Strat.

The game has made some huge developments in those last few years---things I never imagined, like "Daily," though, it's frankly in the "i didn't want category," but maybe I do. Simming the 2020 season has Strat on quite a press tour and our game getting some buzz. Buzz/advertising, as unqualified as I am to talk about, is what I've clamored for strat to get on and here I see a real "press-release" of ATG9. I guess ATG always felt under-loved in how it was positioned but wow, here is its 9th sweeet incarnation. With repricing, which is more than some of those ways blast from the pasts like ATG3v1 can say.

So, with a glass-half-full mindset, what do with think/expect for ATG9????????

*For me, strato is always the #1 dream-job, so of course I'm gonna talk nice! Strat has so much potential, above all else as a "sandbox" where formats can be developed and diversified. This is the strato home I always am searching for.

Thanks for being a great community for the better part of two decades SOM online!

ATG9 Design - Why Wish When You Could Manifest?

A "Wishlist" this late in whatever design/product release process is unfair and the boards here have historically harbored some SOM-hate. Yes, their customer service needs to get better and more expansive. There's no but. That's #1 on the list, but my point was we need to recommend tangible things for the coding team or whoever at SOM to take on. Plus, what is this game? Not to say it needs to be humble, but alot of "out-of-leftfield" Wishlist items are never gonna happen in that they might involve a whole different medium or something.
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For achievable wants:

1. Cut out MANY of the extraneous leagues in "League Directory" - a big part of any online game is controlling the flow of its playerbase. Helping gamers find a "match" quickly. In this case its leagues and the flow of how players....spend $ and join leagues, could be way improved. It's sad that games don't support too diversified or numerous of formats and instead "control" players, but that balance is needed. Well, some time ago Strat fell off on that (remember the addition of 140mil?). I so want formats, but there shouldn't be numerous autoleagues with the exact same parameters with 0 or 1 managers in them.....uh what? Even for user-created leagues, SOM should clear out empty(ish) leagues more frequently to streamline the experience and not give the sense of such a "dead scene". Even if this is handled quite differently, doing something to redirect too much of the finite playerbase from splintering into different "formats" that serve no purpose or distinction, maybe should be considered.

2. Interweave the Community - Always my kumbaya dream. In searching around online about strat for the first time in a while, I'm struck by how many people revere strat. This is my trap, but SOM could be big $. I mean, baseball obviously is and a licensing/partnership with MLB is literally unique in modern Capitalism. Currently, SOM's website has so many nooks and crannies that all feature different essential information. In short, i think SOM should declutter alot of their digital presence, feature more robust product descriptions/examples, and look to facilitate and host more of their fanbases' passion, discussion and organization about strat. Cards/PC/online should all coexist and interplay. Why isn't there a discussion board here for the PC game or cards/dice?

3. PC game online elements (leagues, netplay, etc.) are very unclear or at least disparate. (discussed in #2)

4. Building Historic sets or formats with real supply and demand guardrails, or tensions, should not lose precedence to just adding more cards. I may be in the minority here about not always wanting new cards added, but I think there can be balance between BIG ATG formats and more limited supply stuff without there being WAAAAAY to many formats splintering the playerbase like I talk about in #1. Newest yearly set (2019) and an "unlimited" ATG style set is the obvious duality, but within the ATG, I think they should really look to prioritize a lower-powered, "Shuffle The Deck" -like format, and the big 5,000+ card classic that is ATG8, ATG9 or whatever. Again, I don't think this is any major new game-mode or anything, just a directing players towards each other. Creating a format with demand, urgency and responsiveness just involves supply. Just look at how an autodraft functions now compared to ATG2. The lack of popularity and thus success of "Shuffle The Deck" was about my biggest dissapointment in SOM.
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I suppose these are some of my wants for SOM on the whole. Thoughts? What do ya'll think ATG9 will look like? How will compare in play-style?

I've been researching purchasing the PC game which I briefly had a decade+ ago. Looking/loving the 42 Oldtimers set and how it so closely mirrors original ATG with great teams like the 1909 Pirates/Tigers, 1924 Senators, 1946 Cardinals, etc! I would love to build a cool PC online league featuring maybe that set or something else if anyone is interested or has ideas....or knows best policy?! I know its all about community and setting up parameters. I love salary as a constraint, or at least something to balance supply, which is a big part of what I ramble about in #4.

The company is definitely trying to change their customer service model. We all had the opportunity to do what you did with the last post several months ago, our input was actively solicited by Garcia and they appear to have listened! They have been much more responsive to community desires/input than ever before. Even I, one of their harshest and most vocal critics, currently find nothing to be angry about, apart from their slowness in getting card adds out.

Even I, one of their harshest and most vocal critics, currently find nothing to be angry about, apart from their slowness in getting card adds out.

You? A vocal critic? Never noticed that ...

I do agree that they are doing a much better job of responding to questions, trying to listen to what the community is wanting and implementing changes to the game more frequently than I've ever seen before and I've been around since late in the initial incarnation of ATG (technically ATG 1 I guess).

That's great to hear Petro/Druid! Anyone care to catch me up? What are some of the successes or "right direction" type of moves Druid?

I did...2(!) Live Drafts over the weekend and noticed new features. There have been a lot of gameplay improvements for many years now. Obviously a ton before that, before that etc. but just in more recent vintage. Our UI has had "Advanced Search" and easy positional sort in Free Agency for a while. What else?

Alot of my impression a while back was that SO many of the "big issue" things the community wanted had been addressed. Lineup platoon control, card adds, etc. I think ATG can get more love. With the big uptick in Media pieces featuring strat, where Strat "365" or ATG mentioned? New ATG 9? Its a story! But hey, and as far as baseball goes, I've always thought ATG is a sexy product. Even outside of this new set, where ATG sits in a Baseball Sim Marketplace is pretty dang unique, pristine. Now schluff that off, but I really think even outside of crappy mobile games or untouchable console games, that "Baseball Sim Marketplace" IS a big crowd, 100s of thousands. (Man, imagine strat on Xbox---people play so many of the yearly treadmills or "Dream Team" modes that just get power-creeped/obliterated every year, every day.... Yeah, strats different but, it's clearly never failed to inspire me)


With mechanics and stuff, strat has and is doing awesome things. SOM Daily, increased control, Pitcher injuries, S4s

Again, my impression has always been....nebulous and AMBITIOUS about Strat.

A. In Magic the Gathering, style of play can first be split into two main types: Limited and Constructed. Limited, gives player limited resources, say booster packs, to build the best deck while constructed gives players unlimited freedom in building the best most streamlined deck possible. I think this duality is already present and maybe leaning into it could be great. Strat is not a TCG, and shouldn't be one, but its ability to retain its core while being so flexible and is that of a great game.

B. How much could SOM allow managers more customization in their team/league layout? The infamous grass background, which is now a diamond i guess. (43% of baseball books have a baseball on their cover) is what made me think of this. Managers choose backgrounds, but geez I'm way too new at web development to suggest that...that probably be a dumpster fire in performance and this isn't MySpace. The great https://www.pennantwars.com/team.php?l=9&t=82 gives managers a "Logo" which is retained through the universe. As I said, the game is so there a strong track record of eliminating imperfections. The next step for SOM to me really feels like "Steve Jobs" or UI stuff if that makes sense.

C. So, my push is the very Michael Crichton-inspired, Strato-Sphere. Whatever Netplay is but with kinda a synchronized economy/reward system within SOM. So taking some degree of that for granted (or not---this would be cool regardless!) One of the good things I/we should list that SOM has done is give Monthly Stat Challenges or Competitions. The Yearly Sports Console Game Treadmill like i mentioned (MLB The Show, NBA 2K, Fifa, etc) have infinite grinds within the historic modes. They make you play all the time. MLB The Show is just crazy with how much Playstation baseball it asks you to play. Then, the next years game starts completely over. Treadmill. More critically though, I don't want to play Playstation Baseball that much within a year! Now strat or a good sim...

This year's MLB The Show has a cool(er) mode. "Showdowns" against pitchers where all you have to do is score X runs before you make X outs, so 3 runs and you're given 10 outs to do it. No Top/Bottom of innings. Now screw that, but the idea of an arbitrary number to get above within a sim, a challenge to have managers try and achieve on the side and "Pole-Vault" a team up to, is sweet. A 400, or 500 Doubles team achievement---in 162 games, or something. Bless strat for having this in Strat 365, just as a "Highest Team" version. The ambitious StratoSphere would just unlock some mediocre Craig Biggio or Billy Herman 1935 for your Netplay or something. And achievments, cosmetics mmmmm. I don't know about relative "weight" of adding things like simple cosmetics.....Our manager pages have trophies so its easily in our current system....