Agree with all that MP said.
I have tried the standard OOTP client and the Perfect Team (PT) as well as the separate PT tournaments. My understanding-albeit as a novice--is below.
One way to play is like the SOM Windows game--a season replay, casual home game, or a private league with friends.
But everything I wrote below refers to PT because the basic Windows-style game (which also works on Mac and Linux) is a straightforward (though complex) baseball season black-box simulator that is highly customizable and has endless replay opportunities without having to buy card sets because they are all included.
Regarding PT...
A major tenet of the game is that players are generally accumulated not by draft cards but by either an auction house or random packs. So it is like baseball card collecting, with each card having a value.
More on the currency below.
As for PT, it is further subdivided into maybe two play styles (and both are free to play).
1- like a SOM365 league that completes a full season in a week and which contributes to "perpetual" standings. Think of it like a perpetual Barnstormers tourney.
2-Or another way is like the old equivalent of online Poker quick tournaments. Hundreds of tourneys constantly popping up with all kinds of parameters for different levels, rewards, etc. These tourneys may have multiple rounds, could be best of 7, round robin, etc and each game might take 10 minutes and each round a couple-few hours. Can earn player cards this way. Can also do a draft style tourney that gives everyone a chance at similar tiered cards. You draft from among random sets of players. Note multiple teams can have the same player card.
The game is free to play after purchasing the s/w (50% off) for $20 this time of year and the software is modern but clunky in terms of ergonomics, ie it packs way too much into single screens and has rather basic mouse and keyboard controls. Lots, and lots, and lots of linear and/or nested context menus. Customizable with bookmarking but still--lots of menus.
BUT--as for free--it has an in-game currency called Perfect Points (PP).Yes small amounts can be earned, but you really can see that they try to entice people to purchase PPs--it is their revenue model.
PROs:
- Cheap at first--tourneys and leagues are free to play.
- Huge amount of online activity. Sims run very fast--in the standard continuing league system (style 1 above), you are grouped with teams of similar performance and teams continually move up and down in league echelons of varying performance levels
-The tourney system (style 2) can be a quick way to compete online with an active team roster that you tailor for each tourney from your complete player card list. (player lists are all active, inactive, and reserve rosters)
So a tourney may have a limit on card quality ratings and you would have to comply. Think of it like SOM365s customized player pools and replace salary with a player rating. Player ratings are numeric but fall into categories like gold, silver, bronze etc.
CONs
-The PP currency system. You earn new players buy either buying them off the auction house or by buying or earning player card packs (honestly like a pack of baseball cards). The player packs have different quality levels but are still claimed to be random. That is, a player pack may cost 1000 PPs, but will have 6 cards of varying value tiers. Another player pack may also have 6 cards but is guaranteed to have a Gold-level player card.
- The PP currency system. Yes I listed it again. Because it is also how to create competitive teams. You can accumulate free points through achievements--even just logging in for example--but it will take a long time to accumulate meaningful currency before it matters.
- Once people figure out which cards are the best value, everyone gets them if they have the currency (PP). You may be in a league where every team in the league has Scherzer as their #1 SP.
For the quick poker-sit down tourneys, you may be in a tourney that limits the total team rating to some numeric total of player ratings. say 1,500 player rating points. A normal person may have a very limited roster of mid-range players and a few who are silver or gold tier. Let's say silver rating tier is "70" and gold is "80". You enter a tourney and your team is peanut-butter spread to 1500 points mostly with sub-silver (<70). Another team comes in and has a starting lineup of 7 players rated 100, a few starting pitchers rated 100, and then either a bunch of empty roster slots or scrubs. They will destroy everyone in that tourney unless they face a similar opponent. It is possible to find tourneys that have limits that prevent that, but you still need to gather players. There is a huge difference between a 100 player rating and a 65. It is like double A to major league. But as Max said--who know how to quantify it. Can't do it--black box.
You think SOM365's AI settings are coarse and unpredictable, like stealing and relieving? Oh heck--if you are a person who thinks HAL is out to get you, I would not recommend playing OOTP perfect team because you just may blow a fuse and black out.
Whew. Yeah I have been trying to whittle away SOM credits by using and giving them away to take a recharge break. I figured OOTP might be a cool interlude. NO WAY. Not for me. Far too complex and time consuming on a regular basis. It is like joining an old World of Warcraft guild or other gaming tournament league.
Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:32 pm