PT: MY EDITION cards, Chemistry Customization. Meta diversification

[gustoes]

PT26

LE 105 Andruw Jones, VE 105 Chipper and now VE 105 Maddux would be an amazing three with great chemistry. possibly even non meta VE Glavine and scrub Smoltz would be a nice chem core to boost Chipper/Maddux and bring up Jones.

Chemistry needs a lot of improvements re discovery/navigation/interface/understanding but with the right changes it might actually be able to break up metas in top league or make additional features viable.

Possibly a chemistry boosting or wildcard ability... either per card or team come to mind.

Something like a chem "boost" you can select for 5 cards and you have to choose which ones. I was running Yogi, Rizz, Mantle when they came out and having success so choosing them would give them more chem when they were closer meta and then more life as they move out... then I eventually have to abandon them or if content design included continuing the "chemistry group" you could upgrade or keep your running group. There are likely ways the game could evolve that can continue investment in existing cards and make managers tied to them even after league usefulness for tournaments... thus spending on more cards without just turning over.

Perhaps there could even be a content plan around a big release every two months.

Chem Core Fours or something.

20 cards all similar top level, 5 sets of 4 who have chemistry. Each position could have one card above the other but outside/mixed within the chemistry groups. So managers have to choose.. do I go for the "top" card, the "meta" card, the models top card, the spreadsheet.... or do I go with the chem core group.
One CS, one packable, one mission, one LE. Great for game economy and engagement, different accessibility.
Then possibly PTCS 1st and 2nd gets a 4 card choice pack where each choice is another amazing card which has chem with one group of the meta core 4 for a chemistry linked fabulous five!


This could be done for league meta or even lower tiers metas.
That would really make the chase/building interesting

Anyway..

Below I was bored and drafted a few rough ideas.. not fully thought out or considering programming angles.. just food for thought and maybe there is something that is not too complicated but super engaging that can build on chemistry and meta competition.

[gustoes]

"Chemistry Lab" or some other name

Chemistry customization on team level with Categories of decisions on how to define your teams chemistry behaviour.

# The Coaches Boost 5% #
- Rotation
- Lineup
- Bullpen

# The Hero Boost # or allstar or MVP?
(ONE player RANDOMLY selected from your choice for 10%)

- Outfield (LF,CF,RF)
- Infield (3B,2B,SS,1B)
- Rotation (SP Role)
- Closer (CL Role)

# Team Strategy Boost 5% #

- Defense (SS,2B,CF)
- Offense (LF, DH, 1B)
- Rotation (SP)
- Bullpen (Reliever, CL, ST)
- Grunts&Glue (3B, RF, C, PH)
- Steal/Baserunning (All Players)
- Smallball BFH/Sac/Speed (All Players)

# Perfect Team Boost #
(Choose one category to amplify the chem modifier for)
(Capped at 10%)

- Clubhouse Cards
- Card type
- Teammates
- Era
- Variants
- My Edition & Limited Edition


Would have to make sure formulas are capped.. decide if/which boosts can stack and to what cap.. something like a hero/allstar/mvp boost would have to be determined at sim time and ensure primary roles couldn't be manipulated to guarantee choice.. etc etc. Would have to be thought out.. ensure no combinator op situation etc. Hero could also be called allstar or mvp and maybe for simplicity, you get three or five to manually select instead of category choice and random.. that would allow boosting Boudreau, Cool Papa, or others that don't have otherwise have good relationships or boosts.

Goal would be to give new chemistry options:

Examples

a) a player loves Ozzie or groundball pitching and big middle infield defense... so he can target close to meta but boost his infield chem which he invested in or presumably VE version of the big cards for his infield

b) allow a boost to Variants... so no combistry but those that early adopters new cycle for example, can boost their variants which they invested in. could have a limit per card .xx% or 10%/VE count total cap or something.

c) clubhouse cards close to meta but not quite there.. maybe you can invest in them because it's exactly what you were looking for then boost your clubhouse card chemistry

d) NeL cards seem to need their relationships boosted in general (a bit) but on top of that, you could choose a cardtype or subcardtype boost then combine with other options like an all NeL outfield, choose the coachs outfield boost. presuming some things stack or not. which would be cool but caps might be needed for ceilings. Same logic applies to FL/PTElite etc that don't have good relationships

e) you invest in Andruw Jones 105, Maddux 105 VE, Glavine VE, Chipper VE,, millions and millions of PP. You get their relationship boost but you love Jones,, kinda meta, kinda not meta, elite defense.. so stack the Perfect Team Boost for "Teammates" option.

f) maybe some manager believes bullpens are severely under rated in OOTP?? how many games decided 7-9.. 45 to 65 games of a season are extra innings or 1-run... manager wants to build dream bullpen. so he choose Bullpen coaches boost, Closer Hero boost, Bullpen strategy boost


The intriguing thought is it could further make top teams more diverse... Mantle/Yogi/Rizz could get more life.. you could use the boosts to give Pedro or Walker some chem where as no good relationships in game this year.. if next year there is more separation between defense and offense (which alone would breakup metas) players could go for that non meta great defender and boost him. Could be endless paths to "meta" competitive and different flavour for theme teams and different play styles to enjoy certain cards. Just have to make it so it can't be abused/op in any config and somehow not too complicated.

Anyway,, just bored. Food for thought re chem. Layout columns look horrible.. just something to visualize.

[gustoes]

My Edition cards?

You could do something team wide for tweaking card performance like a dugout drilldown (see screenshot) where you can boost attributes with a set amount of points across the entire team but a better idea might be to make a new card called "My Edition Cards"

Could be special packables like LE's or Variants are now.
OR
Could be an upgradable feature of any card? or any variant? Scalable upgrade price with tier PP or CS currency?
OR
Could be something that unlocks or uprgade becomes available x weeks after card release.
OR
Could be something that is team tied. "MYEDITION" tokens awarded for big events or by timeframe? Teams get one MYEDITION token a month and can apply it to any card.


Presumably make myedition cards locked if edited so the market is not nuanced.

Valuable/powerful and Sellable if unedited.
Prestigious and proud team 1/1 if edited

MyEdition cards could include a WILDCARD/BLANKET chemistry of like 100 - 250 points? Or even be a part of the customization. spreadout by chem type in whatever makes sense in the formulas.
ie cant do relationships without tying to other players so it'd have to be a lesser value spread out to all. Could act as wildcard booster to the teams 5 lowest chem card.

Have to review what the rating limits per category or per offense/defense etc would need to be to ensure they dont become just blanket/wildcard meta card or able to stack one split too much or defense too much.

[gustoes]

Summary:

Prerequisite is OOTP improve chemistry discovery/exploration/UI etc and provide a little more transparency on how chem even works.

Then they could do a few content designs through out the year that utilize chemistry angles.
They could consider a "Team customization of chemistry" to help managers create unique teams.
They could consider "MY Edition" cards that are upgradable and perhaps chemistry wildcarded or boosted.

Pro:
- create more paths to meta competitive teams or make meta a lot less clear
- content design angles with chemistry create new engagement with groups of cards rather than just the top card.. might create scenario where managers keep groups of cards for tourneys rather than just turn them over to discount the next new shiny card. players have to spend more or make more decisions
- whales cant just buy the latest and greatest and necessarily improve by default as there will be competing paths with chem groups, team chem customization, my editions... and theyll have to spend/think on that too
- advantage to eyeball guys like me who don't do data or model. have to think more because the data won't be able to as easily tell the whole story on card performance

Con:
-more layers and complexity for new/casual players.
-more layers and complexity for everyone (some enjoy this, some don't.. but the chem thing is in the game.. so if they don't remove it,, they gotta try something with it imo. I think a great opportunity is there to fine tune chemistry... recommend they create a discord/roundtable some year with dozen top players of different styles and talk over ideas.. find a balance ease of use and impact )