We updated the position and talent distribution we use for creating the amateur draft class each season.

Based on the results from the past 3 drafts, we made a few adjustments. There has been a reduction in the number of prospects generated at 1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF, a slight increase in C and CF and a more significant increase in the number of pitchers.

If your world has not had its draft crop created yet, then you will see the results of this change when the player pool is created.

Thanks

Today's Update:

• Errors when setting a lineup will now be maintained with an error message rather than having all the changes lost!
• Most trades that have been processed can now be removed directly from the Trade Proposals page without having to review the trade first.
• Players will now exercise their no trade clause immediately upon submission of the trade. The trade will no longer have to process before the no trade clause is exercised.
• If a trade will violate your payroll in any season, a pop up will now display letting you know how much money you need to free up for the trade to be completed.
• If the ML AI is turned on for a franchise, it will automatically turn on the AI for all of the minor league levels as well.
• A bug in the home run derby was corrected. The logic for LF/CF/RF hit distribution was off for the derby.
• Lastly, the chat for a blocked user will now show as a regular "-", no more red lines of text.

Much more is on the way, look for the next update sometime next week. We hope you guys enjoy!

Today's Update:

• Extended the period in which you can rank your amateur draft prospects from 4 days to 7 days! This change is in effect for worlds that have yet to have their schedule generated for the current season. For worlds that already have their schedules generated, the message appearing in the World Office page titled “Prepare for Amateur Draft” will incorrectly state that the draft is “1 week away” as opposed to “4 days away”.
• Added an option for "All Positions" on the Amateur Draft Player Pool page.
• The rules for transferring money from your prospect budget have changed slightly. The rule that enforces you to maintain $6M in your prospect budget will now be lifted once you have signed 15 players from the current season’s Amateur Draft.
• Next game fatigue for pitchers is now displayed on the Edit Rosters page.
• Added an option to view a team's depth chart without secondary positions on the trade build page.
• New user interface for the trade chat page.
• We have also updated ballpark effects for the 16 big league parks created in 1990 or later. We have updated the effects to include the last 3 seasons of MLB data. Yes, this means that Coors Field will lessen a bit as an offensive park and Petco will lessen a bit as a pitching park. When a season rolls over, franchises with one of these ballparks at the big league level will automatically be synched to the new ballpark information. Owners joining a world will see these new ballpark details immediately. It will not affect worlds in progress.

Sorry for the delay guys, I got married and subsequently went on my honeymoon for two weeks. Anyway, everything else is back on track and we should have something more for you all in the next couple of weeks. We hope you enjoy the updates!

Hello fans and friends of HBD!!!

We just wanted to let you all know that on Monday, November 17th, we have a very significant update planned for Hardball and we think that everybody will enjoy every piece of it in some way.

So, without further ado:

ADVANCED EDIT ROSTERS MODE IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will be able to select one or more players and the desired roster move without having to view the intermediate page. This means much less clicking and much more flexibility. In order to be able to use this mode you must have played in three or more previous seasons (that's all worlds combined) of HBD. If you meet that criteria come Monday, just head on over to the Management Console and select the option at the bottom of the page. Don't worry, if you don't want to use this mode (why wouldn't you?) you can still use the basic mode which has not changed at all.

We also improved the manner in which the Designated for Assignment roster move works. Now, when a player is DFAed, you have the option to place the players on waivers right away rather than it happening automatically. This gives owners more flexibility to work out trades. If the player is not moved within 7 actual days, he'll be waived by the AI. After 10 actual days, he'll be released.

Players without options can now refuse an assignment to the minors. We've always had the text in the game, but it can now happen. The decision by the player is based on his patience, temper, makeup, health and overall rating.

We also improved the playoff roster logic so the playoff roster can only change in between rounds if a player is injured.

In addition to one of the largest and most requested updates out there we have also been busy with the following:

• The Free Agent Report page now contains a second criteria filter which will allow you to be able to drill down on the data even more.
• The Free Agent Report page will now have fixed headers so that when you have to scroll through large amounts of data you won't lose what the numbers correspond to. This is very similar to how the "Freeze Panes" command works in Excel for all that are familiar with that program.
• On the Free-Agent report, Player’s with Type A/B status will now have that information displayed as a tool tip so that you don’t have to click on the negotiate link to view that.
• If you have a player on the DL and he is eligible to come off, the icon will now appear green. This will make identifying who is eligible to return much easier.
• The “Save to All” button on the Edit Lineups page will now save players set to rest properly. Previously it would save players set to rest to the bench causing them to play in games when they shouldn't have.
• We fixed a bug where you could view and vote on the Award Voting page if you changed worlds. It didn’t have any adverse affects but you shouldn’t have been able to view the page unless your world was ready to vote.
• The trade needs page now includes dynamic sorting.
• If you are in a private world the commissioner of the world will now display in the content box on the World Office page when your world rolls over.
• The difference column on the Development Report page now sorts correctly.
• “All Positions” option is now available on the Rule 5 draft player pool page.
• When there are no results for the Rule 5 draft (i.e. it hasn’t occurred yet) the no data message will now tell you exactly what date it will occur on.
• The schedule page now includes a team's record and profile link for the first game of all future series.
• Player’s will no longer be eligible to make the All Star team at multiple positions.
• The line under the WS Trophy has been removed.
• Free agent targets will no longer be cleared at the end of the free agent negotiation period.

We hope you all enjoy the new advanced edit rosters mode and everything else that has been included both past and present. We do plan on having a developer chat some time in the near future and we will keep you posted as to when that will be.

As always we appreciate your continued support and suggestions and have a safe and happy holiday season!!!

As many of you are aware of, Hardball Dynasty has encountered some supply and demand issues during the last few months. This has come about for several reasons but the most obvious of reasons was the fact we allowed too many private worlds to be created within a short timespan back in June and July. Many of the owners who joined these worlds did so at the expense of their previous worlds.

We attempted to solve this problem back in September with a limited incentive offer for some of our most dedicated users. While this promotion helped, it has not completely solved the problem. As a result, we will begin eliminating some of our poorer performing (low retention rate) worlds moving forward. It's important that we begin doing this now, as there are a large number of worlds set to rollover in the coming weeks.

Since everyone joins HBD with the expectation that they are building a franchise for the long haul, we will be providing compensation in the form of HBD credits for users in terminated worlds. The amount of credits one would receive is based on the number of consecutive seasons one was a member of the world (assuming they are still signed up to play in the world). The season being used for the upcoming season will also be placed back into the available seasons pool.

As an example, let's say we have determined World "Smith" will be removed after completing its 7th season where the retention rate was 31% and its historical retention rate was 43%. User "mjackson" was signed up for season 8 and had been a member of the world for the previous 3 seasons. His season being used for season 8 would be returned to his available season pool and he would receive $15 in HBD credits for future season purchases.

Here's the compensation breakdown by season:
1 season - $5 in credits
2 seasons - $10 in credits
3 seasons - $15 in credits
4 seasons - $20 in credits
5 seasons - $24.95 in credits
6 seasons - $30 in credits
7+ seasons - $34.95 in credits

We will not announce which worlds will be terminated until after the fact. Anytime a world is removed from the game, we'll make a post in this forum thread. As a rule, though, only worlds in rollover state with a retention rate of below 60% will be considered. Other factors will be part of the decision including historical retention rate, current number of openings across all worlds, and number of worlds about to roll over.

We have also introduced two new aspects of the game that should help with retention rates moving forward:
- We have added a $199.95 10-pack purchase option providing an even better deal for our heavy users.
- At the conclusion of every 5th season a user completes as owner of the same franchise, an additional $10 HBD credit will be awarded.

This means if you stick with a franchise, you'll receive a $10 credit at the conclusion of every 5th season of play.Previous seasons are retroactive towards your first $10 credit but not beyond that. For example, you've played 7 seasons with Franchise A and you started in season 2 of the world. When the world completes its 11th season, you'll receive your first $10 credit because you just completed your 10th season. After season 16, you'd receive your second $10 credit because you just completed your 10th season. You would not receive any additional credit for seasons 1-5 because they occurred prior to the introduction of this incentive program.

While we know the decision to eliminate some worlds is not perfect, our hope is to improve the overall game by bringing the supply and demand factors into balance so that owners don't have to wait as long to begin playing again.

Moving forward, we will continue to work on improving the game:
-- better and new AI for managing franchises
-- improved in-game substitution logic
-- improved in-game stolen base attempt logic
-- scouting adjustments for more realistic draft and international prospect outcomes
-- improved free-agent and coach demands
-- many great new features

We'd like to get the roster management AI in the game strong enough so that the AI can run a team from start to finish in the event a world can't fill after X days. In the distant future then, we won't have to consider eliminating worlds.

We have scheduled a developer chat for Friday, December 5 from noon - 2PM ET. The chat will be held by myself and patrickm885 and is in place to discuss this announcement as well as any other questions about the game. Remember, you can ask questions ahead of time and we'll try to answer every question that comes in.

Thanks to everyone for their understanding and their continued passion for the game.

World M.L.H.B. was the first world to be contracted.

It's historical retention rate after 6 seasons was 57%. The most recent season saw only 10 of the 32 owners return. It was originally a private world and has been waiting to fill for over 1 month.

A few fixes this morning:

Offering a string training invite a contract has been corrected for standard GM roster mode. This had been inadvertently broken with the previous update.

Assigning a Rule 5 Draft selection to the big league roster now displays the proper message when using standard GM roster mode. The move itself had been working correctly, but the on page message had been incorrect.

Corrected a typo in the engine that was allowing a runner to attempt to steal third in the 9th or later when trailing.

Hey guys, we just wanted to let you all know that we have an update planned for Hardball on Tuesday. There are a lot of great things in here and the first three stem directly from our previous dev chat.

In addition to the update we will be having another dev chat on Wed. starting at noon and running until 2p. That chat is now live and you may start submitting questions at your leisure.

Enjoy!

• You can no longer re-assign a player that has been designated back to the big league club. He can be traded, released or assigned to the minors if he clears waivers and accepts the demotion.
• Players will now opt for free-agency over signing a long-term contract at a much higher rate. It’s based on the player’s overall rating and patience rating. It also has a few other logic checks in place. In addition, a player forced to go to arb three times will have a much higher chance of opting for FA.
• Improved the logic so that players still suffering from an injury at the time of rollover will heal properly. Previously, it was only doing this for players who fully recovered during the rollover and accidentally ignored those that partially recovered.
• Corrected a bug that was allowing players on the DL to continue to heal and see rating improvements even after they were healthy.
• New “Quick Offer” UI on the Amateur Draft results page.
• Rotating interleague schedules.
• Game log totals now reflect the totals being viewed.
• Waiver claims now include a check to see if the player will violate future season’s payroll.
• Owner's can now edit their rosters immediately after the Rule 5 draft without having to wait until the next day.
• The green DL icon now only displays if the player is eligible to come off the DL and he is healthy.
• Stolen bases have been added to the award voting page.
• Average stat line added to team stats.

Next up we will be looking at some data changes. More specifically fine tuning the overall rating for pitchers, looking at SB attempts, and looking at free agent demands.

Bug Fix Alert!

A couple weeks ago, an update went out involving prospect negotiations. This update contained a rather significant mistake, in that offers could include annual salaries greater than the minimum. This has been corrected this morning.

The desired change was that a prospect would not accept a 4th or 5th year in a contract offer unless specifically requesting it. This is done so that prospects don't potentially hurt themselves by sacrificing their 1st two years of arbitration.

We apologize for this mistake. While the rule was in place for all users, it may have impacted some more than others. We're sorry this occurred. HBD is a complicated game and, sometimes, it even confuses us.

Thank you for your understanding.

Small update today:

• The order in which we create prospects for the amateur draft has been randomized to prevent users from picking up any patterns.
• Adjusted the logic for stolen base attempts. This should result in less qualified base stealers from attempting steals.

We have also scheduled the next developer chat. This chat will focus on upcoming changes to the Amateur Draft. This had been touched on before, but the changes will include more fuzziness in the high school and college scouting departments, rule changes to abide by the recent CBA agreement, and some expanded functionality for ranking players. You can ask questions or view the 2/11/2009 Developer Chat here.

Thanks

Hey guys,

We have a fairly significant update today made up of some smaller items. It's not going to shatter walls, but it is definitely notable and a lot of it came directly from you guys.

Here are the goods:

• Franchise budget details now display correctly on the franchise profile
• Height and width now correct on the viewing options portion of the player records page
• Player profile data can now be viewed as prev. 5 seasons and prev. 10 seasons
• Sorting now available on the player profile stats screen
• Team Abbreviation has been added to the world content league leaders
• Salary on the free agent targets page now coincides with the salary on the free agent report page
• “Minors” is now a selection option on the trade proposals page
• Rookies only option on the league leaders page
• User name has been added to the drop down list on the trade proposals screen
• Corrected a bug regarding GB/FB rating for pitchers as they age

The next update will focus entirely on the Amateur Draft. Our main focus for the upcoming update is to get our draft to coincide with the MLB CBA. We will also be implementing an all new ranking system so you can rank your draft board much easier. I'll save the rest of the details for later, but trust me, it is a sizable update and is going to be a huge improvement to the game.

Talk to you guys soon!

Hello HBD faithful,

In one week from today we will be putting out a significant update to the game that primarily focuses on the Amateur Draft. There are several key areas in which we focused on improving and they are all listed in detail below. Please review them as there are some changes that will affect your world and maybe even your franchise when we issue the release.

The update will require HBD to be shut down from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM ET on Tuesday, May 12th.

Amateur Draft Formula Builder:

We have included a new and improved way to rank your draft picks! Using the formula builder you can now weigh each individual rating on a scale of 1 to 10. You can also weigh each player by school. In other words, if you want to focus on mainly HS (or college) players we now give you the ability to do that. The manual ranking process is still available and we hope that in tandem with the formula builder you will now only have to manually rank maybe 10-15 guys. The formula builder will be an option on the draft settings page that you will have to manually choose to use. We have the old draft settings in place in case any of you want to use the old system instead.

The formula calculation is very simple:

* Pitcher: ((each general rating * specified weight) + (each pitcher rating * specified rate)) * appropriate high school/college factor.

* Position Player: ((each general rating * specified weight) + (each position player rating * specified rate)) * appropriate high school/college factor.

There is also a small linear adjustment factor for pitchers with a combined stamina + durability of less than 70. This is done so pitchers who won't be able to throw many innings aren't inflated on the draft board. The pitcher with the absolute worst stamina/durability combination would incur a 10% reduction in his formula result.

Type D Compensation Picks:

Any franchise that does not sign their first or second round pick will now get a pick at the same position plus one slot in the next season’s draft. All unsigned third round picks will now be placed in a supplemental round at the end of the third round. In order to receive the compensation picks the following season you MUST offer the draft pick his demands and he MUST refuse to sign. You will not receive Type D compensation picks if you don't have the money to sign the player.

Multiple Type A Compensation Picks:

This fixes the scenario where one franchise signs two Type A free agents from two different franchises and the weaker franchise did not get the higher pick. It was previously based on timing of the signing it is now based on franchise rank.

Type A/B Compensation Extended:

Compensation picks will now be awarded through the first Amateur Draft preparation day.

Compensation Pick Reordering:

Compensation picks will now be put into the correct order on the first Amateur Draft preparation day. Previously, this would happen as soon as the offseason was complete.

Draft Settings:

Your draft settings will now carry over from season to season instead of being set back to the default values every season.

Unsigned Draftees:

Unsigned college seniors will now come back as undrafted free-agents at a more frequent rate.

Overall Rating:

The formula for overall rating has been improved. Stamina for pitchers is no longer weighted so heavily. Other ratings have also seen some adjustments for a more accurate overall rating. All previous and current overall rating values will be updated for the sake of consistency.


So, with all that being said here are the changes that will affect your world and maybe even your franchise when we release the update next Tuesday:

• All of the 1st Round Type D picks will be put in their correct position (pick last season + 1). The Type D picks in the supplemental round will no longer exist for any world that hasn't had their draft yet.
• Type A compensation will be corrected as explained above (item #3). Any team that signed multiple compensation picks from multiple teams will have the compensation picks ordered correctly.

----ENGINE CHANGES-----

The update will also see a few minor engine improvements:

• Reduced the frequency of pickoffs in very late situations with trailing team hitting.
• Corrected a bug where putouts/assists were not being handled properly for strike 'em out/ throw 'em out double plays.
• Corrected a logic flaw where infielder wouldn't throw home to nail leading runner in some situations
• Improved logic so outfielders will now receive assists when throwing to relay man who throws to base to nab a runner.
• Improved logic where specialist wasn't being pinch-hit for despite being removed at start of inning half.
• Improved pinch-running logic so manager scans bench for player able to play the position before removing a player for a PR. (i.e., no PR for catcher when no other catchers available on bench).
• Improved player sub logic when hierarchies empty, nobody eligible based on spectrum so the player closest to the position along the defensive spectrum is used (i.e. use a 3B to play SS rather than a C).

Hey guys,

We just wanted to let you know that the update is live! Please refer to the previous post in this thread for all of the details regarding the changes.

Keep in mind that retroactivity does not apply to any Type A/B free agent that was signed after the FA negotiation period of the schedule before the update was released. However, moving forward if your world has yet to hit the Amateur Draft Preparation period, compensation picks will begin to be awarded starting today.

In addition to the changes mentioned above we have also added a new page. The new page is a trade search page that will allow you to quickly determine franchise depth at a position so that you can identify who needs what much more easily.

Lastly, we know that the compensation order is wrong right now, we are working to correct that right now and it will be fixed shortly.

Enjoy!!

Quick follow up here guys,

HBD is going to be shutdown for the next hour or so while we try to work out some of the kinks that have already been brought to our attention.

We will run the PM cycle as soon as everything is back in order.

Thanks and sorry for the delay.

The issues with the amateur draft order and the overall rating have been resolved. We are running the PM cycle right now. Sorry for the delay.