New WIS Ownership - Please Update the NFL product Topic

DCarden34
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WhatIfSports has been acquired by Freking Sports, LLC, a Cincinnati-based group made up of avid users just like you. After months of collaboration with the team at SportsHub, we've successfully transferred ownership, and we are ready to breathe new life into WhatIfSports.

I am thrilled to assume the role of President of WhatIfSports. Over the last 18 years, I have played more than 120 seasons of HBD, along with a few stints in HD and GD. Like many of you, it has been a part of my daily routine for years. I am also well aware of the need for feature enhancement and development. We are prepared to invest in the platform and give it the resources and attention it needs.

Whether it's the feeling of logging in to see you've won your Sim League, secured a commitment from a top 100 recruit, or signed that $30M superstar international free agent, I get it. I have been there with you through the cycles. I have set alarms for 3am to check my HBD draft results, I have debated the infamous HBD injury bug, and I have shared stories of my favorite fictional players with friends (to varying degrees of judgment, of course). I am deeply committed to investing the time and energy into improving WhatIfSports.

To start, we have added developer talent and are expanding customer support. In the coming weeks, you will see changes related to the transition away from SportsHub. We will have planned maintenance windows, with plenty of advance notice, and we're committed to transparent, frequent communication going forward.

Most importantly, I want to recognize and thank all of you - our incredible community. Your loyalty, passion, and dedication have sustained WhatIfSports for decades.

As a show of thanks, we're offering a promo code for all users - current, returning, and new.
  • To our loyal current users - you'll receive 15% off your next purchase using promo code LETSGO15
  • If you're a returning user who hasn't made a purchase in over a year, we're offering 50% off to welcome you back (see below for game specific promo codes)
  • As always, there are promo codes for new users on the game specific home pages
Stay tuned - we'll be updating you soon on our next steps, and we're looking forward to making WhatIfSports the best it can be.

Bob Freking, President, WhatIfSports



*LETSGO15 - 15% off any product. 1x use per user. Valid until midnight 12/31/24.
*WELCOMEBACKHBD24, WELCOMEBACKHD24, WELCOMEBACKSLB24, WELCOMEBACKSLBK24, WELCOMEBACKSLF24, WELCOMEBACKSLH24 - Use game specific promo code for 50% off next purchase. Users who have not made a purchase since 11/1/23 are eligible. 1x use per user. Valid until midnight 12/31/24.
11/14/2024 9:58 AM



11/14/2024 10:17 PM (edited)
DCarden34
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Today's news has brought new hope to many WIS members. The WIS NFL product has long been ignored to the point, we our SLF membership numbers are less than 100. We will offer our simple ideas to help fix this WIS NFL product, if we were ever to get some feedback from admin in the forum. Communication is a great starting point.
11/15/2024 7:56 AM (edited)
tomhanrahan
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I will address here one key issue many of us see. I won't propose specific solutions, as there could be many ways to skin this cat, and I am not a programmer :)
Bottom line: Many owners know exactly what "works" and what doesn't. This means that some players or units are very under- or over-priced; so the under-priced get used All The Time. And the good teams look Very Much Alike. AKA there is little variety to create winning teams. The WIS NFL engine, in place for so long, has been "figured out".
Examples:
1) Offensive Line is Very underpriced (or, overpowered). Virtually Everyone gets a top-rated O-line. Perhaps it should be obvious since the most expensive O Line is under $6 million while defenses vary from 10 to 40 million.
2) Great QBs are underpriced.
3) The "red zone" facet of defense is overpriced. Look at defenses used, and the best teams use defenses with that rating as low as possible; because we have to pay so much to use a higher one.
11/15/2024 4:46 AM
DCarden34
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What update would change the WIS NFL landscape the most in one broad-stroke ?

A. a huge Player/Unit salary re-evaluation - Yes
B. League sizing from 24 to 18/12 - Yes
C. Eliminating 60 mil Open Leagues as Newbie entry leagues - Yes
11/17/2024 11:36 PM
danpsull71
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Salaries/Gameplay tweaks - I would request a combo of salary re-evaluation and game play tweaks. In other words, I would love it if "red zone" was worth the cost and defenses got a real boost inside the 20 if they have a high red zone score. Tom's right - I pretty much always spend between 23-26Mill on defense so I am on the outlier side of that spending. And I still go with very low red zone stats. But it would be fun to roll out a bend but not break defense that got red zone stops and turnovers. (Would also force people to maybe carry an actual K!)

I worry that if all we do is tweak the salaries, then it is just a matter of time to where people figure out the next winning formula. But if we make things like red zone and drive matter (I woud also add Int's to that), then we'll start to have more and more ways to build winning teams.

Defense pricing - If I was just doing salary tweaks on defense, I would simply make the more expensive ones proportionally cheaper, maybe anything above 18Mill starts to get cheaper with bigger percentage drops the higher the cost. Anything to get us away from the overwhelming number of high powered offenses with a 16Mill Defense that win far more often than not.

Special Teams - I think having a cheap special teams, cheap punter, and cheap kicker should not be step 1 for success. I would love the game play to be tweaked to where it is harder to just roll out high octane offenses and people had to make a real sacrifice. Field goals and field position would matter more if strong defenses were really viable. So it could be that just tweaking the offense and defense gameplay might render ST relevant.

Theme league sizes - I like DC's idea here!

"C. Eliminating 60 mil Open Leagues as Newbie entry leagues - Yes" Not sure what you mean here, DC. Are you saying newbies cannot go into open leagues? If that is what you mean, then I would disagree, why take away people's choices? But maybe I am missing something.
11/18/2024 6:58 PM
DCarden34
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I put C out there to create conversation. I'm 2 years into SLF and would rather not participate at all, than enter another Open.

I just see the Open Leagues as an unimaginative farce of same players,units and coaches. That's the last place for beginners to learn the game. I would hope beginners could participate in some kind of Newbie League. During the learning curve period and before they decide to quit out of the frustration of going 4-12 in Open Leagues while using their favorite players.
11/18/2024 10:25 PM
danpsull71
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Ah, I see where you're going. And I could see that being helpful. If our numbers get up enough to fill a newbie league. I am hoping that some changes to keep the game improving will get a lot more people staying around.

Also, can't believe I didn't put this in my last one - Defensive Gameplanning - Would be great to be able to set the aggressiveness of our defenses the same way we can on Offense, even if it is just as a general setting. And also, be able to save defensive gameplans like we can on offense. It'd have more variety if you could field a defense with great Sack and/or INT ratings and then set the defense to aggressive to blitz and/or go for the pick.
11/19/2024 3:28 PM
PsychoWarper
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Running QBs are overpriced, they are just not worth the price tags they are at since they are far worse passers then comparable pocket passers (obviously) and are not good enough runners to justify trading in for the worse passing. '47 Spec Sanders is the only Running QB that is actually decent at running the ball but hes like 7+ million while having like 30 pass stam and 20 int.

Pocket Passing QBs are to cheap.

Top end defenses are far to expensive for the mediocre results they give, if you fully sacrifice your offense and get say the '48 Bears at 38 mill they will get trounced by the various powered offenses they go against while you watch your bad offense be well... bad.

Honestly for a gameplay thing it does seem kinda wild that going hardcore into pass defense basically does nothing, even with a like 70 pas rating defense the other teams will still consistently go for 300+ and multiple TDs while in comparison going full run stopping can just fully stop even a heavily invested rushing attack, even with a 100 rush rating o line and multiple elite rushers you will often times still end up getting largely shut down when facing like 40 rush defenses.
11/19/2024 4:33 PM
DCarden34
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I will leave salary re-evaluation and player/units ratings, to the members who have been here during this long demise of SLF.

My input will be solely to help grow our base from less than 100 and help with new member league types, like a Newbie League where you can participate until you win the League or your Coaching rating goes over 2500-3000.

In my opinion, Our membership numbers are low do to the first timers losing in the 60 mil Opens vs. the 5 to 20 year vets. How is that fair ? It's not, I think lowering the frustration factor will help our new members stick around.
11/20/2024 10:40 AM (edited)
PsychoWarper
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Also they should either lower the prices for special teams or make the more expensive ones more impactful, I just dont think the 5 mill STs preform nearly good enough in comparison to even the 700k STs to be worth so much more money.

Also less important but an expansion on tracked stats for both teams and for the league leader boards could be nice as well as an expansion for the stats seen in the record books, seeing like records for most yards per carry or catch in a season with a minimum number of attempts could be cool.
11/20/2024 2:49 PM
New WIS Ownership - Please Update the NFL product Topic
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