Post by Pirates GM (Hollar) on Mar 18, 2023 19:24:04 GMT -8
The basic answer: A mode in Out of the Park Baseball that Hollar won't shut up about. It happens every year.
Longer version: You create a team, and are given packs of cards. These cards will contain a random mix of cards currently in the game, with limited odds of better cards being pulled. Live cards will be pulled as roughly 70% of cards, historic cards will be 30%. Each card has a bunch of individual ratings in the exact same way that players do in the OOTP base game. Each card also has an overall rating from 40 to 100, with higher numbers being better. This rating does not matter (Skip ahead to section WUT? for a brief discussion of this). You create a roster with the cards you pull, and are placed in a league which will play 162 games from Monday to Saturday, with the playoffs on Sunday. Teams that do well will get promoted to a higher level league the following week, while teams that perform like I did in this league last year will be demoted to a lower level. Partway through the season a league will be created at the highest level called perfect league. The goal is to get to this level and win the world series. This gets you an actual trophy shipped to your house. This may be exchanged for Nerd Points.
Cool. So I'm Just Putting Random Pulls Into a Random Number Generator: I mean, yeah. But there are shiny toys. Tournaments run constantly with different cards allowed in them, and different rewards. These are lots of fun. You can enter 3 tournaments at the same time. Most of these reward you with packs, where you can get more random pulls. Daily and weekly tournaments fire at specified times throughout the week, and will tie up a tournament slot longer, but give much higher-value rewards should you do well in them. Tournament rosters are independent from your main team roster. Also, there is an in-game economy.
Wait. Is This a Ponzi Scheme?: this involves an in-game currency called perfect points, which can be obtained for real money. These can be used to purchase cards on the auction house. Cards you possess can be sold via this same method, to get perfect points. These are, sadly, not exchangeable for Nerd Points. Or real money. Perfect points may also be used to buy more packs to open. Except in extremely rare market circumstances, do not do this. Many people have bought points and achieved success, but multiple free to play players won the perfect league world series this year. This is, in part, because the overall ratings on cards are only partly relevant.
WUT?: So, the overall numbers of cards matter in that they determine eligibility for tournaments and roughly correspond to a card's value, but the individual ratings the cards has matter significantly more as to how the card will perform. Got a 100 rated power hitter? Awesome. But you set your park to nerf home runs and boost extra base hits, so maybe play a fast outfielder with great defense and a 96 rating instead. You can set your park in a number of ways that can advantage or disadvantage your team. Go for the first one. Sometimes the card ratings just seem off anyway. It is presumed there is a glowing orb somewhere that accepts the individual ratings for a card and spits out the overall rating after brief deliberation. Said orb is fallible. Also, in past versions live cards ratings are nerfed. This may change this year, but it has been a constant feature to date. There is also power creep.
Maybe an MLM?: New cards are released every Thursday throughout the year. These cards usually are better as the year goes along. There are also missions you can complete for rewards of packs or cards. These are completed by owning specific cards. Gotta catch 'em all. Paul Sporer is directing content this year for the first time. This seems like a good thing to me.
Should I do this: I dunno. Did you read that and still have it sound fun even though I wrote it? If so, then probably. At the least, it's still a better virtual investment than NFTs. Jesus Christ, people. Don't buy jpegs of ugly monkeys.
TL;DR: Collect cards that don't actually exist and get worthless trophy. Become Nerd King/Queen. Step 3 is profit.
Longer version: You create a team, and are given packs of cards. These cards will contain a random mix of cards currently in the game, with limited odds of better cards being pulled. Live cards will be pulled as roughly 70% of cards, historic cards will be 30%. Each card has a bunch of individual ratings in the exact same way that players do in the OOTP base game. Each card also has an overall rating from 40 to 100, with higher numbers being better. This rating does not matter (Skip ahead to section WUT? for a brief discussion of this). You create a roster with the cards you pull, and are placed in a league which will play 162 games from Monday to Saturday, with the playoffs on Sunday. Teams that do well will get promoted to a higher level league the following week, while teams that perform like I did in this league last year will be demoted to a lower level. Partway through the season a league will be created at the highest level called perfect league. The goal is to get to this level and win the world series. This gets you an actual trophy shipped to your house. This may be exchanged for Nerd Points.
Cool. So I'm Just Putting Random Pulls Into a Random Number Generator: I mean, yeah. But there are shiny toys. Tournaments run constantly with different cards allowed in them, and different rewards. These are lots of fun. You can enter 3 tournaments at the same time. Most of these reward you with packs, where you can get more random pulls. Daily and weekly tournaments fire at specified times throughout the week, and will tie up a tournament slot longer, but give much higher-value rewards should you do well in them. Tournament rosters are independent from your main team roster. Also, there is an in-game economy.
Wait. Is This a Ponzi Scheme?: this involves an in-game currency called perfect points, which can be obtained for real money. These can be used to purchase cards on the auction house. Cards you possess can be sold via this same method, to get perfect points. These are, sadly, not exchangeable for Nerd Points. Or real money. Perfect points may also be used to buy more packs to open. Except in extremely rare market circumstances, do not do this. Many people have bought points and achieved success, but multiple free to play players won the perfect league world series this year. This is, in part, because the overall ratings on cards are only partly relevant.
WUT?: So, the overall numbers of cards matter in that they determine eligibility for tournaments and roughly correspond to a card's value, but the individual ratings the cards has matter significantly more as to how the card will perform. Got a 100 rated power hitter? Awesome. But you set your park to nerf home runs and boost extra base hits, so maybe play a fast outfielder with great defense and a 96 rating instead. You can set your park in a number of ways that can advantage or disadvantage your team. Go for the first one. Sometimes the card ratings just seem off anyway. It is presumed there is a glowing orb somewhere that accepts the individual ratings for a card and spits out the overall rating after brief deliberation. Said orb is fallible. Also, in past versions live cards ratings are nerfed. This may change this year, but it has been a constant feature to date. There is also power creep.
Maybe an MLM?: New cards are released every Thursday throughout the year. These cards usually are better as the year goes along. There are also missions you can complete for rewards of packs or cards. These are completed by owning specific cards. Gotta catch 'em all. Paul Sporer is directing content this year for the first time. This seems like a good thing to me.
Should I do this: I dunno. Did you read that and still have it sound fun even though I wrote it? If so, then probably. At the least, it's still a better virtual investment than NFTs. Jesus Christ, people. Don't buy jpegs of ugly monkeys.
TL;DR: Collect cards that don't actually exist and get worthless trophy. Become Nerd King/Queen. Step 3 is profit.
