Hello to all GMs, Commissioners, Players and Fans of the FHL. I hope you enjoyed the All-Star Festivities and are prepared for what promises to be an exciting second half to the season! As we turn the corner on this season, it is time for another discussion and comment session on items coming up for the end of this season and for the next. So read ahead and comment below or on the Skype page if you have any opinions.

The Topics up for discussion are:

Updated Status on 2 Line Teams Vote
Updated Status on Growth Point Scaling Vote
Report on planned changes to the Sim over the off-season
New Vote: Goalie Overhaul
New Vote: Change to Waiver System
Season 4 Rookie Player Signups Closed

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UPDATED STATUS ON 2 LINE TEAMS VOTE

At the current point in the season, it looks like the 2 Line Vote will occur as planned. It has been decided, however, that both the expansion route and the alternative secondary reduction route will be given as options in the vote. The vote will be occurring around the beginning of the season 4 playoffs.

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UPDATED STATUS ON GROWTH POINT SCALING VOTE

For the most part, the setup of the vote on growth point scaling is still very much in discussion. How much additional XP it should cost for each GP is currently up in the air, as is the defined process for the Scaling.

Currently, the prevailing thought on scaling is to adjust from a dynamic stepped scaling system as was suggested in the original discussion, to a fixed gradual system. This system would set a price for Growth Points at the very beginning of the off-season for a player based on their Career GP entering the off-season, and would stick to that price for the entire off-season. The pricing pattern would also be set to a defined +XP/CGP over a certain starting point (either 8 or 12) and would go up gradually instead of stepped.

For example, William Swiftfoot has 11 CGP going into the off-season, and 7500XP to spend. If the scaling for GP is 75/CGP and the lower limit is 8, then it will cost him 1225 XP per GP for the off-season of season 5, and thus he can buy 6 GP (instead of 7) during the off-season, based on that set cost.
Should the vote pass, it is hoped that with this system, up and coming players in the league won’t be hampered by the GP Scaling, even if they have a really strong season, but growth for veterans will still be slowed.

One other item with scaling is that we are looking to make Stat Perks affect Career GP numbers, since they have an effect on a player’s statistics and thus should be counted as if they were Growth Points. This scaling would affect all perks except Weasley, Slyness, Team on My Shoulders, and Recovery; as those four perks have no effect on a player's base stats.

Further discussions will be occurring and scaling will be finalized by the Third Quarter Discussion. Voting on Growth Point Scaling should occur around the end of the season, likely as the Furry Cup is being raised.

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PLANNED SIMULATION CHANGES FOR NEXT SEASON

As we crest at the middle of the season, the commissioners are looking to the simulation for the upcoming season, and have decided a few small changes are in order. Below are a list of the proposed changes to the system:

1. Increase the effect of Offense on Shooting %.

As some people have noticed, there has been a bit of a rise in defensive scoring since the change from fixed shots per period in Season 2 to a Shooting % system in season 3 and 4. While part of the cause of this has been that defender numbers have lead to several cases of D gaining large numbers of shifts (which 2 Lining would solve); it is also believed that the shooting % at both the high and low ends is not strong enough, and is leading to players getting many more or many less shots than their numbers imply. Thus, over the off-season we are going to look into the ratios and likely adjust the Shooting % equation to buff shot numbers for those with a high O and nerf shot numbers for those with a Low O, so that it fits more closely with how stuff was in season 2.

2. Adjust the baseline equation for Offense to favor Finesse.

It has come to our attention that when calculating the Offense stat, the Baseline stat Finesse effects offense as strongly as both shooting power and shooting accuracy. Due to that, both of the shooting stats contribute more to a player than finesse does (affecting offense, power play and the scoring focuses, plus playmaking for SHP, whereas finesse only affects offense, power play and playmaking). To fix this, the equation for Offense should be adjusted to favor Finesse more than the two scoring stats when it is calculated. How much that adjustment changes will be worked out in the offseason.

3. Addition of the “Team Playmaking” modifier

As some of your may know, at the current time, the Playmaker/Assist calculated statistic current only has one major function: to determine who the assist men are on a goal that is scored.

Over the past couple of seasons, the commissioners have looked into figuring a way to give the Playmaker a greater effect in how a game is played, and we believe we have found a solution in the addition of the “Team Playmaking” Modifier for the simulation for season 5. This modifier, much like Team Defense, would be based on an average playmaker score of the 5 players currently on the ice for each team. This number would then be used to modify a players shooting ratio and a team’s Team Defense, such that a team with a stronger playmaker would gain a small advantage to shooting % in comparison to when two teams have a Team Playmaker numbers which are nearly equal. It is our hope that with this adjustment, the Playmaker stat will have a greater effect on games.

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NEW VOTE: GOALIE OVERHAUL

Before I start on this, I will quickly note: This will be voted on. We will only start this process if the vote passes by vote of the general community.

It had come to our attention during the off-season, that due to how the last couple seasons have gone, the league is in need to overhaul the goalie based stats. This is in part due to the findings that certain players (both active and retired) have or are reaching levels that are a bit extreme for the sim, and are doing so at too fast of a rate.

The reasoning for this has been partially due to the reduced number of statistical areas for goalies, which has lead to a stronger, more focused gain in strength in comparison to skaters, and it has been decided that there is a need to overhaul the goalie growth system.

The changes to the system that are being voted on is as follows:

Goalies will gain GP at either twice the cost of skaters or will only be able to buy GP at half the rate of skaters.
All goalies will have their stats reset to 0 GP and have all their GP refunded to them as XP, as if they had started at 0 GP in the Off-Season of Season 3, (Goalie Focus Perks will not be affected by this) and then they will be able to repurchase GP based on the scale as adjusted by #1.

It is hoped with these changes that the system will be able to be better balanced and allow goalies to grow without getting too high too fast. This vote will occur at the end of the season, likely coinciding with the GP Scaling vote.

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NEW VOTE: ADJUSTMENT TO WAIVER WIRE

It has been brought to our attention that the Waiver/Free Agency system we use is not as beneficial as it really could be when it comes to the teams that need the improvement, and currently does not follow the idea of the NHL, which it is partially modeled of. It has been suggested to adjust the waiver wire such that instead of keeping to 1 season long Waiver list, to instead adjust the waiver wire such that the Waiver list resets to a 1 to 16 order during the first quarter of the season. That way, teams who struggle early have a better shot at gaining a player as the season goes on. Voting for the adjustment should occur likely as the season ends.

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SEASON 4 ROOKIE PLAYER SIGNUPS CLOSED

As is customary of the league, the signups for Rookie Players closed as the league reached the All-Star Game. All rookies who sign up for the league from here on out will be signed up for Season 5, and will see their first chance at playing in the league during any off-season festivities. As part of it, an updated Season 5 signup sheet should be ready by the middle of next week.

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QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

If anyone has any questions or comments, they can comment below. They can also contact the FHL directly by noting them, or discuss issues within this journal over Skype. Hope everyone has a good second half of the season, and good luck!