Subject: »[info]DevDiary 80: “Price is what you pay, value is what

Simple solution as I saw on this forum. Keep injuries separate from NT and club games, the same way cards are kept. This way we can keep both parties happy:) (assuming new views will show NT data, not club - like it is doing right now with cards)

When it comes to buying plus to see NT players skills - I would call it cheap money grab.

However when it comes to seeing good and bad NT coaches - there is no rule at all. For last 5-6 seasons I had no issues with communicating my training plan/player positions. In Poland we have Cabalerro - different culture, but he suits well in our community. If I can brag about myself - I do my best to suits into Japanese community, but it is hard for such small nation. On the other side this season I had one coach who were... not so friendly. He was using my 3x years old player with slight injury in official matches for two weeks, coz I hidden players skill during injury time. Thankfully his injury didn't get worse. But I know that there are also coaches who don't give a damn about NT after being 'elected' by account creation date.

I mean if you use the argument of what does the nt bring to the game and whether it brings plus subscriptions you can flip the question. If NT is so insignificant then what does adding it to plus achieve?

Fair enough. I must be a total outlier then, because I really don't care if I ever have a member on the USA NT. The only pride I have is in winning matches and developing players, in general.

I see it - and the entire youth program as it exists presently - as a giant roulette wheel that I can't justify the expense of.

"I mean if you use the argument of what does the nt bring to the game and whether it brings plus subscriptions you can flip the question. If NT is so insignificant then what does adding it to plus achieve?"

I mostly agree with this line of thought - all it's going to do is produce maybe 20-40 more PLUS subscribers? In the grand scheme, I'm not so sure that the juice is worth the squeeze. Especially if it's going to produce 5-10 pages of whines about it.

I think you’d be lucky to get any more users to pay actually that aren’t already paying (since it only impacts those who are interested in NTs) and in actual net effect id expect any gain in users from people will be completely negated by users who would be willing to pay for plus if they thought the direction was going the right way who now won’t as they see where this is heading. Next you’ll have to have plus to be a NT manager or you’ll have to have plus and pay more for the next feature eg medical centre for reduced injuries as an example.

If the game is supported and enough satisfaction is there plus will sell itself without game changing features being behind paywalls. The QoL things are just small bonuses as a way of supporting those who support the game (for which I have no issue whilst they remain at club level)

Increasing the plus price due to it being flat for 15 years and with current inflation rates and costs is fine too, that’s just how things need to be.

Maybe we just see totally opposite things here but since i mostly play for the community aspect (the nt is one such way I can participate back to the community since I’m no longer a moderator). That’s where I get my enjoyment from and seeing a community effort result in improvements in user activity, league competition which in turn increases user interest and keeps them around longer and improvement in something that takes a combined effort to achieve. Taking that away leaves me with less enjoyment and the community suffers because of it.

If you don’t care about other users or building a community and only care about your own side and winning then yeah I can see why you don’t see me as logical. However, I’ve been an nt manager most of my time playing this game and I know the value it brings for others enjoyment if done right (which in turn keeps them around or has them inviting and recommending the game to others). Also the amount of times I’ve been burnt by users not providing accurate skills is why I’m very vocal about this issue, especially in smaller nations.
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Yeah, fair enough.

I'm mostly here for the challenge, not the community. I DO actually care to help people learn the game - I've helped a couple of local users with advise when asked. One asks me quite a lot to this day. I've also volunteered to Raul to be an official tutor for America (even though it's an unpaid position). I like helping people, but when push comes to shove, my objectives are domination on the virtual pitch. Multiple US championships.

edit: I see the national teams as another opportunity to get experience with tactical design and challenging myself against other managers outside of my league.
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About plus changes. Those of us who already has the yearly subscription will receive the additional benefits and will maintain club jersey and emblems after expiration? or that is only for people who buy yearly subscription after the change?
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The news about NT coaches seeing players skills only when paying for Assistant is crazy. Devs could just allow the candidature only for Plus users and it would be the same.

+1

I understand that they don't want their players get injured, BUT.

If they buy an established NT player, we already know their skills so why hiding them.
Only the form matters if they play or not.

If they buy a young player, they might play in a friendly match where they can't be injured.

So, no I really don't understand why would you hide players' skills.

Sadly, with those restrictions for NT, Sokker is becoming somehow a pay-to-win game, totally the opposite as its beginings. It is very worrying those kind of decisions, tha lack of understanding the core of the game, from people who is in charge of Sokker.

pay-to-win? How?

It was their first mantra not to pay to win.
They went opposite.

Sokker is still a no P2W game.
But, being Plus account gives you a little advantage against your oppponents when you can watch their matches and tactics.
Still no P2W imo.

What new changes are making it pay to win though?

I don't see anything in the press update that screams "unfair advantage". I could be overlooking something, though.

Please stop arguing, for the sake of the Aussies at most.

Let's talk about the expectations, those are the real issue here.
Can anybody translate what those really mean?