Morale of players

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:27 am

Why would the moral of the players be plummeting across the board of a team that is 17-4-3?
I have made a few trades but nothing drastic.....what causes this continual decline?

KevT90 · Post by **KevT90** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:46 am

This had been reported and noticed in the past with no real answers. It doesn't seem to affect the success of a team however it would be nice that it had an actual effect on players and have more realistic values.

mr_mich · Post by **mr_mich** » Wed May 06, 2015 3:33 pm

I've noticed that for some players, it's almost like an "overwork" issue and scratching them for a game or two gets rid of their naff attitude. Problem is, that's only some players, and sometimes it's like 5 games, and sometimes it's in the playoffs...

Post by **Peter_Doherty** » Wed May 06, 2015 3:51 pm

mr_mich wrote:I've noticed that for some players, it's almost like an "overwork" issue and scratching them for a game or two gets rid of their naff attitude. Problem is, that's only some players, and sometimes it's like 5 games, and sometimes it's in the playoffs...

You can just rest them from practice instead, especially in playoffs

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:06 pm

Re morale. Again I am pleased that guys are not always superb. The fact that they are okay should be good enough. I mean, are you always superb?

Now...with reputation .... that is a little low. I have a guy on my team right now who is still listed as very good, and has won 3 Vezinas, 3 Conn Smythe, 3 every goalie award, and his career goals against average is 2.17 but in the EHM years it is 1.36, and his save percentage is 954 in EHM years, 927 overall. He has 36 shutouts in his 3 2/3 EHM seasons.

Yeah it is STeve Mason, but if his in game performance is where it is, how can he still be very good. 1st all star all 3 years. Yet never gets selected to NHL all star game. LOL

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:13 pm

I agree that players should not be all superb but 15 of the 23 should not be so low

I did not consider that it could be practice that is making them miserable. I do edit those up so maybe its that.
I do always turn off practice in the playoffs to help avoid extra injuries. But I wonder if it really matters because even off I have seen players get hurt. I am not even sure adjusting the % in practice even matters.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:23 pm

If they are low or very low it may be practice too much. But in old game that was never the issue, was all performance based.

My team right now 63-0-1, and I only have one guy on very low...a guy I know I have been using too much for his stamina in games. But I am not stopping his use, because well...he needs to get more stamina and because well..he just scores ALOT.

I have 4 on low, and 3 of them have had 6 ratings for 2 of their last 3 games, and a 7 for one.

I have a rubbish load at okay....

then I have 5 at good....they all have an average rating of at least 8 for the last 5 games.

I think the morale needs a little boost, but not a huge one. Day to day life, have high expectations of yourself and well....

Now when your team wins the Stanley Cup unless you were benched or played horrible you should have SUPERB morale.

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:28 pm

63-0-1 ? yikes!
You must have some special tactics!

krownroyal83 · Post by **krownroyal83** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:46 pm

demons19 wrote:63-0-1 ? yikes!
You must have some special tactics!

Needless to say the game still needs a lot of work if someone can have a record of 63-0-1.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:48 pm

No...I just have a feeling that this game is a little easier to win in than the 2007 version. It is very odd. I had one stretch in millions of EHM 2007 games where I went 22-0, but then the team came back to normal. Check the challenge forum. In this game my numbers are insane, my first game in EHM EA and I already have

24 game win streak,
several 15 game win streaks
This one I was on before losing in a shootout to Vancouver, stretches back to the semi final of previous season and I went 66 consecutive wins. I have had points in something like 75 consecutive games of regular season.

I beieve there is an issue in the AI that is causing the AI teams to not field their best rosters and make poor decisions as time goes on.

For example I just beat Washington in back to back games. THey started their back up both games even though Holtby is in good shape.

Their lineup?

Burakovsky-Backstrom-Ovechkin
Lucic-some guy they drafted in the 6th round of 2012 who would not make my 4th line-Jannik Hansen (my 3rd line at best)
Tom Sestito-Chris Brown (a 2009 draft, scrub)-Gustaf Franzen (young young young)
37 year old Brad Richards -Nic Petan (NOT READY YET)-Marcus Johansson.

AI is really screwing up what they should be doing with their lines. And then they match the third line against:

Raffl-Giroux-Voracek. Yeah sure.

This is just one example, and their D is not bad, but ....their choices and decision making on lineups are horrible. They have Looch taking faceoffs on 1st PK unit (I went 3-7 and 2-4 on PP against them in the last two games), and they overuse Backstrom and Ovechkin. 1st line, 1st pp, 1st pk. They play too much and I always score a goal or two against their line in the third period. Same with all teams if I go through them. Lineup decisions are bad....

This is season 4, and it just gets weaker and weaker. It is an issue for me and the challenge of the game.

I have hardly made any deals with my Flyer roster (challenge team) and have

Raffl-Giroux-Voracek
Klimchuk-B Schenn-Nick Jensen
Taylor Leier-Laughton-Simmonds
Drazenovich(UFA)-B Boyle-Straka

Of the forwards...you can see that many are original Flyers. Klimchuk came in a deal that cost me Matt Read.
Jensen in a deal with Toronto that cost me Nick Grossman and a prospect (3rd liner potential)
Drazenovich was UFA
Boyle cost me a 3rd line prospect and a 7th

Rest of those guys are original Flyers.

Dmen

Okay..have made some moves here. But cost was still big

Del Zotto-Trouba
Klefbom-Connauton
Morin-Stone

Morin and Del Zotto original Flyers.
Trouba cost me Couturier and Andy MacDonald. Big trade.
Connauton has been exceptional and cost me Luke Schenn (total steal for me)
Klefbom cost me Gotisbierre (both guys were struggling with their teams to get regular ice time, and both are 23 year old 1-2 prospects. Both guys have performed better for new teams)
Stone was the first move I made, sending Phoenix Jason AKeson who was good on my third line, and Mike Kostka who was playing a ton for me after I had claimed him on waivers.
Phoenix waived both of them, and Akeson is in Europe now, and Kostka is in minors still with real strong ratings. Poor decisions

Couturier is playing 4th line in WInnipeg..to me that is nuts.

AI decisions are freaking horrible in this game re lineups as well as trades.

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:56 pm

I took the Islanders and have found this game tougher....although my record is very good, all the games are close low scoring games....only 25 games into the first season so maybe it will change. But I am surprised to hear your experience is just the opposite.

Post by **CeeBee** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:11 pm

I find it tougher as well. Maybe what worked in 07 doesn't work as well here and I'm slow to figure it out but I struggle to even make the playoffs. If it was as easy for me as batdad it would probably not be so much fun after a while.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:16 pm

I have not changed any of my tactics from EHM 07

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:17 pm

Well apparently your EHM 07 tactics are special

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:35 pm

They have always been good, but never worked to this extent. I don't know why, and wish I did.

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Fri May 08, 2015 6:52 pm

After reducing practice significantly and even resting them, there is clearly a moral issue in the game which I guess everyone knows about.....in the entire league (NHL-1329 players) there is only 4 superb & 11 very good players......220 very low players & 335 low players......I can't imagine professional hockey players being this depressed....my league needs zoloft badly

AgentNXS · Post by **AgentNXS** » Sat May 09, 2015 5:37 am

My league is very much the same as demons19. I'm in my second season and a majority the league(including my team) have over 60% of their player's morale at low or very low, with each team having a few at okay and maybe 1/2 at good.

It would be nice if there were details in the player's information screen, or maybe updates in the notifications section, as to what a player expects to change when their morale drops below okay. The morality system possibly wouldn't need an overhaul if we GMs had input as to why the players aren't happy.

KevT90 · Post by **KevT90** » Sat May 09, 2015 6:05 pm

It does have to do with practice. However nobody really knows if moral as an effect on the player's performance come game time. If it does, maybe resting them every second day or so would be beneficial ? If yes, then the AI is not doing it either ? Would it have an impact on the development of the player if they practice less ?

Post by **batdad** » Sat May 09, 2015 6:10 pm

In EHM 2007 morale was dependent upon how the guys did in games. Runs of 6-7-6-7-6 would generate okay morale, but then if you throw in a 5 and another 6.....would go low. A nunch of 6 usually meant not getting ice time and not doing anything offensively and morale would suffer.

As for morale and its effect on players in practice? Was never really something I thought about or saw having any change. Morale was all about how they felt about their own game performance and would then affect how they played next game in many situations.

Morale was highly variable in 07.

EHM EA--Morale seems to have litttle to no effect on how players perform in game. Lots of very low and bad morale ratings, and few high ones. Top players who have great games and score 4 goals, hardly get past okay in the morale area. It is tweaked to lower the guys from feeling super awesome excited and wonderful, and has resulted in it being low for them.

Hopefully it is somethign they look at, like with average rating and skew it more towards the middle and okay, with some jumps to v good, or superb and based on poor performance to low and very low. But in general they guys should be good. I always thought of my players dancing in the locker room when they were all superb all the time. Now .... I see them hanging themselves alot more, but mostly just walking around thinking about paying bills and eating lunch.

Koekenbakker · Post by **Koekenbakker** » Mon May 11, 2015 7:37 am

Actually we can't conclude morale does little since every player has lower morale then in the previous version, and thus levelling the playing field. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just the lower ratins causing lower morale.

Post by **batdad** » Mon May 11, 2015 4:17 pm

WHat I meant....Morale does not affect their play in the game apparently. The results of games are the same. Star players with very low morale still getting top level #s. #s that are very similar to real life numbers. So if that is happening....it is not affecting their in game play. Does it affect development of younger players? Maybe...but it is not affecting how they play in the game.

There are some other issues that are affecting how guys like Weber play...but ... it is not morale as there are too many guys with low morale who are still playing and scoring the way they should, even though morale is low.

demons19 · Post by **demons19** » Mon May 11, 2015 4:25 pm

Perhaps the low moral is affecting game play since the ratings of all the players is well below what the previous game was....but because it affects the entire league, there is still balance. But in this version, there are tons of guys in starting lineups with ratings below 7 which would normally get you demoted. I have a 1st place team and only 2 players above 8. So low moral could be hurting overall performance for all.

Post by **batdad** » Mon May 11, 2015 4:57 pm

Yeah, except that the results are the same and proper to reality. Stars still score and play goal like stars, 3rd liners still perform like third liners. If what you are saying was the case...the game would balance out as well, and we would not see much change in result. If everyone has low morale everyone plays at same level, and results are realistic. If everyone has high morale ...all would play at same level and have the same realistic results. Therefore because it is the same realistic results in the game scoring wise, and reality wise...how can it actually affect? If Weber has high morale, and everyone else has higher morale---there is no change. The low morale is definitely a result of the lower game ratings for players this time around but not totally. Guys like Giroux are still averaging close to 8 if not above 8 for me and still have low morale. Same for Mason who has averaged over 8 all the way through his career with me in EHM.

The low morale the game is showing....has no effect on the results the game is producing. Or very very minimal effect like 1 goal every 10 games. Results are all fairly normal...same scoring levels for individuals and teams, same everything.

Now this is not to say morale is not an issue...it is....too many guys appear they have depression or want to pack it up and just sleep. But it is really not affecting the results in games. There is noone reporting scoring is way down, or way up, or ridiculous. But there would not be...because this morale is affecting everyone and is just opposite of the old days.

Having all the guys averaging rating skew towards 7 instead of 7.5 is the reality of hockey. Parity is here...players are all the same. Robots. (To a certain extent...the differences are so subtle now compared to the old days). Star players are not MILES better than 4th liners now...they are inches or feet better. This skew to the middle reflects reality, but the skew on the morale is not reflective of reality and is an issue in game...because it appears everyone is unhappy. But I do not believe, nor do I see evidence of it affecting the results in game. Ovechkin still scores 40-50-90 even with the low morale. Rask still puts up great goalie #s. Tampa is still good, Arizona Buffalo and Edmonton are still bad.

See what I mean? It is an issue, but it is not really to any great extent affecting the realism of the game at this point. it is not tied to what the game/sim engine are producing for results. The results are accurate.

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