Morale update...

1.6.5 hotfix is in.

Am I pleased?
Answer: Yes

Why?
Answer: Because I won 3 and drew 2 last night to drag me a small way out of a relegation place.

Do I think that this was part of the problem as to why i was frustrated?
Answer: Absolutely.

Was it anything to do with the 1.6.5 hotfix?
Answer: Not a scooby

Surely it was, after all I won games?
Answer: I have no idea. How would I know?

The fact remains.... morale issues are still there, and I am still unsure as to what works and why. We really need feedback from players on teamtalks and other buttons and gadgets to influence it out of game.

That said... until I go on another numerous game losing streak, I shall probably be less annoyed. The connection between the two is obvious. Lack of control = frustration.

I guess its way too late for a 1.7 addition but hope its a main consideration in the future. Having control, or the feeling of control, so that the decisions you make appear to instigate a difference is key to the game.

Morale is low...

Morale is currently top of my FML annoyance agenda (along with lag which, fingers crossed, seems less painful over the last 2 nights)

Morale... hmmm.... Its just completely uncontrollable outside of games.

Lose=  low morale= lose more= low morale= lose Ad infinitum

How the hell do you break that cycle? At least in FMxxxx you can influence outside of games, see how players respond to your team talks and give press conferences which have an impact of sorts. In FML, just the crappy team talks.... I hate them and have no idea if they work or not... are players affected? Who knows? They must do, but how?

The results suggest that whilst I am trying to say 'Good luck lads' thay are interpreting it as 'You are all gash, go out there and lose for double your wages'. I tried the 'Your performance is disappointing' at half time and I was lifted by the players deciding that this meant they should all do Phil Neville impressions. Again, who knows? Without feedback, this element of the game is pointless- all pretty disappointing when having some sort of influence over morale has been mooted by the forum noises for some time.

Look, I know I can drop players with low morale. Rest them and their morale improves, it seems. Although this is an option, on this limited occasion, I agree with many on the forums moaners when I feel this is unrealistic. Rooney may be resting at the moment, but thats only because he is tired after screwing his 2nd pensioner in the last year (poor old Fergie). Aside from that, Torres has been awful for Liverpool, but still played, VDS's confidence would be low at Man Utd but he still plays, Bent missed sitters for Sunderland the other night but still plays.... thats the way it is. My better players are on low morale, how many games would you like me to drop them for?

Oh well.... the 1.6.5.1 (or whatever) fix is out this morning. I look forward to getting home this evening and finding a whole bunch of Happy Smiley People (holding hands).... but suspect its just because they were playing with the damned superglue again.....

Grrrrr..... Lag... ffs

Hopes were lifted.... '...a large fix has gone in and should aleviate a lot of the lag' they said. 'There was a problem over the weekend so try tonight (Tuesday)' they said.

So I did. And prune me with pliars and call me bramble bush, it seemed better on Tuesday. A few others commented on spikes- I had a couple- but in the main, for the first time since reset, I felt relatively lag free.

Then last night arrived..... and, yep, it was like a stray bogey. You thought it had been picked, but it was really hanging from your philtrum to impact you later on....

Delays waiting for the wording of mails to appear, some matches (if started at the time of a lag spike) could take 20 seconds to log into, searches and parameters setting taking ages to both be changed and then appear on the screen- Its not The Double (Circa 1989-90) where one weekends worth of ZX Spectrum results could take 20 minutes to be processed, but its certainly not the speed expected in 2010 either.

I know a lot of people aren't getting it, and for that they should be eternally pleased, but with the Valderrama body count down to around 850, losing new, or old, subs due to lag is just careless.... expecially when it has been mentioned for 7 months now.

I fecking hate lag.... almost as much as I hate irresponsible bankers and the EU commission- Now thats a high level of hate...

Morale.. hmmmmm

Now a few days into playing and my players, bless 'em, have all been sectioned for the goodness of their own health. I'm not saying they are manic depressives, just that they appear to have a wild penchant for inserting solid metal projectiles into their cerebral cortex via a hand held device.

I'm not going to moan about having 7 CCC's this morning in a Prem league game against the bottom team, and losing 4-0 (the other team had 4 shots on target, though), that can happen and I wouldn't get too het up over it.

I do struggle, though, when I am seeing amazing chances with swathes of the goal practically begging for a ball to be nudged into it... and then its hit wide... by a few players. If this is the moral/form factor, then it just seemed a little extreme at the time.

That aside, I have a my keeper of many years with a seasons average of 6.89- he is a bright red arrow down. I have no great idea why, apart from the fact I am likely to get relegated if i don't win a few games soon- but he is playing okay, apart from being bloody nervous during games all the time... he is 33 and has played hundreds od Major games... get over it.

I just feel that the morale is too intense. I like the idea of having it, but why have the team talks when you can't see what impact they had on players- like in FMxxxx. And to have T/Talks as the only option to judge/affect morale (apart from winning or, more likely in my case, losing) is starting to feel like it was just thrown in without all the aspects that made it even vaguely useful in FM (although I hated them then as well!)

Going to keep trying to get a formation that suits the players.... but it does seem like a bit of a vicious circle. If you lose, you get bad results. You tweek the formation, lose again, worse morale, tweek again, lose again as the formation is unbalanced now, and lose again..... wash repeat until the players are all wearing straightjackets and singing 'I'm a Barbie Girl'.

Hmmmmm...

Go, don't close the door, just turn around now....

I think it is fair to say that I have only seen a greater outbursting of annoyance from some users once before... and that was the reset announcement. Whether their issues are realistic is more a personal opinion -after all, if they aren't enjoying the game, that is their prerogative- but why carry on playing?


Irrational moaning and 'I'm gonna quit' threats just scream of petulant childishness and desperate needs to get attention. I don't really care if people have long subscriptions... even if they are 4 months into the future... for the sake of £20 or so (which most people would write off if it were elsewhere) you should just go and spend your life elsewhere. Bore off unless you are going to give reasoned opinion.


Those people that still log in for hours moaning about the game and how they hate it..... please leave. You are either enjoying the game or not. If not, why still log on? Go play Civ, or MoH, or whatever.... go and join a darts team or a book club. Go and spend time with friends or lovers- or both. Go and learn a language. Just go.


Some people have already left and I respect them. They have made a logical decision:

Its a game + I don't enjoy it= I don't play it.


I appreciate people want improvements and can be frustrated.... but bloody hell....some of these people have the vote.... not comforting.

1.6.5... post armageddon thoughts

Loads of comments about 1.6.5..... my early thoughts....

TV's & Wages- A- Huge positive change

For those that didn't realise what was coming with wages, TV's etc... you have missed the ingame mails from SI and been caught out by ignoring them.

- TV's are now based more on 'the going rate' and will more likely annoy the Wheeler Dealers... hurrahh. Possibly less Football Trader Live.

- Wages are now also based on the going rate. This has been long advertised and available to read up on.... this may catch those out that have already paid 'silly' (imo) wages. Hurrahhh.... finally people are going to pay the going rate rather than get kids through on the cheap- perhaps proper aged teams might be the way forward now?

New Match Engine- Too early to tell.

For those that hate the ME... hmmm... well, I'm not sure if they have a point yet. I have been massively affected in losing most of my FA games, but have seen some elements that I like a lot.

Some people, however, were saying the ME was broken 1 hour after they first logged in. The mind boggles at the lack of mental power! It may have issues- all the ME changes before have had a bedding in time- but to judge it so early is a tad unfair.... though I will admit to jibbering a bit about my defenders losing the ability to defend....

What I do find amusing is those managers that,  like sheep, had been using the 4-3-3 religiously found the 'exploit' didn't work anymore.... oh dear, they may actually need to find their own formation...  No sympathy. Baaaa!!

Lots of tweeking needed from me to make my 4-4-2 work, but I am hoping to get something right in time to just avoid registration.

I've never really analysed the ME too much in the past but will watch more on this one... and am now trying to be positive in the interim....

Team Talks- D+

No point my defending this. I never liked them in FM2009, and don't like them any more now. I'm not sure they offer enough control over player moral (end of match option might help, and in between game abilities too). I actually started just ignoring them for the last few games I played and started to actually play a bit better. At least in FMxxxx you get feedback as to what the players thought on the team talk. For me, it doesn't work yet and will become pretty unused I suspect.

Regardless, moral does appear to have taken a large hit and I want to spend more time trying to understand it before I decide it is as huge an issue as others have vocalised. What I do know is that my players are all on Suicide watch at the moment.... so all sharp objects have been hidden and a win or 2 needs to be achieved.

Cash for Ranking points - B

'Reduced commercial and stadium income by 10%, and introduced a daily income boost of up to 10% which depends on your placing within your ranking band at the end of the day (top = 10%, bottom = 0%). '

I think its a sop for the managers (like me, incidently) that want non-Rep'ed games to have more of an incentive. It won't really affect my feelings on the non-rep games but I like the fact the concern has been taken on board. Regardless, it is such a small amount that those that don't like it are barely affected & those that do like it have an additional incentive.

Lag- F

Still abysmal and still makes the game intolerable at times. Last night was possibly the worst I have known it, so I guess it's still raw, but I hate it so much and, if anything was to make me consider stopping playing, this would more likely be it. Not even close that point yet, though. Just pretty disappointed that we were told that 1.6.5 would go some way to removing some lag, and has so far failed completely.

Overall- B (if lag was fixed I would say A+ regardless!)


So, for a mid-upgrade, I think it was so far generally positive. There are elements which are annoying- the downloading time for many was, as ever, laughable- not sure about those that moaned about the late notice of the download. Agreed, it was a strange one, but not sure that it made much difference over previous ones with a weeks notice.

My only cautionary note would be the lack of clarity on how TV's are calculated and the carnage that may occur with signing on fee's come the wage auctions.... more on that if it arrives.

Wage, TV and Signing on fee changes in Beta/1.6.5/1.7

I've been working long days so am likely to be hazy about something entirely plausible..... it just isn't looking that way at the moment.

Many of the tests going on in Beta look good, but one of the over-riding issues with recent aspects/additions is the lack of clarity (YA's, Skils, Assessments.... to mention 3).

The new Transfer Value(TV)- which is better illustrated with a list of similar players recently sold- and signing on fees, and the way they don't reflect PA, was sorely needed..... but when it comes to transfers, fees, amounts and multiples being added.... well, I think I will get it in due course, but it seems like another confusing aspect that will mean much work in the help rooms.

Still being tested.... so hopefully more refining will result in further transparency. For me, I like to troll through stats and detail (thats the essence of FM/FML) but it either needs to be simple to understand, or have an easy to find explanation.... but what do I know...