Improvement Priority

As SI don't seem to want to do any market research across the opinions of the board members, I thought I'd kick off a little poll to find out what you feel should be the priority for improving the game for the next release.

In before multiple "fix all the bugs" posts.

Fix all the bugs!

Haha, spot on 4457 - beat me to it.

Hm, for me it would be expanding the current features such as press conferences.

Yeah expanding the press confrences is a definite for me, a wider bank of questions and responses although this me be coming now SI have the feature working?

Also more involvement with the Physio. Its been discussed before and had some very good ideas which have been added to the wish list!

As all above me mentioned.

In before multiple "fix all the bugs" posts.

Beat me to it

It has to be between improving the match engine and expanding on the present features. I feel that they need to maximize the potential of a feature before adding new features in the game.

Interesting that people seem to want more immersion from current features rather than a bug-free match engine or tactics that make sense, especially given the amount of whinge posts and threads saying about how bad the tactical side of the game is.

Interesting that people seem to want more immersion from current features rather than a bug-free match engine or tactics that make sense, especially given the amount of whinge posts and threads saying about how bad the tactical side of the game is.

It's still early days for the thread. Worth bearing in mind, though, that these forums are never the best indication of what the masses want.

The match engine improvements are really just a given - that will always be looked at and updated especially with FML going to take the lead again in the development of the engine. So while I would agree that the ME needs upgrading, I just count on that one as a given and vote for the focus to be on the expansion of the current features.

I would agree there is more that could be looked at around physios and it would be nice to have more interaction with them. The press conferences is something that was discussed on these forums not too long ago too and some of the ideas contained within those sorts of threads may contain some very useful suggestions.

It's still very early for the thread. Worth bearing in mind, though, that these forums are never the best indication of what the masses want.

100% agree

I'm pretty happy with everything except the match engine. Features will always be improved, even if it's only slightly. Everything else e.g. tactics etc can be worked round, but the match engine is the one thing that only SI can fix.

The match-engine, even though it is good there are still problems where players do ridiculous things and it is still a bit too predictable.

Expansion of,and New features

One thing that seems to be missing in your poll are Regens or general player devolpment.. Last year good regens where nearly non existing and old players detoriated rapidly this year there are hardly any two footed regens and whats up with all the 20 year olds popping up out of nowhere with stats that can rival those of the likes of Ronaldo.

For me thats the most important thing especially to enjoy a nice long term game.

Sorry, but I find the premise of your poll pretty daft. Why would a large team at SI all decide to work on one aspect 'first'? Surely they will prioritise and get to work on a range of issues - some ironing out bugs, some developing features such as media interaction and 3D animation, and others experimenting with new features.

Fixing the bugs and "expanding" some of the current features would be enough for me

Expanding of current features as well as remove ME "niggles" (Nothing major - just things like defenders hoofing the ball out while being under no pressure).

Sorry, but I find the premise of your poll pretty daft. Why would a large team at SI all decide to work on one aspect 'first'? Surely they will prioritise and get to work on a range of issues - some ironing out bugs, some developing features such as media interaction and 3D animation, and others experimenting with new features.

It's a personal preference poll, based on the version that exists at the moment what do you most want from the next version, what do you feel needs adding/changing as a priority.

From your response you don't seem to have one, just general improvements all round, but most people have one particular aspect that they would like to see focused on/improved.

What!? No all of the above option? lol

A new and engaging training module has to be the step forward for FM '10.

Personally, the game overall lacks involvement, and adding a good training module would help this.

Tactics for me. While I can get by with the current system and do pretty well, it is just down to trial and error and finding a system that works. If I want one of my players to do something specific I often don't know which combination of sliders would achieve it.

I think that the first thing they should do is get the match engine working properly.

My reason for saying so is that it is the main thing on that list that is actually properly frustrating. Yes a lack of features can be a bit annoying but there is no point having a huge amount of features if the basic match engine does not work properly.

Yes a lack of features can be a bit annoying but there is no point having a huge amount of features if the basic match engine does not work properly.

That pretty much covers my view on it, it would be like having a FPS game where the aiming didn't work properly.

Yay match engine is winning.

I would like to see more one to one interaction with players, things lik talking them out of being tempted to move to other clubs etc.

The match engine is fine as it is imo.

Shameless bump

It's still early days for the thread. Worth bearing in mind, though, that these forums are never the best indication of what the masses want.

I do not think it is early. Design for FM 10 will be made if not already made around these weeks. so if community wants to say something it is better to say it now rather than asking for it a month before release.

I agree that only a small portion of legal FM users are visiting community but still there is no other better media for SI to listen players and I'm sure they do read and consider what is said here up to some extend. Also statistically speaking a thousand uniform forum users may very well indicate what million FM users actually want in priority order.

I do not think it is early. Design for FM 10 will be made if not already made around these weeks. so if community wants to say something it is better to say it now rather than asking for it a month before release.

That's not what he meant by "early days for the thread", he meant the thread was only recently created when I was commenting on the results.

Interesting that people seem to want more immersion from current features rather than a bug-free match engine or tactics that make sense, especially given the amount of whinge posts and threads saying about how bad the tactical side of the game is.

I went for more inuitive tactics. While I currently have a tactic that works nicely, I'm not sure why it works. If anything starts to go wrong with it I'm screwed as getting it right was a lot of trial and error rather than shrewd assessment of each revisions weaknesses and strengths.

As I've said for the last three versions at least - add depth/common sense to existing features and lots of options to turn off sections you have no interest in/get very bored with due to the lack of sense.

A few examples are below.

An option to completely ignore the press conferences forever would be good. The entire feature is ill thought out. The option to let your assistant handle the press is only useful if they don't make a complete mess of it all the time (which obviously they do). The questions asked at various times don't make sense and are extremely repetitive. A friend of mine was asked "Who do you think will win the blue square premier title?" after already having won it. Along with selecting his own team (obviously) he added the comment "How stupid are you? We've already won it." Apparently his team would not react well to his handling ot the question. Eh? The question should never have been asked in the first place.

Player interaction has little to no use currently. There should be far more versatility when a player is unhappy. The idea that we should ask a player who they want us to sign in order to make them happy or contact them through the media is beyond silly. We should be able to interact with the player, not the press.

Players under 19 expect to be rotation/first-teamers far too often when being offered contracts. There should only ever be a small handful of this type of player.

Backup players complain at not getting a game far too often. If they have signed a contract as a backup player, they should not complain so much (especially at the far end of their career).

Board expects your championship team to reach 5th round of the FA cup, you get drawn against Man Utd in the 3rd round and lose. Board spends the rest of the year telling you that they are disappointed with it. Expectations should change dependant upon circumstances - not be set at the beginning of the season and stay the same.

Board and fans unhappy with the 16 year old you signed for the future for the entire season (unless of course you committed the cardinal sin of losing to Man Utd in the FA Cup of course). Youngsters should not be judged in the same manner as experienced professionals until they are over 21/22 in my opinion.

Other managers should not use mind games comments such as "hoping to dent your title hopes" or "hope you fail to win the league" when you've already won it. It is ridiculous and detracts massively from the experience.

There are so many more areas lacking in subtelty/depth that I could probably spend until the next release listing them. If these oddities can be fixed, the game would be a lot more immersing.

I just hope that any new features are kept to a minimum unless they add massively to the game (such as the 3d has done) and more sense is added to the AI in the various modules. Unfortunately, the way things are going, I fear we will be being asked how much we want to sell hot dogs and pies for in the near future and will still have these glaring stupidities infecting what is otherwise an exceptional game.

Improve tactics interface is the most important for me.

Second is improve match engine. Just make the players a bit smarter and more realistic. My wingers manage to run the ball across the line even if the defender is ten meters away.

Third would be expansion of current features like training.

Good to see Match Engine winning

Will laugh so much if FM10 comes out with loads of New Features...

Good to see Match Engine winning

Will laugh so much if FM10 comes out with loads of New Features...

Please dont say that, i fear you may have jinxed us all.

I agree that the match engine needs to be worked on before anything else. No point starting a new job if you have dozens of jobs half done.

Had to vote match engine, no choice really. I'm fed up of my GK dropping the ball at his feet and spinning in circles waiting for the opposition to come and tackle him, anybody else had this?

Had to vote match engine, no choice really. I'm fed up of my GK dropping the ball at his feet and spinning in circles waiting for the opposition to come and tackle him, anybody else had this?

Not seen that happening in 9.2, it used to happen once or twice a season for me in 9.1

More diverse Injuries

More realistic transfer fees (228m for Torres)

Less last minute AI goals from player errors

Please please please fix the injuries. I am now up to 118 injuries in one season and i'm in january!!

Please please please fix the injuries. I am now up to 118 injuries in one season and i'm in january!!

It's your tactics?

I've usually only got 2 players at any one time that are injured

From my point of view, expansion of things like Press Conferences and so on.

However, although I wouldn't use it, I think a simpler, more accessible way of creating tactics would help the game in general. Keep the existing mechanism as the "advanced mode for expert users" and make some way for people to create workable - albeit not perfect - tactics without having to spend ages tweaking them and fiddling with dozens of settings.

New Features

Improved Match Engine

Technical Compatibility

More Intuitive Tactics

Improved Graphics

Expansion of current features (team talks, press conferences)

Other (post to specify)

Out of these options would have to say "More Intuitive Tactics".

Feel the other options should be obvious parts of the game to be improved for every version of the game while the "tactics" part has stood still for a couple of versions.

Also feel it getting harder and harder adding any new features that truely add something useful/fun to the game.

Don't need pointles/boring/time wasting featurs like press conferance and media interaction.

They only take away time from the real fun playing games / building tactics & playing styles and watching players devellop and grow in to superstars.

For me it would have to be improving the long-term AI squad sense and making sure AI teams buy for the future, don't release their best prospective talents on free transfers and buy in a sensible manner that will improve the strength and depth of their squads. Currently long-term games are far too easy because of this problem.

They need to improve what is already there, especially the match engine, before adding more features

I'd prefer that FM10 had 10 in-depth features that feel finished, rather than 50 features that are half-arsed and feel tacked on just for somethin to write on the back of the box

match engine improvement hands down.

Where is the performance option? If the game performs extremely poorly on a high end computer with vast majority of processing disabled then there is something wrong with the code. You shouldn't have to double click everything on a quad core before the game actually notices you are trying to do something na dyou should have to wait for ages before the tactics screen pops up.

Oh yeah..and also remove DRM so i can upgrade to FM09. (and that spyware/adware thats also there)

Where is the performance option? If the game performs extremely poorly on a high end computer with vast majority of processing disabled then there is something wrong with the code. You shouldn't have to double click everything on a quad core before the game actually notices you are trying to do something na dyou should have to wait for ages before the tactics screen pops up.

I'd put that under technical compatability, because it's not like that on all machines.

I for one have no problems with interface speed.

It really depends on the user IMO and not on the machine (every other game works like a charm). I know some people with pathetic machines have said they feel the game is fast enough. I on the other hand am not very patient Perhaps some people are just making decisions slower than others and use the time to think about their next move, but if you know what your next moves are going to be then waiting 10 seconds for the damn screen to appear is really annoying. For example in fm09 demo i didnt do any substitutions because the interface was just far too slow for my patience. It worked in fm08 why cant it work in fm09. Its not like they changed anything about tactics.

As some one already posted. For me, ME improvements are given with FML in the picture. So it really boiled down to Tactics or Expanded features. And i choose expanded features, largely because i find tactics implementation acceptable but some of the feature implementation annoying and intriguing.

I am hoping SI takes a 'less is more' approach with some the features. e.g.

- There should be few press conferences in a season (maybe only 3-4) and have more content and RPG style dialogue maybe

- Channel player manager into relationship with only 2/3 other managers and develop it over many seasons

- Focus on 3/4 key players with regard to (XXX returns to Ewen Field) and perhaps have back and forth dialog during season rather just on game time

really getting sick of the press conferences, but all the sliders in tactics annoy me more.