Bored with Regens

[TacticalGenius]

When I started playing FM, I hated regens and would lose interest as the real players retired. Now, I am the complete opposite, and start as low as possible to avoid all the real wonderkids and hype players. I'm now in 2036 and the only real players left are the ones that became staff, which is the only time I enjoy collecting some of the 'big names'.

[skybluedude]

There is nothing better than watching a young regen you have trained come through the ranks and starts making a name for himself at International Level.

[Al_Pacino]

I'm into 2018 in my current save on FM12, and I have loads of regens in my Liverpool squad (including the best Central Defender you'll ever see).

I feel totally opposite to the OP here in that I'm trying my best to get rid of all the real players that remain from the original squad, and I love that the game is now heavily populated with these players that are completely made up.

[fmFutbolManager]

Would be nice, but you sure do miss those faces if you turn them off.

It's that bad I don't sign anyone without a face. Not even staff. I like to see a face when I'm talking to them in-game. It's the little things, eh?

[joelouis]

Once Messi retires there seems to be no clear cut "best player in the world" any more. There's always a best player in the world. There should always be a total monster head and shoulders above everyone else.

[LiamOT]

I feel exactly the other way around, to me the game only starts being real fun when you have a team filled up with regens.

This is how i feel.

[x42bn6]

It's the opposite for me. You kind of know who to sign from the start, but simulate 30 years in the future and you don't. There's an argument you should still know who to sign, of course.

However, every game simulated 30 years into the future is different, while every starting game is largely the same (randomness only because of random attributes and PA). This is more fun. I holiday all my starting games around 20 years into the future because of this.

[TOUGHGUY]

I like it when regens take over. But I don't like that when they do, the game world suddenly dies. You as a player get detached from 'what's going on' in football. With real players you know that in real life that Messi is king, that Neymar is the next best thing, that PSG will spend and will want to achieve things. And that makes them easy to follow in the game.

But with regens, you lose that. The options to set up screen flow or subscribe to competitions just do not provide enough of a meaningful, in-depth 'atmosphere', or at the very least useful news items and enough information to keep up the immersion and make you feel like you are still a part of it all - not beyond your own team, possibly your league and maybe one or two players elsewhere. You just can't 'follow football' in the same way once the time of creepy 3d faces comes.

[RBKalle]

There are two immense issues with newgens:

1) Attributes distribution is still deeply flawed and not varied enough

2) AI sucks huge balls at spotting and developing potentially good players

So already around 2018 you'll find plenty of sub-pare newgens littering the squads of many clubs... Players who could have become decent or even good have stalled due to AI's inability to address one of more of the players' weaknesses.

The only newgens who turn out great are the "can't miss" prospects who enter the game with a CA so high it's impossible even for stupid AI to ignore.

So either the 185PA kid has a Messi-esque template from age 16 or he's likely to become a Balotelli or a Cassano...

Newgens are the way to go, but considering the sloooow improvement rate the system has seen over the years, Regens [ie. older player respawning with different name/nationality] could have presented a better challenge for long-term games

[TacticalGenius]

With real players you know that in real life that Messi is king, that Neymar is the next best thing, that PSG will spend and will want to achieve things. And that makes them easy to follow in the game.

It is exactly this that makes it boring. That part is the same on every save. It's the regen era that makes each save unique.

[fmFutbolManager]

I like it when regens take over. But I don't like that when they do, the game world suddenly dies. You as a player get detached from 'what's going on' in football. With real players you know that in real life that Messi is king, that Neymar is the next best thing, that PSG will spend and will want to achieve things. And that makes them easy to follow in the game.

But with regens, you lose that. The options to set up screen flow or subscribe to competitions just do not provide enough of a meaningful, in-depth 'atmosphere', or at the very least useful news items and enough information to keep up the immersion and make you feel like you are still a part of it all - not beyond your own team, possibly your league and maybe one or two players elsewhere. You just can't 'follow football' in the same way once the time of creepy 3d faces comes.

How would you recommend they make this aspect better? I know what you're saying, but I don't know how you can replicate the real life scenario's in-game. Primarily because FM years are worth a couple of real life days. So you're talking in a lot of changes over a very short space of time. I bet if you subscribe to almost every news item, and played a day at a time so one FM day = 1 real day, you would know a lot more about your FM world.

The fact is we play this game at such a rate that newgens are created and retired in a matter of months, for some. Making it harder to immerse yourself into that situation.

[Robert the Spud]

Newgens are too overpowered, that's the only thing I don't like. Unstoppabley fantastic all round stats at the age of 18.

[Soninho]

Love regens because it feels like a greater accomplishment to find good regens than real life players and turn them into superstars. You already know the existing players in your head, (many of them atleast). The real, and fun scouting begins when regens are starting to turn up =)

[pearcey_90]

I much prefer the regens. As means scouting becomes more important as well as using youth players and developing them. As when you know which players are the main kids from the start with huge potential etc makes for the first decade being boring. I'm now in 2028 and rebuilding my side for the 3rd cycle and its such a challenge as i have a heavy burden of a huge debt from a new stadium so trying to develop kids on low wages and keep them is difficult whilst trying to maintain success. Feel like Wenger.

[brawler]

Im not a fan of regens. I can only last 6 seasons maximum till i get bored, too many regens in the game i feel and it ruins it for me. I usually start a game with a player database size of 70k which i feel is more than enough. If regens could be implemented 3-4 years into the game then it would be more suited for myself. I find after the 1st season my scouts shortlist is saturated with regens i tend to lose interest and the realism starts to fade a bit.

[jpadua]

I enjoy the mix between regens and real players. The game becomes so boring at 2019-2020 season without most of the real players. I'm with you!

[Ackter]

Newgens are too overpowered, that's the only thing I don't like. Unstoppabley fantastic all round stats at the age of 18.

Yup, it's still too easy to force their improvement just by playing them - this is a match problem to me though, rather than a development one as there's no real punishment for having a team full of 18 year olds (at one point the average age of my first X1 was 18, with the youngest being 15). Playing a young team should fail in most circumstances. They shouldn't be able to handle it.

[Soninho]

Yup, it's still too easy to force their improvement just by playing them - this is a match problem to me though, rather than a development one as there's no real punishment for having a team full of 18 year olds (at one point the average age of my first X1 was 18, with the youngest being 15). Playing a young team should fail in most circumstances. They shouldn't be able to handle it.

I play a save right now where my first eleven is average 21-22 I believe. Second season and with only one newgen playing, the rest is real life players. Just lost 3-2 against Milan in EL quarters after having a 2-0 lead at halftime.. They couldn't handle it! I play a swedish first division team, so with a strong english/spanish team with even better newgens it doesn't seem unlikely to have a average age around 18-19 when you have he finances to bring them in..

With that said. They are a little overpowered in my opinion when you get to far into your save.. Stats shouldn't be as high as they are when they come into the game...! But a average age around 20's seem fair as I can do it with real life players..

[Bradley21]

I feel exactly the other way around, to me the game only starts being real fun when you have a team filled up with regens.

This.

I only ever sign real players at the start that i know i can sell for a huge profit a couple seasons down the line, so i can fuel my lust for regens.