Player star rating drastically falling during season.

[Whalix]

Just to preface this; I understand the star rating system. I've been playing since FM11 so I get that it is a rating given by whichever specific scout/staff member you have selected, it is a rating given in relation to your squads current players (therefore it changes as your squad develops), it's purely their opinion and isn't an objective rating system that can be blindly trusted.

But I'm wondering if anyone else has had experience of these star ratings hugely changing during seasons in this FM. After promotion with Bray Wanderers (in the Rep. of Ireland) from the second tier in my first season, I followed this by what is in truth an over-achievement of finishing 3rd and qualifying for the Euro II Cup qualifiers. I knew I'd need to strengthen to qualify again, which the Europe money allowed me to do. However I focused this on the attacking players as I didn't need to do much work on the defensive line - my starting defense lineup were all 3.5-4.5 stars CA according to my staff, are in their mid to late twenties, and they had good relationships after the two previous successful seasons. The third season isn't going as planned though, my new attacking signings were under performing (constant 6.1-6.4 match ratings) and we were shipping lots of similar goals every week. European qualification is off the cards and I'll need a bit of a rebuild at the end of the year. As a result, with a few games to go I've noticed my entire defensive line are between 2-2.5 stars CA, which is quite a significant drop. It's by far the weakest area of my squad, and it makes sense that their ratings would drop as we're defensively weak this year - but I've never seen it drop so much before.

Could this be because I'm managing at such a low level (and therefore scouts/staff attributes are low) that they're just quite bad at rating players? Are there any other reasons?

[Neil Brock]

Sometimes your ratings will be in comparison to different things. So initially the star levels were being compared against say the standards of the LOI - then by the end of the season it's being compared to the European competition level (as you qualified), hence why there's a been a significant drop off. 

Much more likely to be the case if you've noticed a drop-off across the team rather than an individual player. Will refresh for the next season back to the LOI levels if this is the case.

[Whalix]

31 minutes ago, Neil Brock said:

So initially the star levels were being compared against say the standards of the LOI - then by the end of the season it's being compared to the European competition level (as you qualified), hence why there's a been a significant drop off. 

Ah yes, I hadn't thought of this. It makes sense as I have just finished my European run - so every second game for three weeks has been against professional teams from Europe. Will these ratings only reset at the end of the season, or will they begin to change now as I've only domestic competitions left to play?

[Neil Brock]

18 minutes ago, Whalix said:

Ah yes, I hadn't thought of this. It makes sense as I have just finished my European run - so every second game for three weeks has been against professional teams from Europe. Will these ratings only reset at the end of the season, or will they begin to change now as I've only domestic competitions left to play?

I believe they should change within a few weeks - person who codes this area isn't around to ask for a definitive answer today so I may be wrong. Has been in my experience as far as I can recall.