I originally posted this on the feedback thread, @FrazTsuggested that I posted this here.
We need to talk about how dynamics and mentoring affect personalities. Particularly how it influences players and changes their personalities. There's been quite a few changes to mentoring over the last few FM's to move away from the old system. I feel the current system is an improvement over the old system where you could hog players with good personalities to tutor your youngsters and the system was very gamey, but I feel the current system has too many flaws. A number of things annoy me.
- If I ask my 13 determination balanced team leader to welcome a new 15 determination perfectionist player, the 15 determination perfectionist player will at some point receive a drop in their determination and probably other hidden personality attributes as well. This has forced me to instead manually ask my player with the best personality to welcome every single player. I feel this is a hidden mechanic that isn't very realistic. I can't imagine a player becoming less professional because Balotelli introduces them to the squad. If this stays the way it is, I feel players should be warned about the consequences of 'welcoming' a player.
- Team leaders influence the personalities of other players quite heavily. I think this is unrealistic. For example, Riechedly Bazoer is one of the most influential players at Vitesse. I know his personality is poor because he has poor temperament and professionalism and high controversy, often gets sent off, etc. He's also their best player and performs quite well. However, I have not seen a pattern in this team where every player copies his behavior. I understand team leaders define the standard in a squad, but this does not mean their personaltiy influences every player. The current system means that a team leader with a poor personality practically ruins every other player. I think one of the cool things in football is that in spite of a poor personality, you can actually make a player with a poor personality perform well if you know how to deal with them. A suggestion how this could be changed: I can imagine the way team leaders perform in training or matches reflects how other players perform. For example, the team leader gets a 6.5 rating and a youngster also gets a 6.5 rating. When you criticize a youngster for his poor training rating, their response could be 'why are you criticizing me when I perform at the same level as our team leader?'. That way a team leader actually influences your squad performance rather than their personality, which seems more accurate and realistic. If you manage to motivate the team leader, you manage to move the rest of the squad as well. The team leader sets the standard this way. Instead of influencing personality attributes on the background, it becomes more visible and forces managers to make choices on how to deal with a team leader with a poor personality.
Another topic I'd like to bring up is the way teaching and (un)learning PPM's currently work.
- Players randomly copy PPM's of influential players. This makes no sense -- I've seen target men end up with PPM's like 'knocks ball past opponent'. Just because Cristiano Ronaldo likes to do stepovers and smash free kicks from a long distance doesn't mean every Man United player under 21 has started doing so as well. That being said, it does make sense to be able to ask experienced players to teach younger players their specific PPM's. With that in mind, I'd like tutoring to be reintroduced for specific PPM teaching. It worked well and allowed players to actually copy more experienced players. it seems realistic as well. I can imagine asking Ronaldo to teach a certain talent with good dribbling and technique to do those stepovers or Ronaldo chops, but I can't imagine them randomly copying it.
- Mentoring groups should only affect a player's personality, not anything else. I've seen team leaders learn new PPM's as well (posted it as a bug). I really feel like these two things should have two separate, different mechanics. Mentoring and teaching PPM's are just different things. Mentoring should solely influence a player's personality.
- Unlearning PPM's has been incredibly difficult the last few FM's. I've had an inside forward with the PPM 'likes ball played into feet' while I wanted him to play as an AF. I should be able to teach this player how to perform as an AF. What happened was that my coaches failed to unlearn this PPM twice. I don't know if there's some under the hood mechanic that I'm missing, but I feel players should be able to change the way they play. When they are under a certain age this should be even easier as younger players are easier to be changed and influenced. Think about the way Zlatan changed when he moved from Ajax to Italy: he changed from a dribbler to a lethal goalscorer. As for older players, I can imagine they change the way they play as well because the older players get, the more their way of playing changes. For example, older players who aren't as pacey as they used to be tend to reduce the dribbling they do. A more realistic mechanic would be if a player loses 3-4 points in specific attributes, a training suggestion should come up and ask you 'Hey boss, this player isn't as fast as he used to be. We can ask him to stop running with the ball as often. Oh and we should also train him to centre mid because he's still good enough to play'.
I originally posted this on the feedback thread, @FrazTsuggested that I posted this here. We need to talk about how dynamics and mentoring affect personalities. Particularly how it influences players and changes their personalities. There's been quite a few changes to mentoring over the last few FM's to move away from the old system. I feel the current system is an improvement over the old system where you could hog players with good personalities to tutor your youngsters and the system was very gamey, but I feel the current system has too many flaws. A number of things annoy me. - If I ask my 13 determination balanced team leader to welcome a new 15 determination perfectionist player, the 15 determination perfectionist player will at some point receive a drop in their determination and probably other hidden personality attributes as well. This has forced me to instead manually ask my player with the best personality to welcome every single player. I feel this is a hidden mechanic that isn't very realistic. I can't imagine a player becoming less professional because Balotelli introduces them to the squad. If this stays the way it is, I feel players should be warned about the consequences of 'welcoming' a player. - Team leaders influence the personalities of other players quite heavily. I think this is unrealistic. For example, Riechedly Bazoer is one of the most influential players at Vitesse. I know his personality is poor because he has poor temperament and professionalism and high controversy, often gets sent off, etc. He's also their best player and performs quite well. However, I have not seen a pattern in this team where every player copies his behavior. I understand team leaders define the standard in a squad, but this does not mean their personaltiy influences every player. The current system means that a team leader with a poor personality practically ruins every other player. I think one of the cool things in football is that in spite of a poor personality, you can actually make a player with a poor personality perform well if you know how to deal with them. A suggestion how this could be changed: I can imagine the way team leaders perform in training or matches reflects how other players perform. For example, the team leader gets a 6.5 rating and a youngster also gets a 6.5 rating. When you criticize a youngster for his poor training rating, their response could be 'why are you criticizing me when I perform at the same level as our team leader?'. That way a team leader actually influences your squad performance rather than their personality, which seems more accurate and realistic. If you manage to motivate the team leader, you manage to move the rest of the squad as well. The team leader sets the standard this way. Instead of influencing personality attributes on the background, it becomes more visible and forces managers to make choices on how to deal with a team leader with a poor personality. Another topic I'd like to bring up is the way teaching and (un)learning PPM's currently work. - Players randomly copy PPM's of influential players. This makes no sense -- I've seen target men end up with PPM's like 'knocks ball past opponent'. Just because Cristiano Ronaldo likes to do stepovers and smash free kicks from a long distance doesn't mean every Man United player under 21 has started doing so as well. That being said, it does make sense to be able to ask experienced players to teach younger players their specific PPM's. With that in mind, I'd like tutoring to be reintroduced for specific PPM teaching. It worked well and allowed players to actually copy more experienced players. it seems realistic as well. I can imagine asking Ronaldo to teach a certain talent with good dribbling and technique to do those stepovers or Ronaldo chops, but I can't imagine them randomly copying it. - Mentoring groups should only affect a player's personality, not anything else. I've seen team leaders learn new PPM's as well (posted it as a bug). I really feel like these two things should have two separate, different mechanics. Mentoring and teaching PPM's are just different things. Mentoring should solely influence a player's personality. - Unlearning PPM's has been incredibly difficult the last few FM's. I've had an inside forward with the PPM 'likes ball played into feet' while I wanted him to play as an AF. I should be able to teach this player how to perform as an AF. What happened was that my coaches failed to unlearn this PPM twice. I don't know if there's some under the hood mechanic that I'm missing, but I feel players should be able to change the way they play. When they are under a certain age this should be even easier as younger players are easier to be changed and influenced. Think about the way Zlatan changed when he moved from Ajax to Italy: he changed from a dribbler to a lethal goalscorer. As for older players, I can imagine they change the way they play as well because the older players get, the more their way of playing changes. For example, older players who aren't as pacey as they used to be tend to reduce the dribbling they do. A more realistic mechanic would be if a player loses 3-4 points in specific attributes, a training suggestion should come up and ask you 'Hey boss, this player isn't as fast as he used to be. We can ask him to stop running with the ball as often. Oh and we should also train him to centre mid because he's still good enough to play'.