Bug Fix Alert!

A couple weeks ago, an update went out involving prospect negotiations. This update contained a rather significant mistake, in that offers could include annual salaries greater than the minimum. This has been corrected this morning.

The desired change was that a prospect would not accept a 4th or 5th year in a contract offer unless specifically requesting it. This is done so that prospects don't potentially hurt themselves by sacrificing their 1st two years of arbitration.

We apologize for this mistake. While the rule was in place for all users, it may have impacted some more than others. We're sorry this occurred. HBD is a complicated game and, sometimes, it even confuses us.

Thank you for your understanding.

Small update today:

• The order in which we create prospects for the amateur draft has been randomized to prevent users from picking up any patterns.
• Adjusted the logic for stolen base attempts. This should result in less qualified base stealers from attempting steals.

We have also scheduled the next developer chat. This chat will focus on upcoming changes to the Amateur Draft. This had been touched on before, but the changes will include more fuzziness in the high school and college scouting departments, rule changes to abide by the recent CBA agreement, and some expanded functionality for ranking players. You can ask questions or view the 2/11/2009 Developer Chat here.

Thanks

Hey guys,

We have a fairly significant update today made up of some smaller items. It's not going to shatter walls, but it is definitely notable and a lot of it came directly from you guys.

Here are the goods:

• Franchise budget details now display correctly on the franchise profile
• Height and width now correct on the viewing options portion of the player records page
• Player profile data can now be viewed as prev. 5 seasons and prev. 10 seasons
• Sorting now available on the player profile stats screen
• Team Abbreviation has been added to the world content league leaders
• Salary on the free agent targets page now coincides with the salary on the free agent report page
• “Minors” is now a selection option on the trade proposals page
• Rookies only option on the league leaders page
• User name has been added to the drop down list on the trade proposals screen
• Corrected a bug regarding GB/FB rating for pitchers as they age

The next update will focus entirely on the Amateur Draft. Our main focus for the upcoming update is to get our draft to coincide with the MLB CBA. We will also be implementing an all new ranking system so you can rank your draft board much easier. I'll save the rest of the details for later, but trust me, it is a sizable update and is going to be a huge improvement to the game.

Talk to you guys soon!

Hello HBD faithful,

In one week from today we will be putting out a significant update to the game that primarily focuses on the Amateur Draft. There are several key areas in which we focused on improving and they are all listed in detail below. Please review them as there are some changes that will affect your world and maybe even your franchise when we issue the release.

The update will require HBD to be shut down from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM ET on Tuesday, May 12th.

Amateur Draft Formula Builder:

We have included a new and improved way to rank your draft picks! Using the formula builder you can now weigh each individual rating on a scale of 1 to 10. You can also weigh each player by school. In other words, if you want to focus on mainly HS (or college) players we now give you the ability to do that. The manual ranking process is still available and we hope that in tandem with the formula builder you will now only have to manually rank maybe 10-15 guys. The formula builder will be an option on the draft settings page that you will have to manually choose to use. We have the old draft settings in place in case any of you want to use the old system instead.

The formula calculation is very simple:

* Pitcher: ((each general rating * specified weight) + (each pitcher rating * specified rate)) * appropriate high school/college factor.

* Position Player: ((each general rating * specified weight) + (each position player rating * specified rate)) * appropriate high school/college factor.

There is also a small linear adjustment factor for pitchers with a combined stamina + durability of less than 70. This is done so pitchers who won't be able to throw many innings aren't inflated on the draft board. The pitcher with the absolute worst stamina/durability combination would incur a 10% reduction in his formula result.

Type D Compensation Picks:

Any franchise that does not sign their first or second round pick will now get a pick at the same position plus one slot in the next season’s draft. All unsigned third round picks will now be placed in a supplemental round at the end of the third round. In order to receive the compensation picks the following season you MUST offer the draft pick his demands and he MUST refuse to sign. You will not receive Type D compensation picks if you don't have the money to sign the player.

Multiple Type A Compensation Picks:

This fixes the scenario where one franchise signs two Type A free agents from two different franchises and the weaker franchise did not get the higher pick. It was previously based on timing of the signing it is now based on franchise rank.

Type A/B Compensation Extended:

Compensation picks will now be awarded through the first Amateur Draft preparation day.

Compensation Pick Reordering:

Compensation picks will now be put into the correct order on the first Amateur Draft preparation day. Previously, this would happen as soon as the offseason was complete.

Draft Settings:

Your draft settings will now carry over from season to season instead of being set back to the default values every season.

Unsigned Draftees:

Unsigned college seniors will now come back as undrafted free-agents at a more frequent rate.

Overall Rating:

The formula for overall rating has been improved. Stamina for pitchers is no longer weighted so heavily. Other ratings have also seen some adjustments for a more accurate overall rating. All previous and current overall rating values will be updated for the sake of consistency.


So, with all that being said here are the changes that will affect your world and maybe even your franchise when we release the update next Tuesday:

• All of the 1st Round Type D picks will be put in their correct position (pick last season + 1). The Type D picks in the supplemental round will no longer exist for any world that hasn't had their draft yet.
• Type A compensation will be corrected as explained above (item #3). Any team that signed multiple compensation picks from multiple teams will have the compensation picks ordered correctly.

----ENGINE CHANGES-----

The update will also see a few minor engine improvements:

• Reduced the frequency of pickoffs in very late situations with trailing team hitting.
• Corrected a bug where putouts/***ists were not being handled properly for strike 'em out/ throw 'em out double plays.
• Corrected a logic flaw where infielder wouldn't throw home to nail leading runner in some situations
• Improved logic so outfielders will now receive ***ists when throwing to relay man who throws to base to nab a runner.
• Improved logic where specialist wasn't being pinch-hit for despite being removed at start of inning half.
• Improved pinch-running logic so manager scans bench for player able to play the position before removing a player for a PR. (i.e., no PR for catcher when no other catchers available on bench).
• Improved player sub logic when hierarchies empty, nobody eligible based on spectrum so the player closest to the position along the defensive spectrum is used (i.e. use a 3B to play SS rather than a C).

Hey guys,

We just wanted to let you know that the update is live! Please refer to the previous post in this thread for all of the details regarding the changes.

Keep in mind that retroactivity does not apply to any Type A/B free agent that was signed after the FA negotiation period of the schedule before the update was released. However, moving forward if your world has yet to hit the Amateur Draft Preparation period, compensation picks will begin to be awarded starting today.

In addition to the changes mentioned above we have also added a new page. The new page is a trade search page that will allow you to quickly determine franchise depth at a position so that you can identify who needs what much more easily.

Lastly, we know that the compensation order is wrong right now, we are working to correct that right now and it will be fixed shortly.

Enjoy!!

Quick follow up here guys,

HBD is going to be shutdown for the next hour or so while we try to work out some of the kinks that have already been brought to our attention.

We will run the PM cycle as soon as everything is back in order.

Thanks and sorry for the delay.

The issues with the amateur draft order and the overall rating have been resolved. We are running the PM cycle right now. Sorry for the delay.

Corrected a significant player recovery bug. If a player was on a disabled list, eligible to be activated but still injured he was not seeing the proper "Injury Recovery" dev cycle (formerly known as "Time of Return").

This is now in place starting with today's PM Part 2 cycle.

Today, we have introduced a bonus $5 credit (September Newsletter) to private world commissioners. This is an additional thank you for taking the time to manage a strong world, recruit other owners during rollover, and help build the HBD brand.

This new $5 credit is issued at the same time other end of season credits are issued. This is for all seasons moving forward.

For instance, if you are the commissioner of private world B and you are about to complete season 9, you will receive the $5 credit at the end of the season. Then again at the end of season 10, etc.

There are currently 15 private worlds that have already had their standard end of season credits distributed but have not rolled over (meaning they missed the point where this credit is distributed). As a result, we have issued those 15 commissioners their credits today.

Thanks as always for playing HBD. Our private worlds continue to do great.