Question about online associations.

[slashrepo]

I joined an online association my madden league started up. It says if you leave you can't rejoin. Is this True??

I was hoping to pick a different team.

Anyway to switch teams?

[slashrepo]

Anyone know?

[nancek00]

ok, my friend Mike and I have put in a tiring amount of time to get an online association going that works for us. I am writing just to share our findings. While there are some very ANNOYING bugs/flaws with Online Association (OA) I think the game is just too good not to give this one final run.

1) There is no changing teams once you start. If you have a PS3, you can start a new PSN ID to switch teams, you could do the same on XBOX but it would run the cost of a XBOX Live account. So team selection is very important. If it's a small group and there is any waffling this will kill the OA quick.

2) Quarter Length. We find 10 minutes to be perfect. Our final scores are still a little low (70's and 80's) but player stats are realistic for the most part. But keep in mind this is playing sim style basketball. We are not going on fast breaks every time and pounding the reach-in button. Games are long, and a sport like basketball most games the first 30 minutes don't mean too much because it will be a close game and whoever can get hot in the fourth will win. But that is basketball. You use the first 30 minutes to find out what works.

3) Difficulty. We checked our egos at the door and decided on Pro. Our first 30+ games we are still not very good. The CPU will own you if don't play solid defense, any mistake I make is exploited. I love this. There have been many frustrating texts about how no way this is actually pro because it's too hard. I have figure it out though (the right stick direction is so important) and I expect to win 65 games with the Bulls.

4) Playing vs the CPU. You have to be connected to the internet the whole time. If your internet gives out or you quit or turn off your xbox your game will get simmed from the beginning. My internet went out when I was losing 65-74 to Denver starting the fourth and the game simmed from the start, so all the player stats were lost and replaced with the simmed game. This is annoying. But is important to know so if you "pause" your game for something and you lose internet, that stinks. Why MLB the Show and 2K can't implement a system like NCAA is beyond me. NCAA you have to be connected when you start a game and after the game, but during the game who needs internet. If you quit the next time you try to start it the system will now you already started once and can act accordingly. (Sorry just had to throw that in there).

5) The Schedule:
SLOW/MEDIUM/FAST are your options and here they are explained:

The way the scheduling works is you will have a "preseason" period where people can sign up. This is MANDATORY and no way around it. So every restart there is at least a 12-hour period where you can't play.

The schedule works the same way on all three speeds, you just have to do a little math to figure out the rest.

1) Each speed has it's own advance time/increment. Fast is 6 hours, medium/normal is 8 hours, and slow is 12 hours.
2) At the end of each advancement, the season will advance one DAY.
3) The preseason time is your Advance Time*2 (24 hours for slow, 16 hours for normal, 12 for fast).
4) The FIRST sim period is also Advance Time*2 (This was probably done to give you a chance to get ahead).
5) After that your schedule will go 1 day per advance time. THERE IS NO COMMISSIONER CONTROL. This is a major flaw, but it is what is. You are stuck to this schedule, can't change it, can't throw out simmed games, it is what it is.
6) You get exactly 2-weeks from the current day of "Available Games". So each Advance period a new day will open, if you have a game that day you can now play it. It's usually 6-9 games open.
7) So another way to look at it.. Slow advances two "in-game" days in a real life day. Normal does 3 "in-game" days a day, and fast is 4 "in-game" days a day. So if your team plays 4 games in five days, normal or fast speed requires multiple games a day on average.


So, with all that said, the only speed for us, playing 10-minute quarters, is slow. We tried normal and it's just too fast. With slow we will both be waiting for games to open, but a lot like MLB The Show last year, that just adds to the value of the games. Look forward to an advance to play add anticipation and excitement for me.


Our League:
Mike is the Celtics, I am the Bulls.
SLOW speed. Pro Difficulty, 10 minute quarters and we turned injuries on. We left CPU trading and other options default. We are looking forward to a GREAT season and when we meet in the playoffs it should be a lot of fun!



ps. We have played each other once in a trial league and it was very smooth. Of course human vs human 10-minute quarters result in higher scores, but nothing wrong with that.

[foofighter2455]

In my OA the slow speed advances every 6 hours.

[aksumite]

Quote: Originally Posted by foofighter2455

In my OA the slow speed advances every 6 hours.

I believe that is incorrect too.

In the Online Assoc I am in we have it set to FAST PACE which advance 1 calendar day every 3 real life hours (8 Calendar days = 24 real life hours)

I'm not yet sure if the other settings come into play. For example we have it on:
29game reg season
Fantasy Draft ON
playoff fromat is best of 5 each round
ALL STAR
7min qrtrs

Because I have seen such wide discrepancies with seemingly knowledgeable people reporting the PACE clock, I'm starting to believe some of these other settings may increase/decrease the "advance clock".

Perhaps FAST, NORMAL, SLOW is not the only determining factor. Maybe if you have it on 12 minute quarters that slows it back down. Or, if you have 14 games chosen per reg season vs 58 or the full 82.

Maybe those things impact the "clock" or PACE as well.

[aksumite]

Quote: Originally Posted by slashrepo

Anyone know?

No.
You can NOT re-enter the Assoc once you leave for any reason with the same account which is ridiculous.

[nancek00]

Good point. maybe # of games does affect the hourly pace. I heard they just take games out of the schedule but the dates are still 11/1-4/19 even in less than 82 games.

I guess I should have qualified my findings with the setting of 82 game season.