FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

[Gnemi]

Much like the conversations surrounding Youth Academy and Player Growth, I'm intending this thread to be used as a repository for suggestions, observations, and strategies related to this new feature in FIFA 14.

In years past, I confess to having heavily utilized SOFIFA and other resources to peel back the layers of mystery involving the scouting and recruitment of players. Hopefully, the Global Transfer Network will be a robust enough system to keep Career Mode managers like myself both informed and intrigued as I look to populate my roster with savvy veterans and lottery ticket youngsters.

I'll have my Season Ticket early release installed within the next half hour and hope to start the conversation by tomorrow.

[orion523]

Cheater! LOL seriously I'm pretty intrigued by the GTN and feel its a great addition. What I like best is that it's really no longer possible to take a small lower division club and quickly move them up the ranks, they just don't have the scouting firepower to do it and since you cannot make a transfer for a player that your scouts don't recommend you'll be lucky to bring in one good player a season, just as it should be.

[Gnemi]

So I took a quick peek under the hood yesterday and wow, it's very clear that EA are not happy with websites like SOFIFA. It's also clear that they'd like to make the Career Mode a richer, deeper experience for FIFA nerds. For that alone, I'm appreciative.

As you've pointed out, Orion, it's going to take a lot of patience and preparation to grab a 2nd tier team and bring them up from the scrap heap into the top flight.

Right now, I'm pretty much going to wait for the Catalog to open up so I can plunk down the coins on a Financial Takeover. Otherwise, it could take an entire career to get from the Championship to the EPL!

First, I have to put all my custom formations and tactics back in the game.

[mctrees02]

If you have a championship side that makes it up to EPL, do they see a substantial bump in transfer funds availability now? In prior year this wasn't the case and I would have to stockpile money by buying/selling players so that I had 40-50mm once I got my league 2 side to the top flight.

Also, are you saying that if your scouts do not first recommend a player that you cannot buy him? Do you no longer have the ability to search the player database directly and make an offer?

[NaturalSelected]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gnemi

So I took a quick peek under the hood yesterday and wow, it's very clear that EA are not happy with websites like SOFIFA. It's also clear that they'd like to make the Career Mode a richer, deeper experience for FIFA nerds. For that alone, I'm appreciative. As you've pointed out, Orion, it's going to take a lot of patience and preparation to grab a 2nd tier team and bring them up from the scrap heap into the top flight. Right now, I'm pretty much going to wait for the Catalog to open up so I can plunk down the coins on a Financial Takeover. Otherwise, it could take an entire career to get from the Championship to the EPL! First, I have to put all my custom formations and tactics back in the game.

Can you elaborate on why you think they were unhappy with SoFIFA and other sites? My understanding is you could still look up those players overall ratings now after each update. I won't be doing that, but isn't it still possible?

[Gnemi]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaturalSelected

Can you elaborate on why you think they were unhappy with SoFIFA and other sites? My understanding is you could still look up those players overall ratings now after each update. I won't be doing that, but isn't it still possible?

You're right, I should probably re-phrase. I've always imagined a company like EA being uneasy with the traffic generated by SOFIFA and while I'm sure that had some part in the conversation at EA Canada about the development of the Global Transfer Network, it may not have been critical.

Until I know more about how the GTN works in practice, I'll reserve judgment. I hope it creates a deeper experience by giving me a realistic role-playing scenario for recruiting talent on the transfer market. In years past, regrettably, I'd just use the built-in search or SOFIFA to scour the globe for precisely what I wanted, then plunk down the cash. It made putting together a squad of unbeatables rather trivial.

If I'm forced to accept the pool of talent made accessible through successful scouting, that's awesome. After all, there's a reason why lower clubs don't have heaps of talent and it's not just cash. It's the quality of their academy and their scouts. E.g. - Wenger became the envy of Europe by recruiting the gems of Africa.

Anyway, I might not have time this week to explore the GTN so I hope other folks in our community use this thread to share their thoughts.

My very initial observations:

I started a career with AFC Bournemouth. I was given three of a possible six scouts. The three I was given all have horrible judgment so I'm not counting on turning up anything more than a pile of excrement with their services. However, I only have €5 million and from that, I also have to hire scouts for my youth academy! It's going to be, to put it mildly, slow-going to improve this squad.

So with six scouts in the GTN, it raises the obvious question of...quantity over quality? Why six? How do the number of scouts influence your success? Can you get away with having three crap scouts if you hire three more good ones?

[Gnemi]

Quote: Originally Posted by mctrees02

If you have a championship side that makes it up to EPL, do they see a substantial bump in transfer funds availability now? In prior year this wasn't the case and I would have to stockpile money by buying/selling players so that I had 40-50mm once I got my league 2 side to the top flight. Also, are you saying that if your scouts do not first recommend a player that you cannot buy him? Do you no longer have the ability to search the player database directly and make an offer?

Great questions.

1. In years past, when my 2nd tier team was promoted, I did see an increase in funds. When you approach European competition, you also see an increase. In my 5th year with Cardiff City, I saw €20 million in funds to make me viable for the UCL.
   
2. This is correct. I used the old search feature and it's been massively pared down. All you see are position, age, nationality, and a couple other simple criteria for filtering results. You can no longer search by value or wages. All of that is left up to your scouts. Ratings are also of course gone. So sure you can do a search for Aaron Ramsey but your only options once you find him are to have your scouts approach him and make a recommendation. My guess is that unless your club have a good reputation AND cash, you won't be getting Ronaldo to join your crap club.

[hedache]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gnemi

Great questions. In years past, when my 2nd tier team was promoted, I did see an increase in funds. When you approach European competition, you also see an increase. In my 5th year with Cardiff City, I saw €20 million in funds to make me viable for the UCL. This is correct. I used the old search feature and it's been massively pared down. All you see are position, age, nationality, and a couple other simple criteria for filtering results. You can no longer search by value or wages. All of that is left up to your scouts. Ratings are also of course gone. So sure you can do a search for Aaron Ramsey but your only options once you find him are to have your scouts approach him and make a recommendation. My guess is that unless your club have a good reputation AND cash, you won't be getting Ronaldo to join your crap club.

I like this. I started a CM last night with Everton, mostly because I'm not good enough nor have the time to take a lower team to success. I figured Everton would be a good pick that has some space for improvement over what Moyes left behind, especially after losing Fellaini.
I started this more to test out some slider values so I didn't spend time with GTN yet, but what I've seen in the interface combined with what I'm hearing here makes CM a lot more fun this year. A little more realism added, a new challenge.