Been saying this for so many damn seasons. When the VHLE was implemented, I expected that it would be the home for the people new to GM'ing. The people who make it to the E already know how to earn, as they had to have made it to 200 TPE. There's isn't as much pressure on a VHLE GM like there is on a VHLM GM to make sure their players know how to earn, all the different opportunities, and to handle the millions of questions first-gens have. When we start hiring 1-2 season old users to the VHLM, they're not being put in a position to succeed. It's unfair to expect a 2/3 month old user to know exactly how everything works in the league, because that's what they need to know to answer questions. Plus starting in the E gives you exposure to both player development and team management in a competitive setting, which helps people understand which avenue they prefer. People who like player development can go to the M, the folks who like competing can move to the VHL. Anyways, that was my slight tirade on a post with a different focus haha.
I experienced this exact thing in Minny this past season and it was sorta scary. I, the top 3 pick, was the default centerpiece of the team and Laine made most of his moves because I had asked to seriously compete that season, or at least make the season meaningful. It definitely didn't have the vibes of S72 LVA when we had a 6-4-1, and then added recreates at the deadline, or S73 LVA when we signed a whole lot of waivers that became the core along with some lower draft picks. First-gens need to have a larger focus in the VHLM and I agree, it just isn't there right now.
This is actually one of the more common things I've heard from GM's, that they like having recreates on the team to be that veteran presence. It makes sense, to have people who are willing to help the team out that aren't the GM/AGM, since those two alone can't be around all day. More experienced users hanging around the team help out in that area. My pushback to that, was that I'm in every VHLM LR for scouting purposes. I peek around a lot of the LRs' gen chats when I have unread notifications, and will answer questions that have been left unanswered. You don't need recreates on the team to help out if the questions are visible for people not on the team to see and respond to.
This also leads to a point brought up a bit ago of a rookie mentor team, or more people to serve as resources to first-gens when they have questions. Because as we've seen, if the GM/AGM isn't around, first-gens don't really know where else to go to ask questions. Having more resources in place, either in team LR's or in draft class servers, could help alleviate M GM's need for recreates on their teams.
just make an E HoF smh my head
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Also my most important point here - There is very, very little reason for a max earning recreate, who is conscious about their earning and class ranking, to pass over the M if practice facility in the VHLM is 2 TPE and the VHLE is 1 TPE. As much as I griped about not being allowed to skip the M since that was a personal goal, I really appreciated getting 7-8 extra uncapped TPE over the course of the season that I would have missed if I played in the E. I probably wouldn't lead my class in TPE if I had played in the E, and I'd have chosen to play in the M vs the E at the sake of my player experience - just to make sure I was getting more TPE.
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