Musings of VHL

[NSG 495]

Well, for the first time in a long time (Feb 8 2021), I am writing an article for VHL. And since then, a lot of things have changed. Meta has come and (basically) gone, the VHLE happened, and new faces have flooded management positions. And, obviously, Tucker has changed a lot. Once upon a time, he was an underrated, underappreciated right winger who was selected 73rd in the VHLM Draft and 26th in the VHL Draft. Now, though, he's one of the best scorers in the game, continuing to perform in a meta world with a rather un-meta build (yes, 99 SC + DF, but 70 PA, CK, and FG don't quite fit the mold). He's become one of the best Wolves players ever, and, in my opinion, deserves to have his jersey (#88, obviously) retired by the team. He's become the 2nd biggest steal in the S76 draft (his TPE ranking is 19 spots higher than his draft number. His old friend and twice over ex-teammate,Tater Tat, has him beat, with 27). However, with all these records comes old age, and Tucker is to be auto-retired at the conclusion of the S83 season. It'll definitely be a really weird, sad day for me, because he's all I've ever really known, so without Tucker, Imma lowkey feel like I have no identity in the league. And thus, the question I pose myself: Will I leave or stay? What will my new player look like? mma try and write it all out, not just because I need 6 TPE, but because the time for such decisions is nearing.

 

Why I'd Leave VHL: Basically, I'm not super attached to the league. Whereas in a lot of leagues, I feel like I'd be letting someone/people if I left (such as EFL, where I'm a Historian, AD, GM, Updater, Presenter, and am on the BOD), I don't feel like the league would take a big L if I left (I would reappear for Town of Salem but nothing else), nor do I feel like I'd lose a part of me if I were to just disappear into the canals of VHL user history. And without Tucker, what am I? Will I ever become invested in my new guy or will I just be trapped in the aromas of nostalgia for Tucker instead? I have a pretty busy life and I need to try and make room for what's happening out there instead having my head in the Internet.

 

Why I'd Stay: This is the only hockey sim league I have and although not attached with it, I'm familiar with it. I know enough about who the people are, and I want to make some sort of legacy. Tucker is not noteworthy enough for anyone to remember 10 seasons from now, save a few Vancouver homies. I'd love to have a bona fide star, and the way to do that would be to stick around. Additionally, going back down to the VHLM + VHLE would allow me to meet some new people and make some new friends, and perhaps I could get attached to the league like I never was before.

 

 

Why I'd Create a Forward Again: Tucker was very much a 2-way forward. He could hit, he could fight, and he could score, but there's more types of forwards than that. My next guy could be a defensive forward, focused on hitting and stuff, or I could make a guy who's all about the points. I also don't know if there's a huge difference between right wings, centers, and left wingers, so I could try and figure that out. However, this is not likely going to be what I would do.

 

Why I'd Do Defense: Though it wouldn't be as radical as going from forward to goalie, this would be pretty rad as well. I didn't do defense w/Tucker, obviously, and again, there's plenty of routes to go. Would I be focused on assists, hits, or goals? Maybe all 3? Could shots blocked be the thing I vibe with? I really don't know what makes you good at blocking shots, so we could see about that. I feel like D is the least sought after position, so I might have less obstacles to go through en route to complete world domination.

 

Why I'd Do Goalie: It'd be completely new for me and I'd be going in blind, and that's something I lowkey enjoy. "You're insane, NSG! Nobody likes to not know what they're doing!" you might say. Well, I like it like that, so clearly it's not nobody who likes a challenge. The stats I'm going for are all different, and it'd be pretty cool seeing how it all turns out. However, I hear that there's too many goalies in the league nowadays so I might not do it after all, just because there's no plausible way to be good off the jump.

 

 

And that will be that for that. Some other things I wonder about:

 

How valued are recreates in the M these days? Would people actually chase after a RC or would they get similar offers?

Would the M GM's even know that I had had a successful player previously? Would they see that "NSG has created a player" and actually know that I was a RC, or do they not know of my existence?

Being a RC, would I be selected in a logical place in a draft, or would I be FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY like last time? Would the GMs overvalue me?

 

If there's any good news about having all these unanswerable questions is that is piquing my interest in the league. If I were to just quit, I'd never be able to figure these out, and though I wouldn't lose sleep over not knowing the answers, I'd never have the satisfaction of knowing the answers. Are these types of things what keep people going back to the VHL? Do other people who are facing these types of decisions in the league also stick around because they want answers? I guess I'll never know.

 

Thanks for reading this weird, weird, article, hope you enjoyed, I guess. Feel free to comment, though I doubt anyone will.

 

1034 words

[Gustav 6,098]

1 hour ago, NSG said:

How valued are recreates in the M these days? Would people actually chase after a RC or would they get similar offers?

 

It depends. You wouldn't be super sought after IMMEDIATELY if you recreate at the deadline, but you'll be drafted reasonably high if you earn consistently enough.

 

1 hour ago, NSG said:

Would the M GM's even know that I had had a successful player previously? Would they see that "NSG has created a player" and actually know that I was a RC, or do they not know of my existence?

 

Any competent GM would know you're a recreate. If someone makes an offer that says "welcome to the league", just don't sign with that team.

 

1 hour ago, NSG said:

Being a RC, would I be selected in a logical place in a draft, or would I be FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY like last time? Would the GMs overvalue me?

 

I think this depends on what you tell GMs before the draft. If you earn consistently enough but don't necessarily max out every week, I think the late 1st-early 2nd (and this highly depends on the draft class and who else is in it) would be a fair place. If you at least promise consistency, that's where I think you'd end up realistically. 

 

It's also possible that you'd be drafted a bit higher, but in cases like that you'd be going to a team that considers picking you (as a member) a bonus, separate from your player. Things like promising loyalty (or even just saying "I'd be willing to re-sign if the team is competitive") can also move you up, while doing the opposite could move you down in the draft.

 

 

In the end, it's much more about YOU and what you get out of it--how you choose to enjoy the league and the satisfaction it brings you--than it is about where you get drafted or how GMs see you as a player or as a member. Try not to worry about the little stuff and just live your life.

[Shindigs 1,771]

13 hours ago, NSG said:

I'd love to have a bona fide star

Well, if we're talking VHFL then Tucker certainly is that. It's kind of interesting to me how that works out, that because of the relatively large focus on hits in the VHFL scoring systems it creates fantasy superstars. Now I'd say Tucker is just an all-round superstar, as well. But prior to depreciation you'd mention him in the same breath as Duncan Idaho when it comes to fantasy top picks. That leads to a lot of name recognition with the people who take part in fantasy, which due to the uncapped TPE involved, is most active members.

 

13 hours ago, NSG said:

I really don't know what makes you good at blocking shots, so we could see about that.

This is kind of a thing I want to go for with my player too. But at the end of the day, a lot of it just comes down to being on a really bad team. Because the more shots you let up, the more you get to possibly block. Other than that just building a Dman as you normally would already makes you pretty much optimized for shot blocking. I wish there were more ways to impact it.

 

Though with the new attribute system you could make the most Defensive Defenseman of your generation most likely, since going for 90+ DF will be an absolutely massive undertaking (900 TPA if you want 99 DF exactly) that basically no one will pursue. So it will actually be possible to make a player with more DF than everyone else around you, instead of everyone being glued to 99. But unless you plan on absolutely competitive max earning it will be impossible to fit into a reasonable build. I'm aiming to peak at a 1000 TPA build and it will still only barely get 90 DF on the dot.