Noob's semicoherent rambling about establishing earning pace, identity, and setting expectations

[VattghernCZ 971]

CONTENT WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE

 

Earning pace? Me click welfare and practice facility, me git gud, right? Well that's what I thought. Yea, I skimmed through all the introductory stuff about earning TPE, but it's just a random online game, no one actually does stuff like that right? Oh what a sweet Summer child I was. Without really understanding what STHS attributes were, I threw TPE in hybrid stats that I took too literally to create an Eriksson Ek type of player and grew overconfident as hell after scoring 8 points in 10 playoff games for the Lynx. I got this, hold my beer and watch me dominate this whole game!

 

My first VHL lesson was in humility. Along came @Shindigs, interviewing me prior to the VHLM draft. "Hey noob, where's your Discord? Are you a fuckin' non-Discord-having boomer-ass shitter or what?" Shindigs asked. Okay, okay, I'm paraphrasing a bit, Shindigs was really nice, asking me if I wanted to do the interview on forum, or on Discord. But it sounds better this way. Sure, I had been contemplating setting up a Discord account prior to that, what the hell, I'd do it. This Shindigs guy's player...this Bo Johansson, he's got how many TPE? Holy crap! But welfare and PF only gives you 60 every season! Wait...how many TPE do the best players have? Oh. Okay. Hmm. Let's do this interview then.

 

"Hey, if you don't move your ass, your player's gonna suck. Put in some fuckin' work or I don't wanna see your stupid face ever again!" was not what Shindigs said, but they were pretty direct, which works with me the best. Shindigs made me understand in a few sentences that if I'm gonna be a clicker, my VHL career will be pretty short and probably only limited to a depth role. Which is absolutely fine, but I don't want that for Wann Kerr. I've said I'm gonna dominate. Okay, let's do some work.

 

More GMs approached me during the pre-draft period, but it was mostly one paragraph of questions on their side, one paragraph of answers on my side and that's it. Another GM who really helped me out getting settled is @lil OG z. They had claimed my player after I created an account 2 or 3 games before the end of S84 regular season, and they were interested in drafting me back. While Shindigs was really direct and made me - successfully, I'd say - understand the work ethic needed to succeed, lil z showed me there are kind, supportive people here in this community, and gently nudged me to do the first step to start earning. Which I knew I had to do, but I was perhaps too self-conscious to put together an article for other people to see. Even though I've always enjoyed writing. That's how I became a welfare+ player.

 

Shindigs was the one who ended up drafting me to be a part of the Aces' threepeat attempt. The chance for a first ever threepeat combined with a special locker room chemistry the team had really helped me establish a team first mentality quickly after joining this game. Wann Kerr can be dominant as much as he wants to, but does it really matter if his team doesn't succeed? The desire to help Shindigs end his Aces GM career with a threepeat - partially as a gesture of gratitude for his mentorship - and the fun of friendly competition for the weekly High Roller Award (highest earning player of the week) were the final ingredients for turning me into the max earner I've been since week 1 of S85. And tying the High Roller Award record really made it a matter of pride for me to carry on being a max earaner every single week.

 

Overall, the Shindigs, @TopTiddee2and @dylanjj37 Aces experience was the best way to kickstart my career. Without it, it's hard to imagine I'd be a team first TPE junkie and a build nerd. Yup, when I have a few minutes to kill, I sometimes whip out my phone and fool around with a TPA tool. I basically have 200TPE, 400TPE and peak builds of my 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen players already planned. Now I'm working in a really supportive system of @Baby Boomer and @Agito in Rome, and I look forward what will the cooperation with @Frank and @Gaikoku-hito look like from next season in Vancouver.

 

Being max capped earner, doing fantasy weeks, VFHL, predictions, career tasks and theme weeks, I think I've already got a solid grasp on TPE earning. But there's a thing I still find myself struggling with as a member, and that's setting realistic goals for my player. Of course my career goals are pretty clear - I want to remain a max earner for Wann Kerr's whole career, that's about 2 years for me to evaluate how much I like this thing, and if I want to stick around, perhaps even trying out some GMing. And as for Wannn Kerr, well I want to roleplay him as a loyal footsoldier and I want The Cup. At least one.

 

But setting season-to-season goals is pretty tough, when I still don't have a full picture about what's realistic. I can't say I had much expectations for my first full M season. Shindigs said I'm gonna do awesome, but they were my GM, it's a part of their job to say so. So I went in, did my earning, followed two-way center build recommended by Shindigs, expecting to be a middle of the pack player...not scoring fuckin' 97 points and being over a point per game in the playoffs as well. Seeing how my player performed in the M, I had high expectations on him at the JST, probably somewhere around a point per game. Not being the Brigade MVP. Come pre-draft interviews, I was already used to Wann Kerr's growth, so I knew I would only spend one season in the E, which would somewhat lower my guy's value for the E GMs - being selected in the second round is about what I'd expected. Talking about E, what I did not expect is being arguably the most consistent offensive contributor on one of the top E teams, even though my build is by far more defense oriented. Being over half a goal per game blew my mind.

But the thing that exceeded the far-too-low expectations I'm setting the most is Frank trading up to pick me 9th overall. I honestly did not expect to be selected in the first round at all. Why would I be? I'm a fuckin' first gen noob, there are tons of people more experienced than I am, who would be a safer bet. But what Frank did is light fire under my ass in the same manner Shindigs did. And I'm ready for this shit.

 

The time is slowly approaching to set expectations for my VHL rookie season. But not yet. Now there's a cup for us to win in Rome. Perhaps I've already learned and will set it properly.

 

If you still have enough braincells left to comprehend meaning of these words, congratulations and thank you for letting me borrow your eyeballs to read through this...what even is it? Is it another "my first gen experience"? Is it a thank you post to everyone mentioned? Is it just a stream of thoughts?

 

Yes.

 

1000+ words

Edited December 7, 2022 by VattghernCZ
Clarification

[Shindigs 1,771]

11 minutes ago, VattghernCZ said:

and the fun of friendly competition for the weekly High Roller Award (highest earning player of the week) were the final ingredients for turning me into the max earner I've been since week 1 of S85. And tying the High Roller Award record really made it a matter of pride for me to carry on being a max earaner every single week.

This was exactly why I put the High Roller award in as a thing. So knowing it had the intended effect is great to hear.

 

Overall the whole thing was a nice read. It can be hard to really see what impact you do/don't have on your players as a GM. So getting to see what the journey was like through your eyes was really interesting. It was great having you with the Aces too and we got oh so close to that cup, but not close enough. Wish you the second best of luck (to ensure you lose to Chicago) in the VHL with Vancouver together with all the other Vegas alumni on that roster. Of the 7 players mentioned in the Vegas High Roller HOF, 4 of them are on that team.

[VattghernCZ 971]

2 minutes ago, Shindigs said:

Wish you the second best of luck (to ensure you lose to Chicago) in the VHL

 

 

Thanks! I'm glad Bo is killing it, him and Jake Thunder are my fantasy team D-men and I have Bo as the Beketov winner in my predictions. Can't wait to beat Chicago.

[Shindigs 1,771]

Just now, VattghernCZ said:

 

 

Thanks! I'm glad Bo is killing it, him and Jake Thunder are my fantasy team D-men and I have Bo as the Beketov winner in my predictions. Can't wait to beat Chicago.

Got that Vegas connection in the VHFL as Thunder is another alumni. And unless Bo decides to fall off a cliff again, he's looking pretty solid for the Bek. I picked Thunder for it since if Bo wins I get 1 TPE from winning the award, so might as well stack the odds by picking another more-or-less guaranteed top 5 assists dman.

[Agito 212]

You can be proud of your journey so far, knowing the VHL system is sometimes more complicated than you think. You need to have certain qualities to be able to fit into this system so emblematic of the VHL. As an AGM for Rome. I will help you on your way and support Wann Keer's journey! To help you reach the journey of your life to Vancouver. We are experiencing good momentum in Rome and you are part of it. You are one of the players who are writing a story on the walls of Rome and that can only be good for you in a famous career! 

Congratulations again to you for this park! And if you feel like talking. My private message board is always open.

[VattghernCZ 971]

 

See this up here? That's what I meant when I said vety supportive system in Rome.

[Daniel Janser 2,159]

28 minutes ago, VattghernCZ said:

 

See this up here? That's what I meant when I said vety supportive system in Rome.

Romanes eunt domus

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Daniel Janser

[VattghernCZ 971]

9 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

Romanes eunt domus

 

 

What's this then? "Romanes eunt domus"? People called Romanes, they go, the house?

[Daniel Janser 2,159]

Brian: It says 'Romans go home'

Centurio: No it doesn't

 

 

 

[TopTiddee2 186]

I feel honored to be mentioned in this glorious post

[VattghernCZ 971]

Claim 2/2 for week ending 12/18