TPE

[Matt_O 896]

I've seemingly completely run out of media spot ideas, so I've decided to come back to everyone favorite topic of discussion; TPE. Does TPE inflation exist? The answer to that question is obviously yes, and at this point it's hard to deny it. We just saw Ryan Kastelic a few seasons back hit the 2000 TPE mark. When I first joined the league towards the end of S63, the highest all time TPE earner was Gabriel McCallister, with 1613. Mats Johnsson overtook McCallister with 1674 not too long after that, so the highest TPE earner of all time up to when I joined was 1674 TPE. Not even a full player career later, we saw a 2000 TPE earner. How did so much extra TPE just appear so fast? Alex Pepper sits in 30th place all time with 1390 TPE. If you take that amount and rank him based on when I first joined, he jumps from 30th place all the way to 6th place. How did that big of a difference happen in such a short amount of time? I don't have an answer to that question, but TPE inflation is clearly real. However, the question isn't about whether it's real or not. The question is, is it even a problem?

 

People who believe TPE inflation is a problem likely believe that the VHL should implement some sort of player archetype system. To me, the most valid argument that says TPE inflation is a problem is that every player is pretty much the same. When you have enough TPE, why not max out everything you can? If you had less TPE, you would be forced to be more specialized, and maybe hit 99 in one, maybe two categories rather than four or five. If you are a forward that consistently hits the cap and take advantage of most uncapped TPE opportunities, you probably can get a 99 in defense, scoring, skating, and then your choice between puck handling or passing, but you can get both if you really grind for the TPE. Once you reach a certain TPE threshold, every player is practically the same. All the useful stats maxed out, all the useless ones not touched, and then strength and checking might have some TPE into it. This was a big reason why the idea of a new TPE scale was being tested out, but it quickly died alongside Higgins.

 

On the other side of the coin, people say TPE inflation doesn't matter. The most frequent argument I remember seeing was that the majority of VHL players were not reaching those absurd levels of TPE, and only the highest earners could reach it. They believed that the problem was only present in the few highest TPE players, and they deserve their TPE if they worked hard for it. While I am team TPE inflation is a problem, the idea that it isn't a problem since barely anyone actually reaches that TPE level is valid. I reached the cap nearly every single week and took advantage of nearly every single uncapped TPE chance I got, yet I never even came close to the levels of TPE that some players get. It never made sense to me. Where did these players get this TPE from? I remember writing a media spot a while ago examining how HHH was able to outgain me by 200 TPE in only ten weeks, and in order to actually make up that number I had to make some wild assumptions that definitely didn't happen. I had to say that he won every lottery, every fantasy, and got max offseason TPE gains, and if all that happened, then it would make sense. Obviously, that isn't what happened. How big of a problem is TPE inflation if someone who earns max nearly every week never comes close to reaching the point of having 'too much' TPE?

 

Both arguments have good points, but I believe that player diversity would be good. I'm not suggesting having archetypes, I actually am not a huge fan because it limits what you can do if you change your mind. I think we should try to change the TPE scale, since I believe it was a good idea at the time and it's something worth looking at again.

 

Like 675 words or so

 

 

[Ledge 1,131]

Review: I love this, looking at both sides of the argument, and I agree with you that the TPE scale should be changed for the people who are dedicated enough. I like the paragraphs, and my one recommendation for next time is to throw some bold and italics in there.\

9/10

[thadthrasher 1,692]

You were able to present multiple angles to a proposed problem. You did so in a way that was succinct, organized, and presented well. I would personally add some headlines or a graphic or two, but that's just me. Overall, well done! 9/10

[Beketov 8,753]

22 hours ago, Matt_O said:

 

People who believe TPE inflation is a problem likely believe that the VHL should implement some sort of player archetype system.

Screw archetypes. That is all.

[Toast 887]

Review

TPE inflation definitely seems to be something that needs to be looked at further (assuming it already is). It's crazy to me how there can be a 2000TPE player but 30th all-time is down at 1300s. Is this a rich getting richer thing? You presented your points clearly and it flowed well but the wall of text makes it a little hard to take in. As the others have said, different fonts or pictures would help break this up nicely.

9.5/10