I was asked to post my comments around the "future of USL" conversation and what I thought needed to be done to possibly allow future seasons of the league. I don't have a lot of time to post back and forth on this right now, but I put my quick thoughts together below and welcome any constructive conversation around this.
BACKGROUND
One of the problems that has plagued us for a while is that squads tend to stack and lower tiered squads find it difficult to win a single match all season as a result. What makes that worse is the fact that since the skill-gap is so great between top and bottom tiered squads, good players aren't typically willing to step down and help out.
Example: The average margin of defeat for Foot Clan this season was 74 kills (or 9+ straight 8-0 battles).
You have to do something to bridge that skill gap and there are only three options that make sense:
1. Implement a salary cap to distribute the talent across squads (but still allow you to play with some of the players you like).
2. Use a draft league approach (this is probably inferior to the salary cap option).
3. Build squads the way we always have, but give squads that are losing some additional tools (weapon, armor, etc.) that make it progressively harder for squads to run up the score and may give them a fighting chance to keep the game close (you could remove the items as they got within 10-20 kills of the other team, which would likely not happen).
TO CLARIFY
Most players on upper tier squads play this game on EASY MODE all the time because the skill gap is pretty significant. The players on lower tiered squads are constantly playing on GOD MODE. That means that players on lower tiered squads will eventually QUIT and move on to other games that they can enjoy, and that players on upper tier squads will eventually QUIT and move on to games that offer a challenge.
The relationships that have been built on this game are the only thing keeping the league going year to year without a deeper player base. We're still building squads every year using the same approach that we used when there were 300 people playing USL and it's not working.
SOLUTION
I would go with option #1, which seems to be picking up more steam. Implement a salary cap. I'll note that you may have to revisit option #3, depending on how the season shapes up to avoid major blowouts (of course this is a situational comment - it depends on the lineups chosen and how the matches go).
I think this option works better than a draft (just a personal opinion), and could feed directly into UFL. A draft/salary cap approach should serve to HELP NEW PLAYERS GROW more than the current model. Everyone should have the same caliber of player in their 5th/6th/7th/8th slots. You could see new players get thrown into matches alongside good players (instead of against them) more often - especially in scrims - and they may actually get better instead of finding different ways to die in style.
In order to do this, I would propose the following steps:
1. Chris should wipe the Free Agents list.
2. Anyone that wants to play this season should declare free agency by Sunday, 7/3.
3. Someone build a Google Spreadsheet / Form for rating players on free agents list.
4. 10-15 players selected to rate each person on the list by Friday, 7/8 and average scores are posted on general discussion forum for all players to review and question openly.
5. Each player will need a value tied to their user record here (Chris, we could use the UFL score for this)
6. A sum would need to be added to each squad page and possibly a check when you try to accept an invite that blocks the transaction if it would put the squad over the salary cap.
7. Player scores are finalized and loaded on Sunday, 7/10 (meaning all players have 48 hours to review the "salary" for each player that was posted in step 4).
8. Squads should form by Sunday, 7/17 to start the next season.
You will need a process for incoming players:
Option 1: Use a waiver/free agent system similar to fantasy baseball. Randomize the waiver numbers and handle claims through a forum thread in the captain's forum (cleaner, but exploitable).
Option 2: Each player will need to go through a review process before being allowed to join a squad (messy).
The most important thing to remember in ALL of this is that any system that's implemented here will be EASY TO MANIPULATE. It would be on you guys (the players) to work within the reasonable bounds of fairness to have an enjoyable season.
Edited Jun 26, 2016 1:22 PM