Evening friends,

The admin staff would like to give you a brief update about what we're doing and what to expect in the near future.

We will be moving forward with a salary cap format again. We acknowledge that this previous season was not the ideal that we were hoping for and that there has been some vocal opposition towards it, but we believe it was a step in the right direction and would like to give it one more opportunity (with some modifications) before moving towards something else. After this season, we will be polling for the format, whether that's draft, salary, or the way it was before.

The start date will be <b>Sunday, October 23rd</b>. We believe that this will be enough time to fine tune everything that needs tuning, and will give enough time to recruit.

The ratings sheet has been released to the raters (all of those who said yes to the previous poll) and we are planning on <b>all ratings being finished by Monday the 10th or Tuesday the 11th</b>. If you're interested in viewing the ratings as they happen:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GE49lsgzDYByoG4UrJ1064UGjL3usbTZPk-HIqHGg98/edit?usp=sharing

These ratings will include all players that are likely to play in the upcoming season, so we won't need to wait for new players to be rated when the season starts. We decided not to move forward with rating multiple areas, thinking that it might be too much of a hassle for everyone involved, but we are going to be incorporating a player's activity into their final cost. How this is done will be explained when the ratings and costs are finalized. It was apparent that this was a major issue for some players, and our interest is in finding the most accurate system possible. The salary tiers will be updated as well to better reflect the differences between players. We are currently working on the specific numbers for each of these areas and the specifics will be announced soon.

The schedule is being finalized. We learned from last season and will be polling for all possible delays, and will be posting the schedule well in advance so that we can stick to it as the season moves along. When the current poll ends, we will be polling about a double length season, where each squad faces each other twice, so look for it in the next few days.

It's my duty that I ask about anyone who is interested in reffing in this upcoming season, to please submit an application. Infinite did a marvelous job this past season, but we can't rely on one man to do it all. Send in your applications if you're interested in helping USL.

We understand that it is impossible to recruit right now because of the uncertainty regarding player's costs and the salary cap, so we are moving as quickly as possible. <b>On Tuesday the 11th or Wednesday the 12th</b>, expect a much meatier news post that contains the specific and additional changes for USL. You should also be able to begin recruiting with complete confidence around that time. We'll keep you updated on the progress and what the Staff is thinking. Thanks for reading.

I'm looking forward to next season.

rip usl, not even a vote because you're too proud to admit that the salary cap produced the worst season to date.

champion now costs 500 and a $250,000 contract per season

Tier system would work better. ie you can only recruit 2 players from being rated excellent, 3-4 players from rated good and then the rest being rated decent.

Three tiers. Decent 1-60 rating, Good 61-90 rating and Excellent 91-100).

your welcome

I think the first salary season was alright. But there are a few things that hurt it and the major one is activity. If you can find a way to work around players who are really good but not as active wasting a roster spot then I think things will be more fluid.

Also the spread wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. The squads were relatively the same players who have been together. I think you need to be more aggressive with the cap floor and ceiling. Think about how I set up UFL. You can't have more than 2 "good" players on your team without staying below the cap for the most part.

We're in the weird position where a salary probably shouldn't be used but it kind of has to because of the wide gap in player skill that exists. With a high population there's enough talent to spread around. In a low population the talent usually sticks together and the overall activity hurts it. I think if you can address the major flaws in the system then continue with it. Otherwise, just go back to normal.

Demon, why rank me 55? Don't you still alt strafe? Feelsbadman

im not even on that sheet, and lana del ray rated apollo as -100 ROFL WUT

Kippa and champ have the right idea should strongly consider listening

i consider draft league and roster lock at start and make trades. Just need like 6 strong candidates.

look right now there's 150 players in the pool. do a draft league. divide it by 6 and you get 25 players per team. anything else you guys can make trades/roster moves and can be approved by the league. does that sound good? this makes a good chance for a player to be at least be on the squad whether they play or not. you guys can make trades/roster moves at any time. like that idea? should give that a try.

Wow Infinite, sounds like you put a ton of thought into this idea (looks like about 9 minutes) ! We should definitely just do it.

i had this idea long ago but no ones wants or had taken it to consideration. nothing more or less.

Posted on: 10/07/16 at 5:21 PM

Posted on: 10/07/16 at 5:30 PM

9 minutes.

Infinite: The 150 number is misleading. At least 30-40 are unlikely to play in the upcoming season, probably more. They were added so that we wouldn't have to rate players every few days in the event they did want to play. A draft league will certainly push more players away from the game, depending on which teams they end up on. It's something that we believe should be reserved for when the league only has 4 squads. Regardless, the future format for the league will be polled after this season and the will of the voters will reign supreme.

Kippa: We decided not to go with that idea last season because it was seen as very polarizing and could potentially push away many of the top players. It's something that might work okay if we are in even more dire straits than we are now, and if we used the most inclusive and fair numbers. For now, it seems that it'd push away more people from the game.

Chris: Completely agreed on all fronts. A player's activity from previous seasons will be incorporated into their final cost, and their cost will be reduced depending on how active they were. What we're working on right now with this is how much it's actually lowered, and to make sure that lower-cost and higher-cost players are treated equally in their benefit from the reduction. Basically we have the formula, just testing specific numbers using last season's costs/ratings and will be testing it using this season's costs/ratings when they're available. This was a major flaw with the system and it pushed inactive players away, especially the higher-cost ones so we are working to correct it.

Each decision is up to the admin staff as a whole, but if I'm speaking about my personal opinions, the roster minimum for this season was too low. It should've been at least 13-14. I believe a minimum roster of 14-15 for this season would spread talent a little more. Perhaps we could reduce salary cap as well, and we would probably see a good spread of talent. This will be decided after the salary tier costs are finalized and the ratings finished so that we can experiment with mock squads and the squads from S8 to see how much of a change there would be.

If we cannot accomplish these goals, salary will probably be scrapped and we'll move on to the next best idea or back to the way things were. We felt that the first season of salary was a great opportunity to see what went wrong and what we could learn. We'll be applying what we learned to this upcoming season.

Im just gonna grab that bitch by her pussy

Draft leagues have failed many times. People get drafted onto teams they don't want to be on and they don't show up. Happens every time.
This option isn't being discussed because we all have seen how it goes. It's nothing new. It would especially be a bad idea when leaguewide activity is already a problem.

3K: Added you to the ratings sheet. Forgot to look at the numbers list of players when creating it.

Congratulations Hearthstone! You deserve a cookie!

You think a minimum of 14 to 15 for squads to register? Ludacris. Each squad barely made the cut of 11 last season, followed by the huge decline in activity after the middle of last season it is highly improbable that any squad will reach that.

Edit: especially with salary cap