Greetings, and happy March! The update this month is mostly bug fixes, here's what was just released:



* MFN-364 Play tiles on Rules "view plays" now allows you to click on the tile to see the play stats.

* MFN-357 Game Center - score board drops below the Zoom and Pause buttons. Also made some updates for touch devices in the game center.

* MFN-359 Add ability to hide play-by-play has been added to the game center

* MFN-365 Allow TE's in play WR and FB

* MFN-366 Fixed a compatibility bug between the legacy and new site when a league is created



One issue that I just discovered is that sometimes you may get a 500 error when logging in to the new site. If this happens, go back and reset your password - the hashing algorithm for the new site is stricter than the old site, and some of the older passwords are not working on the new site. (The passwords on the old site are properly hashed, but with an older algorithm). I'm going to try to update the new site to instruct you to do that instead of throwing a 500 error.



Please let me know if you are still having any issues in the new site - the bugs are getting fewer and I want to make sure I'm not overlooking anything that is causing you to prefer the old site!

I was wondering about that new league compatibility. I thought I had lost getting onto the website, ha. However, I really enjoy the new site. Looks more sleek and easier to see and a coworker of mine who I got to join MFN has the same thought and likes the new site better as well.



Thank you for all your work, JDB!

If that's true, please consider this post from December and respond:

There are two basic principles to go by in this type of process.

1. Don't lose any features
2. Don't make unnecessary changes

Here is what I can recall coming up with:

The big violation I have seen against principle 1 is the graphical game planning for Offense and Defense (the sliders on the field). I use graphical exclusively, and will hate it if that is not available on the new site.

Everything about the player cards violates principle 2. It opens to the details page instead of the attributes. The attributes are in a completely different order so it is ridiculously frustrating trying to find where they are. I like to arrange my opponents offense or defense as they would be on the field with the player cards for planning purposes, but confining them to a bar on the side violates both principles.

The new depth chart just looks terrible. It likely depends on the display, but mine puts the LT up on the first row next to the WR's, and then the rest of the O-line down below on the second line. Just aesthetically awful. I understand the drag and drop doesn't work well for mobile, but that's a significant lost feature of the depth chart. On PC it is much quicker and easier than all the clicking the new UI now requires.

I don't believe the player position restrictions are what the community was looking for at all. Every player should be able to move either up or down one position group for a position change. This is where the restrictions are way too tight, there are way too few opportunities to change positions. As far as the depth chart, you have it right, where players can only get into positions within their group, but there should also be a weight check to be sure the player is at least close to the weight they need to be for a position. You don't want to allow somebody to change a WR to RB for the championship game and jump right in and run all over the opponent because they are WR weight listed as a RB.

Thanks for all your work on the site, but I hope that some of these things will be addressed. I also hope that you won't shut down the old site prematurely, the new one still seems to have a long way to go.

I would like to echo what was said about the player cards. The ability to move and organize them on the screen was very helpful, and the order of the traits is hard to get used to, especially finding the all important Speed rating, now labeled "Max Speed." Seems they're almost laid out in alphabetical order, but not quite. Going back to the previous layout may help scanning if it's possible.



One other thing I have noticed missing from player cards is the player's current placement in the depth chart. I would be able to pull up the player's card and see where they sit in position and depth at a glance. It might be nice to have that feature back.



Edit: I just did some gameplanning in the new UI for the first time. When using the Run/Pass/Neutral for my keys on defense, the opponent's tendencies are missing. Those would be really helpful for setting those numbers.

I hope the community realizes that unless we speak up, almost all position change ability will be gone with the new site. I could be wrong, but I don't think this is what anybody wants. The depth chart restrictions are great, and will help to eliminate out of position loopholes, but we should leave position changes alone. Sometimes, you find a hidden gem listed as a different position. We could always just put them into the position where we wanted them. That is being severely restricted on the new site, and that is not a good thing.

So I'm not sure how one is different than the other. If you are not allowed to put a player into an ineligible position in the depth chart, but are allowed to change his assigned position to the other position, why wouldn't you just change his assigned position to the ineligible position and then you can put him in your depth chart?

Really? The loophole is 100% about keeping players underweight so that their speed is higher. If you change a WR to RB, he gains weight and therefore loses speed. We should be able to draft a WR and convert him to RB (taking the speed hit), but not keep him at WR (just so he stays lighter and therefore faster) and play him at RB. Please, others, weigh in with your thoughts, this is the way I see it.

Agreed.

There is certainly the "single game" loophole (as mentioned in my December post) available in this situation. However, there are two very simple ways to close that:

1. Allow position changes only during the offseason, and have the weight/speed effects be immediate and complete in the first sim after the change.

2. Just always have the weight/speed change fully every time a position is changed.

It would seem the developer does not actually understand how his game’s physics actually works. If a player’s physical size came with realistic advantage/disadvantage to more mass beyond simply speed (and god forbid height actually mattering), then position changes or depth chart overrides wouldn’t matter. Then an undersized player would actually get overpowered instead of just outrunning everyone with no repercussions.