As with many features in FML judging potential (JP) always tended to polarise opinion. On the one side you had people who worshipped it as a great tool to assist them in training up the next generation of stars. On the other you had people who believed that there is an art to talent spotting; that managers should have to decide themselves using their own skill (or luck) who was going to be a Messi and who wasn’t. Not to the chaos that judging potential ratings had on the transfer market.
Before jumping into judging player potential it is worth mentioning that UFL is adopting a system for player development that closely mimics that of Football Manager. The potential ability of 1 to 10 is present with 10 being players of world class status and those at 1 needing to retire as soon as possible. Player attributes are largely the same as in Football Manager and the full list can be found here.
In many ways it’s hardly surprising that judging potential as it used to be has gone. Previously this blog has discussed the use of staff instead of skills and scouting is just one part of this. In UFL four factors affect the ability of your staff to judge players. These are the number of players being scouted, the age of the players, time at the same club and how good your scouts are. As you would expect the more players you look at with the same scouts the more watered down the reports will become for each player. Age also plays an important role. Reports based on 14 to 16 year olds will have a greater degree of error than those based on a player in the 22 to 24 age range. Perhaps the most important variable will be the ability of your scout. Given the different specialisations the guide promises it should mean that to get the ideal report you’ll need to be using the right scout. So some scouts may be better at judging midfielders or players from a certain nation, meaning they would be better for some scenarios but unsuitable for others. This therefore ties nicely in with being able to hire staff from other teams simultaneously to build up a larger scouting network.
The guide hints at attribute masking (as it is known in the Football Manager series) for younger players that which is certainly an interesting thought. However, all attributes will be visible for senior players. In many ways I applaud the decision to introduce attribute masking as it will add depth to the transfer market as well as a far greater degree of realism. If, as the guide says, you can quickly build up a picture of the attributes of your own players then I think this can only be a good thing. Certainly the fog of war element will hopefully just muddle up the market sufficiently to make things slightly more fresh and interesting. That being said many managers will be used to seeing everything and may not get on this with feature.
So judging potential as it was in FML is gone and what has replaced it is a much more realistic interpretation. As with most features in UFL it seems to be well thought out and an entirely logical route to take. It should also give lesser certainty which in my opinion can only be a good thing.
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