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Latest News and Notes from the Leagues

Championship League Update

The SHL Championship League, or SHCL as it will be called, will be in full swing by Season 52.  It will be composed of twelve teams in two divisions.  The cities and potential team names have been leaked and it will look like this.


SCHL Western Conference

Albequerque Wildcats
Cheyenne Ranchers
Amarillo Armadillos
Seattle Warriors
Regina Grizzlies
Prince George Firebirds

SHCL Eastern Conference

Ottawa Hornets
Quebec Inquisitors
Virginia Beach Renegades
Louisville Locusts
Wilmington Blue Waves
Memphis Mountaineers

Lots to digest here but I think the Western Conference has the two biggest stories.  There has been a void in the Pacific Northwest since the Riot left Seattle and the Admirals left Portland.  So it’s Whalers or bust for the most part.  With Seattle getting a team back in the SHCL, this is big news for the city.  Also, the Firebirds are back in Prince George.  However, they are not the original Firebirds as the original Firebirds set sail for Anchorage quite a while ago.  So this is similar to a Cleveland Browns situation where the OG Browns are the Baltimore Ravens.  So the Armada are the OG Firebirds, but it’s still good news for Prince George fans.

The Eastern Conference looks fairly standard.  Some of the names and markets might be weak but this is all subject to change.  Each conference gets two Canadian teams.

The TPE Cap for this League will be 700 TPE.  I would have made it 650 but it’s not that much of a difference.  Honestly, this is the league that people will want to play in.  It will produce the most excitement and after a few seasons, it will probably produce more drama than the Thunderdome during Offseason.

The playoffs will be standard.  The top four teams from each division will advance.  The playoffs will be seeded and the Eastern Champion will be the Western Champion in the finals.  The trophy will be called the Contenders Cup.  So you will have the Four Star Cup in the SMJHL, the Contenders Cup in the SHCL, and the Challenge Cup in the SHL.


Relegation and Promotion

As stated last week, teams will be able to move up and down based on performance.  The bottom SHL team in the East and West will be demoted to the SHCL the following season.  The two teams who make the Contenders Cup Series will be promoted to the SHL for the following season.  The bottom SHCL team in each conference will move down to the SMJHL, and the Four Star Cup teams will move up to the SHCL.

When SCHL teams have players at the 700 cap and they get promoted the following season, they can unbank.  However, if the team gets demoted back to the SCHL the following season, that player must stay in the SHL and pass through waivers before becoming a free agent.

Draft Changes and Head Office

The changes noted above will require major changes to the drafts and how call-ups and send-downs work.  This is all still being worked out but I talked to someone in Head Office last week and they are saying that a lot of people may be losing their jobs or just straight up stepping down.  It’s a very stressful time for them so don’t expect much in the way of discipline or suspensions for the new few seasons.


Champions League

In another highly ambitious undertaking, there will be a Champions League with other leagues around the Simulation-Verse.  The top four teams from the SHL will enter a league with the top four teams from GOMHL and the top four teams from the VHL.  These twelve teams will be drawn into three groups at random.  They will face each other twice in round robin style play.  The winner of each group will advance to a playoff style tournament along with the best second place team.  That tie-breaker will be determined at a later date.

The semi-finals will be two games each with the winner having the most goals on aggregate.  So the score from the first game will carry over to the second.  If it is tied after that, it goes to overtime, and then a shootout like normal.

The final will be one game for all the glory.

The first Champions League is expected to take place during Season 55 when the new graphical engine is released and purchased.  It will happen in parallel with the regular league games.  Updates will happen in real time.

Fatigue and injuries will be a factor as if a player gets injured in a Champions League game, they will not be available for SHL play.


Game Engine Changes

Once the league switches to the graphical engine, General Managers will have to take an even more active role during games.  Games will take place in real time so managers can make real-time adjustments between periods deciding to bench players, switch up lines, and decide to be more aggressive or defensive.  Individual players may also be active if they choose to be.  They can make their player angry, happy, sad, aggressive, etc.  They can also look for fights or decide to go for goal more or pass more.  Things are still being ironed out.


Injuries and Fatigue

Plans are changing on the fly regarding injuries and fatigue but it looks like they are still making a comeback.  I should have more on this next week.


SHL – The Album

In an attempt to further the brand, the league will be releasing different types of media over the next few months.  The podcasts have been a pretty big hit.  The next attempt will be music.  They will be releasing tracks for each team based on GM’s choice and fans choice.  The album will be released on Spotify in September.


Other Media

Other media being thought about include books.  Autobiographies are in the works for some big names including some users no longer on the site.  The first one to be released is called “There and Back Again, and then There and Back Again, Again: The Ballad of Leshaun King.”  King had no input in the title or literally anything in the book but there it is.  The second big title in the works is called “The DDoS and Don’ts of the SHL” by Gareth Rush.  He’s having a ghost writer pen his book as he narrates it from his prison cell.


Sponsorships

Some leagues have player owned sponsorships, gyms, and equipment.  This is being looked at in this game.  Players will be able to invest their own money in a start-up.  They can run an elite gym or rink and allow players to pay to practice on it for 6 or 7 weekly TPE if players don’t want the regular 5 TPE training.  They should be able to make their own equipment and sell it to players for a little more money with a little more TPE.  Obviously there would have to be hard limits as this system will favor rich players.  Still, it is being looked at and something will be in place by Season 54.  Plans can change.


Opinion on WoW Classic

I saw a post where some people are getting into WoW Classic.  It sounds really cool and it will be for about a month.  I am not a fan of people or companies telling me what I want and don’t want but I think Blizzard is right on this.  They told us years ago we didn’t want this but I think it’s a case where people will have to learn for themselves.  Quality of life was awful back in the day and it took far too long to do anything.  People complain about the grind and time sink that exists in today’s WoW but it was even worse back then.  The best parts of Classic were player generated.  The brawls at Southshore and Tarren Mill were more epic than any Battleground.  Helping a stranger on the road or helping them get from point A to point B.  That’s the stuff that I look back fondly on.  But spending two hours to find a group for a dungeon that we will probably wipe on and have the tank or healer ragequit before making it to the first boss, that was not a good time.  I think a lot of those real Vanilla players have moved on.

However, if they start releasing classic patches and expansions on those servers, I might be interested.  I peaked in Wrath and Mists and would love to play those as endgame again.  But only for a minute.

I have found that sense of wonder in another game though.  This isn’t a shameless plug and I don’t get any recruitment bonus.  But Final Fantasy XIV is not only a great MMO, it is probably the best Final Fantasy game since FFX.  The story alone is amazing but when you add in everything else, it’s a pretty remarkable game.  It isn’t for everyone and it has its issues, but it’s pretty great.  The community is solid for the most part.  They check themselves  and police themselves similar to this site (for the most part), and while you still have your occasional douche, it’s not half as bad as other games.

Still, I hope whoever plays Classic has a great time.  If you never got to experience it, you might be in for a treat, at least for a little bit.

That's all for this edition.  See you next time.