League Gaming ELITE LEAGUE (Discussion and Direction)

INCOMING TLDR, but Please read if you have the time or play in the LG NHL on Xbox or PSN.


I personally dont think we need to change anything with LGHL. However, it appears LG is 100% going with this ELITE league (Xbox vs PSN idea) and that is fine and probably a good idea and you seem to be sticking to it so rather than trying to say why not or hearing the community complain, i thought, why dont we all be on the same side for once and work with you guys (Managers/Players/Staff/Site) and try to find out the best way to IMPLEMENT this new ELITE league

Here are a couple of ideas on what we could do, ideas of maybe how to do it and/or why


1.) If you want to change the league, then we need to do it for the right reasons

- For potential benefits for the site
- For potential sponsors for leagues
- For potential sponsors for events
- For EA to potentially add LEAGUES and Esports right onto the game
- For increasing NHL viewership
- For helping grow members streams and supporting the community
- For a way for ELITE/NHL/AHL/CHL to feel a part of their organization and chances to possibly play together, help each other get better and more known
- For LG to become the go to spot for leagues, esports, tournaments and potentially (draft/clubs)

If you want to do it to make LeagueGaming, one giant community playing the same game together with connections to the top and bottom players from all leagues and their "consoles" than this could be a good idea. It has a chance to make everyone feel like theyre included and possibly have them care about the other leagues on their consoles (NHL/AHL/CHL) As the league is now, most people dont care about the league theyre not in, let alone the top league as if it is some desired tier to be in. It USE to feel like this, like damn the NHL is sick, its the best place to play and where all the top players go to play and the guys not in it, want to get there to prove themselves or prove their linemates/teammates to the community they are top players "nhlers." That sense is completely gone from LG and it has had a massive trickle down effect. top players dont want to manage, players want to play in lower leagues with friends, call ups and send downs are a disaster, we have protected players and players refuse to ECU for their bad affiliates against good lines or teams bc they think theyre going to lose. All of those things, along with the game being inconsistent yr to yr, bad players being managers, bans for stupid things and esports all really took a toll on LGHL over the yrs and made it lose its luster and some of its fun.

Most people still enjoy LGHL and we still have no problem filling the leagues but the mgmt talent and general talent has diluted a bit over the yrs in LGHL but in esports, it now seems to be DEEPER than ever. Now this is a good thing, a good thing for NHL Esports and a good thing for LGHL, IF we can find a way to do it right. Im sure there will be a lot of trial and error but there definitely is an opportunity to finally find a way to LeagueGaming to get their NHL leagues and esports to feel more inclusive and get players more interested in both. A way for the CHL teams to care about their AHL and NHL, a reason for AHL to care about their NHL and a reason for the AHL to care about their AHL and CHL. We need to find a way to link those for the entire duration of the NHL23 title (3 seasons) If we could somehow figure out a way to do that, then the "ELITE" league would be an "aspiration" for those players or teams and if there is promotion and relegation in all the leagues with winning and losing promoting and demoting people, it will give people something to play for and something to watch or tune in and care about, even if theyre not fully invested in the top level. As of now, basically no one in the AHL and CHL give a shit about the NHL, let alone esports and that is LG alienating 9/10ths of the community. There are like 500 esports players and about 10,000 users on LG. For the sake of LeagueGaming and NHL esports growth, it would be very beneficial to make this work and this new year and Cross Plat opportunity thats being slowly integrated can be extremely beneficial to the site, to nhl esports, to just NHL in general and the leagues with more potential sponsors and possibly one day EA integration on the menus if we can pitch them the numbers and interest exist in 6s and that it would be beneficial time wise for them to spend time on implementing esports or leagues directly into the game for us. I have brought this up and spoke with them before and I know we all like to think were the best players in the world but theres 10,000 6s players on LG and EA roughly 1M copies sold and over 500,000 EASHL players created. Most of them play smalls (5s, 4s, 3s, 2s,) or THREES (4s, 3s, 2s) and Arcade mode which is weirdly very popular. So everyone doesnt want what we want but a way to get more stuff for our community is by showing its the direction to move for the game as more and more games these days are made for esports as opposed to enjoyment but built directly into the game like in Fortnite, COD, Smite, 2K and other console games played for fun and competitively at different levels. If you are able to bring the levels together in a sense as opposed to alienate them like CHEL does with 20 different modes (6s, 3s, smalls, 3s no G, 6s no G, arcade, hut, vs and offline

2.) Now figuring out a way to do this is a different animal in itself and im not exactly sure, especially because of the CrossPlat obstacles of Xbox vs PSN (ONLY) in November.

- Will we run into issues if it doesnt work?
- We cant make trades across leagues bc of no invites to cross consoles yet so how do we determine which league deserves 16 team?
- If its 32 best teams and there are 16 Xbox teams and 16 PSN teams, are they the ELITE league teams or are there 20 good Xbox teams and 12 good PSN teams?
- If we just split the league to 16 and 16 with bidding, will people sign up whatever one they think is "easier" to get promoted to the elite league.
- When FULL CROSS PLAT comes do we have to make adjustments again and does that mean another full restructure?

3.) There are a lot of unknowns and potential issues with a new format, and it will def take a lot of trial and error to get it right but it could be good if we find a way to listen to the community and do it right. So if we HAVE to do this new format, what are some potential ways to do it.

1. ELITE league with a similar style/format as nhl/ahl/chl. Free owner and gm, bidding only. Then the following season the bottom say 4 on each side get cut, rosters wiped and the 4 winning owners from the NHL come up (etc). Then the ELITE league can keep their players they want and we can have a DRAFT or BIDDING of the ENTIRE LEAGUE the following season for the ELITE league consisting of EVERY NHL/AHL/CHL owner/gm/agm and player. The New old elite teams can keep anyone they want, the new elite teams can bring anyone from their roster they want and then have first pick in the draft if everyone in the entire league OR we figure out some bidding format and a proper salaries we could base on performances or something or attached to your line (this would be the hard thing to figure out)

• 2.) Make it the new esports LEAGUE (Run it all yr long) replaces scrims and drafts or build scrims and drafts right into the site and we record and reports our games and theres a leaderboard all yr long (we reset it each new szns or something like that and teams can bring new players in ANYONE THEY WANT and then give the NHL teams MGMT the option to be promoted. this will give MGMT a sense of pride and accomplishment which is 100% missing from LG these days. People want to see who the best teams and managers are and play for good owners and the higher up the league you go, the better the managers can become or you and your guys can prove yourself with your own team the whole way through. It will also help generate new esports lines and teams by guys seeing, we can compete against AHLers or we can beat NHLers or we can beat these ELITE teams. Then if they cant, they can be relegated back down to the NHL/AHL/CHL the following szn to manage or player in bidding and maybe try to make the ELITE league as a player

- Run 3 szns esports league in unison with LGHL AHL CHL
- Just have it be an esports szn essentially
- Bring your own team (2 or 3 lines) may need to figure out some stipulations on this (no 2 esports lines in the top 5 or something like that or do no limit and have every team build whatever lines they want tbh)
- Bring your own team
- Teams can make trades, pick up free agents (nhl/ahl/chl) players and add them. Any roster moves they want. It runs all yr long and has an Xbox half and a PSN half they play each other but can only make roster moves with their side of the console. Playoffs is top 8 xbox and top 8 PSN. Can give promotion option of the 2 cup finalist teams on each side. If they choose to go they can, if not they can stay and the mgmt spots of the teams left vacant opens up for applications of NHL owners. Then the AHL and CHL you force up and down, the down people can just not manage the following szn if they choose not to go down.
- Winners of xbox and psn play in finals at the end of each szn.

• 3.) You run it exactly the same as now.
• - ELITE league (Open up owner apps) Top 16 chosen.
• -EVERY PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE goes through ELITE bidding. (if they miss ELITE sign ups they cant play in the ELITE league or manage in any of the 3 leagues but they can SIGN UP LATE for bidding and be called up to any of the 3 levels at any time on their highest or most recent contract ever (would have to monitor this for loopholes like DP players going for 2M, then signing up late to be auto 2M again but thats easily doable>
• - After ELITE League bidding there is an ELITE LEAGUE DRAFT for TC players. Everyone left over is in, random snake draft for picks
• - After ELITE league TC draft, NHL owner APPS open up, owners apply and are selected to their teams.
• - LG runs normally the rest of the way but with the leagues being CONNECTED as actual orgs and AHL being called up to NHL and CHL being called up to AHL.

Taking a top tier teams SHOULD be priority, the CHL teams will become NEWER players, returning players, not very active players OR players who people just dont know or see and this level will give them a chance to make a name for themselves against lower comp. The CHL managers or players will have to pay their due and earn their respect (not bc they signed up late but bc they didnt get a selected for ELITE league, didnt get a bid in N/A/C) and we can also after NHL bidding have managers apply to the AHL or CHL level which will give them flexibility of wanting to play with a bit more known or active players or go with the newer and more unknown players to find new gems or steals and help them work their way up and potentially bring themselves with them or at least up a bit. CHL mgmt wont mind anyways bc they already scout and have more media which is good bc that is what they are best at and that is good for the league and keeping the new guys and old guys interested, just may be not as appealing for mgmt but thats how it NEEDS to happen or find a different solution (open to ideas)

Id be interested to hear people's opinions as it appears this is the direction the league is going, so why dont we try to help it go that way together and a way we would all like. A lot of people dont like the league or at least the vocal people do bc well they talk all the time, but id say A LOT more people in the LG community like League Gaming or at least like the community or at the very least their buddies they met through the community which if this didnt exist or you didnt enjoy it, may have never happened. So, lets here some more ideas or some comments on these or ways to make this transition better and more effective for all the levels and maybe we can figure out something that is best for everyone at every level



*Brodie told me to post this after I sent it to him and Tris when he asked us about it the other day. PLEASE read it, vote and COMMENT ideas, suggestions, possible issues we may run into, complaints, better ideas, anything

 

No

 

Making an “elite league” for the players who’ve already proven they’d cheat for a virtual sticker seems unnecessary. Shortening seasons from a standard 82 games to fit in this elite league also seems silly.

The only thing that makes sense if LG wants to make a league that doesn’t use NHL teams is to make a club league that runs year round. The sim league can stay if it must, but a promotion/relegation club format with prizes and less incentive to cheat since you literally choose your teammates makes far more sense.

Idk if Lou covered any of what I said in his post because he types too much and I just woke up and don’t feel like reading all that

 

I don’t see the need for an elite league when they just made the NHL 2x more competitive but will see what everyone wants. Can be more of a bring your own team once a week thing for scheduled scrims. Overall I like the changes

 

I don't really see the need for an elite league on top of the LGHL leagues + ESHL, especially since we are implementing the cross play feature somewhat in normal LG leagues. The "elite tier" seems similar to ESHL and unnecessary/stupid to me why another league would need to be added when we are working towards having a more competitive combined league as is in the normal LGHL. This just seemingly will decrease the depth that LG leagues are building. Forcing players to go through elite bidding is not great for the LGHL leagues as many people (like myself) like owning in the LGHL because of it's casualness/format, while also having the option to play ESHL (which is very similar to the elite league as is). I don't think this league should be connected to the LGHL or turn into the new ESHL (because I don't think ESHL with multiple lines makes sense), I think it should just run as it's own seperate thing for the people that live for playing more chel (but something unique and seperate w/ different format). The last thing is AHL/CHL players most likely will never be interested in moving up tiers or even playing ESHL because they don't play LG for those reasons (and can't compete), so forcing them to could potentially make them leave the league as a whole.

 

Is there a reason for xbox teams and PlayStations teams not playing each other till the finals in both NHL and Elite?

 

run a club league similar to a gamebattles ladder that people can post/accept matches whenever they want. gets people on the site playing more often. run 2 month season with a mini playoff at the end.

 

Unless there is a money prize for the elite league then it’s pointless. Because why would the top players play in the elite league when eshl is basically a league on its own. Just keep ESHL how it was and leave the LGNHL for casual comp play.

 

damn son, @Nuge and @Vaporize 17 were almost a decade ahead with the pro series idea.

 

Big coding undertaking to combine the two leagues from what I understand. Easier for them to just run them separately and then manually do the Xbox vs PS part at the end.

 

The elite league is one of LG's dumber ideas I have seen come through. ESHL is the elite league already. That is going to need some kind of reform now that there will be even more clubs with the psn+xbox combination. Running tiers with promotion/relegation is a MUST.

With that said, the elite league is just a sandbox for the "top" players to keep playing within themselves. It benefits LG as a whole to have those "elite" players playing in a combined pool with other players who maybe are not the same level of player as them. Those top end players can help out improve some other players this way. Segregation of a sub selection when NHL is moving towards full integration and crossplay is a bad idea. Was LG really clamoring to have the "elites" playing in their own sandbox bidding league?

 

No need for the Elite league when ESHL exists. The players who want to sweat will have tournaments throughout the year to do so.

I play LGHL to feel challenged and play against players who are better than me. Watering down the NHL level seems like a negative, especially when the “new” NHL will be the most competitive yet.

 

Not discrediting your statement, just pointing out that you are somewhat contradicting yourself. You say no need for the Elite League because ESHL exists, and you play LGHL to go against better players... if the league does the Elite league, and the effect is "watering down" what is currently the NHL, that just means you would have to do what most AHL players do now... either scrim/club NHLers, or play in the ESHL tournaments

Sorry but all I read was "don't make the elite league, because I want to still play against the elite players in the current NHL"

 

I think people are focusing on the top end of the player pool, and how it will effect them, but we also have to think about the bottom. Without just making up teams, the CHL cannot expand into more teams, so creating another "Elite League" also allows a trickle down effect in which 544 more players get an opportunity to play, instead of just having to be on TC when they signed up to LG in search to play.

@SweetLou9208 to your point though, if not done correctly, you are going to have a very lopsided "Elite League" if the league does do 16 PSN and 16 Xbox, then all of what would be considered Top PSN players sign up on the Xbox side to get on better teams and most likely cheaper contracts. The league may want to think about this being a draft style league, in which each spot has a base salary, like they already do for the current NHL draft. Not saying I am suggesting this fully, but it may even need to be different Salaries for each console. 1st-9th pick is 10m for Xbox and 1st-9th pick is 8m for PSN... Idk, but the Top PSN players signing up on Xbox to stack teams on Xbox is the biggest potential issue the PSN side would face, and it would kill the Elite League idea completely.

 

My biggest issue is that you can't cross that line between competitive and casual because it 100% never works out in the end. If you look at game titles such as Call of Duty, and Fortnite these are two of the biggest games in the world and the issue they struggle with most is that base between casual and competitive players. Fortnite was one of the top games in the world for years and when they changed course and added SBMM (skill-based matchmaking) into the game it completely ruined the game. The game lost more players over time and tbh I played that game every day for hours and then deleted it when I started getting put in lobbies with people who lived for the game at a competitive level. I'm comparing this to LGHL because I think the idea of an ELITE level is pretty stupid. Just like any sport, you are always going to have people that live for it and your casual players and tbh this league was built off a mix of casual competitive gamers. The LGHL exists because people were looking for more than what the game had to offer. I love the competition that this website has to offer (and I'll address this later again) because I don't think people understand how hard it really is to win a cup in this league. I know that the ESHL exists for a reason and I think that is something the league should revamp because that is the place to play for "elite players". At the end of the day, the harsh reality is that the LGHL is not the place to play for players that want more than what is currently offered in the league. I've been managing for a while now and the number of guys that I've run into that simply don't care is high. I've had guys doing drugs in the middle of games, guys get their house raided mid-game by police, and consoles unplugged by angry parents... the list goes on. Then you have the fact of the matter that some people have a certain skill gap and they are never going to get past that. It comes down to the quality of players who can compete at the highest level and I think that the ESHL is perfect for them. The league is talking about inclusivity and whatnot but how is adding a league that your random joe will never get too fair? If we think the politics at the LGHL level is bad imagine it at a level that focuses only on winning. I have nothing against that but now you have a slippery slope talking about inclusivity and some of these players will never reach the elite level. The buddy-buddy relationship is what this current scene is built on and getting your friends is the truth. So I think having that level of competition with a limited amount of players even allowed playing does more damage than good. NHL Esports and the league itself should 100% be separated. How that works I have no idea, I am in no position to be making those kinds of decisions.

Next, let's address the sponsorships/marketing/growing together debacle because I have never seen a greater failure in my life in what could be something great for everyone. In June of this year, LG will be celebrating 20 years since its launch and that's great for all those involved and how far this has come since then but I've been on LG since 2017 and I've seen no progression. Sure the league has made changes in rules and whatnot and the changes for the eSports scene but what about your larger base of players? The marketing for LG is almost non-existent and I'm not sure why. I never see ADs for LG, I'm in Facebook groups for 6s and 3s and I've never seen one person recommend LG or talk about LG. Community members do media and that's sometimes but media is non-existent. When I started my journey in LG it was because I used to play 6s OTP and some kid told me about the league and the rest is history. I keep seeing talk about integration, sponsorships, etc but I don't think the league is ready for any kind of transition. LG should be the official place to play competitive hockey and I don't see that being pushed anywhere. Like it can't be that hard for the League to market inside the game (and I'm not stupid I know that costs $$, probably more than what's available) but it is possible. Also, where is the incentive to win a cup at the end of the season? I'm going into my 17th season with the league and I can't believe there is no incentive to win. As I said earlier it is hard to win in this league and the league should offer some sort of reward for winning at the end of the season. Merchandise, prizes for managers etc. That is a different debate I'm sure. But it is time to start rewarding managers with more than just a digital badge at the end of the season. Give people a reason to want to manage and give you the best they can. Again I know that costs $$ but it takes $$ to make money and that is where this league is failing. I don't know how much it costs to run a site like this annually but I feel like if a better marketing system was implemented and ways to monetize in certain areas then the league could come up with some cash. I'm sure these ideas have been thought about and tbh I'm not sure how to even make that happen and that is the issue all talk no action. I almost feel like the leauge has become complacent with the current base. The other issue is that some of the current base is the most toxic group of individuals I've ever met and all this talk of growing together, etc and bringing people up is something I don't see happening. I don't consider myself to be elite but I can play the game with good players and when you play drafts, pins, etc. the players themselves have no interest in growing because you make a bad play get yelled at, don't pass to a certain someone you're "ass", do anything wrong and it is your fault. I figured I would play drafts to get better and play with better players and see what I can do differently and in the end, you just get shit on for trying to get better. I could support the "growing together" agenda but this game has such a niece group although in the future that'd be cool to see.

I have always felt like LG should be the place people want to play whether that is club, drafts, eSports, or league. This can be an inclusive website for ALL I just don't think mixing leagues is a good idea. Brodie says he knew about cross-play since January so he's been thinking about this for months and I think announcing it a month before the game releases was a huge mistake. It seems that this wasn't really thought out and if you knew in January then you had 8 months (which I still don't think is enough time) to plan this all out. The other issue I have is Brodie asked us in the managers chat months ago when we were voting on certain issues if we would like to see the league split (as they plan) and if I remember correctly it was HEAVILY downvoted. I know while games during the season are not cross-play we are making this entire switch because we're confident in EA SPORTS??? The league is betting on EA SPORTS and that could be the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time. For the sake of the league I'm hoping cross-play launches with no errors but to say the least, I am not that hopeful.

How all these changes get implemented I'm not sure but I think this is something that should've launched next year when most people by then should be fully next-gen, and EA will hopefully only need to make two versions of the game, not 4 consoles. I'd like to see this site grow but I think there is a lot to be done before things get changed.

@LG McDonald @Tris10

 

100% Behind Mino on this one, there's so many what if's at this time Brodie has huge faith in EA servers from what i see, that cross platform format just won't work, guys that struggled to get to the N will most likely not wanna play in the AHL, you just pretty much sent half of the League to the A, you wanna run a cross platform CLUB LEAGUE cool like that you can test the cross platform if ya want but in NHL AHL CHL shouldn't be touched. like mino said the ELITE will become a boys club then you'll have the AHL and CHL, just doesn't make sense when u preached since day one you wanted to make an all inclusive league

 

The Venereal was a game changer.