Originally posted by PP
There are a few tough PL conferences out there. Last ssn APL's Ele conference was p damn tough/competitive, with a lot of good games. I didn't really follow it, but we played a couple WEPL teams that were very good and wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have a good conference or 2. So, I suspect there are a few PL conferences out there that are fairly tough, at least for a ssn or 2. However, I'd agree that many, if not most, have gotten weaker than AAA used to be in the first 10 ssns
Every pro league conference is competitive to some degree. But, the problem seems to be that there is always 1 or 2 teams that dominates league play in the leagues that are considered "inferior". Then you have about 7-9 teams vying for 2-8, then a handful of teams that either got promoted too fast, or just don't put the same level of preparation into each game.
I agree, AAA in the first 7-10 seasons was much less watered down and competitive. But, that's what happen when the first 3-4 seasons are new for everyone.
There's more than a few problems with how the league structure works today, though:
-Started when Bort expanded the leagues too fast. If from seasons 4-12, we only had 4, or maybe 5 conferences, AA and A would probably still be around and be competitive leagues. And then, adding in the competitive minors system would have worked as a feeder to A or AA. Gutted teams happen, teams ready would move up the ladder, gutted teams all the way down, and competitive teams from minors into A or AA. Pretty basic, and the initial plan, but got sidetracked when the user base spiked and everyone wanted a team. Dollar signs took over for common sense and long term thought process.
- Some teams just put in more effort than others, whether it's in recruiting or game planning, or building dots from day 1. The problem is that there is no way to regulate that. However, go back to the first point, and it good have been curbed.
- Fast forward to today. You have broken leagues that are largely filled with teams that are part of networks. Not necessarily a bad thing, but by watering down the level of competition over the seasons, it's made it so that the amount of users owning teams has dwindled to the point where it's the same people behind each team, spread out across multiple leagues. That can't be considered a good sign.
To answer ITS's original question, I think trophies before S12 probably mean more than those after, in the AAA and AA realms. And trophies in the first 4-5 seasons, probably mean the most.
