How Can We Make Draft Champions Better & Faster?

[Greg Ambrosius]

All good points Matt. The one difference between the 8 hour now and the 4 hour now is that there is no pause at night. I think people are leery about joining the 4 hour now because the chances of getting auto-picked at night are greater. With a 7-hour pause at night, there isn't that concern in a 4-hour DC.

We can certainly keep the 8 hour DC to start out, but the concern is that someone will take 8 hours plus the 7 hour Pause at night to make a pick. And let's say they are on the turn and take another 6-7 hours to pick. One person could take almost a day for two picks. But maybe we live through that rather than eliminate the 8 hour option altogether.

The goal isn't just to make these DCs faster, it's to make them more enjoyable. I understand we are all busy during the day, but 4 hours to make a pick during the day when you've been updated with previous picks isn't asking that much. And if you know you're busy, we need to ensure that 1 Round Auto works so that you can comfortably use the Que more. It's on us to make that technology easier and more reassuring, while also allowing the selection of a pick on a phone or other device easier. If you can go to lunch and easily make that pick on your phone these drafts will move more smoothly and that is going to be done for the start of baseball.

2. The reason it always started at 1 pm is because that's the way STATS programmed it and never changed. Now we have more flexibility to change and we'll come to a reasonable solution. Maybe it's not 1 hour after it sells out. Maybe it's a set time that day (11 am ET for any draft that sells out during the Pause or early morning; an hour after a sellout between 11 am-9 pm ET, or something like that). We'll take all input in making this work.

3. We'll ask about inputting draft lists. Not sure about this, but making things more user-friendly in loading and creating draft lists makes a lot of sense. They have to synch up with the Player IDs within the system, so that's why we couldn't do that before, so let me look into that. We are on the right path with the Draft Prep, but the functionality was cumbersome to rank your list initially. Let's see how we can perfect that.

Not sure about the extra credit, but drafting me or Tom would never be a smart move. But we can discuss that down the road. Thanks.

[FrozenTundra]

Going to four hours to make a pick with the overnight pause is a great idea and will much improve the drafting experience. I also think showing how long each owner is taking to make their picks will have a significant positive impact in moving things along. On the other hand, starting the draft one hour after a league fills is definitely too quick. How about making it four hours, too!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Going to four hours to make a pick with the overnight pause is a great idea and will much improve the drafting experience. I also think showing how long each owner is taking to make their picks will have a significant positive impact in moving things along. On the other hand, starting the draft one hour after a league fills is definitely too quick. How about making it four hours, too!

Yeah, let's kick that start time around and see what works best. One thing I'll say is I always thought that announcing draft picks 15 minutes after we fill a Rotowire Online Championship was too quick, but all customers have adjusted and made it work. If you sign up for a draft you obviously want to draft and will make do. We can definitely come up with a time that makes sense for everyone, but the way we've had it before (1 pm ET the next day) isn't what we want. If we fill it, let's give everyone time to be ready for the draft and yet still get them rolling the same day if possible. That's the goal.

[steveymer]

The overnight pause is obviously a good idea. As for the draft clock, the best option seems to be making both 4 and 8 hour drafts available and let folks decide what works for them. Personally, I don't mind a slower draft - they give me plenty of time to do research which will help me the rest of the draft season (a big plus of early DCs) and they help get me through the long, cold, baseball-less winter. Others obviously prefer a faster draft, so makes sense to give them that option, too. In fact, I can imagine doing some 8 hour drafts in Nov/Dec/Jan (if you could go ahead and put me down for the first one now, that'd be great ) and then signing up for some 4 hours in Feb/Mar.

[Greg Ambrosius]

The overnight pause is obviously a good idea. As for the draft clock, the best option seems to be making both 4 and 8 hour drafts available and let folks decide what works for them. Personally, I don't mind a slower draft - they give me plenty of time to do research which will help me the rest of the draft season (a big plus of early DCs) and they help get me through the long, cold, baseball-less winter. Others obviously prefer a faster draft, so makes sense to give them that option, too. In fact, I can imagine doing some 8 hour drafts in Nov/Dec/Jan (if you could go ahead and put me down for the first one now, that'd be great ) and then signing up for some 4 hours in Feb/Mar.

Not a bad idea, but then why have a Pause with an 8-hour clock? Maybe we offer the 4 Hour DC (and lesser for any league that wants it) with a Pause at night and the same 8-Hour DC we've always had with no Pause at night. Seems like that could appeal to all masses.

Thoughts?

[Deadheadz]

Not a bad idea, but then why have a Pause with an 8-hour clock? Maybe we offer the 4 Hour DC (and lesser for any league that wants it) with a Pause at night and the same 8-Hour DC we've always had with no Pause at night. Seems like that could appeal to all masses.

Thoughts?

Have a checkbox on everyone's draft room which the owner can mark to show they favor an overnight pause. An indicator will show everyone how many (eg 12/15) people have marked the box. If your turn comes up and you marked your box the clock will pause, otherwise not. Hopefully combined with Auto picks the draft can progress a couple of rounds while you sleep.