Odd ratings for WCW in '99

[LuckIsForLosers]

Evening folks

 

So I'm still a bit of a noob at TEW'13 though having done a 2 year TNA Real World game, a year with WCW in the War Begins 1996 mod and half a year with ROH, the game and how to succeed makes sense to me.

 

But my latest game has totally baffled me. I really wanted to do WCW circa 1999-2001...when things have really started to go South for WCW and North for WWF (no pun intended). So I got Genadi's January 1999 TEW10 mod and converted it. No problems. Started as WCW in January 1999. But the oddities are as follows -

 

1) WWF is set in the mod with popularities of between 62-early 70s in all international regions, with mid 70s in Canada, and 83-89 in USA. Steve Austin has popularity 98-100 everywhere in the world, Rock with 90-92 in USA, Foley and Taker all high 80s, HHH 80 odd, Kane mid 80s and a strong midcard/upper midcard. They're pulling a 5.7 average rating on primetime USA Network with an average show rating of 82. My WCW has low 70s in Tristate/New England, high 70s in most US areas and 80-82 in a couple and 86 in South East. I'm pulling a 5.5 average rating on primetime TNT with an average show rating of 75. TNT are of a similar size and type of network as USA. What gives? Why are my ratings still in the same ballpark as their's when they should be declining?

 

2) I understand that the above point can be down to AI Booking. But this point REALLY baffles me. On this mod, booking is incredibly odd. E.g. I book a Chris Jericho microphone angle (his popularity in USA is high 60s and his mic skills are high 80s) for the maximum time and it gains a 50 rating. A Raven promo (strong mic skills and excellent entertainment) judged on entertainment gets a 30 when he has high 50s/low 60s popularity. Ric Flair vs Bret Hart as a main event (both have huge popularities in the late 80s and spilling over into the 90s) with the correct type of match, match specifications for the product etc gets a 74 if I'm lucky. An ending angle featuring Hogan/Nash/Hall/Goldberg is what always saves me. And Hogan promos pull like an 82-84 if I'm lucky. Incredibly odd that the ratings are still low. Even odder then that with a show that gets a final rating of 74 the Internet reports that "we struck gold" or "had an excellent show" despite WCW's popularity being high 70s/early 80s.

 

So I guess my question is that am I getting these completely weird ratings and insanely low ratings for matches between popular ring generals and even for angles from people like Hogan because WCW in this mod is Cult-sized (but a very high popularity cult size) or because the company's momentum is set very low at around D+/40 (prestige is still 90) or something I'm missing?

 

Thanks and sorry for being long-winded

[James Casey]

<p>Worker momentum in the latter case seems likely to be the issue. A worker may be well known but have no traction with the crowd - it's something they have to build, like when the old-timers shown up on Raw. Folks know they're only there for a night, so they have essentially zero momentum. </p><p> </p><p>

Of course, in WCW 1999 hardly anyone had momentum. Even Goldberg got his legs cut out from under him by his heel turn...</p>

[RKOwnage]

Not only what James Casey said, but the Hart/Flair match could also be as a result of Time Decline. Hart would be 42 and Flair 50 at that point, which means they've probably got a fairly significant amount of Time/Physical decline going on.

[LuckIsForLosers]

<p>Right I suppose that makes some sense, thanks guys.</p><p> </p><p>

But what still confuses me is the Hogan promos. On creative meeting he is my franchise player and has popularity between 94-100. His show closing promo (just him alone, no extras) just got me a 79 and his own momentum is 88, his gimmick is highly rated. </p><p> </p><p>

Does company momentum affect ratings for matches and promos? </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

On a sidenote - this mod captures the poisonous WCW backstage attitude really well. Every week there's a new backstage incident and the various main eventers truly dislike each other. I can only imagine what a nightmare this was like to book in real life.</p>

[Croquemitaine]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="LuckIsForLosers" data-cite="LuckIsForLosers" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36475" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> On a sidenote - this mod captures the poisonous WCW backstage attitude really well. Every week there's a new backstage incident and the various main eventers truly dislike each other. I can only imagine what a nightmare this was like to book in real life.</p></div></blockquote><p> This is a factor too. If your backstage rating is below 70%, then every segment is going to get a rating ding for "low morale".</p>

[shawn michaels]

I see no problem in there. Between possible time decline, momentum, morale issues and a few other things, everything seems fine. I'm currently playing a WCW game and I know how hard it is to put on good shows and angles regularly.

[lazorbeak]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Croquemitaine" data-cite="Croquemitaine" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36475" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>This is a factor too. If your backstage rating is below 70%, then every segment is going to get a rating ding for "low morale".</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's also an older built mod, so it may not be as well-balanced as some newer stuff (everything after the golden age mods build). That said, I think it's most likely your backstage morale being an 8 or something so toxic that everything is being hit pretty hard.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="James Casey" data-cite="James Casey" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36475" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Worker momentum in the latter case seems likely to be the issue. A worker may be well known but have no traction with the crowd - it's something they have to build, like when the old-timers shown up on Raw. Folks know they're only there for a night, so they have essentially zero momentum. <p> </p><p> Of course, in WCW 1999 hardly anyone had momentum. Even Goldberg got his legs cut out from under him by his heel turn...</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Wait, what? Goldberg certainly never turned heel in '99? <img alt=":confused:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/confused.png.d4a8e6b6eab0c67698b911fb041c0ed1.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Mattywood]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="lazorbeak" data-cite="lazorbeak" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36475" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Wait, what? Goldberg certainly never turned heel in '99? <img alt=":confused:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/confused.png.d4a8e6b6eab0c67698b911fb041c0ed1.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I think it was 2000, was it not? Because I think it was after Russo had been brought back, and Goldberg turning heel was being hyped up as the big shocking thing for Great American Bash. Good gravy, I almost forgot how bad WCW was by that point!</p>

[Dawn]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Matt Shannon" data-cite="Matt Shannon" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36475" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think it was 2000, was it not? Because I think it was after Russo had been brought back, and Goldberg turning heel was being hyped up as the big shocking thing for Great American Bash. Good gravy, I almost forgot how bad WCW was by that point!</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> He turned heel to join the New Blood, so yes, it was 2000.</p>

[Henderson]

<p>Nothing wrong with anything you've described going on in your WCW game. It said you "Struck Gold" on your show because as a Cult company, scoring a 74 overall show rating is an excellent grade.</p><p> </p><p>

As a Cult company, you're not going to likely score 99 rated segments or 84 overall show grades. The highest segment I've gotten as Cult was an angle that scored 91 (I forget who it was) and the highest match grade I've gotten was 84 between Lance Storm and Sting. As Cult, you can't expect to be pulling in the same grades as a Global company or even National company.</p><p> </p><p>

As said before, momentum, backstage rating, your product, worker morale, whether or not the crowd is "hot" or "cold," all these things and more factor into the type of grades you get. If I'm a Cult company and my most over worker gets a 84 grade in a segment, I'm going to be very pleased with it. That's the same as a worker in a Global company scoring a 99 or 100.</p><p> </p><p>

Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that when you took over WCW, you can't expect the ratings and everything to mimic real life. The ratings will be different. There's no way to accurately simulate that when you play a game. The world will be different, the shows are different, everything's different. Also in early 99, ratings were actually still pretty high. Things didn't really start to go south for WCW really until about the Summer of 99. I'd argue that WCW's turning point was really when Owen Hart died. Bischoff was planning a huge program with Bret Hart and Goldberg and that all tanked when Hart left following Owen's death. WCW had to totally re-do everything they had planned for the rest of the year and you can tell when watching the show that they had no idea what they were doing and where they planned on going. Hart was being set up as the mega heel and that all changed when he left.</p>