VBD Excel Tool (1 Viewer)

[Payne]

I love this tool. Last year it was fired up around June 15th. Will this tool be made available again in 2023? Is there a timeframe?

Thanks

 

[Bonka]

Waiting for the draft dominator classic to be updated as well. Was released on June 15th last year and haven't seen any threads about it yet.

 

[Chaka]

IIRC @Joe Bryant has frequently said he is committed to maintaining the VBD and DD Classic.

FWIW after 15 years (more?) of being one of those guys who waited for the VBD to drop every year and spent dozens of hours (at least) each off-season tweaking projections to import into the DD Classic, two years ago I converted to the new DD and made very few modifications.

Couldn't be happier with that decision.

 

[Payne]

IIRC @Joe Bryant has frequently said he is committed to maintaining the VBD and DD Classic.

FWIW after 15 years (more?) of being one of those guys who waited for the VBD to drop every year and spent dozens of hours (at least) each off-season tweaking projections to import into the DD Classic, two years ago I converted to the new DD and made very few modifications.

Couldn't be happier with that decision.

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Obviously may not be the case to others.

 

[Chaka]

IIRC @Joe Bryant has frequently said he is committed to maintaining the VBD and DD Classic.

FWIW after 15 years (more?) of being one of those guys who waited for the VBD to drop every year and spent dozens of hours (at least) each off-season tweaking projections to import into the DD Classic, two years ago I converted to the new DD and made very few modifications.

Couldn't be happier with that decision.

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Obviously may not be the case to others.

I haven't tried to import the VBD into the new DD.

I used to import my VBD sheet (after months of tweaking) into the classic DD, that provided me the exact valuations from the VBD into a much better UI for drafting (bidding).

At this point I have accepted that my projections/valuations are no better than anyone else's. I'm paying JB $30 bucks a year (or whatever) so I might as well take advantage of the FBG staffs hard work.

 

[Joe Bryant]

IIRC @Joe Bryant has frequently said he is committed to maintaining the VBD and DD Classic.

FWIW after 15 years (more?) of being one of those guys who waited for the VBD to drop every year and spent dozens of hours (at least) each off-season tweaking projections to import into the DD Classic, two years ago I converted to the new DD and made very few modifications.

Couldn't be happier with that decision.

Thank you @Chaka

I think you're right on both accounts.

1. I'm committed to keeping the Classic tools alive. I know some folks love them. We're planning for this years Classic tools to be ready 6/30.
2. I couldn't recommend more strongly switching over to the newest Draft Dominator and League Dominator. 100% of our new thinking on things goes into them. They are in my opinion our best material.

 

[Simon Shepherd]

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Hey @Payne , every auction is different. Some $200 auctions price the top player at $100. Some $40. Each league develops their own habits and precedents.

So the app can't out-the-box get this right for everyone.

But, it can easily be setup to adjust to how you want it. In this case, you want the blue RANKINGS button above the players list. Here you'll find a slider marked "Studs and Duds". If you move that to the right, you will increase the value of the top players, and decrease the value of the lower players.

There's additionally another slider to manipulate the point in the draft where players are valued at $1.

Between these two sliders, you can setup any league to perfectly mirror your salary cap draft.

Alternatively, you can leave these two options on "AUTO". This'll be the Draft Dominator into "AI Salary Cap Mode" where it watches the draft, and after a few picks will begin to automatically - on its own - adjust those two sliders to form a line of best fit for the player values so far.

A lot of the new Draft Dominator code was written by me, personally; my main league is a salary cap draft and has been for years. I can only say that I consider the advantage the app gives you in salary cap drafts to be very, very unfair and much greater than in snake draft leagues.

 

[titusbramble]

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Hey @Payne , every auction is different. Some $200 auctions price the top player at $100. Some $40. Each league develops their own habits and precedents.

So the app can't out-the-box get this right for everyone.

It would also be useful to know what Payne is meaning by "overvalue players". If it's universal across the board, then that is likely that it is more a case of the league in question undervaluing players, which is easily exploited. If it is overvaluing a certain position, then it becomes more interesting and whether it's a case of the league in question undervaluing it (or overvaluing somewhere else) and also potentially exploitable. If it's overvaluing at random, then that is surely just disagreement between valuations

 

[joey]

At this point I have accepted that my projections/valuations are no better than anyone else's. I'm paying JB $30 bucks a year (or whatever) so I might as well take advantage of the FBG staffs hard work.

x10000000

I gave up on anything besides little nudges up or down (or straight up “dnd” personal preferences) years ago. These FBG dudes spend more time on projections and rankings that I could ever invest these days.

 

[Joe Bryant]

At this point I have accepted that my projections/valuations are no better than anyone else's. I'm paying JB $30 bucks a year (or whatever) so I might as well take advantage of the FBG staffs hard work.

x10000000

I gave up on anything besides little nudges up or down (or straight up “dnd” personal preferences) years ago. These FBG dudes spend more time on projections and rankings that I could ever invest these days.

I think a ton of folks are like @Chaka and @joey here. Knowing how sharp this group of posters are here on the forum, I've no doubt if they had all day every day to work on projections, they'd crush them. The reality is most folks don't have that time. And that's where we can help. I think using our projections as sort of a base is the right way. And then the real fun is then adding your intuition and likes and dislikes and personal things. Everyone of course uses our content differently, but if I were a consumer and had a different job than I do, that's exactly how I'd use our subscription.

 

[Joe Bryant]

IIRC @Joe Bryant has frequently said he is committed to maintaining the VBD and DD Classic.

FWIW after 15 years (more?) of being one of those guys who waited for the VBD to drop every year and spent dozens of hours (at least) each off-season tweaking projections to import into the DD Classic, two years ago I converted to the new DD and made very few modifications.

Couldn't be happier with that decision.

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Obviously may not be the case to others.

I'll also say this @Payne. Use what works for you. If the VBD Excel App works best for you, by all means use that. We spend a ton of money every year to keep our Classic tools for folks that prefer them.

I see a lot of the FBG features like our kids. I love them all. And each are unique and do different things. If VBD Excel app is working for you, rock on. That's why we've spent the money and resources to keep it rolling.

 

[Payne]

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Hey @Payne , every auction is different. Some $200 auctions price the top player at $100. Some $40. Each league develops their own habits and precedents.

So the app can't out-the-box get this right for everyone.

But, it can easily be setup to adjust to how you want it. In this case, you want the blue RANKINGS button above the players list. Here you'll find a slider marked "Studs and Duds". If you move that to the right, you will increase the value of the top players, and decrease the value of the lower players.

There's additionally another slider to manipulate the point in the draft where players are valued at $1.

Between these two sliders, you can setup any league to perfectly mirror your salary cap draft.

Alternatively, you can leave these two options on "AUTO". This'll be the Draft Dominator into "AI Salary Cap Mode" where it watches the draft, and after a few picks will begin to automatically - on its own - adjust those two sliders to form a line of best fit for the player values so far.

A lot of the new Draft Dominator code was written by me, personally; my main league is a salary cap draft and has been for years. I can only say that I consider the advantage the app gives you in salary cap drafts to be very, very unfair and much greater than in snake draft leagues.

Morning Simon.

I'll give your suggestions a try. I have been on this website since the cheet sheet days and just continue to find the VBD spreadsheet more useful.

Could just be I have grown into one of the old timers now.

 

[Payne]

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Hey @Payne , every auction is different. Some $200 auctions price the top player at $100. Some $40. Each league develops their own habits and precedents.

So the app can't out-the-box get this right for everyone.

It would also be useful to know what Payne is meaning by "overvalue players". If it's universal across the board, then that is likely that it is more a case of the league in question undervaluing players, which is easily exploited. If it is overvaluing a certain position, then it becomes more interesting and whether it's a case of the league in question undervaluing it (or overvaluing somewhere else) and also potentially exploitable. If it's overvaluing at random, then that is surely just disagreement between valuations

Where top RB's go for 35-45 in our league, DD will have them valued at 53 for instance. I could never quite get it as close as I needed.
Also made mocking on DD near impossible.

When using the VBD tool, I simply punch in the cap space each team is given, the scoring parameters and roster requirements and BAM, auction values are historically spot on.

I then take that data and "map" out the values players went for in previous years and adjust slightly if needed.
Take that final spreadsheet to my draft and old school it. Has been a very successful recipe for me.

 

[Chaka]

I have tried DD more than a few times and I find the parameters I enter in VBD have produced almost the exact auction values that present themselves at my auctions.
DD does not. Always seems to overvalue players.

Hey @Payne , every auction is different. Some $200 auctions price the top player at $100. Some $40. Each league develops their own habits and precedents.

So the app can't out-the-box get this right for everyone.

But, it can easily be setup to adjust to how you want it. In this case, you want the blue RANKINGS button above the players list. Here you'll find a slider marked "Studs and Duds". If you move that to the right, you will increase the value of the top players, and decrease the value of the lower players.

There's additionally another slider to manipulate the point in the draft where players are valued at $1.

Between these two sliders, you can setup any league to perfectly mirror your salary cap draft.

Alternatively, you can leave these two options on "AUTO". This'll be the Draft Dominator into "AI Salary Cap Mode" where it watches the draft, and after a few picks will begin to automatically - on its own - adjust those two sliders to form a line of best fit for the player values so far.

A lot of the new Draft Dominator code was written by me, personally; my main league is a salary cap draft and has been for years. I can only say that I consider the advantage the app gives you in salary cap drafts to be very, very unfair and much greater than in snake draft leagues.

Morning Simon.

I'll give your suggestions a try. I have been on this website since the cheet sheet days and just continue to find the VBD spreadsheet more useful.

Could just be I have grown into one of the old timers now.

"Could..."???

 

[Joe Bryant]

"Could..."???

With y'all. :hi:

 

[Simon Shepherd]

I'll give your suggestions a try. I have been on this website since the cheet sheet days and just continue to find the VBD spreadsheet more useful.

If the VBD spreadsheet is your thing, I'm with @Joe Bryant - go for it! But, that said, I do think your issue with the Draft Dominator is something it's setup to handle and it's what I choose to use, but then that's kinda like Bill Gates saying he uses Windows... If you need any further help with it, we have a dedicated techie now on customer service called Sean, and he'd be glad to help you. He'd liaise with me as needed to answer any of your questions. footballguys.com/help

 

[Spike]

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool VBD guy too. I've tried DD but could never figure it out.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool VBD guy too. I've tried DD but could never figure it out.

Good news then, @Spike. It's ready for you now here https://www.footballguys.com/article/footballguys-classic-drafting-apps

 

[Spike]

Thanks, Joe!

Any chance VBD will ever be updated so if you have "2" for QBs in the Input page, the ADP values on the Cheat page will reflect ADP for 2 QB leagues?

 

[Spike]

@Joe Bryant, is there any chance VBD will ever be updated so if you have "2" for QBs in the Input page, the ADP values on the Cheat page will reflect ADP for 2 QB leagues?

 

[Joe Bryant]

Hi @Spike. For our Classic Tools, the Draft Dominator Classic, VBD Excel App and the Projections Dominator, they are locked in and we won't be able to do technical work on changing them this late in the fantasy year. We're able to have them available each year and to fill them with updated projections each week, but we haven't been able to change the actual tool for a good while. I know there are folks who love the older tools though so we spend the money and resources to keep them going as they are with current projections.

 

[Team Chaos]

Hi @Spike. For our Classic Tools, the Draft Dominator Classic, VBD Excel App and the Projections Dominator, they are locked in and we won't be able to do technical work on changing them this late in the fantasy year. We're able to have them available each year and to fill them with updated projections each week, but we haven't been able to change the actual tool for a good while. I know there are folks who love the older tools though so we spend the money and resources to keep them going as they are with current projections.

I appreciate this. I love the VBD excel. I fall under the old dog, new tricks category.

 

[Spike]

Having finally started to use the Draft Dominator, I have a question for the masses - why is the rankings (as it were) so different between VBD and DD?

 

[simsarge]

@Joe Bryant Questiom... trying to run the vbd excel app for a cheat sheet but I keep getting "Security Risk Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of the file is untrusted" "A potentially dangerous macro has been blocked" error message after trying to Get latest projections. I enabled Macros in the settings, but i still get the same error when I retry or close and re open.

 

[Joe Bryant]

@Joe Bryant Questiom... trying to run the vbd excel app for a cheat sheet but I keep getting "Security Risk Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of the file is untrusted" "A potentially dangerous macro has been blocked" error message after trying to Get latest projections. I enabled Macros in the settings, but i still get the same error when I retry or close and re open.

Not sure. I haven't seen that and we have tens of thousands using.

 

[bombjack]

Another fan of the old school VBD excel app here. Ol' reliable.

 

[Triangles]

@Joe Bryant Questiom... trying to run the vbd excel app for a cheat sheet but I keep getting "Security Risk Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of the file is untrusted" "A potentially dangerous macro has been blocked" error message after trying to Get latest projections. I enabled Macros in the settings, but i still get the same error when I retry or close and re open.

Not sure. I haven't seen that and we have tens of thousands using.

1. Close the workbook containing the blocked macro.
2. In File Explorer, browser to the location where the workbook is saved.
3. Right-click the file, and select Properties from the context menu.
4. In the Properties dialog box, check the Unblock box, and then click OK.

 

[Payne]

Having finally started to use the Draft Dominator, I have a question for the masses - why is the rankings (as it were) so different between VBD and DD?

As I said earlier, I find the auction values from VBD to be almost identical to what I see in my real auctions. Has always been the case.
DD is way off.