Holy shit, a lot to read here. I read the first 4 or so pages yesterday and now there are 20. I'm not going to pretend that I've read it all. I will, but just wanted to get my idea out there.
I never had a problem with tickers, and after getting used to them, I don't think I've had a negative pop in months. I think it is obvious that tickers drove managers out of the game, which is very unfortunate. I think it is important to realize, if a new change is made, we will lose managers again. I don't think this is a reason to NOT make changes, but it should be considered, and the goal should be to lose as few managers as possible.
That all being said, I like the idea of a skill cap, but I think it should be a soft cap, and the actual cap of each fighter is determined by a new hidden. For instance, say the soft cap is 75%. The hidden can put your fighter anywhere between 70% and 80%. Is this a large range? Sure is...pretty realistic though right? I mean, some people just can't learn as well as others no matter how good their teachers are. To think that every fighter can achieve the same level (or anywhere close to the same level, frankly)of skill development is naive. Won't mean they suck and are useless, and other hiddens will help their in cage game. I know this might not be popular with managers who are front runners, because no one will figure out this hidden until it is too late to just scrap the guy, and there are certain managers here who can only operate with the higher skilled fighters. I think this kind of idea would help some of the non top tier orgs. If a manager finds out he has a guy who rolled a 71% skill cap, but has some other good hiddens, he doesn't need to scrap him, maybe he can compete in the middle tier orgs.
How to adjust the fighters already over this cap, or incorporate aptitudes....beyond what I've thought of so far. Also, I did read someone make an interesting point. Without tickers, once I find out my fighter's "skill cap" and I reach the cap, and am happy with his build, why would I keep in a gym?