Player Levels

Overview
Every player is rated for how good the game sees them by the game assigning each player a Player Level (PL). This PL has a number of effects within the game — it affects their base market price and their contract demands.

What PL does not do is impact how a player actually performs. How they perform is down to their skills and attributes, not their PL. The PL is really just a measure of how good the rugby world views the player, and how good the player views himself.

Calculating Player Level
The game will determine a player’s PL for every position group and the player’s actual PL will be equal to the

highest position group PL. This position group will become the player’s best position (which can be seen on the squad and player screens), which has an impact on physical attribute growth and deterioration due to age (see Attributes for more information). The position groups the game uses are: Prop, Hooker, Lock, Flanker, Number 8, Scrum-half, Fly-half, Center, Wing, and Full-back.

To work out a position group PL the game will add together all attributes and skills of the player and take an average. Each position group weighs the attributes and skills differently, by sorting them into category groups, with the attributes and skill having a multiplier applied depending on the category they fall within. The category modifiers are as follows:
 * Cat 1: x20
 * Cat 2: x10
 * Cat 3: x5
 * Cat 4: x1

e.g. The Prop positional group has the Scrum skill and the Strength attribute in category 1. That means these will be multiplied by 20 and then added to the total, before the position group average is calculated.

Category 4 skills and attributes are always the six highest skills or attributes that are not contained within the first three categories.

Height and Weight
Height and weight can be found in some of the position group categories. These are converted to an approximated skill level based on the position. For example, if weight is important for a position, a high weight will convert to a high level, and a low weight will convert to a low level, no lower than level 15. A similar philosophy is applied for height, and then these levels are added to the mix just like any other skill.

Best Position
The best position a player is assigned is based upon which position group generates the highest PL. The best position is an indication as to which position the game thinks they are most suited too. However, you may well want a player to play in a position with different skills and attributes than the best position is based upon, depending on your tactics and how you want your team to operate. Best position is just a suggestion, rather than a hard rule, and your squad situation may well mean that a better player with a different best position may be the best player to play in a position

e.g. suppose your best Prop has a PL of 20, but you have a Number 8 with a PL of 30. Perhaps that Number 8 might make a more effective prop for your team — you would have to look at the skills and attributes of the Number 8 to see if they could cut it as a prop, so would need to see what their scrum skill was like, how strong they were and so on to make a decision on it.

So don’t get too blinded by a player’s best position. It is a good indication of where to play them, but it may be better to play some players out of their best position.

Category Groups
Below are the position groups and which skills and attributes are included in that group's categories: