CFM: Storyline Players Branching Point?

[DrDoctor]

Does anyone know when during the season the storyline incoming rookies have their stories branch?

Long story short, I found this amazing QB in an offline CFM. I restarted the season with an old save back to Week 1. I eventually get to the draft and the same QB has now branched into a different storyline and is projected much lower and no longer has Superstar dev. I'm trying to figure out at what point in the season storylines "branch" so I can go back and try to get the better version of him.

[ksteward84]

While normally I don't approve of "cheating" like this, what you do in your offline CFM has no effect on anyone besides how much fun you're having.

Week 3 is the first week you can scout players, so it's my educated guess that's when the draft classes are generated.

[Ampking101]

I have seen stories pop up as early as week 1 and as late as week 4 so it really depends I suppose. When the players start to branch and exactly which story gets decided; I'm inclined to think it could be week to week (i.e. If you advance to week 5 and the storyline is that this particular QB lead his team to victory but if you go back to week 4 and advance again he could get injured or decide to focus on studies instead). I might actually try this theory out but from what I can gather...

Draft classes are generated as you advance to week 1, this decides the names, positions, projected pick, and their starting attributes and dev, and most of all I believe this is also when story line players are chosen.

Next I believe each week the exact story in which those players draw from is chosen at the advance of the week before. My theory on this is because their projected spot can change weekly as can their dev rating. I have not witnessed the actual grades on ratings change but as it has been the case in recent Madden games, I would hazard that it might also be possible this year.

[bigd51]

Simple solution from me? Stop following storylines completely. True talent value is much more important. I understand most want to follow them for realistic reasons, but Madden simply does a horrible half-assed job of making those storylines effective to begin with, and with little reason why.

I had a draft where a TE was "story-lined" as having the fastest 40 time in that years TE class... yet, when I checked the actual player when scouting, he posted a 40 time ranked 6th or 7th. I've also seen a QB go from 1st overall in early season rankings, to a 4th round grade... solely because he tested the waters of professional baseball.

It's all too random for me, and seems to only be there like most other CFM options are there for... to make it appear there's something, when underneath it all, there's nothing to the contrary.

My strategy that's worked ten-fold so far... draft/scout according to Player Style, offensive/defensive scheme, and/or their true value rank. I'm a sim-manager/coach mostly with CFM. Maybe play one or two games per season and sim the rest, so I've seen my share of drafts (even went 20+ years deep in one of my CFM's) and not a single time have I ever paid attention to storylines... yet I never see any impact, whether positive or negative, from not paying attention to these guys.

Maybe the storylines have more of an impact than I'm seeing, but judging from my multiple CFM's alone while disregarding storylines altogether, I've never had an issue with results. Considering EA does such a lackluster job at making these features prominent the way they're intended, I just see storylines as another feature meant to make it look like they're prominent when in reality, they're an illusion to make you think they actually matter... a strategy nearly all of us can agree has become a disappointing staple to just about every Madden game these days.

[khaliib]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigd51

Simple solution from me? Stop following storylines completely. True talent value is much more important. I understand most want to follow them for realistic reasons, but Madden simply does a horrible half-assed job of making those storylines effective to begin with, and with little reason why. I had a draft where a TE was "story-lined" as having the fastest 40 time in that years TE class... yet, when I checked the actual player when scouting, he posted a 40 time ranked 6th or 7th. I've also seen a QB go from 1st overall in early season rankings, to a 4th round grade... solely because he tested the waters of professional baseball. It's all too random for me, and seems to only be there like most other CFM options are there for... to make it appear there's something, when underneath it all, there's nothing to the contrary. My strategy that's worked ten-fold so far... draft/scout according to Player Style, offensive/defensive scheme, and/or their true value rank. I'm a sim-manager/coach mostly with CFM. Maybe play one or two games per season and sim the rest, so I've seen my share of drafts (even went 20+ years deep in one of my CFM's) and not a single time have I ever paid attention to storylines... yet I never see any impact, whether positive or negative, from not paying attention to these guys. Maybe the storylines have more of an impact than I'm seeing, but judging from my multiple CFM's alone while disregarding storylines altogether, I've never had an issue with results. Considering EA does such a lackluster job at making these features prominent the way they're intended, I just see storylines as another feature meant to make it look like they're prominent when in reality, they're an illusion to make you think they actually matter... a strategy nearly all of us can agree has become a disappointing staple to just about every Madden game these days.

If you do a search, you will see that it's been stated too many times that simming is a different mechanism than playing the game.

The statement that "back stories" do not have an impact in CFM is false.
The entire mode is linked to the functionality of "back stories" as a player, coach and owner.

The Sim-Stat Gen is a separate mechanism.

[Ampking101]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigd51

. Maybe the storylines have more of an impact than I'm seeing, but judging from my multiple CFM's alone while disregarding storylines altogether, I've never had an issue with results. Considering EA does such a lackluster job at making these features prominent the way they're intended, I just see storylines as another feature meant to make it look like they're prominent when in reality, they're an illusion to make you think they actually matter... a strategy nearly all of us can agree has become a disappointing staple to just about every Madden game these days.

While I agree with your assessment on the impact of the story's themselves and the fact that there never is any follow up, nor is it actually indicative of their individual abilities (i.e. as you stated fastest 40 time in a story does not translate to actually having the fastest 40).

It does however sometimes indicate their overall ability and their dev. Generally good story players have quick or Superstar development while bad story players can indicate higher overall but have slow development.

So while if you are good at drafting, you can ignore it completely (and in most cases should) and not lose out on anything. However if you have 2 players, both have comparable skills, both are proper projected talent, and both fit your scheme but one is a story player, I will go for him if he had a good story and avoid him if he had a bad story.

Other than this though, I agree and hope that if they keep including these stories that they actually build on them and make them more dynamic and make them matter, rather than keep them dull and for the most part meaningless.

[bigd51]

Quote: Originally Posted by khaliib

If you do a search, you will see that it's been stated too many times that simming is a different mechanism than playing the game. The statement that "back stories" do not have an impact in CFM is false. The entire mode is linked to the functionality of "back stories" as a player, coach and owner. The Sim-Stat Gen is a separate mechanism.

I wasn't referring to sim stats in any way. I mentioned my sim playing style only to explain how many seasons I've legit gone through. I'm sure I've rolled through at least 100 by now and still play games in between them, so it's not 100% simming anyway. Besides, I've known for years that sim is a different mechanism, way before the Clint interview. When they first split THA into 3 catagories, it was stated somewhere that the THA rating would be used for sim and CPU play while a user QB during gameplay would use S, M, and DAC.

But, to be clear, I'm not doubting it's overall functionality within CFM... just that as a Dev trait identifier, it's really not needed as the vast majority of green gem talents have dev traits from Normal to Superstar. So my point is, as per the dev trait, just sticking to drafting green gems will net you a solid dev trait player 9 times out of 10. And not just the dev trait, either. I've drafted QB's with rock solid attributes and nearly every trait maxed out with a Superstar dev trait... and that guy was not a storyline QB at any point.

So again, they have fucntionality in the mode... but using storylines to guess dev traits and other traits isn't the only way to go about it.

[bigd51]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ampking101

While I agree with your assessment on the impact of the story's themselves and the fact that there never is any follow up, nor is it actually indicative of their individual abilities (i.e. as you stated fastest 40 time in a story does not translate to actually having the fastest 40). It does however sometimes indicate their overall ability and their dev. Generally good story players have quick or Superstar development while bad story players can indicate higher overall but have slow development. So while if you are good at drafting, you can ignore it completely (and in most cases should) and not lose out on anything. However if you have 2 players, both have comparable skills, both are proper projected talent, and both fit your scheme but one is a story player, I will go for him if he had a good story and avoid him if he had a bad story. Other than this though, I agree and hope that if they keep including these stories that they actually build on them and make them more dynamic and make them matter, rather than keep them dull and for the most part meaningless.

Agreed with everything here.

They absolutely need to be there, as storylines are very prominent in the real life NFL draft. Much like nearly everything CFM these days, they just need to clean them up and deeply expand on them to make them worth using the way they're intended to be used.