Madden 23 Wishlist

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Quote: Originally Posted by RogueHominid

I think what I want most from Madden is a commitment to iteration. By that I mean that yearly releases often tout additions that are a) released in an incomplete state under the guise of a "continuous development" model and b) left to die on the vine in subsequent iterations in favor of new features that are partially conceived and unevenly executed. I think if they made sure all the things that were added to the previous game + a short list of legacy issues got improved each year all received attention (playbooks, progressive fatigue, etc.), I'd be really happy.

I'm with you. Going off of that, my bottomline list for M23 would be:

• Fix CPU Draft Logic... aka make it like it was at the end of M21 before the devs broke it for M22.
• Allow CPU to Hire User Coordinators... like the devs promised would happen in M22 at launch, but still doesn't happen.
• Fix Drafting Bugs... Get rid of screen flickers and glitches, scroll to top bug, not being able to add to draft board during draft, having to scroll down multiple times to advance each pick in the draft, more clear prompts for when to assign scouts to regions, etc

My hopes if they put any effort into the mode for M23 (unlikely based on M22):

• Better AI Roster Management... #1 need for increased Franchise longevity
• Allow 32-Team control in Cloud leagues & more tools for 32-team control ease
• More customization... which, again, was promised to be coming for M23 in last summer's podcasts
• Allow us to restructure contracts, extend contracts
• Gameplay - More randomized plays in the Ask Madden section (or whatever it's called) to encourage less cheesing of the same plays all the time

My outlandish hopes if they really put some work in:

• Add Compensatory Picks
• Add more realistic contract structure option to backload/frontload deals, choose amount of guaranteed money, etc
• Add a UDFA signing period similar to FA
• Hide Rookie and UDFA ratings until Week 1 (or later)

I have realistic expectations that we'll get some more scenarios since EA is obsessed with that stuff and they'll probably bill some some new XFactors as being a franchise feature lol and nothing of substance will actually get added though.

[Madden08PCgmr]

Robust coach mode.

(Port NFL Head Coach 09)

[ijumpedthegun]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

A whole litany of things: - expanded availability of pattern matching coverages to better handle offensive trips sets (maybe even as far as explicit split field coverage calls?) - please finally add one Nickel formation which is an Under front so defending Trips TE - Read Option is a little easier - expanded defensive formation list in general with more modern fronts included (Boss fronts, Amoeba fronts, etc.) - refactor depth charts to allow explicit assignment of formation based positions (Nose Tackle, Under Tackle, Leo, Elephant, Sam, Mike, Will, Jack, etc.) - expanded defensive tactics and strategies; E-T stunts, creeper blitzes, read blitzes, etc. - an edge rush which works upfield and gets chased around the pocket rather than stonewalled at the first point of contact - some amount of restrictions on game functionality at the line of scrimmage for non-Superstar quarterbacks (ex. limit or disable Hot Routes, Audibles, and Playmaker run flip) - add a Green Dot player on defense and similarly restrict defensive presnap functionality based on his abilities - refactor Home Field Advantage based on feedback I delivered in my post-mortem thread - update financial model and contracts in franchise mode (money guaranteed at signing, annual roster bonuses, simple contract restructuring, etc.) - add compensatory draft picks - add back fifth year rookie option - make CPU teams more aware of the salary cap during trade negotiations and other team building tasks; ex. a trade for Patrick Mahomes should be literally impossible for salary cap reasons, even before considering compensation - fix all one million bugs currently present in custom playbooks - provide better support for custom playbooks throughout the game - add booster draft leagues into Ultimate Team - add Draft Champions leagues into Ultimate Team I’m sure I’ll think of more later. I am loosely aware that some of these things have been on my Madden wish list for at least a decade now, though, so I’m not exactly entering this offseason with high hopes. But I’m going to have an increasingly harder time engaging with this game as the on- and off-field mechanics and tactics fall 30 years and further behind what happens in real life.

Man, I'd love all of this, especially the reworked contracts, reworked depth charts, and comp picks.

I'd love to see the coaching staff go beyond stat-boosting window dressing. CPU teams never hire assistant coaches, and the schemes are all jacked up. John Harbaugh could get fired and go to Tampa Bay and run his read-option heavy playbook with Tom Brady. I'd really love to see some depth and variety here. If an offensive-focused head coach hires a defensive coordinator with a new scheme, the playbook should change to the defensive coordinator's playbook and the roster should change. Tweener DEs should kick out to OLB when switching to a 3-4, etc.

Along the same vein, I'd love to see teams scheme to get certain players more involved. If the 49ers trade Deebo Samuel, that new team in real life would look to get him involved in lots of sweeps, screens, routes and runs out of the backfield, etc. If they trade Deebo in-game, he'll just slot into their generic WR1, WR2, or slot role according to his OVR in those areas. If a team drafts a speedy receiver with suspect route-running, I'd love to see him move over to the X receiver spot sometimes if the play has that spot running a streak. I know this is probably a big ask in terms of AI coding, but honestly the game just feels so stale when teams aren't managing their rosters in dynamic ways.

Finally, presentation still needs a major overhaul. I'd love to see a really quick pre-game show where Charles & Brandon, or even Coachman, talk about the big storylines of the game (QB coming back from 4 week injury, one team is on a 3 game losing streak, etc). So many games in franchise mode occur in a vacuum without any context. A weekly wrap-up is probably too much to ask, but it would be great to have a quarter-season or mid-season wrap-up show detailing which players have had shockingly good seasons relative to their expectations (or a veteran really slumping), etc.

[UFCMPunk]

Franchise Mode Wishlist:

Sliders:

- 4th Down Slider: Thanks to analytics, teams are going for it more often on 4th down. A slider to determine how often teams go for it on 4th would improve the game play experience. You have an overall slider you can adjust like say 10%, 20%, 30%, etc. While having three other sliders for 4th & Short; 4th & Medium; 4th & Long. This adds real life football strategy where the AI has to think based on the distance to get the first.

- Pass-Run Ratio: This used to be a thing back in Madden 10 or so and you can determine how often a team passes vs runs the ball and can impact which free agents sign to your team. Just look at the Ravens currently, we are winning with a run first approach but no receiver wants to be apart of that offense.

- HB Carries: A team like the Browns with their two back system with Chubb & Hunt would benefit greatly in this way where you can ensure both get a good amount of carries. Also to help with fatigue, you can lessen the amount of carries your starting RB gets to try to keep him fresh down the stretch, etc.

NFL Rules/Settings:

- Salary Cap: On/Off

- Salary Cap Value: Salary Cap would be defaulted to the NFL Salary Cap or the user can increase or decrease the salary cap each year.

- Salary Cap Inflation: The User would choose how much the Cap goes up on a year to year basis.

- Restricted Free Agency, ON/OFF: When turned on, a player with three or less years of service can be tendered. That player can sign with any team with the current team able to match any offer. If a Draft Pick value is attached, the original team can get compensation. If off, players become a free agent at anytime.

- Super Bowl & Pro Bowl Location: In NBA 2K, you can choose the location of the All Star Game. In Madden, let us decide the location of that season's Super Bowl & Pro Bowl. The locations would be defaulted to the current rotation but can be changed at any point. Want a Super Bowl in Green Bay? Go For It!

Lastly......

- Schedule/Game Location: The option to choose our preseason opponents again. Ability to customize the regular season schedule to our liking, move games from different time slots, swap games from one week to the next, set game location to any stadium.

- Override/Force Retirements: This goes for coaches and players.

- ST Coach/Position Coaches: Add in Special Team Coach(John Harbaugh was a ST Coach before becoming a Head Coach), position coaches that would get boosts each year depending on how the team does. Promote them if you lose a coordinator, your Coordinator who is now a Head Coach can poach them to be their coordinator on their new team.

- Players Become Coaches: Kevin O'Connell played in the league and is now a Head Coach for the Vikings, Byron Leftwich is a hot coaching candidate to be a Head Coach, same with Kellen Moore.

- Customizable Coaches/Coordinators: Even if you can't get the real assistant coaches, at least let us change the coaches to match real life counterparts. I would like to see a Create A Coach feature either inside Franchise or on the Main Menu where we can create Head Coaches & Coordinators.

[secondsolution]

Quote: Originally Posted by Madden08PCgmr

Robust coach mode. (Port NFL Head Coach 09)

If they released this as an optional add on for the game I would pay good money for it (assuming it was done right)

[JoshC1977]

My number 1 thing is a complete overhaul of the menus and UI. The approach they used in '22 was AWFUL. So many nested menus (the hub idea was terrible too). And for the love of god, we do not need an animated screen of our player in the locker room every time we want to view his card. It slows down the flow so much. MLBTS approach to player cards is so much more efficient.

Number 2. Add depth to the mode. And what I mean is this. Coach skills should not behave as mere boosts; there should be pluses and minuses to each choice on the tree that you make. Same for game-planning and scenarios. Every decision you make should have both positive and negative consequences. Right now, you might as well just give us MUT cards for our coach skills and game-planning....because that is basically how they behave - and it leads to a very shallow, unimaginative experience.

Number 3. Make the momentum meter and home-field factors optional.

Everything else falls into the "fix what is broken" paradigm....no point in going through that here.

[JULIANCROSSTITAN]

EA should bring these back:
Historic teams
All-time teams
Create-a-team
Retro stadiums
The Extra Point

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Quote: Originally Posted by JULIANCROSSTITAN

EA should bring these back: Historic teams All-time teams

They lost a lawsuit about this, so they are limited to historic players for whom they can get individual likeness rights. That's why, as one example, Ezekiel Elliott is the Ohio State HB in Campus Legends over Archie Griffin.