EA Sports College Football coming back!

[RainMaker]

Playing around more in dynasty and here's what I see as the big issues.

1) Rankings are completely out of whack. No clue how they're making determinations but they make no sense. Seeing LSU at #1 with an 8-3 record whlie Georgia is 11-0 with a win over LSU and is only at #3. There really is no rhyme or reason for the rankings so wins and losses kind of don't matter much in dynasty.

2) Players not playing in the playoff games if they have pro potential. This seems fine for bowl games if you want realism (I could do without this in a video game), but to have it extend to playoffs is silly. So you could be missing 4-5 of your top players in the playoffs if they are potential pros.

3) Good players on good teams transferring to increase their pro potential. This makes sense if you're a mediocre MAC school that can't make a bowl. But you can win the national title with a school like UCF and your best players will transfer so they have a better chance at making the pros. Doesn't make a ton of sense.

4) Sim engine is just hilariously bad. Too much parity, backups never play, computer never runs, etc. Games from 25 years ago had better sim engines than this.

5) No trophy room, no historical stats, no real way to view progression, no real offseason, coaching carousel busted. I knew dynasty wouldn't get much effort put into it, but sort of surprised at how bare bones it is.

6) Doesn't track stats for 2-way players. Seems like a huge miss when Hunter is one of your cover athletes.

7) Custom conferences is completely bugged. It'll mess up the schedules even more than they are now. Don't even bother moving teams around.

8) No formation subs for some reason.

The gameplay is fine. It's basically a faster version of Madden with some college plays/formations thrown in and better physics. A little too arcadey out of the box but maybe sliders will fix that. There are some other bugs here and there in recruiting and gameplay I didn't mention because they seem small and something you'd expect from a new sports game.

Dynasty is unplayable which is the biggest disappointment. Feels like that would be the mode people were most excited about, but maybe this is a way to push people toward UT. I fell for the trap unfortunately but at the end of the day, EA is going to be EA. Props to their marketing team though.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

1) Rankings are completely out of whack. No clue how they're making determinations but they make no sense. Seeing LSU at #1 with an 8-3 record whlie Georgia is 11-0 with a win over LSU and is only at #3. There really is no rhyme or reason for the rankings so wins and losses kind of don't matter much in dynasty.

Absolutely crushing. I understand that it could be difficult to code "how does each win and loss affect each team's ranking" but this is pretty much a cornerstone of playing a college football video game, and that example is not one of those things where it could be argued "well that could happen in reality, it'd just be super rare" -- there's just no way.

[Ghost Econ]

Anyone else keep crashing in dynasty when changing player positions? Had it happen twice.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Absolutely crushing. I understand that it could be difficult to code "how does each win and loss affect each team's ranking" but this is pretty much a cornerstone of playing a college football video game, and that example is not one of those things where it could be argued "well that could happen in reality, it'd just be super rare" -- there's just no way.

I don't even think it would be that difficult to code. I remember doing Elo style rating systems in computer science classes in college. There's a number of computer rankings that leave their formulas open for anyone to see. You could also just hire one of those computer ranking folks and use that as the "poll".

Not perfect by any means, but at least with a computer ranking I can usually see the logic in the rankings even if I don't agree with it. This should be one of the easier parts of the game to nail down.

[QuikSand]

Well, I'm trying to figure out recruiting, so I started with a smallish school Toledo. Two seasons of simming, and I get fired despite the recruiting going okay, but the team went 3-9 or something, so I had it coming.

Fine, I get the job at Nevada. They are okay. I finish their recruiting, and then launch my third season overall, simming the games and focusing on recruiting. We go 10-2, win the conference, get a playoff bye from being ranked #9 in the country, and make the championship game.

Game needs some work. The recruiting system seems pretty well thought out, though, although I'm sure it's a mess underneath the hood too.

[dubb93]

Game needs some work but the ranking stuff is something we’ve been dealing with in videogames forever right? I feel like most college games don’t get that right and that includes text sims through the years.

[whomario]

Using AI to create a Logo for Team Builder leads you down some wild paths ...

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Game needs some work but the ranking stuff is something we’ve been dealing with in videogames forever right? I feel like most college games don’t get that right and that includes text sims through the years.

This seems less like a bad formula and more like something is bugged. Someone mentioned that if you move the conferences back to where they were in 2023, the rankings work really well. So maybe the ranking stuff was built before all the conference changes and they just never adapted it.

Problem with moving to 2023 alignment though is that it messes with future schedules.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Problem with moving to 2023 alignment though is that it messes with future schedules.

That's not really a problem that worries me. And I did a lot of realigning in my dynasty. Restored the PAC 12, made conferences more regional.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Kodos

That's not really a problem that worries me. And I did a lot of realigning in my dynasty. Restored the PAC 12, made conferences more regional.

How are the schedules after? I'd love to move teams around but after I did it my schedule the next season had every single game on the road in conference.

[GrantDawg]

Finally something from EA:


https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Di.../td-p/13889950

[GrantDawg]

Info:

• Issue when adding additional teams to the PAC-12 conference when using custom conferences does not generate a new conference schedule as intended.
  • Workaround: After adding teams to the PAC-12, open the Conference Rules and set Divisions to ON. Users will see they can now set the number of conference games by toggling back and forth. Users can then disable divisions and edit other settings as desired.

[RainMaker]

That's good to see and they did mention some of the issues in dynasty. And some of those workarounds in the short term make sense. Same with one little thing causing a ripple effect.

I wonder if some of the ranking and sim logic has to do with how the FCS teams are treated. Many have mentioned that the FCS teams have a ton of injuries and it's likely related to the game assuming they're playing 10 games a week and the wear and tear system being unable to deal with it. I'm wondering if that's the case if it translates to rankings. It views FCS Southwest for instance as having played 120 games by the end of the season and it just messes with whatever algorithm they have and how it effects the team's that play them.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

That's good to see and they did mention some of the issues in dynasty. And some of those workarounds in the short term make sense. Same with one little thing causing a ripple effect.

I wonder if some of the ranking and sim logic has to do with how the FCS teams are treated. Many have mentioned that the FCS teams have a ton of injuries and it's likely related to the game assuming they're playing 10 games a week and the wear and tear system being unable to deal with it. I'm wondering if that's the case if it translates to rankings. It views FCS Southwest for instance as having played 120 games by the end of the season and it just messes with whatever algorithm they have and how it effects the team's that play them.

Very fair question, and completely possible.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

How are the schedules after? I'd love to move teams around but after I did it my schedule the next season had every single game on the road in conference.

I have 4 home and 5 away games in the Big Ten, with games going HAHAHAHAA. I split all but one conference into divisions, so maybe that helped?

[dubb93]

Brand exposure is broken or something too. Started the season with A- brand exposure. After a week one win it goes down to C+ triggering deal breakers on 4 recruits.

[dubb93]

If I had to guess the cause I’d say it’s because 10 of my games are showing up as untelevised now despite atleast half of the being against top 20 teams (so they will be televised but the game doesn’t make the television schedule until the week of.)

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Brand exposure is broken or something too. Started the season with A- brand exposure. After a week one win it goes down to C+ triggering deal breakers on 4 recruits.

Noticed this with some other attributes. Play Style can go from an A to a D if you simulate a game. Pro Potential can go from an A to a D if you have one year where you didn't have a bunch of high picks.

The grades seem way too volatile to me. All your good freshman aren't transferring in one offseason because you only had a guy drafted in the 3rd round in one drsft. Especially when you had multiple first rounders the year before.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Well, I'm trying to figure out recruiting, so I started with a smallish school Toledo. Two seasons of simming, and I get fired despite the recruiting going okay, but the team went 3-9 or something, so I had it coming.

Fine, I get the job at Nevada. They are okay. I finish their recruiting, and then launch my third season overall, simming the games and focusing on recruiting. We go 10-2, win the conference, get a playoff bye from being ranked #9 in the country, and make the championship game.

So, mostly just because it's new and football, I'm still putting some time into recruiting in dynasty mode. My Nevada team fell apart after its shockingly good first season under me, and now we finished two .500-ish seasons capped off with minor bowl wins. That's... fine?

In Madden Franchise mode, there was a powerful effect caused (I think) by a major delta between a league full of pre-made real/veteran players and the caliber of players found through the drafting and development of young guys. I reckon there's some of the same at work here, and I'm hopeful that will wash away more quickly in a 4/5-year cycle, rather than the 10-12y it seemed to take in Madden Franchise mode.

Anyway... still plodding. I can see how the tedium of the recruiting process will likely wear out its welcome, but for now I get a small dopamine rush when I unearth an overlooked 4-star guy, move all in, and secure him. Fools me into thinking I did something special.

[GrantDawg]

Seeing good things with the patch and rankings.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[RainMaker]

There are no patch notes and I'm seeing mixed anecdotes. Some proclaiming it fixed the issues they had and others saying it changed nothing. I'll wait for the notes but it might just be a placebo effect some people are having. I can't imagine they'd fix major gamebreaking issues and not proudly broadcast it.

[SlyBelle1]

Patch information…

Update:

This morning, the team implemented a fix for an online dynasty issue where some players were unable to load their league.

The early data looks strong, however if you are still unable to connect after the AM maintenance please let us know here: http://x.ea.com/80891

The team is continuing to address an issue where only 20 created coaches can join a dynasty. The first portion of the fix went in today and the completion will take place in a future title update. We will provide an update when this fix is implemented.

As a workaround for this issue, leagues may use existing coaches for the remaining spots.

In addition, we released a planned Title Update today that is now available on all platforms focused on performance improvements. Future updates will feature a Campus Huddle with full details.

[Icy]

Have any of you tried the Road to the glory mode? I love Sports RPG modes and might buy this just because of that if it's fun and bugs free enough.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Icy

Have any of you tried the Road to the glory mode? I love Sports RPG modes and might buy this just because of that if it's fun and bugs free enough.

It is pretty lame. No matter how much Coach Trust you earn, you never get more than two plays max to choose from, and they are almost always run heavy no matter the coach. I'm talking third and medium down by 7 and calling runs bad. I just think the system doesn't work. On top of that, you can use an option to change the play a few times depending on your coach trust, but most of the time the three options you get will be runs as well. Many times two of three will be the exact same play.

That's on offense. I'm not sure what defense is like.

[whomario]

I like the game but think it is going to be too easy rather soon without some house rules.
Recruiting btw you really don't need any magic formula. I think scouting is more useful than the YTers make it out to be (and definitely more fun to actually pick players based on more than their star rating).
Otherwise it's about picking realistic targets and then adjusting hours as you go along. More when it's close, go big early on high ranked ones (and yeah, Send the House and after Hard Sell is most effective) but others you can get by with 10 or 25. Cut your losses when other bigger schools run away with a lead in interest.
Took a while, think i had only 7 commits before the offseason, but ended up with like the 24th class and a healthy 22 recruits (all 4 and 3 Stars, i think sth like 9/13 split) as San Diego.

Was like 9-6 playing most games. The XP sliders i used were way too high for QBs ... (Jumped 78-86)

Year 2 i'm 2-1 after Old Dominions QB disected by defense for 410 yards on 20-24 passing. Like 4 looooong TDs over the top, definitely did sth wrong against their hurry up offense ...

Btw i am kinda amazed that option offense function coherently. Beat Air Force only narrowly. And they don't exactly have great players.

For myself i throw way too many INTs in stupid situations and need to figure out RPOs ...

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by whomario

Recruiting btw you really don't need any magic formula. I think scouting is more useful than the YTers make it out to be (and definitely more fun to actually pick players based on more than their star rating).

I get that it's arguably more fun... but "worth it" in the optimizing sense?

Right now, the only things I get back from scouting of value are:

-the green/red outcome when fully scouting, telling me to realign my thinking

-a specific speed rating on WR/ATH/RB guys I'm considering, as that rating is a major determinant of player value

So, I scout a lot in the opening round when you can't take real recruiting actions, but rather little after that. Every 4-star is good enough to come play at my school, so knowing whether he's an 84 or a 77 in that one thing isn't going to mean much overall to me, just a tweak in my degree of vigor.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I get that it's arguably more fun... but "worth it" in the optimizing sense?

Right now, the only things I get back from scouting of value are:

-the green/red outcome when fully scouting, telling me to realign my thinking

-a specific speed rating on WR/ATH/RB guys I'm considering, as that rating is a major determinant of player value

So, I scout a lot in the opening round when you can't take real recruiting actions, but rather little after that. Every 4-star is good enough to come play at my school, so knowing whether he's an 84 or a 77 in that one thing isn't going to mean much overall to me, just a tweak in my degree of vigor.

Dunno, they often make it sound like it's completely useless (as other things as well, only to correct themselves with a new "best method" a day later), so "more useful" is not me saying it's the META or anything

I know player type also tells you a lot but f.e. while i prefer pass blockers at OT i also much rather take they guy with 79 Pass Block and 70 run block versus the guy with 80 Pass Block but 61 run block. Or the 93 speed wideout with better other abilities than the 95 one.

Not saying i do a whole ton after the first stage and generally unless when i don't like the ratings or have to change targets loosing out on more players than i have as 'spares' (and especially with 3 or even 2 stars there's big varianve in ratings imo). But it also gets a looooot cheaper to scout once you have a few levels in Recruiter, especially if the coordinators also have a few. I think 30 or often just 20 hours are very well spent whe you often need many hundreds to get a commit or (worse) before loosing out.

(Early in year 2 i could have had the faster scouting for every position even on the "slowest" XP setting. Think i miss QB and K/P because i took the 2nd boost on a few others )

It definitely doesn't noticeably hinder your ability to get guys*. I'm not saying one should spend 3 weeks scouting, just that there's really also no reason to blindly recruit, especially past year 1.

*And not scouting also doesn't hinder your ability to improve the roster strength either unless you get really unlucky.

[RainMaker]

I've had succes in recruiting by going after 3 and 4 star guys who don't have offers late in the cycle.

[Kodos]

That's been the case for a long time. Guys fall through the cracks.

[whomario]

Had a cool little deja vu browsing record books just now and for the Ohio Bobcats recognized the names from the 2011-2014 seasons from using them quite a bit back then. Might have to do an Ohio save soonish

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I've had succes in recruiting by going after 3 and 4 star guys who don't have offers late in the cycle.

Definitively always worth a look. I look for potential new adds for the board every 3 weeks or so (or when i habe nobody/not enough left for a position).

Same is true for other schools stopping to recruit players, enabling you to spend less hours and redistribute them elsewhere.

[GrantDawg]

Another knock on RTG, if you are in the bench you can only super sim games. It won't let you set to slow and watch the games play out.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[JonInMiddleGA]

An odd bug my son just pointed out to me, in dynasty mode.

So when he looks at the stats at a conference level, it knows that he's got the MWC leader in TFLs, and he can see all the other players in the conference in order.

But when he switches the selection over to National (instead of MWC), all but one of those players disappears from the list. (Several would be among the top ten or so nationally). The one player from the MWC who shows up among the National leaders list? He's 4th in the MWC

I mention that simply cause it's one of the multitude of bugs that I don't think I've seen mentioned anywhere

[GrantDawg]

Someone put a slider set up for Coach Mode on Operation Sports, so I'm giving them a shot. I an calling offense and the Super Slim on slow to watch the defense play out. Playing a dynasty as Georgia, first game was a good tight game versus Clemson. We won by 2 touchdowns, but it was tied at 2 minutes when I scored a go-ahead touchdown. Then the first play Clemson threw down the field, and we got the pick. Stats looked good and it played well.
Now, I'm playing my second game versus Kenesaw State (not playing the division 2 teams because the injury bug), and dominating as expecting. Hopefully things will keep playing smoothly. I am going through the top 25 and forcing wins where it makes sense.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[GrantDawg]

Lol. Just had KSU run a fake FG for a score.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[whomario]

The amount of crashes in this game is pretty wild. Not sure any of my other games played had even a single crash over the last year, have about a dozen here in a variety of screens. Just had my first actually in a game. Admittedly am more annoyed at this as it was to that point perhapy the cleanest game i had, leading a comparable opponent 27-10 after 3 without any stupid INTs, a pair of user picks myself etc.

Made a slightly customized version of Utahs playbook, which seems to suit my style of play very well. Defensively i actually downloaded a playbook (called "dolo") which gives a solid mix of plays ...

[GrantDawg]

Idk if anyone cares, and I would make a dynasty but I'm too boring to make it interesting....
Third game versus Kentucky in Lexington was a barn-burner. The first half had both teams scoring on every series except the first, where each team fumbled and turned the ball over. It was 21-21 after we scored a game tying td, and then Kentucky returned the kickoff for a td with 5 seconds left in the half to make it 28-21.
Second half starts with stalled drives on both sides until we finally broke a big play that set up a touchdown to tie it up. Stayed that way till 3:30 left in the 4th quarter, and we finally had a drive that ended in a td to go up 35-28. They get the ball back with 1:50 left but stalled out. Went for it fourth and one at their 25, and turned it over on downs. Three runs went nowhere, with time outs after each play, so we took the free three points and went up by ten.
First play, Kentucky hits a home run, 78-yard touchdown. Down three, they go for the onside but didn't get the ball. Victory formation for a win that was a nail-bighter.
Barion Brown ended the game 7-253 yards and three tds. He had all but 33 yards of the reception yards. It was just crazy how many times he was just streaking down the field.
My biggest gameplay concerns is how bad the angles the defense takes. It looks awful. They seem to instead of trying to tackle players move to line up behind them, and they never catch up with anyone from behind. And this is with sliders that actually reduces the speed contrast for ratings. I mean, it definitely makes games exciting, but visually it looks stupid.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[JonInMiddleGA]

Setting aside Madden for the time being, I'm seriously wondering if there's been any sports game released in such shitty shape in quite a while.

I haven't even bothered to open it in days, Will is trying to play 1-2 dynasty games most nights. I can't even enjoy the UT mode because the font is so tiny that it's illegible so other than the overall rating I can't really tell whether a card I get is actually any sort of improvement or not.

I had very low expectations but damned if they haven't managed to underachieve even those.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

An odd bug my son just pointed out to me, in dynasty mode.

So when he looks at the stats at a conference level, it knows that he's got the MWC leader in TFLs, and he can see all the other players in the conference in order.

But when he switches the selection over to National (instead of MWC), all but one of those players disappears from the list. (Several would be among the top ten or so nationally). The one player from the MWC who shows up among the National leaders list? He's 4th in the MWC

I mention that simply cause it's one of the multitude of bugs that I don't think I've seen mentioned anywhere

This has been in Madden for years too. I think it's that the league leaders have too many players to sort through so it just cuts it off at a number. So if you view by conference it's fine because it's maybe 200 players, but it can't do it nationally because it's like 4000 players to sort through.

Still an insane bug in a game for 2024 because games like Tecmo Super Bowl figured out how to do it. But the fact they haven't fixed it in Madden for years tells me this won't be fixed either.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Setting aside Madden for the time being, I'm seriously wondering if there's been any sports game released in such shitty shape in quite a while.

I haven't even bothered to open it in days, Will is trying to play 1-2 dynasty games most nights. I can't even enjoy the UT mode because the font is so tiny that it's illegible so other than the overall rating I can't really tell whether a card I get is actually any sort of improvement or not.

I had very low expectations but damned if they haven't managed to underachieve even those.

It's pretty bad and what I'd expect if the game had come out last year. I thought with the extra year they'd have locked down some of this stuff.

If I was in college with roommates, it'd be a fun game to throw on with some sliders over beers and just do play now. But dynasty, RTG, and pretty much everything else is unplayable. Definitely feel dumb for falling for this scam.

[RainMaker]

One really annoying aspect in Dynasty is there is no history. You can't look up who won the Heisman the previous year. You can't see who won the national championship or made a particular bowl the previous years. No way to view other awards. After a season ends, everything disappears.

Maybe I'm in the minority but a fun part of a dynasty mode is looking back and seeing the history.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

One really annoying aspect in Dynasty is there is no history. You can't look up who won the Heisman the previous year. You can't see who won the national championship or made a particular bowl the previous years. No way to view other awards. After a season ends, everything disappears.

Maybe I'm in the minority but a fun part of a dynasty mode is looking back and seeing the history.

You are not in the minority. That's one of the major points of dynasty.

[Ghost Econ]

I had to quit my first test dynasty because there were too many crashes out to the main PS5 screen. I lost a 4* recruit after one crash.

[GrantDawg]

Wow, there are some things they absolutely have perfect. Georgia is up 28-20 late in the game at Alabama. Alabama drives the ball down the field and scores a touchdown. They have to go for two for the tie. Georgia stops the play on the one yard line, but there is a flag! Face mask! Alabama gets to replay the attempt and makes it on the second try. Bama goes on to win on a last second field goal.

I mean, they coded Alabama loving SEC refs in the game! That's some depth.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[RainMaker]

I do like the new field goal system. I'm pretty solid inside 35 yards but over that it's an adventure.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I had to quit my first test dynasty because there were too many crashes out to the main PS5 screen. I lost a 4* recruit after one crash.

Strange. I haven't had a crash.

[GrantDawg]

No crashes but numerous freezes that lock the game up. I have also had two different games end halfway through because I lost connection with the EA server.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[RainMaker]

Saw someone post this if you want to track history of your dynasty.

CFB 25 Tracker Template - Google Drive

[Mota]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

No crashes but numerous freezes that lock the game up. I have also had two different games end halfway through because I lost connection with the EA server.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

I had that happen with MLB The Show 24. I was playing Conquest mode and my internet was a bit sketchy, it would drop for a few seconds at a time, but the game would hand me a loss instantly, even though I was playing single player mode. That's annoying.

[whomario]

Started season 4 yesterday and the program made a huge jump in the offseason after finishing year 3 in the Top25 (but still not having won the Conference Championship ...). Seemed to be a bit over the top jumping from 2.5* to 3.5*, also some of the Letter Grades jumped tooo much imo. Like getting (o think) A- Pro Potential because a SR transfer LT was a first rounder and 2 more of my 'own' players were drafted in the 6th.

Suddenly a loooot more high rated recruits are interested.

Re-doing my offense a bit with my Field General gunslinger QB graduating and a Scrambling Sophomore taking over. Also has a weird throwing motion and is a lefty, which really makes him feel weird to control. Kinda fun that quite a few key players are now recruited players.

Have a very hard time getting quality DBs and Safetys while there are definitely too many top notch QB recruits, especially Scrambler-Athletes.

[Limelicker]

Originally Posted by Mota

I had that happen with MLB The Show 24. I was playing Conquest mode and my internet was a bit sketchy, it would drop for a few seconds at a time, but the game would hand me a loss instantly, even though I was playing single player mode. That's annoying.

Clear cache usually helps quite a bit with that. Corrupt temp files can be a thing if you don't do it regularly. It also helps with connectivity reliability.

Just started playing the game as I've been out of the country a couple weeks. Loving the game so far. I'm not very good thus far. Playing on AA with the sliders just up in this thread. It feels good but I'm just making too many throwing mistakes right now. Still having fun.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I play the majority of the time streaming my PS5 to my Steam Deck. Really enjoy having the option to play the game anywhere in the house on a portable. Especially useful since my daughters and their boyfriends like to watch movies in the home theater which means I can't play the PS5 at times.