So what's the Difficulty Level verdict?

[bh446066]

Quote: Originally Posted by dalecooper

Can you explain why? I'm open to anything, just trying to find a difficulty level and slider combination that challenges me without feeling cheap. To me it just seems weird that Varsity would be harder than AA, regardless of sliders.

I truly, truly think that PM got it right....players play to their ratings on this level, therefore, making slider adjustments is a helluva lot more responsive than on other levels. I don't exactly know why I'm having a harder time, but the cpu so far has been tearing me a new one.

[dalecooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I've tried all three levels in the past. In NCAA '09 I gave Varsity, AA and Heisman all a fair shake and the truth is you can make all three levels play very similar with slider tweaks. Each level might have a few distinct differences but they really aren't that big. Whatever level people want to play on is fine. It's all user preference.

I'm starting to think you're right about that. I looked closely at PM's sliders and when I see things like "Run Defense-5/90" it hints that in some respects, he's just using sliders to emulate something that would happen more naturally at a higher difficulty level. Makes me wonder what the "hard" differences are between the levels - meaning first of all, differences that sliders would have no effect on (like hypothetically, d-linemen being given speed advantages to pass rush and defend the run more easily on Heisman; etc.); or second, differences that are so great that sliders can't make up the difference (like if RB ability was so high on Heisman that slider at 0 still made their RB better than the same guy on AA with the slider at 100). I know from experience that these kind of differences to exist, but they seem to be often rather hidden and hard to quantify.

[Nextel Husker]

Quote: Originally Posted by bh446066

I truly, truly think that PM got it right....players play to their ratings on this level, therefore, making slider adjustments is a helluva lot more responsive than on other levels. I don't exactly know why I'm having a harder time, but the cpu so far has been tearing me a new one.

I'd love to try PM's Varsity sliders but I cannot follow that thread whatsoever. I guess that's what happens when a thread is 111 pages. Ha.

Every few pages has a different set of sliders and none of them seem complete. Like the update on page 1, it only shows a few sliders, but certainly not the whole set. Do you have to piece them all together to get the whole slider set?

[dalecooper]

The first post has been edited to his latest sliders, but he didn't put in the special teams set for some reason. It would be clearer if he just consolidated everything in that first post.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

The sliders on page 1 is his latest update. It seems like in those sliders threads there are always updates and it's hard to keep track of everything. Thats why I have been avoiding those threads and found my own personal set I like.

[Nextel Husker]

Quote: Originally Posted by Buckeyes_Doc

The sliders on page 1 is his latest update. It seems like in those sliders threads there are always updates and it's hard to keep track of everything. Thats why I have been avoiding those threads and found my own personal set I like.

But there are a ton more sliders than what he updated, which is this:

---------------------------------------
Offense
QBA-5/15
PASS BLK-40/55
WR CATCH-35/55......(I use 30 Wr Catch with conservative gameplan)
RBA-35/45
Run Block-40/55

Defense
Pass Coverage-40/60
Int-55/80...............(I use 85 makes me pay for mistakes if i throw into coverage)
Pass Rush-75/90......(If u control a lower rated DL set this to 80 for Human)
Run Defense-5/90
Tkl-20-25/60...........(I use 15 with takle slider set to conservative/Run Defense at 10)
------------------------------------------------

So all the other sliders are buried in the 111 page thread? That's funny.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nextel Husker

But there are a ton more sliders than what he updated, which is this: --------------------------------------- Offense QBA-5/15 PASS BLK-40/55 WR CATCH-35/55......(I use 30 Wr Catch with conservative gameplan) RBA-35/45 Run Block-40/55 Defense Pass Coverage-40/60 Int-55/80...............(I use 85 makes me pay for mistakes if i throw into coverage) Pass Rush-75/90......(If u control a lower rated DL set this to 80 for Human) Run Defense-5/90 Tkl-20-25/60...........(I use 15 with takle slider set to conservative/Run Defense at 10) ------------------------------------------------ So all the other sliders are buried in the 111 page thread? That's funny.

The rest of the sliders are default that he didn't list. But he forgot to post special teams.

What I was saying there are constantly updates in those threads and people posting their own updates of the sliders throughout the thread. It is just a headache to follow and constantly change.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I hear that argument a lot but I don't think it's true at all. Players play to their ratings quite a bit on Heisman. Quite frankly I think that argument just gets repeated by guys who don't play on Heisman. AA is the most balanced imo as the slider tweaks for the average gamer are more reserved or balanced. To play on Varsity (and quite a few here do) those guys have to tweak sliders like crazy to give the cpu a chance. What is balanced about that? How do massive slider changes indicate players play to their ratings more? You can do the same thing on Heisman to give the user an advantage (instead of the cpu on Varsity) and have the game play very similar. I've tried all three levels in the past. In NCAA '09 I gave Varsity, AA and Heisman all a fair shake and the truth is you can make all three levels play very similar with slider tweaks. Each level might have a few distinct differences but they really aren't that big. Whatever level people want to play on is fine. It's all user preference.

Good post, Rudy. I agree with you about AA being the most balanced. Heisman is better this year and does play truer to the ratings than it has in the past, but there is still some CPU cheapness going on that after awhile, is hard to overlook ... at least on the default settings.