Varsity vs. All-American

[Artof_War]

I play on All-American, Slow Speed, and Speed Threshhold(?) set at 35. Games have been fun, challenging, but occassionally frustrating.

Last night I decided to check out Varsity, same speed settings. I was #21 Tennessee vs. #22 UNC at their stadium. I won 35-0, and I don't think they crossed my 50, ha. However, I put up realistic stats (one turnover), and the D-Line etc felt more natural.

BUT I honestly felt like Varsity "played" better. I'm not one to adjust sliders because it's so finicky. Seriously though, I think Varsity with some adjusted "up" CPU would be great. All-American is fine, but I don't like feeling the CPU is good because their D-Line swats all my passes and doesn't allow me to get any QB pressure. Anyone have thoughts on this?

[speedkills]

I know the super vertical leaping defensive linemen and linebackers can be annoying but I still have to play on All-American with everything at default. It's the level where players play according to their ratings without a boost or penalty. I blow out inferior teams, have close games with equally matched teams and lose and sometimes lose big to powerhouses I have no business beating.

With the history of sliders not working correctly if at all I don't touch them nor feel a need to.

[Artof_War]

Quote: Originally Posted by speedkills

I know the super vertical leaping defensive linemen and linebackers can be annoying but I still have to play on All-American with everything at default. It's the level where players play according to their ratings without a boost or penalty. I blow out inferior teams, have close games with equally matched teams and lose and sometimes lose big to powerhouses I have no business beating. With the history of sliders not working correctly if at all I don't touch them nor feel a need to.

That makes sense, and I've always played All-American default. I am too good at finding holes in the "varsity" blown coverages on offense, but it's nice knowing if I have a guy open without blown coverage he will have a chance at the ball.

Messing with one slider means you mess with them all, and I prefer to avoid that. I'll stick with AA.

Any tips on getting QB pressure?

[bh446066]

I've ALWAYS played on AA dating back to 03, but I'm considering a move to Varsity with Playmakers sliders due to the fact that the running game sliders on AA don't work. It's frustrating the hell out of me.

[BadAssHskr]

Quote: Originally Posted by Artof_War

I play on All-American, Slow Speed, and Speed Threshhold(?) set at 35. Games have been fun, challenging, but occassionally frustrating. Last night I decided to check out Varsity, same speed settings. I was #21 Tennessee vs. #22 UNC at their stadium. I won 35-0, and I don't think they crossed my 50, ha. However, I put up realistic stats (one turnover), and the D-Line etc felt more natural. BUT I honestly felt like Varsity "played" better. I'm not one to adjust sliders because it's so finicky. Seriously though, I think Varsity with some adjusted "up" CPU would be great. All-American is fine, but I don't like feeling the CPU is good because their D-Line swats all my passes and doesn't allow me to get any QB pressure. Anyone have thoughts on this?

What do you find frustrating?

[Chivs]

Check out the Sliders section of the forum. There's been loads of discussion on different difficulty settings and sliders and you'll find a lot in there.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by bh446066

I've ALWAYS played on AA dating back to 03, but I'm considering a move to Varsity with Playmakers sliders due to the fact that the running game sliders on AA don't work. It's frustrating the hell out of me.

Totally agree on the bolded part.

I've always felt that AA is the most balanced level. It doesn't necessarily play the best but for most of us I would say you don't need a huge amount of slider tweaks. On Varsity you have to really jack up the sliders to get a challenge. On Heisman it's the other way for me. I've tried all three levels in the past and at times I think Varsity, AA and Heisman can all play similarily with slider tweaks.

Right now I've chosen the Heisman route since AA is broken and I'm having fun after getting the sliders right for me. Just lost @Iowa with Michigan. I was 7-0 (second year) and ranked #3 and lost 14-12. Missed a two point conversion with under two minutes left.

As for sliders - they are all user preference. I'd suggest to most people to try to figure out their own set if they can. If you find someone comparable in play styles it can make it easier to use a set posted here but that's not always easy to do.

[PAPERNUT]

To add to the fact the run sliders are broke on AA, I think the difficulty was broken as well with the last update. I was 8-5 with Kentucky in my franchise before the update on AA and lucky to win about 6 of the 8. Since the update, I cannot lose it seems with any tweak I have made on AA. Was losing to Texas with ECU the other night 38-14 at halftime. Ended up winning 49-38 with ECU....The only reason I was losing was due to punting to the CPU each time I got the ball as I was testing run sliders for CPU.

I went down to Varsity for a bit and I think it may be tougher than AA now, but still is not to the level AA was before the update. My only choice now is to try Heisman or delete the patch and play disconnected as I miss the challenge and old gameplay.