How to keep this game fresh?

[Pogo27]

I made 9 teams in Team Builder (about to expand to 12) to replace the Sun Belt Conference with a fictional "Gulf Coast Conference" using colleges both real and fictional such as Tampa, Florida Gulf Coast, Biloxi, New Orleans, etc. and started a dynasty playing as one of the 9 teams in a completely custom conference.

If you don't want to make teams yourself, you can feel free to check out my teams. All you have to do is go download them and put them in for the teams listed and you're ready to go.

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...fictional.html

[Bullet Sponge]

Firstly ask yourself what keeps real college football fresh. It's the same teams playing each other every year for decades. But yet it's still completely fresh and exciting to the fanbase. Why shouldn't your game emulate this level of interest in you? It can if you emulate that which makes the real thing interesting year after year after year, and that thing is challenge.

If your favorite team went undefeated every year and blew out every opponent with little to no chance of any other team beating them it would be far less interesting to the fans of that team. The fact that they have to earn it is what makes cheering for them fun. Yeah you WANT them to blow out every other team and go undefeated, but you don't KNOW they will. You need to recreate this in your dynasty by adjusting the difficulty and sliders to a point where every year it's not a given you'll dominate, and that even recruiting off-years can leave you rebuilding. A team's down cycles make the up cycles worth playing toward.

You can use all the gimmicks you like to keep things fresh, but in the end the only thing that will over the long haul is a dynasty with all the ups and downs of real college football, and to achieve that it has to be difficult or else the rewards feel hollow and become boring.

[HokiesCavs]

Start a dynasty and use an offensive system completely different from what the team uses in real life. I was getting really bored with the game, but then I started a VT dynasty using Mississippi State's spread option playbook to mix it up, and I am having an absolute blast!

[dmick4324]

I'm in year 2024 with Arkansas State. I play co-operatively with a friend. He plays corner I play linebacker, he plays QB I play RB/WR. That alone would keep it fun but like someone else said challenge is what keeps it fresh. We have yet to have an A overall team, won the national championship ONCE in 14 years. In years past we would have already bolted to a different team to try and build this other team up, but it isn't necessary this year and it makes it that much more fun.

[Bullet Sponge]

Quote: Originally Posted by dmick4324

I'm in year 2024 with Arkansas State. I play co-operatively with a friend. He plays corner I play linebacker, he plays QB I play RB/WR. That alone would keep it fun but like someone else said challenge is what keeps it fresh. We have yet to have an A overall team, won the national championship ONCE in 14 years. In years past we would have already bolted to a different team to try and build this other team up, but it isn't necessary this year and it makes it that much more fun.

That sounds like a lot of fun.

[LucianoJJ]

Switch all of the top teams into one super conference. Put these powerhouses into an existing conference with a conference championship game. If you survive that gauntlet, you should have an easy time beating Central Florida in the National Championship game. Without a college playoff, this could be a fun alternative, and give you a dozen challenges.

[mm boost]

to keep the game fresh for myself, I limit myself to only play 2-3 games per week. I've had the game since launch, and I'm only on my 3rd season. Alternate day by day with Madden to keep it fresh. Sunday and Monday nights, I play Madden, Tuesday and Wednesday Nights I play NCAA. Thursdays I bowl in a league, Friday I go out with my fiance, and on the weekends, we usually do family things. That is how I keep everything fresh, myself.

[Deegeezy]

Yeah playing with a small or bad school and having to build them up certainly holds your interest. For me personally, it's the only way to play dynasty mode.

The blowout losses and crappy players suck in the beginning, but in years 3 and 4 after you have fully implemented your system and gotten a few recruiting classes makes it worth it.

There are a lot of special moments that will keep things fresh: Your first win, your first bowl appearance, your first time cracking the top 25, your first time landing that stud 4-star recruit that becomes the face of your team, winning that first big pivotal conference game, losing that big pivotal conference game after you think your team is good, winning your conference, etc... All fun stuff.

Also like someone else said before me, try not to wear the game out. One of the things that makes football special is the build up and anticipation of each game. I only play about 2 maybe 3 games a week. This keeps things from getting old and makes each game feel special, emulating how it is in real life.