Animations & Ratings, how they go hand in hand

[PGaither84]

I just came across this and am just beginning to read this, but I have to chime in already and say that route running DOES matter in the game, just not in the way we want it to. While I can't speak for Madden 13 or Madden 25, I do know that in 12 and prior it is a programed match up against the man coverage rating. Madden pretty much rolls the dice and compares the difference between those two ratings and your slider settings to see who "won" and how badly.

In a "win" for the receiver, the defender reacts late/incorrectly to the route and leaves the WR open. In a "win" for the defender, the defender jumps the route... even to the point of it looking psychic.

So, I agree with most of what I am reading, I want to clarify that some of the ratings DO work, but not how we think they should.




I can't find the original EA video, but Acceleration also matters... or at least it did in Madden/NCAA 11 and 12.




Finally... from what i have read so far, this is pretty much something I wrote about back before Madden 10 came out and spent time talking to Central Game Play bout when I was invited to Madden 11 CD. While I agree with the ideas in the opening post, I think there are numerous provably false assumptions about how Madden works and plays. As someone who also has spent way too much time on sliders, I know that many ratings DO matter, and that there are animations we only see once the sliders/ratings are high enough. The execution is just done so poorly.

[Humperdink]

Interesting point and good video, though I find myself wondering what happens when it's not man coverage but zone. Does route running effect how likely a defender is to attack a receiver in his zone rather just sitting back a few yards away? Zone seems primarily programmed to drop back to an assigned spot and then go where the ball is thrown immediately. The receivers themselves seem mostly incidental, it's like some kind of NFL Quarterback Challenge where receivers and defenders are mostly anchored to their assignment, with no room to attack a hole OR attack a receiver. So in years when the reaction time is faster, people complain about psychic coverage, and in years when it's slower, people say it's broken.

[PGaither84]

Quote: Originally Posted by Humperdink

Interesting point and good video, though I find myself wondering what happens when it's not man coverage but zone. Does route running effect how likely a defender is to attack a receiver in his zone rather just sitting back a few yards away? Zone seems primarily programmed to drop back to an assigned spot and then go where the ball is thrown immediately. The receivers themselves seem mostly incidental, it's like some kind of NFL Quarterback Challenge where receivers and defenders are mostly anchored to their assignment, with no room to attack a hole OR attack a receiver. So in years when the reaction time is faster, people complain about psychic coverage, and in years when it's slower, people say it's broken.

The Zone Coverage Rating is supposed to determine how well the defender plays/reacts within his zone. For example, I will call Will Jack 3 and Ahmad Brooks [68 ZCV] will drop back into more of a middle hook zone instead of his assigned zone as through he were trying to help out Patrick Willis. Instead, he leaves his area uncovered and gives up a big play. He is a liability in zone coverage for me... but he has 90+ power moves and block shedding, so forget it. He will only blitz from now on!

Okay, so from now on Brooks is pass rushing/run support. Time to call Strike OLB 2. Without user control, and on default setting, both Willis and Bowman think it is a good idea to just split wide and leave the middle of the field open. Why? Because the have very low Zone Coverage ratings. In fact, upon closer inspection, every linebacker not named Urlacher seems to have embarrassingly low zone coverage ratings. Linebackers have three assignments: Attack, play man, or play zone... and not too many are asked to play man. I find it ridiculous how low the ZCV ratings of linebackers are in Madden, so I took it upon myself to go in and increase everyone who had a rating of 65 or higher +10 points. That left Brian Urlacher with a 95 ZCV rating, and the highest in my rosters. The next best is like 92, and there are only like 6 players with 90 or higher. After doing this small change, it really improved game play in my opinion.

Additionally, I find that the ZCV also matters how much/hard a defender will chase in zone. For example, I will see a defender with a lower zone coverage rating follow a guy past his zone and a crosser will be left wide open. However, a player with a higher zone coverage will chase the first man to a point, release him and cover the crosser. They also take away angles better. For example, against a play like Colts Divide [where the TE runs a 10 yard out and the Z receiver runs a 5 an in] the SAM in a hook will back peddle and put himself in good position to bat down any pass to the TE outside, while the MIKE linebacker will position himself in such a way to prevent an inside throw. Then, as the Z recevier comes under, the SAM will let the Safety and CB deal with the TE as he clamps down on the crossing WR. He will close it off and let him pass to the MIKE/WILL and will return to his zone. At least, he will do that if his zone coverage rating is high enough. I also think that the reaction time slider MIGHT have something to do with that, but I am not sure. I am convinced that slider really only changes man coverage.

I have gotten many of the ratings in Madden 11 and 12 to "work" the best I can through slider adjustments and endless testing in practice mode and in game. There are a lot of factors that go into my settings and Madden 12. There is DPP with it's consistency, confidence, and player traits. There are slider settings combined with individual ratings. There are the plays you call and your execution... but I also mess with the speed threshold and fatigue settings as well. I play with like 90% fatigue/5% injury and custom substitution settings [No one comes off the field except for HBs and defensive linemen unless they are hurt. Linebacekrs sub out at like 3% and back in at 5% so they only miss a few plays at most.] That is a whole other topic you can find in my blog [link in my signature]

[Swamp Swagger]

I agree with you but you are on the of the people that spent like $100 to get it early correct?

Kinda beats the point when people spend that kind of money regardless of EA's history then make a topic that they never get it right.

Like I said though I agree with all you're post.

[Gotmadskillzson]

1. This thread was written back in JANUARY, it is now JULY. But people like posting in old threads for some reason.

2. If you never played NCAA 13 and Madden 13, don't assume what worked in 10, 11 and 12 worked the same way in 13, because it sure as hell didn't. Nor what held true in Madden held true in NCAA, because that wasn't always the case either.

3. Spent $100 to get the game early ? Think again. Got the game early but I sure as hell didn't spend $100.

But anyway, back to my original point......this thread was written in JANUARY, it is now JULY. But I guess people don't read the original start date of threads and just see something was bumped up from 6 months ago, assume it was a new thread and post in it.

[BenGerman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson

1. This thread was written back in JANUARY, it is now JULY. But people like posting in old threads for some reason. 2. If you never played NCAA 13 and Madden 13, don't assume what worked in 10, 11 and 12 worked the same way in 13, because it sure as hell didn't. Nor what held true in Madden held true in NCAA, because that wasn't always the case either. 3. Spent $100 to get the game early ? Think again. Got the game early but I sure as hell didn't spend $100. But anyway, back to my original point......this thread was written in JANUARY, it is now JULY. But I guess people don't read the original start date of threads and just see something was bumped up from 6 months ago, assume it was a new thread and post in it.

Do you think some of your original issues with 2013 have been improved in 2014?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Quote: Originally Posted by BenGerman

Do you think some of your original issues with 2013 have been improved in 2014?

Some were, some weren't.

[ghettogeeksta]

Great thread! I 1000 percent agree with Skillz on this one, lack of animations are by far the worst flaw in Madden and NCAA Football. This is an issue that must be addressed next-gen. Phase 3 of the Infinity Engine should focus on WR/DB interactions/route running, and the passing game, no more canned animations in the passing game or at least way less canned animations and the throwing controls need some kind of strategy either a power/accuracy meter, vision cone, something to make the disparity between Qb's wider.

The major reason Qb's are too accurate in these games is because the ball is tethered to the receivers so no matter how bad a Qb's accuracy is, it will always zoom right to the receiver or db, in which they don't even know the ball is coming the receivers and db's just go into an animation and hope the ball hits them in the hand.
So IE3 better focus on this or NCAA 15 and Madden 26 on next-gen consoles will be a bust and a no buy for me.