Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and "Broken" Zones (T4Verts)

[T4VERTS]

Here is my latest interview with Clint. We hit on blocking, game mechanic changes, bug fixes, elite rating impact, coverage changes, and he explains what is going on with zone coverage.

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[SyncereBlackout]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Realistic data to back tuning?! That's awesome. Finally.

So is that not the approach of all tuning? He made it seem novel and done to preempt potential hardcore opinions

[GoDucks1224]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

I disagree with the whole 'have to play it before you critique it' idea. If I go and watch 8+ videos of gameplay ranging from 15-30 minutes long each, and see the same recurring issues, I think I have the right to say 'You should fix this.' The coverage fixes he describes, I'm just not seeing. Guys still play way off the receivers in the flats. Still don't know how to cover a running back coming out of the backfield. Still sit too far off receivers in most zones. I'm still seeing the same money routes be money in all the footage so far. Guys getting destroyed in man every play. It didn't look like this during the 2-6 minute clips that we got from EA Play and E3. In those clips, coverage looked much improved. Guys actively defended zones instead of passively sitting in the center waiting for a guy to catch the ball. Flats were being covered. What happened?


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[vannwolfhawk]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

I disagree with the whole 'have to play it before you critique it' idea. If I go and watch 8+ videos of gameplay ranging from 15-30 minutes long each, and see the same recurring issues, I think I have the right to say 'You should fix this.' The coverage fixes he describes, I'm just not seeing. Guys still play way off the receivers in the flats. Still don't know how to cover a running back coming out of the backfield. Still sit too far off receivers in most zones. I'm still seeing the same money routes be money in all the footage so far. Guys getting destroyed in man every play. It didn't look like this during the 2-6 minute clips that we got from EA Play and E3. In those clips, coverage looked much improved. Guys actively defended zones instead of passively sitting in the center waiting for a guy to catch the ball. Flats were being covered. What happened?


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Good interview! He said he doesn't directly work on man coverage or coverage in general. I am curious who does. 2nd, I like where they are going with ratings on the DL to create a difference between elite players and average but why are they not doing this with CB's and WR's? Man coverage?

[T4VERTS]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Good interview! He said he doesn't directly work on man coverage or coverage in general. I am curious who does. 2nd, I like where they are going with ratings on the DL to create a difference between elite players and average but why are they not doing this with CB's and WR's? Man coverage?

They are doing it in other positions too. We get into it later after talking about it with DL,

[roadman]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

They are doing it in other positions too. We get into it later after talking about it with DL,

Good interview.

I wish you had one more question about the lack of CPU AI regarding sack avoidance/scrambling etc.....

[T4VERTS]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Good interview.

I wish you had one more question about the lack of CPU AI regarding sack avoidance/scrambling etc.....

I think he or Rex mentioned earlier today they'd look in to it.

[extremeskins04]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Pretty good interview. Lots of info from Clint. He didn't actually confirm that zones were broken, he just said that very few people actually played the game.

So I'm wondering if zones are really broken or if the zones back at EA Play were bugged and too tough or "too tight" so to speak.

We really just need to play the game ourselves and see.

[K_GUN]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Its a great interview but he said ratings disparity develops as season moves along....is that case with CPU in my OFFLINE franchise?[emoji848]


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[T4VERTS]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Pretty good interview. Lots of info from Clint. He didn't actually confirm that zones were broken, he just said that very few people actually played the game.

So I'm wondering if zones are really broken or if the zones back at EA Play were bugged and too tough or "too tight" so to speak.

We really just need to play the game ourselves and see.

That's why I said "broken", there were some bugs in zone early that they removed that make them feel different than EA Play. They aren't ready to say they are broken, but my guess is EA Access will give them the data they need to make a decision either way.

[T4VERTS]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Its a great interview but he said ratings disparity develops as season moves along....is that case with CPU in my OFFLINE franchise?[emoji848]


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He means he wants guys, as their ratings to go up, to feel different. The assumption is this kind of progression happens over time with guys, but if your guy is elite to start, like a JJ Watt, you will see them wreck lower rated players. He used a JJ watt example and how he messed Rex up in his CFM.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Excellent interview, both questions and answers !!!!

I know what Clint was talking about when trying to explain how you adjust one thing and other things change. I used to try to build slider sets; oh lord!!!! Do I know.. As anyone else who plays with sliders knows; makes you wanna pull your hair out and kick children..lol

[khaliib]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Of all interviews he's done, he seemed more comfortable talking about the inner workings with you.

That's a testiment to you as a trustful medium between the dev and community, keep it up.

You asked meaningful questions without trying to put him and/or the game in a defensive position.

I jumped of the edge when Rex said they scaled things back from EA Play and Tweeted to them both my displeasure without understanding what was really going on.

I love the statement that the vids we have seen consist of rosters that are "balanced" and is the reason why the rush isn't as aggressive as we would like.

That tells me "Ratings" really do matter this year.

Love me some "Delta" talk to.
My roster edits will definitely be Delta driven that's for sure.

The only area that I wish would get brought up in any of these interviews is Special Team aspects beyond FG's.

On major issue has been that AI Punters don't look to pin with sky punts vs coffen kick attempts.
- That's the new logic now days because of the benefits of being pinned deep and/or a muffed punt.

Good stuff.

[T4VERTS]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

Of all interviews he's done, he seemed more comfortable talking about the inner workings with you.

That's a testiment to you as a trustful medium between the dev and community, keep it up.

You asked meaningful questions without trying to put him and/or the game in a defensive position.

I jumped of the edge when Rex said they scaled things back from EA Play and Tweeted to them both my displeasure without understanding what was really going on.

I love the statement that the vids we have seen consist of rosters that are "balanced" and is the reason why the rush isn't as aggressive as we would like.

That tells me "Ratings" really do matter this year.

Love me some "Delta" talk to.
My roster edits will definitely be Delta driven that's for sure.

The only area that I wish would get brought up in any of these interviews is Special Team aspects beyond FG's.

On major issue has been that AI Punters don't look to pin with sky punts vs coffen kick attempts.
- That's the new logic now days because of the benefits of being pinned deep and/or a muffed punt.

Good stuff.

I appreciate it. I will see if I can get some more info on Special Teams for you.

[extremeskins04]

Re: Clint Oldenburg Talks Blocking, Mechanics, and &quot;Broken&quot; Zones (T4Verts)

I appreciate it. I will see if I can get some more info on Special Teams for you.

Verts are you going to do any more interviews with him before launch? Or with Rex?

Was curious if you could bring up the QB scrambling or sensing pressure and trying to avoid sacks? Mobile QB's scrambling when under pressure, Pocket QB's throwing or atleast attempting the throw the ball away.