draft stories in franchise...where are they?

[lions2k9]

Quote: Originally Posted by icicle22

I'm guessing I missed some stories then since I did not check every single week. I was expecting something a little more than this still. I thought I remembered in previous Maddens of this generation seeing dozens of draft stories hyping some players, claiming some players stock was falling and even reporting injuries. I almost always used custom draft classes for realism but thought this time I would delve into this story driven draft background. Seems like it's not really worth it now that I know.

Hasn’t been worth it for awhile. They used to have Adam Schefter comment when a storied prospect was drafted but they removed it. Can’t remember off hand what year it was. Maybe M18?

[moTIGS]

I generally found draft stories to be worthless anyway. Half the time they're generic "this guy took karate" or "this kid's parents were sprinters" thing, which probably signals some kind of info but nothing (as far as I can tell) that isn't already revealed through scouting/combine performances.

Like so much in franchise mode, it's woefully inadequate and I end up just ignoring it. I edit most of my draft classes so typically don't get any stories, and I've never felt like I've missed out on anything by doing so.

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by moTIGS

I generally found draft stories to be worthless anyway. Half the time they're generic "this guy took karate" or "this kid's parents were sprinters" thing, which probably signals some kind of info but nothing (as far as I can tell) that isn't already revealed through scouting/combine performances.

The stories are triggers for development traits, which can't be determined through scouting...when positive stories are generated, they contain a percentage chance for that players dev trait to go up. There was a chart floating around in previous seasons of the X-Factor era showing which stories had which chances.

So they may not be executed the best within the Franchise season flow, but they very much do matter.

[moTIGS]

The last time I drafted a player with a story, he had normal dev.

Since then, I've drafted several players with dev traits that either had no draft story or whose draft story I never saw.

The stories might indicate a certain percentage increase in the odds of a dev trait, but when only a few players have stories, the stories disappear from the news feed, and often you won't even be in position to draft those guys in the first place, it remains largely a pointless feature. Especially when players at many positions can pretty easily earn dev trait increases through game play.

It is, at best, about 10% of an interesting system and genuinely not worth paying attention to in most cases.

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by moTIGS

The last time I drafted a player with a story, he had normal dev. Since then, I've drafted several players with dev traits that either had no draft story or whose draft story I never saw. The stories might indicate a certain percentage increase in the odds of a dev trait, but when only a few players have stories, the stories disappear from the news feed, and often you won't even be in position to draft those guys in the first place, it remains largely a pointless feature. Especially when players at many positions can pretty easily earn dev trait increases through game play.

A discussion about percentages chances, random and pseduo-random number series, and sample sizes probably isn't going to get much traction, is it?

Regardless, no, that isn't the only place to find better dev traits, and not everybody with a story will be any better than normal. But generally speaking, over time and larger sample sizes, drafting storied guys will give you a larger number of advanced dev traits than completely ignoring them.

More to the point, if the stories aren't ever generating, that means a lower overall number of higher dev traits going to the league at large, which has a negative impact on the overall franchise ecosystem after a few seasons. The stories actually cause the dev trait to increase from what it originally was (that is, if a story spawns for a guy that was a normal dev trait at the time the class was generated, and the dice come up favorably, his trait will change from what it was originally). If stories aren't spawning, the class overall has fewer high dev traits.

CPU teams starting to struggle with talent after a few years? Draft class editing cutting off story generation could be one of the reasons, especially since the CPU doesn't get the same in-season increase scenarios the player does.

So far as the weekly thing and stories disappearing, it IS a pain, and could be done better. In the interim, what I do is just check weekly, and make a pen-and-paper list of every guy with a positive story. If I'm not using my draft board for anything else (frequently the case given the way scouting currently works), I'll just throw them on there.

I don't draft those guys JUST because they have a story, but if I'm comparing two players that are roughly equivalent, and one has a story where the other one doesn't, I'll usually draft the storied guy just due to the higher chance of a better dev trait.

[sccavs64]

Quote: Originally Posted by tg88forHOF

A discussion about percentages chances, random and pseduo-random number series, and sample sizes probably isn't going to get much traction, is it? Regardless, no, that isn't the only place to find better dev traits, and not everybody with a story will be any better than normal. But generally speaking, over time and larger sample sizes, drafting storied guys will give you a larger number of advanced dev traits than completely ignoring them. More to the point, if the stories aren't ever generating, that means a lower overall number of higher dev traits going to the league at large, which has a negative impact on the overall franchise ecosystem after a few seasons. The stories actually cause the dev trait to increase from what it originally was (that is, if a story spawns for a guy that was a normal dev trait at the time the class was generated, and the dice come up favorably, his trait will change from what it was originally). If stories aren't spawning, the class overall has fewer high dev traits. CPU teams starting to struggle with talent after a few years? Draft class editing cutting off story generation could be one of the reasons, especially since the CPU doesn't get the same in-season increase scenarios the player does. So far as the weekly thing and stories disappearing, it IS a pain, and could be done better. In the interim, what I do is just check weekly, and make a pen-and-paper list of every guy with a positive story. If I'm not using my draft board for anything else (frequently the case given the way scouting currently works), I'll just throw them on there. I don't draft those guys JUST because they have a story, but if I'm comparing two players that are roughly equivalent, and one has a story where the other one doesn't, I'll usually draft the storied guy just due to the higher chance of a better dev trait.

Well said - I will say that the Heisman winner always has a Star/Superstar/X-Factor dev trait. Every single time. Been this way in Madden since '18.

The rest of the stories however seem to just increase the likelihood of an above-normal dev trait if they're a positive draft story.

I will say that I do pay a lot of attention to draft stories where an injury occurs. The player with the injury generally drops at least 1 round, sometimes 2-4 rounds, in terms of projected draft rank. These guys end up being steals.

I drafted a 78 OVR EDGE with the 1st pick in the 3rd round, he had an X-Factor dev trait. Absolute stud... He was projected to go in the top-10, had an injury in the middle of the season, and then dropped to a 3rd round projection.