Do Player Ratings Matter in All-Madden? Here’s an Experiment

[Vanilla_Gorilla]

So during my Texans franchise, a ran a zig route with Will Fuller against Man Coverage that resulted in an 8 yard gain against perfect coverage by Jonathan Joseph. I wondered how good Joseph’s ratings were to be able to cover the zig so perfectly, and they weren’t too shabby, 84 man, 84 press, 81 play rec.

This kind of got me curious. I wanted to see just how ratings stack up in All-Madden with User defenses and CPU defenses.

Unfortunately, the roster I have loaded doesn’t have Joseph on the Titans roster, but Adoree Jackson does have similar ratings physically and coverage of wise with slightly less play rec and less press (which doesn’t matter due to the play call and route).

I ran 25 versions of the same play as the offense and the defense. Same players. No interactions. Same plays. All Sliders set to 50.

The way I judge whether Jackson won the play was either
A) Immediate Tackle
B) Coverage Animation but Caught
C) Coverage Animation PBU
D) Close Coverage
E) PBU
F) Interception

Obviously, Fuller wins if he catches the ball and gets solid RAC yardage (I.e. he escapes away from Jackson, or outright beats him).

*User Offense*
Jackson won 14 out of 25 snaps. Good for winning the play 56% of the time.
1 play resulted in an interception.
4 in PBUs (total.
The rest were immediate tackles.

Upping CPU Pass Coverage and Reaction Time Sliders to 75 Jackson won 17 out of 25 snaps good for winning 68% of the time.
1 interception
4 PBU’s

Moving up to 100 CPU Coverage and Reaction Time, Jackson won 15 out of 25 Snaps. Winning 60% of the snaps.
0 interceptions
6 PBUs

*User Defense*
When controlling the Titans defense, Jackson won just 6 out of 25 snaps. Good for winning the play just 24% of the time.
No interceptions.
No PBUs.

When upping the User Pass Coverage and Reaction Time Sliders to 75 each Jackson won 9 out of 25 snaps, which is a bit better at 36%.
1 Incompletion
2 PBUs
No interceptions

When upping User Pass Coverage and Reaction time Sliders to 100 each Jackson won only 5 of 25 snaps at just a 20% win rate.
1 Incompletion
1 PBU
No interceptions

*Conclusion*
This is just a brief, but nonetheless, disheartening experiment. I’m sure there’s more ratings at work than the one’s I believe are the main factors, but User defenders are at a clear disadvantage within the game’s engine compared to the CPU. This is likely why playing defense against the CPU can just be...just plain not fun at times. Your ratings aren’t mattering in the grand scheme of things. The sliders also don’t seem to be as effective of a bandaid either.

[khaliib]

1) the whole point of AM is to create disadvantages (manipulate ratings/die rolls) towards the User as a way of producing greater AI difficulty.

2) different throw/release timing between User and AI QB, which impacts Break-on-Ball triggering, thus outcomes

3) greater Fatigue applied to User players than AI, again to produce greater AI difficulty

4) different times of TUP penalty possibly being applied due to Pass Rush not being exactly the same every snap, thus impacting outcomes

**If this is Next-Gen, new Player Movement will also impact outcomes also

[Vanilla_Gorilla]

Quote: Originally Posted by khaliib

1) the whole point of AM is to create disadvantages (manipulate ratings/die rolls) towards the User as a way of producing greater AI difficulty. 2) different throw/release timing between User and AI QB, which impacts Break-on-Ball triggering, thus outcomes 3) greater Fatigue applied to User players than AI, again to produce greater AI difficulty 4) different times of TUP penalty possibly being applied due to Pass Rush not being exactly the same every snap, thus impacting outcomes **If this is Next-Gen, new Player Movement will also impact outcomes also

1) That should not be how a Sports game’s difficulty works. What’s the point of developing players if their ratings are handicapped in the actual game? Higher difficulties should mean a more difficult AI, not worse user ratings. Sports is not dice rolls.

2) Throw variation was minimal. I made sure to only include plays where it was an accurate bullet pass, this is including pass rush as well. The zig route against man is quick, so pass rush wasn’t much of a factor. If it affected the play, I didn’t count in. I was looking purely at the DB/WR interaction.

3) Practice mode, so fatigue not a factor.

[SolidSquid]

All madden is designed to challenge the user not be a fair ratings driven mode

[Vanilla_Gorilla]

Quote: Originally Posted by SolidSquid

All madden is designed to challenge the user not be a fair ratings driven mode

That’s just silly though. What’s the point of developing a guy to 90 overall or signing that 90 overall player in FA if he’s never going to play to his rating?

All Madden should challenge the user, absolutely, but not by just blanket reductions in how a player’s ratings work. Why isn’t the AI just better and smarter with maybe some minor penalties towards the user?

[Darth Aegis]

Ratings matter maybe 1% of the time imo. It's all the settings under the hood that make things happen or not.

[khaliib]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vanilla_Gorilla

That’s just silly though. What’s the point of developing a guy to 90 overall or signing that 90 overall player in FA if he’s never going to play to his rating? All Madden should challenge the user, absolutely, but not by just blanket reductions in how a player’s ratings work. Why isn’t the AI just better and smarter with maybe some minor penalties towards the user?

Every video game does this my friend, not just sports games.

Have you ever heard these terms applied to Madden...?
- Skynet
- Robo QB
- Psych DB

Its a fine line that’s difficult for a Game Dev, as what’s a sweet spot for you, would terrible for 10,000 other gamers.

Madden just needs to bring their Gameplay Sliders up to par of the genre.

This is the only sports game in the genre that remains so restrictive towards its users.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

So what's the verdict? Is it better to play All Pro with tough sliders? Regular all pro is just way too easy. All Madden is a challenge but defense feels a bit like the user has no control over anything at all.