Hindsight

[labguy]

I feel like I need to make a declaration that I am not bashing EA. I am just trying to pose an interesting question. The new Online Franchise feature seems to be bitter sweet. It has many very positive features (flexible draft feature, up to 32 users, progression, retirement, injuries,etc). But several significant features (salary cap, NCAA draft classes, true free agency bidding system) are missing. The EA team points to lack of time to get everything in. Well my question is this.....do you think they regret dedicating development hours to the league feature last year? I mean imagine where online franchise could be if they did not waste their time with the generic league feature last year. The blog today pretty much admitted that it was scrapped and the online franchise was built from scratch. So while I applaud that the new regime is listening to what the masses want. It just makes it obvious that the old regime did not listen at all. If so they would have been building an online franchise that could be built upon. They could have been adding to it each year. Not starting from scratch. Ok I will get off of my soapbox now. Anyone else think having to wait another whole year for a "complete" online franchise mode a tough pill to swallow?

[XtremeDunkz]

i dont think they specifically spent alot of time on it. It is the same exact coded "league" that was used in every other EA game last year.

[HealyMonster]

You can say that pretty much for Madden in general. Madden 09 was like "clean up" fom the 3 years prior, this year they finally add some innovative stuff but they are still cleaning up the 06=08 mess a little bit.

Ian and co, cant help that madden 06-08 was someone living a hip hop tournament dream. adding all the "bling" and rings and superstar mode, and getting weapons. Now that Ian and those dudes took over, they are running up a serious hill. They have to create a new game and essentially "scrap" the old one. Its really crazy when you think about it.

[MattIntellect]

Quote: Originally Posted by labguy

I feel like I need to make a declaration that I am not bashing EA. I am just trying to pose an interesting question. The new Online Franchise feature seems to be bitter sweet. It has many very positive features (flexible draft feature, up to 32 users, progression, retirement, injuries,etc). But several significant features (salary cap, NCAA draft classes, true free agency bidding system) are missing. The EA team points to lack of time to get everything in. Well my question is this.....do you think they regret dedicating development hours to the league feature last year? I mean imagine where online franchise could be if they did not waste their time with the generic league feature last year. The blog today pretty much admitted that it was scrapped and the online franchise was built from scratch. So while I applaud that the new regime is listening to what the masses want. It just makes it obvious that the old regime did not listen at all. If so they would have been building an online franchise that could be built upon. They could have been adding to it each year. Not starting from scratch. Ok I will get off of my soapbox now. Anyone else think having to wait another whole year for a "complete" online franchise mode a tough pill to swallow?

Online Franchise is server-based. Some features could be added after Madden 10 drops. They could find a way to implement the salary cap, extra years, and a few other things at the community's request because of this.

[elgreazy1]

But they clearly stated they will not be able to add in CPU trade logic, which is a big time bummer as well. You can basically get away with murder while trading to/with the CPU or you will have to force the Admin to each league to allow/disallow proposed trades. Either way, this is kind of another big negative hit.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by MattIntellect

Online Franchise is server-based. Some features could be added after Madden 10 drops. They could find a way to implement the salary cap, extra years, and a few other things at the community's request because of this.

LOL they could find a way. LOL they know how. It's just a matter of when they will do it after the game drops. That is the question.

[labguy]

Quote: Originally Posted by xtremedunkz

i dont think they specifically spent alot of time on it. It is the same exact coded "league" that was used in every other EA game last year.

Well they spent some time on it....time that could have been put towards a real online franchise. The moral of the story should be put in features that you can build upon and refine. Not ones you have to scrap in one year. I mean really they didn't know that a generic league was not going to fly with the masses? Anyway the past is the past. I think the new regime is headed in the right direction. I hope they just learn from their company's past failures.

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by labguy

Well they spent some time on it....time that could have been put towards a real online franchise. The moral of the story should be put in features that you can build upon and refine. Not ones you have to scrap in one year. I mean really they didn't know that a generic league was not going to fly with the masses? Anyway the past is the past. I think the new regime is headed in the right direction. I hope they just learn from their company's past failures.

+1.