What happened to "server based" online franchise updates?

[43M]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

You've played the game already? What did they improve? I've heard them say more than once last year that they fixed many issues, yet they still remained in the game. Sorry if when I say improve gameplay I mean improve gameplay, not fix glitches that have been in the game for years now that should have never been in the game in the first place. They need to fix, AND add, not just fix.

Alot of the gameplay issues stem from the foundation the game is built on, and that isnt going to be scrapped on this generation because it would mean starting from scratch. Most of the issues are too deep rooted to be fixed without completely going back to formula, which would mean likely not being able to release a game one year...hell, maybe two.

The gameplay is never going to improve drastically on these systems. Its not that they dont work on gameplay because they obviously do...there is just a limit to how much they can do due to how poorly Madden started off on this generation of platforms.

The earliest we can hope for a football sim with MUCH better gameplay is either when the exclusive license ends or when next gen consoles come out.

So, bottom line...if you cant get over Madden's current gameplay issues and accept if for what it is FOR NOW...then find something better to do with your time until one of those things happen, because they game isnt going to see any drastic changes to gameplay anytime soon.

[TNT713]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

Here's a question that should get you thinking, and should have caught EA's attention if this reason you stated is indeed why they devoted less, if not no, time to Online Franchise this year. How many Madden 2011 copies were sold in that time period that the 40 million games were played? Now, how many players go home and the first thing they do is play an online franchise game? How many players play an online franchise game second, third, etc.? Therein lies the problem with EA, they are WAY too reactionary. I've seen it in NHL, Fight Night, and now I see it in Madden. They do not things through. Most likely people aren't going to hop right into an online franchise game because of many reasons. Practice, lack of knowledge of a community to get into an online franchise with, lack of knowledge of the gameplay and/or players in the game. Etc. If the first 40 million games played included 1% Online Franchise games, I'd consider that a decent amount, considering the mode was far from an "Online Franchise" mode in the first place. You have to take that into account and it seems no one here is even looking at it this way. Just think about it this way, when you get home, rip off the packaging, and put it in your console, what are you going to do first if your choices are 1) Online exhibition game or 2) Online Franchise game? I'd be willing to bet that even the people who are AVID online franchise users would answer (1) to that question, so 4% of the first 40 million games being franchise/superstar/virtual trainer is actually a substantial amount, to me anyway.

I'm sure the fans of Online Franchise are as die-hard about it as I am about 1v1 games online or off. I also understand the frustration with seeing the part of the game you love being ignored from a development standpoint.

You ask some really good questions that would help clear up the picture about what the stats actually mean. And you're right. We could both probably live pretty well off of 3% of $40 million dollars.

BUT - If you look around message boards, people complain about EVERYTHING, not just the deficiencies of Online Franchise. Given the measure of the complaints about the most popular modes, EA has to devote ample resources to improving those parts.

Suppose for a moment that Madden 12 is perfect in every way on the Offline Franchise and Online Ranked Game fronts. Online Franchise would no doubt be a prime target for development in Madden 13.

But we both know the most played modes aren't going to be perfect. So it stands to reason that EA will again have to decide where to work based on our Madden 12 gaming habits, our complaints, and our Madden 13 wish lists.

They read our posts... But they have to make decisions based on resources. Hopefully the hard work that the devs put in on Madden 12 is noticed and appreciated. If people are generally pleased, it may justify the decision not to focus on the modes loved by a few and free up devs on Madden 13 to handle Online Franchise properly...

But if we moan like we do every other year - expect less attention than OF fans want. Especially if the numbers don't come up.

One good thing... The head of the NCAA team is EP on the Madden team I expect more of NCAA's strengths to be injected into Madden.

Later

[theironlung82]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

Let's say for argument sake that 90% of gamers are playing online play now ranked matches. What does the Madden team do to that mode once the game has dropped? Does it really matter how much play now is being used if they aren't going to change anything to it? Shouldn't they still be able to address basic issues to online franchise from the server like they said they could 2 years ago?

THANK YOU! your last line is my point/question, not what feature set etc.. is missing...WHY CANT THEY GIVE US A UPDATE NOW AFTER THE (SMALL) OUTRAGE OVER ZERO ADDITIONS?

[kbmnm247]

Quote: Originally Posted by TNT713

I'm sure the fans of Online Franchise are as die-hard about it as I am about 1v1 games online or off. I also understand the frustration with seeing the part of the game you love being ignored from a development standpoint. You ask some really good questions that would help clear up the picture about what the stats actually mean. And you're right. We could both probably live pretty well off of 3% of $40 million dollars. BUT - If you look around message boards, people complain about EVERYTHING, not just the deficiencies of Online Franchise. Given the measure of the complaints about the most popular modes, EA has to devote ample resources to improving those parts. Suppose for a moment that Madden 12 is perfect in every way on the Offline Franchise and Online Ranked Game fronts. Online Franchise would no doubt be a prime target for development in Madden 13. But we both know the most played modes aren't going to be perfect. So it stands to reason that EA will again have to decide where to work based on our Madden 12 gaming habits, our complaints, and our Madden 13 wish lists. They read our posts... But they have to make decisions based on resources. Hopefully the hard work that the devs put in on Madden 12 is noticed and appreciated. If people are generally pleased, it may justify the decision not to focus on the modes loved by a few and free up devs on Madden 13 to handle Online Franchise properly... But if we moan like we do every other year - expect less attention than OF fans want. Especially if the numbers don't come up. One good thing... The head of the NCAA team is EP on the Madden team I expect more of NCAA's strengths to be injected into Madden. Later

No offense but I'm not really sure your response had anything to do with what I posted? My post had little to do with Online Franchise not being perfect, it had all to do with EA jumping to conclusions without actually thinking hard about the situation. Like I said, no one is coming home, opening up Madden 12 and going to go straight into an Online Franchise, at least the HIGH majority aren't (there's that 1-4%). So to just look at the first 40 million games played online, when most of those games are also modders who had the game early and took it online who wouldn't even be able to really do an online franchise.

When you really take a closer look at it, the first 40 million games is a pretty small sample.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by TNT713

I'm sure the fans of Online Franchise are as die-hard about it as I am about 1v1 games online or off. I also understand the frustration with seeing the part of the game you love being ignored from a development standpoint. You ask some really good questions that would help clear up the picture about what the stats actually mean. And you're right. We could both probably live pretty well off of 3% of $40 million dollars. BUT - If you look around message boards, people complain about EVERYTHING, not just the deficiencies of Online Franchise. Given the measure of the complaints about the most popular modes, EA has to devote ample resources to improving those parts. Suppose for a moment that Madden 12 is perfect in every way on the Offline Franchise and Online Ranked Game fronts. Online Franchise would no doubt be a prime target for development in Madden 13. But we both know the most played modes aren't going to be perfect. So it stands to reason that EA will again have to decide where to work based on our Madden 12 gaming habits, our complaints, and our Madden 13 wish lists. They read our posts... But they have to make decisions based on resources. Hopefully the hard work that the devs put in on Madden 12 is noticed and appreciated. If people are generally pleased, it may justify the decision not to focus on the modes loved by a few and free up devs on Madden 13 to handle Online Franchise properly... But if we moan like we do every other year - expect less attention than OF fans want. Especially if the numbers don't come up. One good thing... The head of the NCAA team is EP on the Madden team I expect more of NCAA's strengths to be injected into Madden. Later

I don't see it that way at all and I will tell you why. It's not that ALL issues would definitely be fixed, but they didn't even work on it. They did nothing. The mode is in the game. They have more than enough resources to allot a few developers to each mode in the game, and those developers own those features and work on them. They may not get ALL of the items they want completed before ship, but they can do SOMETHING. This is how large companies do software development. I worked with 2 other guys on a feature at my company for a long time. At first, no one was really using it, because we released a bare bones feature set in the first release. However, after 3 years, we had thousands of users. That didn't mean that all of the other features of our product were ignored because we worked on this. I can't stand when they use that excuse, it's ridiculous and it's not really true. They are being instructed to leave things out or they are just not all that good. It's one of the two.

[TNT713]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

When you really take a closer look at it, the first 40 million games is a pretty small sample.

True. But the dev cycle for Madden starts EARLY. 40 million games may simply have been the number played at the time when they needed to make a decision about what to work on for Madden 12.

Later