This game, in my opinion, will NEVER be "worth" more than $40 because it comes out every single year and there's only so much they can change in it year to year.
They update the rosters, uniforms, stadiums.........and then what? Little things here and there that people may like, but along the way they manage to break/change 3 or 4 things from the past year that worked. It happens Every. Single. Year.
I don't doubt that the people who make the game try. I really don't. This is their job, their life. They don't WANT to ship something that has the perception like Madden/NCAA does here. But in the end, they're catering to who the company wants them to cater to. And it isn't us. It's the people out there who buy the game and really couldn't care less how realistic it is, how many "little things" are included. They just want the 3 updated things listed above, and they're good for another 365 days.
Funny thing is, it's not like Madden is a HORRIBLE game. It's not. But, and these people are going to have to live with this until it's not true anymore, the fact is people like us are going to expect A LOT more than is even reasonable when your company has decided to go in on a deal that makes you the only option. I don't even care if people think 2K was better, Madden was better, etc. Don't give a crap. When there's competition, there are very real and immediate reasons for the games to get better quickly. And there's also something for everyone. If someone liked 2K's presentation better, Madden's gameplay better, or whatever, you had the ability to choose. Now you can't, and therefore any errors are magnified x100. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't. But that's life.
The people of this website though need to accept that they're the minority, and the things that are complained about on here aren't going to change. They're just not. So you can either keep buying the game and deal with the problems as they come, or you can say that it isn't worth it anymore and skip it. It's your choice. But these problems that are discussed with EVERY yearly release of these games just aren't ever going to go away. Face it, football is the most popular sport in America. And along with that comes the fact that the people who buy football games are going to be, let's say.....not some of the smartest people in the world. You've played online....you know what I speak of. THESE people are the majority. THEY are what EA Sports cares about. If this game all of a sudden became Front Page Sports Football '95 (you old schoolers know what I'm talking about,) the game would tank. NHL, FIFA, and MLB are high quality games because there is a larger segment of "hardcore" fans of those sports who have that high expectation of realism. I juts don't think it's there with the football gamers. They just want to turn it on, go for it on 4th and 20, and throw bombs all day.