Expansion Mode

[Godgers12]

When should we expect Madden to implement an expansion mode? It is well overdue, and would be quite groundbreaking since no other major sports title has had one yet (unless you count Madden 02). There are logistical obstacles they would have to face. Such as, uneven amount of teams, uneven divisions, scheduling AI concerns. However, I think they could bypass all that by going with the addition by contraction route. In other words, just have the user pick a team to replace. And put the players from the replaced team into a 1 round 32 player draft, with the rest going into free agency after.

Of coarse, it's just one idea. So what are your thoughts?

[kmoser]

Re: Expansion Mode

When should we expect Madden to implement an expansion mode? It is well overdue, and would be quite groundbreaking since no other major sports title has had one yet (unless you count Madden 02). There are logistical obstacles they would have to face. Such as, uneven amount of teams, uneven divisions, scheduling AI concerns. However, I think they could bypass all that by going with the addition by contraction route. In other words, just have the user pick a team to replace. And put the players from the replaced team into a 1 round 32 player draft, with the rest going into free agency after.

Of coarse, it's just one idea. So what are your thoughts?

I like the idea. I think it would be pretty cool. Maybe there could be a league wide draft but the already established teams make a protection list. Maybe the list would be 22 players (11 offense and 11 defense) and whoever is not on a protection list can be drafted. Just a thought.

[Trackball]

Re: Expansion Mode

It's too late to put it in this year, obviously, but I've wanted something like this for the longest time.

How better to build a team from the ground up, than when the team is first established?

And you bet your butt you can expect to suck in your first year--expansion teams are allowed to do that. But can you make the playoffs in your second year of existence, as the Jaguars and Panthers did?

It IS true about the logistical problems, though...but you do have some neat ideas on how to get around them. The most obvious would be picking what team to replace, thus keeping the total at an even 32.

I think the only game that ever tried this was NBA Live '96, and I bet that only happened because the expansion draft happened too late for the Raptors' and Grizzlies' final rosters to be put into the game, or something. But that game had no concept of "protected lists," so you could make an awesome team right from the get-go, while the other team was composed of scrubs.

(Strangely, I remember Kenny Smith, the Houston Rockets' starting point guard on their championship teams, kept getting picked in said game's expansion draft, even though he was on the Rockets' real-life protected list. In reality, the Rockets lost third-string center Zan Tabak.)

[Dos Peninsulas]

Re: Expansion Mode

But if you need to contract a team in order to put in an expansion team, then realistically wouldn't the league just move that team? Which they've added as a feature, unfortunately is sort of limits options even though it's pretty in depth.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I would love it, but it would probably have to be in a way that adds two teams, one to each conference and just have two divisions of 5.

[Dr Death]

Re: Expansion Mode

But if you need to contract a team in order to put in an expansion team, then realistically wouldn't the league just move that team? Which they've added as a feature, unfortunately is sort of limits options even though it's pretty in depth.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I would love it, but it would probably have to be in a way that adds two teams, one to each conference and just have two divisions of 5.

That's probably one of the reasons Owner Mode is back, to get around an "expansion" thing. And - as we all know - the NFL is so super protective of their image despite the fact that they keep whoring themselves out to England every freaking year, that they would not approve of such a mode. Jus' sayin'...

[kehlis]

Re: Expansion Mode

That's probably one of the reasons Owner Mode is back, to get around an "expansion" thing. And - as we all know - the NFL is so super protective of their image despite the fact that they keep whoring themselves out to England every freaking year, that they would not approve of such a mode. Jus' sayin'...

Approving an expansion mode is no different then allowing us the ability to move current teams and re-name them.

Because they've already approved that it's pretty clear the NFL would not be a hurdle to an expansion mode.

[BleedGreen710]

Re: Expansion Mode

On the old Maddens I used to go into create-A-team and create a 'cupcake' team with like 60-70 rated players and pretend it was an expansion team. Sucks you had to replace an existing team though.

[beauforsure]

Re: Expansion Mode

unless new teams enter , u aint gettin it.. The only time it happend in a Madden game was when the texans came into the league. that was 2001 or 2002. havent seen it since and will never see it again, EA sports at its best

[Rebel10]

Re: Expansion Mode

When should we expect it? Probably never. EA won't implement something like that, and they'll likely defer to the NFL and say that the NFL wont allow it because it's not realistic or something -- despite that fantasy team setups with trading cards instead of contracts also aren't realistic... but what can you do. The era that these games implement new, added features (without sacrificing other features) that aren't tied to microtransactions is basically over.

[rootofalleli]

Re: Expansion Mode

I'd rather see CFM get (in no particular order) assistant coaches, scouts, a front office, restricted/exclusive rights free agency, deeper salary cap management, remotely realistic draft scouting, and realistic rookie free agents. I'm also nervous that AI for trades, scouting, drafting, free agency, depth charts and other franchise elements will continue to be unsophisticated.

So as fun as the expansion draft was in the past and could be again, I'd rather see the Franchise/AI people make sure that the basics are working before we get new features. To be honest, I was even disappointed to see Owner Mode return. It's not a bad feature and I get that they wanted to give us last-gen features in time for next-gen (I'm sad I wrote those words), but I'm still not interested in seeing the game get broader before it gets deeper.

I'd rather have fewer options that are well-developed than more options that are incomplete, bug-ridden, or limited by terrible AI. I really wanted to get into CCM last year, and I could have even overlooked some problems on the field if it had been fun to sim games and try to outmaneuver the AI with good draft picks, trades, and roster decisions. Unfortunately, CCM was about as fun as beating my cat in chess.

[triplela]

The old All Star Baseball games on the PS2 had expansion mode. It was really well done. You took over the expansion team and picked the city and nickname of your team from a list Acclaim had on the game. The CPU also took over an expansion team. You then went thru a realistic expansion draft with mostly scrubs and over the hill vets. The AI placed you and the other expansion team into divisions and the season started. I believe this was in All Star Baseball 2002 -2005 when 2K obtained the 3rd party exclusive. Like I said, this mode was very well done and would be a great edition to Madden.


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[BCJMU99]

Re: Expansion Mode

I would LOVE that! Expansion draft, etc. that would be a blast!