Madden NFL 15: Ultimate Team Interview with Joe Alread

[RaychelSnr]

One of the most popular modes in Madden NFL is Ultimate Team. While the mode was slow to get a dedicated audience, it now ranks as one of the fastest growing and most played modes within Madden. Today, we've learned about all of the new features in the mode. Now, we are going to ask a few questions to Joe Alread, the executive producer of Madden NFL 15 who is in charge of all things Ultimate Team, about this year's mode.


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[steelersredspacers]

As a hardcore ultimate team player, this stuff might not sound too flashy, but it will certainly save time in the menus which was a big issue in the past. They fixed a lot of things that were really annoying. Not to mention, the mode is already great as it is, and when you combine the gameplay fixes with making the team managing aspect easier and less time consuming, we should see a nice improvement in the MUT experience this year.

[MrPinkBlackrose]

Hope they gave the same attention to the CFM UI/menus...were so lag (like all of them were) and that 32 team selection, I swear it was meant to discourage you from using more than one team. God awful.

[AuditMonkey]

My biggest hope is that they stop making so many 99s by the end of the year. Once that happened, I was done this year.

[elkabong34]

I definitely hope there are less 99's. I like what I see with a lot of these OVR's, if they are low like that, that should mean that weekly players/special cards will be more valuable and in fewer numbers. It seemed that by mid season last year, the weekly stars were pretty much worthless by then as there were so many Elites that over shadowed them. I also hope there are different game modes. Getting something other than Season mode would be nice...

[Sheba2011]

For the ultimate team gurus I have a question. I have never even opened the mode myself so this is mainly out of curiosity. What is the difference/advantage between this and just doing a fantasy draft in CFM? I have always been curious about UT but never really took the time to try it out.

[steelersredspacers]

For the ultimate team gurus I have a question. I have never even opened the mode myself so this is mainly out of curiosity. What is the difference/advantage between this and just doing a fantasy draft in CFM? I have always been curious about UT but never really took the time to try it out.

Here are some differences

1. In Ultimate Team, you start out with a team of all crappy players, and gradually build your team by upgrading each position through packs and purchasing cards on the auction block. In CFM, you usually start with an average team and could get better or worse as time goes on.

2. Ultimate Team gives you the benefit of playing online head to head games and offline games against the CPU using the same team in the same mode. You can choose to only do one or the other if you want, but I think it is fun to mix the 2.

3. There is no salary cap or restrictions on building your team, and you can have virtually any player you want. For example, if you really like Jordy Nelson and Matt Forte, you could get these guys on your team relatively easily, where as in CFM, you need to give up significant pieces to get them.

4. Players don't age from season to season, so if you want Peyton Manning for 10 season in a row, you can use him.

5. I never spend money on the mode, and there is no better feeling than beating a guy with 99 OVRs at every position with your budget squad. I skipped Madden 25, but in Madden 13 I actually made several hundred dollars by selling MUT coins for real money.

6. If you want, you can build several different teams to play different styles of play.

7. You could say that opening packs is like having draft picks, and buying players off the auction is like signing free agents. I think opening packs is more exciting because you never know when you will get a rare card, and it is awesome when you do.

That is what I can think of off the top of my head

[steelersredspacers]

Also, if you want to really enjoy MUT, you should expect to put some time into it. You will run into a lot of teams that are a lot better than you early online, so it is better to play solo challenges in the beginning until you get a decent team. I hated it when I first started in Madden 10, but when I put more time into it, it became more fun. Just don't expect to get a good team within a day unless you spend real money. It probably takes a couple weeks to a month to get a solid team without spending money.

[Darkwolf90]

I'm interested in learning more about how the contracts and this "currency that the game handles" is going to work. I know in past versions of UT in any game I was always worried about the number of games I had left with my top players and this always limited how much I really played MUT or any version of UT from Madden to NHL. How does the currency work, and how does it "resign" players who's contracts have expired?

[Sheba2011]

Here are some differences

1. In Ultimate Team, you start out with a team of all crappy players, and gradually build your team by upgrading each position through packs and purchasing cards on the auction block. In CFM, you usually start with an average team and could get better or worse as time goes on.

2. Ultimate Team gives you the benefit of playing online head to head games and offline games against the CPU using the same team in the same mode. You can choose to only do one or the other if you want, but I think it is fun to mix the 2.

3. There is no salary cap or restrictions on building your team, and you can have virtually any player you want. For example, if you really like Jordy Nelson and Matt Forte, you could get these guys on your team relatively easily, where as in CFM, you need to give up significant pieces to get them.

4. Players don't age from season to season, so if you want Peyton Manning for 10 season in a row, you can use him.

5. I never spend money on the mode, and there is no better feeling than beating a guy with 99 OVRs at every position with your budget squad. I skipped Madden 25, but in Madden 13 I actually made several hundred dollars by selling MUT coins for real money.

6. If you want, you can build several different teams to play different styles of play.

7. You could say that opening packs is like having draft picks, and buying players off the auction is like signing free agents. I think opening packs is more exciting because you never know when you will get a rare card, and it is awesome when you do.

That is what I can think of off the top of my head

Thanks for all that info, I might have to check it out this year. It's funny when I think back to how many MUT preorder bonuses I never took advantage of.

[steelersredspacers]

Thanks for all that info, I might have to check it out this year. It's funny when I think back to how many MUT preorder bonuses I never took advantage of.

No problem. If you have any specific questions, the ultimate team forum on here is really helpful

[WickedFastball]

Never saw what the big deal was with MUT, it's a mode solely made to take more of your money, when they should be spending their time making a better game of football.
I will not EVER spend a cent on this mode until I can say to myself, "WOW, this years Madden is one incredible game of FOOTBALL" Then sure I'll try it out, but i'm not going to reward them for not focusing all of their attention on the REASON we all buy the $60 game in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Biizz713]

Re: Madden NFL 15: Ultimate Team Interview with Joe Alread

the most important change that they could make in my opinion is making the packs you get for winning playoff games/super bowls actually worth trying to get. the main reason I gave up on Madden 25 was I was playing all of these cheesers doing everything they possibly can the exploit for a win and it was pointless. after I won the super bowl on all madden there was literally no reason to play anymore other than to get annoyed and frustrated.

[MelR2000]

Thanks for all that info, I might have to check it out this year. It's funny when I think back to how many MUT preorder bonuses I never took advantage of.

I think the only advantage of MUT is to PAD electronic arts bottom line. Did anybody EVER ask in their top twenty to have a game of essentially playing cards that cost the customer more money? In my opinion,this is a money grab which is focused marketing aimed at our young people who don't realize they are being taken advantage.

[pacman5769]

Re: Madden NFL 15: Ultimate Team Interview with Joe Alread

I think the only advantage of MUT is to PAD electronic arts bottom line. Did anybody EVER ask in their top twenty to have a game of essentially playing cards that cost the customer more money? In my opinion,this is a money grab which is focused marketing aimed at our young people who don't realize they are being taken advantage.

lol of course its a money grab EA is a business...and businesses need to make money...not a real hard concept to grasp really