Adam, I can't tell if you are addressing me when you say you can't tell anything by testing sliders by running a few plays and then tweaking. Believe me I understand this. You have no idea how many games I run when testing sliders.
But check out the FG power slider for example. Turn it to 0 power and the AI can still kick 55 yard "non wind aided FG's". FG power of 0 should make a 25 yarder a chore.
Take INT slider, turn it to 0 and guys can still make interceptions.
But the awareness slider is even more important. I have played multiple dynasty season with it at 100 and just thrashed the AI. This wasn't possible on the PS2 version prior to 2008 when the pursuit angles were inexplicably destroyed. The AI at 100 was given a significant speed boost and boosts in other areas.
I can actually tell within 15 minutes or so if a slider is generally working or not. Take RB ability for example. You crank it up, the RB gets faster, you put it to 0, he wears cement shoes. Great it works, now it takes many plays to get to the perfect number that suits me. I'm ok with that.
As far as running plays, money plays take some time to discover, I'll give you that. But once you find a play that works well, just go into practice and see if a defensive play that should prevent it from worrking does just that. It takes a little time, but I'm ok with that too.
Can you get someone to explain their intention of what these sliders should do. It might help, but I've read that an EA rep said the knockdown slider only controls the D-lines ability to knockdown passes and I've found that to be incorrect. So I am not even sure if the programmers know what their own sliders do.
My observation is that the testers are either instructed to look for specific glitches and don't test for things like money plays or if sliders work, or if they are just incompetent to know what to look for.
OS as a community, myself definitely included, would be willing to give EA hundreds of hours of FREE game testing. You can choose to take it or not, that is EA's choice. But when things like the aformentioned FG power slider simply do not work and we recognize that in a matter of moments, it really makes it look like the QC on this game is mediocre at best. I've pretty much bought every EA NCAA game since Bill Walsh as well as many other EA games. Probably spent thousands on EA games and even worse, spent more hours testing sliders than I care to admit. All I want is for you guys to deliver the best product possible and its frustrating when it appears that I put more effort into making the game enjoyable than you guys do. And yes, Irealize I'm not the target audience, but I do represent a sale and as a long time paying customer I voice my opinion as I do with other products I spend alot oftime and money with.
Thanks again for fielding these questions and posts.