Better patch & tuner management is badly needed for NCAA Series

[DetroitStyle]

Great post GMSS! I agree with everything you said and then some. The patch management is horrible as noted with last years debacle, and now they're relatively silent having spent their patches on adding uniform stores and such. I really fear that this game will have the same lack of support as '12 did last year. Masking a lack of support for their game with a uniform store is ridiculous. No one here should tolerate the uniform store and updates to it as smoke and mirrors for dropping backend support for the game.

As I said, EA has been relatively silent despite all the issues addressed by the OP. I hope the silence means they're working on a true comprehensive patch to address these issues. I hope it doesn't mean they're quitely dropping support for the game and distracting us with a uniform store.

[BallinVol]

Skillz, the list of what the CPU does do right would be MUCH shorter than the list of things needing improved. With that said, a list of fixes would be needed obviously because EA has no earthly idea what to tune/fix!

[Matt10]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson

Patch and tuner management seems to be the NCAA series weak point. They need to better think out their strategy when it comes to patches and tuners. As we all know patches come at a premium. A company only get 3 of them for free and each additional one after that the company is charged for. Which is why you don't see a lot of patches for games. With that said, NCAA dev team should work to get the most bang for the buck. Over the years they really haven't and this year has been the worse. EA wasted a patch just to turn on a uniform store and used a previous patch just to put in the uniform store menu. Yes I said wasted. Reason I say wasted is because they knew before the game came out they were going to have a uniform store and knew they were going to have DLC for the game. So why weren't these features already turned on in the game from default ? Serious question..... I own a lot of games and all of them have DLC. But NONE of them required a patch to put a store in and another patch to turn the store on. All of that stuff was already built into the game. Therefore when DLC hit the market place, all you had to do was download the DLC. IMO, the uniform store should have been in the game from the beginning and turned on from the beginning. Then all EA had to do was just release DLC for it when ever it came available. Step back and look at the big picture here folks. Patch # 3, just to turn on a store. That's it.....Their last free patch.....to turn on a store. Sure they may or may not release additional patches for NCAA 13, but those will cost EA money. With that said, they might not be so incline to release anymore patches because of that. When I think of all the game play related issues they were never fixed, never addressed, yeah it does irk, annoy and sting a little to know they used their last free patch to turn on a store. We talking about a store here. Something that should have been already on from the get go. Yeah the store is great and all, but you shouldn't have needed 2 patches to get it. One patch to put it in and another patch to turn it on. That is just sloppy management when you knew full well you were going to have a store and have DLC for it. Store should have been in the game and already turned on from default DAY ONE. Come on guys......Look at the lingering issues in this game still: Then don't get me started on you guys lack of using tuners..... On one hand you tune route running for WRs on come back routes along the sidelines to keep them from running out of bounds and coming back inbounds too often, but YET you guys refuse to tune the dumb logic of having punt returners and kick off returners running directly into defenders in a straight line. How come you don't tune them and all ball carriers really to run to open space ? If the far side of the field is open, which it is majority of the time, then damn it program the CPU ball carriers to run to that side of the field. On one hand you tuned ball carriers to use special moves, when in reality the only special move you increased was the juke move and not the spin move, but never the less, on the other hand you refuse to increase ball carrier vision rating effectiveness for ball carriers. Don't know how many times I have to suggest to you guys increase ball carrier vision effectiveness by 150%. Ball carriers need to avoid traffic and defenders, not run directly head 1st into them. On one hand you fixed defenders not reacting to option plays, but on the other hand you didn't fix CPU QBs from not reacting to a defender coming up the middle directly in his face that is about to sack him. On one hand you decreased the effectiveness of a QB running up the middle from under center, but yet you refuse to increase the effectiveness of a punt or FG being blocked. This selectively tuning some things while ignoring others is irritating. It is like you guys only tune game play related things that people ONLINE exploit. If it isn't an exploit online, you guys turn a blind eye to it. Here is an idea......start tuning CPU AI game play deficiencies. Because you know what ? Not everybody plays online 100% of the time. A lot of us play the CPU only or CPU most of the time. So why should offline players get shafted every year ??? Do I need to write out a detailed list of every thing the CPU AI controlled player don't do right or don't do at all ? Do I need to list everything I don't see in the game, that could easily be tuned in the game ? I am so sick and tired of this. You have tuners.....use them. This game is so close but yet so far away at the same time. Focus guys ! Actually and I mean really really actually play against the CPU or hell just watch CPU vs CPU game play. Pay attention to what they are doing and not doing that they should be doing.

Post of the year, GMS. Thanks, man. The approach is just lack of respect at this point - as a consumer that's how I feel. I've made due with whatever issues there were in the past; and finally there is a game breaker that no matter what I've tried, fixes it. Worst of all - EA doesn't address it. (DB Glitch).

[Haze88]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson

Patch and tuner management seems to be the NCAA series weak point. They need to better think out their strategy when it comes to patches and tuners. As we all know patches come at a premium. A company only get 3 of them for free and each additional one after that the company is charged for. Which is why you don't see a lot of patches for games. With that said, NCAA dev team should work to get the most bang for the buck. Over the years they really haven't and this year has been the worse. EA wasted a patch just to turn on a uniform store and used a previous patch just to put in the uniform store menu. Yes I said wasted. Reason I say wasted is because they knew before the game came out they were going to have a uniform store and knew they were going to have DLC for the game. So why weren't these features already turned on in the game from default ? Serious question..... I own a lot of games and all of them have DLC. But NONE of them required a patch to put a store in and another patch to turn the store on. All of that stuff was already built into the game. Therefore when DLC hit the market place, all you had to do was download the DLC. IMO, the uniform store should have been in the game from the beginning and turned on from the beginning. Then all EA had to do was just release DLC for it when ever it came available. Step back and look at the big picture here folks. Patch # 3, just to turn on a store. That's it.....Their last free patch.....to turn on a store. Sure they may or may not release additional patches for NCAA 13, but those will cost EA money. With that said, they might not be so incline to release anymore patches because of that. When I think of all the game play related issues they were never fixed, never addressed, yeah it does irk, annoy and sting a little to know they used their last free patch to turn on a store. We talking about a store here. Something that should have been already on from the get go. Yeah the store is great and all, but you shouldn't have needed 2 patches to get it. One patch to put it in and another patch to turn it on. That is just sloppy management when you knew full well you were going to have a store and have DLC for it. Store should have been in the game and already turned on from default DAY ONE. Come on guys......Look at the lingering issues in this game still: Then don't get me started on you guys lack of using tuners..... On one hand you tune route running for WRs on come back routes along the sidelines to keep them from running out of bounds and coming back inbounds too often, but YET you guys refuse to tune the dumb logic of having punt returners and kick off returners running directly into defenders in a straight line. How come you don't tune them and all ball carriers really to run to open space ? If the far side of the field is open, which it is majority of the time, then damn it program the CPU ball carriers to run to that side of the field. On one hand you tuned ball carriers to use special moves, when in reality the only special move you increased was the juke move and not the spin move, but never the less, on the other hand you refuse to increase ball carrier vision rating effectiveness for ball carriers. Don't know how many times I have to suggest to you guys increase ball carrier vision effectiveness by 150%. Ball carriers need to avoid traffic and defenders, not run directly head 1st into them. On one hand you fixed defenders not reacting to option plays, but on the other hand you didn't fix CPU QBs from not reacting to a defender coming up the middle directly in his face that is about to sack him. On one hand you decreased the effectiveness of a QB running up the middle from under center, but yet you refuse to increase the effectiveness of a punt or FG being blocked. This selectively tuning some things while ignoring others is irritating. It is like you guys only tune game play related things that people ONLINE exploit. If it isn't an exploit online, you guys turn a blind eye to it. Here is an idea......start tuning CPU AI game play deficiencies. Because you know what ? Not everybody plays online 100% of the time. A lot of us play the CPU only or CPU most of the time. So why should offline players get shafted every year ??? Do I need to write out a detailed list of every thing the CPU AI controlled player don't do right or don't do at all ? Do I need to list everything I don't see in the game, that could easily be tuned in the game ? I am so sick and tired of this. You have tuners.....use them. This game is so close but yet so far away at the same time. Focus guys ! Actually and I mean really really actually play against the CPU or hell just watch CPU vs CPU game play. Pay attention to what they are doing and not doing that they should be doing.

I said in another post, people like me who only play offline have the fate of our games held hostage by online complainers and cheesers(God, I hate this term). EA then makes a snap decision and shatters the game for offline players. Here's a novel idea, thoroughly test the game so that patches are unnecessary, or only needed in extreme circumstances.

[Gotmadskillzson]

In this Photo, ineffective ball carrier vision in action. RB just cleared the line of scrimmage. As you can to the right hand side, you had a TE and WR going up against a DB & Safety. If the CPU AI was smart, he would have cut it to the right and played the law of averages. 2 blockers on 2 defenders. Logic dictates the TD probability rate of success would be 97%. Because even if ONE of the blockers missed the block, the RB could have juked or spun on the remaining defender.



As you can see, the RB continued going straight. Now he is screwed. He has 5 defenders in front of him with just one blocker. And to make matters worse, he is 2 defenders coming at him from both sides in a head on collision course about to make a sandwich out of him.

If the CPU had effective ball carrier vision and situation awareness, he could have spun to the left or spun to the right. Either direction he spun, he would have canceled out the 2 defenders right near him and they would have collided with each other. Then it would have been a foot race between him and the remaining 3 defenders.

But he did not, kept going straight, got sandwiched and knocked out of the game for broken collarbone and out 7 weeks.



Oh punt returns......this is where you see the worse ball carrier vision out of the CPU AI. As you can see in the picture, everybody is on the left side and in the middle. Who do you have on backside contain ? Just that ONE DEFENDER standing on the R. Logic suggests the punt returner should have cut back across the field and ran all the way to the right. Chances are he had a 98% chance out running the whole team to the TD.

But know he goes in the straight directly into the traffic of defenders for a 4 yard gain. Ineffective ball carrier vision rating is the downfall of the CPU. They aren't seeing the whole field and their logic is severely flawed.

If they increased the effectiveness of ball carrier vision rating by 150%, the CPU running game and special teams would be much better.

[Haze88]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson

In this Photo, ineffective ball carrier vision in action. RB just cleared the line of scrimmage. As you can to the right hand side, you had a TE and WR going up against a DB & Safety. If the CPU AI was smart, he would have cut it to the right and played the law of averages. 2 blockers on 2 defenders. Logic dictates the TD probability rate of success would be 97%. Because even if ONE of the blockers missed the block, the RB could have juked or spun on the remaining defender. As you can see, the RB continued going straight. Now he is screwed. He has 5 defenders in front of him with just one blocker. And to make matters worse, he is 2 defenders coming at him from both sides in a head on collision course about to make a sandwich out of him. If the CPU had effective ball carrier vision and situation awareness, he could have spun to the left or spun to the right. Either direction he spun, he would have canceled out the 2 defenders right near him and they would have collided with each other. Then it would have been a foot race between him and the remaining 3 defenders. But he did not, kept going straight, got sandwiched and knocked out of the game for broken collarbone and out 7 weeks. Oh punt returns......this is where you see the worse ball carrier vision out of the CPU AI. As you can see in the picture, everybody is on the left side and in the middle. Who do you have on backside contain ? Just that ONE DEFENDER standing on the R. Logic suggests the punt returner should have cut back across the field and ran all the way to the right. Chances are he had a 98% chance out running the whole team to the TD. But know he goes in the straight directly into the traffic of defenders for a 4 yard gain. Ineffective ball carrier vision rating is the downfall of the CPU. They aren't seeing the whole field and their logic is severely flawed. If they increased the effectiveness of ball carrier vision rating by 150%, the CPU running game and special teams would be much better.

It's not like the backside contain matters. All 10 players on the punt team would move in unison with him and take perfect angles for maybe a 10 yard gain instead of 4. That is another problem on the list. Go to practice and weave around and watch the immediate reaction by everyone. All unblocked defenders will weave with you and any blocked defenders will shed their blocks to get you.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Another problem I have with CPU ball carrier AI is that they allow themselves to be driven out of bounds way too easily. This shouldn't happen at all unless it is a small QB running the ball. But for everybody else, no way.

As you can see, the RB has ONE DEFENDER to beat. That is it. If he juked to the right or spun to the right, he would have been gone and had an easy TD. But instead he continued to run towards the sideline and promptly got pushed out of bounds.

I see this happen way too often playing against the CPU.

[carnalnirvana]

yeah man ball carriers need some intelligence...

i am still playing this game alot but its getting difficult to continue due to the cpu play calling

at this point its too predictable, 3rd and anything over 6, its an automatic 4 vert, all streaks coming from the cpu...or a screen

god forbid its 3rd and 12, they never pick it up.... they never try for 8yds then on 4th try for 4.... its always gamble gamble aggressiveness

it sucks having the cpu go 3 for 10 on third downs in every game...

i dont mind the game needing patches and tuners but day 1 patches need to go, save them for future fixes after we beta test the game for a month...

i think they did tweak playcalling but its still pretty stupid....