This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

[Young Coaches]

Thanks for introducing me to this new franchise via EA Access. I'm in. But:

Resent the fact that contract prices now went up, I propose a patch/update that will allow players to play solo challenges, H2H season games WITHOUT contracts

•Some of us like MUT and are not as prone to playing Draft Champions as others because it just arrived!

•Some of us are employed and don't have the time to play.

•Some of us are unemployed and don't have the resources to pay.

•Contracts become a pet peeve after you've earned expensive players from auction or rewards, then have to sub them.

•Contracts become a pet peeve after you've come to the ELITE level solo challenges and Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas' Broncos hold you from advancing towards All-Madden level challenges.

Furthermore, to get hard earned players back into the rotation, "best team overall" lineup won't do it automatically because they have zero contracts. So at the expense of adding contracts to the team from the dialogue box (since those players aren't in the line up), you are forced to individually add contracts to those players FROM THE ITEM BINDER.

•Players are NOT capable to be added contracts as smoothly via line up screen because benched players have to be switched to starting lineups.

•Players are not able to get coins to buy contracts via an app like NBA 2K does.

•Moreso, players are forced to play a fresh mode in draft champions , newly introduced!

Should I assume that everybody has enough money to buy packs, or enough patience to go from line up to item binder and back & forth ? Let me hear your thoughts!

EDIT: Gaming, similar to sports, should not be disrespected nor abused or taken advantage of. Even where the game produces the sport, virtually.

Greetings, and many thanks

^YC


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[McG]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

Yeah, UT to me is a complete cash grab. NCAA 14 UT I spent a ton of real money, but it wasn't worth it. I am just a college football junkie and loved the old school players. I wont ever get pulled in again, plus my wife would have my balls if I tried it (she wasn't a happy camper). I really think that if you have a player, then he should be able to play for you, no contracts period. Contracts are exactly what you think they are. Another reason to spend real money. You buy packs, you get quite a few. If you don't, then you have to play the auction house to get enough money to buy them manually. To be honest when I played, I spent probably 80%/20% on the action house apposed to playing. I hope UT will eventually go away, but I doubt it.

[Datninja619]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

I think them giving out contracts and coins via the weekly objectives is the best it's going to get. 50-200 contracts ain't nothing, but it's something I guess.

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[Hooe]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

•Some of us are employed and don't have the time to play.

•Some of us are unemployed and don't have the resources to pay.

Welcoming to gaming as a hobby in 2015. Put the time in or put the money in, pick your poison.

This choice is by no means exclusive to Madden NFL, and you can thank mobile games such as Angry Birds for popularizing this mode of video game monetization, where more content is available in bite-size chunks for small fees.

I'm not saying the practice is right or wrong; in fact, done well I think micro transactions can be quite fair. I don't have enough experience with Ultimate Team to have an opinion as to whether Madden falls into the "fair" or "unfair" category, but it's probably better designed than Dungeon Keeper Mobile which was borderline disrespectful to its audience. Regardless, I don't blame EA for following the crowd, especially when there is clearly a market for paid Ultimate Team cards, which is plenty evident given how well financially Ultimate Team has performed for EA across all their sports games.

[Young Coaches]

This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

Welcoming to gaming as a hobby in 2015. Put the time in or put the money in, pick your poison.

This choice is by no means exclusive to Madden NFL, and you can thank mobile games such as Angry Birds for popularizing this mode of video game monetization, where more content is available in bite-size chunks for small fees.

I'm not saying the practice is right or wrong; in fact, done well I think micro transactions can be quite fair. I don't have enough experience with Ultimate Team to have an opinion as to whether Madden falls into the "fair" or "unfair" category, but it's probably better designed than Dungeon Keeper Mobile which was borderline disrespectful to its audience. Regardless, I don't blame EA for following the crowd, especially when there is clearly a market for paid Ultimate Team cards, which is plenty evident given how well financially Ultimate Team has performed for EA across all their sports games.

Again, I have to be careful w/ what I'm about to say.

We can careless about Joe Public's big time team. With all the rare cards, jewelry, jerseys, players, coaches, badges, I get all that, that's fine by me.

Contracts? trap freedom to play. And that's all I'm saying. It's just the contracts. Get rid of the contract system. That's all. #2K #Madden

When 2K or Madden says to me: YC, we'll pay you to play. Ok, I'll use those funds and invest it in contracts. Otherwise, why should we have to pay/play for something that was once before given to us for free [emoji15]

^YC


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[therewillbechud]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

The sole purpose of the mode is to get people to want to play it and to spend more money. As per this post, it seems to be working as designed.

[Dogslax41]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

If they take away the contracts from solos then they also need to take away the pack and elite rewards. The "free" items they are giving away this year through solos justify the cost and requirement of contracts. Contracts and the minimal cost required to purchase them add some semblance of balance to the flood of high rated elite cards onto teams from the solos.

If nothing else, what they have done with solos is the opposite of pay to play. With $0 you can play through the journey solos and end up with at least 5 guaranteed elites on your team plus about $150-$200k+ coins depending on your luck. Honestly you should not lose a solo until you get at least halfway through All Pro. By that time you have a healthy bunch of contracts built up and get continuous contract rewards throughout. Did I have to buy contract while completing the solos yes. But when it takes around 2-3 games to earn enough for 100 contracts (which should last you 7-8 games) combined with the ability to sell players that you receive from "free" packs while completing there is zero reason to complain about contracts for the solos. Head 2 Head I can't comment on since I don't play it.

[Rebel10]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

OP, what you've outlined is a successful free2play game. EA deserves cynical recognition for crafting one of the most psychologically dependent cash-grabbing free2play console games. It does nearly everything very well to lure you in, give you enough to keep you entertained, and then set the hook for you to spend moderate amounts of money for depleting rewards.

Roger Dickey, from Zynga, coined the phrase "fun pain" that describes many successful free2play models, and Madden Ultimate team is the gold standard of "fun pain" that encourages people to dish out cash in order to bring an end to the discomfort.

I'm not bothered by MUT at all because EA still invests in other areas of the game, like Franchise mode, but one casualty of MUT is that you can never play with legends unless you're playing with MUT teams. I really wish EA made more use of the legends that they have at their disposal instead of making them lure for MUT. I'd absolutely love to play "Play Now" and online games with legendary teams and players, against friends, or have fantasy franchise modes with legends, but unfortunately you know that it'll never be the case. Given how successful MUT is (and I'd wager they may make more money from MUT sales than they do actual retail sales over a given year), these legend players that every NFL fan would love to play with in other modes will always just be bait for the free2play model.

[Young Coaches]

This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED





This is the dialogue that pops up after every Draft Champions game, H2H Season game, and Solo Challenge game.

I think we can all agree that while it is disturbing, uncomfortable and very demeaning, It puts a small stain in EA's Madden 16. As a sim player, I feel that the UT structure can keep influencing and ascending through the franchise. Though my statement still stands. Contracts have to go. Looking forward to more presentable, smoother and professional days where user simply plays and participate in the market without having to deal with:

• Top players in their item binder out of the line up because of contracts.

• Days without playing Madden because the only mode they venture now cashes money for unaffordable contracts to play a 20 second challenge game, a 3m per qtr game or (even worst) to quit games since they simply can't compete with Joe Public's big time team.

^YC

EDIT: Here's the thing, since contract prices have gone up. The amount of contracts we get per buy is less. While Madden 15 sold 100 contract units per 1,000 coins, Madden 16 charges 50 contract units per 1,000 coins. Madden 16 does not have a system in place that guarantees one (1) game with all players buying the smallest pack. Even the experienced players who take part in UT, get stuck at some point during Solo Challenges. It'd be interesting to know, does the population of skilled players eventually decide to hope and land a good pack after a win at Draft Champions (Madden 16 only rewards a player with less than 64 overall should the player lose his first game!) or decide to switch to Time Warner Cable and Enjoy Better (as the commercial would say). To put the unexperienced players into perspective,
where are they going to go should they have no resources to pay for packs at premium prices.

The safe haven that people feel while playing sports virtually, is not suppose to be thrown under the rug of capital and socio economic class.


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[Dogslax41]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

This is the dialogue that pops up after every Draft Champions game, H2H Season game, and Solo Challenge game.

I think we can all agree that while it is disturbing, uncomfortable and very demeaning, It puts a small stain in EA's Madden 16. As a sim player, I feel that the UT structure can keep influencing and ascending through the franchise. Though my statement still stands. Contracts have to go. Looking forward to more presentable, smoother and professional days where user simply plays and participate in the market without having to deal with:

• Top players in their item binder out of the line up because of contracts.

• Days without playing Madden because the only mode they venture now cashes money for unaffordable contracts to play a 20 second challenge game, a 3m per qtr game or (even worst) to quit games since they simply can't compete with Joe Public's big time team.

^YC

EDIT: Here's the thing, since contract prices have gone up. The amount of contracts we get per buy is less. While Madden 15 sold 100 contract units per 1,000 coins, Madden 16 charges 50 contract units per 1,000 coins. Madden 16 does not have a system in place that guarantees one (1) game with all players buying the smallest pack. Even the experienced players who take part in UT, get stuck at some point during Solo Challenges. It'd be interesting to know, does the population of skilled players eventually decide to hope and land a good pack after a win at Draft Champions (Madden 16 only rewards a player with less than 64 overall should the player lose his first game!) or decide to switch to Time Warner Cable and Enjoy Better (as the commercial would say). To put the unexperienced players into perspective,
where are they going to go should they have no resources to pay for packs at premium prices.

The safe haven that people feel while playing sports virtually, is not suppose to be thrown under the rug of capital and socio economic class.


Sent from my iPhone using Tap

First thing that comes to mind from this post are all the people that took out bigger mortgages than they could afford and begged for handouts when they were unable to make their monthly payment.

Anyone that budgets coins for contracts and doesn't blow every coin earned on players will have zero issues with contracts. The mode is there to be played for free but you will not have the best available when there is an option to spend real currency. Never going to happen.

And if somehow someway a person truly just lost so much that they never earned anything from winning and ended up with no coins then maybe the game mode isn't for them, but I would think by that point continuously losing would pretty much have dissuaded them from playing anyway. Luckily there are entirely separate game modes for them to play where they can do so free from any restriction.

[SmashMan]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

Haven't they had several relatively easy weekly challenges that earn you 250 contracts each? I know I have at least 850 contracts sitting on my team that I haven't had to apply yet. The Journey challenges are also there and can earn you enough coins in a pretty short amount of time to buy new packs to replace the worse players on your team.

Is this a case of someone mismanaging their contracts, applying too many to players he didn't need to? I honestly don't see Madden 16 as any real change in terms of how contracts work or how you acquire players.

The coin price raise is a valid point. There doesn't seem to be a reason why they did that.

[fballturkey]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

They really should put 'salary caps' on the teams instead of contracts, and make different tiers. That'd be a lot more fun and competitive and interesting, but I guess it wouldn't be as profitable.

[Young Coaches]

This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

Haven't they had several relatively easy weekly challenges that earn you 250 contracts each?

[. . .]


The coin price raise is a valid point. There doesn't seem to be a reason why they did that.

I just saw this! Thanks. But this is what I mean. Those contracts were good for ¿Five? (5) games! From my perspective, the direction we're headed looks abysmal. The fact that many of us don't stream or work in gaming to have received any revenue from it, It feels as it we're being cornered to pay for:

1) Consoles 2) Games 3) Network And now 4) for EACH GAME we play

If that's not as scary as it sounds, than I don't know how else to put it.

Here's a photo I took of a viewer asking why my team's overall is at 77 if am almost done w/ Solo Challenges as I stream for the first time.

EDIT: I've already reached out to @RexDEAFootball and @Equipment_Guru, though they did not respond nor did we expect an update on this for today's patch. This is a rising issue creeping up into the online gaming's playing field since the only issue here is contracts.


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[Number999]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

Contracts are annoying considering the fact you can't do away with them. Trying to put 100+ contracts on each player on your team takes forever, and costs around like... 40k?

It's okay in games such as FIFA, NHL, NBA2k, and even MLB The Show... because there's only 11 or let's say a maximum of 15 guys ever playing and it's not as much. Madden on the other hand, you're spending 50+ contracts every game and constantly rotating them in and out for better players. I agree with OP, in all honesty they should be disposed of... or at the very least, made so it's just even a slight annoyance.

[SmashMan]

Re: This #PayForPlayEra, RESCINDED

I just saw this! Thanks. But this is what I mean. Those contracts were good for ¿Five? (5) games!

This is where you lose me. Not saying you're necessarily wrong, I just don't entirely follow. How many contracts are you applying to each player?

You've gone further in the mode than I have if you're almost done with Journey challenges. I've completed the rookie tier and done a few of the weekly challenges. I've purchased (with coins - I don't spend real money in MUT) two Pro packs.

I haven't had anyone on my team expire from their starting contract count (yet, obviously), and with doing the weekly challenges that award contracts, I had 1,300 contracts. I think I'm down to 1,270 just because I threw some on a few players that were down to 5 games or something. I don't wait for them all to run out, but I'm not renewing every player for multiple games either. Depends on the guy and other bodies I have at the position.

I can't remember my overall off the top of my head, it's not a great team at this point though (maybe 74 overall?). I'm just having trouble seeing the issue with contracts.