Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

[feeq14]

This may be a conspiracy theory, but I am pretty sure that ever since the rise of MUT in 2016 madden has made playbooks more and more homogenous.

That sucks because the NFL has really gotten a lot more creative with offensive plays the last few years. Watching the Bears, Chiefs, and Panthers, you see a lot of the read option and wr sweeps. Most of those plays from a ton of playbooks have either been nerfed to the point of being unusable (the read option this year) or completely taken out (there are maybe 2 jet sweeps left in the game) There's also a lot more motion and formation shifts in the NFL that isn't in the game. It's bad enough that RPO's haven't been "figured out yet", but a lot of these things were perfectly fine in previous games but now are absent.

Meanwhile, the playbooks that we have feel almost exactly the same, especially in the passing game. I feel like the reason for this (and it's pretty much been confirmed by the DEVs) is that it was too difficult to police these plays and how they worked in competitive play. Couldn't they just make it so you couldn't use certain plays in MUT or online play? I am really tired of most of my teams running the same offenses.

Is this something that can be patched, or maybe for the PC modded? The devs seem to be looking to support the game long term as they prepare for a "season pass" model. Is this something that could be added, because even before the fixes from today's patch, I was really enjoying this years game, but I was getting bored on offense.

[patsfan1993]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

Yep I agree with you. There is very little diversity or innovation in the madden playbooks. Quite the contrast to what we are actually seeing with the innovative minds in the NFL.

What I have always thought would be a great evolution of the competitive gaming was the return of the create a play. I think that would allow for some more interesting television. I would rather see the competitive players devise their own schemes/plays/playbooks.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

I actually found myself thinking the same.

The Cowboys have had an extraordinarily boring/predictable playbook IRL the last couple years. I thought it translated into the game decently... because it sucks in Madden too. Watching the game, however, it became clear that it's far more diverse in real life than in the game.

[kennylc321]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

See, I play all of my games against the AI in my own CCM. That way, I play at my own pace. I cannot really talk about how it would work against other real people, but I am convinced that it just doesn't matter against the ai.

I would be great to run a play action pass and actually see the defender bite on it. I played this game enough years to know that the jet sweep or the end around is an automatic 7 yard loss. So while it would be cool to have an innovative playbook, against the AI, it just doesn't matter because of psychic defense.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

This isn’t a new issue with Madden. The ps 2 and 3 maddens had
the same playbooks for years on end.

I don’t have 19 so I don’t know for sure this is true this year but usually even when real life teams change offensive or defensive coordinators like the Seahawks and Packers did this year, the in game playbooks stay the same.

[peapod0609]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

Yep I agree with you. There is very little diversity or innovation in the madden playbooks. Quite the contrast to what we are actually seeing with the innovative minds in the NFL.

What I have always thought would be a great evolution of the competitive gaming was the return of the create a play. I think that would allow for some more interesting television. I would rather see the competitive players devise their own schemes/plays/playbooks.

I miss Create-A-Play so much, and it is probably at the top of my wish list.

[Dsabol715]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

Would love more plays. More diversity. Too many playbooks feel too similar. I find myself in a lull some games. I also feel going through formations or types of plays is too “clunky” mid-game. I wish it was easier to get a diverse type of run/pass plays on one screen at the same time.

[BreaksoftheGame]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

Yes. There are a ton of missing formations and play concepts....really disappointing but not unexpected from EA.

I have so much fun playing NCAA 14 because of playbooks...

[timhere1970]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

RPO's is a big thing in a lot of offenses in the NFL now. Madden is already behind 3 years on this and shows no interest in catching up.

[webbjay82]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

The RPO seems like it would be easy to implement. Just run it like an option play and press A/X during the play action animation to hand it off and if you dont the QB pulls it up to pass and the WR just run their routes until they see what you do as well.


One other thing I've notice is I dont think there are any defenses in madden that run stunts or twist which play a huge role in getting pressure on the QB.

[Haze88]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

I still don't get why certain plays/formations are playbook locked. There are a bunch of plays even in NCAA that are now in the NFL that are inexplicably not added. And that's just on offense. The defense is so unbelievably shallow that 2k5 still has more depth. Why the line play and back 7 are still linked is beyond me

[d23x]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

Totally agree with you. I tried making a playbook yesterday for the Rams & it’s just not good. You watch the RL Rams & Chiefs and then play Madden & it’s just night & day with the offensive plays. Bought this game looking forward to it but I am surely regretting it after so many issues & this as well. I just want a real sim experience.

[zuludude]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

Pick up a copy of Madden 15 or 16 and you'll see how many passing plays we have lost over the years.

It is disturbing how much variety we have lost. We need about 3000 more plays in order to get to a place where gamers are developing schemes.

Would love more plays. More diversity. Too many playbooks feel too similar. I find myself in a lull some games. I also feel going through formations or types of plays is too “clunky” mid-game. I wish it was easier to get a diverse type of run/pass plays on one screen at the same time.

[tru11]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

probably because they dont care about the sim crowd.

majority of the players run just a few money plays anyways....

[feeq14]

Re: Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

probably because they dont care about the sim crowd.

majority of the players run just a few money plays anyways....

This...

It's so funny to me that it seems members of the dev team resent the idea that we believe they don't care about sim players, but at every turn for the last few years they have shown us that they really don't care. Franchise mode hasn't been updated significantly for years and is still not close to what it was over a decade ago now (let alone close to what Head Coach 11 was) and so many things about gameplay have been neutered to make competitive play more functional while ruining sim players.

I miss NCAA where they were more focused on the college football experience. I loved the ability to make completely different play styles based on playbooks. In that game you could make the old Osborne Nebraska option run, or the Malzone spread option, you could Air raid, you could pro style, you could pistol.

In madden you can basically run single back and spread. They took out a ton of QB runs (and neutered the ones left). They took out ALL of the jet sweeps (we saw like 100 of those this weekend in the real NFL). There is minimal motion or formation shifting. The game feels more like Street Fighter than a sports game because they have broken it down to competitive parts to make it more predictable and strategic for humans to match up, but they've killed the creativity.

That's not sim. They don't care about sim. They can say that as much as they won't but until they put they're money where their mouth is I'm going to not believe them. This may be my last madden. I've been on this site since I was in undergrad waaaaay back in like 2001. I've bought EVERY madden on day one since 1997 and played every one since 1989. But I'm too old and too busy with real life to have my fantasy and fun time be so frustrating.