[Osiris1975]

While playing through about 10 seasons of Madden 25's Offline Connected Franchise mode as an owner, I took notes as to what I'd like to see changed, added, or fixed in Madden 15. I apologize if some of these have been posted before, but after taking so many notes through those 10 seasons, I just have to post them in the hopes EA will read it and take note.

I have broken down the notes into 5 categories: Customization, Practice, Staffing, Gameplay and Scouting. Most of these, with the exception of gameplay, apply to Owner Mode. Headers in bold indicate significant/important changes, IMHO. Let's begin!

CUSTOMIZATION


*Permanent Formation Subs: If only one suggestion were taken from this post, please let it be this one. Allow us to assign permanent substitutions for specific formations in the playbook, including special teams, and allow us to do it OUTSIDE of games, perhaps as a submenu of the strategy menu (where schemes and auto-subs are assigned). I skipped a few years in madden but I believe this feature used to exist in previous editions. I need to be able to assign my cover 2 linebackers to nickel formations, and assign my second/third string players to special teams (Madden sometimes automatically assigns offensive/defensive starters to my special teams unit, not cool).

* Streamline playbook customization: Current playbook customization is clunky when it comes to assigning plays to specific gameplan scenarios. For example, I have to go through every play and give it a 1-5 star rating for a bunch of different scenarios. It would be much easier if I could select a scenario and then view a thumbnail view of all my plays with a little checkbox next to each thumbnail that I check to add to that scenario.

* Expansion Team Owner Mode: I'd love to have the ability to create an expansion team, selecting the city, giving it a name, designing the uniform, and conducting an expansion draft (in the way the Texans did in 1999). Nothing beats the fun of taking a team you created from scratch and taking it on the road to the Super Bowl!

* Better Uniform Customization: After 10 seasons as the Browns Owner, I really got tired of the uniform. The options provided for this in Madden 25 are way too limited to be able to create something truly fresh and unique. Include different patterns in which the team colors can be applied, and allow the team colors to be changed.

PRACTICE

* Allow CPU teams to earn practice XP: The basic premise of practice in Madden 25 breaks franchise mode. As it stands, if a player plays every practice they will go 16-0 in two seasons and win the Superbowl every year thereafter because the players roster has out-paced the CPU in terms of player development. Please fix this by allowing the CPU to gain practice XP! Either take the easy route and just let them get 1500 practice XP points every week, or go the harder route and simulate practice for each team. The only workaround for this issue in Madden 25 is for the player to not practice. This sucks because we then can't develop our project players unless we start them.

*Allow Practice Injuries: Just line in the NFL, players should be able to get injured during practice, though at a smaller rate and with generally less severity. This will add a little spice to the practice, which gets pretty tedious.

* Add More Practice Options: Practice feels a lot like running errand quests in a MMORPG. It's something that gets old very quick but players do because they want the XP. Fix this by adding more variety to practice. Give options to perform practice drills instead of the standard 'scrimmage' practice in Madden 25. This would allow for variety and strategy: Players could choose to do pass-catching drills where only the eligible receivers of the team would gain XP (double if they pass the drill) but they'd get more XP than they would in a scrimmage practice. This way players could focus on developing weaker areas of the team.

* Simulated Practice: As mentioned, practice can get pretty monotonous, and players shouldn't be penalized if they skip it. Allow players to simulate practice, the results of which will yield 2k or 1k XP. Just like with simulated games, the player should be more likely to lose if they choose to simulate instead of play.

TEAM STAFFING

* Front Office Hiring: The front office is a key component of any team and ought to be represented in the game. Allow player to hire a GM and a President. The GM would gain XP based on free-agent, player resigning, and draft results and could spend that XP on bonuses to free agency signing, contract negotiations, and scouting. The team president wouldn't gain XP, but would give some overall financial boost to the team in the form of reduced stadium costs, increased merchandise profits, etc.

* Add Coordinators: Allow players to hire Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams coordinators. These would all gain XP based on how their respective side of the ball performs. They could then spend the XP on perks for their respective side of the ball.

* Assignable Captains. Allow players to assign up to 2 Offensive, 2 Defensive, and 2 Special Teams Captain(s). These captains would then give a small boost to offense, defense, and special teams, respectively. This player could then add a 1 or 2 point boost to all the players on offense, defense, or special teams in the statistic in which they are strongest. For example, CB captain with 99 press coverage would boost press coverage for the whole team, and a receiver with 99 route running would boost route running for the whole team (QB and RB would have to be handled differently since their top skills generally apply only to their own position anyway).

GAMEPLAY

Add sliders for kick-returns and punt-returns and/or fix them. It is currently way too easy to return a kickoff and punt for a touchdown.

The spread between good and bad QBs is too great. I see starting QB opponents with 45% completion percentages. This would not fly in the NFL.

Fix the boom or bust with interceptions. Having played with sliders, I can attest that one or two points on the slider can be the difference between 1 interception thrown per game and 5 interceptions thrown per game.

SCOUTING

Increase Scouting Points Per Season: It is currently impossible to draft in this game without cheating without there being way too much guess-work, even with the double scouting point coach bonus (which really belongs with a GM). In the NFL, teams have thoroughly constructed draft boards and a clear picture of most if not all the players in the draft. The draft, in real life, is not about guessing, it is about trying to get a good value for the picks you have, negotiating trades, etc.

Add Special Scouting Events: Allow players to spend a good portion of their total scouting XP pool (perhaps 30%) to attend the NFL Combine. By "attending" the combine, which in real life can accommodate 335 of the top college prospects, they would get the results of these players in 40-yard-dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 3-cone-drill and shuttle run revealed to them. This can then give a clue as to the prospects attributes. It is utterly ridiculous that it costs so many scouting points to reveal a wide-receivers speed when all it takes is a stop-watch and 5 seconds in real life to figure that out. If EA wanted to get fancy, you could add events like the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Game, etc in which players could view the stats and box-scores of the games to get an idea of how different prospects performed in it.

More "Storyline" College Players: I enjoyed this feature and would like to see more of it.


Okay, that covers my wishlist. Feel free to add to it, agree, or disagree. I wonder if there are EA people who actually come to this forum to hear our wishes...