[wordtobigbird]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

Whatever happened to people wanting to learn things and learn the game? People who have been playing a long time and know more about football concepts should absolutely be better than someone who is new to the game. Why dumb things down so that the average joe can compete with a Bill Walsh? The frustrating part of Madden is that it is formula driven on both sides of the ball. You play enough games (especially in a long term league) and after a season, everyone is doing the exact same things. They run the same plays, make the same adjustments (thanks youtube) and discover everything that "works". That's why people come out in 5 wide and the guy on defense still comes out in his base D. Why not? It's all about plugging up gaps in the secondary and if he were to call quarters or dime, it just creates spacing and lanes to more easily make throws. That's why 3rd and 18 in Madden is just like 2nd and 6. Gotta make 3rd and 19 easy enough to convert so the user doesn't put the game down, right? Same goes for 22 sets. Come out in quarters in that situation. You can stop the run up the middle because the blocking logic gets hosed with a 3 man rush, and you have the sweeps and stretches covered with your incredible tackling defensive backs. This is not teaching someone real football. They will utilize this nonsense in Madden, then go watch an NFL game and wonder why the defense is playing dime and nickel on 3rd down. "Come on, you should be coming out in the 5-2 or 4-3 stack against 5 wide! It works great in madden!". By having this massive fear that people will find the game "too hard" (which I find incredibly funny when it comes to Madden) they are ruining the game for the majority of their core fan base who actually DOES understand the game. I am all for simplification and easier game modes. That is why OPTIONS are the key to making madden please all of its fans again like it did 20 years ago. Give me the option to play the game requiring REAL football concepts. Don't teach me how to play Madden ball. Give the players individual AI instead of having them tied together as one synchronized unit. Allow proper gap assignments and pursuit logic to play out organically. Let me get as deep or as shallow as I want to get when it comes to football IQ and x's and o's. Even first person shooters do this to some degree with their different modes, i.e, hardcore mode. Put some of the task to learning the game on the user - God forbid they might actually learn something about the real game.

Thank you.

The play calls that Madden allows people to get away with are crazy. Which is why I stopped playing online a couple of Maddens ago. I'm hoping with this improved defense this year that doesn't mean people will be able to just call whatever defensive formation they want, as usual. You should be forced by down and distance and offensive formation just like the NFL.

When I play someone in Madden and they pick their defense before they've seen my offensive formation I laugh inside. Tells me right away they are playing Madden and not football. I always have and always will call my defenses based on the offensive formation/down and distance. 4-3 base against 5 wide should result in the offense getting 25+ yards and running no huddle until the defensive coordinator gets fired and they make subs.