|
|
I'm sorry, but I can't be excited for Franchise news. There's ONE thing that Madden needs to do before it can be considered a good franchise mode. Its one thing that encompasses real life football.
Unpredictability
The NFL, and sports and general are exciting because you NEVER know what is going to happen. People thought the Broncos would win this past years SuperBowl, but they got blown out by a defense-first team. You have Huge draft busts, and huge draft sleepers that are the true make-up on the NFL off-season. You have QB battles in Pre-Season and Training Camp that have spectators clamoring until "their guy" wins or loses the starting job. You have players like Michael Vick who have been injury plagued and teams have to account for that risk. You have personalities on teams that mesh and don't mesh with others. Off-the-field problems. etc.
How can we manufacture unpredictability?
MAKE RATINGS MATTER!
The Personality Trait, Confidence Trait, and all other attributes should mean something, wouldn't ya think?
I want to know that when Peyton Manning goes down, even if its for a Quarter, that I have to change my entire gameplan, I have to find a way to manage this game, to eek out a win, or to at least keep my team in it for a while.
I want to feel that I have a liability on the field if I actually do. If there's a CB or Safety that is terrible at coverage, but super-fast, I want to know that I can target him with my WR, or have help over top if I have the said CB.
If ratings mattered, you could specifically target your team's weak-spots through game play, not just the ratings that you see on the screen. I want to FEEL that I need to address certain positions in the Draft in Free Agency. If ratings mattered, it would vastly improve the entire experience of the Madden Connected Franchise mode. More so than perfect commentary, perfect graphics, weekly prep, or even a highly desired half-time show.
Until this happens, CFM cannot function as a SIM Mode.
Imagine you draft a guy with 5 confidence, but 1 personality, and he doesn't mesh with his teammates, he'd have to get into a certain system to reach his maximum potential, where everyone is one his side, or a cast around him that is similar.
Imagine, you have ratings that are accurately transferred from the visual number, to the physical on the field. A rating system that is simple percentages. They are over-complicating the process, and a lot of ratings are over shadowed.
Here's my Theory:
Make all ratings a percentage between 1-99, if you have a QB with 95 Throw Power, make him be able to thrown 95% of the possible throwing length (wether it me 80 yards, 70, 65 yards etc.) Whatever the MAX Throwing Distance is, he should be able to the said percentage. Colt McCoy, at a 40% throwing power can only cover 40% of that field length, anything beyond should be short, or off-target.
As for most attributes it'd be an if-then scenario of basic math. A WR with 37 Catch should drop almost 60% of his targets, this would be someone very low on the depth chart, if even on the team.
If there I have a top flight CB with 98 Man Coverage, it should mean that in 98% of his snaps, he will be tight with his man, this percentage could be per season or per game.
If I have a RB with 60 CAR and 80 TRK, every game he should have a 40% chance at fumbling the ball, while having an 80% chance to brute his way through a defender.
If the ratings tied, it would literally just be a 50-50 toss up, hopefully based on position, momentum, and clear physics. If I have AP and Luke Keuchly one on one in open field, positioning, momentum would be the only factor at that point (If the Breaking Tackles and Tackling rating were even)
As for OVERALL, it would still be a percentage. Being an 80 overall, would mean that you are in the top 1/5 of the league. If you are a 50 OVR you are probably a tweener just struggling to have a spot as a backup, or worse. If you are 25-30% or lower you are fighting for your spot through Practice, Special Teams, and barely making the team year to year. Some teams probably have 50s and 60s on their teams as starters, due to lack of talent. For example, the Browns' running backs and QBs last year, all were probably backups on most other teams, therefore the team would take heavily consider signing an improvement at each position sometime in the off-season (As they did).
This would clearly separate Cam Newton and Matt Cassell. Patrick Willis and Stewart Bradley. Vince Wilfork and Mike Patterson. Calvin Johnson and James Hardy. We don't even have to be that drastic, what if we were splitting hairs between someone like Darren McFadden and MJD, or Matt Stafford and Matt Ryan. Maybe its Patrick Peterson and Vontae Davis you're comparing, they'd both be good, but certain ratings would probably separate them entirely. If you find that you prefer a stronger QB, and Stafford has the strength, but Ryan has more accuracy, would it tip your scales to lean towards someone a bit stronger?
The confidence rating will make or break a player, if you draft a player that has a 1 confidence, maybe he will progress slower, he won't get off the edge as fast, or break on a ball quickly, maybe he will alligator arm a pass, or go down easier as a ball carrier.
The Personality rating will matter as well, if you have a big personality guy, that doesn't back it up, maybe his overall goes down, or teams don't look to obtain him because of his character issue. Or If there is someone that has high personality, and high skill, that make owners clamor to sign him, to sell jerseys, and boost the entire team's confidence by having such a statement player on their team.
With the new rating system, injuries are more devastating, off-season is more strategical, and important, and game play is that much better, finding mis-matches and knowing your team's strengths and or, liabilities.
Lastly, hide all player ratings. Go off of college stats, in detail, combines, pro-days, and rely on your scouts to tell you specific info/player comparisons. This would widely change the hit or miss unpredictability of the draft, and you'll have to go on pure GUT feeling with a lot of guys. If there's a WR that ran a 4.40, at 6'3 220 but led CFB in drops and fumbles, maybe he's not the guy to draft, or he's a project player for the later rounds. Something like that would be quite entertaining, wouldn't it?
Until something of this nature is produced, Franchise mode will continue to be stale. The Owner Mode, the Highlight shows, the non-gameplay features will be all for not, without proper ratings.
|
|