Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

[Sheba2011]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

The hate in this thread is over the top.

I am NOT an EA fanboy, and I think that both Madden and NCAA were unmitigated disasters on the ps3 and 360, but the improvements to CFM for this year seem substantial and significant. No single player is ever going to get everything he wants, but the general sentiment seems to be something like, "This still isn't in, ha, I knew it, EA sucks."

The sim improvements, the randomized draft class improvement, the training improvements, even name-race correlations and school prestige-elite prospect correlations -- there seems to be a HECK of a lot to be happy about this year.

And it looks like the game plays much better, too.

I suppose that my overall impression while watching that stream was, "Wow. Really cool upgrades and improvements. Seems very non-EA-like. But crap -- same horrible CFM user interface..."

This last line is one of my biggest complaints with the mode. The menu system is horrible, which is something that has plagued Madden for some time now. Even the colors of it are dark, dull and dreary. But I am with you I like most of the additions they added this year, it's not perfect but I feel like I am getting my money's worth.

[nhiverson]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

Does anyone know if I can play two player cfm with my brother and if our teams play each other can we both play in the game or is it like last year where only one of us could play that game.

[JMD]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

People seem to not be getting that a CFM isn't real life. If Hester had a horrible year in Atlanta (in the CFM), and then the coach got fired and a new coach came in he could very easily be traded/cut. Happens every season in the NFL to one player or another.

Just look at the NFL from year to year. It is IMPOSSIBLE to predict where players will end up. No one ever thought 2 years ago that Revis would end up on the Patriots. No one ever thought Favre would play for the Jets and Vikings. And there's a million more moves like these every year.

Exactly, that is what i like about it. The first season is like real life. You start with the current roster, then You decide who to cut and who will make the final roster. It's the NFL but it's Your team. You play that first season with pretty much true to life rosters, then in the off season changes happen. I always try to mimic real life with my Chiefs team , but if I get the opportunity to grab a stud free agent WR that is not on the team in real life, you can bet I'm grabbing him. I like the off season because it's cool to see who will end up where.

My weakness is my lack of knowledge when it comes to reading defenses, and I liked what I saw in the training mode. This may just help me win it all this year in the league I'm in. (yeah right!) Personally I can't wait for the 26th to get here.

[Step2001]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

The hate in this thread is over the top.

I am NOT an EA fanboy, and I think that both Madden and NCAA were unmitigated disasters on the ps3 and 360, but the improvements to CFM for this year seem substantial and significant. No single player is ever going to get everything he wants, but the general sentiment seems to be something like, "This still isn't in, ha, I knew it, EA sucks."

The sim improvements, the randomized draft class improvement, the training improvements, even name-race correlations and school prestige-elite prospect correlations -- there seems to be a HECK of a lot to be happy about this year.

And it looks like the game plays much better, too.

I suppose that my overall impression while watching that stream was, "Wow. Really cool upgrades and improvements. Seems very non-EA-like. But crap -- same horrible CFM user interface..."

EA put out NFL Head Coach 09, this raised the bar for ANY Regular Season/Offseason stuff for a Football Game.


I am asking for what was in that game & what was discussed about adding for the future.


Madden 15 does look & sound good, can't wait to start hearing about the game via the OS'ers.


Yeah, I intend on picking up a copy. All the talk in this thread is concern and some good ideas. It's all good! : )

[Sheba2011]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

Exactly, that is what i like about it. The first season is like real life. You start with the current roster, then You decide who to cut and who will make the final roster. It's the NFL but it's Your team. You play that first season with pretty much true to life rosters, then in the off season changes happen. I always try to mimic real life with my Chiefs team , but if I get the opportunity to grab a stud free agent WR that is not on the team in real life, you can bet I'm grabbing him. I like the off season because it's cool to see who will end up where.

My weakness is my lack of knowledge when it comes to reading defenses, and I liked what I saw in the training mode. This may just help me win it all this year in the league I'm in. (yeah right!) Personally I can't wait for the 26th to get here.

There is a book I would recommend for overall football knowledge. Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look. It is written by Pat Kirwan a former scout/team executive and current host on NFL Radio. It doesn't get too technical but is a good foundation for recognizing defenses as well as an explanation of the different personnel required for various offenses/defenses.

[btvs]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

Does anyone know if they added new legend coaches. So many more they can add.

[BigBadTom]

My thoughts on the mode are simple:

Logic/AI:

They need to include solid AI for each GM that will have them attempt to build a solid team logically with each GM with characteristics such as always sticking to the draft board or going for need or spending in free agency or even going after lots of UDFA players like Seahawks. They also should do the same with trading logic and have user approval for CPU-CPU trades.

Game Rules:

They need to include all of the nuances of the NFL such as RFA and waiver claim that have been missing.

Development:

Part 1 OVR via Flux Points:

The player progression and confidence should look something like 2k basketball (1, 2, 3 or 4 OVR point boost/decrease with moral and player performance from Flux Points. Points down with low moral from not enough play time or just unhappy with other stuff). Players should keep 2/3 of increase in overall from confidence or flux points (ex: if player is 90 OVR but very happy and performs well and ends season with a 93 because of confidence and moral boost, they should start the next season 92 or maybe 91 OVR.

Part 2 Training Focus::

The off season is a perfect place for young players to make big strides in OVR (They don't actually get better from the regular season like Madden thinks they do). Every player should have a direction in which they should train for called "Training Focus" (eg 3-4 DE is going to 4-3 DE and needs to lose weight, get faster and increase speed rush to play in 4-3. The user should have the player focus on changing weight and improving speed/agility and then his skills increase from that. The player's "training focus" options could be like increasing strength, lowering body fat (keep same weight), speed training, form training (works on specific skills like route running, footwork, fundamentals) or film study (AWR, Play recognition etc). The young players would improve the most, vets would just be attempting to prolong their downfall. The amount of improvement or loss of skill prevention would depend on a players work ethic rating (use the player motor stat). Coaches that have XP upgrades for certain positions could focus and improve the effectiveness of Training Focus. Certain skills can be improved easily for a short while but have a ceiling (speed could be improved 2 or 3 points at a decent XP cost before becoming massive cost) unless the physical attributes change (losing weight would raise the ceiling but also would alter and decrease attributes like strength or power moves). This doesn’t create value to initial size but puts value on it once in the game. As a result in-season improvement should be toned down somewhat and only major improvements should happen to only certain players that might be categorized as having "breakout seasons". XP gains would also occur with much more benefits for the backups than the pros so that it shows how experience can be critical to young players. If there are too many opportunities to upgrade player progression then it can be toned down appropriately.

3: Practice

The reason practice sucks is that it is the same thing as the regular season just against a group of generic players. What needs to happen is that players would be in shorts and t shirts and do drills that don’t feel like they are playing madden (mini games etc). This would gain XP but for a group of players (players could only be chosen once ever few weeks so it forces you to give XP to backups as well. The main point here is make it interesting and quick so it isn’t a waste of time. This can also include a practice scrimmage just to work on certain plays to train the user or try out certain moves.

4: Game Prep
This game feature should be based from the 2k5 concept. You have around certain number of prep hours a week and you should allocate those hours to certain drills or position groups. You would just walk through the schedule Tuesday 8-9 am players in this group do this, in that group do that. Maybe at 10am we have team scrimmage. Practice could be full pads, shorts or just helmets etc. Determine how much time is spent on the field, in a walk-thru, in the film room. This would have overall effects on the team on things such as moral, physical condition or how fresh they are, confidence/AWR and attribute ratings (each drill would improve certain attributes somewhat and as a short term boost). There is something as too much, as in practicing too hard results in injuries, lower moral and less significant XP yield. Neglecting film study would reduce AWR greatly as well.

Owner Mode:

Owner mode, as mentioned before, should put use to the money. In addition to buying new stadiums (more stadium models needed as well and improvements should also be visible if applicable (new jumbo-tron/extra seats). Things such as building a new practice facility (more XP gain), better trainers (quicker recovery), nicer locker room (higher moral), higher quality hotel and air travel (lessen impact of road games), quality of scouts (less points used to scout), scouting budget (can scout more frequently).

It’s a long paper that I just wrote but it comes down to making the AI logic fundamentally sound by using characteristics behind team actions, including all the NFL rules and clauses, redoing in season progression to moral and play based flux points on OVR, using the off season as the main method of improving players, redoing practice to unique mini games while football based but also unique, reproaching game-prep to a schedule based menu that would cause changes in attributes, confidence and other stats, and lastly putting the money in owners mode to use by purchasing certain behind the scenes upgrades for the players to improve or reduce other factors

[Khanchus]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

The comments about trade logic and cuts is getting out of hand.

I love the changes they are bringing and cant be more excited for the 21st to arrive...

You guys talking about trade and cut logic shouldnt really have an argument for the fact that trades rarely happen in the NFL so how do you find a logic for the game like that....

the cut logic is probably over the top but i think there is reason for it....

[Primo80]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

The comments about trade logic and cuts is getting out of hand.

I love the changes they are bringing and cant be more excited for the 21st to arrive...

You guys talking about trade and cut logic shouldnt really have an argument for the fact that trades rarely happen in the NFL so how do you find a logic for the game like that....

the cut logic is probably over the top but i think there is reason for it....

I dont know about other teams, but the Pats released a couple TEs and a RB the other day and brought in 3 TEs. Then today, traded a CB to DAL for a DE. Also today, they traded a late round pick to GB for a DT. Im pretty sure the two trades are players with limited snaps last season due to injury. If the trade logic was based primarily off of production and less off OVR, we could see more of this in the preseason.

Of course, age, contract, and INJ factor in, too.

What's more is the Pats are still working players out. This makes me wish that player ratings were unknown until a player makes a team. Also, that AWR ratings be treated similarly to this new Confidence rating.

[Sheba2011]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

The comments about trade logic and cuts is getting out of hand.

I love the changes they are bringing and cant be more excited for the 21st to arrive...

You guys talking about trade and cut logic shouldnt really have an argument for the fact that trades rarely happen in the NFL so how do you find a logic for the game like that....

the cut logic is probably over the top but i think there is reason for it....

I keep seeing this line repeated over and over again on this forum. Trades aren't as popular as other sports but they do happen in the NFL. The NFL has averaged about 25 trades a season over the past few years. This year that has been 13 already. And the guys traded have been some of the biggest stars in the game including Talib, Sprolles, Schaub, Revis, Harvin, Boldin, Smith and so on.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

My thoughts on the mode are simple:

Logic/AI:

They need to include solid AI for each GM that will have them attempt to build a solid team logically with each GM with characteristics such as always sticking to the draft board or going for need or spending in free agency or even going after lots of UDFA players like Seahawks. They also should do the same with trading logic and have user approval for CPU-CPU trades.

Game Rules:

They need to include all of the nuances of the NFL such as RFA and waiver claim that have been missing.

Development:

Part 1 OVR via Flux Points:

The player progression and confidence should look something like 2k basketball (1, 2, 3 or 4 OVR point boost/decrease with moral and player performance from Flux Points. Points down with low moral from not enough play time or just unhappy with other stuff). Players should keep 2/3 of increase in overall from confidence or flux points (ex: if player is 90 OVR but very happy and performs well and ends season with a 93 because of confidence and moral boost, they should start the next season 92 or maybe 91 OVR.

Part 2 Training Focus::

The off season is a perfect place for young players to make big strides in OVR (They don't actually get better from the regular season like Madden thinks they do). Every player should have a direction in which they should train for called "Training Focus" (eg 3-4 DE is going to 4-3 DE and needs to lose weight, get faster and increase speed rush to play in 4-3. The user should have the player focus on changing weight and improving speed/agility and then his skills increase from that. The player's "training focus" options could be like increasing strength, lowering body fat (keep same weight), speed training, form training (works on specific skills like route running, footwork, fundamentals) or film study (AWR, Play recognition etc). The young players would improve the most, vets would just be attempting to prolong their downfall. The amount of improvement or loss of skill prevention would depend on a players work ethic rating (use the player motor stat). Coaches that have XP upgrades for certain positions could focus and improve the effectiveness of Training Focus. Certain skills can be improved easily for a short while but have a ceiling (speed could be improved 2 or 3 points at a decent XP cost before becoming massive cost) unless the physical attributes change (losing weight would raise the ceiling but also would alter and decrease attributes like strength or power moves). This doesn’t create value to initial size but puts value on it once in the game. As a result in-season improvement should be toned down somewhat and only major improvements should happen to only certain players that might be categorized as having "breakout seasons". XP gains would also occur with much more benefits for the backups than the pros so that it shows how experience can be critical to young players. If there are too many opportunities to upgrade player progression then it can be toned down appropriately.

3: Practice

The reason practice sucks is that it is the same thing as the regular season just against a group of generic players. What needs to happen is that players would be in shorts and t shirts and do drills that don’t feel like they are playing madden (mini games etc). This would gain XP but for a group of players (players could only be chosen once ever few weeks so it forces you to give XP to backups as well. The main point here is make it interesting and quick so it isn’t a waste of time. This can also include a practice scrimmage just to work on certain plays to train the user or try out certain moves.

4: Game Prep
This game feature should be based from the 2k5 concept. You have around certain number of prep hours a week and you should allocate those hours to certain drills or position groups. You would just walk through the schedule Tuesday 8-9 am players in this group do this, in that group do that. Maybe at 10am we have team scrimmage. Practice could be full pads, shorts or just helmets etc. Determine how much time is spent on the field, in a walk-thru, in the film room. This would have overall effects on the team on things such as moral, physical condition or how fresh they are, confidence/AWR and attribute ratings (each drill would improve certain attributes somewhat and as a short term boost). There is something as too much, as in practicing too hard results in injuries, lower moral and less significant XP yield. Neglecting film study would reduce AWR greatly as well.

Owner Mode:

Owner mode, as mentioned before, should put use to the money. In addition to buying new stadiums (more stadium models needed as well and improvements should also be visible if applicable (new jumbo-tron/extra seats). Things such as building a new practice facility (more XP gain), better trainers (quicker recovery), nicer locker room (higher moral), higher quality hotel and air travel (lessen impact of road games), quality of scouts (less points used to scout), scouting budget (can scout more frequently).

It’s a long paper that I just wrote but it comes down to making the AI logic fundamentally sound by using characteristics behind team actions, including all the NFL rules and clauses, redoing in season progression to moral and play based flux points on OVR, using the off season as the main method of improving players, redoing practice to unique mini games while football based but also unique, reproaching game-prep to a schedule based menu that would cause changes in attributes, confidence and other stats, and lastly putting the money in owners mode to use by purchasing certain behind the scenes upgrades for the players to improve or reduce other factors

This is a fantastic post. Mainly because if you were to design a football career mode, you could literally sit down with your team and put together something exactly like you've described. Once again, what seems to make so much sense seems to escape the thinking at Tiburon. It's amazing that my fantasy football app has a working waiver wire and Madden doesn't have one. Games from years ago have had injury systems that modeled the real NFL, yet in 2014 we still don't have it. Realistic contracts with options and incentives. NBA 2k and The Show seem to have no issues implementing these, yet we still have none of it in madden. It's pointless to go on about this though, because the dead horse has been beaten.

[Knelltone]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

I keep seeing this line repeated over and over again on this forum. Trades aren't as popular as other sports but they do happen in the NFL. The NFL has averaged about 25 trades a season over the past few years. This year that has been 13 already. And the guys traded have been some of the biggest stars in the game including Talib, Sprolles, Schaub, Revis, Harvin, Boldin, Smith and so on.

/ = per
So then less than 1 trade/team/year. A small fraction of those trades/team/year involving star or franchise QB type players. So what is the likelihood the AI just happened to trade the starting QB/OL/RB for 1 of only 2 teams whos rosters were shown? The answer is not very likely if the trade logic was realistic. So, as everyone else has said, hopefully they were all injured, and the injury fuction isnt broken.

[Sheba2011]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

/ = per
So then less than 1 trade/team/year. A small fraction of those trades/team/year involving star or franchise QB type players. So what is the likelihood the AI just happened to trade the starting QB/OL/RB for 1 of only 2 teams whos rosters were shown? The answer is not very likely if the trade logic was realistic. So, as everyone else has said, hopefully they were all injured, and the injury fuction isnt broken.

It depends on the year in 2010 there was over 60 trades in the NFL. Starting QB's that have been traded since 2008: Alex Smith, Matt Schaub, Carson Palmer (twice), Donovan Mcnabb, Jay Cutler, Matt Cassell, Brett Farve. It is not common but it does happen. In almost all these cases the team had a younger guy they felt was the future of the franchise. Without looking at the injury report and without knowing what they did with Game Prep the prior season we can't really make any judgments about what happened. Maybe they built David Fales up as the QB of the future and the difference between him and Cutler wasn't that great.

[Knelltone]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

It depends on the year in 2010 there was over 60 trades in the NFL. Starting QB's that have been traded since 2008: Alex Smith, Matt Schaub, Carson Palmer (twice), Donovan Mcnabb, Jay Cutler, Matt Cassell, Brett Farve. It is not common but it does happen. In almost all these cases the team had a younger guy they felt was the future of the franchise. Without looking at the injury report and without knowing what they did with Game Prep the prior season we can't really make any judgments about what happened. Maybe they built David Fales up as the QB of the future and the difference between him and Cutler wasn't that great.

Then that brings up another potential problem. Why would they devote so many resources to a backup QB after they had just resigned cutler to a long term contract? Shouldn't the bears develop cutler, or other young starters so that they can contend in the playoffs. This would be disappointing AI development logic.
In real life all these QB's were traded because they either sucked the previous season/seasons or old(excluding the cutler-McDaniels fiasco, and Alex Smith getting injured and replaced). If the CPU trade system is so complex as to trade players based on a combo of skills and performance my hats off to them, but the fact is by trading cutler the team got worse/ if they solely developed Fales, the team as a whole is worse.

[Sheba2011]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Livestream: Connected Franchise

Then that brings up another potential problem. Why would they devote so many resources to a backup QB after they had just resigned cutler to a long term contract? Shouldn't the bears develop cutler, or other young starters so that they can contend in the playoffs. This would be disappointing AI development logic.
In real life all these QB's were traded because they either sucked the previous season/seasons or old(excluding the cutler-McDaniels fiasco, and Alex Smith getting injured and replaced). If the CPU trade system is so complex as to trade players based on a combo of skills and performance my hats off to them, but the fact is by trading cutler the team got worse/ if they solely developed Fales, the team as a whole is worse.

Jay Cutler is a 31 year old QB, there's not much more your going to develop with him. Any team with a QB on the wrong side of 30 should be looking to the future. 32 is right around the age when most NFL QB's to start to decline, and with Cutlers injury history they need to have some insurance policy. For all we know Cutler got injured in the first season and Fales was the starter and had a good season. At that point what would you do stick with a 32 year old guy with a huge contract who always gets hurt or go with the young gun who played well? This is all hypothetical of course cause we still have no clue what happened or how advanced the logic is.