Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

[Steve_OS]

Shopmaster has chimed in again this week with some more Madden NFL 16 CFM impressions. After talking about confidence, regression, dynamic drive goals, new hub and much more last week, he talks about scouting and drafting this week.

This year EA has overhauled the entire scouting process. No more are you going through the entire draft class unlocking the attributes of your choice for a letter grade and then unlocking them again to see what the actual overall for that attribute is. This year ‘Scouting Points’ only unlock a player’s top 3 attributes, with the 3rd unlocked attribute revealing that player’s true draft value. When you first go into scouting you are presented with a list of players sorted by projected draft value. You can press a button to get more details about that player and unlock the attributes or you can unlock the attributes right from the list; which is very convenient for those who just want to spend their points before the week advances.

Still no draft board, so while you’ve scouted all of these players, there is still no way to focus in on the guys you really want when the draft starts. This was extremely disappointing because it’s something the community has been wanting for a long time (ever since Madden 10). I understand that they want to get it right, to the point where you can set up your draft board and the CPU will be smart enough to draft for you, but I’d be happy with a band aid right now because sometimes that clock ticks down so fast and there was a reason why you wanted this 5’10 WR over the 6’3 one but you can’t remember what it was without looking at his combine stats and unlocked attributes again. Give us the ability to flag the guys we really want, like our top 10.

[N51_rob]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

This year EA has overhauled the entire scouting process. No more are you going through the entire draft class unlocking the attributes of your choice for a letter grade and then unlocking them again to see what the actual overall for that attribute is. This year ‘Scouting Points’ only unlock a player’s top 3 attributes, with the 3rd unlocked attribute revealing that player’s true draft value. When you first go into scouting you are presented with a list of players sorted by projected draft value. You can press a button to get more details about that player and unlock the attributes or you can unlock the attributes right from the list; which is very convenient for those who just want to spend their points before the week advances. I would have liked to see more attributes to unlock (actually suggested 6), but after going through a couple of seasons I felt 3 gave you just enough but not too much info to make the decision to draft that player a real tough decision. Each of the players have a projected round they are projected to be drafted in but when you unlock the 3rd attribute it will reveal their true projected skill value. For example, there is a 6’5 WR that is projected to go in the 1st round. You unlock his top attribute for 3 points* and it’s CTH C+, you unlock his 2nd attribute for 7 points* and it’s RLS C-, you then unlock his 3rd and last attribute for 11 points* and it’s RTE C-.

Yep, they have made scouting overly simple and "accesable" and removing all the "skill" in finding diamonds in the rough. This is the death blow to me and Madden this year. I'm out, hopefully they "fix" this for Madden 17. Scouting and drafting was one of the best parts of the CFM experience in Madden 15.

[jpdavis82]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

Now that this blog is out, anyone have questions for me about scouting or drafting?

[N51_rob]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

Now that this blog is out, anyone have questions for me about scouting or drafting?

How was the new scouting mechanic received by those who got to play with it early? Were more people excited or dissapointed by the changes?

[jpdavis82]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

How was the new scouting mechanic received by those who got to play with it early? Were more people excited or dissapointed by the changes?

Definitely more excited than disappointed. The big thing is like Shop said, you lose points for not scouting and that punishes you when it's draft time. I didn't scout very much and my best player was a 84 P in the 5th round, and that was only because one of the guys told me about him because he scouted him. Other than that I don't think I had one gem on my team.

[jmurphy31]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

Definitely more excited than disappointed. The big thing is like Shop said, you lose points for not scouting and that punishes you when it's draft time. I didn't scout very much and my best player was a 84 P in the 5th round, and that was only because one of the guys told me about him because he scouted him. Other than that I don't think I had one gem on my team.

And what if you scout? Is it too easy to find good players now///

[Step2001]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

My team has a scout still, correct?


The 3 attributes I can unlocked is based on my scouts grades on that player?


Meaning another team(s) scouts might have that player(s) 3 attributes slightly higher or lower than what my scout has given that player?
Adding up to overall each team having different grades/opinions on these players.


If No (that my scout has nothing to do with the graded attributes that I see), why do I need a scout then?

[Step2001]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

"One draft I drafted the #1 overall ranked player; WR 86OVR, a 83 OVR TE, 83 OVR DB, and a 77 FS. Those were my first 4 picks and my first 3 all had SS dev traits. Again, this was just me drafting against the CPU so I’m guessing that might not happen against 31 other teams but the scouting paid off."


Have players rated to high, I'd say so.......OR the CPU is really bad at picking players. Hopefully he made a flurry of moves to get four 1st rd. picks. : )


JP, are classes always loaded? Are there Drafts where the talent pool isn't that great (like the REAL 2009 Draft Class)?

[sir psycho]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

Definitely more excited than disappointed. The big thing is like Shop said, you lose points for not scouting and that punishes you when it's draft time. I didn't scout very much and my best player was a 84 P in the 5th round, and that was only because one of the guys told me about him because he scouted him. Other than that I don't think I had one gem on my team.

So, should I read this as saying that in order for the draft to be challenging, we have to not scout?

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

My team has a scout still, correct?

"Still" is a wrong term to use, I don't think a team scout position existed in Madden NFL 15.

Presumably, the letter grades which show up are the same for everyone, as was the case in previous Madden NFL games with CFM.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

Here's my thing with scouting -

I hated the old system. It was basically pick-and-choose which attributes you want to see. To me it wasn't really engaging whatsoever, it was laborious and tedious. There wasn't really skill to it; the only skill really was knowing which attributes to unlock.

I do think this new system has one advantage of being much more streamline compared to the old system. You are going to quickly get a picture of what a player is, what he's best at, by knowing what his best three skills are (along with his combine traits), albeit an incomplete picture so it's definitely game-ified compared to real-life scouting.

I do hear and share the concerns about it being too easy; it does sound like Shopmaster was overly successful with his scouting in a single-player setting. And again, it's not necessarily "realistic"; real-life NFL draft scouts don't enter the draft without knowing everything they wish to know about a player's skill set.

Unrelated, there is part of me which is beginning to think that scouting should not be an active gameplay mechanic that the user engages in anymore. I don't know that Madden NFL has ever really had a good scouting gameplay mechanic. Though the redesigned scouting workflow will definitely get more people engaging in the act of scouting, I don't know that this new mechanic is going to be the solution that satisfies everyone, particularly if it isn't very challenging. A potentially better alternative approach - the user hires a scout of some skill level, and let the scout passively returns lots of information on all players available over time from preseason to draft day (as to not overwhelm the user with information during a single week). The information returned from the scout would have varying levels of accuracy depending on his skill.

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

I like the new draft stuff and if that can be expanded upon it then I definitely like where that's headed.

That being said, I can only describe the scouting as awful. The combine stuff is great and a welcome return but it's a real shame that it wasn't applied to what scouting was last year. I wanted to give it a shot but I already know it's something I'm not going to like for either a solo or 32-team CFM. I can understand how it might work for an Online CFM but it just seems flawed in so many ways. This is really disappointing.

[Step2001]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

"Still" is a wrong term to use, I don't think a team scout position existed in Madden NFL 15.

Presumably, the letter grades which show up are the same for everyone, as was the case in previous Madden NFL games with CFM.

In Owners mode under Staff, I have a Scout (w/specialty WR's) on my payroll for $500,000
What is the purpose of having a scout then if he does not grade out these players?


Same goes for the extra coaches on the sideline who are talking with my Head Coach, I want say who's on my Coaching Staff.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

In Owners mode under Staff, I have a Scout (w/specialty WR's) on my payroll for $500,000
What is the purpose of having a scout then if he does not grade out these players?

I didn't play Owner mode in Madden NFL 15, I played as a head coach. As such I literally have no idea what the team scout does. I did not know the position existed.

To that end, I'd appreciate an answer to this question too.

EDIT: I answered my own question. In Madden NFL 25 and Madden NFL 15, the team scout offers discounts on certain attributes for certain positions when spending scouting points. I included a link to the Madden NFL 25 Owner Mode blog.

[saybur]

Re: Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions Part 2 - Scouting and Drafting (MyMaddenPad)

I'm thankful for the combine numbers. I always thought it was ridiculous having to scout attributes everyone would know from the combine.

I don't like this "true draft value" crap. Why do we need to see this? Let players decide value themselves(*cough* draft board).

I also don't like that we will see a players true ratings as soon as we draft them. When a team makes a pick they don't know exactly what they've gotten. You can't immediately recognize a bad pick and go, "oh well, that 1st round receiver was a bust, better grab another in the next couple rounds."

One step forward, two steps back. SMH. Come on, Tiburon.