[bcruise]

Interesting stuff here, very detailed and something that seems like it would be a whole lot of trouble to make up. I can definitely believe the stuff about the difficulty levels and sliders, given how unbalanced Rookie and All-Madden are.

A few comments:

It's entirely possible that some of what was found in the code isn't actually active in it anymore. So even if all of this is actually still in the code, there's no guarantee that it's ALL having an effect on gameplay. That said....

1)

Quote:

4) Sliders shift/alter the ratings +/- that they are meant to impact (ie WR Catching = Catch, Spec Catch, CIT, Route Run)

So WR Catching affects Route Run...good to know. Can you break down all of the sliders like this? Or, if not, at least the Pass Coverage/Pass Reaction as those are the most baffling of all of them. I do understand that this could potentially step on the toes of slider makers a bit, but it really is important info and not something EA has been particularly forthcoming with. At the end of the day I think we all just want a better playing game, and understanding how the sliders work is fundamental to that. Would love to hear Armor/Josh/King et al's take on that.

2)

Quote:

6) Awareness Functions (has nothing to do with AI awareness, might be miss labeled) - Is the actual OVR of a player (might be mislabled) - the higher this is, the higher the #5 is. - Players in Draft Classes depth chart positioning are in-line with this rating (ie the higher the rating, the higher they are on the depth chart) - Modifier of all ratings (Players will have their high ratings modified by having low AWR) - as it increases the closer to that rating the AI controlled player will function (ie Catch = 85/AWR = 40, player will drop passes even though the rating is high)

I find this fascinating, and believe it completely. Fits right in line with that old chart we saw in the past about how ratings were weighted, and AWR was decently high on almost every position's list:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/madden/# (a ways down the page)

So do you have any idea what AWR rating a player would have to have to play to a "true" 85 Catch, to use your example?

3) And, because I just have to ask....any evidence of scripting/comeback nonsense in there?


Thanks for the research.