Hello OS community. I've been lurking and using the wonderful ideas shared here for over a decade. I've had this idea for sometime, but have finally decided to flesh it out and present it to the community.
The idea is to redesign QB play with several goals in mind:
- give players more control of the QB
- create another way for competitive players to prove their skills.
- imitate the difficulties of playing NFL QB
- differentiate between QBs
- allow less skilled players to use the current system in place without penalty
Pre-Snap
- ID the Mike is an amazing tool for identifying blitzes, but it's really a misnomer. IDing the Mike is rarely about blitz pickup. I'd like to see a better tool for blocking assignments and blitz pickups.
- This is also where you'll need to establish you're first read, maybe a second, and potentially a checkdown/blitz beater.
Navigating the Pocket
This is an area of Madden that really is beginning to stick out as line play and pocket formation improve. QBs are constantly stumbling around and often look stuck in mud. As an Eagles fan, the elusiveness Wentz shows week in and week out is nonexistent in this game.
The concept here is to borrow from other sports games, using modifiers to change the types of animations that play out, giving you a sense of control, much like a PG in 2K.
- If nothing is pressed, QB will automatically drop back (as is already the case).
- The left stick will give you pocket control. The QBs lead shoulder will face the LOS. This gives you the chance to drop back, step up, fade back, or side step whenever you choose.
- The R2/RT button would give your QB all the control of a normal runner. You're eyes would still be downfield, but the movement speed would be increased and accuracy would be decreased.
- The L2/LT button would need to be reassigned as a scramble modifier, opening a new set of QB specific moves that allow evasion in the pocket (duck, juke, dip, spin, etc.)
- Ideally, the effectiveness of all this would be effected by a pocket presence rating on simulation.
Going Through Progressions
The vision cone obviously didn't work, and I wasn't a fan myself. The main issue was the sensitivity. It was difficult to put the cone exactly where you wanted it as you were avoiding a rush and reading a defense.
- The right stick would be used to quickly cycle through recievers, representing the head and eyes. This allows you to make reads and also use your eyes to manipulate a defense. Ideally, the speed of this would depend on a a "Read the Defense" rating on Simulation.
- You'd start on the first read (assigned pre snap) then flick the right stick in whichever direction your intended receiver is.
- Double tap will take you to the outermost reciever
- Button layouts would remain the same. Passing to your current read will offer zero accuracy penalty. The further you are from your current read, the more of an accuracy penalty you'll see. This would also be ratings based.
- You'll also have a checkdown you can throw to with no read-based penalty.
- Pump fakes would be based on the current read
- Most importantly, you'll have the option to turn this off if it's too complex, just like the new juke system.
Miscellaneous
- New animations that allow contextual throws when being hit or going down.
- Everything else remains the same (pressure modifiers, on the move modifiers, etc)
- A set of tendencylies, new ratings, and "badges" would go a long way in differentiating QBs (and players in general). The traits are a bit stale and are often buggy.
Conclusion
Honestly, as an enormous football geek, I've conjured up more complex, true to life concepts, but this one would overlap perfectly with the system and controls in place. All you would need is a few extra ratings and to abandon the underwhelming total control passing.
This system would change competitive play, offering a level of control that appeals to high end gamers, while also creating a more realistic environment for simulation players.
I may change or add to this, but wanted to get it out there! Ideally, this concept goes hand in hand with a more submersive franchise and more complex gameplanning, but other posters have already done a phenomenal job covering those ideas.
Lmk what you think!
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