[picker19]

Surprisingly, I'm still playing OOTB M17 but using the patched M17 profile (yes, it makes a BIG difference...I could write a book on what I've learned about profiles and the system being offline vs online, etc).

I've tried M18 so many times, but for some reason, the CPU offense just sucks (takes way too many sacks), so I just get frustrated and keep going back to OOTB M17. (Oh, and the loss of Coach Mode on defense where I have to control the player for M18 SUCKS for a long-time coach mode player like myself.) Yes, there are tons of warts and stupid things, and there is so much about M18 that I like that I wish I had half of in M17, but the bottom line for me is this: is the game challenging? If the game is too easy and I keep winning regardless of what team I have, I get bored quickly (and I play coach mode, so it's not even me tipping the scales).

It seems I can take a crappy team on M17 patched and M18 and beat anyone (more due to crazy defense), whereas on OOTB M17, I just had a CFM with the 49ers as a 77 rated team and went 0-16. And in Year 2 I'm 5-11. So that's fun to me because it's more realistic and challenging, despite its many flaws and lack of cool stuff on M18.

Still my favorite version was M16 with the February 2016 patch. Best Madden I ever played until the May 2016 patch messed with fatigue and the game got weird. But if M16 had editable players, I'd probably go back and play M16 myself.