[JoshC1977]

I wanted to break down a few more things from my EA Access experience (2 trials so 20 hours) here before launch. This is random and in no particular order.

General Note on Sliders
I'm very much adapting an approach of keeping all sliders between 48-52 for All Pro. That SEEMS to me to be a safe range where you can mess around with tendencies without getting 'Slider RNG'.

Now, I am currently NOT using any gameplay slider adjustments. I have tested a couple of things out...but...we need sample size. I'm not adverse to making changes, but the changes need to make sense and be justified.

Coverage
There were coverage issues in-game during EA Access. I don't know if we'll get a Day 1 patch or not and even if we do, if it will address them. There were three primary components:
1. The amount of distance between the DB and receiver. At pure default, you could watch a DB following a WR on a crossing route, but the DB would be 3 yards downfield following him. Modifying the injury slider to 50 in MM and 50 in CFM cleaned this up. (Note: on All Madden, players tend to play 'tighter' to start - so this setting may not work as well)
2. CPU defenders would constantly LOOK for the ball (and not necessarily react) at the expense of covering the receiver (leaving some nasty gaps in coverage). This took me forever to figure out but turning Ball Hawk back "on" really helped us out here. It's very clear the game was tuned to have this on (and it IS "on" by default). This functionality is definitely different than past years.
3. There are some odd animations with how DBs turn their hips or react on change-of-direction patterns. Now, EA stated that they tuned DB movements post-Beta to try to get Post patterns to be less effective, but I don't think the tuning worked out as well as it should have. There isn't much I can do here and I am not going to try. The other 2 tweaks will help mitigate this from being a major nuisance.

Threshold
I spent a TON of time on this. There are a lot of big plays by default. It is very tough to catch guys from behind. In this case, THAT IS NOT A THRESHOLD ISSUE! The issue there is related to fatigue...I'll touch on that later.

I set threshold to 52 for a couple of reasons. One, it smooths out some animations. Two, I think it syncs-up the run game a bit better. It will help A LITTLE in closing the gap, but not as much as people think.

Fatigue
This was a late addition to the setup. As mentioned above, breakways were virtually unstoppable. The reason, watch the stamina drain on a defender on a long return....it doesn't go down fast enough.

Now, 52 fatigue helps that without rocking the rest of the gameplay. In fact, the gameplay is just a bit sloppier...which I love.

Penalties
In previous years, penalty sliders at 50 'gated' the number of calls and going to 51 would essentially remove that restriction. But in past years, going to 51 wound up causing a ton of issues with warping/suction and just generally imbalancing the game. Well last night, I was down to 30 minutes of EA Access and thought, "What the heck?". I plugged-in 51 for all the penalties and got into a game. About a quarter's worth of play, 3 DPIs, 1 IBB, 1 Hold later...I was like, "Oh man...we HAVE to explore this!". I think the subtle tweak to fatigue along with the 51 values may have got things to stand out. It also could have been dumb luck. But any chance of getting lots of penalty calls without causing major gameplay disruptions is well worth it.

(note: 51 RTP will introduce some odd calls that don't seem to be justified by the animation (e.g. QB is barely grazed)...I know this but for now, I really want to leave them all at 51 to see if there is a 'balancing act' here)

Fumbles
(insert sound of spoiled toddler crying)...."WAAAAAA too many fumbles!!! WAAAA!!! "

Suck it up kids. Use the protect ball button, don't make jukes in heavy traffic, get out of bounds, use the coach adjustment (especially in rainy weather). If you are reckless handling the ball, that's on you.

X-factors
You HAVE to gameplan for these guys and I LOVE IT! They can and will shred you. Be cognizant of where they are and what they can do. Related note: understand your opponent's personnel (even non-superstars) and where their sore spots are.

Franchise mode in-general
I basically spent 20 hours testing gameplay in CFM. I did not dabble much in the mode at all. The scenario engine stuff seems OK and I am hoping that we get far more interesting scenarios throughout the year.