The other misinformation is remembering that SS/X-Factors trigger “ Specific Animations and/or Behaviors” and “Do Not” overwrite the Delta between ratings (on Sim Playstyle).
There’s under-the-hood timers/penalties and specifically dealing with blocking interactions, most “delay” the pass rusher win Animations from immediately triggering.
Sim Play Style:
A Pass Rushing X-Factor briefly removes any timer delays and you see the triggering win Swim/Arm Slap/Rip/Spin etc... Animation happening via the ratings Delta.
Comp Play Style:
Same thing but uses hard set “Thresholds” instead of the ratings Delta.
Ratings Delta or Thresholds help determine the “Frequency” and/or “Animation Set” to be used.
SS/X-Factor Abilities are simply extensions to point to a “Specific” set of Animations to be triggered.
- a few Abilities will use (2) Specific Animation sets at one time (ie Fearmonger Ability) that triggers both Blocking and QB Inaccurate Throw Animations (via Pressure Penalty)
Often times dealing with Madden, once an aspect receives a stereotype or designation, the actual “Functionality” is rarely talked about and discussion going forth seems to derive mostly from the applied stereotype/designation.
A lot of these outcome/animation triggering has been happening under-the-hood in the game well before the Front End Ability introduction.
Part of the current push was/is to bring “Context/Understanding” quickly to the User to aid in explaining why an outcome is happening as it relates to the 1) Multi-Player Interactions and 2) Player Differentiation.
Now I will agree that some of the Ability Names chosen tend to lend to the “Gimmicky” stereotype, and would rather they utilize actual football scouting annotations.