A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

[thescoop]

Since folks seemed to enjoy my team tier ranking lists, I’ve decided to release a few different wish list posts. I’ll be doing them in different segments. While I know two of them will be Dynasty, which will be this one, and Team Builder. And I’ll think on what my others will be.

I’ve not played Road to Glory yet so I don’t have much for that one (outside of the return of High School games.) but if I deep dive into it I’ll do one for it as well.

But Dynasty is where I play and it is where my main focus is. That’s why this will my first list for wishes for EA College Football 26. Be sure to add your own ideas to this if you wish. Hopefully you guys enjoy this. Team Builder wish list coming soon!

1. Create/Delete/rename conferneces – The two team PAC 12 is stupid. I should be allowed to delete. I should also be allowed to bring back old conferences like the Southwest conference. Give us even more control.

2. Custom recruits – I get that there is a certain level of concern about allowing us to edit them into real players. Simple solution is to not allow us to share. We definitely need to be able to create recruits. I had a handful of fictional players I’d make back in the day and try to get to my school.

3. Play as non-controlled team or just watch the games- This is the best way to get to play as more teams. I may not want to run a full dynasty as them but I want to see their stadium. It may be a game of the week. I want to be able to play that game or watch it if I so please. This is a staple of the old games and NEEDS to come back next year.

4. Player edits – I don’t get why we can’t edit players. Madden features real players and I edit there numbers and ratings. This needs to happen in College. And it can prevent us from having players wearing retired numbers as well.

5. Mass Subs/Formation Subs – This one is big for franchise. If I’m blowing out someone, let me put in the bench in the second team. This was in the older games and needs to come back. It is even more important now with the transfer portal. Same with formation subs.

6. AD Mode – We’ve long requested a mode where we can play as an athletic director. I want that mode now more than ever. Allow us to manage NIL folks and coaches egos. All this while trying to grow a program.

7. Stadium enhancer/creator – If I grow a small program to a top tier program, I want to expand the stadium or build a new one. The technology should be there to make this work now.

8. Custom game times/alternate sites – This was in the older games. Stupid to have it removed. Allow us more freedom over our teams.

9. But some times can change if selected as the national game – If we are picked up as the national game, then allow the game time to be forced into whatever the network wants.

10. Trophy rooms – If I win a National title or a rivalry trophy, I want to display it like in the older games. Another feature that shouldn’t have been removed.

11. Spring games – I want to showcase my team in the spring and if with an AD mode, it could be another revenue source.

12. FCS teams – Team Builder is nice. But I want to have true FCS teams and try a franchise with them like in the PS2 days. And no more generic schools to fill the schedule.

13. All the national awards – Hopefully next year we’ll get them all back into the game.

14. Real coaches – Some rank this higher. I want them but I don’t know that it is going to happen.

15. Progressive lighting – This should be in the game. The technology is there. Lazy that it wasn’t this year. And I have it in a Dynasty wish list because this is where most of play and where it is most needed.

16. Team Builder Teams added without replacement – FBS keeps expanding. Would be nice if we could too. Might be too hard to do and that’s why this is lower on the list. But still is something I long for.

17. Big upset celebrations – I’m guessing that even without the NCAA, they won’t be bringing back goal posts coming down or storming of the field. But I’d love to see a little more to show I just got a signature upset win in my Dynasty. And show teams celebrating with the newly won rivalry trophy's too.

18. ESPN/College Gameday presentation added – Will be cool to see this added and recreate some of the feel of experience. Make it a big deal in Franchise if you’re school is selected to host GameDay. And give us a weekly show like was seen in the old College Basketball 2K series. I can be nothing more than the picks for the week and highlighting if you got it on campus or not.

19. Draft class import – I’d rank this higher but I don’t think it is coming back. I still want it because I enjoy keeping my players careers going after college in Madden.

20. Team hub with updates like injuries for players - Easier way to keep track of what injuries we have. Who has a high wear and tear? Top performers? An all in one easy place to help make game day decisions.

Your turn. Keep it to Dynasty only. Also, what are you thoughts on the 20 ideas I laid out?

[J.hunt1376]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

These are great! 1, 5, 6, and 7 would all be in my top 5. I never quite understood why you couldn't rebuild a stadium, or add to the stadium. Even if the actual stadium didn't grow (which, c'mon it's 2024, they can fix that), adding capacity would be good, too. It'd look mighty odd if JMU became a perennial power house with a stadium holding less than 25k. You can relocate/rebuild/upgrade a stadium in Madden. Is it a licensing issue?

[thescoop]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

These are great! 1, 5, 6, and 7 would all be in my top 5. I never quite understood why you couldn't rebuild a stadium, or add to the stadium. Even if the actual stadium didn't grow (which, c'mon it's 2024, they can fix that), adding capacity would be good, too. It'd look mighty odd if JMU became a perennial power house with a stadium holding less than 25k. You can relocate/rebuild/upgrade a stadium in Madden. Is it a licensing issue?

They most likely are in my top 5 but some times I think of items as I'm typing. Other times, I might rank it lower on my list based on if i think it is likely as well.

[moTIGS]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

On player edits, I understand the apparent belief by EA's lawyers that some restrictions are necessary so they don't infringe on the rights of future recruits. I also understand that many people want/need to be able to edit names, numbers, and appearances (and I'm one of those people).

My solution, which would seemingly prevent outright creating real players while giving us a bit more control: Let us edit one thing (name, appearance, or number) for any player, after which the other two are locked. You get the choice with each player the game generates, so if you really want to get rid of all the beards on your team but have one annoying number you want to change on a different recruit, you can do both. If all you care about are numbers, you can edit those on anyone you recruit, but you're stuck with the names/faces the game generates. Let us mix and match however we want, but no matter the choice we make, nothing we do can replicate future real players.

Another small thing I'd love to see in Dynasty mode is the ability to develop (or just create) new rivalry games. I started my first couple test dynasties with Kennesaw State, who as far as I could tell had zero rivals by default. This isn't that big of a deal ... unless you want to unlock the coaching skill that requires a certain number of wins in rivalry games. I don't know if Team Builder gives us that option because I haven't messed with it yet, but ideally I'd love to see this apply to all teams in the game. Either let us create rivalries manually, or develop them over time. Say, we schedule a specific non-conference opponent every year, and after X number of games, a genuine rivalry develops.

One other thing I'd personally love that you didn't mention: full coaching staffs. I think it'd be cool to get position coaches, each with their own little skill trees. Along with a revamp for the existing coaching carousel, I wanna be able to hire a bunch of other guys who give small positional bonuses. As with coordinators, they could leave for bigger jobs/promotions, at which point you'd have to replace them. It would make managing your program feel more realistic beyond just recruiting players. Bonus points if EA allowed former players to enter the assistant pool. Maybe take recently graduated players who didn't make the NFL draft cut and enter them into a pool for graduate assistants, which we can hire from during the same offseason period where we set our initial recruiting board and customize schedules. As grad assistants, maybe they can earn skills in one of the three base coaching trees, for one position. Then as position coaches, they can earn skills in all three base trees, still restricted to the position they coach. Then coordinators get access to the same trees they have now. So basically a Road to Glory type thing, but with coaching.

Edit to add a final thought on the full assistant idea: I just read through a couple threads on the XP sliders, and a point often raised there (and basically anywhere people have been discussing this game) is the lack of differentiation between great teams, good teams, and bad teams. Full coaching staffs could address that in dynasty mode, because top teams would be able to hire better assistants, which would (via the tactician tree especially) give their own players a modest boost. So in the base rosters, the ratings could retain the existing spread, which feels somewhat important for those who play outside of dynasty mode (gotta make sure the real players EA puts in the game aren't pissed about being a 60 overall), but in dynasty mode, those same players with the same ratings would FEEL like there's more of a talent disparity. This would make it more of a challenge to beat truly great programs where they have a systemic/structural advantage, and even if top programs had occasional down years, those systemic coaching advantages would make it more likely that they regain their former top spot. But it would also make it possible for a top program to enter a real down period, if they fire a coach/staff and end up replacing those coaches with mediocre hires.

[noarmsduck]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

Ratings edits need to be opened up as well and have no bearing on NIL, in regards to fake players at least.

Aside from player customization options, I think stadium editor is my favorite feature here. Create/delete conferences is also pretty high on my list. Big upset celebrations would be huge for immersion. The add Teambuilder teams is a good suggestion, and I would add to that they ability to use Teambuilder teams in offline dynasties.

[Collegefbfan]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

I 100% agree with most of these. Actually, I don't hate any of them. But there are lots of them that are spot on. 1, 3, 5, 10 are tops for me.

I remember for the little time that I played some NBA 2k on PS4, there was a post game show of sorts. I wish CFB 25 or the next one had this. I feel I would watch that while missing college football in the off-season.

And #3 is way up there for me. I would play as "another" team during my bye weeks. Maybe game of the week. Maybe trying to create an upset. Just checking out how good LSU's awesome defensive end was.

Adding to the stadium of a small school, trophy rooms, and formation subs yes for sure.

[Instant C1a55ic]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

I just want stuff to work as intended.

Coaching carousel is broken, the ticker disappears when I view my play art, and the sim engine is still hit and miss. No 1800+ rushers which really sucks.

Sent from my SM-F946U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Datninja619]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

I wish there was a way to remember my favorite players in my Dynasty for the teams in coached. Almost like the trophy room, but the players recruiting profile, stats, if he drafted, and pictures/highlights

[ggsimmonds]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

Good thread.

Co-sign your top 5 with the exception of 3 (not a priority for me personally).

In its place I want more coach related stuff. I don't need real licensed coaches, but I do want the game to capture the feel of college coaches.

Each year on some football nerd sites I will see an article along the lines of "how <insert a coach>'s defense is causing problems" or something like that. There needs to be more to scheme than "3-3-5."

You know how there are recruiting gems? I want AI controlled coaching gems. I want the impact of coaches in the game to better mirror real life.

Playing Alabama is tough. But playing Saban's Alabama was a whole other level.

[thescoop]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

You guys are always awesome when I post one of these lists threads. Thank you for the positive and constructive feedback. Some time soon, either next week or the following weeks, I'll do a wish list for Team Builder next. But to give Road to Glory a try before I can even consider doing one for it.

But I love the added suggestions so far.

[WeArePSU40]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

Outstanding list. In a perfect world, EA would just grab this post and start building features from it for CFB26. But alas…

Only thing I’ll add… Be able to select custom weather for your games. If you can choose the Gametime, I’d like to also be able to choose the weather. Not really any reason we shouldn’t be able to do this. It’s kind of stupid when I play ASU in September and it’s raining. When was the last time ASU played a rain game???

[thescoop]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

Outstanding list. In a perfect world, EA would just grab this post and start building features from it for CFB26. But alas…

Only thing I’ll add… Be able to select custom weather for your games. If you can choose the Gametime, I’d like to also be able to choose the weather. Not really any reason we shouldn’t be able to do this. It’s kind of stupid when I play ASU in September and it’s raining. When was the last time ASU played a rain game???

Definitely agree with weather. That is one I completely forgot about!

[dylanrocks83]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

Outstanding list! Three things I’ll add:

1) Give us the ability to add custom uniforms to existing teams. Perhaps we could use the Team Builder website to create an extra uniform for an existing team without having to replace the entire school. I’d love to create some missing throwbacks. This could also work if we had a stadium creator: we could replace a current stadium with custom one.

2) Add at least a dozen generic stadiums in Team Builder, if a stadium creator is too much. We need NFL style to mid-major, to D-II/D-III, to high school.

3) Give us more control editing player sizes. Even when creating an RTG player, we can’t really edit their girth. I saw a guy trying to make a Jerome Bettis type back, and he had to make him 350 pounds to give him a belly. We should be able to scale up players to look the way we want, including head size, arm length, etc. Think of guys you maybe played high school football with: lineman who were 5’10 245 but looked like Eric Cartman haha. The actual numerical weight would be used for the game’s physics.

[thescoop]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

Outstanding list! Three things I’ll add:

1) Give us the ability to add custom uniforms to existing teams. Perhaps we could use the Team Builder website to create an extra uniform for an existing team without having to replace the entire school. I’d love to create some missing throwbacks. This could also work if we had a stadium creator: we could replace a current stadium with custom one.

2) Add at least a dozen generic stadiums in Team Builder, if a stadium creator is too much. We need NFL style to mid-major, to D-II/D-III, to high school.

3) Give us more control editing player sizes. Even when creating an RTG player, we can’t really edit their girth. I saw a guy trying to make a Jerome Bettis type back, and he had to make him 350 pounds to give him a belly. We should be able to scale up players to look the way we want, including head size, arm length, etc. Think of guys you maybe played high school football with: lineman who were 5’10 245 but looked like Eric Cartman haha. The actual numerical weight would be used for the game’s physics.

I like the custom uniforms. I'm saving all my Team Builder ideas for its own list so stay tuned!

[moTIGS]

Re: A Dynasty Wish list: The return of my lists!

I wish there was a way to remember my favorite players in my Dynasty for the teams in coached. Almost like the trophy room, but the players recruiting profile, stats, if he drafted, and pictures/highlights

Love this idea. Freakin' Retro Bowl has this feature, where you can see recruiting rankings, stats, bowl wins, individual awards, draft results, and even stuff like "graduated with honors," so CFB25 definitely should be able to accommodate this kind of feature.