Watching games yesterday shows me we reaaaaally need updated playbooks

[feeq14]

This may be a conspiracy theory, but I am pretty sure that ever since the rise of MUT in 2016 madden has made playbooks more and more homogenous.

That sucks because the NFL has really gotten a lot more creative with offensive plays the last few years. Watching the Bears, Chiefs, and Panthers, you see a lot of the read option and wr sweeps. Most of those plays from a ton of playbooks have either been nerfed to the point of being unusable (the read option this year) or completely taken out (there are maybe 2 jet sweeps left in the game) There's also a lot more motion and formation shifts in the NFL that isn't in the game. It's bad enough that RPO's haven't been "figured out yet", but a lot of these things were perfectly fine in previous games but now are absent.

Meanwhile, the playbooks that we have feel almost exactly the same, especially in the passing game. I feel like the reason for this (and it's pretty much been confirmed by the DEVs) is that it was too difficult to police these plays and how they worked in competitive play. Couldn't they just make it so you couldn't use certain plays in MUT or online play? I am really tired of most of my teams running the same offenses.

Is this something that can be patched, or maybe for the PC modded? The devs seem to be looking to support the game long term as they prepare for a "season pass" model. Is this something that could be added, because even before the fixes from today's patch, I was really enjoying this years game, but I was getting bored on offense.

[patsfan1993]

Yep I agree with you. There is very little diversity or innovation in the madden playbooks. Quite the contrast to what we are actually seeing with the innovative minds in the NFL.

What I have always thought would be a great evolution of the competitive gaming was the return of the create a play. I think that would allow for some more interesting television. I would rather see the competitive players devise their own schemes/plays/playbooks.

[SilverBullet19]

I actually found myself thinking the same.

The Cowboys have had an extraordinarily boring/predictable playbook IRL the last couple years. I thought it translated into the game decently... because it sucks in Madden too. Watching the game, however, it became clear that it's far more diverse in real life than in the game.

[kennylc321]

See, I play all of my games against the AI in my own CCM. That way, I play at my own pace. I cannot really talk about how it would work against other real people, but I am convinced that it just doesn't matter against the ai.

I would be great to run a play action pass and actually see the defender bite on it. I played this game enough years to know that the jet sweep or the end around is an automatic 7 yard loss. So while it would be cool to have an innovative playbook, against the AI, it just doesn't matter because of psychic defense.

[kjcheezhead]

This isn’t a new issue with Madden. The ps 2 and 3 maddens had
the same playbooks for years on end.

I don’t have 19 so I don’t know for sure this is true this year but usually even when real life teams change offensive or defensive coordinators like the Seahawks and Packers did this year, the in game playbooks stay the same.

[peapod0609]

Quote: Originally Posted by patsfan1993

Yep I agree with you. There is very little diversity or innovation in the madden playbooks. Quite the contrast to what we are actually seeing with the innovative minds in the NFL. What I have always thought would be a great evolution of the competitive gaming was the return of the create a play. I think that would allow for some more interesting television. I would rather see the competitive players devise their own schemes/plays/playbooks.

I miss Create-A-Play so much, and it is probably at the top of my wish list.

[Dsabol715]

Would love more plays. More diversity. Too many playbooks feel too similar. I find myself in a lull some games. I also feel going through formations or types of plays is too “clunky” mid-game. I wish it was easier to get a diverse type of run/pass plays on one screen at the same time.

[BreaksoftheGame]

Yes. There are a ton of missing formations and play concepts....really disappointing but not unexpected from EA.

I have so much fun playing NCAA 14 because of playbooks...