Madden NFL 16 News Post

Madden NFL 16 Connected Franchise Details Revealed

01:13 PM - May 28, 2015 by CM Hooe

EA Sports has just released Madden NFL 16 Connected Franchise details. Players can choose between offline and cloud saves. With cloud saves, you can advance weeks faster and access the league online and invite friends. The blog details confidence tuning, free practice, combine stats, scouting and much more.

Below are some of the new details in Madden NFL 16 Connected Franchise, click here to read the entire blog.

DYNAMIC DRIVE GOALS
Each new drive contains a Drive Goal that can be completed for bonus XP and/or Confidence.

Specific goals are tailored based on events in the current game to give players a unique challenge each and every game.

Dynamic Drive Goals truly influence the way you play. The more goals you complete, the faster your players improve.

POST-PLAY GOAL FEEDBACK
The team listened to fan feedback and made it easier for players to see which goals have been completed in-game. This year, players will now see goal feedback throughout the mode.

XP and Confidence updates appear next to your player at the end of each play. A new ticker at the bottom of the screen tracks goal progress and shows updates to all the goals influenced that play.

Players will also notice new broadcast interface elements that celebrate completing goals. This adds up to a groundbreaking broadcast experience for Connected Franchise.

WEEKLY GOALS
Weekly goals have been refactored from the ground up by implementing a new quest-like system that chains goals together week to week. These goals are assigned based on performance, position, and career status and are both team-based and individual.

For example, a �Breakout Running Back� goal may be triggered for rookie running backs that are having a great season.

As goals are completed or missed, player confidence will fluctuate. Some focus on negative stats such as fumbles and interceptions, and are tied to regression.

GOAL LOADING SCREENS
New goal loading screens allow players to maximize goal completion. Completing these goals during the game will give you additional XP and/or Confidence that helps players perform better on the field.

THINGS TO DO
The Connected Franchise Hub is more streamlined, and players can find what they need faster than ever.

It all starts on the consolidated Things to Do screen, which brings all the information from last year�s Actions and Home to one convenient location. Players can see where they stand in the season timeline, and how far they are from the Playoffs.

VISUAL TEAM DEPTH CHART
One major overhaul this year is the all-new Visual Team Depth Chart, which allows players to easily see each side of the ball and make adjustments.

Your depth chart is the heart and soul of your team, which is why we brought it to the forefront with the Team Panel. Simply drag and drop players to reorder the depth chart.

PLAYER CARD
Another big improvement is the new Player Card, which gives players an attribute breakdown without having to scroll left or right on a spreadsheet. This screen includes all the key position attributes for the player, and which attributes are being affected by Confidence.

Quickly perform key actions such as spending XP, viewing goals, adding to the trade block, and more.

NEW SCOUTING
Scouting has been reworked from the ground up in Madden NFL 16. Coaches and Owners will see a �Thing to Do� item in Week 3 that instructs how to Scout. The basic concept is that you�ll spend Scouting Points on a player, learn more about their abilities, and decide whether you want to select them in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Scouting Points unlock a player�s top three attributes, with the third unlock providing their true draft value. This true draft value will help teams find �Diamonds� and �Overvalued� players in the draft class.

Will you take a projected fifth-round pick with second-round skills in round two, or wait until later hoping that others don�t realize his potential? These are the types of decisions that come to life with the new true talent rating.

COMBINE STATS
Players can now access Combine Reports during NFL Combine Week, which includes a Combine Grade and results from six Combine events: 40-yard Dash, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, 3 Cone, 20-yard Shuttle, and Bench Press. These results can be seen without spending any Scouting Points.

Combine Reports not only include results, but also how players stack up compared to others at their position. Will you draft the fastest running back in the class, or look for a well-rounded player?

DRAFT FEEDBACK
The Draft screen itself has received a visual overhaul, and now provides much-needed feedback right after selecting a player. You�ll immediately be able to see the player�s attributes and where he was ranked, which provides immediate feedback on whether or not you made a good pick.

MEMBERS LIST
New Members panels allow players to quickly interact with fellow league members in a Cloud Franchise. You can see their game status and whether they�re online.

Commissioners can toggle Auto Pilot, clear cap penalties, and remove them from the league.

SIM-A-WIN
League commissioners can influence wins by using the League Schedule. Sim-a-Win allows you to set the winning team for any game that has not been played.

This tool allows players to craft the season of their dreams, and also helps facilitate large multiplayer leagues.

FREE PRACTICE
Players voiced a desire to practice with their Franchise team, so the team went ahead and added Free Practice to Game Prep this year.

Coaches or Owners can take their team on the field to experiment by using Free Practice. When Game Prep is available during the week, Free Practice can also be used at no additional cost.

Free Practice is a great way to a look at how a team plays, and lets players stay ahead of the curve.

CONFIDENCE TUNING
Confidence has been greatly tuned in Madden NFL 16. We�ve decreased the amount that confidence changes for every player, and also adjusted the ratings per position that can go up or down, and how confidence impacts them.

A new Game Prep activity has been added to the preseason, which allows teams to improve their low confidence before the season begins. We�ve also increased the amount of time each team has in Game Prep every week.

OWNER MODE FINANCE TUNING
Small-market teams in older stadiums now have more money to spend into the offseason every year.

Game: Madden NFL 16Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 24 - View All

Madden NFL 16 Videos

Member Comments

# 121 splff3000 @ 05/29/15 01:20 AM

You can practice with your cfm team now!!!! **sarcasm** I like how they took this "feature" out for 15, then put it back in for 16 as a feature. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's back, but they talk about it like it's something new. I especially like the part about not having to use game prep hours for it. We know how it works. It was just in the game a year ago lol. Anyway......

I can't believe there are no formation subs in the game........still. This is crazy. Overall, I didn't really see anything in this blog except that they changed the interface for a few screens, added goals, changed the way you can keep track of goals, and added the combine to a tweaked scouting system.

The combine part kinda scares me because, in the past, the combine numbers represented a static number for its respective attributes eg. a 4.3 40 time ALWAYS equals 98 spd. That's not the case in real life. As most of us know, there is true spd and then there's game spd. Jerry Rice had a 40 time in the 4.6's, but he sure didn't look that slow on the field when he played. I'm not saying the players' attributes should be dramatically different from their combine numbers, but I think they shouldn't be static either. An ideal situation would be to have some sort of range an attribute can be in based off those combine numbers. Using the example from above, a 4.3 40 would be 97 +/- 3. So a player with 4.3 40 at the combine could wind up with a spd rating anywhere between 99 - 94. This makes it so the numbers given during the scouting combine are not absolute, just like in real life.

I also don't like that, it sounds like, you can't choose what attributes you want to scout anymore. This is bad. I can see it now. I'm scouting a WR and I find out he has 90 inj, 88 stamina, and 82 carry. Wait a minute, I just scouted a receiver and found out nothing about him as a receiver. In this case I don't care about the top 3 attributes. I care what his catch, cit, and route running ratings are. Honestly, I hope I'm just interpreting this wrong. There is no way EA would make it so I can't scout the attributes that are important to me for each position, right?

Also didn't see anything about setting up a draft board. I'm hoping you can finally set one up. Based on all of the other stuff I was hoping for that's not in, my hopes aren't too high for that.

On a final note, I found the "features" added to madden 16 cfm were severely lacking. Looks like another year with no formation subs, practice squads, restricted free agents, waiver wire, player morale/chemistry system, holdouts, assistant coaches, or editable/shareable draft classes. On the bright side tho, EA "listened to the community" and brought back the free practice to cfm. Deep down, that's all we really wanted, right? **sarcasm**

# 122 talucchesi @ 05/29/15 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovejoyOTF


	i'm not usually one for big overreactions but lordy, what is THAT? a few things in there that i like, but that really should be a given every year, but what's the obsession with goals? still no depth added to the mode. and they've overhauled scouting by basically getting rid of scouting? i usually err on the side of being overly complimentary of changes like this, but i'm just flat out disappointed at a first glance.

Just wanted to say I agree 10000000%

# 123 XtremeDunkz @ 05/29/15 02:00 AM

Yeah. They were making it sound like there was going to be some big changes for Franchise this year, but I don't see anything that excites me.

formation subs?
scrimmages? (userVuser)
5th year options?
draft board?
training camp?
practice squads?
assistant coaches?
progressive injury system?
stadium anthems and chants in online CFM games?
holdouts/engaging contract negotiations?

# 124 msdm27 @ 05/29/15 02:46 AM

Well, this might just be my last rant on this game.

Title:
If this is what we can expect when CFM is the mode getting most resources....

Then we should just call it quits... Really, look through the features carefully and you'll see almost everything is geared towards making the mode more accessible for casuals. Which probably means, they're just trying to get the amount of people playing the game at all up in order the ever justify making a real investment in the mode, which likely won't happen for a couple of more years.

What is the feedback they've been looking through? :/

Now granted, Kolbe said they had to clean up a lot of legacy stuff before implementing his real vision.. but come on! Let's be real for a second, had these set of features been announced for M15 CFM, we'd all be like "well ok, MUT gets the most attention/resources anyways, that's why..."

But they already told us they allocated most resources to CFM this time.... and for what?

- So I can get to play a game quicker? Jepp, that's just what hardcore people want... less details and nuances pre-game.

- To see a pretty depth chart? Now mind you, I've never played MUT before so when I saw this depth chart I was like "dope!" but then we found they basically copy/pasted from MUT with no apparent added functionality, what's the point?

- To get a "streamlined" scouting? hopefully this one works, and the new draft screens seems to look MUCH better, but scouting seems to be the only real change in this year's mode.

- To get XP shoved down my throat even IN-GAME????? Sorry but.... WTF!? As DeuceDouglas said earlir... we've been clamoring for years for an in game ticker, and when they finally invest the time/resources for it, it is for a XP ticker? Who thinks of this stuff? Also as CM Hooe mentioned... now it's clear we'll live & DIE with XP as long as CFM is around, no way back now.

On the other hand:
- No mention of ANY level of customization to draft classes (even after the draft)
- No changes to free agency (if they were fixing legacy stuff, how is this untouched?)
- No mention of a quicker way to control all 32 teams offline (still holding out hope for this one since Kolbe mentioned something about it in the VSN podcast... probably no the type of thing to hype on a blog?)
- Nothing further done to relocation? (even with the LA situation being such a current topic in today's NFL)
- No mention of the ability to arrange your own draft board (like WHAAAAAAA?)
- Nothing new on assistant coaches/coordinators (even when this seems like a natural thing to tie up to their beloved XP.... we could assign tasks to our coordinators so we don't have to go invest time earning XP with rookies/backups, for example)

So basically: Practice mode, new scouting and pretty menus are what happens when this team gets more resources to work with.

This whole post could have been summarized in..... SMH!

Sorry for the long rant!

# 125 bigtrip88 @ 05/29/15 03:43 AM

This sim a win is this just for cloud franchise saves? Can I do it with a offline franchise

# 126 Cnada @ 05/29/15 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asu666


	"OWNER MODE FINANCE TUNING Small-market teams in older stadiums now have more money to spend into the offseason every year." A big fix for small-market team fans.

That was one of the only challenges that Owner mode has, why remove it?

Seriously cash is never an issue in the game. Players can always be cap managed, Owner mode tweaks do nothing, seriously no one cares about a hotdog 2$ v 3$ and I have my MBA!

Relocation is good but changing coaches should be a bigger deal

# 127 msdm27 @ 05/29/15 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigtrip88


	This sim a win is this just for cloud franchise saves? Can I do it with a offline franchise

I think it's stated it can be done in both.

I am interested in hearing how are in-game stats handled for sim-a-win games.

Anyone got any experience with this from other games?

# 128 saybur @ 05/29/15 05:21 AM

One screenshot on the blog shows a 6'1" 295 lb 4-3 DT on a draft board. Such a player didn't exist in M15. This gives me some hope that players in the draft will have more realistic sizes.

# 129 Jrocc23 @ 05/29/15 05:27 AM

We don't have all the information, but this is sad. I haven't really enjoyed Madden since PS2. All the cool things those Madden had w/ Tony Bruno, Newspapers, gameplay imo was a lot better and etc and we are in 2015 on NG systems and we aren't even on 2K5 level, heck, even the old PS2 Madden level.

These details on franchise mode is very underwhelming. I mean who idea was it to add XP in the first place? So far, I am pretty sure I won't be paying a full $60 for this game.

Something has to be done. It's sad the most popular sport isn't being represented well. We need some competition badly.

# 130 jmurphy31 @ 05/29/15 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msdm27


	Well, this might just be my last rant on this game. Title: If this is what we can expect when CFM is the mode getting most resources.... Then we should just call it quits... Really, look through the features carefully and you'll see almost everything is geared towards making the mode more accessible for casuals. Which probably means, they're just trying to get the amount of people playing the game at all up in order the ever justify making a real investment in the mode, which likely won't happen for a couple of more years. What is the feedback they've been looking through? :/ Now granted, Kolbe said they had to clean up a lot of legacy stuff before implementing his real vision.. but come on! Let's be real for a second, had these set of features been announced for M15 CFM, we'd all be like "well ok, MUT gets the most attention/resources anyways, that's why..." So basically: Practice mode, new scouting and pretty menus are what happens when this team gets more resources to work with. This whole post could have been summarized in..... SMH! Sorry for the long rant!

I cant believe this either...They bring in Kolbe and put most of their resources into Franchise Mode and this is what we get....I feel like every time a new person comes in the whole first year is fixing what was wrong with that area. Which is fine but I just dont get saying they have listened to our feedback and they omit formation subs, immersion features, practice squads etc.

Not sure if i missed it somewhere, but where on the Gamechangers suggestion board was on screen goal banners and more in depth XP factors...

Open Practice is nice...It would be even better if we could even make our formation subs in this part and have it stick from game to game. a few years ago you could change a player in a formation and it wold stick from game to game. At least in practice mode you wouldnt be pressed against a play clock.

BTW, I think JP tweeted you can turn the goal notifications off (JP, can you confirm this) and also can you say if they still have normal stat information that pops up in the screen

# 131 JaymeeAwesome @ 05/29/15 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StefJoeHalt


	Custom draft classes or editing draft classes have nothing to do with the lawsuit..where EA went wrong was when #2 from Texas A&M had Johnny Football's exact height, weight, number, home town, and equipment he wears every Saturday Pre-set in the game..now back to topic....major disappointment from news..formation subs are needed..my only guess why they continue to not have them is for chz online..or it will mess with something..still no assist coaches..no game day 45 man team/no deactivate players, as stated no editing draft classes, no true to life free agency issues? ....positives: streamlining interface nice..confidence system improvement nice if it works...depth chart now cleaner ok but not needed..all and all let down.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would have to disagree there. Not being to edit draft classes is exactly tied to the lawsuit. Enabling users to edit players in the draft to mirror real life college players (and allowing users to share them) is just as bad as pre-programming it in. That ruling has set a precedent that is going to be a big problem for a while.

I don't see custom draft classes available for a while until the lawyers can figure out ways around it.

# 132 msdm27 @ 05/29/15 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaymeeAwesome


	I would have to disagree there. Not being to edit draft classes is exactly tied to the lawsuit. Enabling users to edit players in the draft to mirror real life college players (and allowing users to share them) is just as bad as pre-programming it in. That ruling has set a precedent that is going to be a big problem for a while. I don't see custom draft classes available for a while until the lawyers can figure out ways around it.

Funny how this is only a problem for football games, huh?

If that was the case, that lawsuit would of been extended long ago in order to avoid similar situations with basketball or football games.

PS: Awesome idea RE: NFL Reborn

# 133 Skyboxer @ 05/29/15 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel4Reel


	No offense, but you really have no idea what you are talking about.

It would be a lot better and less "IGN" posting if you'd counter him with a rebuttal to carry on the conversation, instead of just a rude reply.

# 134 mjavon @ 05/29/15 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaymeeAwesome


	I would have to disagree there. Not being to edit draft classes is exactly tied to the lawsuit. Enabling users to edit players in the draft to mirror real life college players (and allowing users to share them) is just as bad as pre-programming it in. That ruling has set a precedent that is going to be a big problem for a while. I don't see custom draft classes available for a while until the lawyers can figure out ways around it.

No it's not. That's not the same thing. They got in trouble with the NCAA series because they were profitting off of selling player likenesses. If they implemented a tool that allowed gamers to create their own prospects they are profitting off of that tool directly but not off of whatever content the gamers decide to create with that tool.

An example: in teambuilder back on NCAA I could create a team using any logo my little heart desired. And it was legal for me to do so because I was not directly profitting from doing so. It is also legal for EA to have me use teambuilder, because it's their tool and they can't control how I choose to use it.

On a different note - I'm not so psyched about the goal ticker, but I'll have to wait until I see it in action. I was so sure for some reason they were going to inplement some kind of league scoreboard ticker similar to what is in NCAA 13/14.

# 135 Deflo_ @ 05/29/15 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jrocc23


	We don't have all the information, but this is sad. I haven't really enjoyed Madden since PS2. All the cool things those Madden had w/ Tony Bruno, Newspapers, gameplay imo was a lot better and etc and we are in 2015 on NG systems and we aren't even on 2K5 level, heck, even the old PS2 Madden level. These details on franchise mode is very underwhelming. I mean who idea was it to add XP in the first place? So far, I am pretty sure I won't be paying a full $60 for this game. Something has to be done. It's sad the most popular sport isn't being represented well. We need some competition badly.

this game has really fallen off the rails. This is what we're suppose to be excited about? C'mon... I agree with the post I quoted.. I remember that edition and it was my favorite by far. I haven't been all in since...

# 136 howboutdat @ 05/29/15 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msdm27


	Well, this might just be my last rant on this game. Title: If this is what we can expect when CFM is the mode getting most resources.... Then we should just call it quits... Really, look through the features carefully and you'll see almost everything is geared towards making the mode more accessible for casuals. Which probably means, they're just trying to get the amount of people playing the game at all up in order the ever justify making a real investment in the mode, which likely won't happen for a couple of more years. What is the feedback they've been looking through? :/ Now granted, Kolbe said they had to clean up a lot of legacy stuff before implementing his real vision.. but come on! Let's be real for a second, had these set of features been announced for M15 CFM, we'd all be like "well ok, MUT gets the most attention/resources anyways, that's why..." But they already told us they allocated most resources to CFM this time.... and for what? - So I can get to play a game quicker? Jepp, that's just what hardcore people want... less details and nuances pre-game. - To see a pretty depth chart? Now mind you, I've never played MUT before so when I saw this depth chart I was like "dope!" but then we found they basically copy/pasted from MUT with no apparent added functionality, what's the point? - To get a "streamlined" scouting? hopefully this one works, and the new draft screens seems to look MUCH better, but scouting seems to be the only real change in this year's mode. - To get XP shoved down my throat even IN-GAME????? Sorry but.... WTF!? As DeuceDouglas said earlir... we've been clamoring for years for an in game ticker, and when they finally invest the time/resources for it, it is for a XP ticker? Who thinks of this stuff? Also as CM Hooe mentioned... now it's clear we'll live & DIE with XP as long as CFM is around, no way back now. On the other hand: - No mention of ANY level of customization to draft classes (even after the draft) - No changes to free agency (if they were fixing legacy stuff, how is this untouched?) - No mention of a quicker way to control all 32 teams offline (still holding out hope for this one since Kolbe mentioned something about it in the VSN podcast... probably no the type of thing to hype on a blog?) - Nothing further done to relocation? (even with the LA situation being such a current topic in today's NFL) - No mention of the ability to arrange your own draft board (like WHAAAAAAA?) - Nothing new on assistant coaches/coordinators (even when this seems like a natural thing to tie up to their beloved XP.... we could assign tasks to our coordinators so we don't have to go invest time earning XP with rookies/backups, for example) So basically: Practice mode, new scouting and pretty menus are what happens when this team gets more resources to work with. This whole post could have been summarized in..... SMH! Sorry for the long rant!

I totally agree . For about 5 seconds after hearing him talk about how they put alot more resources in CFM this year i really thought we were finally getting something,after seeing all this, the answer is really , not really. We are getting "new UI" which is basically ,hate to say it but we all know its true , COPY AND PASTE.Im sure that took a really long time to do. Hey we finally got that ticker for our leagues we wanted.... and its about nothing but XP.... Scouting and drafts just went from fun to boring again ( say what you will, you will find cheat sheets , not the same as last ones but they will still ruin online drafts,on these come october) , and practice is back...... WOW. really? Lets not forget, its all about XP,XP,XP,XP,XP ,XP, did i mention XP. After all this, im seriously debating if im even going to bother keeping our league running. Been running for 4 years straight , non stop, each year, just hoping madden pulls thru with what they promise will be better.Im just sick of it now. You get all the resources and all you can do is make a UI that you basically already have, make more xp on EVERY PLAY, and basically mess up drafts for online leagues. Thanks a ton!

How is it , anyone thought that taking the time to put in a banner for just XP purposes was a sound way to spend dev time, and NOT on giving us a dang draft board??

Its these very types of things that just tells us, people in charge , really seem lost at times, and gives us no real hope.

# 137 NDAlum @ 05/29/15 08:17 AM

I'm not a fan of XP for one reason: it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer in online leagues. It's just not fair.

I would prefer a natural progression/regression system with inherent traits such as a potential (The Show system). Performance can have an impact on the overall potential and growth/decline of a player.

# 138 msdm27 @ 05/29/15 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NDAlum


	I'm not a fan of XP for one reason: it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer in online leagues. It's just not fair. I would prefer a natural progression/regression system with inherent traits such as a potential (The Show system). Performance can have an impact on the overall potential and growth/decline of a player.

Yeah, they should bring someone over from The Show to fix CFM, Oh wait....

Sorry, had to do it

# 139 aholbert32 @ 05/29/15 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjavon


	No it's not. That's not the same thing. They got in trouble with the NCAA series because they were profitting off of selling player likenesses. If they implemented a tool that allowed gamers to create their own prospects they are profitting off of that tool directly but not off of whatever content the gamers decide to create with that tool. An example: in teambuilder back on NCAA I could create a team using any logo my little heart desired. And it was legal for me to do so because I was not directly profitting from doing so. It is also legal for EA to have me use teambuilder, because it's their tool and they can't control how I choose to use it. On a different note - I'm not so psyched about the goal ticker, but I'll have to wait until I see it in action. I was so sure for some reason they were going to inplement some kind of league scoreboard ticker similar to what is in NCAA 13/14.

ARGGHHH!!!!

As an intellectual property attorney, this makes me furious.

TeamBuilder wasnt "legal" because of any connection to profit. The reason it didnt lead to a lawsuit is because of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

Lets say you used North Dakota State's logo to create a team. NDSU could come after you for trademark or copyright infringement and win easily. EA wouldnt be liable because under the DMCA, their only obligation is to remove intellectual property that was posted by a user if they are notified by the owner of the infringement. So if NDSU sends EA a letter, they have to remove the logo.

So Teambuilder wasnt "legal" per se. Its just that most companies/owners did want to use the resources to sue individual people for using their logos.

# 140 SolidSquid @ 05/29/15 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saybur


	One screenshot on the blog shows a 6'1" 295 lb 4-3 DT on a draft board. Such a player didn't exist in M15. This gives me some hope that players in the draft will have more realistic sizes.

But will he look like he's 6'1 295 or will he look like a stick or obese person? Also will he be wearing equipment from 40 years ago? Will he have dreads even if his picture doesn't? Those are the quality control issues I have with Madden and rookies.

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