Madden NFL 16 News Post

Madden NFL 16 CFM Impressions - Confidence, Goals, Hub & More (MyMaddenPad)

10:08 AM - June 7, 2015 by jpdavis82

Shopmaster has posted his Madden NFL 16 CFM impressions based off of his hands-on time with the game. In the article he talks about confidence, regression, dynamic drive goals, new hub and much more.

Shop plans on releasing another article on Tuesday discussing the new scouting and draft.

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

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# 121 sebennayx @ 06/09/15 01:53 AM

After reading the valuable and constructive thoughts regarding progression put together by bucky, jp, branden, and others, I've attempted to compile the notes with many additions of my own.

*Don't remove the current XP progression option - leave it in for those who want to play with it.
*Myself, and I'm sure others here, would be very big fans of completely removing the OVR from view entirely. Much of the below is based on this premise.
*Personally, I would be ecstatic to have an option which removes all player skills from view...not everyone will feel the same, but check out the two examples below;

Imagine having to put time into developing your newly drafted DE simply by pitting him against your franchise LT in practice - watching him get manhandled, and also watching him manhandle the backup LT in practice. By next offseason your now veteran DE is mauling that same LT...is it because the DE improved?...or is your LT getting old?? Now THAT is cause for playing year-to-year, no need for written in storylines and twitter feed folks - this drama is built in!

Imagine picking up a WR during FA who never quite put it together on his rookie contract, but based on the players profile with his previous team, you feel he will be a good depth for your playbook. Said player comes back strong after the offseason, shines during Training Camp/OTAs and the Preseason, earns his way to the starting lineup, then puts up 90 rec, 1200 yards, 9 tds...incredible FA pickup, right? Suddenly, you don't care so much what his Madden calculated OVR is...or even what his exact Route Running rating is - you know whatever he does works for your play style!

Coaches - It all starts with the coaches.
Head Coach
Has a playbook "attached" to them; the HC playbook can choose to supersede the Coordinators if the user wishes, but is not mandatory.
Has position specific and grouping specific traits which they "prefer", scheme fits.
Can improve or stunt the ratings development, and/or raise/lower certain ratings caps of position groupings to a varying degree. Some players are affected more by the coach they're with than others.

*Examples*
Mike Zimmer raises the cap of his CBs Press rating, allowing the CBs to achieve a higher than normal press rating.
Mike Zimmer allows for quicker development rates of all DBs Man, Press, and Awareness.

Each Coordinator also has a playbook attached, as well as "preferred" position traits, or scheme fits for different personnel groupings. Coordinators can similarly improve/stunt the development...and raise/lower ratings caps of position groupings.

*Example*
Norv Turner speeds the development of the QB Intermediate accuracy - allowing his QBs ratings progression in that skill to rise quicker than it would otherwise.

Position coaches don't have a playbook attached, but instead add value to the position they are designated.

*Example*
Jeff Davidson raises the RBK cap while stunting the PBK development of all OLine positions.

These coaching traits may be visible if the user wishes. If the user prefers, only a description and background of a coach is given, allowing the user to interpret.

Example: Leslie Frazier
Played CB for the world champion Bears, led the team in INTs that year. Suffered a knee injury quickly ending his career. Likes to play a heavy Tampa 2 scheme with Cover 3 and man mixed in.
-1988-1996: HC - Trinity College - 2 conference titles
-1997-1998: DB - University of Illinois
-1999-2002: DB - Philadelphia Eagles
-etc.

Ratings Progression - This is the meat.
As has been previously mentioned, the ratings get broken down into three groupings;

Athletic
These skills can progress/regress on their own, but to a much lower/slower degree than all other ratings groupings.
There are ratings caps on an individual player basis, a range of which is determined by position, height, and weight.
Younger players usually start near their cap with these skills.
An injury can drastically reduce athletic skills.

Imagine two 6' 190lb CBs available in the draft, one caps at 92 spd, 94 acc, 44 str...the other caps at 96 spd, 95 acc, 28 str. Both start out at or near their athletic cap (90/94/38, 94/94/28). These can only be improved with gym time as a weekly focus and over the offseason.

As an offseason option, a coach or player can choose to "sacrifice" weight in an attempt to improve athletic skills. This is not a requirement to improve/progress these skills, but may create a higher % increase or chance of increase.

Think of a TE attempting to increase speed over the offseason by losing weight...or a rookie OG attempting to add weight and put on strength.
This is not solely decided by the player (as a Coach); think Bryant McKinnie showing up near 400lbs to Training Camp. Surprise! "Bad weight" can decrease skills, and is rectified through a focus at Training Camp/Offseason.

Some players will age gracefully - seemingly getting better with time (Steve Smith).
Others may have a steady decline in these stats as they age.
Others still will drop off a cliff due to injury or other unforeseen event.

Position skills
These ratings are generally lowest among young players, and also the most variable and easiest to progress through coaching and individual focus.
Each skill has it's own min/max rate of increase for each individual player. This can be shown for those Users who want to see it, others can have this turned off (or "dumbed down" to a scouting report view).
Again, with ratings having the option of being hidden, those who hide these skills from view will have to rely on Training Camp/OTAs, Preseason, Weekly Practices and Gameplan, and the actual in-game to determine their own estimate of these skills.

These skills also have a cap. Think Greg Little whose CTH rating started at 69 when drafted, but caps at 72 with a slooooow development rating...while his RTE started at 68, but caps at 81 with a normal dev rating. Some people will "get it" more than others.

Note the wide differentiation on skills...with less emphasis on the actual visual of the numbers used in the ratings, more emphasis can be made on how much more effective animations can play out given a wider range of stats (think 0-99 instead of 60-99).
Position players also have position skills which may/may not be suited for their current position. ODB or Suh and their KPW ratings, or Mohamed Sanu and his THP and THA ratings, etc. You won't know them until you check them out in practice.

These skills potential for increase is determined in large part by the player himself, while also potentially greatly affected by the coach(es) and focus/gameplan.
A coach can not directly increase the ratings themselves, but can allow these ratings to progress quicker naturally.
These ratings are only genuinely increased by Weekly Focus, Offseason Focus, and use in games/practice.

Think MLB 14: The Show (don't have 15) and how, as the coach, you can tell each player at each position each week what you'd like them to Focus on;
*Jugs machine (Catch ratings are worked on)
*Hit the gym (physical attributes are worked on, with a very slim chance for injury)
*Rest up (especially useful while injured, can help to speed recovery time)

Just because a player is working on that specific skill does not guarantee it will increase...similarly just because a player is working on a specific skill does not prevent other skills from increasing as well.

The Offseason works very similar, you can request a specific focus for each player; some will come back with increased skills, others will come back with increased pant sizes.
After the offseason (and to a lesser extent each week) you can be presented with scribbles and notes providing occasionally helpful clues as to a players progress - other times these notes can be misleading.
Again, with ratings made invisible, the skills are only truly identified by using them in practice

Example: After an offseason, do your outside zone runs to the strong side not seem to be as easy as last year? Did your TE lose weight to increase speed? Maybe that TE needs to work with the OLine coach to get his RBK ratings back up to par during Training Camp...or maybe you choose to solely use him as a move TE (formation subs?).

Intangibles
Generally don't drop off as seasons progress, but are likely to fluctuate per game depending on weekly focus/gameplanning and in-game performance - similar to how Confidence is reported to work.

Example: Cortland Finnegan AWR drops exponentially due to getting wrecked by Andre Johnson most of the game. Provided AWR affects penalties, perhaps this leads to a game affecting penalty mid-game (!).

Intangibles also naturally rise similar to position skills over time, though with less risk to drop.
Commonly affected by coaching/playbook changes.

All of this can be visible or not visible, user managed or CPU managed, etc.

Scouting
Combine results are still visible, providing a rough idea of Athletic skills.
Scouts can be hired/chosen based on their position grouping specialties, and ratings grouping specialties.
These specialties don't guarantee quality or effective scouting, similarly quality scouts are not limited to only their position/ratings grouping specialties. One scout may suck at everything, another scout may find gold hidden in the muck.

If the ratings are turned on - the scouts determine how close the scouted ratings are compared to actual.
If the ratings are turned off, every player and position group scouted receive tiered ratings estimates (A - F). Additionally, notes can be provided to compare to current or past players, or provide quick jots of details

steady and reliable hands,
quick and efficient cuts,
lacks deep speed but hits top gear quickly

The CFM development team is clearly putting a lot of work into developing and balancing this XP based system; by all means, please keep it up! There are those who like and prefer this method, and that's fine for them. I believe over a cycle or two, an offseason like the above can also be added as a setup option to provide a more realistic opportunity for those who don't want this XP and Goal driven CFM format.

I know not everybody will be ready to give up seeing the OVR, let alone give up seeing all ratings, but I know there are those more on the hardcore sim side who want it as close to realistically running a team as possible. By providing options to allow for all of the below, a User can really customize their CFM to get it to play exactly how they want!

Visible OVR? Yes/No
Visible Ratings? Yes/No
Preferred CFM Style? XP Based/Focus Based
etc.

Thanks for reading. Someone can put a TL;DR to help out those who don't want to go through the whole thing haha

# 122 msdm27 @ 06/09/15 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l8knight1


	Not sure if this has been discussed, but found a combine screen?

Anybody have any idea how they came to that 7.1 grade from those combine scores?

Trying to work on my own scouting tool spreadsheet, but can't seem to make it work.

I'm guessing the grade is tied to team scheme (care to give input if you have, JP?) and some combine events are valued higher into the overall grade than others. Otherwise, with a range from 1 to 10, I can't really see how they got 7.1 as a total grade from those scores.

My formula was:
I had to assume it was a total of 20 DT's (since there's no more info available)
Then just allocate scores.. he's the fastest DT = 10 pts; he's the 4th DT in 20yd shuttle = 7 pts and so on, then divide it by 6 events. But it never adds up.

Any input is appreciated

I do think that's a cool addition to the combine screen, as it is another way to differentiate between players.

# 123 saybur @ 06/09/15 05:20 AM

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but will regression still be simply tied to age? Will A.J. Green still lose 3 speed as soon as he turns 30 despite making the pro bowl every year? This absolutely kills long term CFM for me.

# 124 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saybur


	I haven't read the whole thread yet, but will regression still be simply tied to age? Will A.J. Green still lose 3 speed as soon as he turns 30 despite making the pro bowl every year? This absolutely kills long term CFM for me.

I mentioned this in a previous post but the GC's and I found that players were losing around 1-2 pts in speed after turning 30, nothing like it used to be last year. Regression and confidence both seemed to be working much more appropriately.

# 125 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneamongthefence


	This feature while nice reeks of "we added it now get off our backs about it" its just 6 drills. It's just another menu to display information. There's no frills or presentation to it.

I can't talk about scouting or the draft until Shop releases his article later today. I do believe it will be expanded upon in the future and I don't believe from what I've been told that they just did it so people would stop asking about it.

# 126 Grey_Osprey @ 06/09/15 08:04 AM

JP, can you answer if we will be able to adjust our coach play calling % (run/pass, aggres/cons from year to year or even week to week (like ncaa)? I think last year, once you initially set it, you were locked into that until you retired the coach.

# 127 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grey_Osprey


	JP, can you answer if we will be able to adjust our coach play calling % (run/pass, aggres/cons from year to year or even week to week (like ncaa)? I think last year, once you initially set it, you were locked into that until you retired the coach.

Unfortunately I didn't check that.

# 128 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 08:08 AM

One thing I can tell you guys that I noticed, and it's minor but to me it's a simulation thing, and that is that there were a lot less ties in the standings. I think the most we saw was 3 in a season. I know in 15 I saw like 8 in one season.

# 129 N51_rob @ 06/09/15 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N51_rob


	I'll use an example and you can take this to the Developers.... DeSean Jackson had a max season XP goal of 130 receptions. He had a season of 66 receptions 1256 yards and 13 TDs. But because his main goal was receptions he didn't get max XP. He got to the second level of the tree for like 1000 XP. Team went 12-4 won the division. How will Madden 16 handle a season like that compared to Madden 15?

Seems to have been missed, so I will quote for visibility. JP can you answere this or not?

# 130 brza37 @ 06/09/15 10:34 AM

I really don't understand at all why the goals for WRs are receptions. The goal of any skill position player is to move the ball forward and ultimately score TDs. I'd rather have a player with 50 catches for 1000 yards (Desean Jackson) than a guy with 70 catches for 700 (Michael Crabtree). Receptions are also largely dependent on the type of offense you run while yards are a much better barometer for offensive performance.

I wish you could choose what stats to focus on per position as coach (basically set goals for your players). I hate that my WRs goals are based on receptions instead of yards and my 3-4 OLBs goals are tackles instead of sacks. In other people's systems those might be the right targets though.

If EA doesn't want to give the user a choice what to focus on then maybe they could do a type of fantasy scoring system where multiple stats come into play and the goal is to just get a certain score per game or by the end of the season.

# 131 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N51_rob


	Seems to have been missed, so I will quote for visibility. JP can you answere this or not?

Goals in general have been tuned, and toned down. You shouldn't be seeing a goal of 130 for a WR, I believe 100 is the highest now.

# 132 Jr. @ 06/09/15 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	Goals in general have been tuned, and toned down. You shouldn't be seeing a goal of 130 for a WR, I believe 100 is the highest now.

Answer without answering haha

# 133 N51_rob @ 06/09/15 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	Goals in general have been tuned, and toned down. You shouldn't be seeing a goal of 130 for a WR, I believe 100 is the highest now.

Great, but that is not what i'm asking.

So if his goal is 100 receptions and he has a season 66 receptions 1256 yards and 13 TDs how will that work out for XP, confidence and what not?

# 134 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N51_rob


	Great, but that is not what i'm asking. So if his goal is 100 receptions and he has a season 66 receptions 1256 yards and 13 TDs how will that work out for XP, confidence and what not?

I'm not sure about that, I'm more into gameplay and presentation, but I think some of the TSO guys may know, they were pretty hardcore about stuff like that.

# 135 CM Hooe @ 06/09/15 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N51_rob


	Great, but that is not what i'm asking. So if his goal is 100 receptions and he has a season 66 receptions 1256 yards and 13 TDs how will that work out for XP, confidence and what not?

Preemptive caveat - I'm not a GameChanger, haven't seen the game, or anything like that. (you know that already, though :-) )

I'm going to guess that - since Madden NFL continues to not consider the context of stats and only cares about the raw numbers themselves - if you miss the season goal, you miss the season goal and whatever the original consequences are of that remain, be it lack of XP reward, player regression, etc.

The addition of dynamic goals may offset this some, at least, by allowing for XP bonuses in-game based on how a player is doing. If you've caught two TDs in one game with DJax, for example, maybe there's a dynamic goal for catching a 3rd TD which is worth more XP.

# 136 Reejer @ 06/09/15 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brza37


	I really don't understand at all why the goals for WRs are receptions. The goal of any skill position player is to move the ball forward and ultimately score TDs. I'd rather have a player with 50 catches for 1000 yards (Desean Jackson) than a guy with 70 catches for 700 (Michael Crabtree). Receptions are also largely dependent on the type of offense you run while yards are a much better barometer for offensive performance. I wish you could choose what stats to focus on per position as coach (basically set goals for your players). I hate that my WRs goals are based on receptions instead of yards and my 3-4 OLBs goals are tackles instead of sacks. In other people's systems those might be the right targets though. If EA doesn't want to give the user a choice what to focus on then maybe they could do a type of fantasy scoring system where multiple stats come into play and the goal is to just get a certain score per game or by the end of the season.

Be-a-Pro: Goals should be set by the Goal Gods (the Development Team).
Be-a-Coach: You should be able to auto-assign, or set the goals for your players manually (just like your idea: Love it!).
Be-an-Owner: You should be able to auto-assign, or set the team goals manually (win by XX, or keep the opponents under XXX YDS, etc. etc.).

# 137 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Preemptive caveat - I'm not a GameChanger, haven't seen the game, or anything like that. (you know that already, though :-) ) I'm going to guess that - since Madden NFL continues to not consider the context of stats and only cares about the raw numbers themselves - if you miss the season goal, you miss the season goal and whatever the original consequences are of that remain, be it lack of XP reward, player regression, etc. The addition of dynamic goals may offset this some, at least, by allowing for XP bonuses in-game based on how a player is doing. If you've caught two TDs in one game with DJax, for example, maybe there's a dynamic goal for catching a 3rd TD which is worth more XP.

Example of Djax with 3rd TD yes that's how it works, I believe there are 600 different dynamic goals.

# 138 cuttingteeth @ 06/09/15 11:58 AM

Toning things down per goals is good to hear. Being able to turn everything off is even better. Some of us just want to set the game up to where scoring points in a game of competitive football to win the game is all that we have to achieve week in and week out.

# 139 N51_rob @ 06/09/15 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Preemptive caveat - I'm not a GameChanger, haven't seen the game, or anything like that. (you know that already, though :-) ) I'm going to guess that - since Madden NFL continues to not consider the context of stats and only cares about the raw numbers themselves - if you miss the season goal, you miss the season goal and whatever the original consequences are of that remain, be it lack of XP reward, player regression, etc. The addition of dynamic goals may offset this some, at least, by allowing for XP bonuses in-game based on how a player is doing. If you've caught two TDs in one game with DJax, for example, maybe there's a dynamic goal for catching a 3rd TD which is worth more XP.

Sadly this is what I assumed. Just looking for clarification.

# 140 jpdavis82 @ 06/09/15 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtkiii


	You might not have been able to tell but during your Play time jpdavis82 but did you happen to notice if the stat popups that referenced how a player did the game before work properly? When I would play as a player in CFM and they would have that graphic that showed current game stats and last game stats I would mostly see 0s for the previous game stats but current game stats listed fine. This function appeared to work a little better in normal CFM games were you were the coach(80% of the time) on M15 That always bugged the crap out of me.

Yes, but I was playing as a coach, Arians.

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