• NCAA Football 11: Live Tuning Pack & Title Update #3 Available

    NCAA Football 11 developers Russ Kiniry & Jordan Peterson have posted a new blog at the official NCAA Football website detailing the third title update and Live Tuning Package #3, available today.

    Click Read More to view the entire blog and full details of the upcoming title update and Live Tuning Package.

    Hi NCAA Football Fans,

    Ready for some more NCAA Football news? Well this blog has exactly what you are looking for. More fixes, tweaks, and tuning in the form of another Title Update and the release of Live Tuning Pack 3, to continue and improve NCAA Football 11. Both of these items will be coming to you on Tuesday (9/7). Now the details:

    Title Update 3 (TU3)

    - The pump fake exploit was resolved. The entire defense will no longer rush the QB after a pump fake.
    - Resolved an issue with setting SS/ FS to QB Spy and then blitzing, virtually unblocked.
    - Increased the Overall rating for incoming freshman. This resulted in one and two star freshman coming in at a higher overall rating.
    - In Season Progression is back! Players once again have the ability to get a slight boost to their ratings during the season.
    - There was an issue with Hawaii's home schedule causing conflicts with particular teams. This has been resolved. In particular, teams in the Pac 10 and the WAC will now have the correct number of conference games.
    - Resolved an issue with the Rush Defense slider where they were only impacting defensive line special moves. They have been adjusted to also impact win/loss chances for blocking.


    Live Tuning Pack 3 (LTP3)

    - Kick Power/Kick Accuracy progression for Kickers and Punters was adjusted to be in line with the new incoming freshmen. Kickers and punters will now progress in line with other players, but will start with a higher average overall due to the improved recruit ratings in the patch.
    - Increased Awareness progression for all positions.
    - Increased progression slightly for Elusiveness, Spin Move, and Juke Move for Wide Receivers.
    - Increased progression of the Tackle rating for Corner Backs to be in line with WR skill ratings (Juke, Spin, and Elusiveness).
    - Reduced the frequency of defenders successfully jumping the snap. Also adjusted how frequently they would jump early when the offense performed a fake snap.
    - Tuned Man Coverage so defenders will not jump in front of routes so early. They will still jump the route, but not as early, or frequently, as before.
    - Adjusted in season progression to be in line with higher rated incoming freshmen.
    - Tuned Incoming freshman to better match the spread on the default rosters.
    - Tuned team prestige progression to be in line with the changes to incoming freshmen.

    While tuning Dynasty this year, I've received a lot of help along the way from Jordan Peterson, who recently joined the Design team. Since he has been focusing on all the details of the latest Live Tuning Pack I'm going to have him pass along the information of what you are going to see going forward. So Jordan... How do all of these changes impact Dynasty?

    Thanks for the introduction, Russ. The most obvious adjustment is that the recruits are now in line with the freshmen on the default rosters. This allows for progression in line to our original objectives, without creating too many high rated players in the first three years or, conversely, too few in later years of dynasty.

    Below is a count of the number of players at each Overall rating. The top graph displays results from ship, the second from LTP2 and the third is from TU3/LTP3. The red line indicates the default roster, while the remaining blue and green lines represent subsequent years. Most importantly you can see that number of players between 40 and 60 overall have decreased significantly, while the number of players between 60 and 80 has increased.



    The table below is a breakdown of the average number of teams at each rating several years into dynasty, compared between ship, post LTP 1 and LTP3. With the increase to the overall ratings for the lower tier of recruits, and tuning progression, we have achieved our target for Team Overall Grades. Based on results from launch, our target was to create an even distribution between B and D rated teams, while slightly increasing the number of A and C rated teams. LTP1 was an improvement, but did not completely achieve our goal, as LTP3 does.



    Below is the updated numbers of the Average Overall Chart we showed with LTP1. You can see that on average (this is the result of many simulations) our Average Overalls did not change all that much for most teams from LTP1 to LTP3. We were able to use the new Recruits and integrate them into the Dynasties while keeping a balance between the low and high prestige teams. Please note that depending upon the multitude of factors in dynasty; you may see some significant variance in a team's overall rating.

    There are a few things to keep in mind when looking at a team's overall. Most importantly are the factors that influence recruiting. Did the team recruit every position needed? Did they win, or lose, important recruiting battles? What was their record? Did they win or lose any bowl games? Has their team prestige increased or decreased? These are just a handful of questions to ask yourself as you look at the team overalls in your dynasty sims. Because of the significant amount of potential variance, we always tune based upon averages while keeping an eye upon both extremes.



    In an earlier Live Tuning Pack, we addressed the low end of the spread for Kickers and Punters by increasing their progression. Now, with the bottom half of the recruits increased to be in line with rosters, we were able to tune Kicker/Punter progression with greater accuracy. The table below displays the average Kick Power for Kickers and Punters for Recruits on the shipped disc (top section), compared to Recruits in LTP 3 (bottom section).



    That wraps up the Dynasty summary for the Title Update and Live Tuning Pack 3. Thanks once again for your continued support and feedback.

    Thanks for the details, Jordan. Most of these changes come directly from community feedback. Our goal is to continue and improve NCAA 11 Football as much as possible for you, the fan. Please continue to post and let us know what you think on our forums. I'll be lurking around there, and other fan sites, to see what you think about the latest updates, so don't be shy. Thanks again for your support and we hope you are enjoying the start of the College Football Season. Go Canes!

    -Russ Kiniry
    Designer
    NCAA Football
    Comments 52 Comments
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      I don't understand. Those overall rating charts constantly show that the overall ratings of teams drop in those head to head breakdowns compared to the default rosters. They do seem better but still aren't as high as the default ratings. Still only 1 A+ team and 1 A team down the road which is too low. Not a big deal to me if the teams all remain relative to each other (if they all drop 3 points it's no big deal) but I think most people want to know if the depth charts got fixed and the cpu is using the correct people.

      I am very happy to see they fixed the rush defense slider. I'm hoping we can finetune the cpu run game a lot better but I'm not really looking forward to playing with sliders after settling on my last set.

      Toning down man coverage is good because it might make zone coverage more relevant. Any info on that?
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      I don't understand. Those overall rating charts constantly show that the overall ratings of teams drop in those head to head breakdowns compared to the default rosters. They do seem better but still aren't as high as the default ratings.
      I think the central problem is that simulating the jump that the default rosters have between a player's Freshman and Sophomore seasons is still beyond what the game simulates. I bet if I did a comparison between NCAA 10 and NCAA 11, you'd see massive gains in OVR for a lot of impact Freshmen. And, as far as I've ever seen ... this doesn't happen in NCAA ... ever.

      As you said, I think teams staying in stride relative to each other is the best we'll ever have.
    1. mundo's Avatar
      mundo -
      I like the continued tweaking. I wonder when the new ratings for freshman actually impact the game. For example, I just started a season in my dynasty and loaded my board. Are those recruits already set on rating or will the rating be impacted once they hit the roster at the end of the season?

      Edit: I also wonder what the net impact is on man coverage (has the effectiveness been reduced more?) and any impact on zone.
    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan -
      I believe, mundo, that the ratings are embedded within the class when the recruits are generated. If that's right, the ratings of your first class wouldn't be affected by this.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Steeler's right. The recruits ratings do not fluctuate once the class is generated at the beginning of the season.
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Wish I had known this about 1 day sooner. I just started my 3rd season of my Duke dynasty. Would have preferred to start it post patch 3 but now I'll just put it on hold and wait the patch/tuning update and find another set of sliders.

      Anyone know if the in-season progression will take affect if you are "in the middle" (Week 3) of the season or if it will wait until you start a new year?
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      In season progression should start as soon as the patch hits.
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Quote Originally Posted by JeffHCross View Post
      In season progression should start as soon as the patch hits.
      Cool obviously the recruiting stuff won't kick in until the next season.
    1. baseballplyrmvp's Avatar
      baseballplyrmvp -
      hopefully in season progression wont be overdone, but i hope it wont be like last year's where your players would only progress 1-2 points over the course of the season.

      i know it wasnt mentioned, but i hope they will slightly turn down the ability for cpu qb's to get off perfect passes when they're about to get hit. it just seems that whenever i blitz (doesnt matter if its from the throwing side or from the blindside), the cpu will always get off the throw. it kinda makes blitzing pointless knowing that no matter how many guys you bring, you'll never get to the qb fast enough, unless you take a running start. i can still get sacks, but they're almost always coverage sacks or when the cpu calls a playaction pass.

      i'd also like to see the better players win more during interations, like if you have a 90+ ovr d-end going up against a low 70's tackle, your d-end should be getting into the backfield all day (and vice versa obviously). to me, it doesnt seem like the better player (offensive or defensive) wins enough when there is a big disparity in the ratings. i know this is mostly dependant on specific ratings, but the better athlete should win the majority of the time, imo.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      I hope players only progress 1-2 points during the season or if it's more than that they really tone down the progression at the beginning of the year. Because their charts still show teams declining in ability I'm guessing the overall improvement just got split between the two so it shouldn't be an issue. I REALLY hope nothing gets broken because I highly doubt there will be a 4th patch.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Anybody know exactly what time these will be available? I think last time one of the two was released early in the morning. Not sure if I should wait to read impressions first in case there is a big bug or just download it right away.
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Anybody know exactly what time these will be available? I think last time one of the two was released early in the morning. Not sure if I should wait to read impressions first in case there is a big bug or just download it right away.
      LOL its EA man, I ALWAYS take a wait and see approach just in case they somehow manage to implode people's PS3s.
    1. morsdraconis's Avatar
      morsdraconis -
      Quote Originally Posted by CLW View Post
      LOL its EA man, I ALWAYS take a wait and see approach just in case they somehow manage to implode people's PS3s.
      :rolleyes:
    1. SmoothPancakes's Avatar
      SmoothPancakes -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Anybody know exactly what time these will be available? I think last time one of the two was released early in the morning. Not sure if I should wait to read impressions first in case there is a big bug or just download it right away.
      I'll have PLENTY of time to wait and read impressions. With NHL 11 coming out tomorrow, NCAA is going back onto my "hold" pile while I play the hell out of NHL over the next week+ before eventually going back to NCAA to continue working on my Navy dyansty.
    1. cdj's Avatar
      cdj -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Anybody know exactly what time these will be available? I think last time one of the two was released early in the morning. Not sure if I should wait to read impressions first in case there is a big bug or just download it right away.
      I would guess around the same time. Given that we're coming off a holiday weekend, it may even be later in the day.
    1. cdj's Avatar
      cdj -
      Game update now available on PS3, 360 later today.

      Live Tuning Pack expected to be available after both systems receive game update.
    1. AustinWolv's Avatar
      AustinWolv -
      Anybody pull it down yet?
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Quote Originally Posted by AustinWolv View Post
      Anybody pull it down yet?
      I got the game update but not the tuning patch. Haven't played any games yet.
    1. AustinWolv's Avatar
      AustinWolv -
      Looking forward to hearing more.

      Still annoyed that press coverage audible while using 3-3-5 D causes the #1 CB to go into a 40+ yard backpedal before the snap.
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt -
      According to Russ, they're still working with Microsoft to determine when the 360 patch will be released. He couldn't commit to whether it would be today or sometime later but that they are working on it as best they can.