The Little Things

[JeffHCross]

I'll let G and CDJ make the call on whether or not it belongs here, or in the regular Feedback forum.

But I thought, in connection with the wishlist tournament, we could come up with a list of "little things" ... things that are noticeable to us, the hardcore, and would be appreciated, but aren't the type of thing that would make the tournament, both in terms of effort involved and in terms of "back of the box".

A couple examples:
Recalculate Injuries at the End of the Regular Season: If a player had a 2 month injury at the end of October in real life, he could still make a January Bowl Game. I believe that would be a Week 10 game in NCAA. With an 8 week injury in the game, the player would be at least 1 week, maybe 2, short because all the bowls are treated as a single week.

Reexamine default recruit set with changes to Locomotion: The WRs and DBs that are in the generated recruits are drastically inferior in one key Locomotion category, AGI, when compared to the default Freshmen. For example, the Texas roster has four default Freshmen WR with AGI ratings 88-91, and three default CBs that are 88-92. In the OD I'm currently in, there is not a single generated recruit who will come in higher than 83 AGI, at either the CB or WR position. Not a single one, with most coming in between 76-79. Now, over time, they'll balance out. But that's not very balanced in the first few years. AGI, ACC and SPD of generated recruits need re-examined since Locomotion was put into the game.

Redo Pipelines: Having 4 players on the roster from the same state doesn't establish a pipeline, at least not in real life. I guess they're trying to replicate that in real life certain coaches establish ties to areas, know the HS coaches, and are known to the parents. Sure, that's all true. But that's established over time, not by X number of players on your roster. Pipelines should be created and lost with time and successful recruiting in the states, not X. They should be gained and lost by who you play and who you beat. Ohio State shouldn't have to work to establish a pipeline to Indiana, Pennsylvania, or Michigan ... conference states should come automatically, at least at some level. And there should be varying levels of pipelines. No matter how many Florida players come to Ohio State, Jim Tressel is not going to recruit Florida at the same level that Urban Meyer will.

Feel free to agree/disagree, and please post your own "little things". I want this to be a discussion thread.

[JeffHCross]

Thought of another:
Add the ability to AutoSave Profiles Only: Right now Auto Save is either always on or always off. But I don't want my Road to Glory, offline Dynasty, or Roster changes always saving. The only thing I want saving all the time is my Profile, and this is because of too many occasions where I've forgotten to save my profile after playing some Online Dynasty games and then backing out to the main menu. It'd just be a nice thing to have. I believe the PS2 version of the series automatically saved the user's profile after games.

[cdj]

GREAT thread, but I did move it so people wouldn't get confused in the voting area since we have a lot of threads flying around in there.

[JeffHCross]

No problem

[jaymo76]

Okay these are really minor but I miss them nonetheless.

1. The Blue Chip ELITE 11 prospects
2. National GAME OF THE WEEK (you only see this mentioned if it's not a division/rivalry game)
3. Cpu pulling the QB after FOUR INTERCEPTIONS
4. Cpu pulling the starters in a blowout (winning or losing)
5. Actually showing ALL of the injured players and hearing E.A. comment on each one of them

[gschwendt]

When viewing dynasty season stats of players and/or teams, show their ranking beside each... otherwise you have to count down.

[JeffHCross]

This ties into the Wishlist Tournament contender of "Improved Stat Overlays", but I really have to consider it a "little thing".

As it stands now, Brad Nesslar will tell us when we're getting close to breaking a school and/or NCAA record. However, there is no longer any way within the game itself to see the records. So, either adding Records back to the in-game menu or giving us a stat overlay that shows our current statistics versus the record would be awesome.

[JeffHCross]

I just finished winning the BCS National Championship, and after the game, when commenting about the records (which is a nice touch, I must admit) Brad Nesslar said that my team "remained undefeated", and my opponent now had "a second loss all but ends their hopes of a national championship".

Erm ... it's the national title game. THAT loss ended their hopes.

[JeffHCross]

When using "Find Prospects" in Recruiting, instead of "View All Matching Prospects", the option to only view Matching Prospects above a certain percentage would be awesome. If I search 3 different sets of criteria, more often than not, I only care about the guys that are 100%. In fact, the vast majority of the time I'm using Find Prospect, I only care about 100%. Yes, I can sort on percentage, but why load all 300+ prospects that match the search when I'm really only interested in 22?

[baseballplyrmvp]

i think they need to get rid of the position requirements for the generic team types.

[JeffHCross]

It'd be great to see a little icon of the player's picture in the Edit Player screen. That way you could change their Face in Edit Player and not have to back out to the Roster just to see the result.

[Rudy]

I'd love to see the cpu use a two RB system if the top two backs are closely rated. If one guy is 88 and the other 87, why give only the first guy all the carries? Possibly the same with QBs. If they are within one point of each other, give the backup every 3rd series. It could be a cool option.

[JeffHCross]

Pre-snap adjustments should not lead to the crowd being pumped up / quieted down, or "jump the snap" attempts occurring. This appears to be because right-stick inputs are read as controls first, then pre-snap menu inputs second.

Example: Hot route a defensive player to a deep (light blue) zone, using Right-Stick Up. He'll get hot routed, but also try to pump up the crowd. Pumping up the crowd is the normal Right-Stick Up input, but shouldn't happen while in Pre-Snap menus.

This also happens with hot routing a player to a drag (I think?) route (right stick down) on offense, and has also been reported to lead to players trying to jump the snap on defense (not sure what control does that regularly).

[baseballplyrmvp]

Pre-snap adjustments should not lead to the crowd being pumped up / quieted down, or "jump the snap" attempts occurring. This appears to be because right-stick inputs are read as controls first, then pre-snap menu inputs second.

Example: Hot route a defensive player to a deep (light blue) zone, using Right-Stick Up. He'll get hot routed, but also try to pump up the crowd. Pumping up the crowd is the normal Right-Stick Up input, but shouldn't happen while in Pre-Snap menus.

This also happens with hot routing a player to a drag (I think?) route (right stick down) on offense, and has also been reported to lead to players trying to jump the snap on defense (not sure what control does that regularly).

ya, when you reblitz people on the d-line. it usually only happens, though, when your lineman are set in their stance.

speaking of hot routes....that "i cant hear you" animation that they give when you're the visiting team needs more refinement. i can be winning in a blowout, have a turnover, and then all of a sudden that animation occurs on one of my hot routes even though i have a 30+ point lead. maybe this animation could be better tied to the crowd's noise instead of happening at random times.

[JeffHCross]

Here's one I keep forgetting ...

Please put North/South markers (or at least North!) on the wind meter during the coin toss. Since the field is displayed at a 30º angle or so, it's unclear that a 30º wind is not going to go straight up and down the field.

[psuexv]

I'd love to see the cpu use a two RB system if the top two backs are closely rated. If one guy is 88 and the other 87, why give only the first guy all the carries? Possibly the same with QBs. If they are within one point of each other, give the backup every 3rd series. It could be a cool option.

You can accomplish this with your sub options. You might need to play around with it but if you set your RB sub to like 85 they rotate a lot more.

[steelerfan]

Here's one I keep forgetting ...

Please put North/South markers (or at least North!) on the wind meter during the coin toss. Since the field is displayed at a 30º angle or so, it's unclear that a 30º wind is not going to go straight up and down the field.

Wow. This has always annoyed me, but just TODAY I was playing and thought, "I need to bellyache on TGT about this". Weird!

[gschwendt]

Just FYI, on the wind arrow, the top of the screen is the far endzone, the bottom of the screen is the near endzone. If the arrow is pointing straight up and you pick the far endzone, the wind will be directly in your face.

[Rudy]

You can accomplish this with your sub options. You might need to play around with it but if you set your RB sub to like 85 they rotate a lot more.

I keep them low and I know you can use formation subs to get guys more time but I'd like to see the cpu do the same.

[JeffHCross]

Just FYI, on the wind arrow, the top of the screen is the far endzone, the bottom of the screen is the near endzone. If the arrow is pointing straight up and you pick the far endzone, the wind will be directly in your face.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I knew this. The problem is that there's nothing on that screen that tells you it in a straightforward manner.

I believe it was PS1 that would show a wind direction on a compass, with North (at the least) labeled. Then the endzones would be "Defend North Endzone", "Defend South Endzone", etc. At least that was straightforward.