Sweet 16: Enhanced Dynasty Commentary & Overlays vs. Special Teams Overhaul

[cdj]

After voting, share your thoughts behind your vote and on each feature in this thread.
Vote early - all future rounds will be open just three days for voting.


Enhanced Dynasty Commentary & Overlays

As Dynasty Mode has evolved and improved over the years, many in the community have stated that they feel each game within Dynasty Mode lacks connection with each other and the season/Dynasty as a whole. Enhanced Dynasty Commentary and Overlays would feature commentary referencing previous games, conference standings, award contenders, other happenings around the country, and more. Overlays would show conference and national leaders in stat categories (if players are on either squad), team schedule, team stats, etc. A similar feature can be found in NBA 2K11's Enhanced Broadcast Commentary and Real-Life Time-Based Leaderboards and Statistics. (Round 1 Discussion - Round 2 Discussion)


Special Teams Overhaul

In college football, strong special teams have been a staple of such programs as Virginia Tech. A blocked kick can lead to a big play and even larger shift in momentum. In NCAA Football, special teams lack the big play potential as compared to real life and have received limited improvements over the years. Potential areas of improvement could include (but not limited to): potential for blocked punts/field goals, more return formations, improved ball physics, rugby-style punting, swinging gate formations, new kick meter/interaction, improved blocking logic on returns, realistic kick trajectory, pooch punts from scrimmage & FGs, etc. (Round 1 Discussion - Round 2 Discussion)

[CLW]

tough call here but I went with the better commentary. too often in dynasty games it feels bland even if there are national title or conference championship implications.

[AustinWolv]

Went with ST overhaul, as that is an important 3rd phase of football which games completely ignore and is a major difference on the real field.

[Kwizzy]

Don't know how this is even close. ST is 1/3 of the GAMEPLAY! That says it all IMO.

[Jayrah]

BIG commentary guy that I am, special teams is the only gameplay item that hasn't even been thought about since NG has been introduced. And I still state that there are no teams that are good or bad at ST. This takes away an entire phase of football. It needs to be enhanced to make ST a crucial part of your gameplan, not just a wash. Surprised that enhanced dynasty commentary is leading at this point. In the words of Yoda: "Surprised, I am"

[JBHuskers]

For me I'd rather see the dynasty commentary and overlays over a special teams overhaul. Kinda wish these weren't matched up until a final four....but comparing the two, I'd rather have more presentation into the dynasties.

[CLW]

Don't know how this is even close. ST is 1/3 of the GAMEPLAY! That says it all IMO.

Part of my thought process in my voting has been "Do I believe EA can pull this feature off properly without opening up another can of worms?"

The Special Teams overhaul just SCREAMS overblown if EA touted it as a feature for 12. I could see EA hype "Beamer Ball" coming to NCAA 12. We all get the game and then we get a game average of like 5 blocked punts a game and 2-3 kickoff/punt returns for touchdowns per game etc....

Does Special Teams play need attention? YES.

However, IMHO I don't think its so..... bad that it is worth possibly having EA overblow the feature (like they did with Wide Open Gameplay) when I could have commentary/graphical improvements which I believe EA could pull off w/o opening up any new issues.

[xGRIDIRONxGURUx]

went with ST overhaul... and by overhaul i kind of agree with the above... lets really rename it... "Special Teams Tweak"... lol add left and right returns, add more punt formations... add reverses to the kickoff return... and DONT MAKE IT AUTOMATED... make the pitch button execute it... this keep the user error in the equation... lots that can be done here without blowing it up crazy and making me regret this post lol

"E"

[Rudy]

Commentary and stuff for me.

[JeffHCross]

I want to say Commentary. I want to enjoy the commentary, and see it evolve from week to week. I look at NBA 2k11, and I have to imagine that EA is going to concentrate on commentary this year (especially since they put out two job requests for commentary writers).

But

Don't know how this is even close. ST is 1/3 of the GAMEPLAY! That says it all IMO.

Special Teams needs overhauled. Badly. There was very little I enjoyed more on NCAA 2004 than to snake through the line and block a punt that was snapped wide. I don't think I've seen that happen SINCE NCAA 2004. I want to see it again.

[steelerfan]

I'm very surprised that ST is not running away with this. One of every 6 plays is a ST play and this phase of the game continues to be utterly meaningless in this game. Please, fix it.

[Rudy]

Special teams is not 1/3 of the gameplay. Just because we have offense, defense and special teams doesn't mean they are divided equally. Teams will run close to 70 offensive plays a game. They punt about 5 times a game, 5 kickoffs per game and attempt 1.5 FGs per game. So if you count both teams they will have roughly 135 offensive or defensive snaps and 23 special teams plays, excluding XPs (about 3 per game per team). Special teams are maybe 15% of the game. Most college football fans love the college OT format more than the NFL and guess what - no punts or kickoffs. People really don't care that much about special teams.

I know they aren't great in NCAA and could be improved. I'd like to see a bigger focus on the return game first and foremost. A slider for return blocking would help tremendously.

[steelerfan]

Special teams is not 1/3 of the gameplay. Special teams are maybe 15% of the game.

One of every 6 plays is a ST play

1/6 is 16.7%....not all of us said 1/3.

[Jayrah]

Part of my thought process in my voting has been "Do I believe EA can pull this feature off properly without opening up another can of worms?"

The Special Teams overhaul just SCREAMS overblown if EA touted it as a feature for 12. I could see EA hype "Beamer Ball" coming to NCAA 12. We all get the game and then we get a game average of like 5 blocked punts a game and 2-3 kickoff/punt returns for touchdowns per game etc....

Does Special Teams play need attention? YES.

However, IMHO I don't think its so..... bad that it is worth possibly having EA overblow the feature (like they did with Wide Open Gameplay) when I could have commentary/graphical improvements which I believe EA could pull off w/o opening up any new issues.

Just wondering where wide open gameplay has evolved....oh yeah.

Special Teams needs a complete scrub from top to bottom. Not start from scratch. Just healthy cleaning and reevaluating.

[Rudy]

1/6 is 16.7%....not all of us said 1/3.

Point taken. Should have quoted Kwizzy. Just responded to that without fully reading everything afterwards.

[souljahbill]

Special teams.

[Kwizzy]

I understand mathematically it is not ( Smartasses!!! :rolleyes but it is one of 3 phases... Ask Beemer how important it is. Special teams plays can have a HUGE impact on a game in the blink of an eye & that doesn't exist in this game. Also, look at who the leading SCORERS are in the history of any football team, the kickers. Yet the kicking game remains an absolute joke. So while you can throw the number of plays math at me all you want, the simple numbers come through it all... Offense (1/3), Defense (1/3), Special Teams (1/3)! EA has made one of the 3 phases of the game almost irrelevant IMO. I actually supersim through the special teams plays for cryin out loud!

[baseballplyrmvp]

i dont think that special teams needs an entire overhaul. its just that a lot of the individual assignments are wrong. look at a basic punt play. everyone on the receiving team is blocked at the line of scrimmage, yet when watching it done in real life, teams will intentionally let guys through in order to get their guys downfield farther. to me, these little tweaks shouldnt take priority over the commentary (which hasnt been changed in like 10 years). plus, you could easily make the changes to the special teams' plays with a simplified/in-depth create a play.

the game's commentary is horrible. there's lines being said that have no relevance to the current play being run that its just pathetic. dynamic commentary would be a big addition as no game would ever sound the same again.

[cdj]

Two of my top items! As much as I clamor for special teams to have a role in the game (even a slight one), I can't help but vote for Dynasty improvements. Each Dynasty game lacks connection to each other and the season at hand.

Special Teams may not need an 'overhaul' technically, but more formations, improved blocking, & potential for a block/bad snaps would go a LONG ways. As many have mentioned, it would be best if certain ratings played a factor so some teams would be better at ST than others to help give each squad an identity (or styles) to go with offensive styles.

[steelerfan]

Offense: 120 Ways to Win

Defense: 5 Ways to Lose

Special Teams: 1 Way to Do Nothing

A couple of those need to be addressed.