Madden 13 patch is out for both systems. Apparently there is a glitch in the player sizes if you edit their appearance. As soon as you edit the player they turn small. It doesn't sound like they fixed the cpu play calling (run heavy on 1st and 2nd down for many teams) either but I will check it out later for myself. Check out a pic of the OL that shrink post patch if you edit them.
The first full Madden 13 patch is a big disappointment for me. While everyone was praising EA for what they did fix, they seemed to forget all the things that were absent.
For me the broken team tendencies was priority #1 and it wasn’t touched. Most teams in the game still choose to run roughly 80% of the time on first and second down. I played 1.5 games against the Patriots and Eagles and it was still the same as it was before the patch. If this didn’t bother you then you are lucky. It bothers me that all the teams have the same feel and it also makes the cpu too easy to stop. It robs the game of personality. Team songs still don’t play. I scored a TD at home with Miami and their team song is still absent for some reason.
Late game AI is still terrible. How can EA defend this? How can it be this bad after producing video game football for over 20 years? The cpu (Tom Brady) was losing by 6 with 18 seconds left and no time outs and they choose to run the ball from my 40. They actually got 20 yards and spiked the ball with 2 seconds left. So what do they do from just inside my 20 with only two seconds left? Bring out a 3 TE, 1 WR formation to run the ball of course. It’s beyond absurd.
While they may have patched the game so that the difficulty and sliders within CCM is the same as Play Now it still wasn’t good enough. The pass reaction slider still appears to do nothing. NCAA Football has a pass coverage slider that actually affects coverage. EA’s Madden team has not provided a tool to make the coverage easier or harder. Fail. FG kicking accuracy sliders are still only global which means the human player will continue to hit 100% of their FGs since the r-stick for accuracy means almost nothing. This wasn’t patched either.
I still saw the glitch where the game drops out of HD and looks fuzzy. It doesn’t happen often but no fix here either.
About the only positives I saw from playing 1.5 games were that the physics seems better. The players seemed to move smoother as well. I haven’t played Madden much lately since I’m so annoyed with the broken team tendencies. At this point I’d like to get through at least one off-season within franchise but I may just trade this game in and be done with it. If this was the best they could do with some obvious things like late game AI so bad, then I have lost a ton of faith in the Madden dev team.
Not a single thing in this patch mattered to me except the Gameplay fixes
Fair catch thing, forced Run Commit, etc.
Most of it was geared towards the Connected Career, Offline people pretty sure.
Yeah, the fair catch bobble didn't get fixed. Their sliders need work and they didn't get them.
seems to me that when you spy a defensive end ( make him QB spy ) he sometimes just starts chasing the running back on pass plays
It wasn't a bobble. The return man would move out of the way instead of fair catching when the CPU controlled him and a Defender came near.Originally Posted by Rudy
The bobble thing I haven't seen. I have seen when people try to get a head start on the kick and punt returns like you could in the past by moving forward...now you either drop it, bobble it or it bounces off of you. Which is cool and should happen.
Had a game last night where my opponent did this, eventually picked the ball up and then was hit fumbling the ball...just like it happened lastnight when the Denver returner fumbled.
That was great to see
I've seen the fair catch phantom bobble at least 3 times which isn't that much really. I'm just stunned when I fair catch the ball, don't move the player, don't actually see the fumble and my guy gets tackled.
I don't understand how the late game cpu AI got so bad. It was fine in M12, other than automatic time outs at 1 minute, but at least the cpu knew not to run the ball when they had no timeouts and need to score a TD.
Hmm I've played a rather large amount of User vs User games and haven't ran into that at all
This when you play CPU? If so guess that would be the difference as I haven't seen it yet in a game I've played. I know I'm well past 180+ games now played
Yeah, I've only played against the cpu. I don't touch my controller other than to hit triangle for fair catch. You can't even tell he bobbled it although you can probably see something on replay. It's a little goofy glitch. When it does happen I just worry my guy doesn't fumble or get hurt.
Yeah I haven't seen that in any of my User vs User games.
Only thing I've seen in my User vs User games was that issue I stated that was corrected with the return man moving out of the way when a Defender came near.
I played the CPU once, fooling around with my MUT. Quite a bit of things happen against them that I don't see against a User...and I could tell that from 1 game against them. Notably the drops, coverage and AI. This on All-Madden. I couldn't even finish the game and if I had to play the CPU all the time I'd lost it a month and a half ago. This game is so much more enjoyable playing another user. That goes for any sports game though IMO...well any game really.
I understand why you guys play humans but how do you know so many GOOD people without having to deal with the losers online that cheeze? I think playing good humans would be fun with football but I would argue that playing the cpu in baseball is much better in my experience. Hockey is fun against humans. I would think basketball is really good either way.
The beauty of offline play for me is that I play my franchise whenever I want and with the sliders and difficulty exactly how I like it. No question the cpu AI needs to pick his game up.
One nice little touch in scouting is the ability to see ALL the players. Before you had to choose from scouted or unscouted.
I think running the ball against the cpu is easier since the patch. I've broken quite a few big runs. Outside contain is not a part of the cpu vocabulary. They still don't set the edge right on strong formations.
Anyone else finding it easier to run after the patch? Don't know if its a fluke but I've been gaining a ton on the ground the last few games (against the cpu).
Team tendencies are screwed up and on OS there is a thread explaining how the cpu play calling is screwed up. But there is good news. The tendencies are good on the generic and legend playbooks (the only real playbook that isn't screwed up is Detroit's - the rest are far too run heavy on 1st and 2nd down). So if you use a second controller in franchise mode, you can use the second one to change the offensive playbook to something else to get better results. You have to return the control back to cpu before you start. Will definitely be doing this. More info here: http://www.operationsports.com/forum...fline-ccm.html
I do like the draft stories and twitter stuff. While some may be repetitive it does suck you in a bit. A true weekly wrap up show with a few video highlights would be really nice though. The draft stories happen onces every couple weeks. They have talked about a highly ranked QB from PSU, a DT with a lot of potential but inconsistent, a WR from NC who was a former soccer player but it playing well, a scrub SS from Bama who may not get drafted but is now playing well and will probably be a late round pick. The stories are interesting and I like this touch.
I played the Jags today - MJD is way too skinny imo. The guy is super stocky in real life. More than any other player in the NFL imo. Here is a Madden pick in franchise. Legs way too thin.
Here is a real life pic.
The two real gameplay differences I notice after the patch are the physics are quite a bit better imo but too many brick wall/dynamite tackles with players flying backwards off each other. The second difference is that it seems the run blocking has been juiced up in the game. This has allowed for better returns and runs so sliders have to be tweaked accordingly.
I'm updating the recommendations on OS for playbooks to use for teams to get proper tendencies. Go here to check it out. This may save the game for me.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...MTDlVS2c#gid=8
After the patch it is way too easy to run the ball on All-Pro and the sliders are very, very weak. Right now I think it might be good but I've got user run block at 0 and cpu block shedding at 100. EA just doesn't care very much about this area.
Anyways, the playbook switch has saved the game for me. Giving the cpu a generic playbook that has proper play calling tendencies makes the game so much better.
Here are a few cool videos. I like the first one best - the cpu Aaron Rodgers actually starts to scramble and then throws the ball. That is something you rarely see.
Cpu Trent Richardson breaking some tackles.
I completed a nice play action deep ball to Brian Hartline.
I finally got EA to admit that the play calling tendencies are broken and unlikely to be fixed for Madden 13. I can accept that answer rather than just trying to snow us over and delay telling us the truth. The solution of using a 2nd controller to pick a cpu generic playbook has saved the game for me but I shouldn't have to do that to get the cpu to call a realistic game instead of 80% runs on 1st and 2nd down.
http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2044364303
One annoying thing that has also been neglected in Madden 13 is the LE sack glitch. Defensive left ends get in on the QB much easier than the RE. This has been something that has been in EA football for awhile now. It was in NCAA largely because the QB always drifted right on pressure right into the LE. But in Madden 13 the LE just beats the RT much easier. Jarred Odrick has more than double the sacks of Cam Wake (like 14 vs 5 or 6) and he's a terrible pass rusher at LE. He's really a DT that should be inside permanently but he's good against the run.
Just lost in the playoffs. Anxious to see how the offseason works.
FREE AGENCY
I like the way free agency was handled. Not quite enough young players escape a team's grasp although teams tend to have more salary cap room in early years due to no salary cap penalties being installed with the first roster. Before you get to free agency you can negotiate with your own players before they get there. There is also a franchise tag price listed for each player and you can use it to keep one player you want. If you cut off negotiations during the year or low balled a player so they cut off negotiations with you, you will NOT be able to sign him before they hit free agency. I like this - burn a bridge and the phone calls are over.
Free agency is much improved this year imo. The e-bay bidding system of last year was crazy. You could always win a bid if you wanted to but it was so frenetic that you couldn't even see who was available until they were gone a lot of the times. I didn't like it. This year free agency takes place over a few weeks. There is no time limit. You sort by position or overall and can make bids on each player available. It tells you how many bids are on that player and you can see which teams you are fighting over that player with. The player has an interest meter in your team. Sometimes a player will sign right away, others will take awhile. I got most of the players I wanted but man the prices get can get high. I ended up signing Eben Britton at LG (82 overall) at $5 million a year. That was about $2 million a year more than he was originally asking for. I also signed an OLB DeAndre Levy for about $5 million a year. He was squeezing me and I stopped increasing my offer but still got him. I wonder if I got suckered. Overall this area felt fun.
THE DRAFT
Scouting
Before I talk about the draft I need to talk about the scouting points. There are nowhere near enough points given the lack of info you have on the players. All you get is height and weight and projected draft position of the player. In real life you get 40 times at the combine, 225 bench press etc, college stats but none of that is available here. You really feel like you are flying in the dark in the draft. I guess that’s what they want.
You get enough points during the year that you can scout 1 position really well. You can probably get the overall generic rating of 10-15 players (that costs 2000 points which is a week’s worth) but gives you no other attributes. Want speed? For a WR that’s 500 points to get a generic grade. In the end I had the WR position scouted pretty well and a few TEs and LBs but that’s it. Turns out I didn’t scout WR good enough. I had a low draft pick so I didn’t scout the #7 overall projected guy. Whoops – I’ll get into that later. Overall you will be able to scout one position well or two half decent but not much more. It’s flying in the dark other than that.
Some of the draft stories you hear during the season do affect the draft. Tyler Swoosh, a SS out of Alabama, was a late round pick/undrafted kid at the beginning of the year. An injury put him in the starting lineup and I scouted him a little as a late pick. By the draft he was a projected 1st rounder and went in the Top 5 I believe. I have to think the guys featured in those stories are probably good picks. Not sure though.
The Draft
Despite not having enough points I did enjoy the draft. You can advance by one pick, advance to your next pick, or advance by round. I liked seeing the picks show up on the scrolling board and the tweets that accompany them. Skip Bayless would rip into some bad picks, you would get tweets about guys falling and being good pickups and cpu teams would trade up and down to get the guys they like.
I had scouted WRs pretty good and I liked one first rounder, a second rounder and mid third rounder (out of Michigan). They had B overall grades. A couple second rounders had C grades and I was steering away from them. But this #7 overall projected WR was sliding in the draft. I didn’t scout him other than his speed (94) – I didn’t have an overall generic grade. The Steelers rebuked my attempt to move up for him but at #17 I got the Falcons to give me the pick for the #27 and a high 3rd rounder. I took the kid but at the end of the draft he was only rated a 71 overall. I was disappointed.
I had two late second rounders (they must have patched in the 2nd round pick for Vernon Davis to the Colts along with my own). When it came time to pick at the bottom of round two, the two WRs I had liked (with grades in round 2 and 3) were there but there were also some other interesting players. You have the option to trade down and I looked at the offers. I had a bunch of teams offering 2014 first round picks so I took the Vikings offer for my late second rounder. They took the one FS I was eyeing and then soon after, before my next pick in the second round, the second round WR was taken. I didn’t really want to take (or think I needed another WR) after getting the guy in the first round so I passed on the 3rd round WR (from Michigan) and he went 2nd overall in the third round. After the draft I checked on both of those WRs I had scouted well and they were rated 80 and 78 overall! I was pissed after seeing that and me moving up for Mr. 71 in the middle of the first! The rest of my draft was best player available and I thought I had a nice RB at the end of round three but the bum is a 60 overall. Oh well. I will learn to trust my overall scouting more next time and push for them instead of guys I don’t know. I didn’t want to reach on those two kids but in the end I would have been better off.
Overall the offseason was fun but I think EA needs to give us a little more info on each college prospect so we’re not so in the dark on guys we have no info on (which is the vast majority of players).
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