First NCAA Football 14 Community Event this week, provide your input

[gschwendt]

Several members of TGT are down at EA this week for the first NCAA 14 Community Event. I was unable to attend so I've decided to gather your feedback so that I can pass on to the guys there who can in turn pass along to the devs. Post your most important feedback... not wishlist items, not major overhauls but most important bugs, faults with the game, etc. that the guys need to be mindful of.

I will be here to filter through all of the posts that way the guys down there don't have to continually check the board when they could be instead talking to devs, learning about the game, etc.

With all of that said:

• Don't post long paragraphs trying to describe what you're trying to say... get to the heart of the matter
• Don't post wishlist items of feature requests... instead stick to faults and areas of focus with the current game
• Don't expect any kind of answer or response to these... this isn't for your benefit but rather for the good of the game
• Post each item as a bullet... if it takes you much more than one line to describe it, it's too long
• Do not post more than 5-10 items... these should be your most important items, not every item you can think of

Some of my examples include:

• Defensive alignment still broken, particularly with 3-3-5/4-2-5 strong safeties. Also, when in a Cover 0, the FS seems to take priority over a SS that's already lined up on the WR.
• Defensive players still stall-out when defending the option
• Blocking in general is often bad, particularly run blocking in the open field.
• When running draws, the OL doesn't release to the second level often getting in the way of the runner.
• Coaching carousel went completely untouched in NCAA13... it has a lot of potential and would be a shame if it didn't receive a lot of attention on NCAA14.
• The Uniform Store was a good idea that never reach it's full potential... really disappointing.

[SmoothPancakes]

• Scouting/Recruiting - Give us an option or ability to pick what we want revealed when scouting a recruit.

If I'm scouting an Athlete, nothing pisses me off more than wasting a full 60 minutes of scouting and have maybe two or three worthwhile attributes revealed while a slew of D-rated attributes get revealed. I want to get to the meat of the stats on the guy. If I'm scouting/recruiting an Athlete who is clearly built to be a HB or WR or CB or something, I really don't give a shit about his Kick Power or Kick Accuracy stats. So why am I being forced to watch them be uncovered (and thus waste part of that 60 minutes of scouting), when I could be revealing the important stats and attributes of that player?

[CLW]

Hard to believe it's that time already.

I think my main gripe is defense is simply not fun or effective. Below is a list of bullet points of the main gripes I have about the current game:

• Zone Coverage is AWFUL - safeties do not get deep enough and allow receivers going on deep routes to run right past them
• The CPU defense of the option is AWFUL - frozen players (CB) - bad angles - etc...
• The CPU run game is AWFUL - RB doesn't see the holes and doesn't utilize spin, stiff arm, etc...
• The 3/4 man pass rush from the D-line is BAD - too much time to just sit all day in the pocket which forces everyone to blitz allot more
• The defensive playbooks are STALE - need a revamp like the offensive playbook got a few years back
• The run slider needs to be fixed - if you turn down HUM runblock below 50 you NEVER get a pancake block so it severely limits your options for offline play
• The QBs are simply FAR TOO ACCURATE. I turn the HUM ACC slider down to 5 or 0 and I still complete 60-70% of my passes and it feels almost like Tecmo Bowl where everything is either caught by the WR or INT only adding in drops by both sides
• The CPU QBs that are "pocket passers" hardly/if ever scramble. Sure it shouldn't be as frequent as the more athletic QBs or as effective but right now they just sit there and take a sack or throw it away while in the pocket
• Intentional Grounding seldom/never called - QB in the pocket and throws it to NOONE to avoid the sack
• Kicking accuracy is far too easy. Again even at 0 the ONLY time many of us ever miss a FG is if we misjudge the wind or don't have the leg to make the kick.
• CPU making DUMB clock management/kicking decisions 60+ yard field goals; calling time outs with EXACTLY 2:00 remaining etc....

[souljahbill]

Poor lead blocking by pulling linemen and fullbacks

Super interceptions by defenders (catching passes where the depth is off in 3D space)

[JeffHCross]

This doesn't really fall under "most important", but it is a big gripe for me and I think it should be easy to fix ...

It seems like Kirk & Brad are 180º off on some of their audio. For example:

• Dig or In routes are often called Out routes
• Overthrown balls are called under-thrown
• Time-outs called late in the game, during a 2 minute warning situation, are characterized as "being confused"
• One game where I kicked a "walk-off" field goal was called by Brad as "He got it! They win!", which was immediately followed by "And they take the lead!", and a conversation with Kirk about kickers being head cases
• A clear corner route that ends with a TD near the flag is called a post by Kirk. He even talks about how the WR bent it back towards the middle of the field ... while I'm nowhere NEAR the middle of the field.

On the side of "most important" (bolded the take-away from each item)

• Sideline catches aren't being properly called out of bounds
• Every SuperSim Online half ends, always in the first half and sometimes in the second, with a 5 yard penalty on the offense that uses up the rest of the half
• SuperSim Online appears to have no timeouts, which may be the cause of the above item
• Schedules with Custom Conferences appear to be able to get into a state where they never change and never rotate (except for home/away), even with a 10-team conference that should easily rotate
• Everything CLW mentioned above.
• Offensive run blocking needs a tweak. Too many blockers whiff or don't even attempt a block (namely TEs or FBs), the Real Assignment AI no longer displays (so you don't know who is going to be unblocked). Point of attack blocking seems good, but the periphery needs some help.
• On Option plays (perhaps primarily Read Options), you will sometimes see a defensive back backpedaling as fast as he can go, and continue to backpedal for the entire play, taking himself out of the play.

[psuexv]

The bug where the other team is stuck in a huddle

Pass defense where the DB either runs way up or way deep and completely ignores his assignment.

[psuexv]

User OD games need to be more stable, can't connect with CPBs at times

[baseballplyrmvp]

dont really have a "most important". sorry tommy.


-- fix the (0-0) display bug that occurs when recruiting, specifically when comparing certain pitches during the phone call. the bulk of the discussion about it can be found here

--better ai for the cpu playcalling for coordinators. needs better down/distance playcalls as well as better tracking for playcalling tendencies. (smarter, not psychic )


--fix the aggressive zone coverage bug.


--defensive backs get beat way too often when playing "off" coverage. they do not backpeddle continually, but rather stop, run forward to try to engage the wr, and that action causes them to get beat badly.


--lower the ratings across the board. way too many players are rated in the 80's and 90's every year. this would help the make the "impact" players actually feel like they're making a difference in the game.


**EDIT**

--an option to turn on or off the resetting of moved players. (ie: if i move a d-lineman over 2 steps, then click on another player, the lineman will move back to his default spot. i would like to turn off the cpu's ability to reset a player's position)

[Schauwn]

- WR should try and become 'defender' on underthrown/badly thrown balls instead of completing the animation as though they caught the ball, often times this takes them out of the play

- out of flexbone, playside DE/OLB often time goes untouched on speed options not even giving you time to make a read/pitch

- pulling linemen shouldnt turn around to block people behind the runner, often times running into the runner and stopping him

[WolverineJay]

1 major request for NCAA 14 and it deals with Game Plan Adjustments please give us the option to turn these off for both the User and CPU team.

I don't use the adjustments for offense or defense so give me the option to turn off that feature in Dynasty just like you already do with Home Field advantage and Ice the kicker. I would think adding an on/off option would be pretty easy.

[WolverineJay]

Everybody else has made good suggestions (as usual) so it will be interesting to see the direction EA Tiburon has gone with NCAA Football 14.

The laundry list of legacy issues I hope was the place they started rather than adding more gimmicky nonsense.

2 more things:
1. Bring back the crowd noise from NCAA 06
2. Bad snaps on special teams(punts and FG's).

I got tired of hearing (lol, no pun intended) Nessler say that my crowd was going nuts on 3rd down when in fact you could here crickets it was so quiet in NCAA 13 for PS3. And I think adding in bad snap delays would make it possible for an actual punt or FG block.

[psusnoop]

Tommy this is just a little thing because everyone is doing a good job in other places but I'm tired of seeing on sidelines scenes you see players with a uniform number of 01-09. This is just silly and should be a relatively easy enough fix down there.

[jaymo76]

During dynasty games if your original coordinators/head coach has left, on the game set-up/ load screen it shows the playbooks of the coordinators BUT during the games it uses the playbooks of the head coach.

eg. the screen wll say Offense: Spread Defense: 4-2-5 but the in game the head coach's books are used so you get something like Offense: Pistol Defense: 3-4.

[JeffHCross]

Jaymo, that doesn't make sense. Could you explain it a little more? I've had plenty of coordinators leave, but no problem with my playbook.

[gigemaggs99]

"Post your most important feedback... not wishlist items, not major overhauls but most important bugs, faults with the game, etc. that the guys need to be mindful of."


Have the game ready for release on RELEASE DATE.

Why are uniform updates coming out for NCAA 13 on PS3 in mid Jan of 2013?

Online game option to choose neutral stadium.

[ram29jackson]

cant re-blitz a lineman without him going off sides every time

[JeffHCross]

Why are uniform updates coming out for NCAA 13 on PS3 in mid Jan of 2013?

Would you prefer that they just sit on them until NCAA 14? Not all uniforms can get in the game before release.

Though, personally, it's baffling that it's taken until January, I'll agree with that.

cant re-blitz a lineman without him going off sides every time

. Not "every" time, but if you do it at the wrong time, it absolutely will happen. Or a QB telling the crowd to be quiet on a Formation Audible to Run. Or the controlled defender trying to pump the crowd up because you Formation Audibled to Man.

[baseballplyrmvp]

. Not "every" time, but if you do it at the wrong time, it absolutely will happen. Or a QB telling the crowd to be quiet on a Formation Audible to Run. Or the controlled defender trying to pump the crowd up because you Formation Audibled to Man.

i guess this would fall under "better button sequence recognition" ???

ram's re-blitzing item though is an absolute must.

[JeffHCross]

i guess this would fall under "better button sequence recognition" ???

From a code perspective, it's probably that the audible and hot route menus aren't all capturing the input, and are still sending it to the player as if you're trying to perform that move with the player. Or that they capture too quickly, and only capture the initial half-beat of the input, then the game thinks the rest of the input (natural because you hold the stick for a second) is a move attempt.

[jaymo76]

Jaymo, that doesn't make sense. Could you explain it a little more? I've had plenty of coordinators leave, but no problem with my playbook.

I may have it backwards as i haven't played the game in a few months but basically lets say you are playing oregon and the Head coach and coordinators have changed from the start of the game. The type of offense and defense of the coordinators will not be what the cpu actually uses. There is another person on the site who has reported this but it slips my mind right now who it is.