Gaming Blogs – NoobTubeTV

Bamboozled By Activision – Call of Duty is DEAD

A few weeks ago we were able to bid PC cheaters adieu. Now, that has all changed in the most egregious way possible.

Not only are console players once again forced to play with PC cheaters. The PC cheaters are back with a vengeance. They can now spoof their consoles through a gato setup with a PC and use aimbot and walls with no recourse.

On top of that, Warzone has become a buggy mess and it’s polluted with the worst people left in the gaming world.

That said – I have uninstalled COD in all forms and have promised myself that I will not purchase another COD title from this point forward. Activision has become nothing more than a shitty content provider with skins and cosmetics that make 15 year olds steal their parents credit cards to spend $30 on a pay to win Terminator skin.

I have found this to be similar with other sports games such as MLB The Show, Madden, and College Football. They are all pushing out pay to win modes that add nothing original to gaming. I believe the developers would love to be able to be creative, but the suits in the C-Suites want revenue above all else. Damn the reviews – as long as money is coming in – THEY DON’T CARE!

It’s time to start speaking with our wallets and I am happy to lead that charge.

Dear PC Warzone Players

Wish I could say the last few years of forced crossplay with you has been a good time.

It hasn’t.

I am excited for the entire PC Warzone community to cannibalize itself.

Now you are on a level playing field and your kdr will drop like a rock.

Here’s to never playing in your lobby again!

Cheers!

Reminder – TURN OFF CROSSPLAY

This is a reminder to all of you that the only way to avoid hackers is to play with crossplay turned off. When you get Black Ops 6 next week the FIRST thing you should do is TURN OFF crossplay.

PC players don’t simply have the easy ability to buy hacks, but they can also change the settings for anything like sound, shadows, window transparency, and other things. If you are playing on PS4-PS5 I implore you to turn off crossplay on every game you own for multiplayer (especially on First Person Shooters).

TURN OFF CROSS PLAY AND LEAVE IT OFF FOREVER

MLB 24 The Show – Franchise Mode Announcement – Stale, Uninspired, and Disheartening

If you watched the SDS stream or caught it on YouTube after it was over, you might have missed the Franchise Mode discussion which happens for about 9 minutes.

Their focus is on Play Your Style which basically assumes that you aren’t going to play all 162 game and you will sim at some point. Fair enough – guilty as charged. This basically lets you set up and customize your critical moment opportunities. They continue to push the narrative that most fans want a faster experience. While I don’t mind the option, I believe the mode is suffering from something else entirely. I will get to that in a moment.

They also made some improvements to the amateur draft and implemented the Prospect Promotion Incentive (which is a fantastic addition to the – KUDOS TO SDS on this one!). I am still hoping that they track original draft teams in player cards and history of players with some narratives on transaction tracking.

The last addition is loading rosters with current injuries.

Starting with injuries vs starting on a custom date with proper injuries. The timing of an injury is as important (perhaps more important) than the injury itself.

If Ohtani gets tendinitis in late September in real life and I decide to start a new franchise mode from Opening Day with real injuries it will just mean that my season starts with him injured and plenty of time to recoup from potential losses. However, if he is hurt going into the playoffs that’s a different can of worms.

Madden and NBA 2K have the ability to start from specific dates. When will they be able to relate rosters and injuries to these dates? With baseball, I understand that the rosters are huge. We should have the ability as a community to create injured rosters with Franchise Start Dates.

Here are my suggestions going forward if SDS decides to jump into my little corner of the internet.

Trade Logic Fix Ideas

Commish Veto Setting – Users should have the option to approve or veto trades by the CPU. This would keep the CPU from making some of the more egregious trades like top prospects for middling veterans. If we were able to also edit these trades for fairness that would be helpful as well.

I would love to see AI developed to help the CPU learn where value lives and what makes certain trades fair (or perhaps more importantly, unfair) is the best way to do this.

As games are becoming more focused on being ‘always online’ one way to make this community driven is to have an option of submitting trades and trade scenarios for votes and selectable reasons for why it’s fair or not. A fair trade might not be as simple as equal overall ratings. If a team is in a pennant race and they need a relief pitcher, a new ace, or a power bat they’ve been missing, they might have to include a prized prospect to make that happen. Sometimes, that could be justified, other times it’s a non-starter.

A top prospect that struggles in the minors should lose value and see a decline in their effected ratings the longer they struggle. If a team wants to take a chance that they find the next Josh Hamilton (from top prospect to bust and back to all star – it was a great story at the time).

I just want more focus on the under the hood aspects of player and budget management. I doubt they have changed or updated any of the UI or visuals for contracts let alone any sort of budget fixes.

The game is coming out in the next few weeks. I plan on playing Franchise Mode almost exclusively as Diamond Dynasty is a grind-to-win/pay-to-win experience and RTTS continues to be boring.

MLB The Show 24 – Franchise Mode House Rules

MLB The Show desperately needs a few things to change and I fear that they will not have been touched this year (Trade Logic, Contracts, and CPU Trades).

You know… Basically, Franchise Mode itself. Franchise Modes need more imaginative developers and sadly – those don’t exist with the current corporate rules and efforts as ultimate teams continue to ruin sports gaming.

(It is my opinion that GMs in MLB The Show are weakly programmed compared to NBA 2K and in some cases, even compared to Madden)

RULE 1 –

Adopt a persona… IE – Treat Franchise Mode like an RPG where you are a character. Is your owner a buffoon like Roger Dorn on Major League 2? Is your owner a happy go lucky Cracker Jack prize geek like Bob Carson on Rookie of the Year? Is your owner George Steinbrenner-esque?

Trades – Two Types

1 – YOU ENTER THE TRADE TALKS MENU – You must set up the partner team’s offer first. You can then set up your offer. If the trade is not agreeable for the CPU, you can start the process over again ONCE. If it is declined you must wait until the next month to make a new offer. You can do this twice and then one final attempt at the trade deadline.

2 – THE CPU OFFERS YOU A TRADE – Simply put – you must accept or decline on face value. You cannot go into the trade talks menu and make a counter offer.

Free Agency and Contracts –

You can sign up to 3 Free Agents in your first spring training.

Subsequent seasons – Stick to your Owner and GM’s personality. Are you using a team with a huge budget? Go nuts like the Dodgers. Personally, I don’t find any aspect of that to be fun (in real life or in a video game).

Gameplay is simple – Play your game. Choose settings that give the game longevity for you. I have decided to use Timing for my batting as it allows the players to play more to their ratings in that way. I have also decided to use Quick Counts as they allow me to play through most games more quickly with added strategy.

Until the developers actually take time to make real effort for Franchise Mode, we will continue to need to make more rules to make the mode a good experience. Share your thoughts in the comments.

The Only Way To Avoid Warzone Hackers and Cheaters on PS4 and PS5

Turn Crossplay OFF!!!!

We can rally like-minded people to join us in this effort to save what’s left of Warzone.

Go to the Menu and click options.
Click on Settings.
Go to Account and Network.
Turn off Crossplay and cross-communication.

Matches will start more quickly as more of us turn crossplay off.
It’s time to take this game back from the cheaters and hackers.

TURN CROSSPLAY OFF!

Madden 24 Franchise Mode Draft Class Settings

As we prepare to start early access for Madden 24, here are the draft class settings I created for my Franchise Mode. My goal with this being four (4) years of draft classes is that it replicates how we see draft classes IRL. This will give you the ability to create a draft strategy of sorts and should hopefully add to the longevity of your franchise mode.

I will be adding more Franchise Mode updates in the coming days.

Cheers!

Madden 24 Franchise Mode House Rules – Living Post for M24

It’s been a minute… or maybe an hour?

Based on the notes released from EA I have decided to get an early jump on the new rules and settings based on what we have seen in new info and experienced in the past. These rules are meant primarily for those that play only against CPU. I have never had a good experience playing against other users for multitudes of reasons – so use what you want how you want.

PRE-SEASON

Settings –

Staff Talent Cost Modifier = SLOWEST – It is way too easy to get your coach up to 500+ Points once your team starts to get really competitive. For longevity and challenge, keep it on slowest.

Difficulty = I am convinced that All-Madden is a shade below cheating. That said, All Pro has a pretty steep decline in challenge once you’ve started playing the game for a while. Make your own choice, but don’t be afraid of losing games. Base Sliders to follow this post.

Trade Difficulty – Very Strong – If you want to make trades manually, it will cost you.

Draft Class Strength – For this I will be using a 6-sided die for each position. 1 = Very Weak, 2 = Weak, 3 = Normal, 4 = Strong, and 5 = Very Strong. A 6 is user choice.

Regression Rate = For this I am going to be less likely to make major changes at the start. The only changes I believe need to be looked at are Halfbacks at age 28, WRs at age 30, and TEs at age 31.

Free Agents – You can sign up to 5 players in your initial pre-season up to week 3. Week 4 Pre-Season you can sign up to 3 as that is the final cut week and some players will have been released.

Trades – You can make one trade in the pre-season, you get one chance to counter-offer if the trade is declined.

Home Field Advantage – Off

Free Agent Motivation Impact – Very High

ACTIONS AND BEHAVIORS

Trading Down – You can trade down once in the first two rounds and three times total.
Scouting – Regional Scouts must focus on different positions from other scouts. National Scouts can scout any position.
Big Board – You must draft according to your big board within the Top 5 Picks. This has changed in order to bring more challenge to drafting.
Sleeper Rule – You can choose any player up to one round before their projected position. This will keep you honest and give the CPU a chance to take these sleepers before you get the chance.
Draft Pick Limitations – NEW – You can only hold a limited amount of picks in each draft. The rules for your draft pick amounts are somewhat complicated, but they will make for a better experience.
- Maximum of 10 picks in any draft
- You can have two first round picks for up to two years in a row
- If you end up with three first round picks during any draft you must trade one of them to a division opponent for their lowest pick in the next season’s draft. Before the draft you are free to move any of your three first rounders how you see fit (within the rules).
- You cannot draft two QBs in two consecutive rounds
- You cannot draft more than two QBs, HBs, or TEs in any draft

Free Agency and Re-Signing –

You can only sign two 90+ OVR free agent player per off-season.
You can sign one player outside of each of your schemes during free agency bidding (1 on Offense, 1 on Defense).
You can make ONE offer to any player on your team with 90+ OVR during the re-signing period while in regular season. If they turn down your offer they must be allowed to test free agency – the rule above still applies.
QB Specific – If you have two QBs with 80+ OVR you must allow one of them to test free agency when their contract expires. If both are on expiring deals you must choose one to attempt to re-sign. This will allow CPU teams to have access to quality QBs and drive realism.
STAGE 1 – 5 Offer Limit – (1) Two Players Rated 90+ (2) Three Players Rated 80-89 (3) Any Amount of Players Rated 79 and Under.
STAGE 2 – 10 Offer Limit (1) Two Players Rated 90+ (2) Five Players Rated 80-89 (3) Any Amount of Players Rated 79 and Under.
STAGE 3 – No Limit – (1) One Player Rated 90+, (2) No Limit on other offers as of right now. This could change depending on how the AI acts in the first two stages.

Initial All-Madden Slider Settings = (THESE WILL BE ADJUSTED ON AUGUST 16TH!!!)

Franchise Mode

All-Madden Difficulty

11 Minute Quarters

Accelerated Clock set to 15 seconds

Staff Talent Cost = Slowest

Progressive Fatigue = On

Practice Settings = Backups Only (Half Pads or Full Pads) – This is strategic in that it keeps your starters fresh with some practice XP, but allows your backups to get some training. I changed this to be Half or Full because I think getting XP to some of your sleeper picks that don’t get into the game is a big part of a lasting Franchise Mode.

Human Sliders

QB Acc – 50

Pass Block – 50

WR Catch – 50

Run Block – 50

Fumbles – 50

Pass Def Reaction – 50

Interceptions – 35

Pass Coverage – 50

Tackling – 50

CPU Sliders

QB Acc – 40

Pass Block – 49

WR Catch – 47

Run Block – 50

Fumbles – 50

Pass Def Reaction – 40

Interceptions – 38

Pass Coverage – 44

Tackling – 49

Special Teams

Set Punt Accuracy to 100 and Punt Power to 55 all others at 50

Game Options –

Injuries – 20

Fatigue – 60

Min Player Speed Thresh – 47 – This creates the slight gap for the super fast to matter and some slow LBs to get burned in some coverage, etc.

Auto Subs

Position In/Out

QB = 95/65

HB = 85/75

WR = 85/75

FB/TE = 85/75

OL = 85/80

DT = 87/76

DE = 89/76

LB = 87/76

CB = 87/74

S = 87/74

Madden 24 Franchise Mode Features and Thoughts Going Forward

Some of the latest updates from EA regarding the updates and upgrades to Madden 24 Franchise have me excited. Some have me shrugging, but all in all – this actually looks like a positive step for once.

Training Camp and Mini Games – I remember playing the mini games back in Madden 2005. (Wow, I am old) That said, I see this being useful for training up your rookies and UDFAs. I personally feel that this should be limited to rookies for the most part as other players on your roster should earn XP in games (if at all).

Trade Assets and Future Picks – This is going to be nice to have but it will open a new can of worms. As most of us would agree, there is a premium put on picks when it comes to most teams. I am concerned, but having trade difficulty setting makes me hope that we can avoid fleecing AI teams of picks.

Staff Talent Cost Modifier – This is back and all I can say is I hope they have worked out the bug or removed the talent tree item that CPU Values Players above their Dev Rating. Effectively, it meant your practice squad was raided every week and basically ruined a major part of the back end of your experience.

Some things I LOVE – A setting to get rid of Home Field Advantage is awesome as I loathed the momentum system and the relatively unfair feel that some of the stadiums had in 23.

I also love the ability to determine regression as I believe running backs will need to change a bit as we see 28 year olds being flushed down the toilet. In the same breath, we can also increase RB talent in draft classes, which seems to follow along with what’s happening in real life.

I will watch the video again and take some more notes, but I think this is certainly a buy for me this year.

Young and Restless – Brokeland Post #3

The young A’s have been the surprise of the 2023 season. However, with early success can come negativity in different ways. In the case of the A’s it has been some of the veterans raising a stink.

Fans near the bullpen overheard a conversation between ‘the old guys’ and decided to post it on TikTok. The post has gone viral as the discussion covered topics about other GM’s being stupid to take trades from Blackstone and how some of the attention being given to young rookies is insulting to those that have ‘earned’ it.

Blackstone was surprised that it was an issue at all.

“I thought veteran ballplayers would behave a bit more like you know, veterans.”

As most of this season has taught us, the A’s don’t care if anyone has a problem with how they do business on or off the field. Blackstone also makes it clear daily that he won’t have his hand forced one way or the other.

“I don’t really care if someone wants to complain as long as their play backs up what they claim and then we can look into making it right for them. What I have a problem with, is when players complain and play like garbage. That makes my decision easy, though – so I guess it’s not really a problem.” He continued with his discussion and pointed out one issue he noticed with his trades and how he is running the team in general.
“I know we have made some big moves for young talent. Some people on forums have a problem with that because it isn’t realistic. It’s a good thing I operate on my own terms and don’t need to run things by some ‘experts’ in a forum, asked if he had anything to say to those critics he smiled and said “Yeah… F**k you!”. To make his final point, “If they think this is about fairness, ask how the Mets were able to make any sort of trade to get Steven Kwan for Brett Baty. They are $50 million over their budget and shouldn’t be able to make such a move, but the league let it happen. Did I complain? Nope. I am making my own moves and we will do what is allowed and what other teams agree to. That is business.”

The A’s are currently operating with an enormous budget of $82 million and it looks likely to grow as the team continues to part ways with anyone over the age of 25 or without any real developmental future.

“We have room in our organization for good ballplayers that have a future. If you have tools we can work with, we can make you into an asset.” said an unnamed coach during practice.

As it stands, Blackstone made more moves after the meeting.

Parting ways with Jhonkensy Noel and Ernie Clement along with speedy OF prospect Esteury Ruiz, the A’s grabbed Brett Baty away from the Guardians. With 3B continuing to be a defensive issue for the A’s (Ezra Guzman and Sherten Apostel have both had trouble holding down the hot corner) the hope is that Baty will be the long term answer. The problem? The A’s are starting to get long term answers halfway through a season that might cause a logjam very soon.

The answer to the TikTok video was clear as well when Blackburn was traded with Austin Beck and Cristian Pache to the Blue Jays for pitching prospect, Ricky Tiedemann. As the A’s started to thin out their recently full compliment of OF prospects they also ended the stolen bases contract they had to start the season. The kickstart to earn $10 million was accomplished and now they have entered into agreements for rotating sponsorships for wins, saves, double plays, home runs and strike outs.