Category: Gaming Blogs

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!

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

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.

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.

*Note – Upon testing some of the trade logic, I am convinced that it doesn’t matter which rosters you use. Using the A’s I was able to part ways with veteran players and trade them in packages for some of the best prospects in baseball. More to come in my next post.

As I become more excited about baseball season and baseball in general (football and basketball are quickly dying on my interest list – what’s a hockey? – Just kidding) I am looking to try a few new things going into MLB 23 as a Franchise Mode player.

First – I will be using the stock rosters supplied by SDS. I have a suspicion that edited rosters are ruining already bad trade logic. On top of that, I also think the game itself will function better in the mode if I keep it in the parameters of the development decisions.

Second – My team choice this year will come down to a couple of aspects and the first is actually not salary, but stadium age/style. The next aspect will focus on recent/semi recent team performance – playoff appearances and overall vibes.

I plan on re-locating and possibly re-branding the team I choose this year. I also hope to find some time to do monthly updates with occasional player and prospect tracking and updates with my own unique twist on things (as is the nature of personal web pages).

My Top Teams For Franchise Mode This Year –

Los Angeles Angels – Stadium was built in 1966. Team has under-performed for years even with the biggest names in the game. This would be a complete overhaul as the team was briefly up for sale in 2022.

Oakland Athletics – Try to throw a rock on YouTube without hitting some clown doing their over-delivered franchise mode of rebuilding the A’s. The way I see it, this is a team that should either be moved and invested in or cut from the league. To build this team with any real simulation effort will take a lot of time… I am intrigued.

Pittsburgh Pirates – The team has a few pieces, but there’s no motion towards actually building a winning team. The stadium does not need rebuilt, so less work on that end. I think Oneil Cruz is the next huge superstar and it would be fun to build a team around him.

Cleveland Guardians – Haven’t won a World Series since 1948. Progressive field is starting to show its age and while they have major renovations planned, it won’t be in this iteration of The Show. Not to mention, this team has one of the lowest budgets in the game. The biggest aspect for me is that this is my favorite team as well.

Kansas City Royals – I am not a fan of anything about this team. Their colors are lame. The stadium is straight out of 1970’s poor fashion decisions – the fountains are stupid. The World Series banners look like they were made in someone’s garage. Oh, and the team is terrible. Sounds like a fun rebuild/rebrand, actually.

Tampa Bay Rays – The team outperforms the local fans. Somehow, they aren’t a bad team. Their stadium is utter trash and the fans are somehow worse in terms of attendance (as a Guardians fan, I know of what I speak). Tampa would be a team I select primarily as a rebrand with some tough decisions to make everywhere outside of Wander Franco.

Cincinnati Reds – One of the most pathetically bad ownership groups in sports. The stadium isn’t really old, but it doesn’t do much for me aesthetically. There are a couple pieces here to build around, but it would take a couple years to make it a team worthy of any excitement. Not bad for a franchise team, I won’t rebrand, but I might build a new stadium – bad for every fan in real life though.

I will be paying close attention to the changes they have made to scouting as it will most likely require a new update in my franchise mode house rules.

House rules will still be in effect as they have made the game a lot more fun for me. The biggest change for me this year involves using stock rosters – and that might end up changing more than I thought possible.

While there are some aspects that need to be tuned up a bit and perhaps a few others that will need an overhaul, the new DMZ Mode is a lot of fun.

While you are still dealing with other actual player, most of the baddies you face are AI – and they aren’t pushovers for the most part. Sure, some of them feel like you are playing the campaign on regular, but if you try to do a mission by yourself – prepare to ask a teammate to come and revive you (which takes quite a long time… because, ummm, a friend told me about it. My knowledge of this has nothing to due with me getting downed by AI enemies – tongue firmly through cheek here).

If you are sick of the try-hard wannabe streamers killing you in Warzone, give DMZ a try, it’s a hell of a good time.

Instead of pouring tons of time into articles I will be streaming my Franchise Mode on Twitch and uploading the journey on Youtube.

For the sake of my interest, I will be using the Browns as it is obviously my favorite team and they should be a fun build with a lot of limitations due to the salary being given to Watson and the lack of early draft picks for the first two seasons (to start, anyway).

FOR LIVE STREAMS – GO TO TWITCH

FOR UPLOADS – GO TO YOUTUBE

I will try to maintain communications as any of you comment on the stream. My Franchise gaming is largely one of my relaxation gaming times, so if there’s not a lot of chatter from me, it is only because I am vibing and maybe have some tunes on in the background.

Looking forward to rocking my house rules and having you along for the journey.