There are many reasons to be excited about the end of April.
The end of the school year, warmer spring weather, baseball season in full swing, etc.
However, for me there are few times of the year I cherish more than NFL Draft Week. As a Cleveland Browns fan I always have some sort of broken sense of faith that makes me believe we have a chance to make the playoffs… or at least finish .500.
By the time September comes along it is usually a long foregone conclusion that the Browns will be terrible. This is where Madden’s Franchise Mode can be one of the more enjoyable parts of the NFL season for a fan of a terrible franchise much like my Browns.
The trick to having a franchise last longer than one or two seasons is what most people look for and today we will give you a few different ways to get some longevity out of your Madden Franchise.
First – Make sure you pick a team you either cheer for or want to build in the long-term. In my case, I chose the Browns and luckily they are both my favorite team and a team that is a long-term project.
Second – Have a set of challenging sliders and house rules going into your Franchise. This is vital because nothing can derail a Franchise Mode faster than having your difficulty too high or too low. In my case, it was way too easy in my first two seasons with the Browns as we won two straight Super Bowls in 2011 and 2012.
*Note* If you have something similar occur and can’t bear the idea of starting your Franchise from scratch you might have to invent a story. In my case – I came up with a story that the Pat Shurmur (Cleveland’s Coach) was caught up in a scandal to pretty much buy and cheat his way to Super Bowls in order to assure his position as Cleveland’s coach, he was then fired and kicked out of the league for a season (this is all months before the now famous ‘Bounty’ situation with Sean Payton, mind you!).
Third – Get to know your players and their abilities… Madden is more than just OVR (Overall) ratings. While Speed is still king in this game, make it your mission to build a team based on player skills or maybe even some sort of desire to take low OVR players and build them into budding superstars that came out of nowhere.
Fourth – This is actually the most important part, but it is last on the list because it won’t take shape until at least 2 seasons into your franchise mode. Develop and create a storyline and share it with the gaming community! If you are one of those people that lose interest because there is no one to talk to about your team and you feel annoyed telling your significant other that you just drafted an A Potential QB in the 5th Round of the Draft and all they do is shrug… Tell the sports gaming community about it! Make a thread, develop some talent for Photoshop and story telling and make it your mission to be the best Coach/Team President and Reporter for your own enjoyment!
Don’t get upset if you don’t get a lot of comments either. You must post the story for yourself and invest in your franchise mode for your own enjoyment first. As your talent and devotion grow you will have a greater audience. As an example, we will be starting a new Franchise Story on our Forums as well as posting updates and videos on Youtube as the story progresses.
If you are getting that football itch like many others are it might be time to start a new franchise mode that will take you into early September for the next Madden and the beginning of a new football season!
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