Madden – Page 4 – NoobTubeTV

Madden 17 CFM Sliders and Settings (1st Edition)

It’s that time of year once again. Time for everyone to bring their Madden clicks to NoobTubeTV for our sliders and settings. This year is going to be a bit different in a few ways. First, it is going to involve an initial shift to All Pro for our sliders. This is due to numerous statements from the developers and EA Game Changers that All Pro is the best difficulty to use if you want the more balanced/realistic gameplay. Personally, I’m starting to wonder if the statements of balanced gameplay and realism rely more on the player instituting house rules for sim play against the CPU.

I have noticed (like the rest of the Madden 17 players that there is a preponderance of fumbles and injuries (especially while simming).

It seems that EA Tiburon has stepped up their game and will be supporting the Madden experience more than we have seen in years. I will be doing the same with these sliders and settings for CFM. Expect updates and tuning over the next couple months. I usually create sliders with the intent of realistic substitutions, stats, and challenge. I find that gameplay/player animations have a tendency of dictating weird situations and morphing on the field. It isn’t my prerogative to go through every game like Sim Football Critic does on YouTube. I have recently started watching his videos with more regularity and highly recommend tuning into his channel if you enjoy watching gameplay and hearing coherent commentary. Also, I tend to agree with his philosophy that messing with the sliders too much will severely alter the performance of the game and your experience playing it.

Here’s the first iteration of our CFM Sliders for Madden 17.

Player Skill:

QB Accuracy

Pass Blocking

WR Catching

Run Blocking

Fumbles

Pass Def. Reaction

Interceptions

Pass Coverage

Tackling

CPU Skill:

QB Accuracy

Pass Blocking

WR Catching

Run Blocking

Fumbles

Pass Def. Reaction

Interceptions

Pass Coverage

Tackling

Special Teams – Keep All At 50

Injuries – 50

Fatigue – 57

Speed Threshold – 49

Penalties –

Def. Pass Interference – 80

(Keep all others at default)

SETTINGS

Skill – All Pro

Quarter Length – 12 Minutes

Acc Clock – ON (15 Seconds)

User Team Help – OFF (All of them)

Game Speed – Normal

Trade Type – Enable All

League Type – All

Relocation – Users Only

INJURY NOTE – This setting is totally up to the individual. You need to decide how you want to begin your franchise mode. Do you want to start with Week 1 Rosters? You might want to wait until the official Week 1 roster drops. Start your Franchise with injuries turned OFF and start your Franchise at Week 1 instead of Pre-Season.

My personal settings are going to feature the latest roster update (as of August 26)… this means I will need to trade Mingo to New England for a 5^thRound Pick. I will start with Pre-Existing Injuries Turned On with Pre-Season Injuries Turned Off. I want to start realistically with players out for 2016 that are injuried now, but I also want a chance to build my own team and deal with my own alternate Madden universe.

Injury – On

Pre-Existing Injury – On (this is totally up to you)

One Step Forward – Madden 17’s Franchise Mode Takes Two Steps Back

It has been a rough ride being an NFL fan and having one option for video game representation.

Madden NFL has had a bit of a roller coaster existence since becoming the monopoly that it is. Franchise Mode has been the primary victim when it comes to changes to the game. It has also been the elephant in the room when fans are asked for feedback from EA Tiburon. It seems that the Franchise Mode/CFM/CCM team has finally realized (for Madden 17 at least) that customized rosters and real world features are key to people enjoying Franchise Mode. There are a couple changes new to Madden in general but the real changes seem to be the things that have been featured before or needed since the monopoly took effect.

Coaches Are The Least Important Aspect of Madden Franchise Mode - This isn't a big decision... it's a non-decision. — Coaches Are The Least Important Aspect of Madden Franchise Mode – This isn’t a big decision… it’s a non-decision.

First, the things that truly matter the most when it comes to Franchise Mode improvements.

Full Player Editing – This isn’t new as they might want people to believe. It existed in Madden 12 and provided much needed customization for rosters. The fact that this is available to online leagues is also a nice touch. To add that any changes will be shown in the Transactions is a nice and necessary perk for league members as well. The biggest curiosity for me is whether or not we will be able to edit Draft Classes before the draft or if we will have to draft players that are once again less than stellar prospects and edit them all to resemble legitimate rookies.
Practice Squads are finally entering the Franchise Mode universe. It was always puzzling to me that EA would make claims about not having the resources to put certain small aspects into the game. This was one of the many that was apparently a matter of time. Now we can have players on a practice squad as long as they have played fewer than two full seasons in our respective Franchise Modes. It will be nice to know that I can take a flier on that 7th Round WR that can run like the wind but catch like Simple Jack.
Dynamic Development is one of the aspects that I am skeptical of when it comes to Madden. They have tried and failed to implement all sorts of development and player growth from season to season. Now they are putting the trait of Development into the front of how players grow in ratings. The broken season awards system is going to play a strong role in how players are moved up and down in development traits as well. It really makes no sense for players to be pre-rated in this way as Slow, Normal, Quick, and Superstar. Make every player start each season with the same baseline and allow the season to determine how each player progresses. Sure, Tom Brady is and has been a Superstar, but he isn’t too far from being done. Then we have players like Robert Griffin III that have played up to par in their rookie year and then either fall apart or get injured. Maybe he comes back and becomes a superstar after this season. His slow development rating might say otherwise.

The other changes like ‘Big Moments’ and the ‘score ticker’ make me scratch my head. I love the idea of a score ticker and believe it has been needed for years. This doesn’t change the fact that Franchise Mode has yet to make it feel like anything more than a single team focus that misses out on an entire story outside of your own franchise.

Big Moments are rather insulting as it looks like they want to make the user think that every moment is a big moment. ‘First Drive of the Game’ is probably the least impressive in-game ‘Big Moment’ I have read about. The non-game Big Moments are laughable. Injuries, Free Agents and Coach Re-Signings aren’t big moments. Signing a coach is the least important aspect of Madden and they call it a Big Moment. Give me a break.

Madden does seem to be making strides this year. I am actually excited about it this season.

As jaded as I am and seem to always be about Madden, I am truly excited to play it this year. I just wish 2K would shock the world and release a new football title.

New Rules, The NFL, and How You Are Ruining Sports Games

With all their new rules you’d think Bill Maher was the new commissioner of the NFL… don’t get that joke? Either I am the Dennis Miller of gaming commentary and online personas or I am just old and lame.
I am starting to think that Madden has hit that slope as well.
Seeing that the draft is coming up and the NFL is as popular as ever it seems like they would be pushing more and more to make their monopoly on football video games a more true representation of the game on the field and on television. Then again, maybe they are when it comes to all the rule changes that seemingly gut the NFL of any sort of toughness under the guise of ‘player safety’.
In Madden it is nearly impossible to injure a player by hitting them harder (which is basically 80% of the injuries in the league). In Madden your players can’t get unsportsmanlike conduct penalties because that type of thing isn’t in the game either. So, the new rule of two penalties for being an arrogant taunting jerk with a big mouth has no place in Madden to begin with.
This is why I constantly wonder when the madness will stop. When will 2K or another publisher pour in the resources to give football fans and football gamers a different option from Madden? I have been on this journey for over a decade demanding a true competitor to Madden and the football gaming monopoly.
I am starting to wonder if I’m alone out here on the digital gridiron. Everyone else seems happy to play two-hand touch on Madden and I am stuck wondering why I waste so much time playing a Franchise Mode for the sake of having a ‘new’ football option every year.
This might be why I am looking forward to MLB 16 more and more. At least SCEA goes above and beyond to truly add depth to their game every year. Madden has seen their top guys leave over the course of the last few years and with that they haven’t grown or done anything new. They have invested in Ultimate Team because gamers seem to have more money than they know what to do with. So in many respects, if you are playing Ultimate Team you are part of the problem as well. I’d say this goes for Diamond Dynasty players on MLB, but now that SCEA has made it so you earn packs as you play the game rather than simply giving the option to buy more (which you can also do)… maybe they are similar afterall.

Maybe I am just like Mugatu and I have taken crazy pills somewhere along the way.

Madden 16 – The Scouting Guide For Your CFM

I thought about which part of Madden 16 I would feature first this year and I believe that the biggest improvement to Franchise Mode this year is in the scouting process. They are really trying their best to make you focus on the scheme of your coach and the play-style of each player on your team. While this might still be somewhat wishful thinking in terms of making the game a more ‘true to life experience’ it certainly makes it a bit more challenging and enjoyable to scout players for the upcoming draft.

The one part of scouting and the draft that seems to have been hidden away for some reason is the weekly news keeping you up to date on all the latest college prospect happenings throughout the season. They are still in the game, but they are nowhere near the main page you look at each week. You have to go all the way to the far right tab and look up the league news, etc. It is terribly clunky and I can’t believe they haven’t designed the interface to be a bit more organized. Why there isn’t a page totally dedicated to the upcoming draft with mock drafts and news on draft picks is beyond me. So, with that said – here is a quick guide for scouting.

It’s All About Scheme

If you want to draft players that will come into your team with the highest overall rating possible you need to focus on scouting and drafting according to your coaching schemes and player preferences. You can find all this information under the ‘Coach Section’ in CFM (the same area you find auto-subs, etc.). Take some time before you start your season and certainly before you start scouting (Which begins in Week 3 each regular season). If you are running a 3-4 defense chances are good that you won’t want to draft a 4-3 DE to play DE for your team at the same position (now, if you want to move him to OLB after the draft… well, we will talk about that later.

Invest Heavily in Middle and Late Rounders

Yes, your first round pick is crucial and you need to get it right. However, this is typically one player at a position you know for a fact you want to fill. In this case you know what you are looking for and shouldn’t have to spend your points on first round prospects as your options will hopefully be limited. If there isn’t a can’t-miss prospect for your team in the first round of the draft I would highly suggest shopping your pick during the draft (or even near the trade deadline if your team is looking like a playoff team (no sense in keeping a late 1st round pick when you can trade it for a future 1st and a current 2nd or 3rd Rd. pick for this coming draft.

Use your points to find players at positions you are weak in the middle rounds. There are often some high 70s and low 80s players that fall into the 4th and 5th rounds – you need to uncover their draft stock and be sure to ‘Watch’ them with the Triangle or ‘Y’ button as you scout.

Watching Players (Your Draft Board)

Sure, you still can’t put players into a draftable order for your team, but the new function of ‘Watch’ is a great way to organize the players you uncover as potential goldmines in the draft. This will also be helpful for you as you get past the 2nd Round and see who is falling or who might get snagged by the CPU. Keep in mind!!! The CPU becomes a trade nazi during the draft. You might want to move up a few picks to get a guy you have a feeling might go before you get a chance. The CPU will not take a trade that might happen in the regular season – so don’t be afraid to pull the trigger on one of those players you are watching maybe a round earlier than it suggests (if you think he merits the risk).

Check The News Wire

During the season and just after the Super Bowl it is crucial for you to see which players are featured on the news feed as they are often going to be ‘storyline’ players as well as decent picks to take when you get the chance. There are some other players that will be tremendous busts as well – don’t fall into that trap.

Keep checking back for more tips and suggestions for your Madden 16 CFM. The NoobTubeTV Sliders and Setting will also be uploaded to PS4 servers and shared here shortly!

Madden 16 – Info Release Coming In May

Starting on May 8 – it will be time for Madden news.

Some of it has already started as EA Announced the August 25th release date.

For many sports fans it is either the first month of baseball or playoff season for basketball and hockey.

For the rest of us it will always be football season. This might be why as soon as the Super Bowl is over people are already in full ‘NFL Draft Mode’. For people like myself (Browns fans) we are already prepping for the next draft before this draft is even over. It seems that Madden is following the guidelines of those kinds of teams when it comes to improving the game. Sure, they might have a decent season that surprises us (Madden 10 and Madden 25), but largely they are expected to finish with a losing record (Madden 06-09 and 11-13).

Madden seems to to take one step forward and two steps back annually. While they implemented much needed changes to Connected Franchise Mode last year, it was still sorely lacking once you got into the guts of the mode. Many of the contract negotiations were too easy and some of the retirements and signings were just flat out strange.

My biggest pet peeve as a staunch CFM player was the player progression. By the time you get to your 5th or 6th season you will have on average 4-5 players on every team rated 90+ OVR. It is frustrating for me to so easily build the Browns into a contender and 4-time Super Bowl winners by the 2019 season.

Second biggest pet peeve…? Easy – The in-game NFL Draft. It seems that every year that goes by they throw little changes into this and it is still disappointing. The presentation is lacking as Schefter seems to say the same stuff about players every 2-3 seasons. Then there are the teams that take a QB after already having two that are 80+ on the roster. The list goes on and on, but what makes it hilarious at this moment is the fact that EA released their own Mock Draft (which doesn’t even exist on any Madden game). There seemed to be logic in some of those picks – of course they took Crab Legs Winston #1 Overall. He sounds like a generated rookie from Madden after all.

Stay tuned for the Madden 16 info as it is released!

Madden Ratings System Unveiled

A recent article on FiveThirtyEight.com has helped us understand a bit more about what goes into Madden player ratings. I wish I could say I am impressed. Madden is one of the most stale and non-simulation sports games in existence, yet it gets touted as being true to the game.

It has always bothered me that Donny Moore seems to have full power to subjectively up someone’s rating because of one big catch, run or block. I truly miss 2K Football more and more as I read about Madden and the NFL in general.

Here is the breakdown from FiveThirtyEight –

Madden 15 – How To Keep CFM Fresh Until The Next Release

As much as I find it easy to troll EA and Tiburon for their annual cloneware – Madden 15 was the best Madden to date. That said, it still gets to me that they don’t update rosters after the Super Bowl. This has left many users to create roster updates and even add newly drafted players to teams in order to replicate what is happening in the league as far as rosters go.

If you have followed NoobTubeTV over the last few years you will know that I almost exclusively play Offline Connected Franchise Mode. Moreover, you will know that I almost always use my Cleveland Browns. Even after finding the perfect sliders and gameplay tweaks CFM will get rather boring after a few seasons.

It is incredibly easy to build up a team into a juggernaut. You simply need to invest in players that are between 20-26 years old that fit your play-style and keep them to minimum contracts until they are 30. It is a widely known fact that EA has told Madden gamers that players will start to decline once they hit that age threshold. Knowing how easy it is to relatively deal with the age issues of players and dominate with your team after a season or two of development it won’t be much of a shock to hear about people trading Madden in while they can still get some decent credit for it or simply leave it on the shelf to collect dust. Here are a few tips on how to keep your CFM fresh.

Max Contacts – Figure out your favorite players on Offense and Defense and make them fixtures on your team for the rest of their career. In my case I had to choose between Josh Gordon and Johnny Manziel. Both players were 99 OVR by the time I got to the 2016 season and I decided to sign Johnny for the biggest amount of money and years (I believe it was 7 years, $140 million). This will help make your salary cap management a bit tougher as you choose who to build your team around.
Don’t Scout Draft Prospects – It really is this simple. Don’t scout a single prospect during the season and you will quickly realize that what was once an incredibly easy draft process is more like real-life. It will become more of a lottery system for your team and you won’t be able to find those ‘not so hidden’ gems in later rounds.
Give The CPU More In Trades – It seems that trade logic in sports games has decided to take a nose-dive in realism. NBA 2K actually has a trade difficulty slider (Madden needs this in the worst way!). Do not shirk the CPU for their Draft Picks or certain players you know are franchise quality.
One Draft Pick Per Round (At most) – It is far too easy (as stated in #3) to load up on 10-15 draft picks every season. Make it a personal rule that you will not have more than one pick per round for every draft. This will prevent you from pwning the draft year-in, year-out. Madden has some of the dumbest draft logic in all of sports gaming, so don’t act like you really have to worry about the CPU.
Coach Mode – This is something I have yet to do myself. Simply call the plays for your team, snap the ball and let the AI take care of the rest. This will make you look at your players in a different light and might even change the way you build your team.

Madden 15 – The Most Pivotal Madden To Date

As we get closer to the release of Madden 15 it is becoming evident that the PS4/XBone version of the title might be the best evidence of what to expect in the coming console generation as far as Madden games are concerned.

Dick Sherman Doing What He Does Best... Opening his big mouth. — Dick Sherman Doing What He Does Best… Opening his big mouth.

With the 360/PS3 versions of Madden 06 through 09 basically being a throw-away after EA obtained the exclusive license to produce and distribute NFL games it seemed like we’d see real changes once Madden 10 arrived. Thankfully, we did see some pretty nice changes through the effort of Ian Cummings and company. A couple years later, Cummings was gone and Madden fell back into the rut of limited progress.

Madden 25 was a solid title that still suffered from the played out animations and terrible AI in many areas of the game. It became evident that some sort of real change was necessary. The last time Madden saw any sort of direction to make it a truly ground-breaking experience was in Madden 2005 with the hit stick and a focus on defense. It helped to limit what Madden had started to become with the advent of tournament style play that nearly gutted the simulation style that Madden NFL was always supposed to be.

Madden 15 is finally bringing back what has been missing for almost ten years. The focus on defense (even with the obnoxious Dick Sherman on the cover) is something that is more welcome than most simulation football fans can say. Couple that with the news that wind in the game has been fixed and will even move the aiming direction during field goals, new catch animations, better variety in QB throwing, etc. You actually might see a game worth getting excited about.

Why is Madden 15 the most pivotal version of Madden to date?

Because with the new additions and polish put on the PS4/XBone it seems like the Madden developers are finally trying to make it into a real simulation of NFL Football.

As for how realistic the Connected Franchise Mode might be? We will have to wait and see. Keep checking back on NoobTubeTV.com as there will be further updates and reactions to a very busy August-December in gaming.

2K Football Announcement Coming? – The E3 Rumor Mill In Full Swing

Every year in late-May and early-June we start hearing buzz about new games that will be or might be unveiled at E3. (E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo held in Los Angeles, CA annually.) It is much like the time leading up to the NFL Draft where there are so many rumors and baseless suggestions that you don’t know what to believe or who has the ‘inside track’.

This year there are a few titles that are supposedly being shown at E3 in hopes that they will capture the next-gen console audience’s hearts and minds. Some of these titles include Halo 5, Rockstar Games’ Agent and one game that a niche group of sports gamers have been longing for since 2008 – 2K Football.

Every year there is hope injected in the football gaming community that there will finally be some sort of football game released that isn’t made by EA Sports and that isn’t called ‘Madden’. There have been a few youtube videos with people saying that they have ‘a feeling’ that there will be a new 2K football title unveiled at E3 this year.

It is something that I almost always have high hopes for when it comes this close to football season. It seems that my hopes (and those of the sim football gaming community) are always dashed by the time E3 is over. Hopefully the rumor mill will prove to be correct this time around.

That said – there is no official news one way or the other about a 2K Football title as of yet. If there does happen to be an announcement, it will have to be a far deeper game than All Pro Football 2K8 was back in 2007. Keep your attention focused towards legitimate news and releases as we get closer to E3. The rumors will only get more ridiculous between now and then.

Interesting Ratings Breakdown For Madden 25

Worth some consideration – the original write-up for this was basically copied and pasted into a forum from another source. In that regard, I will not give them the benefit of a link back to their forum. I will search for the original post and give them full credit when I find it. As promised – here is the link

A lot of Madden gamers out there always wonder exactly what some of the ratings mean or ‘do’. In this case there are some bits of information that I hope you find useful.

QBs

Here’s a list of a few things that AWARENESS (AWR) impacts:

– Used in combination with physical ratings to determine pass trajectory.
– Determines the decision made on option routes.
– Determines QB’s reaction time when scrambling.
– Determines QB’s recognition of threats in the pocket
– Determines if a QB can throw a ball away.

QB Accuracies impacts:

– Short Accuracy (SAC) – rating is the accuracy percentage of the QB on throws under 20 yards.
– Medium Accuracy (MAC) – rating is the accuracy percentage of the QB on throws of 20-40 yards.
– Deep Accuracy (DAC) – rating is the accuracy percentage of the QB on throws greater than 40 yards.

WRs

ROUTE RUNNING (RTE) rating:

In order to give the quarterback a big enough window to throw to, receivers must run precise routes with the correct depths and cuts so the quarterback knows exactly where he’ll be when he breaks. But more important is the separation a receiver can get on his defender. Here’s the breakdown of what the run-route rating does on the field:

– Determines fake out chance when cutting against man coverage.
– Determines the amount of time it takes the receiver to adjust to the ball in the air.
– Determines the sharpness of cut moves in the routes.

Catch in Traffic (CIT) rating:.

– Used against hit power to determine the chance of a hit stick on a receiver.
– Used against zone coverage and man coverage to determine the knock out chance when tackled during a catch.

DL

BLOCK SHEDDING (BKS) rating:

· Determines the suddenness of engaged moves and combines with player strength.
· Determines win/loss-chance of cut blocks in combination with physical ratings.
· Determines the success of run-block double teams.
· Determines a defender’s skill when rushing the passer without engaging a blocker.

BKS is also used in the open-field. The rating is matched-up with the blocker’s impact-block rating to determine win or loss in any situation where both the defender and blocker are running.

POWER MOVES – (PWM) ratings:

· Determines win/loss/super-loss on power-move attempts, used vs. Pass Block rating
· Determines defender’s skill in executing power moves.
· Determines frequency and success of each move type (AI), used against finesse move rating
· Determines how long it takes a defender to use a power move and disengage from a blocker
· Determines chance of success of impact blockvs. pass rusher (impact block= both players are running). Used with the Finesse Move Rating vs. Pass Block Rating

LBs

FINESSE MOVES (FMV) ratings:

– Finesse move-groups are: Spin, Swim, Hand Knock-Down, Speed Rush
– Determines the chance a defender gets flattened by the blocker
– Determines defenders skill vs. blocker’s skill for success of finesse moves
– AI uses FMV vs. Power Move rating to determine which move-set is used
– Determines the max time taken to perform successful finesse move

FMV is also used in combination with power moves vs. pass block ratings to determine whether the defender or blocker has the advantage when matching animpact block.

PURSUIT (PUR) ratings:

– Determines amount of time it takes to change direction while chasing the ball carrier
– Determines the chance for a hit stick when chasing the ball
– Determines how quickly a player update his pursuit path relative to the ball carrier
– Determines how quickly a player can break out of chasing the ball carrier

Pursuit is used in combination with tackle and awareness ratings to determine the chance of committing a facemask penalty.

DBs
MAN COVERAGE (MCV) ratings:

– Determines chance of fakeout, used vs. Route Run.
– Determines the time it takes to cover a cut, used vs. Route Run.
– Determines the reaction time when in man-coverage assignment.
– Determines tackle skill chance when in man-coverage assignment, used with AWR.
– Determines when a defender can break out of ‘play ball’ (when the ball is in the air).
– Determines the knockout chance of a tackle during the catch, used vs. Catch in Traffic.

MCV is also used to determine if a defender will bite and rush when his assigned player does a ‘block & release’ route.

ZONE COVERAGE (ZCV) ratings:

– Determines tackle skill chance when in zone, used AWR.
– Determines accuracy of leverage on receivers when in zone.
– Determines the time it takes for the DB to track the ball when in zone.
– Determines knockout chance on a tackle during a catch, used vs. Catch in Traffic.

PRS is used against WR’s release ratings to determine length and direction of the chuck.

NOTE – Here is the link to the original write-up