Does the roster update come out today? I always start my franchise when the release the first roster update
edit
Looks like roster update is Sept 9th
Wow why is EA so slow, user created rosters can get done in a day, but it takes Madden almost a week after the final cuts come in
http://www.operationsports.com/news...er-update-scheduled-to-arrive-on-september-9/
Historically, they always tie the roster to the start of week 1 of the NFL. They used to drop the roster the last business day before the start of the season, so the Friday before the first Sunday of NFL, but when the NFL switched the start of the season to Thursday night one or two years ago, Madden kept the same date... The first Friday before the beginning of the season.
But, practically, if EA fucks up a roster or makes a mistake, they will get roasted by every forum, reddit, and YouTuber, but if XxRosterFre4kxX fucks up his custom roster, nobody's going to really hold him accountable or care.
Imo as a long time madden player who stopped buying the games towards the end of last gen, Madden 16 and 17 are worth picking up.
They have made big strides in almost every area and after the patch the 2 biggest issues with the game (coach cam glitch and too many fumbles forced from behind) have been fixed.
The gameplay is so good that ive found minor slider tweaks allow me to play fun/realistic games against the AI on All-Madden difficulty which has never happened before for me.
Tough choice compared to Deus Ex tho which has killer gameplay and atmosphere from what ive heard but a pretty disappointing story.
Mind sharing your settings/sliders, or which ones you've changed? My friend and I are looking to start an All Madden franchise, but I'm always hesitant to go into All Madden without tweaks because it's historically played so imbalanced.
This is a question I've been asking myself as well. I mostly play the offline franchise mode and the career mode. How improved are both of those? I really love the scouting/drafting/developing aspect of franchise mode more than anything. The biggest gripe I had was the menu being slow, sim stats being really wonky and career mode feeling kind of empty.
Player/Career mode is still empty, it didn't get the overhaul that Fifa's career mode or the NBA 2K games has. I don't think there's as much of a motivation for the player mode in Madden as there is on other games.
The Franchise mode is good, it's still similar to what its always been, but it's been tweaked and tooled this year and it's always been a great mode. This years got a lot of improvements, with focuses on contracts, "big decisions," managing injuries, revamped strategy/pregame practice, tweaked scouting. For what it's worth, Madden also has the only working multi-player franchise mode in sports games. PastaPadre mentioned this in his review but I think it's somethign that EA doesn't get credit for... Every other online franchise is complete crap, and Madden's online franchise is virtually identical to the offline franchise. But EA's been doing it for years now so it doesn't get as much attention.
One huge improvement in franchise mode is the in game overlays and announcing updates. They're small additions, but when the announce team shows key injuries, the playoff battle, last weeks performance to this weeks, QB play in the first half vs. the second half, and a bunch of other things like that, it really makes it feel like you're part of a season, not just playing an isolated game that gets "reported back" to the server at the end. Same with the live score ticker at the bottom of your games. I've lost a few games in my first season, so I'm 9 - 3 or something, and in a heated playoff race with 3 or 4 other teams, so those updates at the bottom really get me connected to the rest of the league. I really wish they had the ability to do what NCAA was doing in 2014, with live updates from the booth and half-time show, but otherwise, the additions are great.
Player progression and scouting seems to be solid this year as well.
My favorite career modes will always be the NCAA series, especially NCAA '13 and '14, but this is the best Madden career mode I've played in many years. I have a fondness for Madden 2000's (PSX) career mode, and then Madden 06's (PS2/Xbox) career mode, but this one is also really good.
Some things still aren't great:
- Draft logic is weak for the CPU, though that may have been patched... Basically, a CPU team would have a need at QB, say, be a C overall or something, and so in 2018, they'll draft a round 1 QB who is.. .say.. a 77 overall. But then, they continue to draft QBs because "77" is still seen as a weakness, and so they end up with 3 QBs at 77, 76, and 72 all within a couple years, and they let other positions of need go undrafted. In real life this would never happen unless you're the Cleveland Browns.
So, really, the CPU is a good Cleveland Browns simulator.
- The UI is still clunky, but less clunky than in the past. They've brought more stuff up to the forefront so you're diving into menus a lot less, but it's still weak.
- There can still be a "great levelling off" in Franchise mode over time, but I'm not sure if that's really been proved. A few people simulated seasons at chunks and reported back, and while you do see a few stars popup (one Reddit post showed the Cowboys drafted this QB who immediately shot up to 99ovr within a couple seasons), the majority of teams levelled off into a "84 - 86 overall" realm. This is fine and it's
kind off realistic especially if you believe the NFL is all parity today, but it can have bad effects on the final standings. If every team in a division is within a game of first place, it makes for a lot of mediocrity. But, to EA's credit, that happens every year in the real NFL (NFC South 2 years ago, AFC South last year, NFC West 4 years ago, AFC East likely this year etc).