Franchise: Would adding Head Coach's Offseason & Injuries be enough of an improvement

[xanmank]

In Head Coach, I think the most innovative and well thought out aspects are the offseason and injuries. With members from the Head Coach team now on for Madden 10', I think alot of good things can happen for Franchise mode


-The Draft is amazingly detailed with in-depth scouting, trading picks, really smart drafting AI and it really draws the player in to make them feel more involved. Even if there were not pre-created storylines and bios, I think a draft full of randomly generated names with the same pre-made attributes would be amazing. Also, the extra undrafted rookies signing period is cool.

-Free agent bidding is great because you can't stack your team and get away with paying players a less-than-competative salary, because another team will come with a better offer. Its also fast paced so you have to think quick who you want and how much they are worth to you. The AI is great in this too, and finally teams start to balance themselves out in the offseason and fill their needs

-Training camp: Expanded Rosters are key to finding out what players work in your system, even having street FA come in to compete for a roster spot. Cut days allow for teams to find treasures in another man's trash.

-Injuries: The fatigue and injury system is robust with individual body parts that have a probability of getting injured, and as a player goes through his career, commonly injured parts have a higher chance of re-injuring and often times they are never 100% again


I think if these features were added into Madden's Franchise mode, it would be the perfect football game and bring people back to the Madden series.

What is everyone else's opinion?

[thudias]

I agree this would be enough to satisfy me for Franchise in 10. As long as they keep everything else that's in Franchise and ADD these features. I would be very happy.

There are also a few other things in HeadCoach that could be incorporated but this would be a great start.

[briax87]

I haven't got Head Coach (unavailable over here), but if that list was in the franchise for next year I would LOVE it. At the moment, my personal experience with franchise mode in 09 is that:

1.Long term injuries (IN-GAME, not simming) are nearly non-existent.

2.Scouting seems pointless and has very long load times for ordering lists, searching through categories (i.e. qb, hb, wr), selecting individual players.

3.The preseason mode seems pointless as players don't seem to progress or regress in ability.

4.Offseason is ok, not terrible, could have more detail. Does upgrading stadium (buying cup holders etc) increase income or fan sizes or anything like that?

5.Can't talk players out of retirement after a great season.

The list you posted would make some great additions to the franchise as it is now. I still play it, but I would play it a hell of a lot more if that stuff was in it.

[thudias]

I cant wait until they start releasing info on Franchise mode. I hope at some point Donny comes to the forums to take suggestions and discuss merits like Ian and Phil have.

[BigDuke]

I would like that stuff. I didn't even buy Madden 09 because franchise was the same old same old.

I don't see why it's so hard to put the offseason things that happen in the real NFL in the video game, especially after all these years.

[clarkerots]

Quote: Originally Posted by xanmank

In Head Coach, I think the most innovative and well thought out aspects are the offseason and injuries. With members from the Head Coach team now on for Madden 10', I think alot of good things can happen for Franchise mode -The Draft is amazingly detailed with in-depth scouting, trading picks, really smart drafting AI and it really draws the player in to make them feel more involved. Even if there were not pre-created storylines and bios, I think a draft full of randomly generated names with the same pre-made attributes would be amazing. Also, the extra undrafted rookies signing period is cool. -Free agent bidding is great because you can't stack your team and get away with paying players a less-than-competative salary, because another team will come with a better offer. Its also fast paced so you have to think quick who you want and how much they are worth to you. The AI is great in this too, and finally teams start to balance themselves out in the offseason and fill their needs -Training camp: Expanded Rosters are key to finding out what players work in your system, even having street FA come in to compete for a roster spot. Cut days allow for teams to find treasures in another man's trash. -Injuries: The fatigue and injury system is robust with individual body parts that have a probability of getting injured, and as a player goes through his career, commonly injured parts have a higher chance of re-injuring and often times they are never 100% again I think if these features were added into Madden's Franchise mode, it would be the perfect football game and bring people back to the Madden series. What is everyone else's opinion?

The problem with this is the way EA views such a situation. In the eyes of EA your proposal is taking a $60 game and combining it with a $30 game (guessing on HC price here) to make one product worth $60. That's a revenue loss of $30 on every Madden that was purchased instead of HC.

[thudias]

Not if the cost of producing the 30$ game lost EA money.

.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Quote: Originally Posted by clarkerots

The problem with this is the way EA views such a situation. In the eyes of EA your proposal is taking a $60 game and combining it with a $30 game (guessing on HC price here) to make one product worth $60. That's a revenue loss of $30 on every Madden that was purchased instead of HC.

Except half of the $60 product is dependent on the content of the $30 product to actually be any good. Once again, EA's got to decide if they want to make the best possible product or position for the most potential product. Doing the latter only works for so long until the well is dry.

[clarkerots]

Quote: Originally Posted by ComfortablyLomb

Except half of the $60 product is dependent on the content of the $30 product to actually be any good. Once again, EA's got to decide if they want to make the best possible product or position for the most potential product. Doing the latter only works for so long until the well is dry.

I agree with that, except the latter has worked for SO LONG!!!! I don't see the well as ever drying up. In your eyes, the content of the $30 product makes the $60 product good.....I agree. In the eyes of the majority gamer, Madden is Madden....an automatic buy, whether HC is incorporated or not. If EA wanted to make the best product HC would never exist. There would've been a "team" working on the HC product that would've been incorporated into Madden right off the bat. Instead, they saw the Franchise portion as another way to make an additional profit.

[TDKing]

...all that with an online mode