Madden 15 is out August 26th!

[OGpistolpete]

When I scout I save my points until the end of the season, then just reveal the development stat on a few guys.

I've been trying to figure out my scouting strategy, and with my Raiders franchise I am now saving all of my points for the end of the season because it's easier to allocate them in bulk it would seem, and my needs change during the season. Revealing development stats is a good tip though, because that is definitely very important to their value over future seasons.

[Toe]

That and scheme fit are pretty much all I look at.

In my draft with the Raiders, I found a Tampa 2 CB projected to go early second round with superstar development. I traded my first pick down twice before drafting him late in the second. After the preseason, he was already rated 84 and second on my depth chart.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Toe

[OGpistolpete]

So the the worst Super Bowl on paper just turned into an epic loss for me. Still the Raiders, I destroyed the Texans in the AFC Championship and it's the Packers waiting for me in the Super Bowl, with Aaron Rodgers on IR with a dislocated ankle, and guess who as their starter: MATT FLYNN. I lost MJD in the AFC championship game too, so that sucked. McFadden got wrecked my first few running plays and Green Bay's defense off the bat was applying a lot of pressure on me. So I responded with a ridiculous passing game. Derek Carr threw one touchdown and four interceptions, before I finally really let the guns fly and was within a touchdown at the half. My defense really dropped the ball, giving up a 78-yard touchdown catch to Cobb to end the third quarter, putting GB up 24-10, but I responded with a complete drive down the field, finding Greg Little to bring it within a touchdown again. GB gets a field goal off my fifth interception, but I didn't give up and drove down the field for another scoring drive. I was able to score a second touchdown off a few big plays and horrible pass coverage by GB, finding James Jones on a drag route where he ran it right up the middle for a 29-yard touchdown pass. This game GB like 4 minutes left, and they failed on their drive. I got the ball back, and the running game was going no where once again, so in a 3rd and 9 situation, I threw a pass to Moore on the left side in a curl route and of course this motherfucker intercepts me for the third time in the game! He runs back and puts GB in field goal range, where they go up by three points. This gives me one last drive that's looking good, but of course I try to force a pass when I could have taken the field goal a few downs later, and throw another interception to end the game.

Can't say I didn't do it to myself. Oh well.

[Toe]

I started as Buffalo, and for the first time in Madden 15 I can see myself struggling to throw - EJ just isn't accurate enough to prevent at least a few interceptions. Still, he has the arm to throw it deep.

[apsham]

Someone was saying this was the most user friendly football game to date. Is that true? I love to play football games from time to time but I never really understand what I'm doing.

[Cole]

Someone was saying this was the most user friendly football game to date. Is that true? I love to play football games from time to time but I never really understand what I'm doing.

I don't know about "user friendly" while playing each game; but there are an extensive amount of tutorials available to pretty much teach you everything you need to know about football and the control system. The full tutorial and levels may take up to an hour or more but if you're an inexperienced player or lack general football knowledge, it's a huge help.

The different skill options all vary on how much help you get from the AI as well in terms of what your controlled player does. I'd say overall they've made it a lot easy for inexperience madden/football gamers to just pick up and play, regardless of tutorials, etc.

[Schlitzbrille]

So, regarding Franchise, can I watch my team's games without playing? That bugged the hell out of me last year.

[munky]

So, regarding Franchise, can I watch my team's games without playing? That bugged the hell out of me last year.

I don't think so, no.

[apsham]

Someone was saying this was the most user friendly football game to date. Is that true? I love to play football games from time to time but I never really understand what I'm doing.

I don't know about "user friendly" while playing each game; but there are an extensive amount of tutorials available to pretty much teach you everything you need to know about football and the control system. The full tutorial and levels may take up to an hour or more but if you're an inexperienced player or lack general football knowledge, it's a huge help.

The different skill options all vary on how much help you get from the AI as well in terms of what your controlled player does. I'd say overall they've made it a lot easy for inexperience madden/football gamers to just pick up and play, regardless of tutorials, etc.

My issue last year was.. I watched the tutorials and they said stuff like "to do a JARGON I DON'T UNDERSTAND" and they pretty much left me going.. huh? I heard that the playbook this year bot only gives you the best play for the situation, but also tells you WHY it was picked.

[alldaws1]

There are coach suggestions, yeah. They are based on what the defensive team generally chooses (ie. Cowboys usually call blitz in this situation, so you should run play x), community picks (what players online generally choose and what kind of success rate they have in this situation) and favourite plays that you run a lot. It also tells you how many times you've run a play and how successful they are on average although I'm not sure whether this works completely well, I've had a couple which say an average of -60 odd yards.

Really improved for newcomers to football I think although I guess it's kind of hard to judge if you're not new to it. Like Cole said, though, the skills trainer, especially where it explains various coverages and ways to beat them is really good.

[Adam]

Has there been any news on an offline CFM patch yet? I know there's been a lot of issues with Owner mode's finance side in regards to signing Free Agents and even players already on own teams due to budgets, and the sim stats seem to be off. I'm having a lot of fun playing the game but wanted to do an Owner Mode CFM. For now I'm content doing Coach Mode with the Cards though, the gameplay is a lot of fun this year against AI and human users.

[TCO]

Anybody else find the CPU controlled QBs to be ridiculously accurate this year? I lost to the Cardinals on All-Pro in franchise mode and Palmer finished on 90% pass completion. It was just one completion after another, the only bit of success I had was user picking him once when he threw under pressure.

[The Buscher]

The CPU QB accuracy is a known issue. And even tweaking the CPU Passing Accuracy slider doesn't do much, they're either pinpoint accurate or they can't come close to completing a pass. No middle ground.

The QB regression is insane in this game. Peyton just retired in the 2015-16 offseason which now leaves Rodgers and Wilson as the only QBs in the league rated over a 90. Even guys who are still young like Cam Newton are already down to the low 80s. And once you hit age 30 you lose about 10 points a year.

[Meacon Keaton]

I drafted a 20 year-old quarterback with a 3 in development, and I'm in the second season, he's 21, and he's 99 overall.

[Adam]

I don't think I've played a game against the CPU yet where the starting QB has had a completion stat below 77%. Mainly it's above 85 too, and I've put the slider down below 40.

[TCO]

I put it down to 45 and there still accurate but I notice they hold the ba for longer, exposing themselves to sacks more often than not.

Weird!

[Cole]

It helps to actually tweak the whole entire slider system and not just say, CPU QB accuracy or other things start messing up. At least that's what I've noticed from my experience years ago, just started playing with full slider sets on operationsports. Haven't had the chance to get a set going for this game yet as I got wrapped up in NHL a few weeks ago. Gonna try the All-Pro set and All-Madden set I found and start a franchise with them.

[OGpistolpete]

I do wish there was an easy "reset formation" button in terms of subs. Managing personnel makes the game much more interesting and challenging, especially when your players are tired all the time, but having to switch people back before you can choose your next play really makes it more of a hassle than anything. Right now I'm playing on some guy's Franchise mode, All-Madden sliders and boy are things much more difficult than they were before. Running the ball is harder than ever. I started a franchise with the Lions and Stafford throws like shit half of the time. But hey, more interesting than default All-Madden.

EDIT: And the Panthers defense is insane. Their pass rush is brutal.

EDIT 2: YOU CANNOT ESCAPE KUECHLY

Edited September 23, 2014 by OGpistolpete

[alldaws1]

I think rushing the passer is just far too easy this year. Despite missing 5 games with injury, I had Anthony Spencer smash the sack record with 37.

[OGpistolpete]

I think rushing the passer is just far too easy this year. Despite missing 5 games with injury, I had Anthony Spencer smash the sack record with 37.

With sliders?