[Madden NFL 13] Broshaming is not cool, bro.

Tiger Burning

Bros,

The most successful cRPG franchise of all time has released its latest iteration. As always, you build a unique team of characters to do highly stylized real time combat against other teams.

New to this edition is the Infinity Engine. Rather than scripted animations, the players' pieces and parts are all modeled, allowing for SHOCKINGLY REALISTIC renderings of character interactions.

And while in previous versions character progression was handled automatically, now players build up xp based on individual and team performance, which is then spent to improve individual characteristics. This allows for UNPRECEDENTED CUSTOMIZATION and stat-obsessive nerdery. Min-maxers rejoice.

So let's bro it up.

LEAGUES


New coaches can join anytime.

PS3

Name: Penny Arcade
Pass: wang

This will be a chill league for chill bros. The goal will be to keep things moving and advance every few days, ready or not. Coaches can drop out, join, or switch teams anytime. TOTALLY CHILL. The Glorious Edict will be in effect for all league interactions. Don't be a dick.

NOTE: In past Maddens it was possible to completely abuse the computer by trading draft picks, eventually collecting multiple first round picks every year because the computer teams would systematically over-value your picks and under-value their own. I don't know if that's possible in this year's version, and I don't want to micromanage anybody, but if we could keep such abuse to something only mildly ridiculous I think it would be better.

Teams

Giants - gundam470 - @gundam470
Chiefs – the-K-flash - @kuhlmeye
Bengals – TigerBurning - @Tiger Burning
Packers - dazangeddoe - @BathTubb
Vikings - forwardsboxers - @Disrupter
Dolphins - - @Goose!

Bro Box (See next post.)

(@Veevee, Comissioner)
Name: Penny Arcade
Pass: joystick (wang was restricted)

Veevee

Created a league on 360.

Name: Penny Arcade
Pass: joystick (wang was restricted)

All-Pro difficulty, Speed set to Slow, sliders are set to default currently. All advances will be done after Midnight central of the scheduled advance day. The advance schedule will be every Sunday and Thursday, but if all games but if all games are played before the scheduled advance it will be advanced early

Teams - Gamertag - Forum Name
Oakland - Veevee Von Vore - @Veevee
San Fran - y2jake215 - @y2jake215
Denver - lankyplonker - @Moleface
Tampa Bay - Pastalonius - @Zombie Hero
Seattle - Maltese Pig - @Eat it You Nasty Pig
Miami - NOTMEEKIN - @ANTVGM64
New York (G) - RAIJINQ - @Raijin Quickfoot
New York (J) - MaximumJ49 - @Maximum
Green Bay - Skull2185 - @Skull2185
Pittsburg - Ken0823 - @Kathelgan
Kansas City - t3hgame331 - @t3hgame331

Tenex

Signed up and ready to go! (on the PS3)

Disrupter

ohh nice. Ill try to join the PS3 league. First year ive bought madden in like 4 years. Because it looks like they actually made a new game instead of a roster update.

Veevee

.

Zombie Hero

Im actually thinking about picking this up, not having played a madden game since snes. How terrible are the bucs in this? How big are team disparities (Can the rams beat the packers, etc.)?

Veevee

if your playing the computer, you can beat any team with any team since it's easy to trick the computer into being retarded. Against a human it can be more difficult, but not impossible to beat any team with any other team.

It's a great year to pick up madden for the first time in a while, the gameplay is pretty great compared to previous years

Tiger Burning

I'll give the PS3 league a week or so before I hit start. But if folks want to join the league in progress they should absolutely feel free. chill.

Also, I thought that supersim had been removed, but it turns out it was just in a different place. Nice.

Veevee

I started the 360 league and it's currently sitting on week 1 of the preseason. I will advance it to week 2 on the 16th and hopefully every sunday afterwards. And like Tiger, people are also welcome to join while in progress.

ANTVGM64

Is it too late to join the league VeeVee?

Also I've been playing this pretty religiously and throwing more INTs then I can count. Okay, I can. 26 in 14 games. don't judge me.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

can somebody give me a quick rundown of what's new in 13? I've read negative stuff about changes to the franchise mode, but no real deets other than that franchise redraft is gone

Tiger Burning

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

can somebody give me a quick rundown of what's new in 13? I've read negative stuff about changes to the franchise mode, but no real deets other than that franchise redraft is gone

The gameplay engine is completely new, and uses rag doll physics rather than canned animations. It keeps the gameplay feeling fresh and more natural, although it also results in sometimes hilarious bugs. Running the ball, in particular, feels much better and more realistic in this year's game.

Franchise and Superstar modes have been replaced with Connected Career Mode. If you choose to be a coach then it is the same as franchise mode except for the following:

- No fantasy draft, like you mentioned (I miss it too)

- Player progression is done using an experience point system. Players and coaches earn experience points by achieving a variety of individual and team based goals, each week and for the season as a whole. The goals are the kind of things you expect. You can assign them manually to improve individual player attributes or let the computer assign them automatically. You can assign them each week or wait and save them up.

- Each week you have the option of doing a practice session, which drops you into a game scenario (e.g. down by 6 with 3 minutes left and the ball on your 20). If you complete the scenario successfully you get a chunk of xp for your coach and for all of your players. The amount varies with the length and difficulty of the scenario.

- Scouting college players is much improved. Now you get a set number of scouting points each week during the season and can spend it to reveal individual attributes (or even the Overall rating). You can spend a little to reveal the letter grade of the rating, and then have the option of spending more to reveal the actual number rating.

-Trading is better, as computer teams will actually make offers for your players during the season

-Re-signing players happens as the season goes on, and low-balling players can result in them refusing to negotiate further. You can use the franchise tag now.

Overall I love the new "franchise mode". There are a lot of new systems, and it's still rough around the edges in places, but there is a lot more depth here.


Cons:

The computer AI is pretty terrible. Even worse than normal. I haven't bumped it up to all-madden yet, but after a couple games all-pro offered no challenge. This may be improved in a patch, but who knows.

example: During a practice session, the computer, down by 1 point, got a first down on my 5 yard line with like 20 seconds left. It then used hurry-up to get into a spike ball formation and let the clock run. I was really impressed, thinking that the AI was going to run the clock down, spike the ball, then kick a field goal for the win. Clock ticks down to 5 seconds, and.. the computer uses its last time out. Huh. Ok, well I guess it doesn't matter. The clock is stopped regardless and now the com.. wait, that's not a field goal formation! Computer runs off tackle for no gain. Clock runs out. :?

ANTVGM64

It's largely what you make of it, Eat it, The Franchsie has some interesting stuff but a lot of the new features boil down into spreadsheets and micromanaging progression / scouting. After the second year you'll probably automate it. That said, the gameplay itself is awesome, and the Ultimate Team is a CCG for the nerd in all of us.

This is a review I wrote if you want something a bit more in depth.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

I actually like that stuff. I was more worried they'd taken it out in favor of the 'career mode' of previous years, but it sounds like they just made it more detailed

the lack of franchise redraft is weird (they seem to leave out some longstanding feature or other every year), but it isn't a dealbreaker for me

Veevee

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

Is it too late to join the league VeeVee?

Also I've been playing this pretty religiously and throwing more INTs then I can count. Okay, I can. 26 in 14 games. don't judge me.

Go right ahead. The more we can get the better. Just pick a team and play the first preseason game by the 16th.

Zombie Hero

I will be joining sometime over the weekend, or monday. If the bucs are taken by the time i get to it, I'll rep the Jags.

Edit: JOINED. Less than zero idea what im doing. Do we play games in this thing or do we just organize the teams?

beta_angel

I might join the 360 league...can you have a player in more than one league? I'm terrible at this game anyhow and have zero knowledge of sport tactics. Thusly, I will be murdered at every corner.

I'll be using the Packers if they're available. If not, I will find another team that is not the Lions, Bears or Vikings.

ANTVGM64

Yeah you can create a player or a coach.

moleface

Signed up to the 360 league as the Broncos!

gundam470

Signed up in the PS3 league as Tom Coughlin and the Giants because someone picked the Niners already

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

I'll probably pick this up tomorrow, and then I'll be in the xbl league

hell maybe I'll even buy a mic

ANTVGM64

Hey, what are the odds of getting a facebook fan page set up to manage the leauge? I think the online manager for connected careers lets you do that. It'd probably be easier to meet and arrange games there!

ANTVGM64

Hey, what are the odds of getting a facebook fan page set up to manage the leauge? I think the online manager for connected careers lets you do that. It'd probably be easier to meet and arrange games there!

Veevee

I'll see what I can do after college football today

kuhlmeye

Just picked this up on ps3.ill probably join the league tonight or tomorrow.

Tiger Burning

Awesome. There's a blurb about Chris Kluwe's letter on the Madden news ticker at the bottom.

Tiger Burning

I hit start on the PS3 league. Now in preseason week 1. I want to try to advance every 3 or 4 days (or sooner if everyone has played their game). I'll post here a day in advance of advancing the league week.

There are no restrictions on new people joining the league mid-season. Just jump on in.

kuhlmeye

Cool stuff. I joined last night as the Chiefs. Looking forward to it. I think this is the first Madden I've played since... maybe ever?

ANTVGM64

If you wanna make the FB page, I'll happily maange it. I'm facebook.com/pmeekin

Also did anyone run into a "Please wait" error while trying to load their first pre-season game?

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

I joined up on xbox as the seahawks

I discovered the seahawks aren' that good

how frequently do they update the rosters? I still have TO and tavaris jackson on my team

Tiger Burning

They updated the rosters yesterday, I think. But because the league was started before then, the roster is locked in as it was, probably.

kuhlmeye

Well, I've played my game. The chiefs managed to lose to the cards 10-6 in their first preseason game. Looking forward to next week.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Tiger Burning wrote: »

They updated the rosters yesterday, I think. But because the league was started before then, the roster is locked in as it was, probably.

oh, I see, that makes sense. I downloaded the updated rosters, so I was surprised when I still had jackson.

how do trades and free agency work in the online franchise? Do we just make offers and then they resolve every week along with the schedule?

Skull2185

Well, you guys sold me on the changes to Madden 13 being substantial enough to warrant a purchase. Bought it for 360, will hit up the league

@beta_angel, I suppose you got dibs on my Packers. I'm going to go ahead and call dibs on the Redskins if no one else takes them. If digital RGIII is anything like the real deal, then I imagine they'll be easy mode.

Tiger Burning

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

Tiger Burning wrote: »

They updated the rosters yesterday, I think. But because the league was started before then, the roster is locked in as it was, probably.

oh, I see, that makes sense. I downloaded the updated rosters, so I was surprised when I still had jackson.

how do trades and free agency work in the online franchise? Do we just make offers and then they resolve every week along with the schedule?

Free agent and trade offers should resolve immediately. For trades you have to go to your "Actions" screen to see if the offer was accepted, and you can make a new offer from there. All in-season free agent signings are 1-year contracts for a fixed amount, so there's no negotiation involved.

NOTE: In past Maddens it was possible to completely abuse the computer by trading draft picks, eventually collecting multiple first round picks every year because the computer teams would systematically over-value your picks and under-value their own. I don't know if that's possible in this year's version, and I don't want to micromanage anybody, but if we could keep such abuse to something only mildly ridiculous I think it would be better.

Veevee

Just to note, I will be advancing the 360 League this sunday after I get off of work, so around 1AM Central (so technically monday morning). After that it will be advanced every Thursday and Sunday around 1AM Central, unless all games are played early then I'll advnace it as soon as I can. If there is difficulty arranging a time to play another player let me know and I can delay the advance for a day or two, but I don't want to hear any excuses for not having played against the computer.

Zombie Hero

I already play against a HUMAN. The dolphins coach should add me so we can set something up. I've yet to actually play this, should we be rotating in our bench for these games to develop them?

Tiger Burning

Zombie Hero wrote: »

I already play against a HUMAN. The dolphins coach should add me so we can set something up. I've yet to actually play this, should we be rotating in our bench for these games to develop them?

For the pre-season you don't need to. After the first quarter the computer will automatically substitute out all of your starters, if it can. (be warned, this means that it will sub in your kicker on punts, often resulting in 10-to-15-yard punts)

During the season it's up to you. All your players will benefit from some team goals, whether they play or not. But players will rack up more by achieving individual goals as well. The trade-off of playing your best players vs developing other players faster is up to you.

Practice provides a way of developing bench players too. Although it isn't stated anywhere, players get a certain amount of xp for completing practice scenarios successfully. It's a variable amount, and less than what's listed as the reward for the practice (which is what your coach gets), but all the players on your team get it, whether they participated in the practice or not. Even injured players get it.

kuhlmeye

Tiger Burning wrote: »

Zombie Hero wrote: »

I already play against a HUMAN. The dolphins coach should add me so we can set something up. I've yet to actually play this, should we be rotating in our bench for these games to develop them?

For the pre-season you don't need to. After the first quarter the computer will automatically substitute out all of your starters, if it can. (be warned, this means that it will sub in your kicker on punts, often resulting in 10-to-15-yard punts)

During the season it's up to you. All your players will benefit from some team goals, whether they play or not. But players will rack up more by achieving individual goals as well. The trade-off of playing your best players vs developing other players faster is up to you.

Practice provides a way of developing bench players too. Although it isn't stated anywhere, players get a certain amount of xp for completing practice scenarios successfully. It's a variable amount, and less than what's listed as the reward for the practice (which is what your coach gets), but all the players on your team get it, whether they participated in the practice or not. Even injured players get it.

I was wondering about that stupid punting deal. I thought it might be a bug.

Sir Carcass

I've been thinking of picking this up. I'm a big fan of the 2k games My Player mode. How close to that is the new combined thing? Can I play it like that?

gundam470

kuhlmeye wrote: »

Tiger Burning wrote: »

Zombie Hero wrote: »

I already play against a HUMAN. The dolphins coach should add me so we can set something up. I've yet to actually play this, should we be rotating in our bench for these games to develop them?

For the pre-season you don't need to. After the first quarter the computer will automatically substitute out all of your starters, if it can. (be warned, this means that it will sub in your kicker on punts, often resulting in 10-to-15-yard punts)

During the season it's up to you. All your players will benefit from some team goals, whether they play or not. But players will rack up more by achieving individual goals as well. The trade-off of playing your best players vs developing other players faster is up to you.

Practice provides a way of developing bench players too. Although it isn't stated anywhere, players get a certain amount of xp for completing practice scenarios successfully. It's a variable amount, and less than what's listed as the reward for the practice (which is what your coach gets), but all the players on your team get it, whether they participated in the practice or not. Even injured players get it.

I was wondering about that stupid punting deal. I thought it might be a bug.

Yeah that kicking/punting thing has been in Madden for as long as I can remember. I can't believe that they haven't done anything about it. I played a game against the CPU the other day where they spent the second half of a preseason game booming punts that barely made it past the line of scrimmage.

Also, I tried playing my game in the PS3 league just but it seems EA's servers are down. Will try again tomorrow.