I think that the OVR should change by position etc.. some pitchers would be a 95 middle relief but, a 74 starting pitcher. The Skills Icons I find helpful also

I think OVR should be removed in every sport video game. This way, there are no discussions on why is this guy better or this guy. Also, this why it makes you have players that you are effective with, not just the best overall players.

Agree with gamer23. Kill the OVR in favor of a potential system. MLB The Show has the best ratings style.

I would like to see some kind of "smart overall". For example, in a football game, a players OVR rating would be relative to how he would fit into your system. Based off things like, type of defense/offense played, coaching style, etc.

A defensive player whose specialty is zone coverage, might be a 90 for a team that plays a lot of zone and has zone-focused coaches, but might only be a 72 for a team that plays a lot of man because his talents wouldnt be shown off.

As far as Madden goes, they should try again with the player roles. Th vision was great for player weapons, but Madden, as Madden does often, only went half-way with this feature. With player roles, players ratings should be different, based on that players role.
EX: Larry Fitzgerald and DeSean Jackson are both great receivers, but their play styles re very different, Jackson being a smaller receiver, he relies more on his speed than anything, Fitzgerald is not slow by any means, but he beats defenders differently, being more of a possession+route running receiver, letting his speed help, so Madden should let you feel the difference between players show, and their playstyles should differ and their ratings should be based within that players role.

Madden has something like 50+ individual rating categories.

There is NO WAY you can possibly represent all those categories with a single, "overall" formula.

Wish they would get rid of that stuff and just go with the bronze/silver/gold tiering from Ultimate Team and bring back the weapons system from Madden 08 to help distinguish specific player skills.

Another example would be Julius Peppers, who is about to be a free agent or traded, and a couple teams looking to acquire him are 3-4 teams, and a lot of people say he won't be as effective if he has to move to LB , muck like Aaron Kampman, so his player role should be a 4-3 pass rusher, I'm sure Madden would be able to create a better name for him but that would be the basics for the player role feature, that would make him less valuable to a 4-3 team in free agency, and create even more logic to Madden's Franchise mode.

I agree. But I doubt we will see them scrapped for a while. While it would be better for the hardcore, the OVR rating gives a decent indication to the casual player who is good.

I'd like to be able to 'write' my own OVR formula's, so I could accurately rate players for what I expect out of them.

Side rant, I hate the Show's bars. If ratings are on a 1-100 scale, just show me the number. I shouldn't have to go to edit player to see ratings clearly.

Alnquisition: I TOTALLY AGREE!

I'm not kidding when I say there is no chance I will ever give the show anything higher than I did last year (9.5) until they completely revamp the franchise menus and take the ratings bar out. One huge flaw (in my opinion, other's don't share it) in an otherwise excellent package.

I also gotta say I don't know if taking the OVR out is the best thing for users, but I think summarizing the rest of the information up and revamping the OVR to be more dynamic and flexible towards certain systems you run and such might be the best option. I think developers should simplify the base level of info users get (but still be able to offer the same amount). Being able to see icons to see if someone is good at 3 point shooting or has a cannon of an arm is easier than scrolling over to that rating and checking their rating.

what i absolutely loved was the NFL Head Coach system of OVR. You had the ability to change the type of offense and defense you had, with each position having specific styles. Each style effected the OVR of your player depending on his attributes. It was awesome. With this way of rating players, you have to find players that fit your system the best, and not necessarily the biggest name.

I agree withthe people who say ovr needs to be tied to what type of system you are running when it comes to football games at least. Have QBs who are good at the pro style offfense or the spread as types or something. A QB with 55 spd isn't going to be good for some types of offenses but he could still have a 90 rating which throws off games when you sim vs when you play.

I don't like having a static number for any attribute. Each attribute rating should have a range. This way the actual number can vary. The range should be determined by how consistant a player is at each attribute.

I really really like abilities and tiers. A potential rating could serve a similar purpose. The fluctuating ratings that some games possess (namely football text sims I was checking out) is another great idea. Most guys on the field are elite athletes, it's the consistency that some have which separates them.

The tier idea would be something like APF. "My HB Reggie Bush is a gold caliber player with the speed burner, finesse moves, soft hands, and goal line dive". Love that system.