NCAA's Broken Dynasty Mode -- Another reason we need a revolution - RaychelSnr's Blog

RaychelSnr's Blog

NCAA's Broken Dynasty Mode -- Another reason we need a revolution

Posted on July 27, 2010 at 02:26 PM.

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As many of you may know already -- and if you don't it's ok I'm about to enlighten you -- NCAA's dynasty mode is horribly broken this year.

Since EA Tiburon made the decision to rate recruits lower coming into school (but yet I guess forget to work on the progression of the game), most teams end up with middle of the road talent after years 4 or 5. It's like all of the football talent in America dries up after this year and all you are left with are a bunch of players rated in the 70s. I did a sim to see how bad it was and my Oklahoma Sooners went from a team with A ratings to a team with C+ ratings, yet they still won the Big XII in Year 7 with that kind of talent. Mostly because Texas had slipped to a team with C-s across the board. Baylor actually was rated as D+ (roughly where such powerhouses as UL Monroe and Western Kentucky lie today).

To me -- this just shows how horribly stale Dynasty mode is in NCAA.

It's a lot like how the signs that we are running out of cheap and easy to extract oil become rather evident when companies are having to resort to drilling thousands of feet down underneath a mile of water already. In the same way, the signs that this version of dynasty mode are running it's course (now going on 13 years) are abundant everywhere. NCAA's developers are having to resort to new tricks to keep the mode fresh which are starting to really hurt the mode's quality in more ways than one. People I have talked to hate the new recruiting system anyways, and then you add in the broken ratings coming in to keep users' teams from being too good, and you see the risks really aren't paying off.

So what does the NCAA team do from here? In this guys' opinion they go back to the drawing board and figure out how to recreate dynasty mode -- and I have the answer right here: You are the coach.

That's right, rebuild dynasty mode as a simulation of what's it's like to be a coach in one of the best sports in the world. College football is built around coaches personalities and programs more than it is players, so Dynasty mode should be about coaches.

You should be able to start dynasty mode with career goals such as win more National Championships than Bear Bryant or win more overall games than Joe Paterno did. And for those achievement freaks -- there should be big time rewards for doing these things.

This would go along with you having a real coaches market where you have to hire and fire coordinators and whatnot. Each coordinator would have ratings which effect player progression and a system which would determine your playbook. This coaches market would also include your coordinators getting offers to go coach elsewhere and also you getting offers as well. Each school has different budgets, which you set at the beginning of the year to pay your coordinators as well as to set towards recruiting. These are all real decisions coaches have to make to keep their program in check.

And EA Sports' can set up a website with a NCAA Football 12 Coaches Hall of Fame, showcasing players best careers in their hall. Shoot, set up a competition or two and give away from free swag towards the players who compete and complete some career goals over time.

And dare I say it, you could even set up historical challenges where the year is 1947 and your name is Bud Wilkinson and you are now in charge of the Oklahoma Sooners. You have 13 years to complete certain challenges which would match what Bud did (win 47 in a row, win 3 national championships, go 131 - 13 -3 overall). And what about a Bill Snyder challenge at Kansas State? How cool would that mode be?

It just takes a little imagination EA. Revamp dynasty mode, we beg you.

Viva la revolution NCAA'ers.

Chris is the Executive Editor of Operation Sports and maintains this blog on the site. He is also a native Oklahoman and avid storm chaser. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisSnr.

Comments

# 1 robbiedizzle @ Jul 27

Why would casual fans buy those accelerators if the recruits came in worth anything?

# 2 moneyofthedead @ Jul 27

it needs work yes, but tis not that bad. I like the new system

# 3 dmbrown81 @ Jul 27

I've been suggesting this for the last 8 years for the revamping of the dynasty mode. The perfect example of what I would like to see is the 2k College hoops series. But I would take a little bit further: You start off as an Offensive or Defensive coordinator. And while you are a coordinator you have a limited playbook (that can be expanded as you meet certain goals) and only control that side of the ball. And as you advance you eventually land a head coaching job where you can influence both sides of the ball.

# 4 boritter @ Jul 27

A little to dramatic. All they need to do is increase the AWR rating and dynasty mode will be fixed.

# 5 bigpimpin4 @ Jul 27

most people who hate the dynasty mode can't recruit. i am not saying that the new system is perfect because its far from that but I am saying they did make it better. i feel like a patch to make the recruits a little better would be great. I just don't understand why people want to make the dynasty mode like NFL HEAD Coach game??? If you wanna be a big team head coach quit your real job and start coaching. It wouldn't work for online dynasty because it would be to much to do for users. You can't make ncaa more real life with hiring and firing coaches and making as detailed as real life because it will become very boring. make it quick and simple like they have it now. they have made big steps but they just need to improve what they have. to the people who want the head coach mode or whatever do you own the NFL Head Coach game? to me it got boring after a hour. I would never want a game like that ever again. just my opinion

# 6 jyoung @ Jul 27

I like the "Be a Coach" angle.

College Hoops 2K8 went that route, and I still think it has the best offline dynasty in any console sports game.

# 7 BaylorBearBryant @ Jul 27

That's pretty much what I do already. I edit myself as the coacch and start with a 1* team. Work my way up to a 6*. I try to win accolades along the way.

# 8 Ryn Vintage1986 @ Jul 27

I like the coach idea, but it's unlikely anything will change on that front. We should at least commend NCAA on what they have done.
Us dynasty folk have been ignored by NCAA's increasingly curmudgeon sister developers at Madden, who again have tabled any improvement to their 'franchise' gameplay to next year at the earliest. NCAA tried something, and sans a broken AWR rating, it came out pretty impressive for the experiment that it was.
Even if you're swinging for the fences, a line drive single isn't bad.

# 9 Ryn Vintage1986 @ Jul 27

P.S.
From the early impressions, Madden is absolutely brutal this year. I have no dog in the fight as an NBA 2K and NHL guy, but the early returns are that the Madden Demo is at best underwhelming, and at worst Madden 2006 Pt. 2 as far as innovation and progress are concerned.

# 10 Hooe @ Jul 27

I'm confused. Player ratings are not where they should be and that makes the mode "stale"? I think you're trying to prove a point about apples by talking about oranges.

If you are going to make an argument about a game being stale, you need to address the actual mechanics of the game and how tired they may be. For example, the core football gameplay (where the most time is spent), which most everyone has thoroughly lauded, or recruiting interface, which EA changed this year, and I think for the better. Or the Dynasty Wire in Online Dynasty, which is a very underrated addition.

You may have a point about something, and I want coaches to matter more as much as the next guy, but I don't think this article effectively argues that NCAA is "stale."

# 11 statum71 @ Jul 27

Not a deal breaker for me. I don't go too far into years with my dynasty. But this does need fixing.

# 12 RaychelSnr @ Jul 27

@srudoff: I probably didn't make that clear, but of course you'd be working off a set budget handed to you. Thus at Alabama you'd have a much higher budget than at uab so you could hire better/more experienced coaches and have a higher recruiting budget. Each coordinator could have a recruiting rating too, so just as in real life you have to assign them to certain players and whatnot. You'd be cutting corners with no pos. Coaches....but that's a necessary evil to keep the game from getting too deep.

# 13 RaychelSnr @ Jul 27

@ryn: I've said it many times ea nailed the gameplay in NCAA 11. I've even called it (many times) the best playing football game ever. However, folks who have read my blog since it's inception know I've been calling for a dynasty mode reset since I started the blog in 2008. I say ea makes just very minor tweaks for the gameplay and does something wijth dynasty mode like I'm talking about here for next year, just mho but they could then start really making noise for NCAA 13 and beyond.

# 14 RaychelSnr @ Jul 27

@boritter: I'd hardly call a mode fixed that's been essentially the same for 13 years. There have been minor changes such as deemphasizing the coach aspect...but the modes problems are simply that the system has to be redone to keep forward progress going.

# 15 superjew887 @ Jul 27

Reading this made me want to cry in joy...ironically. I'm extremely happy to see a prominent OS writer address this dreadful issue in a well written article. Hopefully this is the 'kick' EA needs to release an acceptable patch...here's to hopin'

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