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

# 31 Leon Sandcastle @ Jul 29

We should all make our Signature's Viva NCAA Dynasty Revolution! or something maybe that will make EA look at it or something...

# 32 jwilphl @ Jul 30

The Dynasty mode has certainly been pretty much same-old, same-old for years now. Some of the new recruiting aspects this year are nice, but the general interface and things you can actually interact with have been the same for forever. It definitely needs an overhaul of sorts. I think the problem partly is, however, that EA caters to the casual (almost mindless) fans and users. Most of the depth that would be more simulation-based is ignored due to its complexity and time-consuming qualities. Sure I don't agree with it to the extent that EA ignores hardcore fans, but you have to justify their actions somehow.

Road to Glory (Campus Legend) is just as bad anymore. This year is exactly the same as last. They ought to just start over in that department, as well, as that mode could conceivably be made extremely deep with a good deal of RPG elements. I doubt, however, that EA would ever step into that ring.

Nowadays it seems the offline modes tend to take a backseat to the multi-player and online modes. Unfortunately for me and other users who don't really do much of the online stuff, it leaves us grasping at straws. But EA has to sink their time where the money and majority is, and that seems to be with online play anymore.

Hopefully one day these career modes will be redeemed. Maybe come the next-generation of consoles when more can be accomplished? Especially with the possibility of 6TB discs.

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