Player Progression in Dynasty

[Robcards]

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised with how this game played after all of the things I found wrong in the demo. Having said that, I don't think I'd be too happy if I payed more than $35 dollars for this game and I am returning it as soon as Madden comes out and this is the main reason why. The player progression is completely busted this year, and I am surprised there isn't a thread dedicated to this issue.

In an undocumented change, players actually have their ratings go up quite a bit during the season this year (as opposed to MAYBE going up 1 OVR point in years past), BUT they didn't touch the offseason progression to counter it at all. Also, the in-season player progression doesn't appear to be influenced at all by the player's actual performance (I've had bench players go up 5 OVR points in a season). To me, that is broken, and why I simply can't play a dynasty past the first season, and why the game has little to no replay value IMO. I first noticed this when I got to year 2 of my South Carolina OD and Dylan Thompson, my backup QB in year 1, and who was 89 OVR at the start of the dynasty, was a ridiculous 99 OVR rated player in year 2.

The progression system in this game is quite prehistoric and desperately needs an overhaul in the worst way. Here are some of my ideas on what they should do:

• Players should gain more attributes the younger they are, a true freshman should improve much more than a RS Junior going to his 5th year of eligibility. 18 year olds aren't at their physical peak yet and the game should reflect that, and HS coaches aren't going to teach the game to them as well as FBS level coaches will, so their intangibles should go up dramatically in their first year as well. Such an obvious change I have no idea why it still isn't reflected in the game yet.
• Coaches should have specializations so that certain positions gain more benefit than others.
• How much a player plays and how well they perform should have some form of effect (albeit not a huge effect) on how much they progress. If two sophomore QBs on the same team are 80 OVR, maybe the one who starts and performs well goes up to 86 while the backup only goes up to 83 or 84.
• There should be progression during the season, but the combined progression should never be more than +10 OVR (and this should only be for true freshman going to their 2nd year who didn't redshirt, and who started and performed well), while most players will still go up about +4 total, and RS Juniors going to their 5th year of eligibility should hardly progress at all.
• Offseason improvements should be something like:
  +4-6 OVR going into 2nd year (i.e. what it is now)
  +3-5 OVR going into 3rd year
  +1-3 OVR going into 4th year
  +0-2 OVR going into 5th year

What do you all think? Personally, the gameplay could be phenomenal and all of the issues and silly things the AI does could be fixed, but if progression doesn't get some work, I don't see how I'd play NCAA 15 for more than a month either.

[mjavon]

Yeah, it's awful. Has been for years. I would much rather see the occasional superstar recruit come out of high school at 88 overall but only progress to 93 or 94 in his career. I'd also like to see a walk-on given the chance to become an elite player if he performs well. If I had it my way, I'd do away with the whole offseason training thing and have players progress based on their performance only. Younger backups would only progress by 1 or 2 during the season while starters (if they play well) could make leaps and bounds.

[Haze88]

Quote: Originally Posted by mjavon

Yeah, it's awful. Has been for years. I would much rather see the occasional superstar recruit come out of high school at 88 overall but only progress to 93 or 94 in his career. I'd also like to see a walk-on given the chance to become an elite player if he performs well. If I had it my way, I'd do away with the whole offseason training thing and have players progress based on their performance only. Younger backups would only progress by 1 or 2 during the season while starters (if they play well) could make leaps and bounds.

Or better yet just bring back the old drills and spring game from last gen's games to determine off-season progression

[canesfins]

How about add a potential rating to every recruit? Idk just as long as they do something about it.

[StoneCalf]

Quote: Originally Posted by canesfins

How about add a potential rating to every recruit? Idk just as long as they do something about it.

I've had a "potential" attribute on my mind lately too, as I've been compiling a '15 wishlist. Basically how I'd like to see progression improved would be dynamic progression, that would be a formula based on minutes played, on the field performance, and scaled improvement according to his potential rating.

Oh, and I second the suggestion to bring back spring drills. I loved how the drills interjected some actual gameplay fun into the offseason, and gave the user more control of player progression.

[Scrollbar]

I was told progression was good this season and not spiralling out of control with 10 powerhouse teams in 3-5 seasons.

I think your beef is how progression is done, it's more random. The way you typed this up you're suggesting that by 2018 there's 5-6 Alabamas

[BBallcoach]

Ive never seen a guy go up 5 in season, but off season is ridiculous.

[BBallcoach]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrollbar

I was told progression was good this season and not spiralling out of control with 10 powerhouse teams in 3-5 seasons. I think your beef is how progression is done, it's more random. The way you typed this up you're suggesting that by 2018 there's 5-6 Alabamas

there will be. If you get an 80 overall as a frosh and redshirt him.. guaranteed 99 it seems