Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

[GiantBlue76]

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I cant lie tho, LM looks like it does fill a void in the game and will def make it better. i thought about trying an ofranch using LM, but then when i thought bout how easy ncaa dyn is to run without the need for 3rd party sites, it just seemed like more of a headache than i felt like i should have to deal with when im paying $60. no other game in my library makes me have to use a 3rd party site to complete the experience.

While I am a fan of league manager, this is 100% true. It is still a headache, because Madden, ultimately, is not designed to work with League Manager. Your league members have to learn how to use a 3rd party tool and you have to be sure guys don't make moves using the console outside of the tool.

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funny thing is ive been on OS since like '08, so ive seen my fair share of EA practices since this developer interaction had started. they hype, under deliver, then make excuses as to why its unfinished, untuned, or things didnt even make the cut. its a crazy cycle.

No one was a bigger fan of EA sports years ago than I was. They could do no wrong. Once they got successful and ultimately got the exclusive rights, this statement above is 100% accurate in terms of what they do. Like I said in a post long ago, success breeds arrogance and the feeling that it's the customer who doesn't know what they are talking about. I sat back during much of Madden 10's dev cycle and watched on here as the developers gushed over all of the guys praising them for coming on here. When you let them know about the negatives and things that absolutely needed to be fixed (in a mature manner), you got excuses, you got brushed aside or you got told that "you just don't understand how hard it is to do that".

Quote:

the video above is very telling. "you've clamored for it, emailed us, tweeted, blogged, etc". so now all of a sudden theres no interest for it so its really not important or worthy of fixing and getting dev attention? but without an ounce of fan feedback or "importance" and totally going against their own reasoning, they give dev time to create MUT, 3vs3 online, and now online communities?? 3 new things that nobody cared about?? but then when madden 13 hype starts, theyll be first in line for the ofranch "its important and we're gonna go big" train...totally forgetting and glazing right over their own stance that its not worth it just a few months ago. wool-pulling at its finest...but they wont be pulling that wool over my eyes. if the game is good ill buy it no doubt. but just cuz im buying doesnt mean im a fool and forget what was told to me, so i along with others who are paying attention will immediately see this for exactly what it is...more EA BS which contributes to the negative way alot of ppl feel about the company.

The interest is still there. More even. However, the level of disappointment was so high that many folks decided not to use it. That is a fact, not an opinion. It's not all about leagues either. There are plenty of us out there that just want to play an online franchise with a few of our friends. It's 2011 and you can't do that in Madden, but you can do it in NCAA?

I'm not saying online communities is a bad idea at all. It's a good idea and it's a good feature (at least on paper). However, it's ridiculous how we have to sacrifice one feature for another. Not to mention, you still don't have proper player movement, momentum and foot planting from a gameplay side. I still have to have rules in my league about using the left stick in the open field because players can cut on a dime. However, we DO have online communities and Madden trading cards.

[MMurda]

thanks tazdevil...we eye to eye on alot of stuff. yea i like the idea of online communities on paper as u said. but who are we kidding...we know its mainly like a clan hub and they allow sliders and rule sets to change if u launch games from there, and it keeps all ur stats isolated and under that hub that u play in. if i got madden, dont think for a minute i wouldnt try and get into the OS island and play there to have some good games with like minded ppl. while thats cool and all, after awhile i'd be bored.

i want the deeper experience, not just play a bunch of ranked gms that once their done, mean nothing but a leaderboard mark which ill never care about. communities unfortunately does nothing to help ppl who want to have a long term experience that mimics running a franchise against your friends and take that quest to try and get that superbowl ring. its 2011, why are we still stuck in the online feature set from 2004 plus 3vs3. kinda sad.

[kbmnm247]

Find it funny that TNT nor anyone else commented on the fact that it's pretty safe to say the first 40 million games played online wouldn't be online franchise games for obvious reasons. Did they ever take a look at the % after the first 40 million games?!

[TNT713]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

Find it funny that TNT nor anyone else commented on the fact that it's pretty safe to say the first 40 million games played online wouldn't be online franchise games for obvious reasons. Did they ever take a look at the % after the first 40 million games?!

I'm sure they have checked the numbers since the original figures were announced and used the information they gleaned to fine tune the path for Madden 12 and 13.

EA's guys aren't lazy or stupid like we often see them portrayed... But they are a business who is concerned about the best impact for the dollars they invest in their product.

There are NO DOUBTS that Communities will revolutionize the way the majority of us play Madden AND we have been asking for them since Madden 2003.

Later

[TNT713]

Quote: Originally Posted by Clonefan84

I just don't understand why you would be making that "one and only point" People are not playing online franchise mode not because it's not popular. People aren't playing it because it's not good. Jerryrice is right, it has become nothing more than a multi-season league. There is absolutely nothing in there that even makes it worth calling a franchise. No salaries, no pre-season, nothing. It's just a league that follows the real life schedule that has rosters that users are free to do with whatever they please. Guess my point it sure, no one was playing online franchise last year, I understand that. But maybe if they actually made it deep and much like the offline version, then people would play it. It's really why hardly anyone played online franchises here on OS. Because no one wanted to do all that crazy extra work. It's something EA needs to have done in game. NCAA was able to do it, I just don't understand why Madden can't either.

Don't misunderstand me... I believe you are 100% correct. If Online Franchise were better, it would certainly account for more games played.

But that brings me back to the "one and only point."

Would-be Online Franchise players think 3 years is a long time to wait. Since Madden 2003 we have been asking for something resembling Online Communities. Practically every Madden message board ever since is the result of EA having NOT provided this feature. 9-years later, this portion gets some development attention.

So...

Should you develop something that consumers have wanted for almost a decade and will please half of your customers?

I think they made the right choice.

Later

[kbmnm247]

What were you missing before that you are now getting with Communities? Stat tracking and sliders for online games?

[dkp23]

Quote: Originally Posted by TNT713

Would-be Online Franchise players think 3 years is a long time to wait. Since Madden 2003 we have been asking for something resembling Online Communities. Practically every Madden message board ever since is the result of EA having NOT provided this feature. 9-years later, this portion gets some development attention.

Ever since nfl2k5 came out with online franchise, every single year all i see on the boards was why madden couldnt put that in the game. The finally it was put into the game everybody was excited until everyone realized that it was a half @$$ attempt at online franchise. Didnt ian or some guys said they will focus on improving over the next two years as they didnt have enough time to make a full featured system for m10?

I havent been with the boards that long, but since i've been on the boards i consistently see the request for a full featured online franchise and also saw how upset everyone got when they found out the online chise had nothing new the last two years. I mean this thread is about how online franchise got screwed and everybody is pissed. I dont remember ever seeing everyone requesting a "community " type feature other than being able play a franchise and manage a franchise online with friends and others. I think that was the community people were referring to. Not a carved out version of play now.

The communities will not be much different than play now other than sliders, not sure how the experience will be different. People will join communities, people will play games against random people and people will resort to cheap tactics to pad their stats. That is the nature of the beast and communities will only carve out a piece of what goes on in normal ranked games. If anybody thinks that putting together a community of "SIM" players will change their experience, guess again as a lot of sim players resort to cheap tactics for a win....

[CRMosier_LM]

Quote: Originally Posted by MMurda

its all good...i def didnt see him as personally bashing me. the facts speak for themselves tho. and i do believe he's behind that League Manager stuff, so its no suprise he's cool about EA half stepping. I cant lie tho, LM looks like it does fill a void in the game and will def make it better. i thought about trying an ofranch using LM, but then when i thought bout how easy ncaa dyn is to run without the need for 3rd party sites, it just seemed like more of a headache than i felt like i should have to deal with when im paying $60. no other game in my library makes me have to use a 3rd party site to complete the experience. funny thing is ive been on OS since like '08, so ive seen my fair share of EA practices since this developer interaction had started. they hype, under deliver, then make excuses as to why its unfinished, untuned, or things didnt even make the cut. its a crazy cycle. the video above is very telling. "you've clamored for it, emailed us, tweeted, blogged, etc". so now all of a sudden theres no interest for it so its really not important or worthy of fixing and getting dev attention? but without an ounce of fan feedback or "importance" and totally going against their own reasoning, they give dev time to create MUT, 3vs3 online, and now online communities?? 3 new things that nobody cared about?? but then when madden 13 hype starts, theyll be first in line for the ofranch "its important and we're gonna go big" train...totally forgetting and glazing right over their own stance that its not worth it just a few months ago. wool-pulling at its finest...but they wont be pulling that wool over my eyes. if the game is good ill buy it no doubt. but just cuz im buying doesnt mean im a fool and forget what was told to me, so i along with others who are paying attention will immediately see this for exactly what it is...more EA BS which contributes to the negative way alot of ppl feel about the company. oh well, it is what it is. i dont like what EA dishes up, i dont buy. simple as that. if im somehow part of the problem as he stated earlier, then so be it. my $60 will go to a deserving game whos pushing the bar and trying to innovate...not giving me excuses as to why we're still catching up to old gen games. Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, Gears3, RAGE, MW3, Uncharted 3, etc etc.

I do apologize, that may have been taken wrong. I meant that as a generalization about the people who say that not necessarily you specifically. And no we are not "happy" or "cool" with online franchise not being touched. We fully anticipated online franchise mode getting some love and had plans for our stuff to go along with that assumption. i do enjoy working with people when it comes to Madden but it puts a huge amount of pressure on us. I don't like the fact that it didn't get worked on but once we understood the reason why basically said "it is what it is and we have to make do with that for now". And that is the approach we want everyone to take with it. Whether you play an online franchise as it is out of the box or have to use a 3rd party web tool to keep it interesting... we just want the game mode played and played on a huge level to justify the need to upgrade it. I can tell you that the goal for the devs at the end of the day is to have one mode for offline and online franchise that are one in the same. Hopefully that comes this year.

I can only go by what I'm told and I know that increased use in the game mode will help us all accomplish our goal of having a full, robust, and engrossing online franchise mode.