NCAA Football 09 Patch Announcement

[callmetaternuts]

Quote: Originally Posted by edaddy

You know that's a good point made by concretefire..If most of the problems are gameplay related issues why isn't EA sending a gameplay rep on these boards as opposed to OMT who basically states he is a feature guy..I mean Ea is all about the the community scene and interaction now right (lol)..so lets hear from a "gameplay guy"....

I only want to hear from a gameplay guy once, to say, this is what we are fixing and how we are doing it. Besides that, i want him, you know, ACTUALLY WORKING ON GAMEPLAY!!!!!

I will admit this, the drop fest in 05 (i think) the INT issue last year, all the stuff thats gone on, it rarely bothered me or made me come here and post 32-049203 times. This has me pretty aggravated. Why am i on my PC at 9:00 PM when i could be playing NCAA? This wouldve never happened last year. I just got done playing Rock Band for an hour and i promise you, this never happened in previous years (ask my wife, she hates NCAA and Madden bc they take up all my time). Go into the dynasty headquarters, ive seen more 08 and 07 threads than 09. THAT IS A PROBLEM!!!!

This game doesnt have the feel of years past bc one side of the ball is completely aggravating. I am psyched for the roster patch, and looking forward to online dynasty, now, i'd just like some defense to go with.

And God Bless Adam, comes by every day to read our nonsense.......i feel bad for the guy, he's the one face we have at EA (one name, whatever). I'd just like to hear a bit more behind the scenes as to whats going on. We heard him tell us how quickly they were working on the roster patch, that impressed me. He told us how late they were working on the online dynasty stuff and emailing all the time to us OS'ers to fix it, but i havent heard any of that on this other stuff. A few words go along way sometimes.

Anywho, enough of me babbling, im still holding on hope for all this to get remedied!!

[callmetaternuts]

This is a very long post, it comes for Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality. Figured this would be a good read, as he is able to post some good numbers based on what we are all seeing. Enjoy (and sorry for the length)

Quote:

Today, let's delve deeper into the specific gameplay of NCAA Football 09. Based on my own observations after playing the game for a little over five hours, I identified the following areas as "broken": Special teams: --kickoff and punt coverage Offense: --CPU quarterback completion percentage (way too high) --CPU quarterback pass selection (almost no deep passes) --CPU quarterback response to blitz ("psychic" power) --CPU quarterback (ineffective as runner) --CPU running game (ineffective) --CPU running backs (overuse of jukes and special moves) Defense: --CPU defensive line (unable to pressure quarterback) --CPU defense (unable to play man-to-man coverage) --CPU defense (pursuit angles totally broken) Officiating: --penalties (almost none called) If you're wondering if that represents all the gameplay--yeah, it pretty much does. Essentially, it's all broken. And I'm not even discussing rare situations that only happen occasionally--these are every-game occurrences. To demonstrate what's happening, let's look at a classic matchup: Florida versus LSU in Death Valley. Heisman difficulty. Again, this is in CPU vs. CPU mode, which I use to document issues I see when I play the game. Florida won 24-7, in case you're interested. Now, let's look at the numbers. There were 91 total offensive plays in the game (that doesn't include special teams plays), which is low, but for our purposes, it's more than enough. Let's review the gameplay list in order. Special teams: 1. Here's how far away the nearest tackler was when a punt returner caught the ball: 33 yards. Oh, except when it was 40 yards, which happened sometimes as well. 33 freaking yards. Really, that's so bad that it's stunning. Offense: 1. CPU completion percentage: there were 52 passes in the game, and 36 were completed, for a 69% completion rate. That's with the QB accuracy slider reduced to 45 from the default of 50, and the "catch" slider at 0. 2. Deep passes: Of those 52 passes, 3 were thrown more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, or 5.7%. This is with the fastest wide receiver in the game playing for Florida. 3. CPU QB "psychic response" to pressure: I don't collected data for this, but it's amazing to see how often a quarterback under blitz pressure will find the open receiver and throw a strike. Almost every time, seemingly. 4. CPU QB running: Tim Tebow, the best running quarterback in the country, had 9 rushing attempts for 11 yards. His speed is rated at 85, which makes him absolutely useless, because he's running so slowly that he can't get into the open field. 5. CPU running game: 39 total rushing attempts for 85 yards, or just over 2 yards a carry. There will be games where you see much higher rushing totals, but they'll always be from one or two 60+ yard runs. There's no such thing as a consistent ground attack, at least not what from what I've seen. Oh, and that's with run blocking at 80 and running back ability at 75, by the way. Sliders aren't going to fix this. 6. CPU jukes and special moves: another observational point. It's remarkable to see how many special moves the CPU running backs will make when a defender isn't even close enough for it to matter. This includes jukes that actually take them out of bounds (oops). Defense: 1. Defensive line pressure on passes: with 52 passes in the game, let's assume that half of those pass plays were facing a 4-man defensive line, while the other half faced a 3-man line (that's conservative, because I think most of the passes were against a 4-man line). In other words, there were 3.5 blocks on defensive lineman per pass for 52 attempts, or a total of 182 on-one-one situations between an offensive and defensive lineman in pass situations. How many of those confrontations resulted in a defensive lineman defeating the offensive lineman and running free toward the quarterback? 5 out of 182 times, or 2.7%. With the four starting defensive ends for the two teams rated at 95,92,89, and 89 overall. Think sliders can fix this? That's with Pass Blocking at 0 and Break Block (for the defense) at 100. Now a knockdown would count as pressure, because it results in an incomplete pass. I put the Knockdown slider at 100, and there were 2 knockdowns out of 52 passes. 2. This is observational, but on almost every occasion where I saw a defense playing a man-to-man defense, they got burned. With the speed differences so exaggerated this year, it's money. 3. Defensive pursuit angles are comical this year--there's no other proper word to describe it. Here are two videos that show it perfectly. In this link, go to post #322 on the page and watch: I don't want to tackle you That was bad, but this is EPIC. Go to post #371 and watch this: we don't want to tackle you I'd describe those videos, but they are so incredibly embarrassing that you need to see them for yourself. Really, they're staggering. There are many times in NCAA 09 were the pursuit angles look like they were copied from Ten-Yard Fight. Seriously. Officiating: 1. There were 2 penalties called in the entire game. That's with all penalty sliders at 100. See what I mean? We're not talking about minor problems with gameplay here--we're talking about major, fundamental problems across the board. That's what happens when you ship an early beta, because no one could play this game for more than a couple of hours and think it's anything more than that. If you think I cherry-picked two teams and set this up just to get the numbers I wanted, you would be incorrect. Maybe you'll get lucky and occasionally see a game where the CPU runs effectively, or you'll see 6 penalties called (which is still too low), but you'll see all of these problems in the vast majority of games that are played. These issues aren't rare flukes--they're endemic. Tomorrow: don't even think I'm done yet. It takes multiple days to document everything that's broken in this game.

Does that indicate an issue to anyone?

Edit: I realize this is a gameplay/patch announcement thread, so ill tie it in by saying this. The issues we all have been clamoring about are laid out in nice bullet point form in that quote. There are areas essential to the game that are not working properly. They cant jus tbe ignored or hit with a small bandaid.

At this point, i feel like im just talking to myself.......

[AuburnAlumni]

Bill pretty much nails it yet again.

Here's the biggest thing.

The guys who are screaming bloody murder about the "obscene" issues on defense, special teams, etc.

We aren't 14 year old kids who just got here.

Bill Harris, Bill Abner, Rhombic, LBzrule, myself, tater etc.

These are guys who are grown men, have played this series throughout its entire existence, and are pretty much experts on the game and its nuances.

And this is by far the most extreme and the most frustrated I think we as a group have been with the AI.

I can handle a few too many "pick sixes".

But the complete and total castration of anything related to good defense...good pursuit angles, effective pass rush, potent blitz packages, sound pass coverage.... is infuriating.

This is THE game for me. This is it. I am a college football fanatic. And my one single "game of games" in my library has basically become an arcade game as it stands right now.

No defense, just offense, offense, offense...all game, every game.

If these issues aren't addressed or if the group that is unhappy, which I would consider "respected" among the gaming community, is simply dismissed as "whiners" and not representative of the majority of NCAAers, then I may seriously, for the first time ever...reconsider buying this game next year until I actually see what it will be like.

That's a big statement for someone who will pay 40 bucks just to have the game shipped to my house overnight on a Saturday this past year and every year prior.

[xV3L0CiTY]

Quote: Originally Posted by callmetaternuts

This is a very long post, it comes for Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality. Figured this would be a good read, as he is able to post some good numbers based on what we are all seeing. Enjoy (and sorry for the length) Does that indicate an issue to anyone? Edit: I realize this is a gameplay/patch announcement thread, so ill tie it in by saying this. The issues we all have been clamoring about are laid out in nice bullet point form in that quote. There are areas essential to the game that are not working properly. They cant jus tbe ignored or hit with a small bandaid. At this point, i feel like im just talking to myself.......

You're not talking to yourself...the rest of us are just speechless...

It's dreadful knowing a game can be released like this one...considering we spend $60 (luckily I was one who rented).

Almost every post on this board regarding NCAA 09 sums up my thoughts. EA won't listen to us, so me posting and beating a dead horse is pointless. The only real reason I have to post is to let out some steam on how aggravated I can get over this game. I don't even know what to say anymore...

[simgameonly]

EA is never going to admit favoritism to sim or casual gamers, it would not sense business wise when because they have no competition they can draw from both sets of consumers. Omt has said something along the lines of "wishing" the game could be made more sim, but that it had to appeal to both parties. Dont quote me on that. Anyway they target the casual and do just enough to capture a share of the hardcore audience, mission accomplished from their perspective. Better sliders is all we can hope for gameplay wise fellas.

[callmetaternuts]

I dont need to say much else, i dont think anyone does. It feels like we are spinning our wheels about this. Obviously we are aggravated. And obviously, some of us are very vocal about it. I'd just like to see some progress at this point. The game out of the package is missing a few things, its not up to speed (heh) and just doesnt play right, thats all well and good, nothing we can do about it, BUT, how do we (and by we i mean EA) move forward?

Id like to hear from Adam or Ian or anyone in that regards as to what the perspective EA has on all this.......are we wasting our time my pointing out defensive flaws? They have been looked at, but have we gone past that state? Will there be (possible) changes? Anything (tentatively) set up?

Thats whats killing me, we have a voice on so many other things, except the defense. I love the game of football, im a huge football dork, i gladly admit it. I wager on games, i get up at 9 AM on Sat to catch pre-game shows and literally from 1130 AM to 230 AM (gotta love Hawaii and USC) i sit in the man room and watch football. My wife loves/hates it (shopping versus she doesnt see me). This game is a reflection of that for me. Sure, maybe i take it a bit far, maybe my love of turning around the polygon Noles goes overboard. I love to play realistic football. I went 7-6, 8-5, 10-2, 7-6 through my first four years last year, so im not just dropping back 40 yards and winging it. I want realistic football, i want to see my defense shut people down. I used to play 2-3 games a night and completely kill my sleep schedule (not a spring chicken anymore).

I want to see Drew Weatherford disappoint me, i want my defense to play tough and get tired at the end of the game and blow it. I'd like my defense to actually play like they are rated. I want to feel a sense of anticipation when i recruit the #2 DE in the land, right now its a giant WHO CARES. I have a freaking dynasty thread here (in dynasty hq) that goes over the NCAA 2007 season, and i read it the other day and LOVED seeing the losses i had, the 13-29 1 TD 1 INT games. The 10-7 scores. I felt like my defense had a chance, and i wanted to recruit good Defensive players to build up the Noles.

I understand every game has its issues, but for some magic reason, i was able to look past the drops issue in 2005 and i was able to get past the INT fest last year, maybe bc those things were the only HUGE glaring errors in the game. I (we) can deal with one big problem, we can handle that. But that ONE problem cant be one entire side of the ball.

Right now......im one game in.....on an FIU dynasty......havent touched FSU at all. This game that has stolen my July's - December's every year since the turn of the century is different this year. Maybe you dont know me, but thats a huge deal.......i hate it. Ive got all the pre-season mags, ive got my Noles flag out, ive got my Noles helmet out, and the only thing missing is a true representation on the console of my choice.

But i digress......i apologize if this got off track, caused anyone to shoot themselves, or made anyone hate FSU merely by my association

/sad story about my pathetic life

[erivera7]

Quote: Originally Posted by callmetaternuts

This is a very long post, it comes for Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality. Figured this would be a good read, as he is able to post some good numbers based on what we are all seeing. Enjoy (and sorry for the length) Does that indicate an issue to anyone? Edit: I realize this is a gameplay/patch announcement thread, so ill tie it in by saying this. The issues we all have been clamoring about are laid out in nice bullet point form in that quote. There are areas essential to the game that are not working properly. They cant jus tbe ignored or hit with a small bandaid. At this point, i feel like im just talking to myself.......

That was the greatest systematic butchering of NCAA '09 I've ever read (and I've read plenty, from Bill Abner and so forth). You should make that its own thread and have a mod sticky that ... everyone will have a field day with that post.

[AuburnAlumni]

Quote: Originally Posted by callmetaternuts

I dont need to say much else, i dont think anyone does. It feels like we are spinning our wheels about this. Obviously we are aggravated. And obviously, some of us are very vocal about it. I'd just like to see some progress at this point. The game out of the package is missing a few things, its not up to speed (heh) and just doesnt play right, thats all well and good, nothing we can do about it, BUT, how do we (and by we i mean EA) move forward? Id like to hear from Adam or Ian or anyone in that regards as to what the perspective EA has on all this.......are we wasting our time my pointing out defensive flaws? They have been looked at, but have we gone past that state? Will there be (possible) changes? Anything (tentatively) set up? Thats whats killing me, we have a voice on so many other things, except the defense. I love the game of football, im a huge football dork, i gladly admit it. I wager on games, i get up at 9 AM on Sat to catch pre-game shows and literally from 1130 AM to 230 AM (gotta love Hawaii and USC) i sit in the man room and watch football. My wife loves/hates it (shopping versus she doesnt see me). This game is a reflection of that for me. Sure, maybe i take it a bit far, maybe my love of turning around the polygon Noles goes overboard. I love to play realistic football. I went 7-6, 8-5, 10-2, 7-6 through my first four years last year, so im not just dropping back 40 yards and winging it. I want realistic football, i want to see my defense shut people down. I used to play 2-3 games a night and completely kill my sleep schedule (not a spring chicken anymore). I want to see Drew Weatherford disappoint me, i want my defense to play tough and get tired at the end of the game and blow it. I'd like my defense to actually play like they are rated. I want to feel a sense of anticipation when i recruit the #2 DE in the land, right now its a giant WHO CARES. I have a freaking dynasty thread here (in dynasty hq) that goes over the NCAA 2007 season, and i read it the other day and LOVED seeing the losses i had, the 13-29 1 TD 1 INT games. The 10-7 scores. I felt like my defense had a chance, and i wanted to recruit good Defensive players to build up the Noles. Right now......im one game in.....on an FIU dynasty......havent touched FSU at all. This game that has stolen my July's - December's every year since the turn of the century is different this year. Maybe you dont know me, but thats a huge deal.......i hate it. Ive got all the pre-season mags, ive got my Noles flag out, ive got my Noles helmet out, and the only thing missing is a true representation on the console of my choice. /sad story about my pathetic life

Word.

I'm done with it. I've said my peace. If they can't determine what many folks feel are big time issues that need addressing in the 793 posts explaining in detail what they are..... well....

Like I said....sure would be nice to hear something, anything in regards to our concerns regarding gameplay .

No need repeating what has already been said 1000 times over.