Is it me, or is Madden 11 completey user unfriendly online?

[poet215]

Hey, everybody....I'm just venting a lil here. I'm a 33yr old Madden veteran with 18 years of Madden experience. Started out on Genesis & Snes. I was one of the first to be online with Madden 2003, using that network adapter. First off, I'd like to mention that I think this game is great this year. A lil getting used to moving with the analog stick instead of the D-pad, but all in all it's a great game. That being said, the online experience is like hell for me. I've always been an above average online player, due to the lag I never proclaimed to be superb though. (I will always be a user catcher & control my own players...off & def! lol..lol) But at least on years past versions, finding a game wasn't this damn difficult. I understand that EA doesn't want us playing our friends for rank points. Fine, I never even played for rank....anyhow....it's always been about some good ol' sim football for me. This is to the point, I'm ready give up now. When your an adult, and you & your friends can't always get together to play......online seemed as a perfect alternative to finding people to play. The whole PSN on Madden 11 is weak. No traditional challenging of other players.....challenges are sent in the form of game invites through the PSN message box.....who came up with that dumb idea?.......better yet, PSN takes forever to read whenever you press the PS button. The quickest & easiest way to hook up with someone for a game is to go through the play now match maker option......lots of luck with that.....the lobbies are basically useless.......it's damn near impossible to find new friends to play inside of the lobbies.........how is it, that this game seems to be going backwards in online play is beyond me........before I go, what idiot at EA really thinks that the accelerated clock option makes for a real game?...lol....instead of forcing us to play a ranked game @ 7 minutes with accel clock on, why can't we just play with 5 minutes & no accel clock.....you ever try to run a 2 minute drill or orchestrate a late drive with that BS option on?........I'm really leaning towards, only playing offline franchise or probably not even buying the game at all anymore.......



PSN id: poet215

[poet215]

Accelerated Clock:

IN REAL LIFE, after a stop in the play, teams have 40 seconds to snap the ball. The time it takes to spot the ball, sub in, sub out, call the play to the QB, QB calls the play in the huddle, break the huddle, and line up will take about 20 of those seconds. After making pre snap reads, checks, the ball might be snapped with less than 8 seconds on the clock. That's in real life.

In MADDEN, you can call your play and line up with 37 seconds left on the clock. I think one of the purposes of the accelerated clock is to simulate the time all of the above takes.

It would appear to me that the accelerated clock makes it more REALISTIC in terms of the amount of time it takes, but I certainly understand it: we all want realism but yet we want to pick and choose when and where to apply that realism.


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after looking at it from a different point of view, the accelerated clock isn't really a major issue for me, more of an annoyance actually. I didn't intend to vent to that extent....I apologize to everyone. I appreciate the game that EA put out for us, but I will stick with my feelings about the online experience. Whether ranked or un-ranked, it's way too difficult to find a decent game. Sony has to take some of the blame also. The whole interaction process with online friends or players met online, is just not fluid at all. The XMB can be super slow to respond at times. I will use Madden 03 & Madden 04 as an example: Online challenging was simple & easy....I issue a challenge, it then pops up on your screen & you either accepted or denied.....one would assume, since we're using better hardware now, that we'd be moving forward instead of backwards....lol...even last year's game was easier to navigate your way to an online match. I rarely use a headset. It's insanely frustrating trying to pause the game, then navigate your way using the XMB just to send a typed message to your opponent. The amount of time that consumes is crazy, if your opponent has already hit resume game, 30 seconds is not enough to process all that. What happened to a send message option within the game itself?....just asking

[crumpled_heap]

Quote: Originally Posted by poet215

Fine, I never even played for rank

then play unranked problem solved

[poet215]

believe it or not, I spend most of my time trying to get an unranked game. I go to the matchmaker....people back out of the game almost immediately....and no I don't have a disc %...mine is at 0 still

[crumpled_heap]

Quote: Originally Posted by poet215

believe it or not, I spend most of my time trying to get an unranked game. I go to the matchmaker....people back out of the game almost immediately....and no I don't have a disc %...mine is at 0 still

you were talking about how you can't play your friends and now you're talking about how random ppl keep leaving the session.

[ryan36]

There are plenty of threads on the Madden online feature... use one of those.