Madden 16 CFM: Still no Draft Board

[brza37]

According to the latest Game Changers Radio show there will not be a customizable draft board in Madden 16:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/easgcra...podcast-part-2

It is very disappointing that they "upgraded" the draft but still did not add a custom draft board. This was a feature that was inexplicably removed from the game after Madden 10. Since 2010, Madden Franchise wishlists on a variety of gaming forums and blogs have had the return of the customizable draft board at the top of their lists.

It was helpful when we only had offline franchise as you wouldn't have to make manual notes for yourself and keep track of who was gone or not. It was so simple to rank your draft prospects on Madden 10 and in previous versions. Now it takes a certain amount of time and dedication to write down or type into a spreadsheet all the players and ratings that you're interested in.
But now that online CFM is so big, a customizable draft board is even more important to the point of being almost mandatory. It is near impossible to get 32 guys altogether for 2-3 hours to draft. Every season in online CFMs there are at least a handful of guys who can't make the scheduled draft time. And every season I've seen at least one of those guys who couldn't make the draft quit the franchise because of the CPU's horrible choices. CPU draft logic was improved in Madden 15 but its still not close to comparable with having the CPU pick players that you wanted.

It is really hard to understand how EA/Tiburon has ignored this feature for a sixth year in a row. Why spend the time and resources to make scouting more engaging/enjoyable yet nullify it by not giving people the chance to set up their own draft board.

In fact, the changes discussed in the podcast that give an advantage to people who scout weekly will likely only lead to more frustration and quitting in online CFMs if a league member can't be online for the scheduled draft. Last year, people who realized they wouldn't be able to make the draft date were usually able to just skip scouting at the end of the offseason because it would be a wasted effort anyway. Now people are encouraged to scout every week instead of just in one final stage during the offseason and then when league draft dates are set, usually towards the end of the season, people who can't make the scheduled time will have spent hours scouting throughout the season for nothing. So missing the draft means not only missing out on players they might have coveted but also lost time.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad that they have spent time improving scouting and the draft but this seems like they got ahead of themselves without taking care of the basics; like they bought custom rims for a car that doesn't even run.

[howboutdat]

exactly , horrible this was not a priority still

[Double_Dribble Rea]

sigh how disappointing

[jpdavis82]

I was going to do a brief transcript from the show last night, but I'll be too busy this week with work and helping serve the kids at vbs at my church. I'll definitely be doing some transcripts next week of radio and podcasts about M16, we should have a lot more to discuss at that point.

[Hooe]

Yeah, this is a bummer. No way around it.

Maybe I should revisit my draft board app I was working on last summer.

[splff3000]

This is amazing to me. Outside of having the combine, a customizable draft board was probably the single most thing requested for CFM scouting and drafting. The more I hear about the cfm "additions", the more disappointed I get. It's really looking more and more like EA just changed the UI, tweaked confidence, and added combine numbers then called it a day for CFM improvement.

Quick question: I don't really have time to sit down and listen to the podcast, but for anyone that has listened to it, is there anything else mentioned that we have not heard about already?

[jpdavis82]

Quote: Originally Posted by splff3000

This is amazing to me. Outside of having the combine, a customizable draft board was probably the single most thing requested for CFM drafts. I'd say that, and editing draft classes, were probably neck and neck. The more I hear about the cfm "additions", the more disappointed I get. It's really looking more and more like EA just changed the UI, tweaked confidence, and added combine numbers then called it a day for CFM improvement. Quick question: I don't really have time to sit down and listen to the podcast, but for anyone that has listened to it, is there anything else mentioned that we have not heard about already?

I don't think there was, yes I'm disappointed overall in CFM this year but don't lose hope because there's some good stuff coming from Kolbe & John. I think they kind of inherited a lot of what Josh had in mind already for the mode for M16 and took over mid cycle from him, and like Kolbe said in his podcast, he didn't get in everything he wanted. I'm hoping you guys like what they're doing in gameplay and presentation this year, we should have a lot better grasp on things next week.

[no1xdraftpck]

I'm at work so I cant listen, does anyone mind listing specific changes or additions/subtractions?

The fact they still don't have a draft board feature is ridiculous. Everything the OP mentioned was dead on. I participate in a 32 man league and its impossible to get all 32 players on at the same time. So a draft board would really help those who cant attend, hell it can help those that aren't very serious about drafting.