Podcast - Behind the Ratings w/ Dustin Smith (@EquipmentGuru)

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Really cool podcast with Dustin Smith, the ratings adjuster for Madden. Good behind the scenes look at the process and what goes into the ratings. A lot of the discussions around ratings tend to center around people's anecdotal opinions about players, but there's a lot more than just checking the box scores that go into the ratings. Dude talks about the process- from tape study to PFF grades - and it's a great listen.


https://fanpages.philadelphiaeagles....einthesky.html


This is also a great football podcast in general if you're looking for one.

[reverend_heat]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

Really cool podcast with Dustin Smith, the ratings adjuster for Madden. Good behind the scenes look at the process and what goes into the ratings. A lot of the discussions around ratings tend to center around people's anecdotal opinions about players, but there's a lot more than just checking the box scores that go into the ratings. Dude talks about the process- from tape study to PFF grades - and it's a great listen. https://fanpages.philadelphiaeagles....einthesky.html This is also a great football podcast in general if you're looking for one.

Hard to take any ratings talk seriously when you have guards in the game with 90+ lead block ratings completely ignoring initial defenders as they run right past them and let them tackle the hb for a loss. I have absolutely zero excitement for Madden releases anymore, I'll care again when the game is built 100 percent from the ground up without a single line of code from whatever the current frankenstein game is built on carried over.

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by reverend_heat

Hard to take any ratings talk seriously when you have guards in the game with 90+ lead block ratings completely ignoring initial defenders as they run right past them and let them tackle the hb for a loss. I have absolutely zero excitement for Madden releases anymore, I'll care again when the game is built 100 percent from the ground up without a single line of code from whatever the current frankenstein game is built on carried over.

That's not really a ratings issue, though. More of the logic behind the blocking in the game. Not saying you are wrong, the blocking in the game, and most everything else, needs to be redone, but I do personally feel that you can see a much bigger differentiation in players who are rated differently than ever before in the past two generations of consoles. It's been so long since I played the PS2 games, but I definitely think if EA has done anything well recently, it's been making non-real looking presentation packages and getting players to actually feel and play different finally.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

That's not really a ratings issue, though. More of the logic behind the blocking in the game. Not saying you are wrong, the blocking in the game, and most everything else, needs to be redone, but I do personally feel that you can see a much bigger differentiation in players who are rated differently than ever before in the past two generations of consoles. It's been so long since I played the PS2 games, but I definitely think if EA has done anything well recently, it's been making non-real looking presentation packages and getting players to actually feel and play different finally.

That is spot on, much better differentiation.

[jerwoods]

Dustin is a great guy works his tail off

[SolidSquid]

What bothers me is how they change ratings when there is a social media campaign. With all the stats and metrics they use why can’t they stick by their guns? They can’t have it both ways.

And I also wanna thank Dustin for being the only person at EA who seems to care about getting proper equipment in.

[ripcandlestickpark]

Quote: Originally Posted by SolidSquid

And I also wanna thank Dustin for being the only person at EA who seems to care about getting proper equipment in.

Same. Ever since M17 or so, he's been very good about introducing new equipment options at a solid pace. Unfortunately, I didn't notice anything new during the M21 beta, but maybe something will be announced prior to release.

FWIW, he's also the only member of the dev team (to my knowledge, at least) that's still pretty responsive on social media.

[SolidSquid]

Quote: Originally Posted by ripcandlestickpark

Same. Ever since M17 or so, he's been very good about introducing new equipment options at a solid pace. Unfortunately, I didn't notice anything new during the M21 beta, but maybe something will be announced prior to release. FWIW, he's also the only member of the dev team (to my knowledge, at least) that's still pretty responsive on social media.

I’m pretty sure I saw one new arm brace but I may be misremembering. I know he said he wants mouthpieces but I don’t see that happening.

I’d be happy with equipment upgrades if they were proper cleat spats like we used to have on ps2 and just adding some wrinkles/texture to sleeves so they don’t look painted on.