Dynasty Mode: Fixing NCAA 11 Part 3 - thescoop's Blog

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Dynasty Mode: Fixing NCAA 11 Part 3

Posted on August 17, 2009 at 12:38 AM.

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Dynasty mode when first introduced gave us reason to play sporting games past just one season. At first it was pretty basic. Then you got recruiting. Then you got draft classes for Madden, custom schedules, pitches to recruits and so on.

But lately the franchise mode of NCAA seems to be getting stale. Sure recruiting has gotten better. I mean I do enjoy trying to actually pitch against other teams, but there isn�t too much that has made me feel it is different from last year�s mode or even 08�s. There is more they can do. There is more they should do.

I know we hear a lot about an A.D. mode. I�m a big fan of this idea. I think allow us to be the A.D. of a college program would be huge. It could be a separate mode. I�m thinking this is a blog for itself. The idea would be to hire and fire coaches, keep boosters happy, keep the program clean. Those are the basic ideas. It could be the new big thing. The A.D. does so much more than the head coach so this mode could be something to shake up the dynasty mode. I�m most likely going to do a blog entry on just A.D. mode later, but I couldn�t mention dynasty mode improvements without bringing this one up. More will come later on my ideas because it can be separate mode all together.

One thing that is a most for the future of dynasty mode is coaches. We need them. If they can�t get the real coaches and records, then at least fictional coaches that can be hired, retire and of course, fired. We need to see this. It shouldn�t just be my coach, but I should see the coaches� carrousel. Also, give me coordinators and assistants. They can be rated on several things, like the offense, defense, recruiting, etc. If I have a great defense, other schools in need of a head coach might come after my defensive coordinator. It will add more to the overall dynasty experience. (And would be perfect in an A.D. mode, but are needed even if we just stay in a regular dynasty.) It does take me out of the realism a little bit when every team has a first year head coach in dynasty mode. This would allow there to be experienced coaches there. I�d like to see real coaches, but I�ll settle for whatever as long as we can edit them as we want. (Including their records.)

Recruiting has improved over the years. I remember when it was just you get a crop of newbies without doing anything. I think we need to be able to start targeting high school kids as sophomore and juniors as well. Maybe just a request a tape from sophomores, but they should be on the radar. They are in real life. By watching them early, it gives us a better inside track on some of them. Sure, not every kid should able to be viewed as a sophomore or even a junior, just some of the more special ones. Also, make it a risk if we sign a junior. We can lock him up, but if he gets hurt in his senior year, we may have to redshirt him or even loose him due to career ending injury. We can pull our scholarship, but if he gets well and goes somewhere else, we might regret it. Just adds more to recruiting.

Also in recruiting we need more with create a recruit. I love making a recruit, but since I�m making him, I�d like to give him his top five or ten schools in the creation as well. I don�t think I should be able to choose where they rank, but at least give them their top ten. This gives us a better chance to recruit our creations. It also would allow us to have more fun with creations.

I want to see more done with the school newspapers. We need them to actually have more than the score line of the last game. How about some actual stories? How about I open up to see written up dogging my team for losing to an underdog? It is cool to see actual school papers in the game but they need to be more than just the logo. It can be more.

Also, I think we need a weekly NCAA TV show talking about the past week�s games and a few key matches up for the next week. EA can go back and take a look at 2k� College Hoops 2k8 if they need an idea. It would be a fun little thing to look at. I always enjoyed the one that Choops had.

Back in NCAA 2000, they had a great bowl playoff system. I loved playing it. It also allowed you to change to it at any point within a dynasty so if I wanted to play three years with bowls and finally switch to a system that crowns a true national champion I could. I want this back. It was so much more fun and it has been missed since it was briefly placed in then stolen from us.

Also, in dynasty mode we need to be able to fix up our stadium. I if I win three national titles with a mid-major, switching to a major conference shouldn�t be my only reward. I should also be able to either expand my old stadium, or rip it down and build a new one. I mean a national champion needs a something more than just 30,000 seat stadium. It would require EA to come up with a stadium creator and editor, but would be well with it. Also, allow me to upgrade my athletic facilities. It is a recruiting pitch and if I keep having success I�d surely get to the funds from boosters to improve them.

One thing that has been in last gen and I beg for to get then and now don�t have it in next gen is a spring game. The spring game can be a way to see my players and watch them improve. It also may give me an idea of who might win that quarterbacks� battle. Madden has preseason, NCAA needs this. This also would be awesome if we had some of our new recruits, like the jucos transfers and a few, very few, freshman get to campus early and take part in this game. As coach we can set up the format for our game. It can be either a full Solid color vs. with jersey scrimmage game. It could be an offense verses defense game.

Here it is 2009 and we still don�t have medical redshirts. Last gen has it. But no, the more expensive current gen doesn�t. Come on, EA. This is a no brainer. Medical redshirts aren�t something I should be mentioning anymore. It is sad that they are in this blog. Next year they need to be there. It is just plain stupid for them not be.

One thing about dynasty mode is the fact if we don�t play our players, they might transfer. We use to have a simple way to keep some of these guys happy in last gen and that was with formation subs. Remember them guys? Yeah, we could have our back up running back be the feature back in certain packages. It sickens me that EA took them out and has refused to place them back in. Some might not understand why I�d bring up formation subs in a dynasty mode blog, but trust me, there a huge part of dynasty mode. As it stands the only time my back ups get in the game is if the starter gets a) hurt, b) tired, c) we�re blowing out the other team or d) I sub them in and then have to go back and sub them out or my starter is benched. Formation subs makes this easy. Bring them back, EA. I�ve got a friend who hasn�t bought the game in three years and won�t until they are back. I�m sure there are others like him.

I�m sure there are a lot of ideas I have that I�ve forgotten, but due to all that has come up as of late I wanted to get it posted. I do plan on going back in and writing up more on my ideas for an A.D. mode. But for now I leave you guys with these ideas to improve dynasty mode. I look forward to hearing some of your ideas as well as see what everyone thinks of my ideas. Hopefully, EA is listening.

Part four is coming soon.

Comments

# 1 stlstudios189 @ Aug 17

formation subs, stadium builder, and Bowl Playoff are great things that need to be added.

# 2 rudyjuly2 @ Aug 17

For dynasty mode I miss discipline the most.

I respect your desires to have more involved recruiting and an AD mode but most people don't want that. The casual fan thinks recruiting is too hard or detailed as it is. I think they are going to have to actually offer two recruiting models for people to use. A simple one - possibly like the PS2 used to have, and a complicated one for recruiting lovers to spend hours working with. I personally like it the way it is (09 anyway as I haven't done a dynasty in 10) and don't want it to get any more complicated.

We do need a coaching carousel. I want to at least see head coaches retire and get fired over the course of a dynasty. Plus I think they need to add the coaching names to the roster files. That way we can download a file and not have to edit the coaching names for every dynasty all the time.

# 3 thescoop @ Aug 17

rudy, I disagree. Most people I've talked to want the A.D. mode. And I didn't write this for casual fans anyway. A.D. mode is something I'll talk more about later. But it can be really fun feature.

There should be two recruiting options as there are now. If you don't want to recruit you can allow the computer to do it for you. They can include a new advanced or old style recruiting system for those that like what we have and don't want more.

I forgot discipline, but I do think that needs to come back. I may have to edit my orginal post later to add some about that.

# 4 thescoop @ Aug 19

Sois, I respect what you say. I do agree they need to fix some of the dynasty mode issues, but I still think its time for an AD mode. I didn't want to spend too much time on it cause I do think it can be its own mode and will post more later. Thanks for the feedback.

One thing I forgot to mention and I'm going to go back and add it senior night and a white out/color game where the crowd all wears a different color. I'll maybe add that to this blog or just do a shorter one. I can't believe I forgot to mention them.