Madden NFL 17 Hype Train

First topic message reminder :


How hyped can one be in having to party with Gronk all year? Bleh.  The cover makes little importance to me, but having him splashed all over the start screen and home menu for a year is going to be nauseating.

PastaPadre posted some leaks that this will be the most balanced game ever, and EA is promising a huge push into revamping Franchise mode.

Pre-Order Bonuses
Don't Do It.
Standard Edition | $59.99
>> 9 Ranked Tickets, Up to 7 MUT Pro Packs

Deluxe Edition | $79.99
>> 30 Ranked Tickets, Up to 10 MUT Pro Packs

Super Deluxe Edition | $99.99
>> 30 Ranked Tickets, Up to 30 MUT Pro Packs

I don't like the time gated release of Pro Packs. You get 3 per week as in years past, so if you don't log in every week, you lose out on the Pro Packs. Lame.

Previews
EA Sports Blog: Features Overview
EA Sports Deep Dive: Ball Carrier Special Moves
EA Sports Deep Dive: Defensive Gap and Run Fit
Game Informer: 27 Ways Madden NFL 17 Wants To Fix Money Plays, Ratings & More
EA Sports Additional Gameplay Improvements: Zone Coverage
EA Sports Additional Gameplay Improvements: Special Teams, Catch Outcomes & Ball Physics
EA Sports Additional Gameplay Improvements: Competitive Focus
EA Sports Blog: Presentation Improvements
Dev Journal: Sound Improvements
EA Sports Blog: New Commentary Team
EA Sports Blog: Accessibility Improvements
EA Sports Blog: Franchise Improvements Pt 1
EA Sports Blog: Franchise Improvements Pt 2
E3 Interview: Rex Dickinson
EA Sports Blog: Equipment Upgrades
EA SPorts Blog: Official Soundtrack

Reviews
TBD...

Patch 1.07 hit today. I made the bigger items bold. Full list of changes below.

Gameplay

• Addressed some RAC catch animations that were incorrectly triggering drops in certain
situations.
• Addressed certain situations where Ice the Kicker was not triggering even though
conditions were met.
• Fixed issue where catching a missed field goal in the end zone caused the position of the
ball and the direction of play from the field goal play to be used in the play following the
turnover.
• Addressed certain instances of defenders travelling across the field when the defensive
play is flipped, instead of switching assignments.
• Fixed issue where receivers were getting a speed boost by timing the snap with motioning.
• Fixed several fatigue issues related to weather/temperature penalties for the Away team.
• Fixed an issue where using the give up mechanic after recovering a fumble would cause the
player to fumble again.
• Fixed an issue where users could consistently place the ball in the coffin corner on a kickoff
with an inaccurate kick.
• Fixed an issue in 3-4 Under where safety was taking himself out of the play vs. outside
runs.
• Fixed a rare issue where the QB would pass the ball backwards when attempting to throw
while crossing the LOS.
• Fixed an issue where user could ice their own kicker when calling a time out during a field
goal attempt.
• Fixed an issue where a successful fake FG run would result in the player being called out of
bounds.
• Fixed an issue where player icons were displaying ‘grey’ color for fatigue on the play call
screen.
• Fixed an issue where the ball would rarely hit the FB when running HB Lead toss out of I
Form Tight.
• Fixed an issue where the wind direction arrow was backwards in CFM.
• Fixed an issue where increasing the fumble slider was not causing more fumbles.
• Fixed an issue where Defenders were not always being credited with a Sack and Forced
fumble in the Stats screen when causing a sack-fumble.

Madden Ultimate Team

• Added MUT Head-to-Head Seasons.
• Added Super Bowl presentation to appropriate MUT Head-to-Head games.
• Added the ability to give rewards after each MUT Head-to-Head game rather than waiting
until the Event is over.
• Added additional logic to tell how many items you have available to add to a particular set.

Commentary

• New lines and logic added for post PAT scenarios. This is previously a spot in the game
where we had no commentary.
• New/additional names added for RB’s, QB’s,Kickers/Punters, and WR’s. (I wonder if McGillicuddy made it Hippo)
• New postplay analysis from the team for various different situations.
• Refreshed common touchdown analysis lines, and added additional logic and lines to fire
new situational commentary.
• Hundreds of new lines added to Play the Moment to provide more variety during return to
game scenarios.
• Legends names added.
• Numerous tuning changes based on common line telemetry.

Stability

• Various stability fixes in all modes including Franchise and Madden Ultimate Team.

The latest Patch hit with some pretty surprising balances. Especially being after the Super Bowl.

Gameplay

• Removed the ability to flick the R-Stick to pump fake when the player is outside of the pocket. Right Stick will now always throw ball away in these situations.
  
  
• Fixed a legacy issue where defensive linemen would be called for encroachment when offense was using no huddle.
  
  
• Addressed an issue where receivers would have the ball bounce off their arms when attempting RAC catches leading to drops or tip picks.
  
  
• Fixed issue where QB’s could not match tackles after throwing an interception.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where the user drop down banner was precluding player stat drop downs
  
  
• Removed user drop down banners for user catch, finesse and power moves due to high frequency being distracting.
  
  
• Fixed a bug where a safety banner would fire every time a pass was intercepted in the end zone.
  
  
• Fixed a grieving tactic where offense could trigger infinite offsides penalties to extend the game.
  
  
• Made some zone coverage adjustments to improve an issue where C Routes were overpowered when run on the wide side of the field with a TE on the line of scrimmage.
  
  
• Increased frequency of broken tackles that can trigger from hit sticks. This will add more risk to going for hit stick tackles.
  
  
• Fixed CPU punters kicking high into the wind, causing short punts.
  
  
• Fixed a short delay that could rarely occur when attempting to snap the ball.
  
  
• Fixed a variety of ‘players freezing’ issues when coming out of blocking interactions.
  
  
• Tuned up fumble chances on ‘precision dive over top’ and increased the Tier requirements to perform the elite version of this mechanic.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where free offensive linemen would not react to a nearby defender who just beat a block.
  
  
• A variety of pass block targeting issues resolved.
  
  
• Fixed several encroachment bugs that would result from aligning and sliding the defense in pre-play.
  
  
• Addressed a rare issue where defenders could get into a state where they could not be blocked.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where turning the pass accuracy slider to 0 would have very little impact in game.
  
  
• Fixed a turbo blitz off the edge that was specific to players in a 4 point stance.
  
  
• Addressed an issue where a DB in press coverage would not be able to defend a player locked user WR hot routed to a smoke screen
  
  

Stability

• Tuned a variety of issues related to community feedback that lower rated offensive line was too effective against an elite defensive line. This change will also make elite OL more effective against lower rated D-line.
  
  
• Addressed feedback that various online modes played at different game speeds. All online game speeds now consolidated to run at normal game speed.
  
  
• Addressed an issue where a user in an online game could disconnect/concede and result in a crash for the opponent.
  
  
• Addressed an issue where a timeout call on the pause menu could lead to camera settings being switched. This was also used as a grieving tactic to reset opponents camera.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where user settings would be reset to defaults in a play a friend game. This includes the auto flip setting defaulting to on.
  
  

Franchise

• Fixed CFM issue where user would receive an Invite Error Popup when trying to invite another user to a Franchise game.