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---- NCAA Football 11 WISHLIST: --------
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GENERAL GAMEPLAY WISHLIST:
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1.) Being able to assign double team blocking to defenders from the "Coaching" menu during a game (similar to the "Defensive assignments" screen in this year's game).
2.) Blocking hot routes and setting double-team blocks at the line of scrimmage. For example, if I line up against a 3-4 defense and read an outside blitz, I should be able to "hot route" the gaurd on that side to pull out and block the blitzing LB rather than risking that the guard will just sit in the middle of the pocket while my QB/RB gets chased down from the outside.
3.) Add some AI customization options for things like run/pass playcalling ratio, defensive play-calling aggressiveness, amount of substitutions, and so on.
4.) Improve offensive pre-play motions. Why does it take 7 whole seconds for my weak side on-the-line of scrimmage wideout to motion three steps to the inside of the field and then get set again. Trying to do this motion is very useful for running outside run plays, screens, and draws, but half the time results in a delay of game because it takes the same amount of time for the WR to get set as it would if he had run all the way across the field (the play clock being run down to 13-15 seconds on all my plays doesn't help either). Allow us to cancel a motion and have the player go back to where he was at any time.
5.) Add about 3 to 5 more seconds before an AI QB snaps the ball to give the human player slightly more time to read the offense and make any adjustments.
6.) Better representations of the 3-4 defense both on-the-field and in terms of depth charts and team management.
7.) Have the kicker actually stay back on kickoff coverage. In the current game, the kicker runs down the field and sometimes is the first to hit the returner. the kicker should be staying back as a safety and pursuing from left to right, not up the field.
8.) More trick plays and special teams variety. Add some kickoff and punt reverses, wall blocking, or designed lateral plays. Just keep the band off the field, please :)
9.) Bring in and flesh out the Wildcat formation, since some teams (TCU's "Wild Frog") have started using Wildcat-like formations.
10.) Injuries that are actually based on what happens to a player during a play, rather than being random. Players that get hit in the head should have increased chances of suffering concussions. Players that get wrapped up around the legs should have increased chances of suffering ankle sprains or knee sprains. A running back with low strength and stiff arm skill could have an increased chance of injuring his arm attempting to stiff arm a really good defender.
11.) Allow us to pump fake on Draw plays before handing off the ball, or have the QB pump fake with his empty hand after handing off the ball.
12.) Dynamically balance gameplay based on the quarter length used. Instead of forcing the users to have to adjust the quarter length and tweak the AI settings to get a more realistic experience based on quarter length, how about including an AI balancing setting for longer lengths, including full-15-minute quarters. Implement an variation of Madden's accelerated play clock, or make it so that when playing against the AI, that extra 7 or 10 seconds used to allow us to pick a defensive play actually gets ticked off of the play and game clocks so AI teams break the huddle at a more realistic 15 seconds. Rebalance the AI's downfield passing tendencies to be more conservative for longer games, and re-tune the AI to run the ball more. Slowing down the game speed would also help to give a more realistic gameplay experience for longer games.
AI WISHLIST:
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1.) Base players' abilities on their actual stats regardless of the difficulty level. Don't make my blockers stupid and run around in circles when the difficulty goes up. Blocking should remain competent regardless of the difficulty level. Just improve defensive reaction time, pursuit, block breaking, coverage, and tackling.
2.) Get rid of the irritating "Catch Up" AI in which an AI offense goes exclusively to the pass and becomes unstoppable. Additionally, when the AI does catch back up or takes the lead, do not leave them in "Catch Up" mode. Too often, I will take the lead by 2 or 3 scores, and the AI will start killing me in the pass for the whole rest of the game and NEVER go back to the run (even if they go up by 2 or 3 scores).
3.) Have the AI run the ball more and stick with the run longer. Also, if the AI is having trouble running, and goes to the pass, have them run more short ball-control passes rather than trying to go down the field for 15 to 25 yards on EVERY passing play.
4.) Better pursuit angles by defenders (especially for the human-controlled team), and better outside containment by linebackers and defensive ends. The AI has way too easy of a time getting to the outside, even if I am playing a "Contain" play or audible a linebacker to play a flat zone.
5.) In Overtime, if the AI wins the coin toss, they should pick to play on DEFENSE FIRST almost every time. A team wants to play on defense first, so that if they hold the other team without scoring, they know when they get to play offense that all they need is to kick the field goal.
5.) Make the "Middle Run" defensive pre-play adjustment spread out the defenders a little bit more so that the running back doesn't just cut outside and score without being touched.
6.) Make receivers (especially on the human-controlled teams) more aggressive at going for the ball when its in the air. This lack of agressiveness makes curl routes and quick-hitches almost unuseable because the receiver never comes back for the ball and the AI DB just steps in front and knocks it down or picks it off.
7.) Get rid of the AI DB's remarkable ability to intercept passes without ever looking back for the ball. If the DB is chasing down a WR and never sees the ball, the best he should be able to do is put his hands up and blindly try to knock it down (or run into the WR and get a PI penalty).
8.) Better blocking on Draws and Screens. Every time I run a draw, the AI defense never even looks like it is reacting to the pass fake. Additionally, letting us pump-fake before handing off the ball on a draw would be another nice addition. In screens, blockers should at least hit the guy in front of them for a second before pulling out to block on the screen. Too often do my linemen just let the defenders through without being touched, and they outrun my QBs drop back and sack him. That should still happen, but it should be very rare.
DYNASTY WISHLIST:
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1.) Players being unable to play in games due to something that happened during the week. These can include injuries sustained in practice, academic probation, suspension, etc (academics was part of previous PS2 games).
2.) Mark games during the season as "Homecoming", "Senior Night", "Family Night", etc, and during these events, the stadiums will be more likely to be more full and the crowd will be more energetic.
3.) Schools that have really high fan support should send more fans to away games. In the case that these teams are playing at schools that have very low fan support, the away team might actually outnumber the home team crowd (this happens at UNLV games at Sam Boyd once or twice a year).
4.) Allow us to export a "Preseason" draft c-l-a-s-s from NCAA 11 that would be saved at the start of the respective season in NCAA 11 and loaded at the beginning of a Madden 11 season. That way, we don't have to be a whole season ahead in NCAA in order to be able to import draft c-l-a-s-ses. Additionally, allow us to update the draft c-l-a-s-s during the season to see how the scouted player is performing in the NCAA game. Alternatively, maybe just have the Madden save file read the NCAA save file to get a list of scoutable players and their stats (but that might be complicated).
5.) Weekly game planning. Between games, allow us to view in depth information about our upcoming opponent, including their play-call tendencies and success rates with those play calls, projected depth chart, player stats, situational play calling tendencies (i.e. do they run or pass on third and short, etc). Allow us to practice against the opposing team's playbook (with emphasis on their most commonly-run plays) and maybe even give our team an awareness and play reaction boost if we do well in practice. Duplicate the "Defensive Assignments" so that it can be set before the game (rather than only in the game), as well as adding options to set double team coverages, double team blocks, and so on. It would also be VERY cool if we could customize our playbooks based on our next opponent. So if we see that they like to run a very aggressive defense, we can swap out some of our runs and passes for Draws and Screens to take advantage of that aggressiveness. And if we notice that they have a QB who likes to scramble (McNab, Young, etc), we can swap out some of our man coverage defenses for zones, contains, and QB spy plays.
6.) Have players get minor, but lingering injuries that persist over mutliple games (or even multiple seasons, like Brett Favres tendonitis or whatever he had) and can hamper their ability. In some cases, perhaps these injuries can prevent the player from practicing during the week, but still let him play in the game (but with reduced awareness and play recognition since he wasn't practicing). Each week, the medical staff would have to judge how well the player's condition is, and may or may not clear him to play. Additionally, the quality of the medical staff that you hire could reduce the severity of these injuries and lead to shorter recovery times and better performance in-game by players who have a minor injury.
7.) In addition to having lingering injuries, allow players to become injured during weekly practices (whether the user plays the practices or not). These injuries should be somewhat rare and almost never serious, but might take a player out for a week or two, or let the player be playable for the game, but with the risk of making the practice injury worse.
8.) In recruiting, when adding a player to the Recruiting Board, have an "Add to Recruiting Board at position __" option. Also, when removing a player from the recruiting board, have the option to mark him as "Not recruitable" or something so you don't accidentally add him again later.
TEAMBUILDER WISHLIST:
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1.) Layered uniforms (apply a few simple layers stacked on top of each other rather than having many complex s-t-y-l-e-ss to chose from).
2.) Stadium-Builder
3.) Options for putting text on the uniform (such as the school name or nickname) in places like under the collar, in place of the player's name, on the helmet, along the sleves, on the side of the pants, etc.
4.) Select a school to be our rival, name the rivalry, and maybe even select from a list of generic trophies to play for.
5.) Create "traditions" such as firing a cannon when the team scores, having a custom stadium sound, fireworks, cheerleader on horseback, etc.
6.) Mascot editor. Even if you don't create a full-fledged mascot maker, at least let us change the colors of existing mascots, or put our team name on them.
7.) Custom cheerleader uniforms (eh, why not?)
8.) Pride stickers.
ONLINE WISHLIST:
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1.) Upgrade the Season Showdown player stat tracking system to a full Online profile that tracks play-calling tendencies, ratios of which special moves are used by the player, 3rd and 4th down tendencies, what receiver routes they are most successful with, what playbooks and teams they are most successful with, and so on.
FEATURE WISHLIST:
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1.) You have video of Erin Andrews for the Road To Glory feature, how about go the extra step of adding cutscenes of her interviewing your player.
2.) More things to do between games of Road To Glory. Bring back the random events, and require that we go to practices to maintain our skill levels and depth chart positions.
PRESENTATION WISHLIST:
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1.) The obvious one: More mascots, more cheerleaders, more school spirit and flair.
2.) Allow the creation of female players and coaches. There have already been women playing in D-I college football (I think she was a place kicker for San Diego State or New Mexico or some team like that). Since the Dynasty mode lasts 30 years, how do we know a woman won't become successful as a player or become a head coach in that time?
3.) Pregame cutscenes of Kirk, Brad, and Lee picking which team they like to win (was in earlier games), and cutscenes of Erin Andrews in pregame, halftime, and postgame talking to coaches or players about what they have to do to win, what improvements need to be made in second half, and how they pulled off the win respectively. But at the same time, keep the halftime and post game highlight reels (I really like those)!
ACHIEVEMENT / TROPHIES:
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1.) Remove the requirement for many Achievements / Trophies that you must be in a "Single Team" Dynasty Mode. If you are playing with more than one team, then you probably deserve a Trophy for that. i.e. "Working Overtime" (Play a full season in Dynasty mode with more than one active team, playing every game that every selected team plays).
2.) Add some achievements/trophies for recruiting 5-star prospects (especially with lower-caliber schools, 3 stars or less), or having the highest recruiting c-l-a-s-s grade.