Complete Cowboys Madden ratings are out

[dogunwo]

I think the crash problem was on the old pre-red-ring-of-death consoles. Mine crashed constantly until my console finally red-ringed. Once I got the new unit with the new heat-sink, etc, it stopped crashing.

I hope so. I have pretty much sworn off microsoft gaming systems until I see this issue consistently gone. Its quite funny to me how NO gaming systems EVER had this problem except xBox and xBox360.

 

[LatinMind]

anybody thinking roy is unjustified. look at steve breaston at 79? guy had a big yr and is lower then roy. i think too many people want cowboy players to be all 90s. only 1 i see as bad is the james rating. everything else on the cowboys looks about right with what they did last yr. well jenkins and scandrick seem a little low. but not too low. ull se a change with the first update.

 

[CATCH17]

Madden Devs Talk New Ratings System
by Mike on June 29, 2009

Gameshark.com (that site still exists?) just posted a new interview with Ian today, it’s five pages long and probably covers just about every element from the game. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m just posting the link. A very interesting tid bit comes out of Donny about the new ratings system, which is obviously generating a lot of unhappy fans who want to see all of their favorite players ranked in the 90’s… Here’s a snippet, hit the “Read More” for the rest of the quote because it’s long.

Donny: Let me answer this in reverse. We have five new ratings this year, all at the QB position. We split Throw Accuracy into three accuracy ratings: Short, Mid, and Deep. Short accuracy is used to determine passes 20 yards and under, mid accuracy is used from 21-40, and deep is used for 41+ (that’s in exact distance from the QB to his target…not from the LOS to the yard line of the WR).

We also added a Play Action rating and a Throw on the Run rating. The play action rating factors into the calculation we have currently for play action plays and their likelihood of being successful. Instead of a generic factor where a rookie 7th round QB is just as effective as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning at doing play fakes, now we have a system that favors the best play fakers in the league. This year, we also added an additional penalty to throwing while on the run. For players who are considered “elite” in this rating like Big Ben, they are not penalized much at all in the throwing accuracy ratings. Although, I wouldn’t recommend the same approach for Peyton Manning.

(continued)

Number of players above 90+ OVR

Position Madden09 Madden10

QB 12 6
HB 18 10
FB 4 4
WR 25 13
TE 9 6
T 21 12
G 22 11
C 11 6
DE 26 13
DT 15 11
OLB 18 9
MLB 19 7
CB 21 9
FS 6 5
SS 10 5
K 15 7
P 5 4

As you can see, the impact has been dramatic. At almost every position, the number of 90+ players has been almost chopped in half. Most of these guys who were in the low 90’s are now in the mid 80’s. Those guys who were in the mid 80’s are now dipping into the 70’s. But keep in mind we did not artificially lower all ratings for the average players. Whatever their strengths were, remained as strengths with the new re-rating. It was their weaknesses which are highlighted more dramatically with the new rating spread in Madden NFL 10.

The big reason to “stretch the ratings” was so that star players actually felt like star players. In past versions of Madden, I think it is hard to make the argument that stars like Nnamdi Asomugha and Jared Allen really stood out apart from any other fast or athletic player. Speed was the great video game equalizer. Well not any more, not in Madden NFL 10. Ratings like Play Recognition on defense and Route Running on offense mean more than ever before – in both the gameplay and the overall rating calculations.

Take CB speed for example. I did a rating analysis on this to start out the Madden NFL 10 pre-production cycle and discovered that every CB in the game had between 87-99 SPD in Madden NFL 09. I looked further, nearly 80% of ALL CB’s fell between 4 ratings points (88-92)! It’s pretty obvious that you aren’t going to see or feel any major differences out there in gameplay with them being so similar. The range now starts at 75-99, with a far greater number of CBs now in the low to mid 80’s.

A great bi-product of stretching out the ratings was that this touched all other areas of the game. Franchise mode. Rookie draft classes. Progression. The old draft system might have had over half of the rookie WR or CB class with 90+ speed. Not anymore. Finding those 90+ SPD guys will feel much more challenging. You still have a good amount of players at the elite ends of the ratings….just not half the league anymore. It feels really balanced this year- Josh and the franchise devs did an excellent job with the “re-invention” of that mode.

 

[masomenos]

I've always thought that the 100 point scale for attributes was stupid. It's almost entirely arbitrary to assign a value that is as specific as, say, Jason Witten's 88 "Toughness" rating. It makes even less sense when the rating is compared to other players, like Romo or Columbo, who have a 97 and 80 "Toughness" rating, respectively. Is Romo really 10% tougher than Witten? How in the world do the developers think that they can accurately quantify that?

The way that the rating system should work is the same way that fans base their evaluations. If we had a discussion on the forum trying to rank the NFL QBs, there would be too many opinions to come up with one set list of "This person is #1, this person is #2". Instead, we would come up with a grouping, or tier, system that allowed us to put comparable QBs together.

The best way to do this would be to compile all the data of actual compeltion percentages, make minor adjustments based on data from a place like F.O. that tracks dropped passes, and then do a linear regression analysis on the data. We could then "grade" all the data on a bell curve based on average, giving a grouping that placed only a few players at the top of the spectrum.

All players with "A" rated accuracy would have comparable skill and would show a marked improvement over a "B" rated player, who would have more skill than a "C", etc. I commend EA for trying to lower the ratings of their players, as most guys in the NFL are just average. However, their actual rating system still makes very little sense.

 

[CATCH17]

I've always thought that the 100 point scale for attributes was stupid. It's almost entirely arbitrary to assign a value that is as specific as, say, Jason Witten's 88 "Toughness" rating. It makes even less sense when the rating is compared to other players, like Romo or Columbo, who have a 97 and 80 "Toughness" rating, respectively. Is Romo really 10% tougher than Witten? How in the world do the developers think that they can accurately quantify that?

The way that the rating system should work is the same way that fans base their evaluations. If we had a discussion on the forum trying to rank the NFL QBs, there would be too many opinions to come up with one set list of "This person is #1, this person is #2". Instead, we would come up with a grouping, or tier, system that allowed us to put comparable QBs together.

The best way to do this would be to compile all the data of actual compeltion percentages, make minor adjustments based on data from a place like F.O. that tracks dropped passes, and then do a linear regression analysis on the data. We could then "grade" all the data on a bell curve based on average, giving a grouping that placed only a few players at the top of the spectrum.

All players with "A" rated accuracy would have comparable skill and would show a marked improvement over a "B" rated player, who would have more skill than a "C", etc. I commend EA for trying to lower the ratings of their players, as most guys in the NFL are just average. However, their actual rating system still makes very little sense.

Thats what the post above yours was discussing.

It looks like they are making an attempt to change their ratings. Thats why everyone is so low.

 

[masomenos]

Thats what the post above yours was discussing.

It looks like they are making an attempt to change their ratings. Thats why everyone is so low.

Indeed it is. :

 

[rysko]

romo could be 10 percent tougher than witten, he is pretty tough bro

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

you are completely out of your mind if you think ware is faster than roy williams.

that was one of the silliest posts I have ever read on here, I even re-read it a few times to make sure I didn't misread it.

I betcha if DeMarcus Ware lineed up against Roy right now he would win...this is no knock on Roy...but praise for Ware. Go back and look at the interception he got against Vick and the Falcons....Ware was JOGGING and the camera could not even keep up with him....it was scary to see a man that big move so effortlessly

 

[burmafrd]

I betcha if DeMarcus Ware lineed up against Roy right now he would win...this is no knock on Roy...but praise for Ware. Go back and look at the interception he got against Vick and the Falcons....Ware was JOGGING and the camera could not even keep up with him....it was scary to see a man that big move so effortlessly

Ware is a total beast but anyone thinking that he can outrun Roy Williams (WR) is just plain stupid.

 

[CATCH17]

Ware might win a 3 yard Race.

 

[pgreptom]

A few things:

Williams 84? His speed is way too slow.
(Our passing game will be horrible this year)

Barber is too slow.

Kitna is not a 68.

Columbo is not a 81.

James and Spencer are underrated; Brooking is overrated imo.

Spears at 71 is laughable.

Scandrick and Jenkins are rated way too slow. So is Newman.

In summary: Our team will be horrible this year. You better hope Ware gets 5-6 sacks every game you play, or you will get roasted. Our secondary and dline are both laughable, our WR's are slow. The only thing I can see (rating wise) that the Cowboys have going for them this year is their running game.

 

[pgreptom]

MAn its the same thing every year,Cowboys get the **** end of the stick on ALL our players!!! The Main example is when we got Keyshawn on Madden 2003 he was UNstopple then In 04, whens hes on the Cowboys he Sucks. I hate this game cant wait for There nfl Rights to expire!!!!

I think they had us pretty loaded up last year. And the year before. This is the first year I remember in awhile where Dallas got the shaft.

 

[CATCH17]

I think they had us pretty loaded up last year. And the year before. This is the first year I remember in awhile where Dallas got the shaft.

Every team got the shaft.

They redid their player ratings.


Some of the ratings are still questionable though.

 

[pgreptom]

Every team got the shaft.

They redid their player ratings.


Some of the ratings are still questionable though.

I understand that. I was reading about it for a few weeks. I love the move, but still..

Columbo as a 81? Spencer as a 71? Ellis faster than Spencer? Williams speed an 84?


Let's be realistic.

 

[CATCH17]

I understand that. I was reading about it for a few weeks. I love the move, but still..

Columbo as a 81? Spencer as a 71? Ellis faster than Spencer? Williams speed an 84?


Let's be realistic.

You're right. They did terrible lol.

Probably some yorky who hates Dallas came out with this stuff.

 

[Sickwitit]

I think they had us pretty loaded up last year. And the year before. This is the first year I remember in awhile where Dallas got the shaft.

Ive been playing for years and madden always screws cowboys one way or another least I like to think so

 

[pgreptom]

Ive been playing for years and madden always screws cowboys one way or another least I like to think so

I've been playing Madden for a very long time. I couldn't tell you how long, but I remember being excited when the FRANCHISE mode was added to the game. That's probably my oldest memory of the game.

I think this year is pretty bad. However, I think if you take away your love for the team - and how you tend to overrate players because you're a huge fan - and think about it logically.. It's been a few years since EA has smacked the 'Boys hard with ratings. I think this year is bad, though.

 

[Rampage]

I've been playing Madden for a very long time. I couldn't tell you how long, but I remember being excited when the FRANCHISE mode was added to the game. That's probably my oldest memory of the game.

I think this year is pretty bad. However, I think if you take away your love for the team - and how you tend to overrate players because you're a huge fan - and think about it logically.. It's been a few years since EA has smacked the 'Boys hard with ratings. I think this year is bad, though.

if you do well in Franchise mode with the boys the ratings will rise.

 

[Lodeus]

Ratliff and Bradie James need to be rated higher.

 

[pgreptom]

if you do well in Franchise mode with the boys the ratings will rise.

Your post confuses me; I never said it wouldn't. I don't think I ever even crossed ratings and franchise together. I was merely saying I've been playing the game for along time, and as an example I referred to the year EA added "Franchise Mode" to the game.