NCAA 11 online dynasty interest?

[IndyColtsFan]

Good GOD, that was a TOUGH game. I didn't remember the demo being this freaking hard, as I remember driving down the field with ease. I just played a game (Purdue vs. Indiana) and I didn't win it until the final 30 seconds with a TD run. Here are some quick thoughts:

1. Passing seems way too difficult. I hit receivers in the hands multiple times and they dropped it. Similarly it doesn't seem like you can put touch on the pass.
2. The run blocking is stellar, as the reports have said.
3. Game seems to move too fast. I rarely had time to select plays. I basically had to know exactly where the play was in the playbook in order to get it called in time.

I don't know about this game. I am really going to suck and suck hard. Maybe some controls have changed that I'm not aware of. I've been playing NCAA 09 for the past few weeks and I was easily able to shoot lasers down the field. My QB is obviously better in 09, but still, this was an awful performance on my part. I think I completed 3 passes in the entire first half and then nothing in the second half until the final drive with 2 minutes left, where I hit a few downfield.

 

[Cuda1447]

I guess I'm a bit confused about something. In the Madden league every game was against a human. In this league it seems we will play normal conference schedules, which will only give us 1 or 2 games against a human, maybe a few out of conference games against a human and then bowl games? So essentially, a good portion of our games will be against cpu opponents?

 

[Cuda1447]

If anyone wants to practice I'm going to be getting online and playing some practice games. Gamer tag is Cuda1447

 

[CharlestonUSC85]

Yeah typically when everyone wants to be their favorite team it works out so you only play one or two human opponents. We could always do a MAC or WAC only conference. Everyone has to pick one a team from that conference and it will gaurantee we will play more than one dynasty user. I'm totally okay with this if it means more human vs human games. Anyone else second this or have a problem with it?

I played my first game online last night against a friend I played a lot last year. It was my first game outside the demo playing. I too realized that playing offense was terribly difficult. I do like this a little better though. It is going to make you actually put an offensive game plan together with actually "chains" of plays. It seems it will make game stats more realistic also. I did notice a lot of dropped balls and a few back to back fumbles.

Does anyone have any insight on what some of the symbols in the playbook represent. I notice some plays are tagged with what looked like green "chainlinks" maybe and others with other symbols. ANyone have a clue?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I guess I'm a bit confused about something. In the Madden league every game was against a human. In this league it seems we will play normal conference schedules, which will only give us 1 or 2 games against a human, maybe a few out of conference games against a human and then bowl games? So essentially, a good portion of our games will be against cpu opponents?

Last year, a good portion of our games in the Madden league ended up against CPUs. Of the 14 games we played, only 3 of mine were against humans. I probably had another 3 or 4 that were against humans but those guys quit, didn't answer my game requests, or just didn't show up at all. We started with 23 players, only 15 or 16 actually played their first games, and after the first couple of weeks, that was down to probably 10. By the third quarter of the season, we only had 4 or 5 people regularly play. Heck, I was not even the original commissioner -- our commissioner took a "temporary" break to attend to stuff in RL and just never came back and as a result, I took over since I was co-commissioner.

We can place everyone in the same conference if you guys want. Personally, I'd prefer to try to balance conference play vs. humans with bowl games vs. humans. I think that mix would be the most fun. I think playing some games against CPUs is also good because those weeks, you have a little more flexibility as to when you can play the games. That's why I was hoping we'd get enough to fill about half of 4 major conferences. That way, I figured we might get half of our conference play vs. CPUs and stand very a very good chance of having bowl games against one another, particularly if those conferences were the Big Ten, Pac 10, SEC, and another conference.

Madden is less than a month away, so unfortunately, I'm not sure how much more interest we're going to get in our league. I was really hoping to get 16 players but I don't think that is going to happen. I'm not sure what it is to be honest, as I thought AT would be all over online leagues judging from the sports threads in OT and the fact most of us game. I've tried repeatedly to get leagues in MLB and NBA started, and when those didn't get more than a couple of responses, I didn't even try to start an NHL league. Madden and NCAA seem to be the only ones that ever get any traction and I would not be surprised if there is no Madden league this year.

P.S. Cuda, I think my resolve is weakening. If I see that someone starts a Madden 11 league, I may have to claim my Colts and if it gets enough interest, I may break down and buy it. I can play in two football leagues though.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yeah typically when everyone wants to be their favorite team it works out so you only play one or two human opponents. We could always do a MAC or WAC only conference. Everyone has to pick one a team from that conference and it will gaurantee we will play more than one dynasty user. I'm totally okay with this if it means more human vs human games. Anyone else second this or have a problem with it?

I played my first game online last night against a friend I played a lot last year. It was my first game outside the demo playing. I too realized that playing offense was terribly difficult. I do like this a little better though. It is going to make you actually put an offensive game plan together with actually "chains" of plays. It seems it will make game stats more realistic also. I did notice a lot of dropped balls and a few back to back fumbles.

Does anyone have any insight on what some of the symbols in the playbook represent. I notice some plays are tagged with what looked like green "chainlinks" maybe and others with other symbols. ANyone have a clue?

The difficulty on offense took me by surprise, but I suspect that for me, I'm used to the speed of NCAA 09 and the speed here is a big difference. Is it faster? I don't know for sure, but it is different. When I played the demo, I had no problem going down the field. On this, I struggled. I wonder if perhaps EA did to NCAA this year what they tried to do to Madden last year -- actually made player stats matter.

I practiced afterwards and feel a little better about my passing offense. Running is actually fun in this game too.

On a humorous note, did you guys notice the cost cutting EA is taking with the cheap and flimsy jewel case? When I got home and the package was on my porch, it was "shrinkwrapped" (for lack of better term) in some sort of recycled paper envelope. As I was twisting the package to open it, the entire case was twisting and I thought for sure it had been shatterd in shipping. Nope! Just a cheap and crappy jewel case.

I'll get back to you with your playbook question a little later. I need to get to work.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Does anyone have any insight on what some of the symbols in the playbook represent. I notice some plays are tagged with what looked like green "chainlinks" maybe and others with other symbols. ANyone have a clue?

Ok, so I thought I was going to answer the question but I reread it and am not quite sure I remember seeing those. At first, I thought you meant the route colors but now I realize you were referring to something else. I'll have to take a look tonight.

By the way, I HATE the new playcalling menu. I do like that if you run a hurry up/2 minute drill that it pulls up and you can call different plays as opposed to the same plays or canned audibles last year. But on regular plays, it is incredibly slow to find the plays you want. I like the old method that would display 4 or 6 plays and let you choose that way. It was much, much faster.

 

[jtisgeek]

Am glad it's hard all the rest have been to easy. What difficulty we playing I play on the hardest by don't matter to me really hope the cpu are a good challenge.

 

[JoPh]

just make a custom conference. you should be able to kick and add people to any one conference as you set it up.. i know you could in single player in 2010.

i would imagine you can do the same in dynasty.. or just set up custom schedules so everyone plays everyone.

 

[Kev]

Last year, a good portion of our games in the Madden league ended up against CPUs. Of the 14 games we played, only 3 of mine were against humans. I probably had another 3 or 4 that were against humans but those guys quit, didn't answer my game requests, or just didn't show up at all. We started with 23 players, only 15 or 16 actually played their first games, and after the first couple of weeks, that was down to probably 10. By the third quarter of the season, we only had 4 or 5 people regularly play. Heck, I was not even the original commissioner -- our commissioner took a "temporary" break to attend to stuff in RL and just never came back and as a result, I took over since I was co-commissioner.

I've been in a NCAA 10 online league for a few months, and I think it's the last online league I will ever be in. It's mainly due to the overall shittyness and unreliability of most people.

About half the people in the league use cheese plays constantly. And these are friends, I can't imagine what a league with random strangers would be like. I played against a guy who used 20 HB screens in a game. Some of them prefer slant after slant after slant. Or rolling the QB out of the pocket so that the broken AI can't cover the receivers.

Then you have people who just won't play their games or take forever to play them. The championship game was delayed a month because the commish and his opponent couldn't schedule the game at a good time.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I've been in a NCAA 10 online league for a few months, and I think it's the last online league I will ever be in. It's mainly due to the overall shittyness and unreliability of most people.

Yeah, that is what I am afraid of whenever I try to start an online league. My only other recourse would be to join a league from one of the "pro" sites like Virtual Sports Network or Operation Sports, where guys would presumably be more reliable. But I doubt that I would have much fun, as those guys would probably consistently smoke me. I want to at least be competitive and get a few wins.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

just make a custom conference. you should be able to kick and add people to any one conference as you set it up.. i know you could in single player in 2010.

i would imagine you can do the same in dynasty.. or just set up custom schedules so everyone plays everyone.

We're looking at the second option you describe. As I mentioned, I personally would like to balance human conference games with the possibility of human vs. human bowl matchups. The best way to do that, in all likelihood, is to split people into a couple of different conferences and then make custom schedules to have them play each other in the non-conference portion.

 

[seipheroth]

I've been playing for the last couple of days and I've come to realize that my passing is really bad. I just broke the 40% completion mark thanks to the cupcake WAC schedule, but I know I'll get killed when I play online. If anyone would like to play a game against me feel free to send me a message via forum PM or PSN. I'm a crummy player, but at the very least you'll have a live player to test out your awesome offense and defense on

 

[lupi]

If anyone wants to play me on the PS3 as UF, let me know when someone has it on sale

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I really wish these games supported cross-platform play and leagues.

 

[artemicion]

Got my copy yesterday. Concur on the difficulty on offense, but I'm not exactly a football expert so I assume that it's just me. I don't know how to call audibles, don't know how or why to shift the lines and whatnot, hot routes, etc. Anybody know a good site that has guides for strategies and whatnot? I find that EA's manuals are sorely lacking, even in terms of explaining what all the buttons do.

 

[CharlestonUSC85]

i just played a game online against my buddy. i can now say i've adjusted to the game speed and motion and really do love this game already. the realism has been hit on the head in many different places.

i like that the QB actually has to wind up and take time to throw deep bombs now. i enjoy that it is very hard for a scrambling qb to evade the d-line now. it seems it takes a lot more time for a qb to just start scrambling from the pocket.

i believe once you guys play a few more games you will be okay. just set the skill level to the lowest available until you can get into tune with the mechanics of the gameplay.

I'm CharlestonUSC on xbox live and play straight sim style NO CHEESE type football. Send me a friend request with League Dynasty in the message and i'll add you. Good luck guys!

 

[Cuda1447]

The one thing that I've been disappointed with is both online games I've played where lag fests, at least on my end. I could barely run... and my style of play depends on timing. Option offense, GA Tech. The lag absolutely murdered my ability to run the option. Frustrating.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

The one thing that I've been disappointed with is both online games I've played where lag fests, at least on my end. I could barely run... and my style of play depends on timing. Option offense, GA Tech. The lag absolutely murdered my ability to run the option. Frustrating.

I haven't played any online games yet, but I have noticed quite a bit of stuttering.

I'm still not sure that I like the passing game. I played tonight and won 27-14, and I threw for 355 yards, 3 TDs, but 3 INTs. The thing that bothers me is that too many passes hit your receivers in the hands and are dropped and similary, defenders miss out on easy INTs. In NCAA 09, I was able to drop passes into small holes all over the field; here, I am too gunshy to try to lead or put any touch on the ball because it is too sensitive.

Also, is it just me, or do the players seem unresponsive to your controls to some extent? I think that is supposed to be a new feature this year (locomotion or whatever gimicky word they have), but man, it is irritating. I'm used to taking dives with the hit stick at people and now, it is next to impossible for me to get it to work.

 

[fatpat268]

http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/22882196

^Lol, weird glitch i guess

But anyway, the game is pretty good, but it still has a lot of things unfixed from my list of gripes from past EA sports football games. Honestly though, I give up hoping they fix these issues until they use a new engine for their games.

That said, the running game feels real nice so far. Each run makes you feel like you earn it and that it's not some predetermined outcome before you snap the ball.

I'm having a hell of a time in the passing game though. My receivers seem to catch the ball when it hits their hands, but I'm having other problems. For one, most of the time, the receivers routes take FOREVER to develop. And by the time they do develop, I have two defenders in my face. Secondly, no one is ever open. I'll scan the field presnap looking for mismatches, but yet the cpu plays it perfectly everytime. The corners never seem to bite on PA.

Throwing over the middle is very tough when you have LB's who can side step 5 yards and jump 10 feet to swat/intercept a pass. Throwing to the outside is hard as well because the quarterback doesn't lead the pass to the outside (in past football games, I could do this perfectly, not here). Instead, the quarterback routinely throws in on the inside so that the corner can jump the route and pick 6.

Add to that, the receivers in the game are routinely retarded. I've had wide open guys run right by without attempting to make a catch. Other times, my receiver broke his route for no reason when the ball was in the air. I've experienced all this stuff in only two games.

So far the game is pretty good. The AI defense resorts to it's cheating ways of the past, and the passing game isn't that great from what I've seen.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/22882196

^Lol, weird glitch i guess

If you think that's bad, did you read the huge list of fixes the release day patch contained? On one hand, it is great they fixed that much stuff but on the other hand, you seriously have to wonder how so many obvious things managed to hang around that long.

But anyway, the game is pretty good, but it still has a lot of things unfixed from my list of gripes from past EA sports football games. Honestly though, I give up hoping they fix these issues until they use a new engine for their games.

I really wonder when that will be. More and more, EA seems to be taking the cheap and easy way out on games. I think I agree with many posters that maybe sports games should go on a two year cycle and on the off year, maybe they should release roster updates, uniform/stadium updates, and tweaked AI for $20 or $30. I know that won't happen though.

I'm having a hell of a time in the passing game though. My receivers seem to catch the ball when it hits their hands, but I'm having other problems. For one, most of the time, the receivers routes take FOREVER to develop. And by the time they do develop, I have two defenders in my face. Secondly, no one is ever open. I'll scan the field presnap looking for mismatches, but yet the cpu plays it perfectly everytime. The corners never seem to bite on PA.

You're right, though I do occasionally have wide open receivers. Routes take too long to develop and pass protection can't hold that long. EA needs to do some adjustment here -- either the routes need to develop faster or the line should hold for a couple more seconds in most situations.

One thing I don't like (and this has been true in most EA games) is that receivers or defenders will drop passes that hit them in the hands but will turn around and make ridiculous, acrobatic catches. I can maybe understand that with receivers, since they live by making catches all game, but defenders?

Throwing over the middle is very tough when you have LB's who can side step 5 yards and jump 10 feet to swat/intercept a pass. Throwing to the outside is hard as well because the quarterback doesn't lead the pass to the outside (in past football games, I could do this perfectly, not here). Instead, the quarterback routinely throws in on the inside so that the corner can jump the route and pick 6.

Add to that, the receivers in the game are routinely retarded. I've had wide open guys run right by without attempting to make a catch. Other times, my receiver broke his route for no reason when the ball was in the air. I've experienced all this stuff in only two games.

So far the game is pretty good. The AI defense resorts to it's cheating ways of the past, and the passing game isn't that great from what I've seen.

I agree with your points and I'm glad that I am not the only one that thinks the passing game seems to be lacking. Though I would imagine that NCAA 11 is heavily based off Madden 10 and Madden 10's passing was also tougher than previous versions, so I will probably eventually get used to it.

 

[ConvictsTheU]

I haven't played any online games yet, but I have noticed quite a bit of stuttering.

I'm still not sure that I like the passing game. I played tonight and won 27-14, and I threw for 355 yards, 3 TDs, but 3 INTs. The thing that bothers me is that too many passes hit your receivers in the hands and are dropped and similary, defenders miss out on easy INTs. In NCAA 09, I was able to drop passes into small holes all over the field; here, I am too gunshy to try to lead or put any touch on the ball because it is too sensitive.

Also, is it just me, or do the players seem unresponsive to your controls to some extent? I think that is supposed to be a new feature this year (locomotion or whatever gimicky word they have), but man, it is irritating. I'm used to taking dives with the hit stick at people and now, it is next to impossible for me to get it to work.

I completely agree...I am missing a shit ton of open field tackles..hit stick doesnt work nearly as well and tackle as a whole has become more difficult..

how do I download the patch to fix some of these glitches?

 

[artemicion]

If you think that's bad, did you read the huge list of fixes the release day patch contained? On one hand, it is great they fixed that much stuff but on the other hand, you seriously have to wonder how so many obvious things managed to hang around that long.

Huh. Haven't read the patch list but I wonder if that's the new DRM. Modded xboxes are either banned from Live and can't download the patch, or the user is too scared to try to connect to Live to download the patch. Without the patch, the game is virtually unplayable, but not so unplayable that people complain that an internet connection is "required" to play the game. Pretty clever. Gotta give them props if that was the intent.

I can sort of echo the comments here on the passing game, though my struggles with it may be from my lack of skill. I'm having difficulty finding success with any sort of screen plays, don't think I've completed to any receiver running a fly route. It seems like the CB is never fooled on curls or out routes either, but my timing might just be off.

The one passing play I've been having (an unusual amount of) success with are slant routes. The computer seems to have a hard time defending these, as the corners usually end up behind the receiver and the linebackers don't help. Games against the computer usually end up being full of cheese for me, as I'll play three quarters trying to run a realistic offense, but end up falling back on the crutch of alternating between running the same slant route play with the occasional sweep option or triple option. It might be that the computer sets the linebackers to play to contain my scrambling QB and can't defend the slant as well. Not sure and don't know enough about the game (or about football, really) to tell.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I completely agree...I am missing a shit ton of open field tackles..hit stick doesnt work nearly as well and tackle as a whole has become more difficult..

how do I download the patch to fix some of these glitches?

Assuming you're signed in to Live when you load up NCAA, it should prompt you to load the update before it allows you to play it. If that didn't happen, I'd clear your system cache, reboot the Xbox, and then see if you're prompted.

The hit stick is really annoying me. I may just have to run a few practices to get used to it.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Huh. Haven't read the patch list but I wonder if that's the new DRM. Modded xboxes are either banned from Live and can't download the patch, or the user is too scared to try to connect to Live to download the patch.

Yeah, and the DVD drive in my Xbox seems to be giving up the ghost as I am getting tons of disc read errors. It took me 4 or 5 attempts to get into my game last night! I'm almost afraid to get a replacement drive off eBay or a Jasper Arcade unit from eBay (mine is a Falcon) due to the possibility of a flashed unit that will be or has been banned. There are a few options I have, but since this unit is a Falcon (as is my other Xbox in my entertainment center), I'm wondering if I should just bit the bullet and get a new Jasper arcade or an Xbox slim. I HATE the idea of buying the slim, though, since Microsoft has pissed me off so much with the Xbox.