Let's Talk Recruiting ( CFB 25)

[georgiafan]

I couldn't handle the wait so dusted off the PS3 and fired up my old dynasty in year 9. I simmed a year and did some recruiting with my powerhouse team. Here are my thoughts

The jump from 70 to 85 is going to be massive thankfully this is gen only. I had to cut quality players and it forced me not to have massive depth at most positions. The extra 15 guys will allow me to load up on some positions and not have to recruit anyone the next year if I want to. It will also allow me to go after the lower overall, developmental types.

The thing I changed my mind on the most is now wanting a scouting system on a weekly basis. In 14 you spend 50 points, and you get the real ratings. Maybe the way this is done is you get to see the letter grades like In madden after you scout them so still a bit of a mystery. Then you can confirm athletic ability at a school camp. When I had some extra points this allowed me to add guys to my board and scout them and see if I found any that were better then they were suppose to be. It was worth it to scout everyone early on so you didn't waste your time even if it got you a week behind.

Athletes are so fun to recruit I was able to get a 6'6 225 pound that was able to play WR. They need to add more of the OL/DL types and FB/LB. I did notice these tend to lean WR so do come at some risk.

The search bar needs to come back it was nice to be able to easily look for 6'7 WR.

As a powerhouse you could look for the guys not getting recruited (less then 25%) mid season and pretty easily move up the list. Hopefully your see the smaller schools start on those guys earlier in the year.

Even though I'm a powerhouse school with a maxed out coaching tree. I had to make some tough calls early on who to recruit. Because I only had so many points to give out and I knew the 5* I didn't put points to week 1 I would lose.

Sizes for OL were too small I guess a sign of how much bigger players are now.

I had forgot about the amount of bust/gems so hopefully that comes back

I had a crazy deep QB room which I assume will be fixed with the transfer portal so big now.

Since I'm a powerhouse school I would always redshirt everyone. Now that will be different as you can still redshirt and play 4 games. But overall redshirting isn't really that big of a deal anymore. So will that even be in the game ?

The board max of 35 needs to come back

I'm so glad I'll be able to advance weeks without it taking 2 minutes

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by georgiafan

I couldn't handle the wait so dusted off the PS3 and fired up my old dynasty in year 9. I simmed a year and did some recruiting with my powerhouse team. Here are my thoughts The jump from 70 to 85 is going to be massive thankfully this is gen only. I had to cut quality players and it forced me not to have massive depth at most positions. The extra 15 guys will allow me to load up on some positions and not have to recruit anyone the next year if I want to. It will also allow me to go after the lower overall, developmental types. The thing I changed my mind on the most is now wanting a scouting system on a weekly basis. In 14 you spend 50 points, and you get the real ratings. Maybe the way this is done is you get to see the letter grades like In madden after you scout them so still a bit of a mystery. Then you can confirm athletic ability at a school camp. When I had some extra points this allowed me to add guys to my board and scout them and see if I found any that were better then they were suppose to be. It was worth it to scout everyone early on so you didn't waste your time even if it got you a week behind. Athletes are so fun to recruit I was able to get a 6'6 225 pound that was able to play WR. They need to add more of the OL/DL types and FB/LB. I did notice these tend to lean WR so do come at some risk. The search bar needs to come back it was nice to be able to easily look for 6'7 WR. As a powerhouse you could look for the guys not getting recruited (less then 25%) mid season and pretty easily move up the list. Hopefully your see the smaller schools start on those guys earlier in the year. Even though I'm a powerhouse school with a maxed out coaching tree. I had to make some tough calls early on who to recruit. Because I only had so many points to give out and I knew the 5* I didn't put points to week 1 I would lose. Sizes for OL were too small I guess a sign of how much bigger players are now. I had forgot about the amount of bust/gems so hopefully that comes back I had a crazy deep QB room which I assume will be fixed with the transfer portal so big now. Since I'm a powerhouse school I would always redshirt everyone. Now that will be different as you can still redshirt and play 4 games. But overall redshirting isn't really that big of a deal anymore. So will that even be in the game ? The board max of 35 needs to come back I'm so glad I'll be able to advance weeks without it taking 2 minutes

I agree. Going from 70 to 85 players will be huge. Not just for depth and avoiding making tough roster cuts. It'll be important for the Transfer Portal. There's a high chance you could lose depth to the Portal. Having enough depth could help ease the pain of losing guys to the Portal. It'll be nice to have a Coach skill that either reduces the chance of guys entering the Transfer or increases the chance of you being able to persuade them to stay

I do agree that they need more variety in athletes. In the past, it leaned towards Two-Way athletes. I would like to see more athletes that can play multiple positions on the same side. I would like to see more Deebo Samuels types, More DB/LB types etc. I just wish CPU use Athletes to their best ability. Nothing was worst going after an ATH that you knew could be a game changer, but the CPU got them and just penciled them into one spot

I want to see Gems and Busts come back. But, I want to see hidden development trait. You can tell right away if someone is a bust or a gem, but at least make it unknown until a snap threshold is met.

[cjacks17]

I personally loved the NCAA 13 model.

I think there's ways to streamline it for more casual players. For example, having auto-calls be more strategic (i.e. selling on your high rated interest and high rated prestige in areas - rather than it being completely random).

But I loved the scouting system. You had to be strategic, there were duds and studs that could be uncovered.

There's ways to expand it, but I much preffered 13 to 14 where it was just points.

Potentially a middle ground could be borrowing concepts from College Hooks 2K8, where you have a certain amount of actions and can quickly move through the screen rather than the call system.

Additionally, would love to see something like the ABL for NCAA Football where you could scout FR-JR's in HS and create future plans, but that's not happenign this year.

Crazy to think how advanced College Hoops was in 2008 though.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by cjacks17

I personally loved the NCAA 13 model. I think there's ways to streamline it for more casual players. For example, having auto-calls be more strategic (i.e. selling on your high rated interest and high rated prestige in areas - rather than it being completely random). But I loved the scouting system. You had to be strategic, there were duds and studs that could be uncovered. There's ways to expand it, but I much preffered 13 to 14 where it was just points. Potentially a middle ground could be borrowing concepts from College Hooks 2K8, where you have a certain amount of actions and can quickly move through the screen rather than the call system. Additionally, would love to see something like the ABL for NCAA Football where you could scout FR-JR's in HS and create future plans, but that's not happenign this year. Crazy to think how advanced College Hoops was in 2008 though.

I agree.

They can streamline the recruiting for casuals, without streamlining it for everyone. That was the problem that NCAA 14 had. I don't GoAT NCAA 14 like the consensus does. I don't like how they streamlined everything in NCAA 14. I get the idea of simplifying aspects of a mode so that it doesn't scare away new camera. But, that shouldn't be at the detriment of the hardcore base that you're aiming for. The casual gamer is likely to play as a powerhouse and might only do one season anyway. For me, the simplest way to handle streamlining Recruiting for causals is to add toggles/options. Having difficulty levels for Recruiting, have an Auto option based on your Recruiting ability, and have different Recruiting toggles that can vary the experience for users. It would be cool to set up Recruiting preferences and set it to Auto. I plan on focusing on Recruiting for the first couple seasons. But when I get deep into Dynasty, I would love to set it to Auto and trust that Auto Recruiting will do a good job.

[georgiafan]

I like to go in with low expectations so in my head I'm projecting something more simple and casual along the lines of 14 or the madden draft. Atleast for 14 every week you had a few things to do like look at what points changed, adjust points and schedule visits. Then you could remove people from your board and look for new people. However in madden the majority of week literarily nothing changed.

Its been said this game is more of a labor of love and they aren't expecting it to sell like Madden does. Doesn't that mean they are expecting more of a hardcore crowd that like the detailed recruiting?

It's better to make it advanced then find a way to simplify it for the just play the game crowd. So hopefully they can add sliders or way to turn things off and try and make everyone happy

Quote: Originally Posted by illwill10

I agree. They can streamline the recruiting for casuals, without streamlining it for everyone. job.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by georgiafan

I like to go in with low expectations so in my head I'm projecting something more simple and casual along the lines of 14 or the madden draft. Atleast for 14 every week you had a few things to do like look at what points changed, adjust points and schedule visits. Then you could remove people from your board and look for new people. However in madden the majority of week literarily nothing changed. Its been said this game is more of a labor of love and they aren't expecting it to sell like Madden does. Doesn't that mean they are expecting more of a hardcore crowd that like the detailed recruiting? It's better to make it advanced then find a way to simplify it for the just play the game crowd. So hopefully they can add sliders or way to turn things off and try and make everyone happy

College Football is more niche. The NFL and Madden brand alone can sell itself to both casual and hardcore gamers. I don't think the same thing can be said about College Football. When you have a niche title, you can't really go the streamline route, until you solidify the hardcore crowd first. That was the problem with NCAA 14. They streamlined it too much.

Plus when it comes to sales, we do have to consider that EA CFB 25 will be current gen only. I was surprised that it wasn't cross gen for sales alone. I think Madden, NBA2K, and EA FC can still sell 7M+ copies just off their fan base alone by going current gen only. I think 3M copies on current gen consoles is a good number. Some might think it can easily do over 5M copies. I'm just not sure the base is there for those who have current gen consoles. If someone doesn't already have a current gen console, is EA CFB 25 enough for them to finally buy one.

[georgiafan]

Something else that hit me that needs to be added which ties to into recruiting. I would classify this as important and it's the ability to make your players enter the transfer portal. I would like to see the cut feature removed altogether and replaced with this.

In 14 you had to cut players and it was the last thing you did and the players would just disappear forever. With the portal so strong now I assume that will be its own offseason event. You need to be able to send players to that at the start of the offseason. Who enters the portal is likely not going to be perfect so I want to be able to control that. That way you can still see and track them at smaller schools.

A example from last night as I can't quit playing 14. I had two players both in the same grade former athletes so near identical skills. The QB job was open and the guy I picked is having a good year as a redshirt sophomore. This past class I signed a 5* QB and then just now got a 4* that I think will win the heisman. So now the guy just lost out on the QB job is pretty much in the way despite a 90 overall and a few years to go is in the way. If this was CFB 25 I wouldn't want to cut him, but I want the ability to control that it matches real life and he finds a starting job.

[Ghost Of The Year]

Quote: Originally Posted by illwill10

College Football is more niche. The NFL and Madden brand alone can sell itself to both casual and hardcore gamers. I don't think the same thing can be said about College Football. When you have a niche title, you can't really go the streamline route, until you solidify the hardcore crowd first. That was the problem with NCAA 14. They streamlined it too much. Plus when it comes to sales, we do have to consider that EA CFB 25 will be current gen only. I was surprised that it wasn't cross gen for sales alone. I think Madden, NBA2K, and EA FC can still sell 7M+ copies just off their fan base alone by going current gen only. I think 3M copies on current gen consoles is a good number. Some might think it can easily do over 5M copies. I'm just not sure the base is there for those who have current gen consoles. If someone doesn't already have a current gen console, is EA CFB 25 enough for them to finally buy one.

I'm more interested in seeing how well CFB25 sells compared to NBA2k and The Show. I think it has a real chance to be second only to Madden. The fact it will have more than 10,000 plus real players compared to NCAAF's zero real players is huge. Now for me I know after a two seasons into recruitment will render half the roster ''fake'' pretty quickly, which is fine by me, always was. But there's a big enough audience for CFB that is only interested in online head-to-head matchups using only ''real'' players. That's a big win for EA.