Play the Ball in the Air--Trait Question

[d11king]

Wait... So the Ball Hawk trait is seperate from Play Ball in Air???

[sixzero]

There is so much speculation on the web about traits... I know it's been said before but a confirmation from EA would be great. In my experience, when the game was released it seemed like I was in better position to catch interceptions from all positions, CB, LB, S. I would average around 2-4 interceptions a game. Since the update, I rarely get any interceptions. Obviously they made an adjustment but I wonder if I increase their awareness, play recognition or upgrade to ball hawk trait if it will really increase their chances of going for the ball again...

[TheDelta]

Quote: Originally Posted by the veteran

Sorry to bump but has anyone else verified this? That "upgrading" from aggressive to conservative makes the DBs play the ball better??

No, it's wrong. "Aggressive" defenders will always try to make a play on the play while it's in the air, "conservative" defenders will almost never do that. In reality, that means that you absolutely do NOT want "conservative" players in your secondary, since they will just watch the receiver make the catch and THEN try to tackle him, you can get by like that if you're a 95+ Tackle/Hit Power safety, but realistically, it just means that such a defender can never be allowed to cover the deep ball, since he won't actually cover it.

[bigbob]

I've always been under the impression in all the games that I've played the the "traits" are just there to make you think it's there.

I believe some of them were added just so people would quit bitching about the "CPU Catch-Up" in the 4th quarter every game.

[CM Hooe]

Play The Ball In The Air affects how a CPU-controlled player defends a pass. If he's aggressive, he's going to attempt to go for interceptions, which could result in him failing to make the pick and ending up extremely out of position to make a play on the receiver. If he's conservative, he's more likely to swat passes and maintain good position against the receiver should he not make the player. If he's balanced, he's a mix of the two, I would guess it reverts to Madden's tip pass vs. interception logic that existed before DPP was added.

I would fathom to guess that user control of a player overrides this trait completely, including the Ball Hawk mechanic (one can manually do a Ball Hawk pass deflection by holding down LB / L1, Ball Hawk interception by holding down Y / Triangle).

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by d11king

Wait... So the Ball Hawk trait is seperate from Play Ball in Air???

There is no Ball Hawk DPP trait. Ball Hawk is a in-game user control mechanic which may be employed to help defend passes. See my previous post.

[TheDelta]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

Play The Ball In The Air affects how a CPU-controlled player defends a pass. If he's aggressive, he's going to attempt to go for interceptions, which could result in him failing to make the pick and ending up extremely out of position to make a play on the receiver. If he's conservative, he's more likely to swat passes and maintain good position against the receiver should he not make the player. If he's balanced, he's a mix of the two, I would guess it reverts to Madden's tip pass vs. interception logic that existed before DPP was added.

In theory, that sounds nice, but as I said, in practice, a "conservative" CB is basically useless, those players do NOT try to swat the ball or get into position, they simply do nothing when a ball is thrown their way, they completely ignore the ball until it is caught, and THEN they try to tackle the receiver. Since most CBs are neither good at tackling nor especially great hitters, that usually doesn't end up well for the CB.

So yeah, the conservative CB SHOULD be the go who goes for the swat, but he's really just the guy who stands around and watches the WR make the catch.

[Sheik]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigbob

I've always been under the impression in all the games that I've played the the "traits" are just there to make you think it's there. I believe some of them were added just so people would quit bitching about the "CPU Catch-Up" in the 4th quarter every game.

Wrong

Traits that do work...

QB Throw the ball away
Fight For Yards
Bit Hitter
Clutch


Quick test....
Take a running back that doesn't have fight for yards, give it to him and take him to practice. He will damn near shrug the first tackler 80% of the time. Even the smaller backs

Then, go grab a qb with the throw the ball away trait and stand in the pocket with the rush and click the R3 button and look confused when no ref throws a flag.