Haven't seen a thread dedicated to this and feel it merits its own discussion.
I'm very curious to see how leagues are leaning. I'm philosophically of the belief that if everyone feels XP is a bit low, it's probably just right. I also believe some of the issues from M16 were problems from the narrow type of player that was generated in the draft classes and not a thing that could be fixed by XP sliders (e.g. in the case of CBs, with base sliders it was realistically impossible to develop any studs into 95 MCV guys... but if you cranked up XP sliders, there would be WAY too many 95 MCV guys). Luckily it seems as if M17 has either fixed or helped the player generation issue.
SO:
My initial thoughts are that progression feels much easier in M17. It's slightly tougher to supercharge a single player, but I'm not convinced they don't end up with more XP over the course of a single season. Meanwhile all your backups are getting XP. Huge net gain. The only position groups I'm leery of are:
One major caveat I'm concerned about with inflating OL XP is keeping in-game OL vs DL mechanics balanced. I'm making the assumption that the overall RBK & PBK league talent levels should be roughly equivalent to the overall PMV/FMV/BSH levels, but that may not necessarily be true this Madden. Perhaps the game is balanced such that 85 PBK matches up well enough with 92 PMV, for instance, and inflating XP so that 90-95 PBK is attainable for a few elite players throws things out of whack. Though I doubt that, since existing elite guys such as Joe Thomas are in the mid/high 90s in PBK & RBK.
Thoughts on XP sliders and OL progression in particular?
I'm very curious to see how leagues are leaning. I'm philosophically of the belief that if everyone feels XP is a bit low, it's probably just right. I also believe some of the issues from M16 were problems from the narrow type of player that was generated in the draft classes and not a thing that could be fixed by XP sliders (e.g. in the case of CBs, with base sliders it was realistically impossible to develop any studs into 95 MCV guys... but if you cranked up XP sliders, there would be WAY too many 95 MCV guys). Luckily it seems as if M17 has either fixed or helped the player generation issue.
SO:
My initial thoughts are that progression feels much easier in M17. It's slightly tougher to supercharge a single player, but I'm not convinced they don't end up with more XP over the course of a single season. Meanwhile all your backups are getting XP. Huge net gain. The only position groups I'm leery of are:
- QB: Feels like it *might* be a tad high. Then again you are giving up an entire position group to develop this one guy, so perhaps it's fine. I'm leaning toward the 90-100% range.
- Offensive Line: WOW, the XP costs for blocking have skyrocketed exponentially. A 2nd round (IRL or actual 2nd round) Normal dev prospect *might* see a single blocking point upgraded over the course of his rookie season if you take some time to get AWR up to a respectable level first. Feels like a strong prospect coming out as an 85/81 might take a few entire seasons just to reach 87/84. Meanwhile pass rushers are not nearly as difficult to get to 90+ PMV, FMV, or BSH. So this is the main area I'm curious about pumping up the XP a lot... as in 200% and possibly even more.
One major caveat I'm concerned about with inflating OL XP is keeping in-game OL vs DL mechanics balanced. I'm making the assumption that the overall RBK & PBK league talent levels should be roughly equivalent to the overall PMV/FMV/BSH levels, but that may not necessarily be true this Madden. Perhaps the game is balanced such that 85 PBK matches up well enough with 92 PMV, for instance, and inflating XP so that 90-95 PBK is attainable for a few elite players throws things out of whack. Though I doubt that, since existing elite guys such as Joe Thomas are in the mid/high 90s in PBK & RBK.
Thoughts on XP sliders and OL progression in particular?
but I am interested in seeing what other people think about this. It sounds like O-lineman will need an XP boost (according to progression testing), just need to figure out how much of a boost they need.
Comment