Madden NFL 17's latest title update 10 arrived this past week, delivering very substantial gameplay patches for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
A substantial update for a sports game is something that almost never occurs after a season ends. For the most part, once the season is over, the process begins for the following year’s edition of the video game. EA Sports broke that mold when Madden NFL 17 received one of the biggest post-release updates in the history of the Madden franchise.
A lot of changes were done on the offensive side of the ball, including one of the biggest changes coming in regards to receiver play. One of the more frustrating things in Madden NFL 17 is when the ball would just bounce off the receiver and either fall incomplete or turn into an interception when players attempt RAC catches. That ends with this patch as a fix was added to end the agony.
In addition to the receivers being taken care of in this Madden NFL 17 title update, quarterback play is fixed as well. Issues such as QB’s not being able to match tackles after interceptions and the effect of moving the QB Accuracy slider to 0 not having an impact on the actual gameplay were changed. These seem like two very simple, inconsequential things, but quarterbacks not being able to stop defenders after throwing interceptions is something that can cause a one score game to turn into a two score game. The QB accuracy slider should have no bearing on quarterback play due to how each individual quarterback's accuracy should depend on their ratings and nothing else.
Another issue that was taken care of that will make many happy is the change to punting. Instances where punters are kicking into the wind usually end with short, pooch punts that go no farther than 25 to 30 yards. In a close game, field position plays a role and after a couple of 30 yard punts, you will not win a game. While it's nice to see the CPU punters screw up, it doesn't make the games realistic and EA went on to fix the short CPU punts. Special teams play was a huge focus this year and the EA Sports continues to fx the third, and arguably, the most important aspect of the game of football.
The full list of fixes for the patch are below. What are your thoughts about this patch for Madden NFL 17? Let us know in our comment section.
Gameplay:
- Removed the ability to flick the R-Stick to pump fake when the player is outside of the pocket. Right Stick will now always throw ball away in these situations.
- Fixed a legacy issue where defensive linemen would be called for encroachment when offense was using no huddle.
- Addressed an issue where receivers would have the ball bounce off their arms when attempting RAC catches leading to drops or tip picks.
- Fixed issue where QB’s could not match tackles after throwing an interception.
- Fixed an issue where the user drop down banner was precluding player stat drop downs
- Removed user drop down banners for user catch, finesse and power moves due to high frequency being distracting.
- Fixed a bug where a safety banner would fire every time a pass was intercepted in the end zone.
- Fixed a grieving tactic where offense could trigger infinite offsides penalties to extend the game.
- Made some zone coverage adjustments to improve an issue where C Routes were overpowered when run on the wide side of the field with a TE on the line of scrimmage.
- Increased frequency of broken tackles that can trigger from hit sticks. This will add more risk to going for hit stick tackles.
- Fixed CPU punters kicking high into the wind, causing short punts.
- Fixed a short delay that could rarely occur when attempting to snap the ball.
- Fixed a variety of ‘players freezing’ issues when coming out of blocking interactions.
- Tuned up fumble chances on ‘precision dive over top’ and increased the Tier requirements to perform the elite version of this mechanic.
- Fixed an issue where free offensive linemen would not react to a nearby defender who just beat a block.
- A variety of pass block targeting issues resolved.
- Fixed several encroachment bugs that would result from aligning and sliding the defense in pre-play.
- Addressed a rare issue where defenders could get into a state where they could not be blocked.
- Fixed an issue where turning the pass accuracy slider to 0 would have very little impact in game.
- Fixed a turbo blitz off the edge that was specific to players in a 4 point stance.
- Addressed an issue where a DB in press coverage would not be able to defend a player locked user WR hot routed to a smoke screen
Stability:
- Tuned a variety of issues related to community feedback that lower rated offensive line was too effective against an elite defensive line. This change will also make elite OL more effective against lower rated D-line.
- Addressed feedback that various online modes played at different game speeds. All online game speeds now consolidated to run at normal game speed.
- Addressed an issue where a user in an online game could disconnect/concede and result in a crash for the opponent.
- Addressed an issue where a timeout call on the pause menu could lead to camera settings being switched. This was also used as a grieving tactic to reset opponents camera.
- Fixed an issue where user settings would be reset to defaults in a play a friend game. This includes the auto flip setting defaulting to on.
Franchise:
- Fixed CFM issue where user would receive an Invite Error Popup when trying to invite another user to a Franchise game.
