On top of everything else we’ve added this year, you’ll see features in the game directly influenced by community wishlists including the addition of the score ticker, full player editing, practice squad and more.
Around The League Score Ticker
Be immersed in Sunday football, with the new Around The League Score Ticker. While playing your game, you will see score updates occur from games around the league. For example, if you’re playing a 1pm Sunday game, you will see score updates and stat lines for all the other 1pm games. If you’re playing a Monday Primetime game, you’ll see final scores tick by for all the other league games. If you’re playing in a Cloud league with your friends, their played games will be treated like every other game. The ticker still gives you updates on goal progress when relevant, too. There is a setting to show everything, just scores, goal updates, or nothing so you can customize it as you see fit.
Full Player Editing
As the commissioner in your league, you now have the ability to customize almost everything about all the players. You will be able to adjust appearance, ratings, traits, and contract information for the entire league, letting you make tweaks as you see fit to alter players. Do you want to add one more year to someone’s contract? Do you think Aaron Rodger’s deep passing accuracy needs to be higher? You can do all this and more with full player editing. It is as simple as pulling up the Player Card for a player and selecting “Edit Player” to begin. In a Cloud league, other members can keep an eye on the commissioner since each player edited will show up in the Transaction log.
Practice Squad
Each team now has a 10-man Practice Squad that they can control week-to-week. It all starts in week 4 of the preseason. Instead of cutting players, you can now easily move eligible players to the Practice Squad where they will develop as you train the various position groups during weekly training. These Practice Squad players are available in Free Practice so you can test them out down on the field. At any point during the season, you can pull up a player from the Practice Squad to your active roster or vice versa. Only players with less than 2 full years of NFL experience are available to move to the Practice Squad so you won’t be able to stash your veterans on it. The Practice Squad is the place to develop younger players into guys that can have an impact on your team during gameday. Just like in the real-world, your Practice Squad players are free agents and can be poached by other teams for their active roster.
Dynamic Development Trait
Each player’s development trait is the biggest defining factor in how he develops. Players with a Superstar trait will stay in the league longer and develop into the top tier talent, while players with the Slow trait will not make it in the league long. You will now be able to see it quickly on the Player Card with prominent placement and a new icon.
Since the development trait is such a key part to a player’s success, we want to make sure you can influence it. In Madden NFL 17, if a late round draft pick has a breakout season and wins Offensive Rookie of the Year, he will most likely go up a development trait level. Actually, any major season award and weekly award will have a chance of increasing it. What goes up must come down. Once a player fails to reach their season goals they have a chance of dropping down a development trait level. This fluidity makes sure the league is an organic system that reflects player performance.
Regression Feedback
As a coach or owner, you need to have a pulse on your team’s development and you need to know exactly when your team regresses and now you will in Madden NFL 17. Anytime a player on your team regresses during the season or at the end of the season, you will be prompted with a detailed report so you can calculate your next move.
Player Card Improvements
The Player Card has been bolstered with three key improvements. The first is a way to quickly see all the attributes for a specific player and how they rank in the league based on overall rating. The second is a view so you can see the progression history for the player. This lets you see where all the XP came from and when ratings have been impacted whether through progression or regression. Last but not least, the player card is now accessible from more areas so you will always be just a step or two from seeing the information you want.
