Salem, OR — A brand new update has dropped today. This is the first major update from EA since the whole fiasco they had with their servers going down and it looks like they’re trying to make ammends with the Madden community. This update adds updates to playbooks, new X-Factor abilities and a feature that had been asked for, for a long time, 5th year options.

Find out what else they added by taking a look at the detailed breakdown below:


Key Highlights

  • Mid-Season Playbook Update
    • DEV NOTE: We’ve been focused on studying what NFL teams have been doing on the defensive side of the ball up to this point in the season. Today’s update reflects the first wave of updates to defensive playbooks, with even more coming in the future. Details about these new defensive sets, such as Nickel Triple and Nickel 2-4-5 Odd, in addition to a number of offensive updates, can be found below in the ‘Gameplay’ section of the notes. All new plays and formations are available within Custom Playbooks.
  • New ‘Fifth-Year Option’ Contract Scenarios in Franchise
  • New X-Factor Ability: ‘Omaha’
    • Inspired by Ultimate Team Legend QB Peyton Manning, this ability allows the QB to see defensive-back coverage play-art via pre-play coach cam when in the zone. This can be unlocked with 4 consecutive completions of 5+ air yards on Arcade & Simulation, and 6 consecutive completed passes of 5+ air yards on Competitive. Knockout conditions include 2 incomplete passes, or any INT, sack or fumble. Defenders can ‘hide’ their assignments from the QB by using the ‘Bluff Blitz’ hot route.
      • Franchise requirements: Available as a Zone ability for Field General QB’s
      • Ultimate Team requirements: Currently only available on Peyton Manning

Global Updates

  • General Connectivity & Stability improvements
  • NFL Player likeness update for Panthers TE Greg Olsen
  • Added black Captain’s patch to 49ers white alternate uniform
  • Added white alternate pants for Saints
  • New Equipment added:
    • Added Xenith Shadow Helmet
    • Added 35 new facemask options, highlighted by the Vintage 2 Bar QB Single, the 3-bar Nose, the Speedflex Bulldog and the F7 Robot RB2
    • Added 3 new neckroll options: Butterfly, Cowboy Collar and Vintage Single
      • DEV NOTE: All new equipment options are available in Create/Edit Player on both the Front End and inside of Franchise Mode and QB1

Franchise Updates

  • Fifth Year Option: In Coach Mode, during the Free Agent Recap week, if the user’s team has qualifying personnel, the user-Coach will experience a scenario to decide whether or not to sign eligible players to a fifth-year option; corresponding news stories that reference the ‘Fifth Year’ contract will populate as well
  • Fixed an issue causing the button hints in the Pause menu to get covered up by the game results bar
  • Fixed an issue allowing league members to change league settings, such as Skill Level, in multi-user leagues where only the commissioner should have that ability
  • Fixed an issue preventing a player’s X-Factor ability from appearing on the field after the user successfully completed a break-out scenario with a player developing from Superstar to Superstar X-Factor
  • Fixed an issue causing a user-controlled QB to have their Kicker/Punter show up as a mentor when injured
  • Fixed various typos in text message conversations
  • Fixed an issue causing the ‘Mossed’ ability to display the ‘Double Me’ icon on the field
  • Fixed in issue causing the incorrect team’s art to show up in a weekly news article
  • Fixed some typos and grammar errors in Play Now Live match descriptions
  • DEV NOTE: Franchise Server Update – Users who have Cloud-based Leagues created from some ‘Play Now Live’ Games in July and August were missing data and crashing the Servers once loading into their league. That data was recently fixed on the server and the corrected data is also in today’s update.

Gameplay Updates

  • Playbook Update:
    • New ‘Nickel Triple’ defensive formation added to Bears, Giants, Redskins, Texans
    • New Nickel 2-4-5 Odd defensive formation added to Bears, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Packers, Panthers, Ravens, Titans
    • New Goal Line 6-2 defensive formation added to all team playbooks
    • Added 3-4 Odd defensive formation to Panthers
    • Added 3-4 Under and 3-4 Over ED defensive formations to Chargers
    • Added 3-4 Bear defensive formation to Cardinals, Buccaneers, Dolphins, Lions, Packers, Patriots
    • Added 4-3 Odd defensive formation to Jaguars, Saints, Vikings
    • New Taysom Hill formations and packages added to Saints:
      • ‘Taysom Hill QB’ Shotgun formation
      • Unique package adjustments in ‘Taysom Hill’ formation that allows the QB3 to be subbed into multiple offensive skill positions (Taysom Hill HB, Taysom Hill TE, Taysom Hill WR)
      • Singleback Wing Tight U, Singleback Wing Pair & Singleback Wing Tight with Taysom Hill at the TE3 position
      • Changed Gun DBL Y Flex Wk to Gun Taysom Slot, with Taysom Hill in the slot receiver position
    • Added I Form Wing offensive formation to Bills
    • Added I Form H Slot offensive formation to Cowboys
    • Added Gun Doubles ‘RPO Zone Peek’ and ‘RPO Read FL Screen’ to Bills
    • Added Wildcat Patriot offensive formation to Patriots (This is the same as the ‘12 Gauge’ formation from the Falcons playbook, reflecting the trade of WR Mohammed Sanu)
    • New RPO play ‘Gun Doubles Y Off RPO Zone Y Peek’ added to Chiefs, Colts, Eagles
    • New RPO play ‘I Form Pro Bills RPO Alert Z Lookie’ added to Bills
    • New RPO play ‘I Form Wing Power Alert Smoke to Lookie’ added to Cowboys, Raiders
    • New play ‘Gun Stack Y Off Red Zone HB Scissors’ added to Packers playbook (This is the play the Packers used on the first-quarter TD pass from Rodgers to A. Jones vs. the Raiders in Week 8)
    • Fixed an issue preventing some plays from showing up correctly in the ‘Offensive Concepts’ tab
    • Fixed an issue causing some player icons in the formation play-art to be off the screen
    • Fixed an issue with Gun Empty audibles in combination with Formation Subs that allowed receivers to get placed at running back
    • Fixed an issue with some Jet Touch Pass plays counting as running plays rather than passing plays
  • Updated ‘Nasty Streak’ ability so that it will not activate when used by a player playing out of position
  • Updated counter for ‘Threat Detector’ ability – can be countered/hidden on defense by using the ‘bluff blitz’ hot route
  • Added logic to contextually slow down AI-controlled zone-coverage defenders’ break on the throw when they are not facing the QB and/or moving at speeds too fast to quickly change direction
    • DEV NOTE: In a previous title update, we globally increased the ‘break-on-ball’ speeds to improve zone coverage, based on player’s feedback. With that change, we eluded to adding more context to the tuning in a future title update so we could be better at tuning break times more precisely. This is the follow-up to that tuning, and this should make zone defenders in plays like Cover 2 and Cover 3 less effective at quickly breaking on multiple routes in their zone.
  • Fixed an issue allowing the offense to call a timeout after having already started the kick meter
  • Tuning to increase the defensive reaction to running plays for deep zone safeties in Cover 4 plays
  • Tuning to reduce release time on TE block-and-release mechanic
  • Fixed an issue that caused AI-controlled ball carriers to rarely use special moves, like juke, spin, etc.
  • Fixed an issue preventing specific sack animations that appeared to be a fumble from registering as a fumble
  • Fixed multiple issues with the ball bouncing around in players’ hands in various states
  • Fixed multiple issues with the ‘Special Check’ for Cover 4 Palms plays vs. hot-routed swing routes and Trips sets
    • DEV NOTE: The ‘Special Check’ converts the CB to the side of the trips to man-to-man coverage on the #1 receiver to his side, while the nickel, safety and 3-Rec Hook LB play basically Cover 2 on the two inside receivers. These fixes are specifically for the nickel and safety that would leave certain routes uncovered when facing an HB hot-routed to a swing route to the trips side.
  • Fixed an issue preventing an additional defender from triggering a tackle correctly during a broken tackle
  • Fixed a rare issue causing the ball warp to the ground when throwing on the run, near the sideline
  • Fixed a rare issue causing the ball to warp to midfield when using the pump-fake mechanic while being sacked
  • Fixed an issue allowing the offense to snap the ball before the QB was set when playing on Arcade game style

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