Madden 17 Connected Franchise Mode New Features Detailed

With Madden NFL 17, EA Sports is bringing big changes to the franchise mode. The four biggest changes center around new franchise options including Play The Moments, Big Decisions, Gameplanning, and features that were added by community request.

Play The Moments

The new Play The Moments feature allows players to semi-sim their games and only play crucial in game moments. Before you start game, you can choose to Play The Moments, Offense Only, Defense Only or the Full Game.

If you choose PTM, Madden sims the game until it detects a key moment, it then prompts you to jump in and play (or you can skip it). According to EA, you can switch modes throughout the game if you want.

The PTMs show up in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams.

For example, if your team needs a key third down to keep a drive alive, it will prompt you to jump in, or when your team reaches the red zone you’ll be asked to make sure your team scores.

PTMs can be simmed at three different speeds; normal play-by-play, super fast, or by community request, slowing the game down and letting players watch each play unfold on the field using the broadcast camera.

Gameplanning

The new gameplanning feature is aimed at allowing players to prep for their upcoming opponents. The game picks plays that the CPU or human opponents have a tendency to use. Your practices that week will be based around your opponent’s tendencies.

Winning bronze, silver, or gold medals will determine what XP and in-game boosts your players get in that week’s game.

Big Decisions

The big decisions aim to give players important decisions that they have to consider throughout the season and the week to week.

Season goals encompass things like whether or not to play slightly injured players. For example, if a player has a broken hand, do you play them that week or give them time to heal? Their injury effects their stats as well.

The season goals also include acquisitions trades, and re-signings. EA says it’ll be easier to view available players and compare them to your depth chart.

Most of the Big Decisions seem to be centered around things you were already keeping an eye on including cutting players, spending XP, and the aforementioned player trades.

Community Requests

EA listened to the fans this year and added a number of features to Franchise mode that players have been requesting.

Around the League score ticker

The game will now display a ticker at the bottom showing you whats going on around the league.

Full Player Editing

The commissioner of a league gets the power to customize nearly everything about every player in the game. Everything means everything, player looks, ratings, traits, contract info. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in Cloud leagues, we expect there’ll be some shady commissioners out there.

Practice Squad

EA is adding a 10-man practice squad for each team that players control week-to-week starting in week 4 of the preseason. Instead of cutting players you can move eligible ones on to the practice squad. The squad will develop the players and you can test them out in Free Practice. Note, only players with less than 2 years of NFL experience are allowed on the squad.

Dynamic Development Trait

The development trait determines how a player develops and how quickly. You can improve it by ensuring a player has a good season but if a player doesn’t reach their season goals, the trait will drop down.

Regression feedback

If a player regresses mid or end-season, the game gives you a detailed report on what’s happened to the player in question.

Player Card Improvements

The new player cards shows your player’s progession history, where the XP came from, when ratings have been impacted, how the player ranks within the league and more.

Uproxx also published an interview today with Chris White on the subject, where he spoke on some of the changes coming to Connected Franchise Mode this year. One of the big questions from the interview deals with Game Planning, and whether or not it will react to players getting injured.

“You have the Game Plan, but you also have three focus players that you can choose each week as well … it defaults to your three highest rated rookies, but you can switch those out at any point of the season if you want to focus on your backups when your players get injured, you have that option as well,” White said in the interview.

Rather than shoehorning a rookie into a game, you can draft a rookie and develop them. “You focus players, You really get that choice each week about how you want to focus your players. So in your case, yeah, a rookie wide receiver, a second-year wide receiver, I’m sure a lot of Bucs fans are going to be and Titans fans are going to be focused on their second-year quarterbacks, trying to make sure that they develop quickly. So those are definitely strategies that people will play. Get those guys into starting caliber players.”

On whether or not players will still decline a winning team with enough years and money would be addressed, White says that the default will be a fair offer. Sometimes, players will come back and ask for more or accept it outright. But there’s a small chance he might decline you.

“If he comes back and he tells you that he wants more money and then the next week you don’t give him more money, he may walk at that point too … that whole system has been tuned so that it’s a little more realistic and gives you that choice.”

For full details on what Madden NFL 17 is getting in the updated franchise modes, check out the EA sports blogs on the subject. We’ll be checking the game out, so we should have more content for you this week!

What do you think of the changes coming to CFM this year? Let us know in the comments or on social media, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for more Madden news.

Madden 17 Connected Franchise Mode New Features Detailed