EA Sports released some new information about Madden 18 with the game’s release just two weeks away (for those who have EA Access on Xbox One, anyway). Fans are still waiting for gameplay, but at least the Ultimate Team information gives us some substance.
A blog released by EA Sports yesterday said, “If there’s one thing we take a lot of pride in, it’s listening to the community.” They hope the new changes to their biggest mode appeases consumers. Here are the ones they covered in the first blog:
Player Overall
EA Sports made changes to the player overall formula to address the issue of MUT cards not seeing a big enough ratings jump in previous years. For example, a player might have a Team of the Week that’s a 91 OVR and then get an upgrade a few weeks later that was only a 92 OVR and had minimal attribute boosts.
This year, according to the blog, “a one-point OVR increase [will] feel like a major difference in performance.” To accomplish this, the players will start with lower individual ratings at launch, which brings up another change.
Adjust to Tiers
While Madden 17 and the preceding games had Elites from 85+ OVR, Golds from low-70s to 84, and Silvers/Bronzes below that, this year they are more easily defined. Elites are 80-99, Golds are 70-79, and Silvers are 60-69. It probably would have been better to have Elites be 90-99 and move the rest of the tiers up ten spots, but it’s still an improvement.
Also, the looks of the cards have changed to go along with the tier adjustments. For example, Team of the Week cards will be green regardless of the player’s rating. This is a good way to distinguish between different kinds of cards, and it will be cool to see what kind of design Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cards have.
Packs
EA Sports also made changes to packs in general. First of all, they removed coaches, uniforms, stadiums, and playbooks from packs, and want to keep most packs filled with just players in Madden 18. In order to get the things removed from packs, they will have something called Team Tokens, which you can earn by trading in Silver and Gold team-specific players to get a Team Token that you can trade in for items from that team.
You can read more about the rest of the changes that have been revealed so far in their blog, but they include new player upgrades and adjustments to the trade block.
For those who do not play Ultimate Team, the Madden 18 soundtrack was released. They went with a single direction in this year’s music, as most of the songs are rap songs, with artists like Rick Ross, Kendrick Lamar, and Big Sean as the headliners. Here is the full track list:
–Action Bronson, “Let Me Breathe”
-Aloe Blacc, “King Is Born”
-Amir Obé, “WISH YOU WELL”
-A$AP Mob, “RAF” featuring A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert, and Frank Ocean
-Belly, “Man Listen”
-Big Boi, “Kill Jill” featuring Jeezy and Killer Mike
-Big Sean, “Sacrifices” featuring Migos
-Calvin Harris, “Rollin” featuring Future and Khalid
-Chaz French, “quad”
-Cuz Lightyear, “Luke C Walker”
-Davie, “Keep Running”
-Dillon Francis, “Say Less” featuring G-Eazy
-Flosstradamus, “Trap Scholar” featuring Waka Flocka Flame
-French Montana, “Bring Dem Things” featuring Pharrell
-GoldLink, “Kokamoe Freestyle”
-Imagine Dragons, “Whatever It Takes”
-J Hus, “Common Sense”
-Joey Bad4$$, “Temptation”
-Joyner Lucas, “FYM” featuring Mystikal
-Kendrick Lamar, “DNA”
-Logic, “Everybody”
-Meek Mill, “Glow Up”
-Mike WiLL Made-It, “Bars Of Soap” featuring Swae Lee
-Rick Ross, “Dead Presidents” featuring Future, Jeezy, and Yo Gotti
-Snoop Dogg, “Go On” featuring October London
-Spencer Ludwig, “Got Me Like”
-Steve Aoki, “Been Ballin” featuring Lil Uzi Vert
-Stormzy, “Big For Your Boots”
-Travis Scott, “A Man”
-Vic Mensa, “OMG” featuring Pusha T
-Vince Staples, “Party People”
-Zoey Dollaz, “It’s OK” featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie
It’s an improvement from last year, but EA loses points for not having Jay-Z or Drake.
Madden 18 releases on August 25, or August 22 if you pre-order the G.O.A.T. Edition
madden is looking kind hype this year..
yeah it is. I’m getting it on ea access and I hope to like it