Custom Playbooks are good...but

Question

One of my favorite aspects of NCAA '14 was building a custom playbook. While College Football '25 has this feature, it leaves a lot to be desired...

1. When building a custom playbook, the Formation listings are not in alphabetical order. This creates frustration when searching for certain Formations. For example, I want to add, "Shotgun: Trips" to my playbook. I have to search throughout the Formation listing to find it. Then, if I want to add a complimentary Formation into my playbook, I have to search again to see if there is one. For example, now I want to add, "Shotgun: Trips HB Wk", I have to go through the same process as before. It's very time consuming. An alphabetical listing would speed up this process or at minimum, a search function.

2. In NCAA '14, I could add Formations to my playbook in the order I saw fit. For example, I want to run a Run & Shoot offense, Air Raid, etc., I want my Formations to appear in a logical order such as, "Shotgun: Trips", Shotgun: Trips HB Wk, Shotgun: Trips 4WR" etc. Having them scattered around your playbook is odd and frustrating.

3. In NCAA '14, I could arrange the plays in each Formation in a logical order. For example:

HB Dive - PA (play action) Pass off of the HB Dive - Quick Slants (or whatever pass play you prefer)

Read Option (building off of the HB Dive) - PA Read Option (again building off of the same look) - Screen Pass

Triple Option (building off of the previous) - PA Pass (again, building) - Shallow Cross

HB Power - PA Pass or RPO (off of the pulling OL) - Pass of choice

HB Draw - HB Screen Pass - Pass Play (that compliments the screen with WR running the same routes as in the screen)

...and so on. Having plays scattered throughout each Formation adds to the frustration as I really enjoy grouping concepts together.

If I had to choose 1 of the 3 from above, I'd choose #3 all day, every day. While I dislike digging through my Playbook to find the Formation I want to use, I'd much rather have my concepts grouped to my choosing than thrown all together in a pile I have to sift through. How hard are the above to pull off? I would think #1 would be pretty easy, #2 would take a little more coding, but not difficult, but #3 - it probably depends on how the game was coded.

What would be cool is to have a Playbook website we could fiddle with (like Team Builder). Start with a blank playbook (except for the necessary ones like Special Teams for kicking), Click on a formation style (Pistol, Shotgun, I-Form, etc.), then drag and drop Formations into your playbook in the order you want. Then, you can add the plays you want, then customize how you want to order those plays within the Formation. Upload and done.

goosetavofring · Answer

@RoyThirty8 These are very easy sorting methods they could easily fix, but custom playbook issues never seem to get prioritized and it's frustrating.

roythirty8 · Answer

Update: I'm pleased that EA has addressed some of issues I've had with custom playbooks...

1. They've addressed my first complaint of listing the formations in alphabetical order when creating a custom playbook. It is now much easier to find the formations. Kudos!

2. I'm not aware if they've addressed my second issue from my original post. I believe they appear in alphabetical order now (please correct me if I'm mistaken), which helps somewhat, but it would be nice to have them appear in the order I've chosen. For example, my primary formation to build around is, "Shotgun: Spread". If I chose that as my first formation when I created my playbook, I'd like it to be at the top of the formation listing. If I wanted to dabble in, "Shotgun: Ace" as a heavier formation, I'd like it to be down in my formation listing. Currently, they will show up in alphabetical order (Shotgun: Ace will appear before Shotgun: Spread). Minor complaint on my part.

3. They haven't addressed my biggest issue which is play arrangement within formations. They appear as selected. I hate scrolling through formations, especially with 30+ plays within a formation, for a specific play. As it is built, there are plays I often forget about. EA, if you can make it happen, allow us to move plays within formations like NCAA '14! I would love (LOVE) to have my playbook set up how I want.

Inside Zone > PA Pass off of the IZ or RPO > Pass (like a quick pass or screen)

Read Option > PA Pass off of that look or RPO > Pass (like a medium attack like a Shallow Cross)

Triple Option > PA Pass or RPO, Pass (deep like Four Verticals)

or...

Inside Zone > Read Option > Triple Option

Outside Zone > Read Option built off OZ > Triple Option

Quick Pass > Medium Pass > Deep Pass concepts

Something like that!

sgoforth5 · Answer

Can you actually play the downloaded playbooks in dynasty yet? &nbsp;I downloaded the Coach Casey playbook and can’t use it.

roythirty8 · Answer

Yes and no.&nbsp; I've tried to download his playbook as well to look at it.&nbsp; It shows that it downloads, but it doesn't appear in my files anywhere.&nbsp; However, I was able to download a blank playbook.

xlemx · Answer

Custom playbooks have not been good since ncaa 14. Over a decade without the ability to organize.&nbsp;

Forum Discussion

Custom Playbooks are good...but

5 Replies

About College Football 25 General Discussion

Recent Discussions

Chris

When will women coaches be added?

Keeps kicking me out of Ultimate Team every tim I sign on

Dynasty

Create a Player and Importing Draft Classes into Madden