Not only do we need more sliders, we need the existing sliders to have significantly more of an impact.
For example, right now I can play on All Madden and put User Run Blocking at 0. In doing that, I still have holes large enough to drive a truck through on the majority of run plays even when playing with a poor OL. I think the root cause of this has more to do with how the line play is animated leading to OL's always getting too much push on running plays and there aren't enough plays where the DL just stands their ground leaving minimal to no holes for the RB to go through.
What would be nice to see with this sliders, and all of them, is that if I set it to 100 it would mean the OL never messed up an assignment, never gets shed off the snap. They basically play perfectly every single play. And, when I set it to 0, it would be nice to see that lead to an experience where the defense is hitting my RB every time he receives the hand-off basically. This would make 0 and 100 the extremes that they should be allowing the user to find the value that satisfies their gameplay needs somewhere in the middle.
Let's be honest, playing offense in this game is too easy. One reason is because of the run blocking issues I pointed out above. Even on All-Madden with User Run Blocking at 0 I can basically average 6+ yards per carry and nearly 150-200 yards rushing per game as a team even when limiting myself from calling the more overpowered run plays which are basically any runs plays from an offset shotgun formation.
Another reason is that the pass coverage in this game is beyond too soft and never tight enough. I also play with the CPU Pass Coverage and Reaction sliders at 100 and the CPU still struggles to stick to any WR's good or bad. In my current franchise I am the Titans and my best WR is a 78 overall. I have a bad WR room, yet even with CPU Coverage and Reaction at 100 my guys are open far too often. The only limiting factor in my passing game is that I've lowered the Accuracy slider to the point to where it is a roll of the dice if Levis will even be close on a throw. It leads to somewhat of a challenge, but not in the right way.
Penalty sliders are another set where setting everything to 0 or 99 basically provides the same results. If I have holding at 0 I never see it get called. If I put it at 99 I never see it get called. Only Roughing the Passer really works as a slider, but in an absolutely terrible way where once you cross a threshold around 55 any time a player even literally brushes the QB they get flagged.
All the sliders need to work to where 0 and 100 are the absolute extremes and all the values in-between work properly. A 0 Accuracy should mean no throw is on target one time. 100 means the QB never misses. 0 Holding should have 0 calls. 100 should literally be every single play. 0 Coverage should mean the CB is constantly steps behind. 100 should mean they are wrapped around the WR 100% of the time. 0 Run Block should mean the OL gets shed instantly if they even pick up the right assignment. 100 should mean they block perfectly every single play.
Get the sliders working properly and it really opens up how much the players can customize the game to their liking. I am really enjoying Madden 24 for the most part. Best Madden game to date on the field, imo. But the issues with the sliders and challenge of the game are literally what keep me from playing more than 1 to 2 games max per session. I just want to be able to set the sliders up to where the holes, the coverage, the time in the pocket, etc. is all 100% reflective of real life so that there can be an authentic and legitimate challenge. Then, if that's too difficult I can scale the sliders back. Right now, we're at the mercy of how reactive the sliders are, and most of them are not reactive enough and it's leading to an experience that is not nearly as good as it could be due to the lack of challenge.
If the sliders could be fixed, it would be great to see more sliders get added like tendency sliders so we could help control how often the CPU runs vs passes since right now they pass way too often with the playbooks in the state they are in.
I'd love to influence how often they throw short, intermediate, and deep. I'd love to have a slider that controls their time management aggression, e.g. setting it higher results in them running two-minute offenses earlier in the game when trailing, using timeouts more aggressively when trailing, etc. Tendency sliders that control how often the QB takes a shot, throws into coverage, or dumps it off.
The more we can customize the experience, the better it is for everyone. I want to play this game year round, but the lack of sliders and working sliders is honestly one of the primary reasons I don't. It gets stale seeing the CPU limitations be so clear. And it hurts worse knowing if the sliders worked more effectively that issue could probably be alleviated.
