Forum Discussion

Hero

11 months ago

MADDEN 26-27 IMPROVEMENT IDEAS

This is a thread I wanted to start so everyone on here can have their ideas seen and heard by EA_Shepard and other EA Staff while also having a single, organized place to share them. This in turn ma...

New Novice

2 months ago

The coach abilities in franchise were definitely a welcome addition imo, but with most of the abilities being stat/development related boosts, it felt pretty generic. Regarding what I have in mind, a coach ability, that functions in a manner more aligned with player abilities, shouldn’t be something that takes over a game, but it should be something that takes over a moment. If I’m playing online and Dan Campbell is my coach, my opponent should be aware that my offense is especially dangerous on 4th down. Now that coordinators are in the game, this gives a new dimension as well. My opponent should have more trouble identifying a blitz package on third down if Brian Flores is calling the plays, via some sort of situational omniscient counter in specific scenarios. In my mind these abilities don’t take over games, but they give the player more creativity knowing they have a definite advantage at certain times during the course of a game. This would heavily influence, for instance, how a player builds their ultimate team to lean into their coach’s abilities, advantages (and disadvantages), and tendencies, but shouldn’t be so pronounced that it overshadows their players. Pairing this iteration of coach abilities in a future Madden game, along with a lot of new M27 features including macros, ultimate team evos, and other interfaces that orient towards player control would add a deeper dimension towards this chess match style that EA seems to be chasing (which I love).

EA_Shepard

Community Manager

2 months ago

xX_BigMo44_Xx Yeah, I remember bringing this idea up earlier, and this follow-up helps sharpen it. Framing coach abilities as something that can swing a moment rather than taking over a whole game makes more sense, and it aligns pretty well with where Madden 26 has already started going with Franchise. Franchise deep dive says coach abilities were added to reflect real NFL coaches, with Gameday Abilities and Season Abilities, and that some of them are meant to affect actual gameplay moments instead of just handing out flat stat boosts. The gameplay deep dive also talks about expanding the signature styles of NFL coaches, so I get why you’re looking at that and thinking there’s room to push the idea further into H2H and MUT without letting it overpower the Fans on the field. I mean, really, there's always room to push these into other modes if they are possible.

The main thing here is that you’re not really asking for “coach powers” so much as you’re asking for coach identity. A Dan Campbell-type fourth-down edge, or a Brian Flores-type pressure disguise window, feels a lot closer to football personality than just another generic ratings bump. And with Madden 26 already splitting modes like Franchise and Ultimate Team into different experiences, I can see why you’d want that chess-match feel to carry more cleanly across both instead of living mostly in one lane. One thing I’d be curious about is whether you’d want those coach effects tied mostly to situations like down-and-distance and personnel groupings, or more to play-style identity over the full game. And on the MUT side, would you rather build around a coach giving you a few high-leverage moments, or around a broader scheme identity that shapes how your whole lineup fits together?

xX_BigMo44_Xx
New Novice
2 months ago
I believe these “coach effects” would be most practical in down and distance situations. Of course it may feel a little repetitive if most coaches have some sort of impact strictly on 3rd/4th downs, but keeping the effect itself unique would be crucial. I love the idea of tying a coach’s boost to a formation/personnel grouping, but that could become pretty unbalanced quickly with an emerging meta formation. But to tie in a few more examples, if I’m running a McVay offense, the drive should feel smoother if I’m constantly ahead of the sticks and in favorable second downs; maybe he sees some sort of “coach effect” on early downs, whereas his counterpart in Seattle has an advantage on third down situations, only increasing the urgency for a Rams offense to stay ahead of the sticks. Now you have a game that changes depending on the coach you’re facing off against. Maybe a coach like Liam Coen gives your offense a big boost in the red zone, an area of the field he’s found success in during his time with Jacksonville and Tampa, so the opponent’s goal on defense is to prevent Coen’s offense from reaching that 20 yard line. 32 NFL coaches means nearly 1,000 different matchups in any given game, and this feels like a practical next step in making every down at any spot on the field feel more important than in previous years.