[Suggestion] Rewards (for Lineup improvements) vs. Achievements

In a nutshell: I would like to suggest distinguishing between 1) rewards (to improve the lineup) and 2) achievements (to record your own successes) in MUT in order to 1) increase overall enjoyment of the game, 2) reduce potential frustration, 3) create motivation to try new things, 4) enjoy the potentials of the game in terms of variety, and 5) motivate finishing games that are very likely to be lost. And in all of this, the goal of winning games should not be lost, while at the same time making every moment in the game worthwhile!

[First of all: My suggestions are primarily based on the fact that I only play solo modes. I no longer play H2H because I never enjoyed it. I don't want to judge whether it could also be interesting for H2H. But I suspect that it is.]

I would like to suggest distinguishing between rewards on the one hand and achievements (maybe call them ‘trophies’) on the other in MUT. Rewards (to improve the lineup) should primarily be achieved through good play (‘usered’), but not primarily based on whether I win or lose. Whenever I do something well (e.g. a perfectly usered catch, a perfectly timed spin move, good play calling, etc.), I should get XPs, which are then added up in the Field Pass and subsequently converted into ‘rewards’ in the form of coins and packs. In my opinion, doing different things should be particularly rewarded. It shouldn't lead to players choosing the same play over and over again and gaining 100 yards, for example, just because they have mastered that one play perfectly and have a super-fast WR in their lineup. The focus should be on encouraging versatile play.

In contrast, I would like to see a second category that ‘rewards’ winning: “achievements” / “trophies”. These achievements are earned when you accomplish certain goals in the game, e.g. number of wins in a certain mode, winning the Super Bowl, etc. Once you have achieved such a goal, you receive a 'trophy' that you can then display in your personal ‘Hall of Fame’ (or 'Trophy Room'). The ‘Player Card’, to which you can attach badges, actually goes in exactly this direction. I would find it really cool if you could display more than just 3 badges (= achievements/trophies) in your ‘Hall of Fame’ (~ ‘Player Card’). (However, there's also nothing wrong with getting a small extra bonus of XP for winning a game. However, improving your own lineup shouldn't depend entirely on whether you win or not (in the sense of all or nothing)).

In principle, some of the ingredients for the proposal are already present in the game. There are both rewards (XPs, packs, coins) and achievements (‘Team Pass’ and ‘Player Card’). I would just like to see a significantly different weighting of what is rewarded in the form of rewards to improve your lineup and what can be displayed as badges/achievements in the Player Card (= your personal ‘Hall of Fame’). Instead of small Player Cards with a few badges, I would like to see an entire ‘Trophy Room’ with lots of ‘Trophies’. And I also see the potential to integrate both achievements / ‘trophies’ and the ‘Trophy Room’ / 'Hall of Fame' itself into the existing ‘architecture’ (items, store, sets) of the game.

Why am I suggesting a distinction between ‘rewards’ and ‘achievements’?

1. Especially in MUT Solo modes, I quickly ask myself why I am playing MUT at all. In other words, what is my goal playing the game? With the introduction of achievements, you can pursue your passion for collecting things by displaying the goals you have achieved during the MUT season and enjoying them all the time. And even if I have already optimised my lineup at any given time, I can still continue to work on my achievements.
2. On the contrary, if it's just about collecting rewards to make the team better, it makes playing feel more like work than play. For example, I work my way through the list of solo challenges, trying to be as fast as possible and take as few risks as possible so that I can be sure of achieving the goal and maximise the rewards per unit of time. I do get the rewards, but it's not really fun in the long run and somehow never comes to an end. I can never really enjoy the fact that I've now achieved/completed something.
3. If you only receive rewards when you win (or, for example, when you complete the goals of solo challenges), losing is prohibited. This leads to three effects:
4. Firstly, it is simply frustrating when you lose a long game at the very last second and all the time you invested was for nothing, no matter how well you actually played. This frustration was particularly annoying for me in H2H games. It's even more frustrating when you lose the game and all the rewards because of circumstances beyond your control (whatever it may have been, or even if it just felt like it was out of your control). If you at least get what you've earned through good play, the frustration is much less.
5. There is always progress when you get something depending on whether you played well or not. If you only get something for winning, it might happen that you played hours and did not get anything just because you never managed to complete the goals of a difficult Solo Challenge (or you lost every single game in H2H just because you faced much stronger opponents). It is very frustrating when you have received nothing and feel that you have wasted your time...
6. In my opinion, rewarding winners only also leads to the majority of games being abandoned very early on, as soon as the losing player realises that (s)he islikely to lose. There's no point in continuing to play once I know I'm going to lose and won't get anything out of it, no matter how hard I try. If I could at least get rewards (but not achievements) in that case, I could get something out of every single play. This means that even a completely inferior player (with a significantly weaker lineup, for example) might find it worthwhile to finish a hopeless game. (Side note: if winning is no longer absolutely necessary, the motivation to abuse glitches to trick the opponent is also reduced!)
7. Even if losing has its benefits, as long as I play well, it suddenly becomes interesting to try difficult challenges. I probably won't be able to complete the most difficult Solo Challenges (just look at the frustrated comments regarding the Epic Challenges last year, …), or I'll most likely lose against good players with very good lineups if I'm not yet an experienced player or my lineup is still too weak, but at least I can try and gain something from making the effort. On the one hand, this saves a lot of frustration, as the attempt was not just a waste of time, but it also allows you to grow and learn from the challenge. The pressure to win makes you (at least me) focus more and more on things that are sure to work (otherwise I risk losing everything) and thus prevents you from trying new things and enjoying the potential diversity of the game.
8. In the end, both skilled and inexperienced players should be rewarded. If you are skilled, you will be able to improve your lineup more quickly (as it is already the case too). Inexperienced players will likely need more time because they have not yet mastered the timing, etc. However, it should also be worthwhile for these players (and in particular it should be worthwhile trying to improve your stick skills). And so I would leave the challenge-specific goals and bonus goals in Solo Challenges, but primarily reward them in the form of XP (while adjusting/increasing the Field Pass rewards).

A few more ideas on how to implement the ‘Trophy Room’ / 'Hall of Fame':

• I imagine the ‘Trophy Room’ / ' Hall of Fame' to be similar to the screens in the lineup (e.g. “Offense”, ‘Defense’, etc.). Similar to the player items in offense, defense etc., items for achievements can be placed in the ‘Trophy Room’.
• Not sure, but the ‘Trophy Room’ / ' Hall of Fame' might be part of the Lineup-menu or a separate menu.
• It would be very cool if you could choose between different background layouts for the ‘Trophy Room’ / ' Hall of Fame'. For example, the ‘Trophy Room’ could be a wall on which the achievement items hang as pictures or wall plaques (maybe  a smaller version ('Wall of Fame'?) if you do not have that many achievements to be displayed yet?). Or it could look like a hall with figures/statues in the middle (e.g. a statue for your own player with the most rushing yards, etc.) and pictures, etc. hanging on the walls.
• The selection of backgrounds for the ‘Trophy Room’ / 'Hall of Fame' could be earned as a reward or purchased in the store.
• The Trophy Room could always be displayed as a loading screen. Then, during waiting times (e.g. when starting a new Solo Challenge or H2H game), you can enjoy your own achievements or think about what you want to achieve next.
• Both Trophy Rooms (of both players: yourself and your opponent) could be seen on the loading screen in H2H games. This might make the game a little more ‘personal’ because you learn a little more about your opponent. Conversely, you could also show off your own achievements a little, as your opponents would also be able to see them (optionally, you could perhaps also set in the settings which Trophy Room you want to see, or whether your opponent is allowed to see your Trophy Room).

A few more ideas about ‘Trophies’:

• Trophies could be earned for the following categories, for example:
  • Number of wins in a specific mode
  • Total number of wins in MUT
  • First Super Bowl win
  • Number of Super Bowls won or similar
  • Best player in a specific category (e.g. rushing yards, passing yards)
  • Longest kickoff return
  • Total rushing yards in MUT season, etc.
  • Highest number of rushing yards in a game, etc.
  • Total playing time in the game
  • Achievements from other Madden modes (e.g. Franchise, Superstar, Online H2H, etc.)
  • ...
• I imagine trophies as items, not just simple images, but including additional information/statistics (similar to the back of player items). This additional information could include: date and time of achievement, player name (e.g. if the number of rushing yards is to be shown), statistics (e.g. rushing yards), etc.
• I could imagine that ‘Trophies’ could either be awarded automatically upon achieving a goal (e.g. first Super Bowl victory) (this is particularly conceivable for achievements that are reached at a specific point in time), or they could be awarded in the form of sets (for achievements that can change continuously, such as number of rushing yards, etc.). For example, I could imagine a set called ‘Rushing Yards per Player,’ in which you exchange a player item and receive a ‘trophy’ for the player with the number of rushing yards achieved at that point in time (with the specific player). If you want to update the current status, you can exchange the same ‘trophy item’ again and get the current status written on it. This would prevent having to constantly search for the necessary information in some database, because only static values fixed at a specific point in time are displayed.

 

I posted a similar suggestion in the forum some time ago. Since then, I've actually played less and less because MUT felt more like work and, in the end, I didn't really know why I was trying to collect rewards. For me, the motivation to play and the enjoyment of the game would be much greater if I could enjoy my achievements in the game throughout the entire MUT season by looking at my personal “Hall of Fame”. I hope (and believe) that other players feel the same way.