How is Madden 21 not as good as NFL 2k5?

@EA_Blueberry one note on your para about QBs' accuracy on slant routes: >>>Throwing the ball over the receiver's head on a short slant route. I know this can happen more often in Franchise when building up a lower rated QB, but as far as I know this shouldn't happen too often with the majority of QBs because most are high enough level to avoid this outcome. I usually only see this happen when the ball is throw while moving in the pocket and using the stick to lead the receiver.<<<

I have to say that I also see this occasionally on passes of my fully upgraded Joe Montana in MUT (incl. Pocket Deadeye). my first guess was that I triggered it myself using this 'lead' function. but after seeing it more often, I got the impression that there is an issue beyond my lack of skills, and maybe this issue is related to the loading process before the game.

I do not know at all how the program code loads the players' information from the database, but I've seen e.g. missing x-factors and abilities or different OVRs for one and the same player in different games. the inaccurate passes occur more often if they occur in a game, while in other games everything seems to be fine. moreover, the inaccurate passes are named 'pocket deadeye accurate' (at the bottom of the screen). my guess would be that something interferes in the pre-game loading process and therefore causes some troubles with the QB's accuracy.

but it is just my guess...

@EA_Blueberry Thanks for the lengthy response blueberry and i appreciate you going into detail about a few of the videos I sent, doing this is the most accountability I've seen from anyone in EA and i cant tell you how much respect I have for you in actually taking the time to respond to my grievances.

with that said, theres a few points I would like address

1. The QB overthrowing the receiver on a slant rout or a flat straight to a LB actually happens on average once a game, and i play competitive so i know not to high ball throw it in that situation. I actually play alot of MUT so patrick mahomes is my QB and hes a 91 ovr. It happens way more often than it should. I do understand that games are not going to be perfect tho and this is just a very minor annoyance I can get over. But, it DOES happen fairly often to highly rated QB's, should be looked at and tweaked IMO.

2. Yes, of course the tackling and diving animations are definitely better in today's madden, but keep in mind I'am comparing a game from 15 years ago and the reason why im using such an extreme example is that I feel like the game should have improved considerably from this version of the game and it just feels like its barely any better of a game as a WHOLE, not just the animations and graphics, as that is going to just get better over time no matter what

I can agree with your point on the second video about it being more in the hands of the player to make those adjustments as i do play madden competitively. But it still feels like the AI should be a little bit smarter than it is, i cant control everyone, i need the AI to make some smart football decisions after the ball is snapped. But yes, i can agree with this point as i myself have been able to adjust and play good defense this way. nonetheless there is room for improvement here and it would make defense more enjoyable to play if the AI made better decisions on the field.

with all that said, there were a few points i made about the game that were not comparing 2k5 to madden per say, but just in general really annoying things that happen during a game that you did not address, again thank you so much for the lengthy response and you honestly have restored my faith in EA just a little bit by actually caring to respond to me even though i have been hostile. I will list the points below that i REALLY want answers for. the ones you mentioned and addressed were issues but those dont stop me from enjoying the gaming experience necessarily while these below really do.

2.Catching Animations
In this years madden receivers often dont even attempt to jump and catch sometimes and are like paper and easily drop 3 to 4 totally catchable balls off the tiniest amount of contact. and i would understand that if it happened when a corner back is facing a less superior Wide receiver than him. but yesterday DK metcalf got completely locked down by a 72 overall corner back with less speed and strength by atleast 20 ovr points. again this goes back to the pre-determined animation problem the game has that barely every popped up in even madden 08 or 12 and especially in 2k.

3.Linebacker and CB catching
im sorry, but no linebacker in the NFL can make some of the crazy plays i see in this years madden, it seems like Linebackers and all defenders have better catching skills than actual offensive players. while you constantly see receivers drop the ball from contact this almost NEVER happens to CB or LB's. no matter how much contact there is, they are going to catch it, because the animation is pre-determined. not reaction based. Linebackers consistently make 360 diving backwards catching interceptions and to be honest ive never seen a linebacker do this in my life.

4.Running The Ball
running in this game feels like i barely have any control over my running backs change of direction, the whole thing feels "slippery" and kind of "stuck in the mud" I understand how to use the stick skills, but again players have found a way to exploit this weird new way of running in a way that is super unrealistic and never happens in actual football. like the stop and go (which i always use because its so effective in this game) you rarely see a player go from full sprint to complete full stop back to full sprint again in real life, unless they are tyreke hill and even he rarely does this. its a situational move in football and in madden its the only way to reliably run the ball without getting sucked into an tackle animation from a DE or LB thats already being blocked by an offensive lineman.

5. EA's lack of response to critique of the game is what bothers me the most, it feels like EA thinks that we as the consumer are the problem and we just dont understand what it takes to make a good game and that we should just be happy with what we get and shut up. i mean, clints response of "well 2 is better than 1" was downright disrespectful to people who pay hard earned money to play the game.

And about ryans channel,I actually came across it because of how many bugs and glitches i was experiencing and was wondering if it happened to other people or just me. But no, it really does happen almost every game, theres ATLEAST one "whhhhat in the heck" moment. and I think in the pursuit of excellence and perfection that stuff should definitely be cleaned up. I feel like this is a common tactic EA uses where the deflection is "but people are playing our game so it must be fine" or "or this must happen to only a few players in the player base" but if they actually surveyed the landscape of their customers they would see that its a very common occurrence in the game for a ton of people, not just having a warped perception of how many glitches and bugs there are from watching a channel that highlights those things.

I think you made some good points though and I will for sure be taking what you said into account while playing the game. you definitely gave me some perspective on some of the videos i sent and I do appreciate that.

@Neo_Novalis yeah this exactly, it happens alot, with my feet set and with accurate pass labeled at the bottom of the screen and i have patty mahomes at QB.

@EA_Blueberry I do want to say though, THANK YOU so much for being responsible and actually trying to help and address the problems I have with the game, this makes me feel a whole lot better about my purchase and will consider the things you said in your post while playing the game, very much appreciated. whoever is paying you needs to give you a raise. lol

@Sabreu1989 your question on the challenges: I've seen that the Superstar MVP Solos tab reappeared with the Jan. 7th update. since they were released at the very beginning, they are not active anymore. I'd guess that the empty tab reappeared due to an misspecification in the database in the background. so this is clearly a bug.

the TOTW Solo Challenges for weeks 16 and 17 have been reactivated because the announced deadline did not correspond to the actual deadline (when the were removed). since some players reported that they were short of TOTY tokens due to this shortened availability of the Solos, the MUT team decided to give players the opportunity to play them again. but for players who already completed these Solos, these Solos were locked (because they already completed these Solos).

I assume your question was about these two series of Solos. or is there something else you were thinking of?

@Sabreu1989 I like your posts today. 🙂 I appreciate it that you gave EA (in the person of @EA_Blueberry) the chance to react to your posts and that you picked it up constructively. I had a lot of these 'really?!?' moments (which I recognize in your postings too) over the last months (and years) but I learnt that the individuals involved are really trying their best to improve the game and to communicate with the community.

but I'd guess it is not an easy task for those who are responsible for informing the community, collecting feedback etc., in particular not in Madden 21. I assume it became a lot more difficult for the dev team (and all parts of EA who were involved in developing the game) to cooperate, coordinate each other, communicate internally and externally, etc. just due to covid. a lot has changed not only during hard lockdowns, but meetings, communication and everything had to be reorganised. at least I guess that it was the same with EA as it was for many other companies.

unfortunately, the game had some more issues to solve than e.g. last year (at least this is my personal impression). and this from day one on, i.e. at the time when the game was released. it would have been great, if the circumstances had allowed the dev team (incl. all related quality assessment processes) to proceed faster to solve some more of these issues pre-release. but since the game was less mature as it could have been, the feedback of the players was most likely more intense from the beginning (and therefore more difficult to handle).

but as I said already, the individuals really try their best. and therefore I appreciate your constructive approach to this discussion even more. that's the way to really contribute improving the game, even if it will take time to be implemented.

@Neo_Novalis ofcourse, im not stubborn in my beliefs, anyone can change my mind if they bring up good solid points as blueberry did. To be honest, this kind of thing is all the customer is looking for, some explanations and reasons for some of the games mechanics, educate us, talk to us, let us know what it looks like from your side. i believe blueberry and the other mods on this forum are genuinely trying to do that and that for sure makes me feel not all is lost and that there are people that are trying to listen to us and make the game better. I just wish people like clint would come out with some sort of "madden direct" where they explain some of this stuff instead of just brushing us off with snarky comments and unhelpful replies.

@EA_Blueberry bump