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May 31, 2018, 03:38pm EDT |

'Madden 19' Ultimate Team Deep Dive: What's Coming And What's Still Missing

I cover sports video games.

This article is more than 3 years old.

EA has delivered a wealth of news on the Ultimate Team mode for Madden 19.

There are some encouraging items and still some things that will apparently still be missing from this year's version. After reading through the MUT deep dive, here are my takeaways.

Player Upgrades Is The Right Way To Go

Other collector modes allow you to upgrade your player cards with equipment boosts and the like, but actually being able to train them is a much better way to keep fans engaged.

EA attempted to implement this in last year's game, but it was too complicated. I tried my best to get into it, but with so many other games to play and non-gaming tasks to tackle, I ultimately wound up abandoning the concept.

In Madden 19, the process will be streamlined. EA has introduced a new currency type and it's called Training. That made me nervous when I first read it because I thought it might be another tool to extract funds from gamers. While I don't have a problem pushing away from the virtual table, I know many of my fellow consumers struggle with moderating their spending on virtual products.

Training currency doesn't appear to be a potentially problematic element. According to the blog, you will primarily earn Training by quick-selling items from your collection that you don't need. Basically, we're talking about duplicates and unwanted playbooks, coaches, etc. You'll be able to see all of your player card's upgrade options on the screen below.

You'll also be able to downgrade players and you'll recoup some of the assets you spent to upgrade them. the blog offered this example.

Aaron Rodgers Base Power Up – 80 OVR

Tier 1: 82 OVR (requires 100 Training)

Tier 2: 84 OVR (requires 200 Training)

Tier 3: 87 OVR (requires his 86 OVR Core Elite)

In this example, you have acquired the base version of Aaron Rodgers' Power Up. This item is auctionable/tradeable up until the point where you invest 100 Training into him and reach Tier 1. From there, put 200 Training more into him to reach Tier 2. And finally, after acquiring his 86 OVR Core Elite, you place that into the Power Up as well. If you want to go backwards and stop investing in Aaron Rodgers for whatever reason, you can choose to downgrade. When you downgrade from Tier 3 to Tier 2, you will get that Core Elite Aaron Rodgers back (and if that Core Elite was auctionable when you invested him, he will return as auctionable). Going from Tier 2 to Tier 1 will get you a percent of the 200 points of Training you invested back. We are still determining what that percent will be, but we will let you know as soon as we have settled on that number. And finally, going from Tier 1 to the base will make the base item auctionable again.

EA has also removed the chemistry penalty that would curtail the appeal of a newly acquired card.

You acquire a Core Gold player. When you acquire him, he has nothing but his Team Chemistry equipped. But when you click on the player and choose to upgrade him to Tier 1, you unlock his "Scheme Chemistry" Slot. From there, tab over and you'll see that you have a bank filled with all the available Scheme Chemistry options. You get to choose which one to equip. And just as we've done with the upgrade tiers, you'll have the ability to remove or change Chemistry as well. If you have equipped Balanced Offense but want to change it to Go Deep, go right ahead. Madden Ultimate Team wants to continue delivering more ways to let you personalize and customize your team and being able to choose your Chemistry loadout is a great opportunity to further that goal.

It's worth noting that not all players will have the same Chemistry options, especially when it comes to Chemistry Abilities. Players will need to be at a certain OVR or have a specific attribute at a certain rating threshold in order to have that Ability appear in the bank of Chemistry choices. We'll do our best to share that information in more detail after we've had time to tune those values.

Overall, the upgrade system sounds thorough, engaging and it will add yet another layer of strategy required to get the most out of your MUT collection. This sounds like a major plus as long as the execution matches the introduction.

Solo Battles

Another new feature coming to MUT is Solo Battles. I love everything about the way this sounds. It adds more offline depth to MUT.

Solo Battles attempts to tap into the Weekend League theme. There will be 13 games per week and the objective is to obtain the highest Battle Score. You only get to play each challenge one time and your score is dependent on your success level and the difficulty setting. A higher difficulty produces an increased multiplier which generates a higher score.

There are 14 reward tiers and they include players who are in the Top 100. EA hasn't released the specifics on the rewards, but it will be interesting to see if truly valuable cards are placed in an offline mode. Perhaps the best part of Solo Battles is that you'll be facing off against real MUT rosters. That means anyone with a MUT roster can have their collection selected to be controlled by the CPU. I'm hoping the user's name will show up at the beginning of the games. That would only make this idea cooler.

Some MUT players prefer to play offline and this gives them that freedom but allows them to still tap into an online competitive element via the leaderboard format.

Here is the schedule for content release and events within Solo Battles:

• Monday – New Solo Battles week begins; Featured Opponent + First 4 games available
• Wednesday – Next 4 games become available
• Friday – Last 4 games become available

Can Squad Challenges Save MUT Squads?

MUT Squads was a good idea, but the execution was rough, to say the least. This year, Squad Challenges is being released and it allows you and two friends to play against the CPU. Why is that important? Because it will enable your squad to get in the practice reps, timing and feel needed to be effective in this co-op experience.

Squad Challenges will bring a variety of difficulties, playstyles and weather conditions to gamers in the form of weekly events that will be upgraded through the year. Completing the challenges will render a coin reward. The first win will bring the largest reward, and a decreased number can be gained from completing it multiple times.

Position Specialist is a Big Deal

This new feature affects MUT, but it will also have a significant impact on every mode within Madden 19. The game introduces seven position specialists that will now be customizable at the lineup screen. They are as followed:

• Rush Right/Left Defensive End
• Rush Defensive Tackle
• Slot Cornerback
• Sub Linebacker
• Power Half Back
• Slot Wide Receiver

The blog details an example of how this new player distinction positively impacts player substitutions as well as offensive and defensive packages.

So for instance, instead of having to manually sub a defensive end down to defensive tackle out of Nickel, just assign that player to your Rush Defensive Tackle slot and he'll already be there every time you call a Nickel defense.

The MUT lineup depth chart has been trimmed down as well to eliminate spots for underused players. Here is the new lineup breakdown:

Offense

• QB1
• QB2
• HB1
• HB2
• HB3
• FB1
• FB2
• WR1
• WR2
• WR3
• WR4
• WR5
• TE1
• TE2
• TE3
• LT1
• LT2
• LG1
• LG2
• C1
• C2
• RG1
• RG2
• RT1
• RT2

Defense

• LE1
• LE2
• RE1
• RE2
• DT1
• DT2
• DT3
• DT4
• LOLB1
• LOLB2
• MLB1
• MLB2
• MLB3
• MLB4
• ROLB1
• ROLB2
• CB1
• CB2
• CB3
• CB4
• CB5
• FS1
• FS2
• SS1
• SS2

What's Missing?

Most of that sounds great, especially Solo Battles, but the one feature still missing from MUT is the ability to customize uniforms and logos. At this point, MUT is the only collector mode that doesn't allow fans to create a team identity and branding.

It's a major selling point for me and others I've spoken with in the MUT community. Some fans are likely fine with using NFL team logos and unis, but its all about options and customization is one of the most universally welcomed concepts in gaming. Without that, MUT in Madden 19 won't be quite as good as it could have been.

I'm not throwing the mode in the trash, but if customization is a prerequisite for you in collector modes this is strike 1.

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Best Card Color in Madden 19 Mut

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2018/05/31/madden-19-ultimate-team-deep-dive-whats-coming-and-whats-still-missing/

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