ESPN NFL 2K5 DSP/Blog League Week One!

[RobVarak]

If we're starting a new league...just kill the last one. No reason to be in two leagues as one of them will suffer anyway. One league is enough for most of us. If we start over, we start over...don't just let the other one hang around.

I feel the same way. If all you guys are going to be playing in the new league, I'll be dropping out of the current league tonight. A lot of the fun comes from seeing all the updates on the league page. I'd rather have one robust league page than 2 mediocre ones.

Amen!

[Brando70]

Wait, I thought the suggestion was to cancel this league and reform with the same teams/owners, only with the EQ feature turned on? We'd just jetison the first week. That doesn't seem like such a big deal, and it was a good way to get our feet wet.

[spooky157]

From Bill Abner's email:

We're going to start another league, using the Legend/EQ on setting.
We're
also going to wait until the 16th to start this league so we can use
the
week 1 NFL rosters.

However, we're also going to keep the current league active, so go
ahead and
continue to play your games. One game per week..that's hardly a tax on
time.
I will not be updating the webpage as much with the old league, but I
don't
see a problem with playing both for now. Of course if you want to
resign
from the old league, please let me know. If a lot of people drop out,
we'll
shut down the old league.

Also, it's not set in stone that you have to use the same team unless
you
want to. So, for example, since DB has Miami now, he has dibs on them
for
the new league. But if you want to release your team to the public in
the
hope of getting a better/different team, let me know and I'll send out
a
list of available teams once everyone replies. Also, if you want to
trade
teams with another player, that works too just make sure that you let
me
know and that both players agree. For example I know Badgun wants
Dallas..and Sal would love the Phins but I doubt DB agrees. heh

If you do not want to participate in the new league, again, please let
me
know so I can arrange to fill the spot.

Thanks, and I promise this is the last restart--
bill

[dbdynsty25]

Wait, I thought the suggestion was to cancel this league and reform with the same teams/owners, only with the EQ feature turned on? We'd just jetison the first week. That doesn't seem like such a big deal, and it was a good way to get our feet wet.

That is correct....BUT, in Bill's email he said he wanted to keep the 2nd one alive. That's what we are against.

We need to have one league. We either keep the one we've got or we start a new one. I don't care either way...I just would like a decision before I play another game in the 'doomed' league.

[bdoughty]

If you do not want to participate in the new league, again, please let
me
know so I can arrange to fill the spot.

Well I am exiting league #1 and do not plan to participate in #2.

[Badgun]

If you do not want to participate in the new league, again, please let
me
know so I can arrange to fill the spot.

Well I am exiting league #1 and do not plan to participate in #2.

Wait! You were my only shot at a victory, and a long one at that.

[bdoughty]

Sad but true... I gots no skilz.

[Bill_Abner]

Wait, I thought the suggestion was to cancel this league and reform with the same teams/owners, only with the EQ feature turned on? We'd just jetison the first week. That doesn't seem like such a big deal, and it was a good way to get our feet wet.

That is correct....BUT, in Bill's email he said he wanted to keep the 2nd one alive. That's what we are against.

We need to have one league. We either keep the one we've got or we start a new one. I don't care either way...I just would like a decision before I play another game in the 'doomed' league.

lol ok ok point taken. I'll have dan nix it tonight. I really don't care either way. This was Jared's idea blame him! He made me do it!

Badgun, the Dallas owner said he'd switch with you if you like. You can have the Cowboys if you want em.

[dbdynsty25]

So what's the deal now. How is this going to work. Obviously we're going to wait a week to set up the new one...is that it?

Can we all sign in and get 'ready' and then have Dan activate it once the roster is released...that way, the only thing we're waiting on is the roster, not players?

And, contrary to the other guys email...we need to leave the time at 6min. It cuts the game time down considerably. That extra 4 min. per game turns out to be like 10-15 min. once you take into account the plays that can be run and the clock stopping that much more.

[Bill_Abner]

So what's the deal now. How is this going to work. Obviously we're going to wait a week to set up the new one...is that it?

Can we all sign in and get 'ready' and then have Dan activate it once the roster is released...that way, the only thing we're waiting on is the roster, not players?

And, contrary to the other guys email...we need to leave the time at 6min. It cuts the game time down considerably. That extra 4 min. per game turns out to be like 10-15 min. once you take into account the plays that can be run and the clock stopping that much more.

Dan's not admining the league, I will be, which is another reason that we're starting over with the new settings. Dan doesn't have the time to really admin the league; he thought he could add me as an admin later, but you cant do that.

After I get everyone's team settled I'll create the league and everyone can sign in and we'll just wait til the 16th or 17th when we have the new rosters to begin.

And yes, we'll stay at 6 mins.

[Brando70]

Okay, that makes sense. I'd like to keep the Bears. I agree too about waiting for the roster update -- it's hard to feel like you're playing along with the season when the rosters are so wrong from the get go.

[XXXIV]

RAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please not the Giants

[skidmark]

Dan's not admining the league, I will be,

No more Iced Cornhole?

After I get everyone's team settled I'll create the league and everyone can sign in and we'll just wait til the 16th or 17th when we have the new rosters to begin.

And yes, we'll stay at 6 mins.

I was happy enough with the old settings, but it'll be nice if these new ones play a better game. How much testing have we got in with these? EQ has been historically the "make ratings not matter" setting. Why would it suddenly fix coverage? I mean it might be posted as gravy on a few sites, but there are a lot of fanboys out there who are ready to spill something like this as the answer without any testing.

I'm all for waiting for the rosters as Dallas is just a completely different team now. I don't think they'll elimate IR people, but I wonder what they'll do with Ricky?

[dbdynsty25]

I don't think they'll elimate IR people, but I wonder what they'll do with Ricky?

Madden got rid of him. I assume the same will happen with ESPN.

[Sully]

I found this on another message board from a source that I find very reliable. I can't provide their name because I don't want to infringe on their privacy. A league that I'm in was going to go with EQ ON, until we found this out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well I just talked to a developer of ESPN NFL about it and asked him what it was.

####: what does EQ actually do on ESPN NFL?
developer: catchup code
####: lol, so it makes it easier for a player that is down to catch up?
developer: yes
developer: or vice versa
####: I've got a bunch of people in a league I'm in that are convinced it makes the coverage better
developer: easy for the cpu to get you when down
developer: LOL
developer: nah.
developer: its catchup code.
developer: in away it does make it better
developer: makes them faster
developer: whatever is needed to come back
developer: catching balls
developer: swatting passes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe someone here can explain it a little better.

[dbdynsty25]

So basically LEAVE WHAT WE'VE GOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't kill the league till we actually know for a fact what the EQ does.

I say carry on as usual if that's the case Sully.

[Sully]

So basically LEAVE WHAT WE'VE GOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't kill the league till we actually know for a fact what the EQ does.

I say carry on as usual if that's the case Sully.

We chose to leave it off in our league. I'm only on the waiting list for this league, but I thought I'd just bring it to everyone's attention. It looks as if the main purpose of EQ being ON is to keep the games close and competitive. Nobody has given a definitive answer on what it does. The above conversation from a developer is the only thing I have to go by.

[spooky157]

Catchup code? Oh no.....I say we keep the league as is. Even if this isn't true I'd rather not have an unknown variable like EQ ruin my enjoyment of the game.

Can someone can get confirmation from a VC rep about the EQ? The only catchup I want is on my french fries.

[laurenskye]

Woah!! I don't like the sound of that!

This Isn't Blitz!

[seanmac31]

So basically LEAVE WHAT WE'VE GOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't kill the league till we actually know for a fact what the EQ does.

I say carry on as usual if that's the case Sully.

We chose to leave it off in our league. I'm only on the waiting list for this league, but I thought I'd just bring it to everyone's attention. It looks as if the main purpose of EQ being ON is to keep the games close and competitive. Nobody has given a definitive answer on what it does. The above conversation from a developer is the only thing I have to go by.

The primary thing that EQ does is compress the differences in the player ratings. If Marvin Harrison was a 99, now he's a 90. Meanwhile, if David Macklin was a 68, now he's a 79. In fact, Madden more or less does this already, as the variations between player ratings aren't nearly as wide in EA's game, which can partly explain why there are fewer truly exploitable mismatches.

[Badgun]

Wait, I thought the suggestion was to cancel this league and reform with the same teams/owners, only with the EQ feature turned on? We'd just jetison the first week. That doesn't seem like such a big deal, and it was a good way to get our feet wet.

That is correct....BUT, in Bill's email he said he wanted to keep the 2nd one alive. That's what we are against.

We need to have one league. We either keep the one we've got or we start a new one. I don't care either way...I just would like a decision before I play another game in the 'doomed' league.

lol ok ok point taken. I'll have dan nix it tonight. I really don't care either way. This was Jared's idea blame him! He made me do it!

Badgun, the Dallas owner said he'd switch with you if you like. You can have the Cowboys if you want em.

Great! I'm in!

[Jared]

Yeah...we should keep the current league until we KNOW that performance EQ is the amazing thing that it is. Are there any posts on the ESPN Forums from VC people that says that it "squishes" the ratings?

[Badgun]

I found this on another message board from a source that I find very reliable. I can't provide their name because I don't want to infringe on their privacy. A league that I'm in was going to go with EQ ON, until we found this out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well I just talked to a developer of ESPN NFL about it and asked him what it was.

####: what does EQ actually do on ESPN NFL?
developer: catchup code
####: lol, so it makes it easier for a player that is down to catch up?
developer: yes
developer: or vice versa
####: I've got a bunch of people in a league I'm in that are convinced it makes the coverage better
developer: easy for the cpu to get you when down
developer: LOL
developer: nah.
developer: its catchup code.
developer: in away it does make it better
developer: makes them faster
developer: whatever is needed to come back
developer: catching balls
developer: swatting passes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe someone here can explain it a little better.

Well in the past, performance eq has always been equivalent to Madden's even teams so I guess if someone is getting dominated and eq kicks in it would artificially inflate the dbs rating. Makes sense, but I don't think I'd want to play with even teams which is essentially what eq is.

[Bill_Abner]

So basically LEAVE WHAT WE'VE GOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't kill the league till we actually know for a fact what the EQ does.

I say carry on as usual if that's the case Sully.

We chose to leave it off in our league. I'm only on the waiting list for this league, but I thought I'd just bring it to everyone's attention. It looks as if the main purpose of EQ being ON is to keep the games close and competitive. Nobody has given a definitive answer on what it does. The above conversation from a developer is the only thing I have to go by.

The primary thing that EQ does is compress the differences in the player ratings. If Marvin Harrison was a 99, now he's a 90. Meanwhile, if David Macklin was a 68, now he's a 79. In fact, Madden more or less does this already, as the variations between player ratings aren't nearly as wide in EA's game, which can partly explain why there are fewer truly exploitable mismatches.

Absolutely 100% correct. After hearing about this, I used a few old contacts to find out what this really does before we scrap the old league. I dug up some old phone numbers (that still worked! woo hoo) After phone tagging for about an hour I was told tonight point blank that EQ ON has nothing to do with "catch up code" when playing a HUMAN PLAYER. After playing 5 or 6 games online with EQ On I can verify that there was never some unforseen catch up in ANY of the games I played. None of them. Against the CPU the game shifts into something similar to the way High Heat Baseball used to work. If you recall, 3DO said over and over that there was no catch up code in that game, but that when down, the CPU would do its best to win, making smarter decisions and taking advantage of mistakes. Same thing in ESPN. I was told that from a coding standpoint, programming EQ on to be catch up code in a human to human game would be extremely tough to do because of the code base. Take that FWIW. I don't know the brass tacks of how that would or wouldn't work.

Not only from my own experiences but from everything I have read about this from people that are actually playing with EQ On, NO ONE is saying that there seems to be catch up code in their games. Youd think by now that with so many people playing this way that someone would have said, "Wow man you really turned it on in the 4th quarter."

I was told that EQ On does the following:

-Shrinks the gap between the REALLY good and the REALLY bad players. With EQ Off a lowly rated receiver will NEVER make a good catch. Again, I agree with this as there are receivers on the Browns that cannot catch a cold no matter how open they are. Andre King on the Browns is a waste of flesh.

-It improves tackling on the whole, but also improves the speed of most halfbacks.

-Improves the general defensive back behavior (not neccessarily the AI) due to the bump in ratings.

In general, it gives teams like the Cardinals a chance to win more games while still making teams like New England better on the whole.

I do not think that EQ On will make ESPN play like a diehard simulation online, but after actually playing games using the settings I do think it's a hell of a lot more fun.

So, I suggest people try this first without basing your opinion on what other people tell you. Play a few games online with some friends and see what you think. Try the DE speed rush. Try scrambling excessively with a QB. I see those cheese plays MUCH harder to execute now, which makes the game vastly more enjoyable.

I fear that because of this anytime we see a 4th quarter comeback that people will scream "comeback code!", which is a shame, I think. We have until the 16th or so until the new rosters are out. Give the settings a try and we'll go from there. If after you try them you feel it plays like s*** and that teams are magically improving when behind, we'll start over with EQ Off. Regardless, I'm waiting for the new rosters at this point.

[Sudz]

so...what do we do? play the old or wait for the new? i'm confused.