Earlier this month, the Madden 24 workforce deployed a patch that was meant to deal with the in-game participant fatigue system in such a approach that it could disrupt the aggressive meta of ceaselessly blitzing defenders to trigger chaos for opposing offenses. Sadly, the patch did not work practically as supposed and gamers have been left with a worse system for a number of weeks and counting because of this.
On January 10, EA Tiburon deployed the patch, concentrating on gamers who aren’t devoted cross rushers and thus doubtless undersized to undergo extra extreme stamina penalties when partaking with larger offensive lineman. Briefly, blitzing defenders from teams apart from the defensive position wanted to be nerfed. Here is how the patch notes say it ought to’ve labored:
- (*24*)Tuning to fatigue logic so defenders who usually are not devoted cross rushers will undergo a extra extreme fatigue penalty when partaking with a cross blocker that’s considerably larger than them.
- (*24*)DEV NOTE: With the prevalence of Defensive Again blitzes getting used as staple defenses, we observed that there have been many circumstances the place the DB would get picked up by a Tight Finish or an Offensive Lineman that was considerably larger and stronger than the defensive again however the blitzing DB would be capable to have interaction on this mismatch over and over with out fatiguing. Now if a defender who is just not a devoted cross rusher having a Energy Transfer and Finesse Transfer ranking beneath 70 engages in a blocking mismatch the place they’re outweighed by 90 lbs or extra, they are going to undergo a big fatigue hit.
Nonetheless, gamers shortly discovered a number of points with this replace. For one, the place the notes say “if a defender who is just not a devoted cross rusher having a Energy Transfer and Finesse Transfer ranking beneath 70,” it appears to be the case that the defender suffers the stamina penalty if both is true, not each because the “and” appears to recommend.
Worse, nonetheless, is that even non-pass-rushing gamers are struggling these penalties. Safeties enjoying zone coverages could also be blocked on the second degree of the protection, the place they sometimes begin a play, and nonetheless see beforehand unseen stamina penalties. Given the burden differentials at play as nicely, gamers are reporting that even devoted cross rushers who could also be leaner than common, just like the Eagles’ Hassan Reddick, are getting gassed at an unrealistic fee.
The design of the retuning was meant to hinder gamers within the aggressive circuit spamming blitzes in Final Crew (MUT) and Head-to-Head modes. As an alternative, it is severely worsened stamina throughout the board, whatever the sport mode, affecting even Franchise gamers who are typically self-governing and doubtlessly insulated from abusive metas happening elsewhere within the sport’s neighborhood.
On January 16, practically every week after the patch, the Madden workforce addressed the problem publicly, stating extra updates would observe because the workforce sought to restore the fatigue system it had damaged every week earlier. It additionally introduced fatigue can be turned utterly off in MUT till a long-term repair is deployed.
We’re conscious and dealing to resolve a problem gamers are experiencing with the most recent fatigue tuning.
As we work on a decision, fatigue can be briefly disabled solely in Final Crew. Different Madden 24 modes are unable to be up to date till a future Title Replace.…— MaddenNFLDirect (@MaddenNFLDirect) January 16, 2024
Now every week since that replace, the workforce hasn’t mentioned something additional on the topic, leaving gamers questioning when a repair could arrive. Yearly, a sport patch tends to reach simply earlier than the Tremendous Bowl, which can be performed on February 11 this yr. A patch fixing fatigue simply earlier than that sport would imply the stamina system in Madden 24 can have been damaged for roughly one full month.
We have reached out to the workforce to study extra in regards to the patch’s timing and whether or not it has any recommended fixes within the meantime. We’ll replace this story ought to we hear again.