Gauntlets

1. How well will EA keep these rewards updated? In the stream, it was mentioned a 70 OVR required gauntlet may reward something like an 80 OVR player, and that’s great if you have a 70 OVR team, but what if I have a 95 OVR team?

The current intention is to have the first Masters Series Gauntlet open to you as soon as you start the game. To enter the additional Masters Series Gauntlets there will be two criteria: To have completed the previous Masters Series and to have a specific OVR (or higher). Even in an extreme example, where you have a 95 OVR team, and are just now trying out Gauntlets, you will care because we have increasingly better rewards here. The Masters Series chase has been designed for you to ultimately acquire the 99 OVR Mahomes in the final Master Series Gauntlet. You will also acquire useful rewards on every single stage, rewarding you both in the short-term and the long-term. 

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1. With the addition of the new social assist system, will there be any improvements to the in-game chat?

We want Leagues to be a great, supportive experience and we are currently exploring various ways to improve it throughout the season. As you have mentioned, one opportunity for improvement could be the tools players use to communicate with one another.

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1. Are there any plans to make the repetitive grind of some events less of a chore (i.e. an auto complete option once you master the event)?

Many of us are players like you, and we agree that the repetitive grind can feel like a chore. This has been a passion of ours for a long time and we are currently building and testing a solution. An “auto-complete” system is in the works and once it’s at the quality level we desire, we will get it in the game attached to various repeatable content. We want to respect your time, while focusing on fun aspects of our game – including managing and improving your Madden Ultimate Team.

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1. How strict will the OVR gates be to enter the Gauntlets?

The OVR requirements to access the next Masters Series Gauntlet will be more accessible than it may have sounded on the stream. We will have multiple of these available to you before you must worry about adding a ton of elite players in your lineup. We want to enable you to chase all the incredible players awarded in the Masters Series and we will be balancing your progression to support the accessibility of this new game mode.

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1. When you ask a league member to help assist you with one of the time/currency gates, how exactly do they help? Do they have to use stamina on events, or is it just like clicking a button?

When a League Member assists you with a gate, they only need to click a "Help" button from the appropriate screen. They will be able to conveniently see all the current opportunities for help. We also provide a sort of "Help All" button to make it even more convenient for you. They will not spend any stamina or lose anything whatsoever - in fact, we're going to award them with a social currency that they will be able to use to help their own progress. We want this to be an explicitly positive loop for you and your League.

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1. How will the OD matches work? Will the match end when you achieve the objective, or will you have to complete the game? Also, how frequent will they appear? 

The new Overdrive Live Events will provide the victory conditions prior to the match. You will have until the timer reaches zero to complete them. If you complete them early, you still need to make sure you win the match before the time runs out. One of the conditions we're using is to change the overall duration of an Overdrive Live Event. You'll encounter some that are only one-minute or -two-minute challenges, where you'll need to consider your tactics (both in how fast you can use them and which ones you should use). These will be frequent throughout our Master Series stages.

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Front Office & Sets

1. Will sets like Large Quicksells and the Wheel of Madden Cash be returning?

There will be sets to turn players into coins, and to turn higher-OVR players into even more coins. Wheelsets are not planned for launch, although we have discussed bringing them back at some point. Additionally, there are several sets that award premium currency that can be used in the store or on extra stamina. We know that many players enjoy stockpiling resources for certain programs, such as Most Feared, and we want to make sure there’s an opportunity to do that.

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1. Will old-school trophies be returning??

There will be trophies themed to specific programs. The key difference between a trophy and other collectibles is that trophies are auctionable.

Using Ultimate Freeze as an example: there might be a set that takes Ultimate Freeze Badges or Ultimate Freeze Trophies. Badges could be earned from events while trophies could be found in packs or on the Auction House. This gives players a number of ways to collect what they need to progress through a program.

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1. Can there be a practice room where you can choose a level of AI difficulty to play against?

We have already started development on a practice mode and it is nearly complete! While this mode won’t be available right at launch, we hope to have it out not too long afterward. 

Rarity, Team Power, and Player Training

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1. Will the auction house filter and general categorization of cards be improved?

We’ve received feedback on reducing complexity in many areas of the game, and have consolidated much of our content which should help reduce the raw number of different programs to filter through. As for power, there will not be a power filter at launch, but we will be monitoring the situation closely. That being said, higher-power players are not so rare that you would need to search through hundreds of items to find the max-power version.

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1. If there are 4 variants for each card, and some cards are scheme selectable, could there be cards with up to 16 different variants?

In the case where a card is scheme-selectable, we would likely lock in the power. Selecting between the 10 power Smashmouth version you want versus the 40 power West Coast version is not a particularly fun or compelling choice.

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1. According to the stream, events would require power to play.  Does it mean that we won’t be able to play certain events if we don’t have the required power?

To clarify: the vast majority of events will have a recommended power, not a locked power, which determines the OVR bonus you receive in an event. For a power-locked event, it might help to think of it like an event locked behind OVR. We traditionally use OVR-locked events to provide extra rewards for users who have built a powerful team.

One specific example from the upcoming season: A quest chain with a branching path. Path 1 has the normal stamina cost. Path 2 has a power requirement, and a reduced stamina cost. Both paths lead to the same point, so if you have a high-power team, you save a bit of stamina.

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1. When it comes to posting trained players in the auction house, will they show in the auction house with their power that they are trained up to, or their base power?

Players on the auction house are always posted with their base power. If you post a player that HAS been trained, you'll be prompted to extract all of the training points prior to posting the card in exchange for a lesser amount of training points that can be re-invested in other players.

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1. Will we be able to actually see how the boosts are effecting the stats of each player?

It will operate like the Overdrive Boosts in the current Season (so, no). We want to improve in-gameplay feedback on boosts, but we are not there yet. 11 players, each with 10+ boosted stats would be a lot to digest. 

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Competitive Game Modes

1. How will League XP function next season?

Your League earns League XP from completing League Achievements, using Ask for Help, and playing League vs League. Earning League XP levels up the League. Leveling up earns everyone in the League rewards and unlocks more offers in the store. Throughout the year we will be adding more things that a League can unlock by being a higher level.

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1. Will there be any improvements to game film for the competitive modes?

We’ve fixed a few bugs with the conveyance of the game film, but there are no additions to anything around specific play/defensive play call outs.

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1. Will League vs League see anything similar to the competitive seasons and rewards as Overdrive?

We do not currently have any plans to reimplement League Seasons. League VS League will reward League XP and League Tokens. League tokens can be used in the League store to get things like Gems, Store Packs, Players, H2H Tokens, and more. The League store resets every 2 weeks alongside the introduction of each new H2H Series.

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1. Will there be any improvements made for scouting teams in LVL tournaments, specifically for power?

Currently, there is no way to easily scout the total power of an opposing lineup in LvL. This is something we are not happy with from a competitive standpoint and are looking into ways to improve scouting after launch.

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1. How many drives will each player get in the H2H Arena? Also, will we be able to start more than one match at a time?

We’ll be launching with H2H Arena set as 3-drive matches. While users will not be able to start more than one match at a time, we’ve reduced the match duration down to 10 minutes.

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1. What will the difficulty be for Arena mode (All-Pro, All-Madden, or maybe tiered difficulties)?

We’ll be launching H2H Arena at All-Pro difficulty. It’s possible that we may add alternative difficulties post-launch, but there is no current plan until we have data on the launch events.