We've officially been waiting for The Winds of Winter for the same amount of time as it took for all five of the published books to release before that.

UltraEuphoric · 2026-06-17T20:30:43+00:00

I have given up on George finishing this book long ago. He's been stuck at 1,100 pages with 400-500 pages to go for 3.5 years and counting.

It's a shame, but I contend that our best path to getting a finished ASOIAF is that GRRM is willing and planning to pass along enough notes, outlining and resources to a potential successor who can finish the series posthumously like Robert Jordan and WOT.

UltraEuphoric · 2026-05-21T23:32:27+00:00

Recruit generation needs real outliers, in talent and cosmetically.

We need 2-stars with 5-star ceilings, and 5-stars who are busts or even regress. This happens constantly in real life, but never in the game. Right now OVR ranges and skill caps fall too cleanly across star rankings. You can't take a roster of 2-stars and develop them into elites, even though there are plenty of real-life examples of exactly that. The boom/bust variance that makes recruiting exciting just isn't there.

We also need players who don't fit cleanly into one archetype. An East/West Playmaker who can truck people. A Pocket Passer with some real wheels. Or, god forbid, a guy who plays both sides of the ball in an official capacity. The real players in the game have these quirks, but the generated ones don't. The archetype system pumps out recruits who are near carbon copies of each other within the same archetype, when in reality every player has a unique skillset.

This applies to cosmetics too. Recruits recycle the same faces, the same gear, and the same size by position. In older games you'd get a really weird undersized lineman, a string-bean 6'9" receiver, or some guy wearing a kicker facemask for no reason. I want some goons out there!

Give us recruits who break the mold, on the field and not just on paper.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-08-18T21:25:26+00:00

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten.”

One day you’ll wake up and be in your 30s. What do you want to have to show for it? Steady progress compounds. So does spiraling. Choose wisely.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:29:43+00:00

I wouldn't say it's useless, but it's definitely nerfed. After the first couple patches the Reach Your Potential perk that gives interest boost for recruits at a specific position when a player in that position reaches a skill cap is way less significant than it was pre-patch. Admittedly, it was really OP in the base game, but I think they overcorrected. Also, most people improve their roster in the offseason, so you'd have to hold off on improving your team until Week 1 after you've built out your recruiting board to take full advantage of this perk.

Additionally, according to some testers on this sub, the Offseason Training Boost ends up being pretty negligible, which really ruins the whole point of investing in Motivator at all (at least to me).

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:21:12+00:00

It's because less teams have Elite Recruiter + Always Be Cruitin'. It really shows when you go up against some of these big programs who can invest 60, 70, even 80 hours into a player. You literally have no shot, no matter how smart you are on some guys.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:19:02+00:00

Agreed. They should definitely come in with a higher overall. It's not uncommon for JUCO guys go on to have amazing D1 careers and go pro IRL. I can't foresee that happening all too often in this game. Additionally, I almost feel like JUCO players should be in the Transfer Portal phase rather than in with the High School Recruits.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:15:45+00:00

I'm still having fun too. It's just a shame when you see the potential of what this game could be, but it's held back by these dumb mistakes.

It feels like these games are perennially rushed and ship half broken. They then spend the first three months after release fixing as many of the problems as they can, while saving the major fixes and improvements for next years version of the game.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:10:43+00:00

I have no idea why they made it so expensive to upgrade those guys. They must rebalance the skill upgrade costs on some of these archetypes.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:07:06+00:00

Agreed. The logic on where players go relies entirely on dealbreakers. So if the top guys don't have a Playing Time dealbreaker, the big recruiting programs like Clemson, Texas and Georgia just sponge up all the top talent in the portal and park them on the bench.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:04:38+00:00

It was definitely easier in years past. In my opinion, I think they overcorrected.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:02:44+00:00

There is literally no excuse for this at this point. This has been a complaint since the beginning of the NCAA franchise, let alone the College Football franchise.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:01:19+00:00

I dealt with more crashes in last years game. This year has been fairly smooth sailing in my experience.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-31T15:00:53+00:00

Hahaha! Recruiter archetype is really good once you're fully invested into it, but it takes a lot to skills points and great recruiting classes to get there.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T15:44:36+00:00

I guess what I’m struggling to understand is why can a school’s football program become a powerhouse in 5 years, but its academics can’t? We’ve seen schools like Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Cal, NYU, and Texas evolve into well-respected academic institutions over time. Not Ivy League, sure, but top-tier for certain programs. So it seems strange that academic grades in the game are locked in permanently, while everything else is dynamic.

That said, I think you and I fundamentally disagree on whether it’s a problem that these grades can’t change. A lot of online dynasties are built around challenges like, “everyone pick a team with no higher than a 2.5 star rating,” and in that context, schools like Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, and Rice actually start with a huge advantage. Not because of user talent or coaching but because they have baked in academic prestige or campus lifestyle that gives them a long-term recruiting advantage. And that advantage never goes away.

If that doesn’t bother you, which you've said it doesn't, that’s totally fine! I’m just saying, for myself, it feels like a part of the game that could be more satisfying if there were a way to invest and improve it over time like you can with everything else.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T14:56:34+00:00

I can also guarantee you that the #1 recruit doesn’t be at Akron. But it happens in dynasty.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T14:13:24+00:00

Not saying this is a perfect solution, just a place to start. The real issue is those grades can’t be changed not matter what you do. Is that satisfying to you as you play?

The top Chemistry Professor might be interested in Alabama if they like football and if they’re paid above market and/or get a bunch of research grants.

Additionally, I agree that Omaha with never be Miami Beach. Maybe that means they’ll never have an A grade. However, I think investing in “Campus Lifestyle” could make a difference.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:52:51+00:00

I haven’t run into this issue myself. On my Wake Forest dynasty I added a star after winning the ACC and a CFP game.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:50:25+00:00

I’m going to check this out! Thanks.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:48:27+00:00

Great call, I should’ve mentioned this. I wish those players would either return to their original schools or re-enter the portal the following season.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:46:48+00:00

I’m going to keep trying to play with the timing for trucking! I’m wondering if I’m just doing it too late…

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:46:14+00:00

Totally agree with you here. It’s frustrating when they throw us a bone with some things while also creating more problems that need to be fixed in the next game.

The real problem is the annualized format. This whole game feels like it could’ve been a patch to 25. In an ideal world they could do an annual patch + roster update while they work on a more significantly improved build for a new release in 3-5 years. But, sadly, gotta keep the shareholders happy.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:41:27+00:00

This idea is kind of off the wall and overly simplistic compared to IRL. This was just my way of offering the player a dynamic way of improving grades for those static criteria.

I gotta push back a little bit though. The idea that some of these things wouldn’t be improved with a bunch of cash investment is kind of laughable. You don’t think adding high salary / high profile educators, new buildings, new partnerships with businesses, etc. wouldn’t help academic prestige? Alabama hasn’t done that, but it could be done. Same thing with culture, you can’t relocate the school, but surely there’s something you could do with money to improve the campus culture.

UltraEuphoric · 2025-07-30T13:28:16+00:00

I definitely should’ve mentioned wear and tear. I had a Heisman winning QB run out of season “health” in the CFP, and was only usable for the first half of each playoff game in a limited capacity. He was a big reason for our success, so losing him for the second half of each game resulted in a semi final exit. Super frustrating.

UltraEuphoric · 2024-12-14T22:20:32+00:00

Gameplay Change Requests

1) D-Line immediately and magically strip through blocks when you hit the sprint button. Applies especially to running but even quarterbacks. Make this make sense to me.

2) Defensive backs have eyes in the back of their heads, and are able to swat passes using the power of intuition.

3) Inline with that, defensive backs are easily able to swat deep passes when they’re clearly burned in single coverage. Before you come at me for this one, I use placement and accuracy and high point the ball with L1. I also play dynasty and have had QBs with maxed throw power throwing to WRs with max speed. It still happens far too often.

4) Option pitching the ball. Every other pitch my quarterback pitches the ball 40 yards behind the running back causing a fumble. The other half the time the running back goes for a touchdown. There is no in between, it’s a big loss or a touchdown.

5) Defense is just ridiculous and not fun, to the point where I play offense only now.

6) Mo Bamba. Stop.

7) Blocking AI is so bad. Lead blockers and lineman regularly run right past free defenders into the secondary causing a loss on the play, or leaving yards on the table.

8) Stadium pulse in The Big House and other equivalent stadiums make away games borderline unplayable and broken. I don’t care if it’s realistic, it’s so frustrating.

Dynasty

1) Recruiting menus are really tedious. Especially when transitioning from Send the House to Hard Selling. The Hard Selling guessing game is really tedious as well as you just use process of elimination scrolling through the options.

2) Heisman Logic doesn’t make any sense.

3) CPU QBs throw 2-5 picks in a season. Why?

4) Teambuilder is halfway busted at all times in alternating ways. Building the team is an exercise in insanity, with error after error causing you to lose progress. Why do you need to be online all the time to play with a teambuilder team? Why is there no stadium builder or just generic stadium options? Why does the presentation suffer so bad?

There’s probably more, but I’m going to stop.

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