Madden NFL 13 Connected Careers FAQs

You start off by going to ‘Play Career’ on the Madden 13 Hub.

Then you select ‘Start My Career’ and then select weather you want to start your career online or offline.

View this video for a walk through: http://mymaddenpad.com/2012/06/06/connected-careers-interview-w-josh-looman-pt-1/

At the heart of it, Connected Careers is about connecting you and your friends, in the ultimate, careers mode, online or offline. This is an entirely new mode. Franchise Mode, Superstar Mode, and Online Franchise Mode are gone. They’ve been replaced by one complete mode that is deeper than those other three modes combined.  This mode allows you to play as practically any player or coach and live out your NFL dream.  You can also select from some legendary players and legendary coaches.

Yes!

Yes!

No.  Unfortunately there is no Fantasy Draft in Connected Careers this year. 

EA understands that this is important to fans, but to voice your opinion and help get the Fantasy Draft back in Madden, head on over to http://mgi-gc.easports.com/a/dtd/Fantasy-Drafts-need-to-be-in-Madden-13/140077-18503 and vote on the idea.

You can play for 30 years.

No, you can not edit players in Connected Careers.

No. There is no option to import a draft class.

You can have up to 32 users in a league.

No, you can only control one team per console.  This means you can’t have friends over at your house and play together in the same league.

Yes.  You can create a player and then use EA’s GameFace to put you in the game. You then create your player and then choose the team you want to be in and then choose a backdrop story.  You can choose to be a high draft pick, a late round draft pick, or an undrafted rookie.  Whichever back story you choose will determine the goals for your player.

Yes.  You can create a coach and then use EA’s GameFace to put you in the game. Whichever team you choose to take over, will mean that coach will retire.

For example: You create a coach and take over the Redskins, then Mike Shannahan will retire.  He also may be picked up by another team.

So when you start your connected career you can choose either a player or coach.  Once you decide on that you can play as an existing player/coach, a created player/coach, or a legendary player/coach.  If you choose legendary, you’ll be playing as the rookie of that player or as the rookie coach.

Yes.  Sometimes a coach or player who is not even on the rosters from the beginning might come out of retirement in your league.  Who knows, maybe Hines Ward will come back and play for someone else.

Well one you won’t see as many broken collarbones in Connected Careers.  However players can get hurt at anytime in Connected Careers and those injuries may sometimes last into the offseason and/or possibly that next year.

Connected Careers features a dynamic news system that reacts to everything that happens in your league AND everything that happens to you. If someone wins MVP, you’ll see the news about it.  If Tim Tebow is traded, you’ll know right away.

We’ve even got a virtual Twitter feed in the game that provides personal, dynamic reactions to everything in your league.  The virtual Twitter features more than 13 actual media personalities that react to the things in their own unique way.  Don’t be surprised if you see virtual Skip Bayless question whether you should have really been given the rookie of the year award in Connected Careers.

Twitter Personalities include:

Skip Bayless

Adam Shefter

Chris Mortenson

Marshall Faulk

Rich Eisen

Trey Wingo

Ross Tucker

Mark Schlereth

Every team rates players based on their individual philosophies.  Gone are the days of every single team thinking that the same running back is a 90 overall rating across the board. The Saints prefer smaller receiving backs while the 49ers lean toward backs that can handle the load.  This brings a whole new layer of strategy to the Draft, Free Agency, Trades, and Scouting.  You might think a rookie QB is an 80 overall but the Bears may think he’s a 76.

New sub overall ratings

Connected Careers features a new overall ratings that take into account physical skills, intangibles, injuries, production (stats) and size.  Teams weight these differently, so a team that prefers smart players might not put a lot of emphasis into size.

No, potential has been removed from the game.

Any player can become a star in Connected Careers.  There are no limitations.  And yes, we are tuning it to make sure that doesn’t happen to CPU teams.

The CPU trade logic has been improved.

Yes, the CPU will propose trades to both cpu and to human controlled coaches.

We’ve got a new stat engine that we built from the ground up that uses real team playbooks and tendencies to deliver the most accurate stats in Madden NFL history.

Yes, there is an option for the commissioners who set up the connected career to turn that option off so no coaches get fired.

Yes.  The commissioner has the option when setting up the league to turn legends off so that no one can pick a legend in that Connected Career.

Yes.  Anytime you want to switch from a player to a coach you can do so.  You can play as a coach for 15 years, draft a stud RB and then take over that RB till the end of your connected career.  You can go back and forth as many times as you want.

No, you can’t have multiple people in a Connected Career on one console.  It is something they are looking into for next year.

Yes, the commissioner can boot anyone in the league, player or coach.

As players get older they will regress. If players don’t meet their season goals (CPU or Human Controlled) they will regress.

No. One team on one profile.  

Right now there is no limit.  This may not last as EA will see how the servers handle it.  

Yes, there is an auto-pilot. The commissioner and yourself can set you to auto pilot.

Auto pilot allows you to set your team to CPU control until you come back.

You only can set this on the console and not via the web as of yet.

Each team has a specific type of player that they like?  Saints like receiving HB where as 49ers like backs that can carry the load.  Depending on that teams philosophy they will rate certain players differently.  So a 3-4 DE may look like a 85 OVR and for someone else look like a 77 OVR.

Yes.

No you can not have created players on your roster.  If you create a player to play with and then want to quit and play as the coach, that player that you created will retire from the game.

From what I understand is that you can use the original roster shipped with the game or you can use any of the rosters that are made available by EA aka Roster Updates.

You can not edit players at all in Connected Careers.  Not even drafted players.  The only player you can edit is a created one when you start your connected career.

So when you start your connected career you can choose either a player or coach.  Once you decide on that you can play as an existing player/coach, a created player/coach, or a legendary player/coach.  If you choose legendary, you’ll be playing as the rookie of that player or as the rookie coach.

Every now and then a player or coach might retire or get fired and come back the following season. Who, When, and How often are still not revealed.

In Connected Careers, you can get fired as a coach. If you are not hired by the end of the offseason, we’ll force you to retire your coach.  As mentioned you can always go back to the same team by creating a new coach and keep going in the league.

Every team rates players based on their individual philosophies.  Gone are the days of every single team thinking that the same running back is a 90 overall rating across the board. The Saints prefer smaller receiving backs while the 49ers lean toward backs that can handle the load.  This brings a whole new layer of strategy to the Draft, Free Agency, Trades, and Scouting.  You might think a rookie QB is an 80 overall but the Bears may think he’s a 76.

New sub overall ratings

Connected Careers features a new overall ratings that take into account physical skills, intangibles, injuries, production (stats) and size.  Teams weight these differently, so a team that prefers smart players might not put a lot of emphasis into size.

No. Choosing to play Connected Careers as a coach means you will have control of your team and play as you normally would.  You call the plays and then execute the plays. You’ll control the defense, offense, and special teams. You’ll also be the one participating in all the offseason player movements and trades.

Playing as a coach, you’ll have goals just like players to earn XP.  Examples would be have 600 yards of total offense, score 3 rushing TDs, Win the Super Bowl, etc …. So you’ll have some of the same goals as the players do.  There are over 1000 goals in Connected Careers.

All of the coaches goals are predicated around the team.

Yes, there is an option for the commissioners who set up the connected career to turn that option off so no coaches get fired.

No coaches don’t have ratings in the sense of 0-100.  

They are instead broken up into 4 levels:

Level 1 being an entry level coach that really hasn’t done anything to the level 4 coaches that have been around, won Super Bowls, etc ..

If you create a coach you will come in as a level 1 Coach and as you advance your career you’ll move up.

No you can not have created players on your roster.  If you create a player to play with and then want to quit and play as the coach, that player that you created will retire from the game.

So when you start your connected career you can choose either a player or coach.  Once you decide on that you can play as an existing player/coach, a created player/coach, or a legendary player/coach.  If you choose legendary, you’ll be playing as the rookie of that player or as the rookie coach.

Your player type determines what you’ll look like and what your initial ratings will be.  Choose a power back and you’ll look like Brandon Jacobs.  Choose a big red zone threat and you’ll look like Megatron.

Your backstory modifies your initial ratings even more and determines what your expectations are going to be from the start of your career. If you select ‘Undrafted Player’ as your backstory for instance, you’ll start off with lower ratings but you’ll also have lower expectations.

Every now and then a player or coach might retire or get fired and come back the following season. Who, When, and How often are still not revealed.

No.  It’s the default camera angle.

Yes, you only play as the player you picked to start your connected career with.

In Connected Careers, you can get released as a player. If you are not signed by the end of the offseason, we’ll force you to retire your player.  As mentioned you can always go back to the same team by creating a new player and keep going in the league.

So depending on your backstory that you will choose will determine your overall and most likely your position on the team. So right now I know there are 3 backstories: High Draft Pick (meaning first couple of rounds), Lower Draft Pick, and Undrafted rookie. So these backstories also determine the goals and expectations of your player. If you are a high draft pick, then more than likely you’ll be a starter depending on the team you join. The lower draft pick may mean you battle for starting.

Yes, you get to call the plays, make adjustments and hot routes.  You only control your player though, so if you are a QB and you throw the ball you don’t control the receiver.

No, the highest a legend will be is an 85 overall.  The legends come in as if they were a rookie, so they won’t be maxed out.

If you retire a current player like Tim Tebow, he doesn’t retire, you just quit using him and the CPU takes over.

If you retire a player you created then that player is retired from the game.

As players get older they will regress. If players don’t meet their season goals (CPU or Human Controlled) they will regress.

Yes.  Don’t meet your goals and start to regress and your player may get cut. If you get cut by a team as a created player you do have to find another team.  however when you retire that player and go choose another player to play with the created player you had will retire for good.  Once you quit as that created player, he will be retired from the game.

No, you can play on any team you want.  So you pick Walter Payton as the person you want to play with but your favorite team is the Colts, go start your career there.

Trey Wingo will recap a players storyline as that player is picked in the draft.  So depending on what happened to that player throughout the season, Trey will make sure everyone knows the story behind that player even if they didn’t scout him.

Yes, there is a fully functioning online draft that features special commentary from Trey Wingo about players that have storylines.

Yes.

Yes. If the Eagles have 3 picks in the 2nd round and have another team’s draft pick for 2013, then they’ll have that in CCM.

You can not edit players at all in Connected Careers.  Not even drafted players.  The only player you can edit is a created one when you start your connected career.

As soon as you begin your career, you’ll notice that you’ve been given goals to reach. In fact, every player and coach in Connected Careers, weather controlled by a human or not, is given goals. There are over 1,100 goals in Connected Career.

Each time you complete a goal, you will be given XP.  That XP can be used to buy packages to upgrade your player if you are playing as a player or your team if you are playing as a team.

Season Goals

Season Goals focus on one stat for players (like season passing yards for Quarterbacks) and have four tiers.  Tier one is the lowest tier and tier four is the highest. If you only hit tier one, your ratings will drop as a player and you’ll get fired as a coach. If you hit tier four, you’ll earn a nice chunk of XP to use when progressing your player or coach. Remember your backstory determines the XP you earn and how difficult your goals are from the start of your career.

Weekly Goals

Weekly Goals are around every week of the season and allow you to earn XP for meeting goals in a game (like 100 yards running, scoring a TD, etc.).

Milestone Goals

Milestone Goals are around all the time and cover everything from breaking records, winning awards, winning Super Bowls or meeting career stat milestones.  You earn XP from meeting any of these goals.

Meeting these goals earn you XP, just like you would in traditional RPGs. You’ll use that XP to buy progression packages that increase your ratings and traits.  You have full control over what you progress and when you progress it.  Want to save your XP to make your player faster? Go ahead Want to upgrade your awareness as soon as you can? It’s all up to you.

As a Coach, you can buy packages for your team.  Every position has a package you can buy as well as for off-season stuff like the ability to lure Free Agents to your team.  You also can progress players individually since they will be earning goals and getting XP also. Or you can let the CPU auto-progress your players.

Yes.

So in essence there might be a DE that is a speed rusher but does not fit your system and there may be a slightly lower rated DE that fits your system.  You will gain more XP from the guy that fits your system than the DE that doesn’t.

No.  If you could there would be no way to progress your players?

You can save your XP for next week or you can have the CPU auto progress your players for you?

No.

So if your HB has a big game then he earns XP for him and the offensive line.

A new practice mode allows you to play game scenarios (similiar to Madden Moments) each week to earn XP.

The harder the scenario, the more XP you’ll get.  If you choose an easy scenario, you’ll only get a little bit of XP.

You will be playing against a scout team that will be running the defensive playbook of the team you are to play that week.  So if you are playing Green Bay, then you will play against a 3-4 defense.

Yes, you get scouting points to scout in-coming rookies.

Here is a video on that:

EA wanted to make sure that scouting meant something in Connected Careers, so they created storylines for specific players in each draft class that can dynamically change throughout the season. This creates an emotional connection with the players you scout throughout the year and gives them personalities that you can identify with. You can play the same draft class in another league and you’ll never experience the same experience twice.  So a high profiled QB may actually decide to go back to school for his senior year and withdrawal from the draft and then show up next season.

Yes, there is a scouting combine but it’s not a big in-game event.  It’s just a screen where you can go and scout players but it happens around the time the combine usually happens in the offseason.

Each team has a specific type of player that they like?  Saints like receiving HB where as 49ers like backs that can carry the load.  Depending on that teams philosophy they will rate certain players differently.  So a 3-4 DE may look like a 85 OVR and for someone else look like a 77 OVR.

Yes.

There are contract demands in-season and in the offseason.  In some instances players may sit out until their contract gets situated.

So negotiate wisely.

Yes, Connected Careers has a fully functional salary cap that increases every year.

Yes.