As a long time Madden NFL Football fan and huge MM enthusiast who has spent about $300 each game year I've noticed that MM 22 is extremely pay-to-win oriented. This is a huge problem because most players including myself aren't wealthy and the requirements just to play or progress in events and programs are just way too high to the point of being ridiculous and a clear sign that MM has switched completely to a pay to win paradigm.
I've already spent $60 so far which wasn't enough to even complete Journeys Genesis and several members of my league have already spent $300 so far this year just to unlock Trades, progress in Journeys, and build their OVRs up to around 120. $300 and the year just began. It strikes me as totally unfair.
Also, the lack of an auction house and the replacement of sets with Trades is a huge disappointment because it greatly limits player freedom not to mention the fun of using the AH to find the perfect player or sell unneeded players. It was bad enough that last year MM 21 made almost all program players unsellable and non-exchangeable plus greatly reducing the exchange value of even the highest OVR players. But to take the AH away entirely removes much of the fun, strategy and variety we're used to enjoying in MM.
And making every program one in which players are forced to level-up and/or increase player rank to participate and to progress is nothing but blatant greed on EA/Team MM's part. It's frustrating, annoying and deeply disappointing to say the least.
Other issues include the ambiguity regarding how to do needed things like unlock Trades. I somehow completed the first Kickstart Trades requirement but have no clue as to how to complete the other three including Coins and TP.
And in playing Seasons I find two problems: one is that you have to play 32 games in the first mode to unlock the next Seasons mode as opposed to in the past when all Seasons modes were immediately accessible. The 2nd problem is that during Seasons matches when a player comes up for grabs we are no longer able to check our lineup to compare the player being offered against preexisting players. That is so unfair and uncool it's ridiculous. Why would MM implement such a counter-productive paradigm? We should be able to review our lineup before making a decision regarding Season players who come up to buy or as part of a trade. Please team MM, restore our ability to review our existing lineup before deciding on a free agent purchase or a trade!
Things like Boosts, the AH, and reasonable programs allowed for much greater variety, strategy, a way to earn players without having to spend tons of real money and most of all made MM a lot of fun.
In short, MM 22 is a slap in the face to loyal MM supporters for all the reasons detailed above plus others I've not mentioned. The bottom line is that MM 22 is far too demanding in terms of being able to progress in programs like Journeys, has replaced the AH with far more limited player acquisition methods and has replaced sets with Trades and most of all forces players to spend at least ten times more money than in prior years in order to stay competitive and it's both unjust and greedy in addition to taking much of the fun out of the game. I know I'm not the only player who feels like MM 22 is now a greatly limited pay-to-win app so I'm requesting on behalf of all players that MM return the AH, decrease or remove the ridiculously high requirements to progress through programs, increase the rewards for Daily Goals, return Boosts along with extra ways to earn Gridiron points and most of all change MM 22 from an app of endless gatchas to a game where players, even FTP players, have a fair chance to build competitive teams without having to spend $50 a week (or more) which based on what I've observed so far appears to be the minimum amount players have to pay in order to progress.
As things stand, MM 22 is a hot, fussy, demanding and blatantly greedy app that has taken a lot of the strategy, variety and fun out of the game (not to mention making the music even worse than last year, something I didn't think was possible - there's nothing wrong with rap/hip-hop but would it kill you to add other genres of music including rousing classical, hard rock and even NFL-themed music?) and is in desperate need of positive changes to remedy the, again, blatant greed, lack of variety and lack of more strategy options including returning boosts and certain key plays removed from, for example, the Vertical scheme which have made it far less about long passing and more geared towards rushing and short to medium passing.
In short, MM 22 is vastly inferior to prior versions of MM with the most salient issues being the way-too-demanding program requirements, the lack of player variety (in part due to the AH being gone), and the blatant greed displayed by EA in forcing players to spend at least ten times more money this year just to be able to progress and stay competitive. MM 22's pay-to-win paradigm is a huge negative and, along with the other problems I've detailed, takes a lot of fun out of the game replacing enjoyment with frustration and sadness that EA has chosen the greed route with MM 22. I hope that someone reads this and passes my feedback along to someone in charge resulting in positive changes because as of my posting this, MM 22 is a deeply flawed financial vampire app and I firmly believe that we the players deserve much better.
Sincerely - Michael
