As I write this, my GA TX Falcons are a paltry 2-4, I have ~1200 coins, and most of my original starter pack players are down to two contracts.
I did buy (with earned coins, not real money) one Bronze pack yesterday, but it was done right pathetic. The pack only amounted to two player upgrades, a d-lineman from the Carolina Panthers, and QB Josh Johnson. It is arguable that Johnson is much of an upgrade over Marc Bulger, who I received in my original starters pack. I also got a contract card, which will allow me to extend 4 Bronze players. The card will also extend some other card types, but those other types do not apply to my piss poor team!
So here I am slogging my way to my version of an “ultimate” team. I have read if you do not extend contracts, those cards “disappear” from your deck, rather than going inactive waiting to be renewed or discarded. I hope that is not the case!
At this point, without spending money, the most I can hope to accomplish is to diddle away with a 60-ish rated team. If I play two more game I will once again have enough for a Silver pack; possibly in one more game if I manage to win and get enough coins. The downside is that the vast majority of my players’ contracts will expire leaving me with a group of cards that cannot field a team.
I could buy two more Bronze packs, and hope to get some decent players that can buy me a little time on my depth chart. Based on my first experience, I doubt this route will be worthwhile, but if I get two more contract extension cards I will be able to extend around 12 cards, which means I will have a chance to continue to field a team and I will still have ~200 coins in the bank with two more games. After I play two more games, some of the contracts will expire, but I will once again have enough coins on hand to buy another Bronze pack. Hip, hip, horary! [BTW, that is sarcasm.]
Ultimate Team Ideas
Maybe if I were better at Madden 10 I would be able to earn a little more coins per game and be able to mix in a Silver pack every once in a while with my Bronze packs. That would actually be fun because my team would get a little better, and I would have a chance to get a few players that could upgrade my team and maybe even a card or two that I could flip in the auction house. You need coins to make more coins.
Once you start, you do not get a “do over” – so if you struggle while learning the game, you are screwed. As I mentioned yesterday, I got disconnected and I decided to quit a game, which amounts to burning two (at this point) valuable contracts, and it means that I am down anywhere from 400-500 coins (or almost a Bronze pack).
It would help if Bronze cards had longer contracts, or 15-20 game contracts were included with cards from your original starter pack. Instead you start off with 10 game contracts, which does not leave any fudge factor for those of us new to the game.
It would also be nice if you could earn more points for certain statistics or milestones. Some of this compensation is already included, but it would be helpful to have more opportunities to earn more coins. Multiple sacks, interceptions, returning interceptions or kickoffs/punts for TDs, length of a play, etc. All would be opportunities to earn more coin, and the system could even be scaled to favor lower ranking teams. In other words, a 60-69 rated team would get more coins for these achievements compared to a 90+ rated team. That would help level the playing field.
Of course this is a free add-on late in Madden 10’s lifecycle. It is meant to be a cash cow (some gamers will drop a ton of money towards cards) and a proving ground for Madden 11, but it would be nice to have a few tweaks now vs. waiting for the brand new (and improved) MUT upgrade this August.
I do not care about online play, rankings, and leader boards, but I would like to have a chance to actually improve without spending real money. I think the economy of MUT may require some real money to be spent to build your foundation. I guess I will see if I crash and burn in a couple of games.
My approach will probably be to play one more game – either the Bucs or Rams, the only two teams I have beaten – and then decide if I should go with 2 Bronze packs, 3 Bronze packs, or maybe even go with a Silver pack, and spend a dollar of real money from some Bronze packs to fill out my depth charts. Lord I hope I did not just say spend real, cold hard cash.
