Compared to previous years, I feel like this year it is so much harder to be NMS without nonstop grinding or spending tons of money.
Some notable differences which hurt NMS players compared to previous years...
1. X-Factor Centered Game and High AP Costs
-In past maddens, budget teams were a lot more possible since ability differences were not as insane... to run PA and DOZKO on a regular player w/o discounts costs 5 AP while some cards can run it for 1 or 2. Also all the insanely good cards with the really good broken X Factors cost upwards of 500k each. In general, they made it so that to get these good ability stacks and X-Factors it costs a lot more.
-They did this again by adding the Light It Up X Factor tokens to be bought in the store. This makes it so that you can only get these OP automatic X Factors if you are willing to spend.
2. LTDs quick selling for 350K and lower LTD odds
-In the previous couple of years, EA did a good job of making sure that LTDs always costed 300-350k because of their 250K quicksell value and somewhat higher pull rates. This year, the new LTDs always cost millions and are completely absurd. It was nice to get LTDs as rentals and not pay so much for the good cards. Now, it is so expensive to buy these LTDs, NMS or not.
3. BND cards from Champion Sets
-A great way for people to build teams without spending too much was getting back Hero cards as BND when making champion sets. This would make those cost a third of their original price which made them a lot easier to acquire. They removed that this year too which makes it a bit hard yet again to make a good team without spending money or too much time.
most importantly...
4. THE COMPANION APP IS HORRIBLE
-This one pisses me off the most. In past years, the way I was able to make millions was buying and selling on the companion app. Now, the app is so dysfunctional and unusable. We cannot snipe easily and we cannot sell cards from the companion. It feels like EA just doesn't care for people who do not spend money on the game.
Let me know how you guys feel about this years Madden and how easy it is to build teams without spending at all or without spending much.