Players new to the Ultimate Team mode in Madden NFL 21 are going to be in for a shock. Even experts at first-person shooters and real-time strategy games will be blown away by how fast the action moves and how quickly a veteran can smother an amateur gamer. Even with the changes this year to make the experience more gradual, the information is as overwhelming as the gameplay in many regards.
Don't throw in the towel too quickly. And don't get to thinking that the only way to have fun is to dominate other players who have a second mortgage on their house to fund their habit. No other mode has received the attention that Ultimate Team has, so the real meat of the game is here. Just slow it down, enjoy it, and take a few pointers from the pros who were all rookies themselves once.
10 Start On Easy
Though more difficult settings will be available, start it off easy. Even seasoned pros who can do All-Madden difficulty with one hand tied behind their backs will find the toughest missions too hard to complete with a reasonable success rate.
By completing easy missions, rewards will be granted that help with the harder ones. So start low to get a solid foundation, then move up as cards and strategies improve and synergize together.
9 Complete All Missions
It can be tempting to dive right into the weeds and start buying cards from the community or looking at packs to purchase. But there are predatory practices for auctions that target impatient gamers that want to play head-to-head right away.
By being patient and finishing the challenges, the player's team will be very well-rounded. The team will also be better than 90% of the cards up for sale. A free gold card beats a paid for silver card any day of the week.
8 Do Weekly Objectives
As the season goes on, cards gradually improve and other cards become outdated. Some players spend a fortune trying to keep up. But there is a much better way than constantly pouring money into the game every week.
The weekly challenges will also scale along with the season. Some are in the missions tab and others are in the challenge tab. Make sure to play them all every week for maximum rewards. Even losing in player versus player is better than not playing at all.
7 Sign Up For EA Play Before Spending A Dime
With EA Play, players will get the game and a whole bunch of perks that are worth way more than the cost of a single year of membership.
- Three gold cards
- Reoccurring giveaways
- Three gold packs (EA Play)
- Six gold packs (EA Pro)
Most importantly, while spending money in the game is strongly discouraged, for those who can't resist the urge, there is a discount for all in-game purchases. More importantly, some other great EA games come with the subscription.
6 Manage Cards One-By-One
With so many tabs, bars, packs, specials, and events to clutter the screen, the last thing gamers need is for one-thousand collected cards to pile up on them. And that can easily happen to those who keep collecting packs and completing challenges for a few hours.
Every time a card is received, hit the compare button. If the card is an improvement, keep it. If not, add it to a set. If it doesn't belong in a set, auction it or quicksell it. Keeping it organized saves double-digit hours over the course of the year.
5 Check Out Sets
Don't dare sell or auction off a single card until looking at the sets first. Some of the sets can be earned entirely through single-player challenges while others can be gradually earned with even a little bit of luck throughout the year.
This is a great way for players not looking to break the bank to earn the same cards as others who sell their cars. With a bit of patience, add any extra players to a set. Even if the reward isn't an upgrade, the reward always sells for more than the total of the parts to make the card.
4 Stay Away From Limited Time Offers
It's healthy to stay away from the store entirely since cards get gradually better as seasons go on and money spent in the store for cards today will be money wasted as soon as the cards of tomorrow are released.
But it's the limited-time cards that are the biggest waste. They are tempting because the challenges only give enough to almost complete a set for a great card, but this great card won't be so great as soon as the next limited-time event hits.
3 Become An Auction House Shark
The Auction House might sound scary, but most players don't know how to use it. With a couple of pointers, it's easy to make a killing there. Some tips:
- Always sell limited-time cards earned from challenges here.
- If the card is part of a set and is either a duplicate or the set is unwanted, sell it here.
- If the card is selling for low and helps complete a set, buy it up.
- If someone has made a mistake and sold a card for less than market value, buy it and resell it.
Make sure to sell from the actual Auction House and not in the card screen so that competitors can be seen and undercut. Those who master this technique find that they can buy the best cards in the game without spending a cent.
2 It's Not All About The Rating
The game automatically rates cards based on a variety of factors, all the way up to 99. Yet those who check statistics will see that some rank 78 cards will routinely outperform rank 99 cards. It's critical to check the individual stats.
For example, an offensive lineman can have a block rating of 99 and a speed of 60 and be ranked underneath another one that has a block rating of 65 and a speed of 99. Always check the stats on the card that are most important for the position before blindly going with the overall rating.
1 Have Fun With It
Many, even most, video games can turn into work if players aren't careful about their attitudes while playing. It's not uncommon to lose all twenty-five weekly head-to-head challenges against players that have outspent them.
Of course, this is frustrating. But put it on pause and remember that the player is in control of the experience, not other players and not EA. Enjoy the game for what it is and laugh off losses while savoring victories. Put in Tim Tebow if it makes it more fun!