Most important to me
- Bowler fatigue
- AI batting too aggressive with bad deliveries- should hit more boundaries along ground as opposed to going airborne all the time
- More edges
- More bat pads (more edges might fix this)
- Editing preset felds
Introducing more edges might lead to balancing issues as AI might get out even quicker. If AI went less airborne in longer forms of game this might counter the increase in edges balancing wise
Pretty much what I want to see with improved AI batting (more solid) and an enhanced online gameplay. Along with those I would love to see the following enhancements, which are not necessarily bugs...
Here are a few suggestions for enhancing the game via a patch, if feasible...
1. "Create a Scenario" feature - This is one feature which would allow unlimited replayability and take the game to an even higher level. Essentially this would allow us to create our own classic scenarios and we wouldn't be constrained by the numbers of scenarios we can create. Here's how I envision this feature to work...
a) Select the difficulty level (Legend, Expert, Pro etc.)
b) Select the two teams.
c) Select the type of match - Tests, odis or T20s - along with other match attributes (6 or 8 ball over, type of pitch, no. of overs in a day, timeless test or a 5 day test etc.)
d) Select the status of the game, i.e. what's the current state of the game from which you want to start playing out the scenario. E.g., you can select it's the 3rd innings of the game with Team A batting first and scoring 600, Team B bowled out for 220 in 2nd innings and are following on in 3rd innings with the score 20/1. You can resume the game from this position to replicate Botham's Ashes Test from 81 or the famous Laxman's knock against Aussies. Similarly in odis you can have Team A's score as 213 and Team B on 160/6 to replicate the famous Aus-SA WC semi final from 1999, or you can create the famous 438-434 game between Aussies and SA. I mean the possibilities are endless.
e) Finally you select the team you are playing as, batsmen at the crease at the time (or batsmen who have been dismissed already) and the moment in time in the match, i.e. Day 3 over no. 21 for Tests or over no. 44 for odis.
This will allow us to create endless scenarios. It will also help the game retain its longevity for users who have become good at the game and AI doesn't provide much of a challenge as they can create unrealistic or extremely testing scenarios such as chasing 810 to win in 4th innings on a cracking pitch on Day 3. Or in odis trying to chase 500 on a bouncy pitch against WI of 80s.
2. Add a sliding bar difficulty for different aspects of the game similar to Madden. E.g., in Madden you can select have a sliding bar difficulty for QB passing, running, pass defense, run defense etc. and if you are good at passing the ball but suck at running the ball you select QB passing at slider position 15 out of 20 and for running the ball you have the slider setting set to say 7 out of 20.
Similarly we can have difficulty level for batting, bowling, fielding/catching and AI. Thus if I am good at batting, moderate at bowling and suck at fielding but want the AI to be extremely competitive tactically I can select the slider settings for batting as 16 out of 20, slider for bowling can be at 12 out of 20, for fielding/catching it can be 6 out of 20 and AI setting can be 18 out of 20. Thus I can ramp up difficulty level of each individual aspect of cricket without compromising on the AI or cricketing experience.
In future even the AI settings can be broken into AI Batting, AI Bowling, AI Fielding and AI Tactics so you can fine tune the AI as well.
3. Add a setting or slider for viewing the line & length circle around the ball (that red/green/yellow thingy) early or late. People have different reaction time and IMO this setting can enhance the gaming experience for a lot of people. Currently plenty of folks can't judge line & length of he ball early enough to select front & back foot or choose a shot to play and end up pre-mediating the foot selection or the shot.
There could be 3 settings, i.e. 1 (1 sec), 2 (2 sec) or 3 (3 sec) which would mean the amount of time you get to judge the line & length. E.g., for someone with fast enough reaction time a setting of 1 would suffice and he/she will be able to view the line & length circle a second before the ball is delivered. For majority of the folks a setting of 2 should be good enough and for people who are poor at gaming or controls a setting of 3 would be good as they would see the circle 3 secs before the ball is delivered. That would mean you could see the circle as the bowler is running in with the ball sometimes but this is still a better option than the pitch marker.
