Pro Clubs Structure this year is a Big Regression

I have made a couple posts in the past, one targeting the poor format of this year's pro clubs divisional and playoff structure but I have returned to the game to casually play as I desperately love playing football with my mates which we have done since FIFA 11 under Team Clutch. 

There is significantly less motivation to play and there is less pressure match to match, there is not do or die or "lads a draw is good for us" mentality. Nope, just get a certain amount of points and then win 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 5 matches to get promoted. The promotion matches do not have any weight to them. Nothing feels good about them. Those wonderful clips and moments over the years of scoring last minute goals or grinding out a 0-0 draw to stay up or winning the title, or scrapping out of relegation after a horror start. These are FUNDAMENTAL to professional football and it is INCREDIBLY relatable to football fans. It creates memories in the game and with your friends. It's why we stayed up until 2 am trying to get back into division 1 after getting relegated to div 2 and then your mate at 2:45 am doesn't lay you, who's playing LB, on a 2v1 with the keeper for the 90' win. That cannot be replicated in the current format. There are keys gameplay situations that are missing with the current set up. I understand what the goal was, have seasonal gameplay to continue to climb up the divisions and have playoffs with meaningful league matches. However, it's a similar situation as to what it was in FIFA 11 and 12 where cup runs then became the dominant form of play because each match meant something. I enjoyed climbing the strange points system in fifa 12 but most of our matches in 11 and 12 were cup runs. Once 13 hit, the league system was PERFECT. However, cup runs died out because the league was better and it wasn't until they added the divisional cup groupings where we would run a cup run to get the Cup in our cabinet on our way up. Simply put winning a division 1 title was an EXTRAORDINARY feat. It was so difficult and always a relief to win and some years we came close but couldn't do it. It took us until Fifa 17 to get our first and then we won 12 or 14 in FIFA 18. It's so easy to relate your form to clubs you support in Europe when you have 10 matches and you can see your record where DRAWS MATTER. 

Eliminating the draw from Pro Clubs is a disaster and I'll leave it there. Promotion matches where a draw is null feels so bad because in reality a draw can be the difference between promotion, title or losing out on the title or relegation. 

There is then the regression of being able to tell where you are in ranking. I cannot see where my club is ranking, only the top 100, I cannot see the playoff table for the whole division. It's so incredibly half baked. We loved seeing our club rise in the leaderboards to top 500 and top 300 once when we won more and more league titles. It felt incredible. That is now gone. 

The removal of the league title, relegation and promotion (the promotion matches we have are absolutely horrendous) is a complete detriment to match to match gameplay. There is zero urgency to win matches outside of promotion matches and ZERO motivation to ever play a match in Elite division. 

I've mentioned in another post that having playoffs once every 6 weeks is a terrible idea and something NHL tried and failed with. It feels so bad to have something that you need to schedule around and then sometimes miss when you really want to do it. It's why the league system was better. Want to make a push into the next division? Try to win a title? Ok, then you can do it whenever. 

I don't mind the seasonal approach but promotion matches HAVE TO GO. Replace it with the original 10 match system and then a league title push in the highest division. I would be wayyy more invested in the mode if there draws meant something, promotion/relegation, and league title returned. I'd also rather "playoffs" be a champions league format instead of 10 matches in a strange format. I'd rather do group stage over 6-8 matches and then move into two leg knockout ties. If you're going to do playoffs, at least replicate the most famous competition in Europe. I love pro clubs to death but me and my friends who have played since FIFA 11 have all agreed this year has been the worst pro clubs year ever. We'd rather have the FIFA 11 and FIFA 12 way of things over this. 

I hope this feedback helps as I deeply love playing cooperative football with my mates as it keeps us together and I imagine keeps many more together and want this to be competitive and better than it is now. Always have a trophy to chase whenever we want to play. League title should always be achievable if you're in the top division, playoff time or not.