FC25 has lost network fairness. Whoever is the host will win.
After going through multiple updates of FC25, I've found that the current "Season" mode has completely lost its fairness----there's practically no network fairness at all! If this continues, many people will stop considering buying FC26, and I'm one of them!
My stats are 426 wins, 73 draws, and 184 losses (recently I've been losing a lot of matches) , with 47 championships, including 37 D1 titles. However, I now frequently lose to opponents from D2 or even D3, many of whom have never even reached D1. In Season matches, my players feel extremely sluggish, reacting very slowly. Often, by the time my players act by my control, the opponent has already passed me. Another glaring issue is that I can't pass or shoot properly. It's not that I can't pass or shoot entirely during the match----it's that when I press the buttons at the optimal timing, the actions just don't register! As a result, I'm forced to wait(my player no reaction with my control) until the opponent catches up and blocks me before I can finally pass or shoot.
Here's an actual example: my opponent was a Korean player with decent skill, who had five D1 titles. In the Season match, he defeated me 8-2 and kept saying, "Too easy." I didn't take it seriously and replied, "Play well," then added him as a friend. Later, he invited me to a friendly match. I refused to join his lobby and initiated an invitation myself. Do you know the result of that friendly match? I led 4-0 in the first half and ended up winning 8-4 overall, intentionally letting him score some goals near the end of the second half. After losing, he was unconvinced and invited me again, refusing to join my lobby and insisting on playing in his own. When I joined his lobby, the latency showed as 77-85ms! So I suspect that the 30~40 ms delay I see in "Season" mode is fake, and EA deliberately doesn't let us see the real delay is because they're afraid we'll withdraw from the game. But after comparing with "friendly matche" mode, I know that I was using an 80ms delay to compete against opponents during the "Season" mdoe!!!
By the way, I forgot to mention----I'm in Shanghai, China, and I play FC25 via a Hong Kong server through a VPN. My average latency is 30-40ms, and that doesn't even include the additional latency from the Hong Kong server to Korea.
Even with other D2 and D3 players, the same pattern occurs: whenever I start a friendly match and invite them, I usually score 4-5 goals in the first half(actually in 30 min) and win decisively. This is truly their actual skill level. But now, due to EA's idiotic programmers, who prioritized "smoothness" over "network fairness," the game has become unplayable!
Even in the early days of FC25, the situation is not that serious. After I became familiar with FC25, I could consistently win a Season and secure a D1 title every season almost.
The problem now is that FC25 has truly lost all fairness! Whoever has better internet connection wins. The most direct consequence of poor connectivity is that your players feel as if they have lead in their boots----their reactions are always at least half a second slower than what you intend. This has made the game completely unplayable.
It's time for me to retire from EA's FIFA (FC) series. This game has transformed from a football simulation into a fighting game where everything depends on hand speed and combo execution, all about who has the superior "99, 99, 99 ......" superman. There's no longer any joy left in experiencing football as a team sport!
