Re: Difficulty Limbo (Help!)

Have been attempting to navigate this same conundrum for over ten years. I only play Manger Career mode offline (disconnected from EA servers), and switched from Legendary difficulty to Ultimate in FIFA 17. The main problem is that EA manipulates gameplay the same way across all gaming platforms (FIFA, EA FC, Madden, EA College Football 25, etc.), in that at higher difficulties, both the CPU opponent players receive enhanced capabilities (maximized values in their terminology), and user players are 'dumbed down' (often denominated as scripting by users, not my categorization), however, they will never admit that. In addition, for the past four of five years, to add excitement to the FIFA and EA FC series, developers have been trying to incorporate last minute goals (45th and 90th minute) for the CPU to further elevate the difficulty. For experienced and 'professional' players, these tactics are often the only chance the CPU has to win, or even draw a match; using Ultimate difficulty, many players worldwide can start a career mode save with the worst team in any league, and finish the first season in a Champions League position. While this scenario does partially work against the best players, the other seventy to eighty percent of 'above average' players, who use Ultimate difficulty, are penalized. The image below in this post illustrates the first part of EA developer tactics, where the capabilities of CPU opponent players are denigrated, based on the user difficulty selection level. To combat the second developer tactic, the only 'solution' is to incorporate slider adjustments to equalize both the user and CPU gameplay performance. A number of users begin with disparate slider adjustments between the user and CPU, giving a slight edge to the user, then after time, begin to bring the values together. I have been experimenting with slider adjustments in Operation Sports (https://forums.operationsports.com/forums/ea-sports-fifa-sliders/1023974-ea-sports-fc25-os-community-sliders.html) and other forums for nearly ten years, and have reached a point where any slider adjustments configured, are the same for both the user and CPU, and in general, only use sliders to implement 'normal or realistic' gameplay with errors, lowered possession, less goals, etc. Other than giving every advantage to the CPU through sliders, Ultimate difficulty with even sliders (50/50 default), is the hardest level in the game.