EA Please Read this, The soultion is simple
I have been playing FIFA for many years, going all the way back to FIFA 2002. I have watched this game evolve constantly especially after the introduction of Ultimate Team and competitive modes. Throughout all these years I always had my thoughts about the game, but I never felt compelled to speak publicly about it. This year, however, feels different. For the first time ever, I saw EA Sports getting actively involved with the community and genuinely trying to uplift the gameplay. Yet, despite those efforts, the long standing core community casual players, pros, and major content creators has started to give up on the game. That alone made me feel the need to finally express my view.
People always have different opinions about FIFA, and many of those views naturally contradict each other. Something that one part of the community likes may be disliked by another. But there are a few problems that are so deeply rooted in the core design of the game that almost the entire long term player base agrees on them. These problems have become impossible to ignore.
The biggest issue and the one that has slowly killed the fun for many players is the highly restrictive system EA introduced, which has almost completely removed the freedom and creativity that casual players used to enjoy. People play FIFA because they want to recreate the footballing ideas they imagine. But the game today simply does not allow that freedom anymore.
Take Playstyles, for example. The idea behind them is not bad, in fact, it acknowledges the need for players to have certain attributes to perform effectively in specific positions. A CDM almost seems unplayable now without at least Base Intercept and one or two strong passing traits like Tiki Taka, Incisive Pass, or Pinged Pass. Wingers feel incomplete unless they have Base Finesse and some sort of pace boosting style like Rapid or Quickstep. It is understandable that not every player should have every playstyle, and limiting the number each player can have is reasonable.
But the core issue lies in the fact that we cannot choose the playstyles. EA decides them beforehand. As a result, 80 to 90 per cent of players who lack key playstyles become unusable in the meta, no matter how much you like them in real life. Everyone ends up using the same cards Reijnders or De Jong at CDM, Claudia Pina at striker, Nico Williams at LM, and many others. Yes, Playstyle Evolutions exist, but you need to wait weeks to unlock a single base playstyle, and rating restrictions often block you from upgrading players you genuinely want to use. And if your favourite player already comes with ineffective or irrelevant playstyles, there is nothing you can do.
Players should have the freedom to choose four or five basic playstyles for any card so they can shape their squad according to their personal style of play. Alternatively, EA could remove base playstyles entirely and keep only Playstyle Plus so that basic actions do not feel restricted.
The same problem applies to Roles and position restrictions. One of the biggest joys of past FIFA games was flexibility, using players creatively, trying new roles, and building squads based on imagination rather than limitations. If someone wants to play Yamal as an RCAM, they should be able to. If someone wants Bruno Fernandes at CDM, they should have that option. Real football constantly shows players taking up new roles Szoboszlai can be a playmaking RB or a deep lying midfielder depending on the managers vision. Yet in EA FC, players need to wait months for EA to release a card with an updated position, even if that role already makes perfect sense on the pitch.
Older FIFA titles also allowed switching between similar positions like RW RM RCAM or CAM CM CDM. That flexibility encouraged creativity and made hybrid squads possible. Todays strict restrictions on positions and roles force everyone into predictable meta setups. Even with Roles, the system feels unnecessarily limited. If a player is already in their natural position, why cant they take up higher tier roles. Why cant Son be an Inside Forward Plus at LW or Rodrygo be an Advanced Forward Plus. Instead, players wait six months for Evolutions that should have been available from the beginning.
Just a couple of years ago, all this flexibility existed. People could pick up the controller after a day of work, jump into Ultimate Team, and immediately try out their favourite players in the positions and roles they wanted. Now, EA has created a system in which you must grind for weeks or wait months just to make a good card viable in your preferred formation.
EA removed one of the biggest fun elements of the game, the ability to experiment freely in the early months of the cycle. And no, these restrictions do not make the game more realistic. Real football has far greater creativity and positional fluidity than EA FC currently allows. Over restricting the system has forced players into identical playstyles, identical cards, and identical team structures.
To be fair, EA has made some good additions Evolutions, new game modes, better menus. Those improvements are genuinely appreciated. But none of that should come at the cost of ruining the fundamentals that made the game enjoyable for years. FIFA and now EA FC never needed overly complicated systems to be fun. It just needed responsive gameplay and the freedom to try new ideas.
Thats all the community is asking for
