Defending didn't 'suck', it finally required skill. In 25 people relied on the ai to defend for them way too much, and now all of a sudden, when people actually have to defend for themselves, the whole community is throwing their toys out the cot. It's actually sad.
Pre-patch, you had to work for your goals. Saying they were gifted is a pretty good indication that you just couldn't defend pre-patch, because with how dribbling was, you actually had to be incredibly intentional with your inputs. Some players would just spin around in circles, sure, but after like 3-4 games, it became pretty easy to defend against those players because they had no idea what they were doing.
It's pretty sad to see a small part of this community being so quick to torpedo a game that was by far the best on release compared to almost everything we've had in the past. And now it's just FC25 all over again; draw simulator, park the bus and counter, first time through balls, I mean, I could go on and on. I'd way rather have to deal with a few fidget spinners every now and again as opposed to what I've been coming up against post-patch.
The "small part of the community" is actually around 80-90% of the games playerbase.
Even the pros were saying that defending was broken, jockey speed too slow, defenders like statues not tracking runs.
It was ridiculously easy to score goals pre patch so if you're saying the opposite then you would obviously find it harder now.
Oh and I've always used full manual defending and passing, the majority wanted a football game with football scores, not basketball scores and EA have done the right thing to keep the vast majority of the playerbase happy and on the game.
I seriously doubt “80-90%” of the player base was struggling with defending that much, but that’s besides the point.
I can understand why players would be asking for defending and dribbling to be more balanced; that’s a valid ask. But, the issue is now EA has seriously over corrected, completely tanking dribbling and attacking in favour of massive boosts to defending (both manual and ai).
Every rivals game I play now is just a park the bus simulator, with everyone playing with 2 holding DM’s and a full back line. Sure, this means that I (and other players) have to be much more precise in the attack, and I don’t necessarily have an issue with that. However, the fact that so many players now just sit back and wait for a counter makes playing rivals or champs so boring.
I know some people say “this is football, you have to adapt to your opponents tactics”, sure, but when it’s 9/10 players it’s a bit ridiculous.
In the end, games just turn into back and fourth 1-0 or 2-1. If I wanted to play a “realistic” match, I’d go to manager career.
The whole issue is the lack of balance between defending and attacking. It’s the over correction from EA, the complete nerf of dribbling in favour or massive boosts to jockeying, that has made this game, at times, unbearable.
I never said that 80-90% of the playerbase were struggling with defending, I was pointing out that casuals and average skilled players make up that number and that those are the gamers that EA need to keep on the game.
The patch is a success in real terms as the active player count is up across all platforms since the patch, because the majority actually want a football game with realistic scorelines and the absolute last thing EA want is those players going to career mode, they of course want them to remain on UT.
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