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.
I get what you're saying. But I feel like this patch has been a bit of a knee-**bleep** reaction. Catering towards casual players is fine, but when it's at the expense of others who play more, it just doesn't make sense. EA could cater to casual players in a number of other ways that don't remove or dramatically lessen the skill gap. Gauntlet 3 is a prime example of that, as it allowed skilled players to complete more difficult objectives and unlock Benzema faster, while also allowing more casual players to get him by simply playing the game.
I know some people weren't particularly happy with that, but it shows how EA can balance aspects of UT to include both the casual and competitive player bases. I just don't understand why the same logic can't be applied to gameplay. I really struggle to see how readjusting R1 dribbling to accommodate the more skilled crowd while keeping the changes to defence (or even slightly reversing them) will lead to a max exodus of the casual player base.
The fact of the matter is, the 'casual' player base will simply complain about everything; R1 dribbling is to OP, gets nerfed; everyone's parking the bus now and games are boring, attack ai and defending adjustments; games are like basketball matches now, defending gets boosted. I understand that developers can't always get it right, but it seems to me that far too often patches revolve around trying to make it easier for 'casual' and average-skilled players, instead of them just learning real simple game mechanics.
there is always a meta that everyone plays ^^ for about 3 years it was 4321 ^^ and iso 1v1 and now it is more about quick passing and to unlock defense (almost like in real life LOL) as you can easily unlock these by keeping the ball and pass backwards again i guess you just struggle to adapt to another way of playing and therefore you want your ''i win most games i'm happy playstyle'' back ^^
What does jockey speed have to do with how defenders are working now ? Jockey speed comes into play only when a player is manually defending, which doesn't happen in majority of games. Majority of games - AI defending, not even a switch to a CB. Nobody has any problem with jockey speed.
Can't believe this is the third time I've had to point this kind of thing out on here...
The post you're responding to was 13 days ago, yes jockey speed is fine now but there's a multitude of other problems...
