The last straw

I was reading some opinions about the game from two months ago, and overall the problems are the same—just worse now. I think it’s harder to notice when you’re still winning matches (probably because the opponent is the one being disadvantaged by certain things). The fact that you aim a pass in one direction and hold it correctly, but the game decides to pass somewhere else—and even triggers Tiki Taka+—yet the ball still goes to the opponent… or hitting the post three times in a match, or attackers staying offside and sticking to the backs of defenders instead of attacking space… all of these are frustrating.

But when in some matches you literally can’t defend at all, and every long ball goes past your defenders with no chance to stop it, when your opponent scores from every possible angle—those go beyond any level of frustration.

I see a lot of reasonable posts here pointing out the game’s issues. Some people have been playing for 20 years, others for 30, since the very beginning—but for me, it’s becoming clear that the game is no longer made for those players.

It feels like it’s made for kids who fall for influencers opening packs and reviewing players—kids who think that if they get a certain player, they’ll win everything. The same type of players who score after your defenders literally trip over each other, while their pass gets some kind of system boost, and then they hit you with a trash celebration. The game is made for them. There are more of them. They probably complain when they lose too, even if they’re terrible at the game.

Personally, I’d rather lose fairly, but have a balanced game where I can improve what I’m not good at and then win. But no—the system uses some weird calculations and the game feels determined by them. At one point I played against someone with a full gold team—it was obvious they weren’t very good, just a few tricks, long balls to the striker, and first-time shots. Literally every ball went to the attacker and almost all of them were goals… I struggled massively to win that match. My passing felt terrible, and compared to his attackers, mine looked like bronze players.

At one point he took a low driven shot from the edge of the box, straight down the middle—my keeper could have easily caught it, but instead of diving, he stuck his leg out and the ball went under him. Even though I was leading at that moment, I felt like quitting the match.

So I don’t know what kind of crazy “balance” EA is trying to create in matches. But a gold team, used by a player who just scores finesse shots and posts them on social media to brag, shouldn’t be able to compete like that against someone with years of experience and top-tier players in every position.

I think a big part of the problem is the pro players, who have all kinds of advantages and tolerate a poorly developed game.

There’s a lot that needs improvement in this game. And many valid points are simply ignored when brought up. You might still see a moderator here thanking people for feedback on minor things, but the major issues are ignored as if they don’t exist. And when they suggest things like checking your connection or watching pro players to learn how to play, it just makes you want to lose your mind.

Everything makes sense though, including why the offline mode is so weak.