Feedback: Listen to the Pro/Sim Community Testing
To the EA SPORTS FC Development Team and Design Council,
I am writing this as a dedicated player and sim-veteran who has reached a breaking point with the current state of FC 26 (v1.5.0). It is increasingly evident that the core gameplay is being balanced and tested for "accessibility" at the expense of skill-based integrity.
The Issue: The 'Beginner' Calibration The current "Ghosting" defense and the comical 8-9 scorelines are the direct result of a game tuned for players who do not understand defensive positioning. By nerfing AI reaction times (as seen in TU 1.4.0) to make attacking feel "free-flowing," you have stripped the game of its competitive soul.
Specific Mechanical Failures:
- Vertical Run Neglect: Defenders currently "jog" back during counters while attackers sprint. This is an artificial way to create breakaways and it rewards bad tactical play.
- The 'Freightliner' Effect: On the PS5 Pro, the lack of native PSSR 2.0 optimization creates a mud-like input delay. This makes manual defending impossible against the "magnetized" ball physics of the current patch.
- Animation Over Physics: The game prioritizes flashy animations for casual players rather than the physical mass of the ball and players.
The Solution: Hire Pro-Level Testers The "Design Council" needs to shift its weight. Stop prioritizing the feedback of average to below-average "beginner" players who just want high-scoring highlights. You need to embed FC Pro players and actual professional soccer players and minds into the daily testing cycle—the people who actually know how to take the engine and game to its limit.
If a mechanic only "works" when two beginners play each other, it is a broken mechanic. We need a game that respects Input Integrity, not one that relies on "Dice Rolls" and DDA to keep scores close.
Respectfully,
