Forum Discussion
I didn’t say it wasn’t happening to both teams—maybe it is and my opponent is better at overcoming it than I am (after all, how can I know what my opponent is experiencing?). All I can speak to is my experience, and, as I said, from where I sit (having played these VSA scenarios literally hundreds of times) the game has gotten randomly glitchy.
What you’d expect as you climb the ranks in VSA is to face higher OVR rated teams with players that accelerate faster and/or take the ball off you more aggressively and more consistently, but that’s not what I’m seeing, Instead, MY players are quite noticeably (if randomly) worse in a variety of respects. As I stated, the starkest difference (as I’ve been stuck at or around +16 now for over a week) is the rate of poor touches (irrespective of where the closest defender is). I mean, let’s be honest, VSA is extremely repetitive and any user worth their salt gets to know the half dozen or so scenarios pretty darn well and can execute the required moves to score a goal practically in their sleep. I routinely score 30-35 goals in a league tournament play against opponents with my same 114 OVR, so I’m very well acquainted with how my players usually perform and it’s VERY evident to me when they suddenly behave like they’ve got a case of “the yips.”
So, even if I am now playing an OVR 115 or 116 team (because I’ve reached a higher level in Division Rivals) then I might expect opposing players to come and take the ball off me with greater frequency. But that’s not what’s happening. Instead, my players are just plain giving the ball away with increased rates of poor touches and botched moves (like roulettes that spin the opposite of what you’d expect given the angle of attack). It’s not like this has to be hard coded into the game. All it takes is for the game to be designed such that the mere presence of a higher-rated opponent negatively affects the probability of my player performing routine actions properly/successfully. As I said, I’ve played these scenarios so many times that it becomes really easy to sense when something is “off” and I’ve now been stuck at or around this +16 level so long that I’ve played dozens and dozens of “attacks” and have a sufficient sample size to sense a pattern emerging. My skill level hasn’t changed (if anything it’s just gotten sharper over time), nor do I discern a difference in the general speed, quickness, or aggressiveness of my opponents as I drop and promote between, say, Champions level +12 and +16. The one discernible difference, however, is this random glitchiness I describe and I’d be happy to supply video if you don’t mind telling me how.