FC 26 Gameplay Feedback – Core Systems Are Fundamentally Broken
This is not a “needs tuning” issue. This is not “early lifecycle balancing.” This is a clear case of core systems shipping in a broken, poorly understood state, reflecting a worrying lack of competence and football understanding from EA’s gameplay direction. The game does not just feel unpolished — it feels like multiple foundational systems were implemented without consistent logic, without football principles, and without proper quality control. Below is a breakdown of the issues, all of which point to the same conclusion: the gameplay framework is not functioning as intended, and it is unacceptable for a full release. 1. Passing Logic Has No Spatial Awareness Passing consistently ignores player input and basic football logic: Wrong targets selected despite clear directional input Obvious passing lanes ignored Through balls massively overtuned, normal passing underpowered Players abuse mechanics (incisive passes) because system logic is unreliable No real awareness of angle, pressure, or body positioning This is not difficulty. It’s fundamentally broken decision logic. 2. Bounce-Back Tackles Remove Skill Reward Even perfect tackles: Often bounce straight back to the attacker Negate clean defensive actions Create artificial pressure loops Defending is no longer rewarded consistently. That reflects poor combat resolution design. 3. Overpowered Tackles From Behind & Physical Imbalance Defensive interactions are inconsistent and unrealistic: Tackles from poor angles still succeed magnetically Weak physical input wins against strong attackers Conversely, attackers lose possession instantly from minimal contact The system lacks coherent physics or balance logic. 4. Defensive AI Completely Lacks Structure This is one of the clearest signs of poor AI implementation: Centre-backs randomly abandon shape Fullbacks drift inside instead of tracking wingers CDMs fail to track runners consistently Offside line is ignored entirely. Defenders are supposed to push up. Not back into box creating space. Seriously this is so low iq its not funny. The result is chaotic defending where players fight their own AI more than opponents. This is basic football structure failure. 5. Corners Still Break Defensive Transition Logic After corners: Players are out of position instantly Clearance triggers instant counterattacks No recovery logic activates This is a repeatable systemic exploit, not realistic transition play. 6. Attacking AI Is Equally Poor Forward movement lacks intelligence: Static positioning Poor run timing Offside runs with no context No exploitation of space between defenders There is no reading of play — just scripted movement errors. 7. Dribbling & Creativity Heavily Punished Skill expression is suppressed: Random collisions and dispossessions Unreliable control inputs Exploit mechanics outperform creative play This removes agency from the player and rewards mechanical abuse instead of football skill. 8. Goalkeepers Lack Consistent Logic Keeper behaviour is highly inconsistent: Near-post goals conceded too easily Routine saves missed Unrealistic reflex saves elsewhere There is no predictable performance model. 9. “Impossible” Solo Goals Break Defensive Systems Players can: Run through multiple defenders Ignore physical pressure Score from unrealistic positions Defensive structure simply does not function reliably. 10. Reward Structure Is Poorly Designed High win requirements lock out large portions of players Near-perfect performance required for basic rewards Poor accessibility design discourages engagement 11. Pack Weight & Progression Feel Misaligned Rewards feel disconnected from effort Progression is grind-heavy and unrewarding Engagement drops due to lack of meaningful payoff 12. Server Instability & Input Delay Heavy gameplay responsiveness issues Input delay during key modes Competitive integrity breaks when responsiveness is inconsistent 13. Rubberbanding & Objective Exploits Players actively avoid gameplay via: Rubberbanding Intentional loss farming This is a symptom of low gameplay satisfaction, not just community behaviour. Core Problem: EA’s Systems Lack Football Intelligence The overarching issue is not individual bugs — it is systemic incompetence in how football logic is translated into gameplay. Nothing is consistently rewarded: Clean tackling isn’t reliable Intelligent passing is overridden Structured defending collapses Creative dribbling is punished Patient build-up is unstable Instead, chaotic, exploit-heavy play is often the optimal approach. This reflects a serious disconnect between EA’s design decisions and actual football principles. Additional Critical Issues Midfield AI ignores ball to “hold position” incorrectly Player switching causes speed inconsistencies Tactics feel ineffective and poorly implemented Negative gameplay mechanics actively disrupt control (tumbling, forced slowdowns, unresponsive passing under pressure) Passing under pressure becomes artificially inaccurate First touches degrade in defensive phases, suggesting forced difficulty rather than realistic pressure modelling Server & Responsiveness Decline Higher perceived latency (~30ms → ~38ms reported) Heavier input delay Dribbling responsiveness significantly degraded Movement feels delayed and inconsistent Whether server-side or engine-side, the result is the same: unresponsive gameplay that undermines skill. Final Point: This Feels Like a Lack of Competence, Not Just Bugs The most concerning part is not that issues exist — it’s that they are foundational, repeated across systems, and unchanged despite iteration. It suggests: Poor internal validation of football logic Weak quality control on gameplay systems Misalignment between design intent and implementation On a 1–6 scale, this is firmly a 1-level release in gameplay quality. At this stage, it does not feel like a competitive football game. It feels like a system that does not understand football fundamentals. EA needs to seriously reassess not just balance — but the competence behind how these core systems are being designed and shipped. Because right now, it is not fun... Just frustrating. It is structurally broken.
FIX THE GOALKEEPERS
Hi, im a Content Creator on YouTube, iTz Superfly and have been playing since FIFA 98 and Been playing GK from FIFA 11 to present im a competitive player in Leagues. so i would like to think i know a lot about this position. So Firstly i want to say the Game feels great im loving the game but these are my issues with GK in Pro Clubs i'll start with the most important to least important but they all need Improving a lot, 1. None of the playstyles work and here's some examples, * Footwork playstyle - Never Ever Triggers not even for low shots like intended, 1 - 100 shots maybe saved with the Foot. * 1 on 1 GK rush Playstyle - When you Rush out the GK just slides even if the player hasn't even taken the shot and even stopping with the rush to set your feet still don't work , the animations for this playstyle is completely useless. very lucky if you actually make a save doing this. - Why cant we rush out and make ourselves a Big target with Manually Saving with X - B inputs like FIFA 13 days so we have more chance to save ( This playstyle is probably the one that needs looked at most ) * Deflector Playstyle - Now this playstyle might as well be removed from the game, i understand that the coding for this must be very hard as how can the game predict where other players will be to not push the ball into their path but that being said it needs serious work or why cant we catch the ball more with our 90+ Handling * Removal of the Reflex Playstyle - GK's need a playstyle like this to help us compete against players with 98 Finishing and 98 Shot power that's without the playstyles added to that. 2. GK reaction time needs to be way faster when flicking the Right Stick in the Direction of the ball as most of the time you can be standing in the perfect position and the shot will come at you and the GK just watches it go in with No Reactions even if you Flick the RS 3. Auto positioning needs working on When players are outside the box the Auto Position pushes you onto your 6 yard line making long shots much easier to score, the movement needs to be much faster and smarter. even with 99 positioning. 4. Get up from the floor much faster or try and make another save while on the floor if the ball is shot near you ive been playing GK since FIFA 11 the introduction of the GK position i know how good GK's used to be and this isnt it, everything is heavily favoured in the Attackers and so it should be they are shooting the ball into the net but we need more for GK's. The game just don't feel great anymore with bags of goals it needs to be a challenge for Attackers to Score against GK's Ai or Human Controlled, i have a few ideas that could help that. 1. Attackers if they have Low Samina and shoot the shot power & Accuracy should be less 2. GK's need better Playstyles like: * Shots inside the box GK has Quicker reflexes and dives * GK's can see an indicator under the Attackers Feet when they are about to shoot ( this used to be a feature ) this gives GK's a chance to not flick the RS early and read the game better * more chance to Catch the ball from shots Like i said im the Biggest GoalKeeper Content Creator on YouTube that plays Competitively and Live streams all games and the whole GK community wants changes no one wants to play GK anymore and that would be a sad day for the pro clubs community. i love this game and i just wish you had Pro Clubs content creators on board who play the game at a high level and been doing it for years and know what they are talking about when it comes to a balanced game, because believe it or not even the attackers in pro clubs hate how bad GK is. i know you have VPG on board but you need more, im putting my self out there to help improve the pro clubs side of gameplay and in general improve the whole game with ideas. i hope you find this post not an attack but a helpful post and highlighting what needs changing. i look forward to your response.
Fundamentale Probleme mit Gameplay, Matchmaking, Ultimate Team
Sehr geehrtes EAFC-Team, sehr geehrte Community-Manager, liebe Mitspieler, ich schreibe diesen Beitrag als langjähriger Spieler der FIFA- bzw. EAFC-Reihe. Ich spiele diese Serie seit den allerersten Teilen und habe wirklich jeden Ableger erlebt – von den frühen Konsolen bis heute. Auch EAFC 26 habe ich wieder gekauft, wieder mit Hoffnung, wieder mit der Erwartung, dass es endlich besser wird. Leider muss ich sagen: EAFC 26 setzt für mich den Negativtrend der letzten Jahre konsequent fort. 1. Gameplay: Toreflut statt Fußball Das zentrale Problem vorweg: EAFC 26 fühlt sich nicht mehr wie Fußball an. Rivals und FUT Champions sind faktisch kaum noch spielbar, ohne dass absurd viele Tore fallen. Der Schnitt meiner letzten 40 Spiele liegt bei 13 Toren pro Partie. Kurze Rechnung: 90 Minuten Spielzeit 13 Tore pro Spiel = ein Tor alle ca. 6,9 Minuten Das ist kein Ausreißer, das ist der Regelfall. Ergebnisse wie: 10:7 14:6 9:8 7:6 sind keine Seltenheit mehr, sondern Normalzustand. Es geht mir ausdrücklich nicht darum, dass ich verliere – ich gewinne die meisten dieser Spiele. Aber selbst Siege fühlen sich nicht mehr gut an, weil das gesamte Spielgefühl völlig entgleist ist. Das Spiel ist nur noch Druck, weil man das Gefühl hat keine Kontrolle über das Gameplay zu haben. Fußball lebt von Spannung, von Phasen, von Kontrolle, von Defensive. EAFC 26 wirkt dagegen wie ein permanentes Hin-und-Her ohne Struktur, ohne Balance, ohne taktische Tiefe. 2. Tempo & Physik: Wenn 78 schneller ist als 94 Ein weiterer gravierender Punkt: das Tempo-System. Wie kann es sein, dass Spieler mit 94 Tempo regelmäßig von Spielern mit 70–78 Tempo eingeholt oder sogar überrannt werden? Und nein – es ist nicht nur ein einzelner Spieler. Es betrifft ganze Mannschaften. Das Spiel fühlt sich oft so an, als würde: der Gegner auf 1,5-facher Geschwindigkeit spielen während das eigene Team auf 0,8-Tempo festhängt. Besonders auffällig ist dieses Phänomen in Rivals und FUT Champions. Das sorgt für ein permanentes Gefühl von Ungleichgewicht und Kontrollverlust – unabhängig von Skill, Taktik oder Spielerwerten. 3. Matchmaking: Ligen ohne Bedeutung Ich bin seit Jahren Liga-1-Spieler. In EAFC 26 komme ich aktuell nicht einmal zuverlässig über Liga 4 hinaus. Der eigentliche Witz: Spiele ich auf Accounts von Freunden in Liga 7 oder 8, sind die Gegner exakt genauso stark wie in Liga 4. Es gibt keinerlei spürbare Leistungsabstufung mehr. Zusätzlich berichten zahlreiche Spieler davon, dass sie in Liga 7 oder 8 auf Gegner treffen, die nachweislich in Liga 2 oder höher spielen. Das wirft eine einfache Frage auf: Was soll dieses Matchmaking eigentlich leisten? Für Casual-Spieler bedeutet das: kein Fortschrittsgefühl keine Lernkurve kein Spaß Wenn jede Partie unabhängig von Liga oder Einstieg brutal schwer ist, verliert das gesamte Ligensystem seinen Sinn. 4. Meta, Patches und Influencer-Fokus Das Gameplay wird seit Jahren zunehmend von Meta-Mechaniken dominiert: identische Spielzüge identische Tore identische Spielerprofile Diese Metas werden oft durch Influencer und Streamer verbreitet und viel zu spät oder gar nicht gepatcht. Zu Beginn von EAFC 26 war das Gameplay vergleichsweise angenehm: moderates Tempo realistischere Ergebnisse Spiele wie 3:1, 4:2, 5:1 oder auch knappe 2:1 oder 3:2 Doch statt dieses Fundament zu stabilisieren, wurde es durch Patches wieder Schritt für Schritt zerstört. Es entsteht zunehmend der Eindruck, dass nicht die breite Spielerschaft, sondern eine sehr laute, sehr kleine Gruppe das Gameplay diktiert – insbesondere jene, für die jedes Spiel ein Highlight-Clip sein muss. 5. Torhüter & Abschlüsse: Realität komplett verlassen Einige Beispiele: Flachschüsse aus zb. 16 Metern trudeln regelmäßig ins lange Eck, in Zeitlupe und Torwart ohne Chance Torhüter reagieren verzögert oder gar nicht angeschnittene Schüsse aus bestimmten Winkeln sind nahezu garantiertes Tor Besonders irritierend: Torhüter bewegen sich teils vom Ball weg oder „fallen“ rückwärts ins Tornetz Das manuelle Torhüter-Verschieben verschärft das Problem zusätzlich und wirkt fehl am Platz in einem kompetitiven Spiel. Eine automatische, situationsabhängige Positionierung wäre hier deutlich sinnvoller. 6. Ultimate Team: Progression nur noch über Zeit oder Geld Ultimate Team ist klar der Mittelpunkt des gesamten Spiels – andere Modi wirken wie Beiwerk. Probleme: Kampagnenkarten extrem selten tauschbare Packs nahezu immer wertlos gute Karten fast ausschließlich untauschbar Als Casual-Spieler ist es faktisch unmöglich: sinnvoll Coins zu verdienen konkurrenzfähige Teams aufzubauen Ohne: permanentes und zeitaufwendiges Trading extremen Zeitaufwand oder zusätzliche Geldausgaben kommt man kaum voran. Das fühlt sich weniger nach Motivation, sondern eher nach gezielter Frustration an. 7. Content & Authentizität EAFC lebt von Lizenzen – und das ist ein großer Pluspunkt. Umso unverständlicher ist es, dass: fantasiehafte Trikots künstliche Designs austauschbare Stadion-Items bunte, knallige unechte Trikots einen so großen Raum einnehmen. Warum nicht: echte Vereins-Choreos (was gibt es da für geile Choreos der Fans im Stadion als Beispiel) reale Fan-Darstellungen mehr Retro-Trikots alternative Originaltrikots? Viele Spieler möchten realistischen Fußball, keinen Fantasie-Modus. 8. Bugs & Technik: Nicht akzeptabel Ein konkretes Beispiel: XL-Choreo-Länderflaggen aus Packs korrekt gezogen im Verein jedoch nicht auffindbar, außer man rüstet sie direkt nach dem Pack-Opening aus Solche Bugs sind reproduzierbar und bestehen teilweise über mehrere Titel hinweg. Auch das Menü ist weiterhin: träge fehleranfällig voll mit Problemen, die seit Jahren bekannt sind die Gruppen und Einladeoption für Freunde ist schwach (müssen sehr oft die Gruppe auflösen, weil man als bestehende Gruppe kein neues Spiel starten kann) Für ein Spiel mit diesem Premium-Preis ist das schlicht nicht angemessen. 9. Fazit EAFC 26 wirkt aktuell: unausgeglichen überdreht zu stark auf Monetarisierung fokussiert weit entfernt von einer Fußball-Simulation Ich werde mich vorerst von diesem Spiel zurückziehen. Nicht aus Trotz, sondern aus Enttäuschung. Ich wünsche mir kein perfektes Spiel – nur ein stabiles, faires und fußballnahes Gameplay, das nicht mit jedem Patch weiter auseinanderfällt. Vielleicht wäre weniger Aktion und mehr Substanz wieder ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung. Ich möchte Fußball spielen und erleben und kein Action-Spiel... Mit nachdenklichen Grüßen, ein langjähriger Spieler und ehemaliger Fan der Reihe!
This Game Is Dead: EA Needs to Hear This NOW
I’m officially done with this game and I need to say everything while I still can. If EA actually cares about honest feedback from real players, this is it. Week 1 of this FC was amazing. The gameplay was smooth, responsive, and felt fair. It actually felt like the best FC version I’ve ever played. But from that point on, it has been downhill. Every update, patch, and tweak has ruined the game. Week after week it gets slower, heavier, and more scripted. The game doesn’t feel like it’s controlled by the player anymore. It feels like it controls itself. FUT Champions is the clearest example. Every year it’s the same story: no matter how I start, the game forces me into a specific outcome. This year proves it perfectly. I can start 7-0 or 5-5, it doesn’t matter. I ALWAYS end at 11 wins. Every single weekend. The game manipulates matches to keep players within that range, punishing anyone who might actually outperform it. That is not competitive. That is manipulation disguised as matchmaking. And what do we get for it? Rewards that are completely worthless. Most weeks I don’t even get a single walkout from 11-win packs. Grinding 15 sweaty, scripted matches just to open trash packs is insulting. It makes the entire mode pointless. The engine itself is terrible. Player movement is delayed, input is unresponsive, and animations override everything you try to do. Turning, dribbling, and defending all feel inconsistent. The game doesn’t feel like football anymore. It feels like random events happening and you hope to react in time. Skill doesn’t decide results, momentum swings and hidden mechanics do. And speaking of hidden mechanics, DDA or whatever invisible balancing system is in place ruins every competitive match. Passes slow down, players become heavy, your goalkeeper does random things, and suddenly your opponent is unstoppable. If you want fair gameplay, fix matchmaking. Don’t manipulate matches to stop someone from quitting. I’m convinced my account is shadow-banned or treated differently. Gameplay feels slower, packs are worse than what I see on streams, and match outcomes feel controlled. Tonight was the last straw. I spent 1 million coins on store packs before quitting and got absolutely nothing. Not a single good player. This is ridiculous. I’m done wasting time, energy, and money on a game that doesn’t reward effort or skill. EA, if you actually want this franchise to survive, here’s what needs to happen: change the engine or rebuild it, remove all hidden balancing systems, give players full control of their team, stop patching the game every week just to break it further, fix rewards so 11 wins actually feel worth it, and start listening to the players who actually play your game instead of ignoring us. I’m not writing this because I hate the game. I’m writing this because I actually cared about it. I used to love it. I wanted it to be competitive, fun, and rewarding. Right now, it’s just scripted, frustrating, and unfair. I’m done playing. I know this post will probably get deleted as soon as someone sees it. You can ban me or do whatever you want. It’s over for me with this game. But I needed to say the truth while I still could.Four Friends 🫂, Two Teams ⚽, One Missing Feature 🥺, Don’t Skip 2v2 Again!
One of the biggest letdowns in EA FC 25 was the absence of online 2v2 friendlies using real teams — something that’s been a dream feature for many of us. Right now, you can only play 2v2 locally with friends using clubs or national teams. But if you’re online and want to play 2v2 with three other friends (that are seperated), you're out of luck. We’re asking for a simple but powerful feature: Let four separate players (two on each team) play online using real-world teams in a friendly match. Why is this important? Siblings, cousins, old friends — people who live apart — want to team up like old times. It was heavily requested in FC 25 forums and left a lot of players disappointed when it didn’t return. We know the mechanics exist — it works locally. Let’s make it online. > 🎮 Let’s bring that community fun back. The demand is real.
Severe Input Lag and Delay Issues in Iraq across All Platforms (EA SPORTS FC 26)
Dear EA SPORTS FC Development & Support Team, I am writing to you on behalf of the passionate EA SPORTS FC gaming community in Iraq. We love the game and appreciate the hard work your team puts into every title, but we are currently facing a severe issue that is making online gameplay nearly unplayable for us. In EA SPORTS FC 26, players across Iraq are experiencing extreme input delay / responsiveness issues. Basic in-game actions—such as passing, sprinting, tackling, and shooting—take a noticeable fraction of a second (or more) to execute after pressing the button. To clarify key details about this problem: All Platforms Affected: This input lag is happening consistently across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Connection & Hardware: Players with high-speed fiber internet and low pings in other competitive online games are still suffering from this heavy gameplay feel specifically in FC 26. Game Modes: The issue is heavily impacting competitive online modes like Ultimate Team (Champs/Rivals) and Clubs. This delay puts Iraqi players at a huge disadvantage when competing online, making the experience frustrating rather than enjoyable. We kindly request the team to look into the routing, server matchmaking, and networking infrastructure for the Iraq region, or optimize connectivity to the nearest regional servers. We hope to see this issue investigated and addressed in upcoming patches or server updates. Thank you for your time and continued support. Best regards, An EA SPORTS FC Player from IraqThis really is unplayable. U cant even make passing work
I genuinely don’t understand how we’ve reached a point where in , the most basic mechanic in football — passing — feels this unreliable. Like, forget advanced tactics, forget skill moves, forget all the flashy marketing features. This is a football game. Passing is literally the foundation of everything. And yet somehow a simple 5-yard pass turns into a lottery half the time. You aim left — it goes straight. You tap lightly — it gets blasted across the pitch. You power it up — your player gently rolls it to the opponent like he’s setting up a highlight reel for them. And don’t even get me started on player switching combined with passing. You try to play a quick one-two, and the game decides your striker actually wanted to pass it to a marked midfielder 20 meters away. Why? No clue. Input just gets ignored or “interpreted” however the game feels in that moment. It’s not even about difficulty or “skill gap” — I’m fine with making mistakes if they’re MY mistakes. But right now it feels like I’m fighting the game’s decision-making more than my opponent. There’s a difference between a bad pass because I messed up, and a bad pass because the game overrode what I clearly input. And the inconsistency is the worst part. One match, passing feels crisp and responsive. Next match, same players, same inputs, and suddenly everything is delayed, underhit, or magnetized toward defenders. That’s not realism — that’s unpredictability in the worst way. I’m not asking for perfection. Just consistency and control. If I aim somewhere and use a certain amount of power, I should at least feel like the outcome matches that input most of the time. Right now, it honestly feels like the game decides when a pass works instead of the player. Make a 150 passes in a game, well 30 of them go directly like magnets to opponent. Im really starting to believe you never watched football. Fix the fundamentals. Everything else can wait cause right now... If the gameplay was trash it would be a upgrade. This game is an embarrassment to football...Game play horrible!
I suggest to everyone who is having an issues with this garbage game called EAFC25 to create a petition, to allow us to post videos and to basically obligate them to answer to this issues on EAFC25. That’s is enough. Game play is impossible to play it , players are not responding to commands, late response, 3-4 seconds. That’s a big shame ! EA shame on you!
Outdated transfers on February 17rd, SHAME!
Dear EAFC 25 developers, I am writing this message to express my deep indignation with the lack of winter transfer updates in the game until February 14rd. As a dedicated player of the career mode, I eagerly expected the market movements to be reflected in the game, allowing for a more realistic and up-to-date experience. However, I was extremely frustrated to discover that an update released on February 02th, instead of improving the situation, actually regressed the transfers. Players who had been transferred in previous versions inexplicably returned to their original teams. It is unacceptable that on February 17rd, we still do not have access to the complete transfers up until this date. The transfer window for major leagues has already closed and the lack of proper updates makes the game experience extremely frustrating and outdated. I kindly request that you rectify this situation as soon as possible. We, dedicated players of EAFC 25, deserve a quality experience where transfers are updated in a timely and accurate manner. After all, this is what brings realism and immersion to the game. I hope to receive a positive response and a prompt update on the winter transfers. I believe that we can make EAFC an even better game, as long as there is a genuine commitment to the players' expectations. Sincerely, A disappointed fan of EAFC 25