FC 26 Open Letter: Well-Being, Matchmaking, Meta, Toxicity, Scoring
Hello, I’m writing this as someone who genuinely loves football and wants to compete — but who increasingly feels that EA SPORTS FC 26 can grind people down mentally. Not because “someone lost,” but because the online experience is structured in a way that amplifies frustration, compulsive play loops, and toxic behaviour. I used to play football. Today, FC is one of my few real, emotional connections to the sport. I’m also post-addiction therapy, so I’m extremely aware of how certain designs create pressure loops: FOMO, “one more game,” anger escalation, helplessness, and the shame that comes after you get dragged into it. That’s why I believe player well-being should be treated as a real design responsibility — not a PR checkbox. Matchmaking & events: “testing yourself” shouldn’t mean getting executed I’m in Division 5 and I consider that a big achievement. In FUT Champions I went 7–8 and I was genuinely happy with my rewards. So I can compete. The problem is that in events/tournaments (like the recent lightweight/middleweight/heavyweight formats), I’m too often matched against players clearly far beyond my level, and the games end in scorelines like 10–2 or worse. The most mentally damaging part isn’t losing — it’s how many matches feel like an execution. Even when it’s obvious I’m not keeping up anymore and I’ve stopped pressing, some opponents keep going full throttle: constant pressure, forcing more and more goals as if the objective is humiliation. The game doesn’t discourage it — and in practice, it often rewards it (objectives, stat-padding, faster progress, the “thrill” of domination). This isn’t only a community problem. Design shapes behaviour. Meta abuse & anti-football as the “optimal” path Online is flooded with the same patterns: 4-5-1 and 4-4-2, two lines on top of the box, deep blocks, and automated pressure/auto-closing. I play my own way — 4-3-3 (4), attacking, high line — because I want to feel football and be different. I accept the risk. The issue is that FC 26 often feels like it systemically rewards repetition and automation over actual football-like competition. The result is that even when I match someone “around my level,” the game becomes a draining loop: circulating the ball for minutes, waiting for a single mistake, because the opponent is sitting with two lines in front of their box. That’s not just boring — it’s mentally exhausting. It turns matches into constant tension with very little joy. Ultimate Team creativity: I’m not asking to remove it — I’m asking to protect it I’m not here to complain about playstyles or the concept of Evolutions. I actually like that they require careful choices and that decisions have consequences. I build my squad my way: a full team from my region, based on players from the Polish Ekstraklasa. That’s the point of UT for me. If I make a bad choice, that’s on me — not because a YouTuber told me to do it. That sense of ownership is healthy. It’s meaningful. And it’s exactly why the online ecosystem shouldn’t feel dominated by copy-paste meta setups and toxic win-at-all-costs behaviour. Scoring balance & “hockey scorelines” In FC 26, I regularly see matches ending 6–7, 7–8, and similar. I even see “pro” content and card reviews where someone calls a card “amazing” while the background score is 6–7. That raises a serious question: has online drifted too far away from football-like scoring and defensive reliability? I also want to mention the finesse shot situation. At one point, there was a bug/balance change that effectively nerfed finesse shots, and suddenly people stopped spamming them every attack. The community complained loudly — and I get it, you can’t satisfy everyone — but from my perspective it was one of the rare moments where gameplay finally breathed, because there wasn’t one obvious “press this for a goal” pattern dominating every match. I’m not asking for the game to be “easy” or “hard” for one side. I’m asking for goals to feel more earned and matches to feel more football-like: 1–0, 2–1, 3–2 as the norm — and 7–8 as the exception. Less chaos reduces tilt, reduces toxicity, and lowers the mental pressure that drives people into unhealthy loops. What EA can actually do (concrete, actionable) A) Event matchmaking protection Narrow the skill gaps in limited-time events and tournaments. Match more strongly by performance within the event (form/results), not just broad profiles. Add stronger protection for average players so “testing yourself” doesn’t mean a chain of humiliating blowouts. B) Meta / automation pressure balancing If 4-5-1 / 4-4-2 deep blocks plus automated pressure dominate this heavily, that’s a balance signal — not “player preference.” Reduce the efficiency of the most repeatable, low-decision patterns that turn matches into a grind and push people into one-style gameplay. C) Sportsmanship & anti-toxicity incentives Introduce systems that promote sportsmanlike play and discourage farming goals against clearly weaker opponents. Remove or reduce incentives that reward running up the score until the final minute. Reward “normal” match behaviour rather than humiliation gameplay. D) Small event idea (a well-being lever, mentioned briefly) Consider goals/objectives that promote “a normal match” rather than total domination — e.g., an objective where both teams must score, counted only when the opponent scores normally (not via own goals). Small rules like this can shift player mentality from “crush” to “play the match.” To be clear: I want competition. I want to test myself. I want to build and play my own squad identity. But I don’t want online to mean constant humiliating blowouts and contact with behaviour that looks like deliberately breaking the opponent. FC 26 can be football for different kinds of people — but that requires design choices that reduce toxic incentives and reduce the dominance of one repeatable meta path. Please forward this feedback to the teams responsible for: matchmaking, gameplay balance, UT/event design, and player well-being/community safety. If you need platform/region details, playtime windows, or match examples, I can provide them. Sincerely, Damian
Honest feedback after 2 years of EA FC Ultimate Team
I’ve been playing this game since last year, when the game was already terrible. I thought that this year it couldn’t possibly be worse. I was wrong. I would like to share the reasons why I’ve made this decision. If anyone disagrees, I would really appreciate a follow-up discussion. 1. Starting with the only good part: The promos give us different versions of players we like, which is great. However, every time we still get the same players. For example, if someone supports a smaller or less popular team, they will never have fun using their favourite player. You can build your team using Evolutions, which is really fun, but your team will never be truly competitive. 2. Pack luck: This is the second year I’ve been playing almost every day and I haven’t packed anything worth more than 50K. During every promo we get the same 11K players two or three times. Last year my only good pull was Mia Hamm 89 when she was worth around 900K, and this year TOTY Seger when she was worth around 800K. Apart from that, after opening hundreds of packs, it’s always a Gold Gabriel or Katoto. This is not just “bad pack luck”. It feels like you are simply not allowed to get good cards unless you pay. 3. Women players being overpowered: Women players are so OP that people prefer to play with Pina instead of football legends like R9, Torres, Ibrahimović, etc. In FUT Champions, 9 out of 10 players use Pina as their striker. 4. PlayStyles: There’s not much more to say. High-rated players without specific PlayStyles often underperform against lower-rated players who have them, which makes the stats feel almost irrelevant. 5. The most important reason: Gameplay • With every update, every day, and every tournament the game feels different. • There is almost no real defending unless you control a midfielder and let the AI defend for you. Where is the fun in that? Every YouTuber even suggests not touching your defenders. That’s crazy. • Kick-off goals and late goals: either right after kick-off or at the end of each half, the chances of conceding a goal feel like 95%. • Overpowered tactics: There are only 3 formations you can use if you want to be competitive (4-4-1-1, 4-5-1, 4-4-2). If you prefer something different, you are at a huge disadvantage. • Matchmaking: In every important game you will definitely play against someone from a higher division. For two years now I always finish FUT Champions with 8–9 wins. Even if I start with 7 wins, I will definitely lose the next 6–7 games against players I simply cannot compete with. • In tournaments with decent rewards (even though the chances of packing something good are still very low) it’s almost impossible to get a single win. I’ve asked some opponents and they were in Division 1 or 2 while I’m in Division 3. • Passing: You can’t make a simple pass unless you spin constantly or play quick “table-tennis” passing. Otherwise the AI will stop you. • Goalkeepers: Everything goes in. There are more than 100 GK cards in the game but you can realistically only use 3–4 of them (Vicario, Courtois, Oblak, Howard). Otherwise it feels like you have a cone in goal. • Headers: Strikers cannot score headers even when they are alone one meter in front of the goal. • Corners: It feels like having a corner is actually a disadvantage. You have maybe a 5% chance to score, otherwise your opponent will counterattack and score. This is the first time I’ve ever created feedback for a game because of how bad the experience has been. There are definitely more issues to mention, but this is enough for now. EA, we are not asking you to make the game perfect, but at least make it playable. I would really appreciate some feedback from your side regarding these issues. Thanks.Rivals is dead and Champs need changing
Div Rivals sounded like a really good idea first when it was introduced and for a little while it did bring something new to the game. Now however it is a dead format. I have a feeling a lot of people don't even play it except to get the 1000 points needed for Champs and MAYBE the 15 wins for some rewards (on a personal note I am on 11 points right now and I probably wont play another Rivals game because I. Just. Don't. Care). I think most people are just sitting in the same place in Divs, no interest in trying to go up. I made a post about all the games that players need to play these days for the avalanche of objectives. There simply isn't TIME for Rivals, and barely for Champs as well. I think going back to the old Div. System could be the play here! Division 10 to 1. Along with that you would also change how the Champions system works and make a tier based system on Divisons. Tiers 1-5 with the teams in Div. 1 and 2 being Champs Tier 1 and then Div. 3 and 4 Champs Tier 2 and so on. BUT and this is an important one. The rewards in terms of packs would be the same for ALL Champs Tiers. But any non pack rewards would be higher with a higher tier, things like coins and possibly even points. So packs for 15 wins in tier 5 would be the same as tier 1. So you might be thinking that this means players could just start sandbagging to stay in the lower leagues for easier wins and the same packs. Well no, See because any player that gets 8 wins or more in Champs will automatically move up a Champs Tier and any player that gets 7 wins or less gets dropped a tier. Meaning a Div. 5 player with 8 wins moves up to Div.4 (Tier 2) for the next week or with 7 wins drops to Div.7 (Tier 4). Also players would still require to earn points (1000 points) to enter Champions. The higher the Div the fewer games that would require. Div.1 players would get 100 points for any game played plus 100 for a win or 50 for a draw. Div. 10 players would get 50 points plus 50 for a win and 10 for a draw. Div. 1-2 100 +100/50 5 games min Div. 3-4 90 +80/40 6 games min Div. 5-6 80 +70/30 7 games min Div. 7-8 70 +60/20 8 games min Div. 9-10 60 +50/10 9 games min Players could also move UP Divisions by playing Division games BUT only up, not down. Like the old system it will be based on a 10 games "season," earning points. Another carrot for players not to sandbag is that every week, the first run of 10 games will give out rewards for placement. the higher the Division, the better the rewards and here you could have a significant difference in rewards. BUT Only the first run. This would also give every one of those 10 games meaning, right now Rivals games have no meaning. Also EA need to take down the amount of different comps that need to be played. there are like 6 different game modes right now that are needed just to complete obj. that needs to change, the Icon fantasy league is a joke BTW because there clearly is no skill based matchmaking in that, zero. This Division system could easily be used for these things instead. Simply run a "side Division" like "fantasy division" which would still count as a normal Division game BUT will have certain limits and will match you against other people running on the same limits within the same divisions. A player could also play with those same "limit" teams in normal divisions and it would still count towards objectives. And also limit the number of cups! We don't need 1-3 running at all times.! The game needs FEWER games and more games that MATTER. Right now there isn't a game mode that actually matters, no single game that matters. Go 2 down in Rivals, just quit and go again. 2 down in Champs, doesn't matter, I'll end on 7-9 win no matter what. Literally every single Champs I either go 1-6 down or 6-1 up and still end on 7-9 wins, EVERY SINGLE TIME LOL. And the less said about the Icon swaps the better, they are dreadful. As I am writing this I realize that maybe the one thing I might add to the Champs reward system mentioned before would be to maybe make some of the packs in the higher tiers tradeable to make some distinction between Champ tiers pack rewards.What is EA's understanding of TIME?
Has EA completely lost all understanding of time? It used to be that in order to keep up with the game you had to spend real money, now you have to completely forget the idea of having any resemblance of a personal life or free time outside of FC. Let me explain. Let's assume that an "average player" is playing the game that wins 1 in every 2 games. and let's say that this average player want's to finish up the objectives that are available in the next 15 days. Those objectives are (And some can be combined with each other.) Icon swaps Fantasy League Fantasy Cup Season 5 Gauntlet Champions x2 Now, I am going leave out Div Rivals, Rush, and any player obj like Scamacca and Silver super stars even if those can add a substantial amount of games. What I have is enough, trust me. But now back to that Average player that wins 1 in every 2 games. Lets assume that within those wins he completes any extra obj like headed goals, cross assists, chip shots etc. (Even if that's not always the case.) He would still have to play 192 games, yeah, One Hundred Ninety Two games. The average game time is about 15 minutes, so that comes to 48 hours of solid gametime. And like I said, I left out several other games that need to be played. More over, this also leaves out the time it takes to build those different teams, any SBC's build done, any Evo's done that fit those specific squads and time spent on researching those. In the next 15 days those 48 hours mean that every day, +3 hours need to be played on average. The Average player is not one of your basement dwellers or content creators that can sit in front of a screen every day, all day and he certainly isn't a "pro" that gets paid to do so. The Average player has responsibilities, he has a job, he attends school etc. Finding 3 hours on any given day to play FC is a task, doing so 15 days in a row is an impossibility. Now, you could say "well you don't have to finish everything" and yes, that is true BUT I paid for the game I want to be able to get the same options and players as anyone else. I shouldn't have to compromise or settle for anything less. I am not asking to be given these things for nothing, only that I don't have to dedicate my life to getting them. Right now I am not choosing to NOT do these things, I am being forced to not do them. This is like subscribing to a streaming service for a year in advance only to find out that despite them having thousand of movies and shows you only get 3 hours a day to use the service and when those 3 hours are available will be decided by the streaming service on a daily basis and every week only a small portion of the shows and movies will be available. And finally, just forget about any other game mode outside of Ultimate team, there isn't time. So back to my original question. Does EA have any understanding of the concept of time. Do they have any consideration for their player base. Do they only care about the content creators that push their game out? They certainly allow them to get away with breaking the rules regarding coin selling/farming (A different discussion) while punishing others. Feels like it, the only people that would be upset about EA scaling back the amount of objectives and promos would be those "content" creators. I am getting to a point of no return. Feeling like this "game" has become a chore, the fun is gone from the gameplay. The gameplay should be most fun part about this game but now I enjoy myself more on FutGG or Futbin looking possible EVO's ideas. I find myself more often than not turning the game on, hovering over the play tab, before switching to the SBC tab, doing the daily SBC's and then turning the Console off again. I Don't Want To Play Games Anymore, and that even has nothing to do with the faulty gameplay.... And that's the real problem.
