Player Feedback Letter Regarding the “Death of FC26” Patch

[left sapphire]

1. General Thoughts

Before this patch, FC26 was the best the series has felt in years. Gameplay was finally balanced and skill-based. But this update completely flipped that. It feels like EA gave in to the loudest complaints instead of protecting what made the game fun and competitive.

2. What Needed Fixing vs What Got Nerfed

The only real issues were corners and kickoffs. That’s what should have been addressed.

Instead, EA hit a double attacking nerf:

R1 dribbling got gutted.

Defenders became way too fast and reactive.

Jockeying is over-tuned and easy.

Now the whole balance feels broken. The flow is slower, heavy, and way more defensive.

3. How It Feels After the Patch

Dribbling: Players feel sluggish and stuck in mud. Even top Technical+ attackers turn like trucks now.

Attacking: The skill gap is gone. Passing and creativity don’t matter when every defender can react faster than your input.

Defending: Jockeying is ridiculously strong. The game rewards passive defending instead of intelligent positioning or timing.

Matches that used to be exciting 4–3 or 3–2 battles now end 1–0 or 2–1. It feels like FC25 again, not the fresh and fluid game we had a week ago.

4. The Community Problem

A lot of this comes from players who spammed complaints about R1 dribbling instead of learning how to defend it. EA should not have built a patch around that noise. It punished players who actually understood movement and rewarded skillful attacking play.

5. Big Picture

This patch benefits defensive, low-skill players and kills creative football. Every match looks the same again. Defend deep, counter, repeat.

FC26 was finally heading in the right direction, but this update wiped out that progress overnight.

6. What EA Should Do

Revert the patch. Do not leave this version active for weeks.

Only fix corners and kickoffs. Those were the real problems.

Protect attacking creativity. Keep skill expression alive.

7. Final Message

You had it. FC26 finally felt like football again. Corners and kickoffs needed tuning, not the entire attack. This patch took a fun, balanced game and turned it into FC25 all over again. Please revert it before you lose what made this year special.

[terse pond]

Agreed with you 100%

[left sapphire]

❤️

[dapper pier]

now it‘s only triangle pass spamming and hoping you don‘t lose the game from a bounce back, it‘s fc 25 all over again

[proper geode]

Bigger picture

Pre patch benefited fidget spinners and Tennis lovers with tie breakers like scorelines.This is low skill.

Factors

Ea has literally mentioned in the patch notes that they have made defending more manual and jockeying works.

[dapper pier]

the worst thing is when they patch the game again it will necer feel like before, they just killed the game

[dapper pier]

if you don‘t like it you can still play authentic gameplay, that‘s the reason why they brought the two game modes, let people have fun, you didn‘t have to spin or spam r1, you could play in every way possible, now it‘s just luck or triangle passes, is that what you like?

[proper geode]

Brother we don't share the same opinion and that's fine.

You feel the game was good pre patch and I feel the opposite and just stating my opinion.

You don't have to agree

10+ goals in a football focused game isn't fun in my opinion and it was pathetic, There's a reason why Ea did what they did

[dapper pier]

that‘s what authentic gameplay is for, people hated the close games that are being decided by random factors, if you were better before the patch you won by 5 goals, now you score maybe 1-2 and if you‘re unlucky you lose to some bs happening, even if it‘s not real football, most people don‘t care and just want to have fun and compete

but I respect your opinion

[proper geode]

I politely disagree, I reach div1 every year and regardless of how I play the game it shouldn't be biased to only the attacking part of the game.
I mean even with players with jockey play styles you just couldn't defend 1v1, It was impossible no matter how good you were at defending.

And kickoffs were too broken, absolutely didn't enjoy it

[dapper pier]

I agree but then they should have just boosted jockeying and it would be fine, they drastically changed the whole game with this update, it‘s normal that most people don‘t like it

I‘m in Elite Division I was like Rank 3000 before the patch, after the patch people just score goals with triangle passes across half of the field because it‘s impossible to score goals against good people, the creativity is completly gone, there is no controlling the game anymore it‘s just counter and hope