cinder hatch
Critical Competitive Gameplay Issues in Ultimate Team
Dear EA Sports Team,
I am an active and devoted player of the Ultimate Team mode, representing a significant community of players with an audience of 250k.
The core issue undermining the competitive spirit and causing major frustration in PvP modes is the current implementation of AI Defending.
The AI Defending Problem
In competitive modes, up to 5-7/ 10 matches are played against opponents who only control a single outfield player (a CDM), relying on the AI to handle all pressing, interceptions, and shot blocking.
This degrades the gameplay to the level of Squad Battles (matches against the computer). Players who lack manual defensive skills gain an unfair advantage because the AI does not make the positioning and tackling errors inherent to human control. Instead of an expected 10-0 victory over a weak opponent, we end up with an exhausting 7-6 battle. This is inconsistent with the principles of competitive PvP.
We urge you to substantially decrease the effectiveness and aggressiveness of AI-controlled defense in PvP modes. Successful defending must be a reward for active, manual control and player switching, not for passively holding a single player.
Attacking Imbalance
Previous installments in the series featured mechanics that effectively punished ultra-passive play and excessive reliance on AI defense, forcing players to take risks and press forward.
We strongly request that you consider bringing back or strengthening the following attacking mechanics in FC 26 to restore balance:
Time Finishing
Finnesse Shots/Trivela Shots from outside the box.
These shots must be a real threat and an effective tool against players who refuse to leave their defensive shape and passively "sit" in the penalty area while controlling only one player
P.S. The current flow is so illogical and frustrating that forces me to skip the game once I’m paired with such an AI-driven 0-skills opponent