spiral shard
The game is currently in a very poor state. The dominant playstyle across modes is sitting deep and counter-attacking, which is made worse by the fact that almost no one manually defends anymore - players simply rely on AI defending to do the work. This removes much of the skill gap and makes matches repetitive and frustrating.
Balance is a major issue. The trait/playstyle system is heavily overpowered and has gone too far. At the moment, attributes feel largely irrelevant; outcomes are dictated almost entirely by playstyles rather than overall ratings or user decision-making. This has skewed gameplay and reduced variety.
The version of the game around October was far superior in terms of balance and enjoyment. Since then, updates have reduced the overall quality of gameplay across multiple modes, including Ultimate Team and Clubs.
You regularly request community feedback, which is appreciated, but it raises the question of whether there is sufficient in-house QA and gameplay testing before patches are released. The current state of the game suggests that major balance issues are not being identified or addressed internally before updates go live.
I’ve been playing this franchise for many years, and I’m at a point where the game simply isn’t enjoyable anymore. A rollback toward the October-era balance - particularly reducing the power of playstyles and rewarding manual defending and core attributes - would significantly improve the experience.
Right now, the game feels unbalanced and unrewarding.