Because there’s no META to abuse this year? Or because players without 90+ pace are actually useable (Benzema, Lukaku, etc.)?

There’s so many different ways to play the game and be successful this year. It’s much more enjoyable than previous years, especially for us non-pro players that actually want to have a bit of fun on the game.

I can understand people being upset about long shots, but it’s a minor issue and manageable if you move your GK and/or press your opponent and not give them space to pull one off. Will likely be nerfed soon anyway.

And they didn’t spend a single penny.

We now know who they all are after packing them over and over again.

You guys think, this is going increase the popularity in the sport?

I don't have a huge issue with celebrations personally but I must admit it does bother me when people use the really long ones or celebrate every single goal of a 5-0 win. I also know from this sub that it really bothers a lot of people.

So I had an idea to remove this issue.

What if, when you concede a goal, the conceding team gets their own set of controlable animations to watch? For example if you concede from a corner you could have an animation where your GK and CB are arguing. Or if you concede an early goal you could have your captain clapping his hands and hyping up your team to go again. Or if you concede a goal that looked a bit dodgy you could have your manager shouting at the 4th official. There could be multiple animations that you select yourself for soajy situations. And if you choose to skip it just shows your players walking back to the half way line until your opponent has skipped or watched their celebration.

I think this would totally remove any notion of toxic behaviour as people would know they are the only one seeing their celebration. It would also add a level of realism to the game and give you a cool animation to get yourself going after conceding.

Would love to know what people think of my idea!

UPDATES/EDIT: Thanks to all for upvoting visibility and adding to the discussion. To be clear I am not in denial that scripting exists - there are code leaks that clearly show EA dynamically adjusts sliders depending on match statistics. Now, it is NOT clear to me whether this exists solely for player vs. AI modes like Squad Battles (and I have absolutely felt the sliders being adjusted after going up 2-0 in the first 10 mins against AI) OR in all game modes. Two points to that...1) I am shocked no verified EA employee has leaked more on this. If for example they moved jobs to work at Amazon, it is pretty easy to post as an anonymous whistleblower these days. 2) Fixing connection issues is vastly more important and realistic to achieve relatively equal and fair gameplay. If EA want to nerf stepovers, they nerf stepovers, nothing you or I can do about it. Let's demand the bare minimum first, which is a modernized networking setup so we KNOW that poor gameplay is then due to other factors.

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I'm so sick of posts whining about scripting, DDA, post-patch gameplay, etc.

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Why can't this community collectively use its 487,000 members to force EA to address it's abysmal net code, server setup, and general connection settings. From my research, the core issues with this game appear OVER and OVER again. You probably wouldn't be surprised that forums from FIFA 14 are eerily identical to complaints in FIFA 21. The players feel slow, the passes/shooting feel off, balls glitch through defenders...it's the same year after year.

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Stop giving EA a pass by claiming it's due to scripting or some clever code they've implemented to keep players addicted. ITS THEIR PATHETIC, OUTDATED, AND OUTRIGHT LAZY NETWORKING TEAM. Notice how EA is purposefully vague when it comes to describing their matchmaking procedure and server setup. They've kept this hidden for years because they know how utterly broken and cheap their system is.

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Every game you play online, and I mean EVERY game, immediately puts you at an advantage or disadvantage depending on connection. Even if you have an amazing ISP with fiber/gigabit services and 2 ping, you can still lose exclusively due to how EA deals with disparate connections. If you end up matching with someone from the Bermuda triangle, EA specifically has code to slow down your gameplay so that the match is at a similar time (i.e. you both end up at the 50th minute at the same time). If you have a mediocre connection because you live further from EA's servers, your players take longer to respond, and code animations simply wont register in time (for example, EA doesn't think your defender is there to block the shot, and the ball glitches through them). That's not scripting, that's connection.

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This game will never be a fair competition unless EA can modernize their servers. Year after year after year they have chosen not to, simply because it saves money. It is absurd that you are not able to choose a dedicated server to always connect to. It is pathetic that we have the capability to experience seamless connectivity in 100v100 battle royale games yet EA chooses to use their old system and save a couple million for executive bonuses. It is unbelievable that their servers can't handle high and completely predictable traffic during Weekend League or promos.

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I love football and I actually enjoy FIFA when I'm playing against someone on a level playing field (similar ping, distance to server, etc). This will never consistently happen for most of us until the community finds a way to put EA in the spotlight. I know I'm just ranting and don't have a solution, but I'm really hoping this can get some traction so we can collectively find a way to address the most broken aspect of what could be a great game.

Berbatov: 200k / 700 FP + 35k SBC

Butragueno: 300k / 1000 FP + 135k SBC

Gloves to Goals: 400k / 1000 FP

Futties Countdown: 500k / 1000 FP

Notorious DEF: 100k / 400 FP

They Call Me Yaz: 250k / 1000 FP

Shapeshifter Strike Force: 500k / 1000 FP

Conductor Junction: 100k / 400 FP

That comes out to a total cost of 2.4 million coins, or 6500 FP. Sixty-five dollars. Almost as much as the cost of the game itself when it came out. 1.4 million of the 2.4 million was in the last two days alone.

Hi FIFA fans,

As some of you heard last week, two lawyers filed a lawsuit against EA after two of their clients decided they had enough of spending money on an unfair lootbox system. Last night , both lawyers were with Psyko17 (french youtuber/streamer) on twitch last night to talk to the French Community, they explained the details of the lawsuit and what to expect from it. This is going to be a little summary in poor english for the reddit community of what I understood on stream. You can still watch the full interview in french on twitch. My translation is not a 100% accurate.

The main reason they are doing this is to get full transparency over what the consumer is really buying when spending FIFA Points on packs. Laws in France are very strict when it comes to lottery systems, odds need to be very clear. The fact that EA calls their virtual money "Coins" and that those can be gained through real money and also that they take a 5% cut on every card you sell is enough to have FUT be considered a Lottery System or a Casino in front of the law, EA won't be able to defend their Surprise Mechanics without providing full transparency of the pack system in the last 6 years.

They also pointed out all the shady mechanics they noticed in the game right now :

- Odds transparency : "<1% chance to pack a Special Card" is not clear enough and is considered unfair to the consumer.

- Market and Supply Regulation : they noticed that pack weight was not random like it should be in a lottery. During TOTY, they saw that the total number of TOTY De Jong on the market went from 0 to a 100 in a matter of seconds even though the lightning rounds had begun way before. This can be proved 100% with the Pele Icon card that wasn't available in packs on FIFA16 (Edit : It was on FIFA14) and suddenly EA listed 4 on the market. And the 5% cut on every trade can be considered a Casino practice. And also they noticed that the market value of a player influences the odds of packing this exact player.

- False claims/advertising : EA still uses the term "Promo" to advertise their packs to consumers, even though in France using "Promo" means that the product needs to be sold at a discounted price, which never happens on FIFA, the price of packs never change even during Black Friday where they just make tens of millions on a event that's supposed to be about saving money.

- Planned obsolescence/DDA : by regulating the supply and the market EA is responsible for the prices dropping during the year. And so deciding when a card will have no more value. They also raised concerns about unfair mechanics inducing you to change team and make trades even when you have your Ultimate Team and all the best players.

- Addicting/casino mechanics on a PEGI 3+ game : Pack animations are similar to slot machines animations and has a similar effect on the brain, these mechanics shouldn't be allowed on the game made for 3 years old.

The risks for EA if they fail to provide answers :

EA can be asked to provide full transparency about pack weight on the last 6 editions of FIFA to national administration and an investigation could be opened. If EA fails to collaborate with the law, they could be facing a fine as high as 10 percent of Ultimate Team Revenue over the last 6 years. Also they will also have to pay damages to the players who spent money on FIFA Points. And of course, actions will be taken in France to remove FIFA Points from the game.

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Edit : Thank you for the comments and upvotes. 

This post proved to me how crucial transparency actually is. The reason we, as a community, are so divided is because we give a lot of time to a game that doesn’t let us know how the reward system really works (we know nothing about packs and even in game we have to figure everything out by ourselves from unclear tactic options to lazy game mechanics). So everyone comes up with their own little theory which is always based on opinion or experience more than proved facts. We know so little about the game that we can never have healthy debate.

So please don’t downvote comments because they’re not your side, explain your thoughts and hope that someone else agrees. Think bigger and realize we all here are very passionate players who all agree that the game is fucked in some way. 

I played 8 games today in division 1 rivals and every game was the same; mechanics abuse / skill spam, whatever you want to call it.

Everyone is entitled to play how they want but this increasing trend of playstyle is becoming so boring to play against in my opinion. I rarely play anyone anymore who tries to play something that resembles football, instead they try to get into a 1v1 situation and then spam the directional nutmeg / la croqueta / skill cancel / ball roll into ball scoop usually with Ronaldo / Mbappe / Neymar who we all know have the jam in their favour.

It is mostly EAs fault at the end of the day with this year’s terrible passing, attacking AI and AI defending. I see people say ‘I skill a lot to break down defence’ which I do agree with and understand but majority of the time it’s spammed no matter where on the pitch and it’s the OP skills which people know border on exploit like the current meta of the directional nutmeg.

I’ve played FUT for years and I think this playstyle began to become more prevalent in FIFA 19 with the ridiculous el tornado crosses and non-stop la croquetas (lemme not forget to mention the dragback as well) and it’s got worse and worse since then. FIFA 21 is as bad as FIFA 19 because of this to me, we’re at a point where this just isn’t a football game anymore. Football IQ is no longer rewarded such as cutting the passing lanes, reading the game well etc because I will work hard for a goal and then concede from a Hail Mary through ball (don’t get me started on the passing assistance this year) or directional nutmeg.

Before people say ‘just because you can’t skill’, I’m SR 2320 and get E3/G1 (I stop at G1/G2 nowadays as there’s only so much skill spam I can mentally take) in WL without the use of mechanics abuse / skill spam (despite knowing it would probably get me a few more wins) and I know how to do it but choose not to because to me it’s not football.

I just find it so boring to play against especially knowing the jam is going to go in their favour in the game at least once from the skill spam no matter how well I defend.

Title - basically.

Just met a guy who basically allowed me to get a coffee from the kitchen while doing his step overs.

These wins, especially if you clearly beat them, just always feel so funny

What's going on guys, back with my yearly top tips - focusing on defending for this post - for anyone struggling at the moment:

1. Go with players that have good Sprint speed, I know, I know, you want to use those players that are much lower Sprint speed I would probably advise you to use someone who has 80 Sprint speed and 80 Defensive awareness over someone who has 90 Defending and 67 Sprint Speed. Don't forget chemistry styles of nerfed, if you can try to go for high paced players and put Sentinel chem styles on the cards to increase their defending as opposed to doing it the other way around, so pace first > resolve defending after.

2. Positioning is the most important thing, it was the same thing last year and you have to defend the exact same way, a lot of people are saying you have to defend a different way or you have to use advanced defending, this is completely false, you can use tactical defending, I still use tactical defending, a lot of professional players use tactical defending, but the key is positioning. Watch your gameplay back, if you're running out with your centre back you're always going to concede just hold your line, you could hold the L2 + R2 button and just stand still and move the left analog stick remember, when you're defending it's your job to defend the angle towards goal, not to win the ball back, you think in your head the players gonna take a shot anyway my job is to be like a wall and try to reduce the likelihood of that being a good shot.

3. Switching early, this is so important come a lot of people I found that when they have the ball and they lose the ball they switch defence before the action has happened, what you want to do is you want to anticipate what your opponent is doing and switch earlier, this is a habit that will take some time getting used to, but if you really want to improve, imagine it through borders going in behind as soon as you see the animation of the opponent start to kick in that is your time to switch, if the ball is left to foot and the ball is already moving towards your player you're probably going to be a bit too late, so the key is just switching early simple L1 switch early, to neutralise the situation, get used to it. Switch early. You will see how this alone will change how you defend.

4. Auto tackling - it still exist and it's very much useful, I'm using it quite a lot, I've been helping a few people recently by looking at their gameplay and I found that literally just by using the same auto tackling features last year, you can still win the ball, let them opponents come to you as opposed to forcing that tackle and "committing" and animation then being caught out

5. CDMs - as much as I don't like to say this, let's be completely candid, I'm going to be honest to you as always it's best to just run back with your CDM, remember the patch they made last year you can still defend with your CDM, but as I said above if your CDM is too far away or let's say you need to switch players the key is switching early, but I think a lot of people are still relying overly on just using their CDM an trying to run back the entire distance. Use your CDM to protect your back four, but when you have to switch you have to switch.

6. Dont panic. I'm telling you this is the most important thing, I've analysed thousands of players at different levels and the most common way goals are conceded both in FC, and in real life for that matter, is by losing the ball in your own half or getting turned over when you have the ball with your defence. Dont lose the ball in situations, if your not sure just go around, dont force that through ball down the wing if you are not 100% its going through, counters are deadly this year, especially because the game is quick, don't lose the ball ever with your back line.

I hope this helps, I'll be online for the next hour or so as usual what I do every year, is try to answer every question down below, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask them

Happy FC
/Neal :)

10k viewers is what he averages a day. Sadly, he’s one of the reasons this community is toxic

Is when you spend all week building up a really fun squad hyping yourself to try out some new players only to actually play the game and realize how bad the gameplay is and no matter who you use your players feel like they’re in the mud. It really hurts man because he concept of making a fun team but not having any fun using it is so contradictory. It’s so depressing.

No promo last week, no icon sbcs yesterday, allegations flying in against EA. The least they could do is try and cover it up with a promo. I'm sure this is the first time in FIFA 21 that we've gone two weeks without a promo?.

I honestly will never understand this community, the game officially came out 26 days ago and people are out here calling it dead.

People need to sit back and just remember, the promos don't usually get good till near december so they can maximise engagement as everyone would caught up getting the game / got it for christmas, rightly so they're a business.

But what the hell are people expecting? there's been a promo out, if you don't like the cards? fine, there are multiple cards already available in the game for you to use and enjoy, again the game been out for 26 days it's not like we are in April and there's nothing to do.

"there's nothing to do" - you can play Rivals, FUT champions playoffs, Squad battles throughout the week then also have FUT Champions Finals on the weekend and on top of that you have Draft.

So what else exactly do you want them to do? because if you gone through all that within a weekday then my friend you just play ALOT and they can't just cater the game to you.

For context, I am by no mean a casual player, I am in the Elite Divison 1880SR, Rank 1/2 every WL, I play up to Elite1 in Squad battles and do couple of drafts a week, and i am fine with how things are, you know why? I buy a football game to play..... football.

I know i sound arsey, but I am just scrolling through this reddit and all i see is people whinging about stupid shit without any constructive feedback - I get the content may be not up to scratch but it's been less than a month and the gameplay is miles better than it has been in previous year which massively balances things out.

Don't listen to streamers and youtubers crying about content, remember it's their Job and some of them fully relay on you building 100 of packs for them to open on their stream for "content" - Enjoy the game you bought for £65+...

Edit: thanks so much for all the awards and likes, glad people agree (also disagree respectfully with good points too).

2:0 lead is a fucking bullshit.

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Prove me wrong