Should I put all my fodder into 1 of 3 93+ UEFA WINNERS /PTG AND STAR PERFOMER

Or

1of 10 89+ HISTORICAL PICKS?

PLS HELP

There have been reports that EA has been continuously shadow-patching FC26 as it quietly prepares the ground for FC27. Whether that's the exact cause or not, one thing feels obvious to anyone who's put real hours into the game this cycle: it's getting worse, not better, the closer we get to the next release.

Right now, the game doesn't seem to know what kind of football it wants to simulate. Bounce-backs are absurd, defending is functionally optional, and outscoring an opponent 15+ goals in a single game has been a recurring theme all year rather than a rare anomaly. Goalkeepers swing between two states with nothing in between: either they're unbeatable walls, or they concede everything that comes their way. There's no middle ground, no consistency, no sense that skill or positioning is meaningfully shaping the outcome.

That extremity bleeds into the overall experience. The game is as dumbed-down and beginner-friendly as it's ever been — probably the most forgiving version of the franchise to date. And it's not just a feeling; it shows up directly in results. As a moderately good player, I regularly win games I have no business winning, and just as regularly lose ones I should have controlled easily. Over a large enough sample, that randomness stops looking like variance and starts looking like design. It feels less like playing a football simulation and more like being at the mercy of whatever mood the game engine happens to be in that day.

A friend and I have spent an unreasonable amount of time testing player roles, line heights, and tactical instructions against each other in FUT. The conclusion we kept arriving at, game after game, is that most of this depth is cosmetic. In several matches, we genuinely couldn't tell who was set to a deep line and who was set to an extreme high line just by watching the gameplay — the on-pitch behavior barely diverged. That's a real problem for a game that markets tactical customization as a core pillar of its identity.

It's also worth noting that content creators have every incentive not to point this out. Their business model runs on "new meta tactics" videos — if the underlying settings don't actually change much, that's not a story they're eager to tell.

Even more frustrating: none of this seems to correlate with actual connection quality. My friend and I play each other on hardwired gigabit connections with low pings, and we still get input lag that has no business existing under those conditions. If the netcode were the bottleneck, better infrastructure should fix it. It doesn't. That points to something happening server-side or in how the game is throttling/simulating input rather than a straightforward networking issue.

The inconsistency doesn't stop at input lag — the entire feel of the game shifts depending on where you're playing. Rivals, Champs, and Live Events all seem to run on subtly different physics or pacing, even with identical tactics and identical settings. Some days the game plays like players are wading through mud, animations lagging half a second behind inputs. Other days it's basically FIFA Street at 1.5x speed, end-to-end chaos with no midfield battle whatsoever. You can't build muscle memory or trust your reads when the fundamental speed of the game is a moving target from session to session.

Visually and mechanically, the game still feels like it's stuck a decade in the past. Basic shooting mechanics — and especially free kicks and penalties — either look nothing like real football or are recycled wholesale from previous entries. You get 500 different flashy skill moves at your disposal, but realistic shooting technique, run-ups, and body mechanics are locked behind a small handful of players who have their own bespoke animation sets. Everyone else is stuck with generic animations that have been preserved, seemingly untouched, for close to ten years — and at times they look like they were mo-capped by actors rather than actual professional footballers.

Some of the technical gaps border on absurd for a modern sports title: you still can't hit a curved penalty with the inside of the foot using real power. That's a basic, well-known technique in real football, and it's simply not modeled.

The AI hasn't meaningfully evolved either — it still behaves like it's from the arcade era. Off-ball players run mindlessly to pre-assigned positions with zero situational awareness. A clear example: an attacking player assigned to rest-defense duty during a corner will sprint back to their designated defensive spot immediately, completely ignoring that a transition attack is unfolding in front of them. AI-controlled outfield players — and remember, in any 1v1 match you're always playing with nine of them — show almost no real reaction to the ball or to opponents entering their vicinity. In 2026, the AI still doesn't understand space. It doesn't track threats, doesn't adjust to context, and doesn't make decisions that look like thought rather than scripted pathing.

What separates genuinely great competitive games from mediocre ones is usually that there are multiple viable ways to win. FC26 fails that test almost completely. In practice, you're forced to choose: either you commit to the current "meta" playstyles and formations to unlock the best animations and responsiveness, or you accept being mechanically punished for playing differently. There's no real reward for tactical individuality anymore.

I still remember when matches against different opponents genuinely felt different — when facing someone running an unconventional formation actually changed how a game played out. That variety is largely gone now, replaced by a shrinking set of "correct" ways to play that everyone eventually converges toward.

To me, this game (until major change to its very core) is a dead horse thats been beaten, taxidermied and gets beaten and taxidermied again year after year.

I've been playing Ultimate Team for years, and honestly, I think FC 27 has a huge opportunity to become the best football game ever made. The problem is that EA needs to stop designing the game around FOMO and pack sales, and start designing it around football and fun.

Here are my ideas for what a "perfect" FC 27 would look like:

1. Slow down the power curve

Gold cards should matter for at least 3-4 months. We don't need a new promo every single week. Special cards should actually feel special again.

• Fewer promos
• Fewer 99-rated cards
• Team of the Week becomes important again
• Team of the Year feels like the biggest event of the year

If everyone has a 99-rated team, then nobody's team feels special.

2. Make Ultimate Team about football again

Right now, Ultimate Team feels more like opening packs than playing football.

I want:

• More rewards from playing matches
• Less focus on store packs
• Better rewards for casual players
• More ways to earn top players through gameplay

Building your dream team should come from playing the game, not spending money.

3. Remove the feeling that the game is a second job

The current system creates too much FOMO.

Instead:

• Let us play Rivals whenever we want
• Remove daily limits on content
• Make rewards available immediately after completing objectives
• Allow players to take a week off without falling massively behind

Games should be fun, not a daily obligation.

4. Make Evolutions the main feature

Evolutions were one of the best additions EA has ever made.

Imagine:

• Taking your favorite silver or gold player from day one all the way to endgame
• Building players from your favorite club or country
• Creating a unique team that nobody else has

Just balance Evolutions properly so they don't destroy the power curve.

5. Fix gameplay

Football should reward football knowledge.

That means:

• Less broken mechanics
• Less AI defending
• More importance on passing and tactics
• More viable playstyles
• Less "meta abuse"

I don't want to play against the exact same tactic and players every game.

6. Simplify team building

The game has become too complicated.

Things that should be simplified:

• Chemistry
• Player roles
• Playstyles
• Special chemistry boosts

A casual player should be able to understand how to build a good team without watching a 30-minute YouTube tutorial.

7. Bring back the excitement

Leakers have killed almost all hype.

I miss:

• Discovering promos on release
• Finding hidden gems
• Experimenting with random players
• Not knowing exactly what is coming weeks in advance

Surprises are part of what made Ultimate Team fun.

8. Make the esports scene fun to watch

The current pro scene is repetitive.

We need:

• More attacking football
• Less abuse of broken mechanics
• More personality from players
• A game that is entertaining to watch

9. Respect players' money

This is probably the biggest one.

Store packs have become ridiculous.

I would rather see:

• Guaranteed rewards
• Fair pack odds
• Battle passes
• Cosmetic items
• Stadium customisation
• Club customisation

People spend money when they enjoy a game. They shouldn't feel pressured to spend money to compete.

Ultimate Team was at its best when building and playing with your team mattered more than opening packs.

What would you add or change?

Following up on my last post about Squad Battles - today I hopped into the Ultimate Team Weekend League and honestly, the blatant cheating in this mode is just as disgusting, if not worse.

It’s always the same predictable cycle. If I lose, the next match is suddenly a breeze. But the moment I win, the game forces a "harder" match that isn't actually hard because of the opponent's skill, but because the game is aggressively cheating against me. ​Here is the absolute nonsense I experienced during my WL run today. Simple passes refuse to go where I aim. When I try to pass out from the back to relieve pressure, my defenders or goalkeeper hit these weak, slow, underpowered passes. Sometimes they literally pass backwards towards my own goal, basically serving the ball to the opponent on a silver platter. ​This only happens during these artificially difficult matches. Right when the opponent attacks, the game completely freezes for about 3 seconds. When the connection catches up, the gameplay goes into fast-forward mode, and by the time I can control my players again, the ball is already in the back of my net. Coincidence? I don't think so. ​In my last match (about an hour ago), it was literally impossible to score. No matter how many clear chances I created, my attackers could only hit the post over and over again. You can't pass around or dribble past the opponent because their AI blocks everything, and they abuse the offside trap with superhuman timing. There is no way a flesh-and-blood human is executing that offside trap manually with 100% perfection every single time. ​EA needs to make the matchmaking fully transparent because the way it works right now is just an unreadable, fake joke. Who else thinks this way?