EA has shared with us all the details for the latest Title Update coming to FIFA 23, which will soon be available for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (EA app/Origin/Steam/Epic Games Store), and for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia versions of FIFA 23.
Has Constant Pressure Been Nerfed?
The main area of concern EA has attempted to address in this latest patch is the effectiveness, or over-effectiveness, of pressing in the game, specifically Constant Pressure, as well as Press After Possession Loss and Press On Heavy Touch Defensive Custom Tactics.
Many players find it difficult, or almost impossible, at times to beat the constant pressure tactic used by their opponent other than just clearing the ball up the field, therefore likely losing control of the ball, therefore, to help those players out, the following changes have been made:
- When playing against a team using Constant Pressure, your AI teammates will actively attempt to provide shorter passing options.
- When a CPU-controlled defending player applies Constant Pressure to the ball carrier but does not win the ball back, they can take longer to track back. This has no impact on human-controlled players.
- Decreased Stamina Decay by 11.7% for Constant Pressure, Press After Possession Loss, and Press On Heavy Touch Defensive Custom Tactics.
So, to balance out the effectiveness of Constant Pressure, players on your team will now provide that short pass option which can sometimes be unavailable when the opposition team has every, single passing option either covered or under heavy pressure. There is also a penalty when the constant pressure has failed to win the ball back, meaning there will be consequences if the constant press fails.
As this means that Constant Pressure tactics have been slightly nerfed, the Stamina decay that the tactic puts upon the players in your team has been slightly decreased. Although that sounds bad, it still needs to have some effectiveness otherwise there would be no point in using it.
Gameplay Changes
Below are the other significant changes and corrections being made to gameplay in the upcoming patch:
Passing:
- Sometimes, a Semi-Assisted Through Pass could incorrectly be hit out of play.
Dribbling:
- Further addressed instances of ball carriers running over the ball when making a dribble.
Defending:
- Addressed further instances of the ball unintentionally falling back to the attacking player after a defender makes a tackle.
- In some cases, ball carriers are now more likely to maintain possession of the ball when pressured from behind by a defender.
- When chasing Lofted Through Passes, defenders could incorrectly slow down at times.
- During kickoffs, teams with a high defensive line could push up too closely to the center of the pitch.
- In some specific situations, the CPU AI could not win the ball back if the human-controlled player was shielding the ball.
Goalkeeping:
- In some cases, CPU AI goalkeepers could perform an unintentionally poor pass from a goal kick.
Refereeing:
- Improved referee logic when making foul decisions in situations where the offending player quickly moved away from the ball carrier.
- Improved referee logic when making foul decisions regarding slide tackles.
Set Pieces:
- In some cases, a quick free kick could not be taken and transitioned to a traditional free kick.
Animations:
- When locking to a player without the ball, the CPU ball carrier could perform unwanted Skill Moves or passes.
- Addressed instances of some animations not playing correctly when there is physical contact between two players.
- Removed heading animations that could unnecessarily occur when a player was requested to perform a header but was not in contention for the ball.
- In rare situations, after receiving a pass, the ball carrier could have become momentarily unresponsive.
- In some cases, using Player Lock when playing with customized controls could result in unwanted requests being performed.
Additional Changes:
- Added a View Help button callout to the FUT Main Menu, Transfer Market Menu, Match Pause Screen, and when entry into FUT isn’t possible.
- The View Help button callout displays a short message and a QR code that leads to EA Help pages related to the game area players scan it from.
- This button callout will be activated through a Server Release in the near future.
- Added a Profile Tab to the Player Details view for some types of Player Items.
- The radar could sometimes disappear during matches.
So, now that you’ve read through all the major changes coming with the latest update, is there anything you believe they’ve missed? And do you think your own issues with the game have been addressed by the update?
To see all the changes coming in Title Update #6, you can read through them all here.