EA Details The Gameplay Changes FIFA 20 Will Make

05/31/2019 02:31 pm EDT

EA has published a new post, dubbed "Pitch Notes," that tells FIFA fans what they can expect from FIFA 2020 and beyond in terms of gameplay changes. According to EA, it's been intently listening to fan feedback since the release of FIFA 19. Some of this feedback has been used to improve FIFA 19, but the changes made based on other feedback won't be seen until future installments.

EA notes it's getting more feedback during the development process for FIFA 20 than ever before so that it doesn't have to wait until launch to incorporate feedback from players. This includes not only letting pros play the game early, but more casual players, which ensures all types of players are represented.

Meanwhile, EA provided the following rundown of additional community request features and mechanics it will be tuning and prioritizing for FIFA 20:

A.I. Defending

Many efforts are being made to create a better experience for players when it comes to AI Defending and AI Teammate movement/positioning/reactions, as this was continuously mentioned and requested by our players for the next version of FIFA:

• Renewed Defending System the defending systems are being renewed, with revised positioning and adjustment to the cadence and flow on the pitch. Manual defending will be emphasized and result in more rewarding results for those who do so.

• Planned Tackling is a new system that favors manual tackling by making sure that the defender that tries the tackle does so in a favorable context to your team (like recovering the ball or kicking the ball to a nearby teammate when tackling, for example).

• Contain and Secondary Contain Effectiveness will be reduced, keeping the positioning of players/AI Teammates at a further distance and having a slower reaction to directional changes from the dribbler, rarely resulting in an auto-tackle or an auto-block. This will make manual defending not only more effective, but also more rewarding.

• Improved Jockey System will be implemented with more agility and precision, rewarding players that decide to take control of their defenders.

With these varied systems and mechanics, we expect that our players will feel a difference when it comes to AI Defending, which was a point of community concern during FIFA 19.

1v1 shooting Consistency

The team has put a lot of effort into improving circumstances where a player finds themselves in an easy 1v1 situation against the Goalkeeper:

• 1v1 Shooting Accuracy will be improved, resulting in more shots on target and better consistency in easy situations inside the box.

• Open Goal Situations will also be addressed, and will see players being rewarded for 1v1 situations and creating greater chances of scoring "easy goals" - as pointed out in many community examples.

• Goalkeeper Reactions will also be tuned - specifically against 1v1 situations - resulting in less 'superhuman' reactions, which will humanize the goalkeepers movements and result in better scoring opportunities for the attacker.

• Outside of the Foot Shot situations will be improved and should only happen for players with the Outside of the Foot trait.

• Shot Elevation/Power Tuning will allow for low powered shots to result in shots similar to Driven Shots, creating more consistency, and resulting in better scoring opportunities.

Timed Finishing

There's been a ton of feedback on Timed Finishing - a new mechanism that was added to FIFA 19. This mechanic will be further tuned and addressed through the feedback of many within the community:

• Green Timing Window for timed shots will be reduced (from 2-4 frames to 2 frames for all shots), which will make it harder and require more skill to perform.

• Timed Shot Accuracy will be tuned to result in slightly less precise shots, although Green Timed Shots will still be more accurate than 'non-timed shots'.

• Difficult 180° shots will be tuned to result in less powerful shots, even when timed perfectly.

Volley Crossing and shooting

The effectiveness of volley-crossing (or lob-crossing) a ball and volley-shooting a ball is being reduced in the next iteration:

• Increased Difficulty and Error - Crosses coming from lob balls/volleys will have less accuracy and more variable results.

• 2-Player Headers will have more variety as players jumping/colliding for the ball mid-air will make it more difficult for the attacker to score in such situations.

• Decreased Volley Shot Accuracy - Shots originating from a volley shot will have less accuracy and more variable results.

The team has worked on these specific mechanisms by deeply investigating several videos and examples sent by the community and pro players on FIFA 19 throughout the year.

Chained skill moves

One of the top issues raised by the community during FIFA 19 is the "chaining" of skill moves that would result in an overpowered tactic that can be very hard to defend against. The team has tackled this feedback by adding error to consecutive skill moves, increasing the likelihood of the player losing control of the ball. Error is increased exponentially when chaining more than 2 skill-moves, making each subsequent skill move more error prone than the last.

Complex skill moves, like El Tornado or flick-ups for example, will be more error prone in general, increasing the chances for the player to lose control of the ball during the skill move.

Set-Piece positioning

Players have come forward pointing out that many times a shorter defender would be marking a taller attacker or that a dangerous attacker is not present in the box. The team has been working on improving the intelligence behind these situations, which should result in more realistic marking/positioning when defending or attacking set-pieces in the future.

Manual Goalkeeper movement

The effectiveness of manual GK movement is being heavily reduced in the future, with a slower and more realistic move speed. Players controlling the goalkeeper using right-stick manual movement will now have to commit to a direction, enhancing the risk/reward element. We have already received feedback from both core and pro players during our last feedback sessions and feel confident the changes will address the concerns with the mechanic.

Passing

Players have provided feedback on passing mechanics throughout the FIFA 19 cycle. Here's how we're addressing moving into our next product:

• Increased Error on Difficult Position Passing - 180 degrees, first-time, and pressured passes situations will now result in slower/weaker balls, making them less effective and easier to get intercepted by the opposing team.

• Increased Accuracy for passes in very easy situations; non-pressured, body-positioned, and no obstacle passes will result in an increased accuracy pass for these types of situations.

• User Controlled 'Dinked' Passes will be a new option for ground and through passes. 'Dinked' passes are slightly elevated passes used to avoid a defender's leg. These types of passes will no longer be contextual and will only happen if executed manually through this new mechanic.

• Driven Pass-and-Go mechanic will be enabled as another passing option, resulting in a stronger pass-and-go and more mobility/positioning while attacking. As a result of this change, the "manual passing" mechanic that was available through this button-combo (L1/LB+R1/RB+Pass) will no longer be available in the future.

Player Switching

Players have provided feedback throughout FIFA 19 that, in some instances, a player would be locked to a loose ball and they weren't able to switch players whenever this would take place. The team is working on improving these situations, as well as adding clarity to the assisted switching mechanism, that will now show an option for automatic switching on Air Balls + Loose Balls situations.

Players also provided feedback that switching didn't always select the correct player. The team is working on improving the accuracy of switching in numerous situations, including air balls, deflections and crosses. The team is also working on making the right stick switching as consistent and reactive as possible, as well as improving the intelligence between automatic switching of players closest to the ball.

FIFA 19 will be revealed on June 8 during EA's E3 show, EA Play. It's unclear how much of the game will be shown off, but from the sounds of it, EA is planning a pretty meaty demonstration.

Anyway, as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. What do you want to see from FIFA 20?

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