Hey guys, wanted to chime in. Been away since EA2 release so taken me a while to actually sit down and play some games to give feedback, ive been through the entire thread to gauge whats already been said so will try to avoid as much cross over as possible, because youve probably read the same 5 things in most peoples posts.
I do recommend paying attention to Val’s @Valhalla_Vagabond post at the top of the thread, because as I read though his post he hit basically every single note I had written down for my feedback. (so again ill try and avoid going over the same areas)
Since EA2 has come out, I have played 15 games before coming to the FAQ page, of the 15 games Ive played. I havnt made it to the final whistle of a single one. (either im the unluckiest person on the page, or lots of people are experienceing the same things). Something has gone wrong in 100% of the matches causing it to become unplayable. Whether it be a direct crash, players stopping at a ruck and nothing happenning, the ball just gettling lost off map after a kick. And my most recent one was the camera getting stuck behind the rafters in open play and I simply couldn’t see the pitch.
Obviously everyone is talking about the tackling and passing issues that have been pretty major in this update. But stability is an area not too many people have mentioned. In Early Access everyone should expect bugs and glitches or things not looking great. But to not be able to finish a single name is a huge blow from a player enjoyment standpoint.
New Teams and Stadiums is great, glad to see the game bulking out, but seems pretty common, people are struggling with issues in the stadiums.
Ive taken some screenshots from my last game, playing on the northhampton stadium. The floodlights are positioned infront of the player camera, so as you move accross the pitch the lights flash infront of the screen. I also attempted to do a kick and got tackled due to the tackle radius of the AI. and the camera zoomed out slightly, and the camera got stuck behind some metal rafters, and the rest of the game was played from that position, forcing me to quit out.
Seen a couple of people mention the lineout situation. Personally I dont mind the lineouts, I just think the mechanic needs to pick a lane to go down. Right now it feels somwhere inbetween Rugby 08 and Rugby 22. Where you hit 1 of 3 buttons and that player jumps. But the time it takes to get the ball in, makes it feel like it should play more like rugby 22 where players run back and to, and you are trying to beat the opponent to the lift or maybe a dummy jumper to throw them off. Im not one for active minigames in the lineout. Personally I think Rugby 22 had it pretty nailed on, if they removed the QTE on a competitive catch, and left it to player stats and your timing as the jumper to decide who wins a contested ball. If you want to stick with the 3 jumper choice and the ball is put in on its own, I think the speed of the lineout animation could be sped up once a decision is made, but until the decision is made you wait for the countdown clock and make it feel more arcade style.
I wish I had as much luck with the new mauls as others seem to have, but the AI just never sems to put the ball in touch in EA2 for me to test them. Defensively though I have had a few, and for some reason all of my defenders seem to run away from the maul once it gets going, leaving a huge gap for the AI to just walk through and score.
Controls
- Lineout button choices, personally I find the choices of A,X and Y to feel awkward, and I think it would be better to swap the middle jumper to “B”. I also wonder if Maul even requires its own button. In rugby union mauls can come from any throw. Maybe the triggers could be added in combination with a button choice to change what happens with the ball. E.g. Holding LT while pressing Y would mean your team would set up a maul on the back jumper. Whereas holding RT while pressing Y will make your back jumper slap the ball towards your scrumhalf to speed up the play, and make it more likely to win the ball in a contested jump. Pressing neither trigger while pressing Y, would just be a pass to that back jumper, and you play normally.
- Tackling button moved to Y? This is one that I didn’t see at all on the FAQ pages in previous patches, or any comments on videos. Personally really not a fan of Y being used for such an important element of your defensive game, its maybe the most awkward button to go for when you just hold a controller. In game it basically requires you to remove your right thumb from being anywhere near the analog stick. I also cant think of a rugby game Ive played that incorporated it in that way. I would much prefer using “A” button for big hits, or the analog stick like at launch. (if im in the minority on this feel free to let me know, but it feels as off as having the “Y” button as slide tackle in a fifa game.)
Broader Points
- Player rotation issues (this one may have something to do with the passing issues and not managing to get far enough away) but in a number of games ive noticed players 1-4 will get in to a loop of being players in a ruck. A ruck will happen and they rush in. You pass once and get tackled, and the same 3 players get up from the last ruck and enter the new ruck, and they go on and on and on. They are more frequent from ruck to ruck than the scrumhalf is and looks odd to see the same 3 players rushing accross.
- Players still in wrong position, We all had a bit of a chuckle on EA1 launch that players in france and wallabies were out of position, but really expected that to be fixed in the major update, mauvaka still out on the wing for france should probably be fixed 4 patches in.
- labelling layout at linouts, ive noticed in linouts sometimes the options for number of jumpers is back to front. as in the button correlation IS correct, but it shows A at the top and Y at the bottom, and needs to be flipped.
Its hard to go over too much ground in this one without covering topics mentioned by others already. And EA2’s issues with passing and tackling have really taken away a lot from being able to experience the wider game.
Something I would like to mention which I really hope doesnt come across as pedantic, because I know a lot of people are working very hard on the game, and you have a very dedicated (and vocal) audience to try and keep happy. But when it comes to releasing these updates, I think the wording chosen for patch notes needs to be triple checked to ensure validity before they are typed up for the public.
The patch notes for EA2 state there is “improved passing” and “improved stability” as 2 of the main points to your audience. Every single person I have spoke to about the game, and reading the comments on the FAQ page all seem to be in agreement, it is extremely apparent to anyone spending as little as 20 minutes playing EA2, that these 2 areas are NOT improved, and may arguably be worse than Patch 3.
Youve got a handful of us in the community that enjoy making videos for Youtube talking about the game. I would hopefully speak for us all when saying, none of us are looking to slam the game or to talk about it negatively on a public space. We all want the game to be a success and want the best rugby game that has ever been on the market. Thats why we spend our free time after work making videos.
If you put claims in patch notes that this thing has been “improved”, we want to showcase how much its been improved in a video and talk positively about it. We will hyperfixate on those points becuase you have told us how much better they are. If it turns out things arent improved, theres not a lot we can do than just point out in a video how that claim hasnt been met, it may even be worse and give our feedback. And it makes it much more negative to cover that in a video and present to a broader audience, than if you didnt include it in the patch notes and we discovered it ourselves.
Im not a game dev in any way and dont know the process of choosing what patch notes are typed up and put out on the update. But there may need to be a better system found where until its evidenced the target has been met, dont put it on the patch notes. Or they may need to be worded more specifically so they arent broad and open to interpretation. Whether thats a gameplay showcase in the office to show a before and after and have it signed off. Or if someone is in charge of typing the patch notes they get an hour or 2 to test the latest patch to see if the notes are accurate and flag any that arent.
Glad to hear about the D-pad getting use in the future from @MattW , things like that can really enhance the feel of the game, im looking forward to having more control over things like line width, depth, set plays, team managment. To feel like the game is getting fleshed out.
Sorry if any of the post came across more negative than normal, was so hyped for the major update to see huge progression, but this update from my end specifically has brought the most issues yet from a playability and enjoyment standpoint. Hoping the minor updates across august will bring all the fixes we need and Major update 2 sees some big leaps towards the end goal.
) there’s never a back to support the ruck and i now understand why you got so much latency at every ruck cause the game waiting for forwads to move near the ruck and that’s why we end up with so much time space frame between a tackle and the ruck formation
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