-
Improved Kicking
In-play kicks have been adjusted along with tuning of trajectories across all kick types. A dedicated button (A) has been implemented for Up and Under kicks. -
Improved Offloads
Standard pass buttons may be used to offload in the early stages of a tackle. Note that offloads are more likely than standard passes to deviate from the target. This is an area on which we are hoping to get feedback to ensure we have balanced this correctly. -
Improved Scrum Half ruck join speed
The halves will attend rucks quicker to use the ball. The Ruck mechanic is still being worked on in response to feedback, this area of the game will have further improvement in future updates. -
Corrected Rule implementation
Correction of some rules not implemented correctly, including the positioning of the lineout after free kicks to touch and ensuring defensive touchdowns are treated correctly. -
Corrected unintentional forward passes
The logic for selecting a pass target when tapping LB/RB has been adjusted to avoid a small percentage of scenarios where the ball would be passed well forward to a teammate out of the ruck. -
Stability improvements
A number of reported game stability issues have been rectified in this update, our support team thanks you! Please keep these reports coming through as they are encountered via https://early.bigant.com/
Thanks, looking forward to rucks being fixed, obviously that is still a pretty major issue.
A couple of times already I’ve had players go for what I assume it a tap tackle, due to the RLL4 animation, and the player with the ball glitch and reappear a couple metres forward being tackled by someone else.
Also, a few instances of the passing player just pinging the ball 30 metres laterally straight into touch, which is odd.
Appreciate this was only a small update, but the previous issues still obviously make it a frustrating play (attacking and defensive lines, tackling feeling janky, players not feelings if they have any weight to them, no momentum for the dominant team, rucks, etc).
Thanks for getting on top of the scrum half issue though, that is better
Agree with these points here, I have also had the ai ball carrier just walk in one direction then eventually going into touch or going dead. I have tried to play at least 5 matches but have only managed to finish one due to it crashing.
Its probably a small thing so I’m not too fussed, hopefully its a quick fix.
Thanks for giving us an update this week, we appreciate all the hard work you guys get up to 
Thanks for the new patch, really appreciate it.
Scrum-Half response time to rucks are much better.
Sometimes passing still has a random float animation to it that makes the ball hang and allows the AI to intercept quite easily. Or the ball just rolls out from a pass and nobody tries to go for it.
Just still feel like tackling doesn’t feel hard hitting enough. Tackling in general just feels like I’m taken out of the control of the situation, I’m rarely ever able to connect to the player I want to tackle properly in order to make a dominant hit. Feel like the AI still takes tackles for me too much. The right analog stick tackle almost always just makes me fly past the ball carrier.
In general I just want to feel more in control of tackles and the hit of a tackle to make an impact on where the ball carrier lands. And rucks still don’t feel like a contest, more of like a waiting game for them to kick or make a mistake.
Especially agree with this. I’d also add that there is still an issue with understanding what Y/triangle does at the ruck, as it seems to select my fullback quite often.
For me the biggest concern is with the gameplay and how it feels. I feel with general gameplay when it comes to attacking the players are spaced out randomly and very far from eachother, and when you run with the ball it the AI does not follow the player with the ball so when you pass you loose gound because the player was standing still or was standing too deep. I think the gameplay will be improved if the player positioning is fixed and players are lined up next to eachother with enough space like for example in Rugby08 or 2011 and then you run and the other players follow so when a defender catches you you can draw and pass and make ground by creating spaces and you have available players around you who follows you to pass. At the moment most of the times the only way you can create ground is by letting one player run into a gap by himself the but when you pass the player is too deep and you loose ground and then you loose momentum.
Hi Team,
Apparently,I`m only allowed 1 image - so had to edit the post
Doing some playing right now. Some points from the one game:
Image 1:
Player running is indeed improved. The player positioning is something I have a serious issue with. The ball was kicked and taken up by a random player who was standing on fullback. The ruck has my 8th man passing. my scrumhalf is standing behind a forward, and my fullback who was receiving the pass is running a HUGE drift ball and weird space in the backline.
Rucking is still way too slow, I would like to see the option of making the game flow much faster, the rucks form and I`m still waiting for someone to come pass.
I would like to see pods stand next to rucks, 2-3 forwards running onto a short ball, and the option to hold pass and pass behind their backs to the backline. That would be basic running mechanics from a rugby-playing perspective
Image 2:
Defence depth:
I broke the line playing with the blue team, I paused right at the point of passing. The defence is playing with their back against me and is much deeper than my own attacking team.
Might just be the running mechanic that needs tweaking, but at this point, I would like to see a much flatter defence line and certainly not with their backs facing me.
Definitely the most fun I’ve had on this game so far. Somewhat playable now.
I quite enjoyed the animations at the ruck, when stealing or counter rucking, but still needs works. Not sure if the game already had them, as this was the first time I was able to steal and counter ruck.
Passing is definitely better, but quite often the player would throw a bullet pass through all his team mates and it would rocket out of touch or straight back through the posts and over the dead ball. Also, at times the player would only pass in one direction, despite me telling them to pass to the other side. So at ruck I would pass left and they would just pass right. Also, far too often the players would pass straight back to a guy standing still behind them. Players still need to run the same line as the guy in possession of the ball, to present themselves as a passing option, which is currently not the case. Too many guys standing around in the worst positions. I have not yet seen any short offloads.
I liked the addition of receiving pods of 3 players, not sure whether that was there before, but noticed it for the first time. Would be great to be able to offload after a pod takes the ball up. Perhaps the “scrum half” needs to follow up with the pod after passing the ball, by coming around the back of the pod, to provide that offload/switch option.
When a player fends off a defender, they just stand there. They should keep running forward.
Still need more forward momentum following a regular tackle, otherwise it is nearly impossible to make ground, which is not realistic.
One massive issue is the “player select” button. This needs fixing, as I am never able to select anyone close to the ball and have no idea who I am playing with, so I cannot be influential in the game. Just make it one button to select the defender closest to the ball, whether held by an running attacker, or where the ball will land when being kicked. Your selected player should still automatically go into position when lining up to catch a kicked ball, but then you have immediate control to start running once caught.
Another massive issue, which should be added in the next minor patch, is a simple, transparent, mini map of the field and the players, and your controlling player, such as with the cricket games, as you have players off camera and you don’t know who you are controlling as player-select is broken. A simple, small mini map would help a lot.
Players are constantly playing out of position, as I kept finding myself controlling the 15 in defense, next to the ruck, with 10 playing on the wing, etc, etc.
I thought I saw South Africa playing with a mixed team of men and women.
Still need work on the tee kicks. Either give the player the option of how he wants to curve the ball, with a straight kick as default, affected by wind, or when creating a player, you choose from a variety of kicking shapes (and animations) that defaults to that kicker. IRL different kickers have different kicking shapes for the most part.
Would like to see the introduction of knock-ons and penalties in the next minor patch, as it will already add a lot of realism and make the game more playable.
The referee does not blow the whistle when scoring a try, and I believe when many other things happen, like ball in touch, etc.
Would love to see the addition of the “zoom” camera effect in the next patch as well. Camera still not following the ball when kicked, instead immediately goes to the landing zone. It should be zoomed in when kicking and then zoom out and follow the ball once kicked.
I think those are all the things I picked up for now, but will drop more here when I pick it up.
Thanks for the updates
My team formed a pod of 3 once or twice in a game, and the AI also had one pod that I noticed. Like I said, not sure if this was added at some point or coincidental, but it was cool to see. Too bad I was not able to offload. Don’t have screen shots of the pods.
We urgently need more tackles animations, it’s tedious to always do the same animation as if our player were hugging the opponent face to face until he knocks him to the ground, and I also wrote the word “tedious” because there is no other way to describe that it is not us who control the player but all the tackles are done by the AI.
Also I feel totally identified with Vice_ZA wrote. It’s really frustrating:
“One massive issue is the “player select” button. This needs fixing, as I am never able to select anyone close to the ball and have no idea who I am playing with, so I cannot be influential in the game. Just make it one button to select the defender closest to the ball, whether held by an running attacker, or where the ball will land when being kicked. Your selected player should still automatically go into position when lining up to catch a kicked ball, but then you have immediate control to start running once caught.”
Thank you for the patch and for improving the no.9 speed to ruck which has made the game a bit more enjoyable now.
I think i accidentally managed an offload in open play in the backline when there was space, like the chicken wing pass out to the winger which then led to a try - brilliant! Could not recreate it because the passing down the back line and runner positioning is not as it should be, but when it happened it was class.
Other positives:
- side stepping/juking is brilliant. Manged to break through the defence with that.
Requests:
- player controlled tackling is still some way off. Feels really woolly.
- please make the rucks fun and competitive to allow turnovers and speed them up just a little more. They are currently a grind and fun sponge.
- please can you add hand off, spin and bosh to the excelent juking/sidestep maneaouvres
- bullet passes off the pitch need to be fixed
- when the no.9 picks up the ball from the ruck, he ambles through the bodies in the ruck. What’s that about?
- can we get player positioning like pods?
- can we get pop out the back passing? (Rugby 22)
- please look at the attacker support running lines into gaps while the ball carrier draws the defender to release the support runner into space i.e. positioning
- can we set depth of attacking lines?
- can we set tight or wide defensive lines?
- can’t perform any kind of kick of the ball when running with it, might be after juking/side stepping, seems to block the ability to kick the ball thereafter
- ability to put a kicker in the pocket for a drop goal or clearing kick
This latest patch (IMHO) is a good step forward. Cheers.
Keep plugging away!
Hey Big Ant,
Thank you for the update. The game flows a lot better now.
Only issues I have had it that sometime when I tap the RB or LB the player doesn’t pass, or does this weird floaty pass that usually gets intercepted.
Sometimes when a ruck is formed as the attacking team and I hold the LB or RB to pass to a certain player, the X Y A B icons don’t appear.
I’m reading a lot of negative feedback on this patch, but I actually quite like it. The game feels playable and slightly enjoyable to me.
Pros:
Tap tackle glitch (attacker becoming impossible to tackle) seems solved.
Ruck speed is way better, but I still miss a quick pick&go option.
Offloads, great addition. I’ve seen a behind the back pass and was really impressed.
Cons:
Player positioning. As mentioned in other comments, player positions are really weird. Forwards acting as scrum half while scrum half is standing still with forwards, strange. Fullback constantly in line, while another player covering full back.
Also; I had a few moments when defending in own 22, when full back (or whoever’s the last man) is way behind the goal line, almost at dead ball line, so an attacker running from 10m line beats my full back because he’s so far back.
Receiver standing still and usually too flat; actually worse than before this patch.
Contrary to the point above; it’s almost impossible to kick a ball out when in own 22, because you can’t pass it deep. When I long pres RB or LB and selecting deepest player, the player is already running into the ball, so receives it 5m ahead of opposition. I’d like an option to pass deep to a still standing player to kick into touch.
Passing is still broken sometimes, shooting a cannonball straight into touch or over the dead ball line. Also opposition passing to the ground a lot.
Missed tackles (manual) when i’m 100% on the right spot, expecting a big hit, to just miss the tackle. Looks like the game has already chosen if a player gets tackled or not before he gets the ball.
Pick&go by scrum half is still broken, first does a step forward inside the ruck, then a step back, then ready to pass. Feels really slow and glitchy, while pick&go needs to be quick.
Conversion: Ball going horizontally is really weird and unrealistic.
Kicking (punt) is broken sometimes. Aim is glitching and ball is going maybe 10m or so.
Commentary is weird. When playing South Africa - Samao, they constantly talked about Dupont and Fickou. But that’s just a minor issue.
Good job on the update, but there’s a lot of work to do, such as fixing the points above, adding setplays and adding real players to the current teams available.
Player positioning improving but still needs work in terms of convergence in defence and spacing in attack. WOuld like to see ability to set different line in defence and attack for example:
Attack ; Deep/wide (for set plays and shifts), Flat/narrow (trundling up the field with forwards/offloads etc),
Defence: wide, compressed or wingers drop back could also include aggressive or passive meaning up in your face, high commitment to rucks and mauls or stand offish to allow play to develop then tackle at the end of the play.
WOuld like to see player stats really emphasised in such a way if a player has break neck speed or a renowned tackle buster i want it to be significant in the game sort of like a “gamebreaker” player that can turn a game if used right.
Might be an unpopular opinion but I really liked the rugby World Cup 2011 colour coded kicking trajectory lines, thought it helped understand the ball path and landing.
I agree with all of this
With the offloading, I seem to not have had the best success with it so far, hoping the chance of success is based on individual player ability so if I’m playing as Fiji I’m highly likely to offload the ball often and if I’m playing as say Georgia there’s less success with offloading.
Also if we look at teams like NZ, Fiji ect there’s often a support runner looking for the offload which is an over arching bit of feedback with all the passing again understand this is ongoing
Need to be able to have the 10 “in the pocket” like you can do in rugby 22 so you can do a proper clearing kick
Great that the 9 joins at a good speed now however there’s still the problem of him just running into the ruck without me moving him there which is annoying because then I can pass the ball out and the 9 gets taken into a new ruck or I’m rushed into passing it too early
This bug is still present even after Patch2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fUzEKGGBy0
Hi Ross and Team,
Thanks for the patch. My feedback having played a few games:
Positives;
- The scrum half gets to the ruck now a lot quicker (I’m sure it’s something that will be looked at in future updates, but will there be logic so it doesn’t always have to be number 9 who goes for the ball?)
- Seemed to be a lot easier to steal from rucks and works a lot better (didn’t notice myself accidentally kicking the ball away). Noticed myself getting steals where it made sense e.g. having made a tackle out wide and my players got to the ruck quicker
- Didn’t have as many issues with forward passes (but have noticed a new bug as per below)
Negatives;
- Can’t figure out how to do offloads. Feel like there was a couple of moments where it made sense and I was hitting the pass button but nothing happened
- Some passes are still very floaty, slowing the game down or resulting in interceptions
- Had one incident where my player was tackled from behind, and a ruck failed to form.
- Unfortunately, when it comes to passing, I’m now experiencing an almost game breaking bug where passes are not going to a receiver and are going backwards 40 - 50 metres and often out the back of the scoring area. At first I thought it was moments I was throwing bad passes but it has also happened on a lot of passes where it seems there’d be no reason for it to happen
Just so we’re clear with these updates. The things mentioned specifically in the notes are what we have targeted. With things not mentioned, while other things may help them, may not have been specifically targeted in each update as the team works hard to get some specific things done. It’s a staged process which means doing one update, seeing how it goes seeing how it affects other things seeing how everyone goes, look into what else can be updated.
While we see all the reports and issues please keep that coming. The things specifically mentioned in the notes will be the best-directed feedback for each update while the team works on other things. We are certainly aware of the things that have been reported even from the initial launch.