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Improved Passing
A first pass of ongoing work to improve passing has been made, this will improve the targeting of passes to better intersect players on a run, maintaining forward momentum better and reducing, but not eliminating wildly missed passes. Further refinement of passing remains a high priority of ours in upcoming updates. -
Resolved Incorrect Ruck Scoots
This update should reduce cases where the half would run forward through the ruck before being able to use the ball. -
Adjusted Kicking and Player Switch Controls
Based on feedback from the previous update, we have made a few changes to the control scheme. The “Up and Under” and Punt kicks have been switched, so that Punt is now on the A button. Switching to the Full Back has been shifted from Y to LB+RB to avoid a common conflict with the Tackler Contest input in the ruck. -
Improved Camera
Adjustments have been made to the camera switching into gameplay after the conclusion of lineouts. -
Resolve Graphical Corruption
Ghosting effects present while playing with screen aspect ratios requiring letterboxing, such as a number of common handheld devices including the Steam Deck with a 16:10 aspect screen, have been resolved.
Thanks for this! Only played one game, so initial thoughts only
Passing
feels much better, immediately. Regardless, I’ve already had two instances of my player just pinging the ball back at super speed at his own posts from halfway, and a couple instances of those super floaty passes that get immediately IT’d.
General Thoughts
@JNT_BA , I appreciate you said before that if not mentioned in the notes, then nothing has been changed, so this is more of a broad pondering section.
Momentum and tackling
It seems clearer to me now that the lack of feeling of momentum is mostly based in the tackle space. Rucks essentially form where the tackle is initiated, almost all of the time. Fundementally, momentum is getting over the gain line, and defensive momentum is smashing the player backwards. There needs to be more of that, on both sides - throwing the big boys into the narrow channels needs to make you ground slowly, but be more likely to get you over the gainline
Running lines
Especially given the better passing in this update, the lack of good support running is more obvious - especially on the wing, there is a couple time that I would make a break in the 13 channel and the winger just wouldn’t keep on the shoulder to support
Rucking
Still a bit poor - like a mini scrum
Thanks for the update though, much more fun!
Yeah like additional anything is always welcome. Was more to address the “This still happens!” Type of situations when the patch updates the more specific areas.
Will there be an update that will fix the player positioning on field and supporting lines when attacking which will improve the flow of gameplay?
Thank you very much, the kicking game is really really better !!! You re on the right way.
Appreciate the update but c’mon guys under Resolved rucks you have mentioned dummy half which is the sole reason why the game is terrible. Seems like the foundation you have built this on is with RL fundamentals which includes all aspects of the game, kicking, passing and obviously the rugby league tackles are just unbearable to watch.
I’d seriously get someone who has played the game professionally in real life to give you some pointers in order to improve the experience of what RUGBY not LEAGUE actually feels like
Starting to feel a lot better
Just a quick few dot points from myself, most of this I’m sure you’re already well aware of
The rucks, definitely need a revamp
Lineouts, I actually really really like, never been a fan of the mini game type
Player with the ball being able to be “unselected” and just have the AI control them, unsure how I’ve been managing to do it but seems to happen fairly frequently
Scrumhalf, when going to pick and go/ snipe with the ball running into the ruck and slowing down a major amount, really killing momentum and any potential gap
Fullback or last man in the line, when the ball is kicked and I’m controlling that player I can’t make them run anywhere but straight at the ball, which if a kick is going to go dead and I want to leave, you can’t and they will just run into it
Every time I get the ball on a ruck turnover I accidentally kick it away immediately but this could definitely be a skill issue, potential suggestion of making you have to hold down a trigger to do rucking actions? But I also could just get better and not have this issue ahahah
Also defensive line seems to be on your kicker very quickly making it crazy hard to do a tactical kick, whether just making him able to fall into the pocket would fix that or maybe the slow mo kicking, a bit rugby challenge esque, might help out?
And finally up and unders I feel like don’t go high enough, and pretty hard to chase
But really starting to feel much better, really excited for what’s to come and very appreciative of all the effort that’s gone in, can’t wait to see what this turns into
I’ll cop the wording as a screw up on my part in drafting the notes, it’s really not a reflection on the wider team. There’s some people who work on the game who are more league fans than union - I come from a background as more of a league fan so I fumble over terminology from time to time, but the course of working on this project has me building up far more appreciation of union - plus it helps the Wallabies are finally winning…
But we’ve got a bunch of people on the project who are huge rugby fans and would have cringed with you on that. Ross especially as the big boss - huge union fan, it’s the game he played growing up, a fact I will hear hundreds of times throughout the development process; but also the team designing the game and the core testing team all make sure there’s people who are rugby fanatics looking at it at each step.
I know the game’s not there yet at being a great rugby sim, but that’s the reason for the EA process, more eyeballs making sure nothing’s overlooked.
Matt, just a word to the wise as someone who’s having to wait for console (don’t have a PC able to run the Steam version) - it’s great to see BA using their Union fans within the team to help make the game better. But it would be a wise idea to get some active coaches/players/referees actively involved in the development too. I know here in England all the Premiership clubs are now back in preseason, and there are many players who are big video gamers off-field. Get a build in their hands, especially on the league’s media day in a few weeks, and let them cook.
Plus, as has been posted elsewhere we know Ross met with the lads from Squidge Rugby’s YouTube channel at a photogrammetry session. It would be wise to work with Robbie and Will, the genius minds behind that channel, to nail the tactical elements when they’re introduced to the game (maybe even have them do the tutorials on what a 1-3-3-1 is for example). Still a long way on the road but I still believe a staggered EA approach as you guys have been doing was the right call. Dying to see the major update next.
Agreed I think this should be a priority and I know squidge and will would probably do that for free
I’ve played 3 games on easy setting. Here is my feedback on the changes you have flagged
PASSING
Better and I note you’re still working on it.
Issues of floaty passes and passes still shooting out need to be fixed. Players overrunning the ball carrier needs to be fixed.
No.9 SCOOT
This issue has not been fixed as far as i can tell. No.9 still steps through the ruck.
He’s picking up the ball without input from me. Ball should stay in the ruck until I press a button to pass it.
Frequently cannot box kick.
MAPPING OF KICK BUTTONS
Definite improvement.
CAMERA SWITCH AT LINEOUT
Feels ok.
GRAPHICS CORRUPTION
Not noticed this.
OTHER COMMENTS
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Steal button X is same as up and under. Everytime i steal the ball, i immediately kick it away. Can you somehow turn off or delay the up and under functionality for the stealer to mitigate this. Or change steal to R stick click down?
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Taking the ball back over my line and touching it down results in a clearing kick to touch for me when it should be a 5m scrum for the opposition
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No.8 for France is the dead ball goal line kicker when it would be no.10 or no.15
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When i put players into the ruck with B and then spam Y to contest the ruck, nothing happens. Had one turnover animation play, but then the game got stuck with either team unable to play the ball. Had to quit to restart the game.
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No time to execute kicks.
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Cannot execute any type of kick after performing a shoulder charge, sidestep etc with the right stick
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Not enough power on kicks to clear to touch
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Button icons over player heads keep disappearing
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Hardly ever see an offload
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The ambient sounds feel like they’re improving.
When you are defending, my question is what’s the point of selecting the closest player to ball with the A button, if you can’t control it properly to make a tackle or do something, You just select it but it’s very difficult to tackle succesfully, so the AI ​​does it most of the time… It is frustrating to select a player and see him pass by the attacker and not be able to tackle him correcltly. This is something that has happened since the launch of EA.
Kicking animations ain’t realistic and need some work the ball moves at times when the player don’t even kick the ball
Up and unders don’t go high enough up into the sky and ain’t realistic to real rugby
This is a great point. It’s great to get feedback from forums from people playing the game but I agree that they have to work closely with actual professional players, analysts, coaches or something to get a professional feel to this game.
Had a try scoring bug. Player was across the line and was bringing him in closer under the posts. Hit A to score and the scoring animation begun, which was interrupted by a tackle attempt that was unsuccessful. Took me a second to realize that the try hadn’t been scored, so the player ran further away from the poles and I hit A to score the try… and the player just dropped the ball. Opposition then picked it up and kicked it out to end the half.
(Have recorded the replay of this, if helpful)
Always very helpful. If possible can you send it along to the support team at early.bigant.com certainly want the team to look into this.
I’ve encounter a fair few new bugs in this update
AI seems to not be able to score trys sometimes they just drop the ball into the dead are and then it’s my try line drop out
When I turned the ball in dead time the ball just got stuck in the ruck and I couldn’t move the ball and had to quit out of the game
General passing for me seems a bit too prone to go wrong in this update. In the games current state this is super frustrating as it’s already too difficult to overturn
Hi Ross and team,
Have played a couple of games with the new patch. Thanks for all the hard work! My feedback below
Re passing
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This is definitely improving. Passing trajectories a lot better. Still some instances of floating passes and the random pass going 50m backwards, but not as many. Getting a bit easier to get some moves going
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Running lines still need improvement. Also passing logic. One example of this I’d give:
Player A has the ball, running down the wing, Player B is only 1 metre deep but closer to the touchline. Player C is 3 metres deep but is inside Player B. I want to pass the Player B in this situation, but unless I hold RT / LT and press the face button the game will choose Player C as receiver, when I think Player B should be the logical choice in this scenario.
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It would also be great if there was an option to throw a quick skip pass without having to hold RT / LT and press the face button. Perhaps if you quickly double tapped RT / LT to throw one?
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I still can’t execute off loads in what appear to be logical situations, such as player falling forward and not covered by the tackler. Maybe it’s just me? Sometimes I fell like the animations are pre determined so they prevent an off load
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Passing buttons could be a bit more responsive.
Re kicking:
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Is consideration being giving towards more of a kicking ark or directional arrow for kicking from hand?
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The kicking is sufficiently weighty, although I think the odd kick sometimes goes a bit too far?
Agree with most comments above. There is still a step forward animation after removing the ball from the ruck which “kills the momentum” .
This is like the 5th time asking this. Can we please have a description of what each action buttons intention is? Mostly in Rucks, like bind button , sometimes I press once I get one player in the ruck sometimes I get 3, why,
are we supposed to hold the bind button down or tap? Does it matter? At what point can we hit steal? After binding before binding? Before contest tackle, after contest tackle? In order to test properly we need to know what the intended function of each action button is. If we know what we are doing, we can test much better. This is a must to test the game correctly, otherwise we are just smashing buttons. Good rucks are the key to a good rugby flow and dictates the strategy in the game. And you should be able to sometimes in rare instances throw 4-5 players into the ruck. Got to know when(risk vs reward) Variety and dynamic rucks play is huge part in rugby strategy. Otherwise, it is dumb down rugby. In saying this, thank you for accepting request to help better the game, the game has lots of potential but a long way to go. Please, please, give us instructions on what the idea behind the rucks controls are, so we can better test.
Cheers and Salud
Hi everyone,
My feedback on this patch.
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Kicks options are good I have tried them but too hard to execute without slow motion mode on easy and medium Difficulty. I have tried some various ones but Ai defence is too quick and it’s a challenge position a kick marker on the field and let the button execute the kick in time before being tackled. I noticed the kicks maybe need a bit more height /power such as the Bomb / Touchnline kick for field position with a clearance but does that depend on the player skills kicking the ball ? I am unsure.
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Pressing L2/R2 to pass- I tried this once from Scrumhalf in my 22 area and the ball just went straight to no one behind the Scrumhalf and hit the boundary fence into goal into touch.
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General passing is better with less wild passes going from ruck to sideline missing players.
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One serious match breaking Bug, if Ai win a counter ruck the ball stays on ground, All players in both teams stand around don’t pick up ball and play can’t continue. I have video evidence and sending a Bug Ticket request this morning.
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When Ai kicks the ball down the field, I can’t control any of the back 3 players individually while the ball is is in the air. It should allow me to choose any of those players to follow the ball and run to it or let it go into touch or the ball to stop moving.
Can’t think of too much else. Really happy to see the community is picking up a lot of issues and also giving great feedback.