Judging from JNTs reaction to his post, maybe it’s all placebo and it doesn’t actually work as intended currently.
Nope, just alluding to something.
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Hey @JNT_BA, coming back to general play kicking I’ve got a suggestion on how you could improve the distance we can achieve. Currently when you press the punt button the circle is displayed which moves further away as you hold it down. However from what I can see this circle starts less than 10m in front of every player kicking no matter who they are. Would it be possible to link the starting position of the circle to a players kick power? Players with a high kick power skill have a longer starting arc while players with a lower kicking power skill have a shorter kicking power arch.
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Unless it is a placebo when I use the different forward formations when going out wide versus keeping the ball tight, it feels like a have better success to retain if I have the corresponding formation. On defense when selecting rush defense it feels like my players slam into the ruck quicker, but also leaves you more vulnerable if they swing the ball wide. Again, maybe it is a placebo, but it does seem to help, what would be nice is if we can change these tactics when the ball is stopped as well,
Can’t hide I was smiling while reading @JNT_BA post about the future of the game.
Looks promising and will hopefully make the game more enjoyable in the next months.
However I missed a few topics we have mentioned here, like place kicking, player positioning, high tackle/sin bins or team editing to name a few. Hopefully these are also on the works.
Already dreaming about my first cross kick into the try area 
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Thanks for the roadmap post the artist formally known as “JNT” 
One thing that wasn’t mentioned was greater ability to edit squads etc. Is that in the plan too? If so, is it a potential next update thing or a few months down the line?
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You can do fairly successful cross field kicks into the try area now. But because you are tackled soon after catching it, the game will always say held up lmao
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So, I think since last update tackles have been very inefficient creating high scoring games scenarios? This wasn’t an issue in previous patches? I literally can’t tackle the CPU players, they are like terminators. Or am I missing something here?
Appreciate the update and the direction things are going, especially with aerial contests, scrums, and ruck feedback. The work on tactics and Quality of Life stuff is sounding great too.
That said, I was really hoping to hear more about stadium atmosphere, crowd reactions, additional tournaments, naming custom competitions, and gameplay fixes, especially how easy goal kicking is and how often the AI breaks tackles. Those are big immersion and balance issues for me.
Still, happy to see progress and communication keep it coming, and thanks for putting in the effort to get Rugby 25 where it needs to be.
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if (JNT_BA == producer) {
R25 = “end_of_doomness”;
Memes = “activated”;
Gripsocks = “activated”;
Shep = “deactivated”;
}
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Wow, that was a good read, congrats on becoming producer and really good to see that there’s going to be a solid focus on some important aspects of the game in time to come. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that it’s great that someone is in charge who has very obviously done their best to listen to the audience and helped to bring in some much needed improvements.
Very much enjoyed reading about contested kicks and how “contested marking” will hopefully bring in some aerial competitiveness. I can see from the picture that one player is somewhat travelling through the other, so I’m sure there’s some refinement no doubt going on there.
With Scrums, I really hope there will be some massive changes and improvements there. Personally I’d prefer it if the game went the Rugby 2011 route to a degree, well at least the competitive hooking and the camera view. The scrum feels like it’s a part of the greater game in that way and less a cut-scene kind of experience.
With Tactics I’ve largely ignored it as when I last used it I found that it didn’t really make that big a difference, but I’ll be definitely looking into it when it’s patched in in an improved state.
Glad to hear that the battle to make rucks an understandable and competitive experience isn’t over. Overall though there has been a lot of improvements and it’s been getting nearer to a good experience over recent weeks.
Anyhow, thanks for the roadmap, it’s good to have a general idea of where things and headed and also thanks for all you’ve done for the game so far in general.
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Can we please have an update on custom comps and be able to change the rosters of real teams .
Being
able to do this would greatly improve the game.
Have the max teams in a comp be like 42 teams etc and have pool stages and RWC format
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Pretty please 
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Good point about the conversion kicks - the AI seem to be able to take them from about 10m if they so desire, but we’re stuck at around 17m.
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GotBy
Some suggestion reggarding future of Scrum and Ruck in the game.
Thanks for the info reganding the next spets of the game, hopefully becoming what should have been.
Scrums, i don’t mind the system we have now and the new ui we going to have will for sure help. Thou i would suggest to please add the option to play with the 9 before we actually finish all the push. Basically what we have now with the 8 but with the 9. Hopefully also with faster animations.
Rucks, i don’t feel rucks are that bad. I get that when we have the 1v5 Counter Ruck is, in reality, a steal (jackal). Very bad visualy but what i think they are.
My suggestion is:
Let have “hold on” faul more often, as i said a lot of time, 80% of all change of possesion in rucks are made by “hold on”/“Not Releasing” penalty. So please let’s increase that. I would be happy with like a 20% clean jackals 80% “hold on” penalties in a match.
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There’s things I’ve mentioned in this thread that are additions to these.
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Yes, the rucks actually just need better animations that play out logically, as we have noted many times before. Example:
- If the defending player joins the ruck first, before the offensive support players have the chance to enter the ruck, then the defending player has the option to steal the ball. If he is successful, the support players push him over, but he has the ball in his hands and place it for his own support who now form a ruck over him. Usually 1 or 2 (at most) players in defence, with 1 or 2 players trying to ruck him away from the ball
- If the offensive support players get to the ruck first, they immediately secure the ruck (usually 1 to 3 players), and the defensive team have to counter ruck them off the ruck, to get access to the ball (usually 2+ players). Rucking them off the ruck is not easy and happens seldom if the ruck is already secured.
- if the defensive player gets to the ruck first, and is unable to steal the ball in short time he has, he is rucked off the ball. If he gets to the ruck first and can steal the ball, but the tackled player holds onto the ball - penalty to the defending side for “holding on”
- If the offensive support players secure the ruck first and a ruck is officially formed, the defensive team cannot attempt to steal the ball unless they counter ruck first. If they attempt to steal the ball after the ruck has formed - penalty to the offensive side for “hands in the ruck”
You need the correct animations to simulate these actions, with dynamic body movement in the ruck, and clear animations showing the defending player trying to steal the ball with his hands, or the player rucking or counter rucking with strong drives into the other players already in the ruck. The sequence of events and animations is important, as well as the timing of events. It all depends who gets to the ruck first. Off course player attributes should also affect these things, such as steal effectiveness or ruck effectiveness, where backline players should be far less effective than forwards.
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Thanks @JNT_BA and congratulations on being the producer.
Really appreciate the details on what is coming and gives me some hope it will start to make some bigger improvements 
The builds have been improving which is encouraging and a lot of what you’ve said for upcoming work is all good. Really hope that Rugby 25 continues to develop and improve as when it is good it is fun but sadly there have been so many issues that has not been happening often. I’ll be honest I did turn on my ps5 earlier this week for a quick half game since the last update and it was the best the game has been.
Lots to do and lots of good feedback in everyone’s posts above. No one really talking about career mode and it’s not a high priority for me but think either once the rest of the game is polished this could do with some work or if necessary it hopefully could be built out for a future game. Right now the focus needs to be on the gameplay (which it is). I think even with a simple UI there is a lot more that could be done here.
Looking forward to how this shapes up moving forward.
There seem to be more knock ons now which is great, but the ref isn’t blowing the whistle. This happened in a raining game, so not sure whether you added knock-ons effects from the weather. So, more knock-ons = good, rules implementation = bad.
I like the new drive tackle animation.
AI don’t collect the ball when kicked close to the sideline, instead they just run into the ball, accidentally kicking it out. Fix please
For some reason, every time the flyhalf is subbed off, he is replaced with a scrumhalf, when there is a perfectly good flyhalf on the bench.
Forwards still tend to kick the ball more than backs. Had a game where the lock made more box kicks from the ruck than the scrumhalf.
Happy to see that player attributes affect kicking distance and accuracy, however, even good kickers aren’t kicking high or far enough. You need to significantly change the trajectory of open field kicks to go higher and further. Currently, the best kicks travel like 30 meters, followed by a massive forward bounce, with an arc of like 10 meters – super unrealistic. The best kickers might kick the ball 60 meters, with a much higher arc, and a random bounce (sometimes high and shallow, sometimes low and far). Please fix.
Too many times you have a forward kicking from the base of the ruck, or in the pocket, which would never happen. You need to implement a game rule, whereby if there is no recognised kicker in position, either at the base of the ruck, or in the pocket, then you should not have the option to kick at all. The rule would not apply to open field play, but kicks are affected by player attributes, so a prop could make a grubber if he wants, but it probably wont be a very good one.
Give the ability to nominate a vice captain and back-up kicker, because when the captain or kicker gets subbed, a random guy takes over as captain and the same position takes over as kicker, when the next best kicker might be in a different position.
I did not notice any change in commentary. On that note, in a previous patch, a while ago, you mentioned the addition of dynamic ruck camera option, which never actually made it into the game. Please relook at adding that, as I would like to test it. Also, add broadcast camera option, thanks.
Add the ability for players to reach for the try line and score when they are literally within 2 feet of the try line. Also fix every tackle over the try line being called “held up” when he clearly scored a try.
For competition, when a player gets injured, he should be out for an appropriate amount of time, making him ineligible for selection, until he has recovered from his injury. Also, allow us to do the following in competition:
- Add competition name
- Allow us to either set a calendar for the competition, or be able to change the time of each match, so they aren’t all just 1pm on the same day
- Allow to change crowd size in the match settings, including competition matches, so you can change crowd size for each match, without having to go to the global settings.
AI still not going for points off a penalty enough times, when the match would be calling for them to get points, they rather opt for touch. When would they generally want to go for points/posts, as opposed to touch:
- First opportunity to score points in the match and get something on the board
- On the halftime whistle, if they want to close the gap to the opponent, or extend their lead into the break
- On or just before the final whistle, to win the game
- When it is a close game, between closely matched opponents, and it is a game of attrition. It is hard to break the opposition lines to score points, or no points have been scored for a while
- The team is a player down temporarily, like with a yellow card, and would like to use up time and will take any points they can during the yellow card period
- There might be more reasons
On the contrary, they would opt for touch in the following instances:
- They have momentum and feel like they have the upper hand on the opposition
- On or just before the final whistle, to win the game, if more than 3 points are needed
- When it is a more open game, with lots of breaks in defence. Two lower ranked, but equally rated teams. Or where one team has a much higher rating than the other
- The opposition team is a man down, due to a yellow or red card.
- The team is chasing a bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries in a league match. First order is to always win the match first, so if and when they start pulling away from the opposition, try be more aggressive.
- There might be more reasons
Fix all the remaining kicking aspects for the next patch, and since they are now 3 weeks apart, start working on fixing all aspects of the next major thing, example rucks, or scrums, or player positioning and dynamic running (not set plays, as they have never worked in rugby games. Rather need dynamic running options)
We need to make progress so we can start ticking off boxes, as there are hundreds of smaller things that also need attention. You can address a bunch of them in one 3 week update as well. Example, I have made suggestions on the D-Pad for tactics system before, and will bring them up again. It needs to be simplified.
Would also be great if you guys let us know what area(s) of the game you will be working on for the next 3 weeks, so we can prioritise feedback on those specific areas for that specific period. I have not seen the roadmap yet, will have a look after this, but hopefully that will help. Perhaps create new unique threads for each 3 week period, with notes on the areas you are working on, then we can give concise feedback. Right now feedback is all over the place and I have lots of things to say about rucks and scrums, but don’t know when you will be working on them.
Edit – I have gone through the roadmap and it looks promising. I have already given feedback on rucks in my last post above, here is some more feedback:
Scrums
In real life, a team that scrums, only make 2 big pushes/shoves – one when the scrumhalf puts the ball in, followed by a second big shove, certainly not 6 shoves. This is what makes the current system, and all previous rugby games unrealistic.
My suggestion is therefore to align with IRL, by only having two shoves, but having those 2 shoves be very important to the outcome of the scrum, as there are about 4 possible outcomes from a scrum:
- Your team dominates and either get the ball out or get a scrum penalty
- The opposing team dominates and then the same
- The teams are in equilibrium and there is no big movement and no penalty
- The scrum collapses, either followed by a penalty for one of the teams, or a scrum reset, depending on the reason for the collapse
So with the 2 shoves:
- If your team gets the dominant shove both times, you dominate the scrum and if you don’t pass the ball immediately, but let the scrum drive a bit, you eventually win a penalty (though scrums should not last very long, as is currently the case – too long, too slow). Alternatively, you can get the ball out the scrum by passing. Same thing if the opposition dominates the scrum
- If your team wins the first shove and the opposition wins the second shove, the scrum would be in equilibrium and you get the ball out with a scrumhalf pass or number 8 pickup.
- If the scrum is in equilibrium, but something else is triggered, the scrum would collapse and either a penalty is awarded or the scrum is reset. I leave this in your hands or the community to come up with ideas here.
- Also, if the first shove is triggered too quickly by either one of the teams, then it is a free kick to the opposing team for “early drive”. Therefore, timing could also have an impact on scrum effectiveness, but importantly also player attributes, as the best scrummers in the world tend to dominate the opposition scrum more often than not. So having better scrummers makes your scrum/timing easier
Tactics
I have mentioned this before and will do so again. I like the direction the tactics system took since its inception, but it needs simplification, as the roadmap suggests, so here is my suggestion again:
The D-pad will provide you with 4 basic tactical options, based on whether you are on attack or defence. You simply press the direction once, and your line adjusts to that tactic. Simple. Examples:
When on attack:
- Up – Flat offensive line to prepare for a kick, whether deep kick and chase, box kick (up and under), grubber, or chip kick, or just to play a fast/hard flat offensive line
- Down – Kicker in the pocket (STANDING STILL WHEN RECEIVING THE BALL
) ready to make a kick - Left – Offensive line is spread wide to use spread the ball down the backline and use the wingers (WHO ACTUALLY CATCH THE BALL )
- Right – Use of more forward pods to drive the ball up
So, let’s say I have been defending in my 22 and turned the ball over (with the very cool ruck mechanics and animations suggested), I press right to use my forward pods to try and bash the ball up another 5 meters and create space for my kicker to exit our red zone. Once I am satisfied, I press down to set my kicker deep to clear. Easy
When on defence:
- Up – Rushed defence where the defensive line can quickly rush up to the offensive line to shut them down quickly, but can create space wide or gaps in defence.
- Down – Kicking defence, with the fullback well back, and the two wingers half way back, to defend against an opposition kick
- Left – wide defensive line to try and cover the threat from the opposition wingers
- Right – close defensive line to protect against opposition forward pods
With the press of a single button I can then shift my defence in any which way to adjust to what I think the opposition will try to do next. It becomes a game of chess. Very interesting.
When in offense, offensive tactics automatically apply or become available. When in defense, defensive tactics automatically apply or become available. Your current tactic is always the last one you selected, so when I selected down on defense and turn the ball over, changing to offense, then changing back to defense, my defensive tactic is still “down” until I change it again.
These are some basic suggestions and they can be extended in ways that seem necessary, but you would not need to add too much beyond this.
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@JNT_BA congratulations for the promotion .
The Future of Rugby 25 i will like to see if is possible more realistic skin colour of the players from national teams . some more official jerseys example for Chinese Taipei , South Korea, China, Kenya, Mexico . new national teams United Arab Emirates , Cook Islands , Cayman Islands, Tunisia .
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