There seem to be more knock ons now which is great, but the ref isnāt 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 donāt 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 arenāt 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 ā 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 āheld upā 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 arenāt 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 donāt know when you will be working on them.
Edit ā 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 ā 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 donāt 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 ā 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 āearly driveā. 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 ā 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 ā Kicker in the pocket (STANDING STILL WHEN RECEIVING THE BALL
) ready to make a kick
- Left ā Offensive line is spread wide to use spread the ball down the backline and use the wingers (WHO ACTUALLY CATCH THE BALL )
- Right ā Use of more forward pods to drive the ball up
So, letās 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 ā 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 ā Kicking defence, with the fullback well back, and the two wingers half way back, to defend against an opposition kick
- Left ā wide defensive line to try and cover the threat from the opposition wingers
- Right ā 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 ādownā 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.
