As always, Saulman55 preaching truth! Other thing to add is that they have seen this reaction numerous times before with AFL, Cricket, TieBreakā¦ they know there is initially a lot of anger at release time as their titles lack gameplay, stability and content. They also know that they eventually fix it, and once all the rage dies down people are left with decent games and this noise is all but a distant memory.
The same thing will happen on their next title, whether that be Cricket 26 or, hypothesising, a Rugby League title
I, like almost all others, have invested emotionally in this game, along with investing time (and money, but that, to me personally, is a lesser issue). You have too. So the lack of communication is incredibly frustrating - but as you say, thatās more a Nacon thing than BA. @JNT_BA does a great job of getting in an around the community - and his no-response to a number of questions suggests that he is not allowed to speak about stuff, because itās not his place to promote or justify. He sure puts in a shift.
I donāt think BA are the big villains they are made out to be - they have pressures and responsibilties coming from elsewhere that stops them having full control over communication.
I agree. I think thereās a misunderstanding of the point of this forum/thread; itās not for BAās representatives to be answerable to your displeasure or for conjecture about the development process thus far.
If you are unhappy, submit a review on an appropriate platform. If you have meaningful, constructive ideas youāre confident enough to feed back to game development professionals in a format that they can take away for consideration, post it here. Or sit tight and play something else for a while.
Thereās a need for some community moderation in here I think, itās becoming as tedious as the rucks.
@Lachie_BA would you be able to give a indication if be a pro is part of the wider roadmap for the game ? I understand there is plenty of other systems still being refined but would be good to know if this is something at all for Rugby 25 future
They have said already itās not in for Rugby 25. Which is a shame, but there are a lot of fixes needed before new modes could be developed, which I think is a bit understandable.
IF they get this game to a good state, and they probably will, then that could be an amazing addition for Rugby 27 - if there was to be a Rugby 27, of course, ahem, cough cough, wink wink, nudge nudge.
I thought I would provide some tips for those of you who may be struggling. I play on Hardest settings with 7 minute halfs and win games quite comfortably for the most part. The reason for 7 instead of 5 is so that I have time to play the ball if the CPU decides to keep it for 30 plus phases.
You must use the pick up and go option regularly, with the scrum half and forwards. The game really rewards you playing in tight, with some variety. So after say 2 to 3 pick up and gos, have a one up running crashing in from an angle into the ruck. The speed of the ruck play can often force the opposition to give penalties.
This will generally earn you the option to go wide. learn to hold the pass button when running sideways to then select the appropriate runner. Do not think you can just pass the ball down the line, without the opposition getting to you or intercepting or forcing a knock on (This isnāt rugby 08!).
3.Double tapping the pass button, provides a flat pass, which can be used to put the man in space. Straightening up generally helps putting someone into space and at the moment is the easiest way to pass to someone on the wing. Do not run sideways passing to someone on the wing, as the ball will fly out into touch. Also, be wary of passing if the opposition are anywhere near the receiver as they will likely intercept.
The side step works best with running straight at someone; use it frequently. I have not had much success with the bump off option, but you can use it to crashing to space sometimes.
Use the offload sparingly as it is pretty random.
Kick often, it really puts pressure on the opposition. I just ensure I have the FH or FB in the pocket and do not have any issues with time. It is rugby afterall, no one is just going to allow you to kick without trying to charge down so u usually have one second to decide what to do with it.
Rather thanauto select use both shoulder buttons to select a player for tackling. it helps you to tackle them behind the line.
Adjust the defensive formation often when tackling, and vary the tackle compete and the tackle button. i use the rush defence at times when i reall ywant to jackle and the balanced when i just want to manage the phases. It doesnāt always work, but I find it increases my attempts to jackle rather than just sticking to one formation.
Do not just grab the ball if you manage to ruck the opposition over. You will get pinged for offside. Simply wait to see if someone from an onside position can gather the ball, otherwise just be patient. If not, you will get pinged.
Scrums are very easy to win, even when it is the opposition ball, you just have to master the timing. If at any point you are late or early with the push immediately get your No.8 to pick the ball up to stop the scrum from collapsing and getting a penalty against you.
As you can probably tell, I have actually fallen in love with the current game, although i accept there is loads they can do to smoothen out the gameplay. People saying Rugby 08 is still the best game are crazy or maybe just casual players. Earn the right to go wide after finding the right angles up tight and the game will really reward you.
Once they balance the rucks, allow you to compete the lineout, let the AI ping the ball around etc, this game will imo be the best ever rugby game to date. Massive thanks to the dev team as I can see how they want us to play this game.
I understand your point here. I can imagine that our frustration goes to your team aswell and across all companyās department.
There was something that could have been done and can still be done which is to provide a form with all questions and info that you need from all users. Then instead of browsing all forums searching for all improvement suggestions then you have a whole report compilation organised in the way you need.
Donāt want to compare with other studio but same work was done for another Nacon title. So Nacon knows about it.
We are all willing to provide any data you are asking but thatās your job ( as BA ) to coordinate and keep control on the gathering of these data.
So, I started a new career with Saracenās and later accepted to manage the England national team when the offer was given. But when the Autumn Internationalās came in 2026, I was surprised to see that the teams I would host at Twickenham were Madagascar, Niue, and two other minnows that I canāt remember.
You seriously expect England to host them over the usual suspects of NZ, RSA, etc. I mean, I donāt mind one game against the minnows but all four?
Has this happened to anyone else?
Plus, there is no tab to follow my International teamās matches. Rugby Challenge games had better International management.
Sorry Nacon cant be blamed for basic gameplay issues. Lack of communication yes, releasing the game to early yes. But EA was almost 9 months. And if BA was listening to feedback basic things like contesting a line out would have been fixed by now. Rucks would be better and passing would be better. You cannot tell me after 9 months in EA that a lineout still donāt work its naconās faultā¦ The bottom line is that things are not being tested properly and that rugby league is the sport BA is more familiar with.
I invested in this game with low expectations seeing as it is the first rugby game big ant made. I understand that with time it will improve and become a better game.
However. This game is so bad itās actually embarrassing. There are so many mistakes that itās inexcusable. I cant comprehend how itās even possible to get it this wrong.
The gameplay is horrible to say the very least. Canāt pass in the backline at all. Goalkicker is a random player in the team every time? Every kick to touch is out on the full according to the commentator.
Antoine du Pont is on the bench for France even though he has never earned a cap off the bench and he is the best player in the game? No logic at all.
Impossible to steal a line out. Very lazy design. I think itās impossible that someone actually tested this game without picking this up? How is it possible that not a single person testing the game did not pick up that the goalkicker changes every kick? How???
The physics is so bad its a joke. Rugby 08 from ea is better then this game in every category you can think of.
I really enjoyed the cricket games and still do to this day but this is a shocking product. Very lazy and rushed.
In my opinion this game is unplayable. I would be extremely embarrassed with this garbage game.
Itās bizarre to me how they get the things right that are not as important but the fundamental things that actually make the game is really lacking in every way possible.
I cannot comprehend how there was a board of people looking at this game and deciding that its ready to launch. Itās honestly crazy. The balancing of attributes are also very bad. How is it possible that a player cant simply pass the ball to the guy adjacent to him without having a seizure but the prop forward can make a line-break and run the distance of the field.
Iām not even going to touch on the tactical kicking mechanics of this game because I think everyone understands that its quite literally less advanced then jonah lomu rugby 1995.
Yes, noticed this on xbox-s rucking was going in a better direction after Feb 14 update and then the following update, took a step back in rucking but improve passing a player movement some, rucking players were less responsive to joining or slower to join the ruck, causing timing issues for the steal, or pushover. I have to test some more but the steam update seem to keep the rucking at least on same level or better and improve the passing and player movement. Again, if the rucking would work like the tutorial instructs it would be a decent system although not great, because for great you need to be able to add more than 3 on that odd occasion. Just for kicks I tried on every breakdown on a 15 minute halves game to just bind 3 players as soon as possible for a whole half, which according to the tutorial if you do it before your opponent, you will get a push over, (it never happened , like it happens in the tutorial) Again, if rucks were to work like the rucking tutorial instructs, then it would be a decent system. So the idea is there, there just needing time to implement it correctly, if not, why would they put those instructions in the tutorial?
What are you on? PC? PS5? Xbox? The version number is what is important (i.e. the v1.0.2047 in the bottom right of your menu screen, for example) - the release number isnāt one to look in to.
Other thing to add is that they have seen this reaction numerous times before with AFL, Cricket, TieBreakā¦ they know there is initially a lot of anger at release time as their titles lack gameplay, stability and content. They also know that they eventually fix it, and once all the rage dies down people are left with decent games and this noise is all but a distant memory.
