Well Val has absolutely smashed it in the feedback for this one. I had a bunch of notes down and hes covered 99% of them. So utilise his feedback 100%
Couple of other things I wanted to mention in addition. Ive been playing on the xbox version all evening and noticed a few other issues going on that I think are worth drawing attention to. (sadly no clips because i cant record the xbox footage but have had all happen on PC too)
1. High Tackle Issue
Theres a current issue, where when the AI is passing from a ruck, if you get off the line quickly to make a tackle (effectively running your own manual blitz defence) theres a really high % chance of conceding a high tackle. I would say 80-90%. Im guessing high takcles are registered based on the speed difference the players are travelling at in order for the tackle animation to have momentum, and a stationary player being hit by a player at full speed in defence causes it to activate. However in this example, the game is effectively punishing you as the player for having superior defensive timing. I have also noticed these happen from a defensive linout, after the AI collect the ball and passes wide, if you rush off the line (fully onside and legally allowed) when you make the tackle on the stationary guy collecting the ball, it will be a high tackle penalty.
This can lead to compound penalties lopping to more linouts and losing loads of territory for simply being better in defence.
Proposed fix
Maybe have a look at changing the tackle height based on the user input. Have B be a consistent lower risk tackle that players can use as a safe option for running a better defence. And as Y is alreayd used for higher risk tackles like tap tackle. Maybe Y can also act as a big driving tackle too, that allows you to drive a defender back but comes with the higher risk of a high tackle, so the player can mae the decision how the hit should work.
2. Touch Line not being judge correctly
Had a few incidents tonight, where kicking the ball out on the full (both from hand and from box kick) the ball lands relatively close to the line but is still out. yet the proceeding lineout is taken from that position, rather than where the kick was taken from. Im guessing theres an issue on how the touch lines are being judge, and may be registering the wrong way within a 2m channel.
Because on the flip side I have had incidents with the ball rolling (in field) along the touchline, or a player running down the wing jarringly switch to a lineout, and it never touched the line, its like the wrong side of the touchline is being recorded by the game as in and out of play.
3. Ball not being collected
Plenty of issues in recent patch with Fullback not collecting the ball when being kicked, and not picking up a loose ball bouncing on ground. Have also seen players not collecting kickoff, and is damaging to online play the most becuase no one on your team catches it, and the opponent sweeps in and grabs it.
This was an issue in EA5 and was fixed so assume theres already something ready to fix this.
Val mentioned about no ball control in his post, so to piggyback on that I also think it would be great to have an input for contesting high catches. Ive mentiontioned it before. But Rugby 2011 for me had this nailed. Where basically when the ball is in the air, you can hold X and you player will jump to catch the ball. The timing press is entirely up to you as a player, if you jump to early the opposition can leap higher and get the ball, jump to late and you might drop the ball, run too far before pressing it and you miss th eball completely. No QTE, but purely down to player skill, timing and positioning. High risk but very rewarding from a gameplay standpoint whe you pulled it off. Highly urge once again to take a look at that mechanic and see if it can be adapeted to Rugby 25.
I also think it would look so much more visually pleasing to go for that type of button press from kick off aswell, rather than the huge circle graphic that appears when competing for the ball, which still looks dreadful to me onscreen.
4. Quick Lineouts
Quick Lineouts are encountering a lot of issues, AI in particualar seem to have a pathing issue where players will stand infront of the pass but not able to receive the ball, and the ball will bounce off them, and the player still stood in touch will pick it back up and throw it again, the most cycles ive had of this is the player attempt 6 throws, which all bounced off the player and looks rediculous.
5. Target passing issues
These passing pathing issues, also extend to rucks, I have had a number of incidents using the target passing trying to pass to 1 player but a different player is in the passing trajectory line, and they instead steal the ball and throw me off completely.
I have also had a number of issues in this update with the Target passing selctions swapping multiple times, a player will have the B icon above their head, and as im pressing B, the option will switch to a different player and thus changing my pass wildly. The target passing choices also feel strange compared to Early access. In Early access they were consistent.
A - closest platy
B - 2nd receiver
Y - Normally in the middle of a âpodâ or would be in a position closest to resembling âin the pocketâ
X- Always the furthest selection available from teh passing player
But they have now changed and dont always make sense, and the players running around cause the target passing selections to shift as you are selecting them.
X target from a linout also seems to result a lot in a 50m bullet pass along the ground and bounces in to touch.
6. On screen cue for players
This is a broader one, I mentioned in my recent video but fully understand not your guys job to watch the videos, so ill try and break in down in text. 
For me, one of the biggest flaws this game has, is not having enough feedback during the game to explain to the player what they are doing right or wrong.
Rucks - Theres been plenty of complaints about the rucks from basically the entire community. But one of the biggest frustrations is that there is nothing in the game to show you as the player what you are doing right or wrong. There is an on-screen ruck bar, but it doesnt mean anything, the bar can be fully orange, 50/50, or fully blue, and makes no impact on the result of the ruck, it feels completely unconnected from the actual actions at the ruck. And almost feels like its behind the ruck by a couple of seconds and so the visual is pointless.
There is nothing to tell the players why a ruck is run, why a turnover has happenned, whether to use the ball quicker, or an option to defend your own ball. Everyone has spent hours basically trying to work out the button combinations for ruck steals, and latest update has made them easier. We understand the button combination. But there is no on screen logic to know WHY im stealing the ball.
I understand B adds players and X steals it (sometimes). But nothing else, players involved seem to have no impact, speed to the ruck isnt something I as the player control but seems to matter a lot.
I would recommend revisitng the ruck system and once again take a look at what Rugby 2011 did with their rucks. You had to spam A to fill a bar, first team to fill the bar won the ball [how simple!!! an easy visual onscreen showing your own and your opponents actions, the impact, and the clear end result of how the ball was won by either side]
Better teams had more impact at the ruck and won it easier, lower rated players didnt have as much impact and so you had to spam A like a maniac to stand any chance. You could also spam too much resulting in a âhands in the ruckâ penalty. Again BRILLIANT! A negative consequence for pushing ruck too far.
I really think Rugby 25 could benefit from looking at that system. Keep B to add players, and just make X the button you spam. The ruck bar can fill up as both players spam X, and first one to get over 50% wins the ball. And defensively you have to play it away while the other person spams X to steal it from you, speeding up the game. Adding players can change how much impact each X button has on the bar, and the skill value players have can also impact the ruck.
A clear onscreen visual that displays both players action at the ruck telling the player why the ruck was won or lost, and their actions directly impact it.
Kicking at posts - Seen a number of people mention the converson feeling inconsistent. Ive experienced the same thing. The ball being barely kicked off the tee should only ever be something that happens if the player kicked with really low power. Otherwise it looks rediculous and immersion shattering. I just doesnt happen in rugby.
People also dont know why the kicks dont work, again because there is no onscreen visual to feedback to the player what they did wrong. We all understand its pull back the stick to power up, then push forwards quickly. But 1 in 10 times it just doesnt work.
Rugby 22 had a great onscreen visual that showed exactly where you had pushed the stick forwards, in order for you as the player to realise you aimed it incorrectly and that why you missed.
Recomendation - remove the function of not flicking it forwards fast enough completely! And just allow the kicking power to determine distance. And if you HAVE to keep the trajectory line at the posts. I would add a 2nd line on screen to show where you have pushed the analog stick to show if you are on track or not.
That way the White trajectory line becomes a âperfect kickâ line that you are the player are aiming for. And then a 2nd Red trajectory line could appear to show you where you actually kicked, so you as the player know how far off you were on the stick to understand for the next kick. And will also help with things like the player undertsanding the power of the wind on the ball when its eventually implemented in to the game like other rugby games have on conversions.
Overall Update has been good. Still seems easier on end on camera, as hand off is broken on Side camera, and ruck turnovers are harder on side camera. And from putting 6 or 7 hours in to the Xbox version tonight, the Xbox version turnovers seem much much easier than on PC.
Enjoy the new lineout steals. Steps in the right direction. Looking forward to the next update. (appologies for most likely a bunch of spelling mistakes, its 2am, and Im typing this in 1 shot before bed, so hopefully all makes sense )
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but clarity for players around the ruck is definitely important. If it worked using real world logic the game showing the status of absolutely everything would not be as important. For example if you were the first one there you were actually likely to either get the ball or a penalty for them holding on. Or if you have 3 forwards there and they have 1 back for example a counter ruck would be very likely to succeed.
