My initial thoughts on the passing changes in the last update are below.
Attacking Structure & Support AI
Winger Passes
The last pass to the winger has improved in accuracy.
However, passes still fail to connect properly when another runner is positioned ahead in the attacking line.
This indicates a need to refine both attacking structure and support AI to correctly prioritize receiving options.
Halfback Passing Dynamics
Orientation & Spacing
The halfback now positions feet and body in a more realistic passing stance.
Retreating players can still interfere with the halfbackās passing lanes.
Forwards or teammates may need to hold their positions slightly longer, or give more space behind the lineout, allowing the halfback time to clear the ball effectively.
Pass Mechanics & Realism
Rocket Passes
Certain passes appear excessively fast and cover too great a distance, reducing realism.
Longer passes should include a natural arc, more closely representing real-world gameplay.
Pass range could be tied to individual player attributes (e.g., passing skill), imposing logical limits on pass length.
Overall, these adjustments will enhance the flow of attacking play, improve halfback passing reliability, and ensure pass trajectories better match authentic rugby play.
Thanks for taking the time to read my initial feedback. Is a nice step forward in my opinion to getting the flow of gameplay right. Keep up the good work!
Game is very inconsistent as what I have been doing is pressing add players and steal at the same time and I will steal rucks anywhere between 80-95% most of the time
What difficulty are you playing on what two teams are you using and what version of the game are you playing? These are all huge factors, if you play New Zealand vs Chile(no disrespect to Chile) on easy, you will get constant turnovers for New Zealand, best way to test the rucks is get two fairly even teams and test on at least medium if not hard difficulty level(this is what I use to test) not hardest but hard.
The function is there and on all other Big Ant games you can edit teams and players. Maybe they are doing this so people canāt build super players or teams that will throw of the game for testing in its early stages, well, this is what I am hoping for, because the game definitely is still in testing phases, this is what I am hoping for, why would you add player editing and team editing and then not be able to add your favorite player to your squad or change his stats, players are constantly being transferred and player skill abilities are constantly changing, we should be able to change these things. And please add sliders so players can fine tune the game how they want to play, win win situation. The more sliders the better. My two favorite games Rugby league 3 and Rugby challenge 3 are my two favorite games because of awesome sliders, they would not be my favorite game if not for the sliders. Sliders are huge!
I know all the resources need to focus on game play at the moment I get that. But I am starting to really enjoy the game now to be fair. So looking forward to this latest patch when it drops on PlayStation.
If the art team is separate to the gameplay team and are going to continue working on photogrammetry and player likenesses in the background - why not work top to bottom. As lovely as it is to see player faces in the chile and Poland teamsā¦ just get the top teams sorted first and foremost. SA have the correct name, badge, players names etc what could possibly prevent you from being able to add the photogrammetry for them? This will sort half the SA URC teams out and just work your way down.
Sounds so silly but it does half ruin the immersion when youāve got black players with dreadlocks etc and they are currently white bald blokes like I refuse to play them.
So the new update for passing is actually pretty good. I got a lot of offloads and great passes to the backline.
However I still do not feel the AI are strong enough. I played as South Africa vs All Blacks on hardest difficulty, and I beat the All Blacks 67-3.
I feel that the AI need to pass more if they have possession. Currently it is just passing from the ruck to one player, then get tackled, then repeat. No fun in that.
Also I picked up a few issues.
ā¢ Team management at Half Time does not reflect in game.
ā¢ The constant change in players when holding down the pass button. Meaning when you make a line break and hold down the pass button, at the last minute the player who was allocated to button A pass on xbox controller, now becomes button B, then you pass to the wrong player
ā¢ Whenever a forward pass is made, there is a penalty against the offensive team, instead of a scrum.
ā¢ Still have an issue sometimes where when I do an offload, the ball gets passed but I no longer control the player with the ball.
ā¢ Sometimes a player becomes untouchable again. Like in Early Access. Then he can literally just run through players without them even attempting a tackle.
ā¢ The Bump and Fend buttons donāt not work anymore since the Full launch of the game. Only Sidesteps and Hand Off work. So please fix the Right Stick button press and Right Stick Up features.
Things that I would love to see next.
ā¢ Instead of just stealing the ball from the ground if you are defending, let there be penalties. Like if there is a failed or successful jackal attempt, then a team needs to be penalized. (off your feet or holding and such)
ā¢ As mentioned above earlier, improved AI with actual passing in opponent team.
ā¢ The Commentators need to be fixed because whenever you do a penalty kick for touch, they ALWAYS say that the kick was horrible.
ā¢ Actual set plays like the Pocket so you can get your kicker ready to make a drop goal for example.
ā¢ Make the box kicks a bit more contestable. Currently it is great to kick it so far (when you pinned back in your own 22) but to actually make it a bit more contestable.
ā¢ Possible Scrum Penalties? I have seen a few scrum penalties go against me because of bad timing in scrum mini game, but if we can have the opponent team also get penalized if for example I have a āGoodā Timing vs them having a āBadā timing? Making it realistic.
All in all, the passing patch made the game SO much more enjoyable. Just very easy now (due to Opponent AI not making proper attacking plays, such as no passing).
Love to see what the next update can bring. You are making the game so much more enjoyable with each update!
Mmmm played it on PS5. (New update)
Still floaty passes. Yes goes to wing now but still not great.
Also seems that trigger passes (to forwards) donāt work anymore.
Sounds great, really looking forward to trying the update.
Couldnāt agree more with your points, particularly the one around preparing a kicker for a clearance. The kicking game feels really clunky right now when trying to use it on the fly. Even if we could get what we had in Rugby 22, that was solid.
Also the commentary is killing me, talk about breaking the immersion lol
Over the past few days Iāve found myself gradually discovering the quirks, ins and outs of the gameplay mechanics and have gradually found my feet and the ability to up the difficulty levels, though it strikes me that these are all fairly inconsequential.
My thoughts on a lot of issues echo those from many others, though there are a couple of things I wanted to raise that bother me to a degree.
Open play kicking I find almost impossible in itās current format, the sensitivity for trajectory feels incredibly fast and loose and kicking from hand feels like a complete lottery, even more so when thereās less structure with fly halves not setting back in the pocket for clearances and drop goals. Somehow all kickers become left footed when kicking penalties to touch as well which impacts immersion.
The nature of some of the penalties Iāve encountered has probably been amongst the most infuriating things Iāve come across. Offside against me for playing the ball from my own ruck because my scrum half has gone beyond the ruck, retreated again and then picked the ball up to pass. It seems to happen pretty often, but particularly when looking to box kick.
Beyond those details which are pervasive of my otherwise increasing enjoyment of this opening title from Big Ant, itās great to see how active BA have been in striving to improve and update the game as often as they have in the days since launch. Itās fair to say none of us would be here if we werenāt all passionate about Rugby and our love of a platform in which to recreate and enjoy it. Keep up the hard work, as many have said previously, the potential is all there.
Unrelated to everything above, but when kicking for goal, is there a means to adjust the arc of the ball from just curling inward? If there is, Iāve not found a way of striking the ball straight or with any away curve etc.?
Firstly let me thank BigAnt for developing a Rugby game, I have my harsh opinions like do I think the game was fit for release? No but itās here now so no point in dwelling on it, weāve all spent money and the team are trying by the looks of it so I donāt think it will help slamming the team so as a rugby fanatic Iād like to provide feedback in the hope that like others it gets fed back to the development team to make corrections.
Letās start with the positives as there are some:
Commentary Mechanics:
The commentators just donāt say whatās needed at the right times like for example: kicking into touch from a penalty, the Commentary team either say heās missed touch or it was poor even when you kick to the corner.
Graphics and Animation:
The graphics for me Iād like to praise the development team on this, the likeness of the players is outstanding (apart from the SA rugby as mentioned).
Gameplay whatās been done well in updates:
Lineouts: Being able to steal at the line-out has been improved massively as Iāve mostly won all lineouts so weāll done on this.
Goal Kicking with right kickers: Well done on fixing who should be kicking at goal.
Rucks: As @AndyPelser (thanks for this Andy) said, with rucks if (In my case as Iām using the PS5 console to play) you smash square and circle youāll win a lot of rucks so for me thatās not a bad thing to keep as then at least I can win some rucks.
Improvements Needed:
Gameplay Fixes Needed ASAP:
Main Point - Passing: For me itās what makes or breaks the game and Even after todayās update the passing to me is slightly better but nowhere near as good as Rugby games of the past, after todayās update yes you can pass a little better but the best way to explain it is itās as if your passing a balloon not a rugby ball as when you pass it just floats in the air, there needs to be more directiveness of the passes, more sharpness of the passes and not just float it in the air as by the time someone catches it you get nailed by the opposition so even though itās still do-able itās still very hard to spread it out through the backs when the ball takes an age to get there, if it gets there at all before being tackled.
Positioning: Its hard to pass when you win a ruck and all the players are bunched together and when you pass the ball just pops up anywhere and the ref blows for a forward pass.
The players need to get into position when winning a ruck or a line out.
The AI needs to be able to determine that once youāve one a ruck/lineout or anything for that matter then players need to be able to get into position ready to attack and not just stand in a bunch doing nothing.
When a player is standing right next to you and you try and pass and somehow it completely misses them?
If the outside centre has the ball and the winger is not directly in line with the outside centre and he passes the ball it wonāt make it to the winger and will get passed into touch, rugby is about passing the ball behind you so could you look at this please? As it makes me want to throw my controller in temper lol.
Difficulty: I find it very frustrating that when playing on easiest thereās no difference on playing Easiest Vs Hardest as I still concede a lot of tries and a lot of the time lose the game, I was NZ Vs Papa New Guinea and I lost 21 - 7 so no way should I lose that ( Iām not that bad of a gamer I promise lol), so the difficulty definitely needs looking at because thereās no difference.
Players Speed: I scored a try with a lock who cut past a centre and a winger and ran the length of the field and scored a try, this isnāt realistic at all and needs looking at.
Make players play the way there stats show, if a player has 52 speed then he should be slow.
Scrums: How do you actually win the scrum? I think this needs addressing as the R2 and L2 buttons (it might just be me) become very stiff when trying to press them on scrums.
As it stands Iāve given up on scrums and donāt even bother trying to win them.
Desperately needs attention.
Kicking out of hand: This is non-existant imo, when I press X I cant see where Iām kicking to, I canāt even see if the kickers going to kick the ball and most of the time Iām tackled before a kick out of hand has taken place.
Substitutions: Why doesnāt AI make a sub when they have a player injured? They just carry on with the game?
AI passing: Still when AI (Opposition) have the ball the still donāt pass it more than once before being tackled.
*Continuing career mode after updating to latest patch: I donāt know if itās me but when I update to the latest patch it seems like none of the new fixes or features are in the saved career mode, itās as like it hasnāt updated and is the same as when the game was first released? Do I need to start a new career mode after updating to the latest patch?
Cut scenes: Make the cut scenes periodic instead of every single line out, It seems right now every time thereās a lineout the touch judge will always talk to the hooker which is annoying as I just want to get on with the game.
Non GamePlay Fixes:
Career:
Transfers: I think there needs to be some clarity here, Iām not that far into career mode but when I go to recruitment >> search for players >> nothing appears when I try everything to search for any sort of player, doesnāt matter what I put their name as it doesnt search.
Transfer Hub - Blank, does it ever get updated?
Some suggestions for future updates:
Allow us to create a player and put them into any squad we choose.
Rugby World Cup be added? You have licensing for everything else so are you licensed to have the Rugby World Cup as well? If not then a tournament like the RWC?.
Player Career / Story Mode: Create a player, have him go through either the lower leagues or Youth system and play just as that player in gameplay and build him up to get signed by major clubs and then finally represent his country at the world cup, if that player is British then allow him to be picked for the British & Irish Lions.
British & Irish Lions Mode (If you have the license): Become coach of the B&I Lions and pick your squad to tour the country of your choice, NZ, Aus or SA and play as the lions guiding them over a 3 test tour.
Updates and Support:
I think more transpa needs to come from the right channels and filter through to the admins here who can update us when and if an update is coming and what is going to updated.
With Ross posting on social media then I think the admins here who do take a lot from us should also have some insight to whatās going on and be able to communicate with us.
Conclusion for now:
Worried:
I am quite worried that Ross posted āthere will be significant changes to passing in particular.ā As if this is a high quality change in the passing as itās not.
I donāt feel it is significant changes especially with most passes when pressing L1 or R1 it just floats in the air and the support player needing to be in a straight line to receive a pass otherwise it will go straight into touch.
Look I hope Iām wrong but itās just a bit concerning if they call this āsignificantā
Thereās my take on it so far, Do what you want with it what you will but letās hope they donāt take the passing feedback as better meaning they wonāt continue to work on it as itās very unrealistic to say the least and this floating pass as if your passing a balloon and not a rugby ball needs fixing in the next patch along with players position to receive a pass imho.
I have faith.
because the game definitely is still in testing phases, this is what I am hoping for, why would you add player editing and team editing and then not be able to add your favorite player to your squad or change his stats, players are constantly being transferred and player skill abilities are constantly changing, we should be able to change these things. And please add sliders so players can fine tune the game how they want to play, win win situation. The more sliders the better. My two favorite games Rugby league 3 and Rugby challenge 3 are my two favorite games because of awesome sliders, they would not be my favorite game if not for the sliders. Sliders are huge!
