Pitch Notes: FIFA 19 Patch Notes #2

Hey FIFA fans, 

As we step further into the FIFA 19 season, we'll be using this space to address some of the changes and fixes that are taking place during our post-launch support. We've been gathering feedback from the community around some of the issues our players are reporting and we have been working to address them while also being cognizant of keeping the balance and feel of the game intact.

This article highlights, and provides more insight into, some of the key changes in this title update, which is now available for all PC players, and it is slated to arrive on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the near future. 

For the full list of changes in this title update, check out this post.

GAMEPLAY

For Gameplay, there are 4 areas of focus in this title update: Dynamic Tactics, jumping volley kicks, goalkeepers and goal kicks.

Dynamic Tactics:

To allow for more control over your Dynamic Tactics during a match, it is now possible to make changes to your Game Plans, from the Pause Menu, during a match. This will allow for even more control over your tactics during a match and provide greater ability to respond to the tactics of your opponent.

In addition, when you swap players while on the Balanced Game Plan, those swaps, where possible, will now be applied automatically to your other Game Plans. So, for example, if you swap your Striker and Center Back, in your Balanced Game Plan, after that Center Back gets a red card, that change would now be applied to the other 4 Game Plans where possible.  In some cases, if your Balanced Game Plan uses a vastly different formation than your other Game Plans, the automatic swap may not be possible, but with the ability to make adjustments to your Game Plans in the middle of a match, you can still make that change in the Pause Menu.

Jumping Volley Kicks:

We have seen the feedback from the community around jumping volley kicks, such as bicycle or scissor kicks, happening too often, sometimes in unrealistic situations, and that they were too accurate. As a result, we have fixed a couple of issues that were causing these kicks to happen too often, and we have also made a change to bring the likelihood of successfully executing one of these kicks more in-line to what would be seen on a real football pitch.

There was an issue that was causing players that didn't meet the Agility attribute requirements, or who didn't have the Flair Trait (FIFA 19 Traits Pitch Notes Article) to perform these kicks without the player holding the Flair Shot button, which has now been resolved. These kicks were also sometimes happening in unrealistic situations, such as when the attacking player was surrounded by 2 or 3 defending players, which should no longer be happening. Players that had high Agility attributes were also executing the animation for these kicks too fast, making them more effective than intended.

When looking at the effectiveness of these kicks, we found that they were not being impacted enough by error, which was resulting in a higher percentage of these kicks being more accurate and powerful than intended.  We have increased the likelihood that these kicks will be impacted by error, which will potentially result in the kicks having less accuracy, less speed and less spin. In situations where executing one of these kicks would be easier, such as when the attacker pops the ball up to themselves in order to do a bicycle kick, the effect of this change will be less noticeable, while it will be more noticeable in a situation where executing one of these kicks would be more difficult, such as trying to hit a bicycle kick on a crossed ball that was coming in at high velocity.

To give some context of how this change will impact these kicks, we have an example of 100 bicycle kicks being taken by Gareth Bale prior to the title update, and after the title update.  The blue lines show shots that would have been on the net, which could end up as saves by the keeper or could end up being goals, while the red lines show shots that would have been off target.  As is shown below, after the title update, a much higher number of shots are missing the net and the spread of where the shots are targeted is much more varied than before the title update.

Pre-Title Update:

Post-Title Update:

Goalkeepers

We identified some rare instances of goalkeepers not behaving as expected, and have made fixes to these issues.  Direct from the patch notes, from both the Gameplay and Visual sections, here are the issues that were fixed:

• Rarely, keepers were not picking up the ball when it was close to them.
• Rarely, keepers were trapping the ball outside of the box, despite an attacking player being near them, instead of clearing the ball.
• Rarely, when the keeper was rushing out of the net, you were unable to take control of him using the 'Move Keeper' controls.
• Rarely, after positioning your keeper with 'Move Keeper' controls, the keeper would dive out of the way of the incoming shot.
• Rarely, keepers were not picking up the ball after knocking it down with a tip down save.
• Rarely, keepers, after making a save, would warp into the net.
• Rarely, when the keeper was making a save close to the 18 yard line or the byline, they would perform a slow animation while getting up when it was not appropriate.
• Rarely, the keeper would start to dive in one direction to make a save, and would instead animate as diving in the other direction.

Goal Kicks

We saw the community reports of some problems with goal kicks, specifically that it was possible to use goal kicks to generate an unrealistic goal scoring opportunity in game modes where a human player was controlling both the goalkeeper and an attacking player, such as in FIFA Pro Clubs. To correct this, we have resolved an issue where defenders were not reacting properly to an attacking player running behind the defensive line, and an issue where the ball was travelling too fast off a goal kick when the target of the kick was very far down the field.

To show the differences that these changes make, here is a pre-title update and post-title update video of a goal kick in Pro Clubs where the attacker is trying to get behind the defensive line on a goal kick.

Pre-Title Update: 

Notice on the mini-map how the attacker is positioned after the defending line and that the defenders aren't reacting to his presence.

Post-Title Update:

Notice on the mini-map how the attacker is positioned after the defending line, but the defenders are able to react as soon as the goal kick is taken.

FIFA Ultimate Team

We have seen many players enjoy playing and competing in Division Rivals since the launch of FIFA 19, it's been great to see all the positive responses. That being said, we know that some players have been having a tough time finding matches, and so we have start to implement some changes to the Division Rivals pre-match flow in an effort to make it easier for these players to get into a match.  Direct from the patch notes, here are the changes that we made in this title update:

• We have made changes to the Division Rivals pre-match flow in an effort to reduce the difficulty of some players finding a match.
  • Your opponent's FUT Club Established Date will no longer be displayed.
  • Your opponent's FUT Club name and Squad Name will no longer be displayed.
  • Your opponent's online ID will no longer be displayed on the screen with one exception.
    • You will still be able to see your opponent's online ID if you use the 'List Members' button, which we are working to remove in a future title update when available.
  • We are looking to continue to make changes in this area in future title updates when and if available.

Here is what the new screen looks like in-game, and as mentioned in the patch notes, we are continuing to work on the pre-match flow in Division Rivals to ensure players can get into matches faster.

PC Audio

Lastly, we just wanted to touch on an issue that was impacting our PC players since the release of the last title update, namely issues with the audio playing during a match. That issue has been resolved in this title update.

Thank you to everyone in the community for their continued feedback on FIFA 19. To continue the conversation about this title update, head on over to our forums and let us know your thoughts.

Gabriel Zaro, Joel Doonan and the FIFA Team

For more deep dives on FIFA 19 from members of the game team, check out the Pitch Notes page.

Please Note:  This article is describing in general terms what updates are implemented in Patch #2 in FIFA 19 on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.  We are constantly looking to improve the gameplay experience for everyone, so this article may become outdated as we make adjustments to keep our game fun for everyone.

FIFA 19 is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Stay in the conversation on all things FIFA by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and Instagram, and participating in the official FIFA Forums. Sign-up to receive emails about EA SPORTS FIFA and EA products, news, events, and promotions.