05 December 2023 , 16:33
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EA Sports has now released the EA FC 24 Holiday Update, with the patch finally bringing significant gameplay changes that will help open up more ways to attack.
EA FC 24 has offered a poor gameplay experience over the last few weeks, with broken formations and pull-back merchants restricting the way players can attack in the debut EA Sports FC title. I argued that EA FC 24 needed a gameplay overhaul back in October, and we said recently that the title's recent issues mean our EA FC 24 review hasn't aged well. Finally though, following the release of the EA FC 24 Radioactive Team 1 last week, EA Sports has now confirmed that a big Holiday Update is now live for EA FC 24, and there are a lot of gameplay changes.
Here are the EA FC 24 Holiday Update patch notes in full.
EA FC 24 Holiday Update patch notes
The EA FC 24 Holiday Update is now live on platforms, including PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, with a blog post confirming the update's patch notes, which can be seen below.
EA FC 24 Holiday Update: gameplay
The EA FC 24 Holiday Update adds 94 Player Items to Ultimate Team, over 100 new and updated star heads, and it aims to enable players to attack with more creativity, especially through the centre of the pitch and near the sidelines. Gameplay updates include and are not limited to:
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- Reduced midfield congestion.
- Reduced sideline pressure on attackers.
- Decreased manual goalkeeper movement speed and positioning.
- More offensive minded wingbacks in 3 and 5 at the back formations.
More offensive minded wingbacks
- [PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC Only] Significantly lowered the track back speed of AI teammate wingbacks in 3 and 5 at the back formations.
With this change we are looking to ensure that 3 and 5 at the back formations are playing more towards their authentic nature, attacking high up the field. As you can see in the videos below, players will still return to help on defence but not as quickly, encouraging the attacking team to take more advantage of open space.
Reduced midfield congestion
- [PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC Only] Strikers and wide midfielders will tend to be less aggressive when trying to mark central attackers.
With these changes, we are looking to promote more tactical variety when attacking through the centre of the pitch. Central areas could have sometimes felt overly congested in the past, making it hard to find passing options. Players in the midfield and on the wings are now going to mark less aggressively in order to prevent over-congestion in central midfield. We expect these changes to open central areas up for a bit more passing plays and creativity, and we look forward to hearing feedback from players.
Reduced sideline pressure
- [PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC Only] Significantly reduced the amount of pressure the defensive team can apply to players along the sidelines.
When players had the ball along the sidelines, there sometimes could have been an excessive amount of pressure applied to them by the defensive team using a high line. So we have significantly reduced the amount of pressure the defensive team will apply in these situations, giving some more space for attackers to get out of tricky situations with additional passing options.
Decreased goalkeeper movement and positioning speed
- Reduced the movement speed of goalkeepers when using the Move Goalkeeper input.
- Additionally, goalkeepers will now hold their final position for a short time before returning to their normal position
Being able to manually move your goalkeeper into the right positions can have a major impact on saving incoming shots when performed successfully. When moved manually, goalkeepers would run back to their original position immediately after releasing the input request, making it harder than intended for attackers to capitalise on these mistakes.
In this update, the goalkeeper manual movement speed has been slightly decreased, and goalkeepers will take a moment before returning to their original position after being moved. We are looking to ensure that players who excel at reading the game can be rewarded for their efforts when outwitting their opposition’s goalkeeper movement.
Finesse and Finesse Plus Playstyle adjustments
- Slightly reduced finesse shot accuracy when performed by players with the Finesse and Finesse+ PlayStyles.
With this update we have adjusted the shot accuracy by players with the Finesse and Finesse+ PlayStyles as they were more effective than intended, resulting in an excessive amount of goals with this type of shot. Our intent with this change is to reduce the number of inauthentic goals scored from players with the Finesse and Finesse+ PlayStyles.
More authentic controlled sprint speed
- Slightly reduced the top speed of players when using Controlled Sprint.
Our intent with this change is to bring the top speed of Controlled Sprint closer to more authentic real-world player movement. This change does not prevent players who excel at exploiting space with their Controller Sprint from doing that, but we anticipate that this slight top speed reduction can result in more authentic match flow.
Power Header and Power Header Plus Playstyle adjustments
- Significantly reduced header shot accuracy when performed by players with the Power Header and Power Header+ PlayStyles.
Players with the Power Header and Power Header+ PlayStyles were more effective than intended in the air, resulting in an inauthentic amount of goals scored. With this change players with these PlayStyles will still be more effective than their counterparts without them, but with the more life-like results we see in real-world football.