How has EA's latest patch changed the game for players?

EA has announced the release of FIFA 18’s latest title update, now available on PC, with the console version to follow later in the week. The eighth patch for the footballing giant fixes several house cleaning issues for both FUT and Online Play.

You can find the full patch notes below followed by a deeper exploration of the most important fixes:  

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Patch notes:

Made the following changes in FIFA Ultimate team:

• Matches that ended early will, in most cases, now be available for viewing in FUT Champions Channel.
• Matches that end early due to a loss of connection by the home team will not be viewable.

Addressed the following issues in FIFA Ultimate team:

• Custom kit numbers will no longer change after swapping players around in your squad.
• Players will now always see their team on the left in the pre-match Team Management screens when playing a FUT Champions Weekend League match.
• In FUT Champions Channel, the introduction of the Orbit camera in a previous update had inadvertently removed the slow (0.5x) playback speed. This has been added back as a playback option.
• The Match Preview screen for FUT Champions Weekend League matches was sometimes showing the status of your opponent as blank instead of ‘Making Changes’.
• When an action shot on a player item fails to load, it will now properly default to the player’s 2D portrait.
• The wrong text was being highlighted in red, on player items, when a squad did not meet the requirements for the FUT Champions Daily Knockout Tournament due to either League or Nationality requirements.

Made the following changes in Online:

• A Pro Clubs Friendlies match that is tied at the end of full time will now progress into extra time (silver goal) and, if needed, penalties.

Addressed the following issues in Online:

• The on-screen pause button, when enabled through the Accessibility settings, was not working in Pro Clubs matches.

Made the following changes in Audio / Visual / Presentation:

• Updates to the Catfish and the Bottlemen kit in FUT.

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Analysis of patch changes

First up we’ve got the newest tweaks to the FUT Champions Channel, an addition to this year’s game allowing players to view handpicked replays of the Weekend League’s most advanced players. As we all know, your average game of FUT often ends in a pre-emptive quit from the opposition, ending any chance for EA algorithms to pick out your replay for all to see. By making these unfinished matches still apply for the FUT Champions Channel, the door is open to showcase some new upcoming players, those who must’ve felt hard done by match quitters, succuming to the pressures of the Weekend League.

We’ve also seen a few niggling issues ironed out in FUT, the most important of these being the fix to the incorrect text highlighted if players did not meet requirements for FUT Champions Daily Knockout Tournaments, an issue that could often be incredibly frustrating when trying to establish which player attribute made your whole team ineligible for competition.

In terms of Online changes, making sure Pro Club matches now end in a definitive result is certain to make the mode more playable. Inherent to the mode was a huge amount of chance – with each player on either side of the pitch controlled by a human – which often led to scruffy, uneven matches which fizzled out to constant draws.

Overall, these changes allow for easier usability within two of the games most popular modes, fixing niggling back end issues and allowing for a more improved experience off the field, rather than on it. Surely, this sets the stage for more substantial updates down the line.