5 things to improve the game hugely

[DP]

I have to be honest and say I didn't really enjoy FM15. Probably my least played version for a while. The match engine didn't seem to be up to it's usual polished status at patch 3 and player interaction was too much of an annoyance. With this in mind I think the following 5 areas should be looked at to improve the game:

1. Match engine - nowhere near as much variety to look convincing. It's impossible to see most goals that are scored in real life. There are no subtle chips, no rounding the keeper, no deflection of keepers that fly in. It lacks variety to be convincing.

Also, how often do free kicks hit the bar and fall to an attacker to tap in?! I've literally never seen this scenario in real life yet it's constant in FM.

2. Penalties - The situation with Bayern last night where they missed all pens is literally impossible to achieve in FM. More randonmess and variation absolutely necessary. I have no idea if the stats make any difference.

3. Player Interaction - Broken. It's far too intense with conversations and broken 'promises' all over the place. It should be a bit more subtle in my opinion with things happening towards the end of player contracts as in real life - exceptions rather than the rule which we see at the moment

4. Legacy features - 'Recommend me a scout' - said no one ever. The game is littered with things that probably looked good 10 years ago but are now bloat and offer no value. SI shouldn't be afraid of removing things if they are no longer valid. Club affiliates another example. It's a bit over the top in FM.

5. Make players more unique - The hardest job but every single defender seems to play the same with no difference in play whether they're Rio Ferdinand or John Terry. All attackers seem to play the same. This is changed by roles in tactics but in real life Andy Carroll will always be Andy Carroll whether you set him as a target man or false nine. This isn't represented adequately enough in the game.

There's very little difference in style and what they bring to my side if I buy Hazard or Di Maria yet both are vastly different players in real life. This needs to be addressed.

Just some thoughts.

[MECAP]

match engine looks different in fm15, there're more moves than fm14 for sure, but those can never be enough, you could add even more...

[Guest]

Some valid points & I definitely I agree with removing outdated features that have just been forgotten about due to being superseded by other features.

Number 5 is something that I feel is the responsibility of the researchers as I think there are enough attribute & other data fields in the game for players to be accurately modelled against their real life counterparts, personally I feel that the German research team is very strong on this aspect as they appear to not only pay attention to a player's strengths but just as importantly their weaknesses & are not afraid to give a top division player single digit attributes, something that I feel other researchers are less willing to do.

Rooney having an important matches rating of 17 is way too high given what he has actually done when it really matters or too many English players having a pressure rating higher than 10 as another example,

Obviously that only helps in the early seasons of any game & ensuring that players have a more varied attribute distribution is something that SI should always be monitoring but it still comes back to the starting data having to be a more accurate reflection on real life as the assessment of player attributes in 2040 will be based on the starting database.

[DP]

Sure, but it's the simple, regular things you see in football that are not represented as well as they should be. Even things such as Messi's chip penalty last night.

It cannot happen on FM which is a shame.

[DP]

Some valid points & I definitely I agree with removing outdated features that have just been forgotten about due to being superseded by other features.

Number 5 is something that I feel is the responsibility of the researchers as I think there are enough attribute & other data fields in the game for players to be accurately modelled against their real life counterparts, personally I feel that the German research team is very strong on this aspect as they appear to not only pay attention to a player's strengths but just as importantly their weaknesses. Obviously that only helps in the early seasons of any game & ensuring that players have a more varied attribute distribution is something that SI should always be monitoring but it still goes back to the starting data having to be a more accurate reflection on real life.

Guess my point is I don't think the attributes make the players different enough. Regardless of attributes and research the players are too similar.

Valencia plays like every other winger - yet he is very different to Alexis Sanchez, for example. The players themselves should dictate the style they play, not always the player instructions is my point.

[MrBannystar]

I agree with your points and ESPECIALLY with penalties. Yet again, I had a player hit the bar and stand still when the ball rebounded to him. I know he's not allowed to touch the ball if no other player has if he's hit the woodwork, but has anyone else ever seen this in real life? It's happened to me so many times. Also, the match engine has taken a step back. I've just tried playing for the first time since the new patch and I conceded a late equaliser after my keeper pushed the ball into the post and then had a little lie down allowing the opposition striker to tap the ball in.

I feel like SI haven't been trying in recent years. Just invent some unnecessary feature and claim to improve the AI and pass it off as a new game. Also, I feel like attributes need changing by making players' abilities a bit more open to interpretation.

[CityAndColour]

Remove the stupid animation where players dramatically fall over/dive forward under the slightest challenge and I'll be sweet.

[thethe]

You want to remove affiliated clubs? Why?

[DP]

You want to remove affiliated clubs? Why?

Not remove as such but they are an example of something that's legacy that was probably quite 'buzzy' at the time. I'm yet to see much evidence of them being a big part of the game in real life and as ingrained as they are in FM. They should probably be more of an exception basis.

I'd like to know how many conversations there were through the league last year between manager and chairman about getting an affiliate team. I'd predict next to none.

[Guest]

You want to remove affiliated clubs? Why?

I agree with removing or at least heavily restricting club affiliations, too many get setup in game or are already part of the club data file. I have to deal with endless loan requests from clubs clubs in the Spanish 4th or 5th tier because they are set as permanent affiliates yet according to transfermarkt there is no record of any loan moves between the clubs in question & in general I find that they are a major factor in poor AI player development & some of the worst examples of poor transfer logic in the game.

In FM Inverness CT have been a feeder club for Arsenal since 2012, in that time there have been 0 real life loan moves between the clubs, I'm sure there are many more & it is something that I was thinking about looking at & reporting in the data forums.

A better system would be to have more dynamic manager relationships so that AI manager will look to loan younger players to managers they trust or who are at clubs with the right facilities to continue the player's development, as managers move & clubs decline or improve then those relationships become more or less useful.

[thethe]

DP: But it does happen, though. Look at Chelsea with Vitesse. Would really miss it if it were to be removed. I use it actively.

You do have a point about frequency and how common it is, though. It does seem to happen too often with AI clubs. I just had a look at my own save, and in less than six years, Chelsea have agreed affiliate deals with Bristol City, Sunderland, Stevenage, Internacional and Trabzonspor, in addition to the ones they already had. That's a bit of an overkill.

One thing that could be used as an alternative - not instead of -, would be an ability to manually offer players on loan to specific clubs, just as if they were affiliated clubs. They'd obviously have the option to reject the player.

[DP]

It happens but it's exception only.

As things stand I can be manager of, say, Tranmere and ask my chairman for a parent club. This just doesn't happen!

Chelsea are a side that benefit from it with one or two clubs but it's not a common set up.

[Sunstrikuuu]

Not remove as such but they are an example of something that's legacy that was probably quite 'buzzy' at the time. I'm yet to see much evidence of them being a big part of the game in real life and as ingrained as they are in FM. They should probably be more of an exception basis.

I'd like to know how many conversations there were through the league last year between manager and chairman about getting an affiliate team. I'd predict next to none.

As for me, I find the affiliated clubs feature less robust than I want. Look at, for instance, Granada, Watford and Udinese, who're all owned by the same group and share players quite liberally. Some discussion on Football Weekly last week what Watford's promotion might mean for Udinese's chances in Serie A (and for Granada's now they've been relegated). Chelsea are a good example, as mentioned above, as are Manchester City, who're in the process of setting up a worldwide scouting network through various City-branded affiliates. As the feature stands now, I'd not miss it if it went away.

Tactics, I think, are a little bit over-good. The difference between a great tactic and an average tactic is much larger than the difference between great and average players. This is related to the complaint about players not being unique. I'd like to swing the pendulum a bit more towards player power and a bit away from tactical power, especially if we want player interaction to be a thing. Right now, if a player wants to go, fine; they're more or less all the same within their archetypes anyway, with one or two outliers.

Animations have to be improved. There would be fewer complaints about the match engine if the animations more accurately represented the action.

It would be nice if long-standing issues with regen stat distribution were finally fixed.

And when something important, like at least two important tactical roles, are broken and don't work, fix them. It's nuts that Inverted Wingback and Libero (attack) have been busted since day one, and developer comment has been "yeah, we know, but there are more important things to attend to".

[Sunstrikuuu]

Actually. Here's something I really, really want, something that would make my FM-playing life much better.

I want the developers to figure out some sort of tool that allows them to rewind a save. How many times have you felt like you've experienced a bug, gone to report it, and not had a save from an appropriate time? I'm fine with taking the time to upload a save, but I'm less fine with having to putter around recreating anomalous situations during fairly limited playtime.

[johnhughthom]

I'm sure it would be simple enough for them to do that, the real trick would be doing it without massively increasing the size of save files and saving/loading times.

[Guest]

They announced a partnership but the fact that there has never been a single loan player or any other apparent sporting links between the two clubs can be taken as an indication that the partnership is not one that can be replicated in FM or was ended without any public announcement.

Edit: I was wrong about the number of loan deals, Phil Roberts went on loan to Inverness during the 2012/13 season & he is the player mentioned when Inverness announced this partnership with Arsenal, Colchester United loaned more players from Arsenal during that season.

I get the feeling that Inverness were over egging the pudding & that the partnership only ever existing in their mind or the mind or Terry Butcher.

Edit 2: Inverness are not listed as a partner club on Arsenal's official website, disappointingly poor from the Arsenal researcher.

http://www.arsenal.com/155/unhoused-import-pages/find-out-more-about-arsenal-s-partner-clubs

[saiyaman]

Remove the stupid animation where players dramatically fall over/dive forward under the slightest challenge and I'll be sweet.

THIS.

Embarassing when your players dive but it isn't a dive.

[Cougar2010]

Actually. Here's something I really, really want, something that would make my FM-playing life much better.

I want the developers to figure out some sort of tool that allows them to rewind a save. How many times have you felt like you've experienced a bug, gone to report it, and not had a save from an appropriate time?

They already have, its the rolling save system which gives you up to 10 save slots.

Save on a regular basis and if you find a bug you can go back to one of those previous saves which can then be uploaded.

[thomit]

DP - about your 1.st point, about the match engine: It's safe to say that improving the m.e. is an ongoing and never ending process for SI. I think people - in general - have too high demands of it, though. They expect too much. The technology being used - and the technology that is practical to use in the real world - is pretty crude and rudimentary, after all. There's very little in the sense of "real" AI. In order to acheive the standards that many seem to expect, would require issuing each of the 22 players with an artificial brain (AI), each with a very powerful processor running it. Only then would you see the m.e. making leaps in sophistication, I'm afraid. What we have is a set of m.e. rules/triggers/mechanics, powered by 1 (your) processor. The players are brainless, they're only reacting according to the coding (rules/triggers) of the m.e., if there is any. If there isn't, they will do something "default", which is often something stupid. The problem (well, one of them) for the coders is to identify all of these situations that can occur on a football pitch, and make codes (rules) to deal with them without this code to have a negative knock-on effect where they shouldn't. As I said, this is an ongoing process, but a very difficult one.

That being said - in my view the FM match engine is the best there is in any football game. At least tactically speaking. There's still room for improvements, of course.

[forameuss]

Never agree with lopping off features from a technical perspective. Too many things to go wrong for little benefit for my liking.

Even mentioning "improve the ME" in the context of these lists is almost pointless - not because it's a bad idea, but because it is refined constantly, and will continue to be. The big strides will probably be in the graphical representation of said ME. If you didn't touch the FM15 ME at all, but instead got the 3D representation of that ME looking more polished and fluid, most people would probably claim it a masterpiece. Of course there are still issues there, but a lot of complaints are - rightly - around what the screen is telling us the ME is doing, rather than what it is actually doing.

But the below...

Actually. Here's something I really, really want, something that would make my FM-playing life much better.

I want the developers to figure out some sort of tool that allows them to rewind a save. How many times have you felt like you've experienced a bug, gone to report it, and not had a save from an appropriate time? I'm fine with taking the time to upload a save, but I'm less fine with having to putter around recreating anomalous situations during fairly limited playtime.

Yes, yes, a million times yes. I'll level, I don't report that many bugs at all, so also don't complain about them, as I don't feel I have the right to if I'm not going to be reporting them. A lot of the time, this is because I'm too dozy to notice when a bug has occurred until it's too late. On the rare occasion I do notice, then my saves aren't in the right timeframe for being able to reproduce the bug. This is where this would come in.

I wouldn't even need a rewind tool (can you imagine the seethe coming from the people that seem to hate reloaders doing something in their own single player game?), just something behind the scenes in a save that would allow SI to do something similar. I imagine it would be technically possible, and if they could get it right, the benefits would be massive from a bug finding/reporting perspective, but it's not exactly going to be a quick job.

[WITW]

I agree with your points and ESPECIALLY with penalties. Yet again, I had a player hit the bar and stand still when the ball rebounded to him. I know he's not allowed to touch the ball if no other player has if he's hit the woodwork, but has anyone else ever seen this in real life? It's happened to me so many times. Also, the match engine has taken a step back. I've just tried playing for the first time since the new patch and I conceded a late equaliser after my keeper pushed the ball into the post and then had a little lie down allowing the opposition striker to tap the ball in.

I feel like SI haven't been trying in recent years. Just invent some unnecessary feature and claim to improve the AI and pass it off as a new game. Also, I feel like attributes need changing by making players' abilities a bit more open to interpretation.

Re: your point about penalties. What exactly do you want your player to do? He can't touch it if it comes back off the post or bar. Would you rather he smashed it in and gave away a free kick?

Things like keepers "lying down" or defenders standing still, I feel like it is just the animations in the match engine being too limited to reflect what is happening. So your keeper makes a save, and is scrambling to get up, but there are no animations in the match engine for "scrambling to get up", so it looks as if he's just lying there.

Difficult one to fix, as going nuts with more animations would lead to an increase in necessary processing/graphics power needed to play the game.

[thomit]

Yes, but keepers do seem to take their time getting up on their feet again, don't they. Regardless of how it's represented graphically. I'm no coder, so I don't know exactly where the difficulty lies with making keepers much quicker to "gather themselves". But it should be done. As it is now, they're taking way too much time, too often. If this timewasting is a way to represent the goalie taking his time because he got a heavy knock, got his breath bashed out of him, or an injury, that I can understand. But in that case it happens too frequently, I feel. If it's just "scrambling to get up" ... then this scrambling takes too much time. Real keepers don't take that much time. They wouldn't be allowed to be keepers if they did.

[Guest]

I see plenty of instances where keepers make quick reaction double or even triple saves from a grounded position, as WITW has pointed out the flaw is in animations not existing or being broken for when the keeper fails to make a quick reaction save that requires a change of body shape. Basically the ME has calculated that the keeper cannot or will not make the save from the follow-up but the animation to show that either doesn't exist or isn't working.

I'm sure SI want to & will fix it.

[brod]

3. Player Interaction - Broken. It's far too intense with conversations and broken 'promises' all over the place. It should be a bit more subtle in my opinion with things happening towards the end of player contracts as in real life - exceptions rather than the rule which we see at the moment

I wouldn't say broken, but there's massive scope for improvement. There just needs to be more things to say. When someone comes to you and says they want more football unless you want to get rid of them you can only say a few things - promise them football, say someone is playing 'the form of their life', or say be patient and they'll be time over the season.

If you use the latter two and the player disagrees you either have to give in and say you'll play them, question them by saying they're being over the top, or agree to sell them. I'd like some more options, tailored to the type of player asking.

Playing last night I had my 31 yr old, 3rd choice centre mid ask me for more playing time. I told him there were plenty more games and to be patient (it's Feb, so technically true), and he kicked off and said he was going to leave. I said is this all in the heat of the moment and he came back with I want to see. The last thing I could say was, "I've got no choice but to let you leave." And that's an issue, I had no choice, I didn't click on it and left the conversation. A few days later the player said he was considering leaving at the end of the season when his contract expires. I didn't want that situation, but I didn't really have much option.

I'm not going to say I'm going to give him football, because he's 3rd choice for a reason. And saying there are plenty of games left was true, there are. But he didn't accept that, and once he didn't there were no options for me to go.

In this instance I would have liked to have said something like 'we've got a lot of games coming up, you'll be playing some and coming on in others.' 'I need a squad at this moment, and you're a part of that.' And then when he made his contract threat, 'I don't see you as a first team regular but I'd like to use your experience in the squad.' 'You can be a role model to the younger players.' 'There's potentially a coaching position for you here' etc.

[sporadicsmiles]

3. Player Interaction - Broken. It's far too intense with conversations and broken 'promises' all over the place. It should be a bit more subtle in my opinion with things happening towards the end of player contracts as in real life - exceptions rather than the rule which we see at the moment

There certainly is room for improvement here, especially when responses that seem the most logical are missing, but I would not go as far as to say it is broken. The premise is very simple, if you make promises, do not break them or you will irritate people (that works in real life too!).

5. Make players more unique - The hardest job but every single defender seems to play the same with no difference in play whether they're Rio Ferdinand or John Terry. All attackers seem to play the same. This is changed by roles in tactics but in real life Andy Carroll will always be Andy Carroll whether you set him as a target man or false nine. This isn't represented adequately enough in the game.

I again have to disagree with you here. Great players can pretty much do whatever you want them to do tactically (it is one reason they are great players), but further down you can see a lot of variation in players who can typically do extremely well at a limited number of things. Your example of Andy Carroll; you could easily ask him in real life or in the game to play as a false 9, and he will most likely be relatively ineffectual doing so. Playing him as a target man, and setting up your team to accommodate this will result in getting the best from him. I have made specific changes to the roles I play my players because that is a role they can play well. Do not play a super quick, wonderful crosser as a wide playmaker cutting inside. He can do it, but he would be better as a winger hitting crosses. This for me is the variation. To put it a different way, if you took two players of equal CA, they would not play the same way in the exact same role for me.

[saiyaman]

I see plenty of instances where keepers make quick reaction double or even triple saves from a grounded position, as WITW has pointed out the flaw is in animations not existing or being broken for when the keeper fails to make a quick reaction save that requires a change of body shape. Basically the ME has calculated that the keeper cannot or will not make the save from the follow-up but the animation to show that either doesn't exist or isn't working.

I'm sure SI want to & will fix it.

Quick question: Keepers were the only motion captured players? Or were outfield players motion captured with animations too?

I think this will explain how keepers are kind of slow.

[Guest]

Both were mo-cap'd, keepers are just trickier to get right for any football game.

[DP]

DP - about your 1.st point, about the match engine: It's safe to say that improving the m.e. is an ongoing and never ending process for SI. I think people - in general - have too high demands of it, though. They expect too much. The technology being used - and the technology that is practical to use in the real world - is pretty crude and rudimentary, after all. There's very little in the sense of "real" AI. In order to acheive the standards that many seem to expect, would require issuing each of the 22 players with an artificial brain (AI), each with a very powerful processor running it. Only then would you see the m.e. making leaps in sophistication, I'm afraid. What we have is a set of m.e. rules/triggers/mechanics, powered by 1 (your) processor. The players are brainless, they're only reacting according to the coding (rules/triggers) of the m.e., if there is any. If there isn't, they will do something "default", which is often something stupid. The problem (well, one of them) for the coders is to identify all of these situations that can occur on a football pitch, and make codes (rules) to deal with them without this code to have a negative knock-on effect where they shouldn't. As I said, this is an ongoing process, but a very difficult one.

That being said - in my view the FM match engine is the best there is in any football game. At least tactically speaking. There's still room for improvements, of course.

I get the AI is ongoing and is difficult to get right but I think the engine is way behind with animations.

We've had a 3D representation now for over 10 years and yet it's still impossible to see regular real life football scenarios? I think it's behind where it should be. I should be able to see a player round the keeper and tap into an empty net.

[forameuss]

I get the AI is ongoing and is difficult to get right but I think the engine is way behind with animations.

We've had a 3D representation now for over 10 years and yet it's still impossible to see regular real life football scenarios? I think it's behind where it should be. I should be able to see a player round the keeper and tap into an empty net.

Because they've had other priorities. If they wanted to make it look like FIFA, they could have, but they'd probably have to raise the price of the game itself, and build at close to a loss, to bring in the personnel and experience needed to do that.

Instead, they've kept a small team and stuck to what they're good at, rather than concentrate full time on the bells and whistles. You think it's behind where it should be - fair enough - but I think it's exactly where it should be. I'd be worried if they started concentrating on the animations as a priority.

[Cougar2010]

I get the AI is ongoing and is difficult to get right but I think the engine is way behind with animations.

We've had a 3D representation now for over 10 years and yet it's still impossible to see regular real life football scenarios? I think it's behind where it should be. I should be able to see a player round the keeper and tap into an empty net.

3d was introduced in 2009 so thats only 6 years not 10.

I also disagree thats its impossible to see regular RL football scenarios. A lot depends on how you set up your tactics but over at least the last couple of years my games look a lot like real football matches.

As for players rounding the keeper well that already happens on FM, more or less than RL? I don't know but when was the last time you saw a player do it IRL, its not as common as you seem to imply.

[ianscousemac]

What I'd like

1. To be a Director of Football. Hire the manager the staff and buy/sell youth players

2. The option to choose to be an existing manager. For example set your profile as Pep Guardiola and you have his stats and reputation and can only play with the tactics he uses in the game. Bit of fun and would help us understand a bit more how the AI does it.

3. Editor and ability to choose databases in FMC.

4. Tutorials. Have 5/6 little scenarios in which the you get advised what tactical changes to make regarding reading the ME.

5. remove/update press conferences

[Smurf]

Ok, picking out a few then hit the last post I saw which was ridiculous.

I have to be honest and say I didn't really enjoy FM15. Probably my least played version for a while. The match engine didn't seem to be up to it's usual polished status at patch 3 and player interaction was too much of an annoyance. With this in mind I think the following 5 areas should be looked at to improve the game:

1. Match engine - nowhere near as much variety to look convincing. It's impossible to see most goals that are scored in real life. There are no subtle chips, no rounding the keeper, no deflection of keepers that fly in. It lacks variety to be convincing.

Also, how often do free kicks hit the bar and fall to an attacker to tap in?! I've literally never seen this scenario in real life yet it's constant in FM.

2. Penalties - The situation with Bayern last night where they missed all pens is literally impossible to achieve in FM. More randonmess and variation absolutely necessary. I have no idea if the stats make any difference.

3. Player Interaction - Broken. It's far too intense with conversations and broken 'promises' all over the place. It should be a bit more subtle in my opinion with things happening towards the end of player contracts as in real life - exceptions rather than the rule which we see at the moment

4. Legacy features - 'Recommend me a scout' - said no one ever. The game is littered with things that probably looked good 10 years ago but are now bloat and offer no value. SI shouldn't be afraid of removing things if they are no longer valid. Club affiliates another example. It's a bit over the top in FM.

5. Make players more unique - The hardest job but every single defender seems to play the same with no difference in play whether they're Rio Ferdinand or John Terry. All attackers seem to play the same. This is changed by roles in tactics but in real life Andy Carroll will always be Andy Carroll whether you set him as a target man or false nine. This isn't represented adequately enough in the game.

There's very little difference in style and what they bring to my side if I buy Hazard or Di Maria yet both are vastly different players in real life. This needs to be addressed.

Just some thoughts.

1. Match engine will never be finished, to replicate all the moves a player may do in a match is a job for quantum computing, no todays rigs we have.

3D is just a basic representation of what the ME is doing - it's gotten way better over the years, but it will never be finished.

Sure, but it's the simple, regular things you see in football that are not represented as well as they should be. Even things such as Messi's chip penalty last night.

It cannot happen on FM which is a shame.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I've seen a player play act at a penalty.

I agree though, when winning by several goals a variety penalty would spice up the peno situation. Usually though I'm happy for them to just score the penalty.

Guess my point is I don't think the attributes make the players different enough. Regardless of attributes and research the players are too similar.

Valencia plays like every other winger - yet he is very different to Alexis Sanchez, for example. The players themselves should dictate the style they play, not always the player instructions is my point.

I'm not sure what your facts here are based on?

I'd give Sanchez a higher decision making, passing, and shot accuracy rating, but in terms of pace and accelleration etc. they are quite similar in winger attributes.

For example, I'd give McGeady a decision making of 1, and a role of "Likes to get to byline" and a crossing of 5.

But I don't think Sanchez and Valencia are dissimilar in their style, they're both very attacking, I'd just rank Sanchez ahead in terms of CA and decisions, crossing, passing etc.

Which should be reflected better in-game.

I agree with your points and ESPECIALLY with penalties. Yet again, I had a player hit the bar and stand still when the ball rebounded to him. I know he's not allowed to touch the ball if no other player has if he's hit the woodwork, but has anyone else ever seen this in real life? It's happened to me so many times. Also, the match engine has taken a step back. I've just tried playing for the first time since the new patch and I conceded a late equaliser after my keeper pushed the ball into the post and then had a little lie down allowing the opposition striker to tap the ball in.

I feel like SI haven't been trying in recent years. Just invent some unnecessary feature and claim to improve the AI and pass it off as a new game. Also, I feel like attributes need changing by making players' abilities a bit more open to interpretation.

Yeh, I've seen the peno situation before, you basically want players with high reaction rates to be on edge of the box to pounce on those.

What's so unusual about a late equaliser? Granted your keeper lay down, but that's not a ME problem, that's a 3D issue, where the character should have moved or gotten up.

Remove the stupid animation where players dramatically fall over/dive forward under the slightest challenge and I'll be sweet.

Some players do fall under the simplest touch. I'd like to see more yellows or something for simulation, but make it harder to get a red for this type of thing.

What I'd like

1. To be a Director of Football. Hire the manager the staff and buy/sell youth players

2. The option to choose to be an existing manager. For example set your profile as Pep Guardiola and you have his stats and reputation and can only play with the tactics he uses in the game. Bit of fun and would help us understand a bit more how the AI does it.

3. Editor and ability to choose databases in FMC.

4. Tutorials. Have 5/6 little scenarios in which the you get advised what tactical changes to make regarding reading the ME.

5. remove/update press conferences

1. - no - comes up every year, it's called Football Manager, not Football Director, this idea is shot down year after year after year where only a handful of people support it.

2. Same as 1

3. Ok if you want I guess

4. Expand on this please?

5. You can get your assistant manager to go to these.

Personally I hate the press conference side of things.

I'd prefer a simpler method rather than answering stupid questions I'd prefer if they actually just allowed you use emotions as a response:

After a good win: Delighted

After a heavy loss: Disgusted

After an substantial injury: Worried/Not Worried/Disappointed etc.

etc.

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Some valid points & I definitely I agree with removing outdated features that have just been forgotten about due to being superseded by other features.

Number 5 is something that I feel is the responsibility of the researchers as I think there are enough attribute & other data fields in the game for players to be accurately modelled against their real life counterparts, personally I feel that the German research team is very strong on this aspect as they appear to not only pay attention to a player's strengths but just as importantly their weaknesses & are not afraid to give a top division player single digit attributes, something that I feel other researchers are less willing to do.

Rooney having an important matches rating of 17 is way too high given what he has actually done when it really matters or too many English players having a pressure rating higher than 10 as another example,

Obviously that only helps in the early seasons of any game & ensuring that players have a more varied attribute distribution is something that SI should always be monitoring but it still comes back to the starting data having to be a more accurate reflection on real life as the assessment of player attributes in 2040 will be based on the starting database.

I already pointed that out before, particularly when it comes to goalkeepers. If we disregard CA/PA and just look at the core attributes a lot of them are very much the same.

I do feel that there needs to be consistency from the researchers as to what is a 'top league' level attribute and what counts as 'world class'. There's a lot of players with 15+ attributes who don't really stand out IRL, yet seem frighteningly good on FM because their attributes are spot on for the game. England is the prime offender, there's players who tend to be of excessively high quality, and it always leads to the same thing. 10+ years later the game balances things out by churning out regens to 130/140PA and making the quality of English talent match what it is IRL.

I also love that the attributes don't always match the descriptions in the manual. There's a few strong, tough dribblers who have dire 'balance' something that they would need to be quite high in order to pull off some of the mazy dribbles they do in reality. Course, that's just me and it may very well be different for others.

[forameuss]

3. Editor and ability to choose databases in FMC.

Should say, 3 will probably never be realised, as it's one of the things SI have actually come out and talked about. They see editing as against the ethos of FMC, plus given you have micro transactions in there, it kind of defeats the point of having them. I'd be fairly comfortable in betting that you'll never be able to edit FMC. Ever.

[Guest]

I don't know, the ability to use custom league files would be a reasonable addition to FMC. I think FMC has evolved beyond its original concept of being an express game mode & is now seen as being quicker to play because of what has been removed rather than speed of play being its main function.