Multiplat AFL 26 - Releasing May 8th

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

A reminder before this game's alleged release.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
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Hello. Perhaps you've been here before. Perhaps you haven't. If you haven't, here's what you need to know: these threads have a long history of being dumpster fires. For that reason, we take a much stricter approach to moderation than we otherwise do.


What is okay:

• Heated debate / disagreement​
• Criticising the game / developers​
• Praising the game / developers​
• General shit talk​

What is not okay:

• Personal attacks / name calling / abuse / criticising the person rather than the argument / game
• Repeating the same thing over and over and over and over (and over) to push an agenda or attempt to dominate the thread

We will not hesitate to permanently thread ban you if you are taking too much of our time.

In the wise, wise words of Jasper Beardsley:

 

[GoldbergsGold]

So, while there is room for more… this game actually has a lot of that ‘out-think’ your opponent in the marking contests.
Part of it is where the ball is kicked to… but then there’s skill attributes, jostle timing, mark timing, mark vs spoil decision, if spoil - in which direction for roving players (hot tip - hit the boundary!), speccy / no speccy, front position / coming over the top, etc

And when most of those factors weigh up to about the same for those in the contest, there is no winner and we see fumbles/spills… I remember GoldbergsGold mentioning he missed that from AFL 23….
But now we have it, and we get people that don’t understand it just cracking it that they can’t win every single time.
Imagine how easy the game would be if you could!

It felt more strategic in Evo 2 in the marking contests, you're competing in a pack marking contest getting nudged out by multiple players trying to hold your ground, especially with sliders on making marking hard it feels more satisfying getting a mark and not being rewarded for dump kicking. It's not a 1v1 forced wrestle, and I have no idea why they think removing pack marks is a good idea.

 

[BlackMamba]

Wait do you have to buy Pro Team Coins to buy players from the Auction House?

If that's the case then they have gone 2K level scum.

You can buy coins... or you could get them by selling some of your own players (earned from packs) on the Auction House.

 

[hooked on fishing]

So my advice to him is:-

• Switch to Manual with HUD kicking for much more control of the kicks

I was getting so pissed off with all the kicks not going where I wanted and almost losing games because of it. I saw someone mention changing the manual with hud kicking and omg what a freakin game changer! You can literally kick the ball now wherever you want how short or long you want. I can’t believe I didn’t know about it earlier

 

[CraigMc24]

Watched through to the end of the first game.
He says ‘My players are cooked’ but then doesn’t interchange them.
Now, I dunno if he has Auto-Interchange on, but it’s known that’s not great at the moment… and I’m hoping adjustments to it get done soon.

But even so, his players don’t sprint to the contest because they’re cooked. They’re probably also not performing well with tackles and contests because of that.
He gets outmarked in contests by a third man up, and his assisted kicks get turned over.

So my advice to him is:-

• Switch to Manual with HUD kicking for much more control of the kicks
• spoil more, especially when you see your opponent chooses to bomb it and can often out mark you
• use the interchange system, both Mini menu and pause menu
• draw the opponent, take on some tackles and then handball out wide
• use icon switching (he never did) and get extra players to the contests around the ground

And again, there’s definitely bugs in the game that need fixing… but there’s so many things in there already that he didn’t do, and could’ve done to be more competitive.

If you have the time, another video explaining all that in action would be perfect for me and much appreciated . Explaining, what you believe to be the best way to play the game. I find myself doing alot of what Sharpy does and find the game alittle frustrating at times too.

 

[Irishchap]

New annoyance, pro team: accidentally picked the wrong player from a pack, you can’t unselect them. You can confirm your pick and absolutely nothing else. Just poor especially for anything to do with real money (I earned them in game, but not the point)

 

[Dez!]

New annoyance, pro team: accidentally picked the wrong player from a pack, you can’t unselect them. You can confirm your pick and absolutely nothing else. Just poor especially for anything to do with real money (I earned them in game, but not the point)

I got a Sapphire Nick Blakey and there was another Emerald player in the pack and the stupid button changes so instead of picking the extra player it confirmed my pick and I lost the Emerald.

 

[BlackMamba]

If you have the time, another video explaining all that in action would be perfect for me and much appreciated . Explaining, what you believe to be the best way to play the game. I find myself doing alot of what Sharpy does and find the game alittle frustrating at times too.

Yeah ok, if I get a chance I’ll try to put something together.

I recorded a few snippets last night for things I’d like to show with all this, so I’ll see what I can do.

 

[CraigMc24]

Yeah ok, if I get a chance I’ll try to put something together.

I recorded a few snippets last night for things I’d like to show with all this, so I’ll see what I can do.

Cheers mate, appreciate it

 

[SugarShane]

If you watch the first 20 minutes of this or even just skip bits and play there is no way you’d hand over money for this game. Definition of a game that would make you want to throw the control and never pick it back up again.

Granted streamers aren't really my thing, wrong generation and all that, but jeez I can't scroll quick enough when this dude pops up in my feeds. He keeps coming back I guess because of the algorithm but he gives off "12yo kid yelling at video games" vibes.

Probably doesn't help that he seems to mostly play Big Ant bugfests but I struggle to see the entertainment factor.

 

[FearTheBeard13]

I was getting so pissed off with all the kicks not going where I wanted and almost losing games because of it. I saw someone mention changing the manual with hud kicking and omg what a freakin game changer! You can literally kick the ball now wherever you want how short or long you want. I can’t believe I didn’t know about it earlier

Its actually laughable how this is considered a ‘feature’ just to be able to kick the ball wherever you want

 

[Dez!]

You can buy coins... or you could get them by selling some of your own players (earned from packs) on the Auction House.

It's idiotic that you can't use Footy Points to buy players on the Auction House, that's indefensible.

Scummier than 2K and that is a high bar to jump.

 

[Archer_11]

Had four games of PT last night, it was fine. Right now I'm wondering if they are going to improve the framerates and tighten up the AI while half the interwebs are saying it's a broken mess. It's quite the spectrum. PT is approaching AFL23 levels of activity too so I don't think I'm on my pat malone having event free sessions either.

Hopefully some of these bugs get fixed so we can move on to complaining about something more wholesome like gameplay and player models.

 

[Archer_11]

Egads, first one to post since ten hours ago. It feels new. Is this new? I feel like I'm in 28 Bugs Later.

I don't know how to add multi quotes to an edit so here goes, a second post. Don't @ me.

I got a Sapphire Nick Blakey and there was another Emerald player in the pack and the stupid button changes so instead of picking the extra player it confirmed my pick and I lost the Emerald.

What's weird is that you can't even buy PTC from this screen, and if you buy it elsewhere it doesn't show up until you reload the page. So there's no cancel and there's no cash grab, you can only exit. Weird thing to not have as a priority fix.

Bid on a diamond Sicily which I already owned but was gonna flip, didn’t touch the game for a day and then when I went back on the card had disappeared with a message telling me to check the “auction centre” to confirm as it was a duplicate card. 40k disappeared, the Sicily card is nowhere to be seen and the support team don’t respond to anything.

Laughable product.

Server updates can go AWoL sometimes. Definitely raise a ticket, that's enough PTC to raise a small child.

 

[Simon_Says]

wait confirm this please, do they have a game mode where you have packs a ala fifa or NBA 2K? ahhhaah

 

[Irishchap]

wait confirm this please, do they have a game mode where you have packs a ala fifa or NBA 2K? ahhhaah

I can’t fathom how someone is in this thread in particular and not aware of pro team.

Ultimate team sort of deal. Packs using currency earned by completing objectives (or using real cash)

Apparently adding AFL legends in packs but don’t think we’ve seen them yet, I’ve only played this years pro team so unsure if they have featured

 

[Del80659]

wait they actually do have a mode like that? that is disgusting

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

No confirmation from the dickheads at Big Ant of course, but someone over there has posted that an update was released for Xbox. Unsure if this means all platforms are finally on the same version, because why would something as simple as that be communicated?

 

[Irishchap]

wait they actually do have a mode like that? that is disgusting

How dare they feature a mode everyone was demanding. What next

 

[Del80659]

How dare they feature a mode everyone was demanding. What next

you and 3 other Bigfooty users is not everyone

 

[SugarShane]

you and 3 other Bigfooty users is not everyone

It's also not no one. Plenty of people have been asking for it back to the Evolution days.

Personally it's not my cup of tea, but pretending that no one wanted it is just inaccurate.

 

[Dez!]

you and 3 other Bigfooty users is not everyone

It was a pretty commonly requested feature, it just hasn't been implemented very well.

 

[Lesnish]

Righto who left the voice message on Dan Does Footy

 

[Archer_11]

It was a pretty commonly requested feature, it just hasn't been implemented very well.

What do they need to change?

I can think of a dozen improvements, some that are well overdue, but to me the framework is pretty solid and the novelty value is there. It's also allowed me to participate in the SC banter at work which is an unexpected boon.

 

[Irishchap]

What do they need to change?

I can think of a dozen improvements, some that are well overdue, but to me the framework is pretty solid and the novelty value is there. It's also allowed me to participate in the SC banter at work which is an unexpected boon.

Nothing major for me just a HEAP of QOL changes / additions.

My list would be:

Presentation: cards, packs, menus are extremely bland. Go over the top and get some actual art design on the cards.

In-game presentation: if you’re showing someone’s stats who’s lining up for goal, show the card type and their real life team stuff like that. Just jazz it up a lil and make it more fun

Better battle pass: again the rewards and everything are quite meh. Need to add more club customisation for unlocks

 

[Archer_11]

Nothing major for me just a HEAP of QOL changes / additions.

My list would be:

Presentation: cards, packs, menus are extremely bland. Go over the top and get some actual art design on the cards.

In-game presentation: if you’re showing someone’s stats who’s lining up for goal, show the card type and their real life team stuff like that. Just jazz it up a lil and make it more fun

Better battle pass: again the rewards and everything are quite meh. Need to add more club customisation for unlocks

Pretty good although it's easy to imagine some of these suggestions not being a focus with the current approach. e.g. the current design approach. But I agree with where you're coming from.

Speaking of ideas, here are some things I offered to not much enthusiasm plus a couple of new ones:-

• LL needs to have hard and easy ladders. Playing 8 - 10 games before you get to the good stuff on every single ladder is mental. Have it as an option sure but don't force 20+ minutes games playing absolute spuds. (The reason this matters is because I don't have time to play 20m online game where the connection drops in the final quarter, and Coach Battles doesn't offer any immediate rewards. The payoff is night and day).
• Have your team rating matter - beating a team rated in the 70s on hardest should have a bigger reward than a team rating in the high 80s. 'Win a game with bronze cards' isn't the same thing.
• More game modes - classic scenarios where you have to come from a long way back, that sort of thing. Can use this one in the main game as well.
• Would also like to see novelty challenges like only being able to score with torps or goals outside 50. Or always kicking into the wind or your entire squad is now 150cm tall, go nuts. Just something silly to break up the monotony. Wall it off, put it in a separate mode, if you don't like it don't play it.
• Add PTC as a reward to some of the packs or for winning certain matches. 50 here, 100 there, that sort of thing.
• Borrow two ideas from Fornite - have players earn enough PTC to buy a few packs over the season, and have end game rewards. Levels over 40 should earn something - FP or maybe cosmetics for legendary players.
• Team builder content in the auction house - badly needed. After a certain amount of FOs had dropped on 23 I only bought Team Builder chasing some of the rarer jumpers. I hardly pulled any, maybe two or three max.

I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface. There's so much that can be done, not everyone will love everything but that's ok. Just give us variety.