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AI Blocking Mechanic Adjustments

Patch
Quick Take3 changes

FIFA 21's sixth title update targets AI defensive realism and dribble authenticity across three gameplay areas.

  • Nerf: Reduced the distance AI teammates can reach when attempting to block a shot, building on the ball trajectory fix from the previous update to bring AI blocks closer to realistic football behavior.
  • Fixed: Improved interception logic for situations where a defending player is standing directly in the path of a pass, helping both user-controlled players and AI teammates secure clear-cut interceptions more reliably.
  • Updated: Decreased player transition speed into stepover animations after a Skill Move is successfully requested, removing the inauthentic momentum burst that could occur when ball carriers entered stepovers.

AI Teammate Block Reach

After closely monitoring and investigating community feedback around blocking, we've made the following change:

  • Reduced the distance that AI teammates can reach when attempting to block the ball.
    • This change applies only in situations where the ball carrier takes a shot.

This change is intended to reduce AI teammate blocks from influencing matches more often than desired. It's complementary to the ball trajectory following a block change made in the previous TU, and the combination of both changes is intended to make AI blocks more true-to-life.

Note that this change does not affect CPU controlled players on the opposing team when playing single player matches in game areas such as Career Mode.

Here's some examples of how far an AI teammate could reach with a block before Title Update 6 :

Here is what the exact same blocking situations can look like after Title Update 6:

Note how the AI teammate's leg is not reaching the same distance as before. With this change, AI teammates will not attempt to make as many inauthentic blocks when the ball is passing by them, following a shot.

We'll continue to monitor community feedback regarding blocking in general.

Interception Logic

In order to improve the effectiveness of some interceptions, TU #6 introduces the following change:

  • Improved interception logic in situations where the defending player is directly in the ball's path.
    • This change applies only in situations where the ball carrier is passing the ball.

In our investigations of community feedback around interceptions, we have seen that passes could bypass a defender too easily in some situations. The change we've made here is meant to help user controlled players and AI teammates intercept the ball in clear cut interception scenarios, during which the defender is clearly standing in the expected path of the pass.

This change does not alter how players position themselves or how they think about interceptions in general, it specifically affects the aforementioned scenario. We'll continue to review and investigate community feedback regarding interceptions.

Stepover Transition Speed

In order to improve the authenticity of stepovers, the following change has been made:

  • Decreased player transition speed into a stepover after the Skill Move was successfully requested.

When we refer to transition speed here, we're talking about the ball carrier's movement speed when they transition into a stepover animation. With this change, our aim is to ensure that players don't move with the ball using unnecessary and inauthentic speed when performing stepovers.

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