FIFA 19’s third major patch, update 1.04, launched for all PC players last week, and its now been made available for PS4 and Xbox One players as well. It weighs 1.5 GB on both consoles, and makes plenty of changes, in terms of balancing, UI, as well as tweaks to visuals and presentation.
The most major changes come in the form of those made to shots. Finesse shots, for instance, are more prone to error now, depending on the incoming ball’s speed, angle, and other variables. Meanwhile, strength stats of each player also seem to be more emphasized now, and should come into play more than they have so far in situations where players get pushed off the ball too easily.
Like the previous update, goalkeepers have once again received a few fixes as well. For instance, issues such as goalkeepers kicking the ball forward instead of catching them or not diving to intercept crosses have been fixed, among others. Other relatively more minor issues, such as the game reading shot inputs wrongly, or late switching of players, have also been addressed.
Some overall visual and presentation changes have also been made, while minor issues with Ultimate Team and the Career Mode also seem to have been addressed. You can check out the full patch notes below (via EA Sports).
Gameplay:
Made the following changes:
- Adjustments to the effectiveness of first time finesse shots where the incoming ball is coming from behind the shooting player, between 135 and 225 degrees, where 0 degrees is the direction the player is facing.
- These kicks are now more likely to be impacted by error resulting in potentially less accuracy, ball speed and ball spin.
- The most significant impact will be seen when the incoming ball angle is 180 degrees, with scaling reduced impact being seen up to an incoming ball angle of 135 degrees and 225 degrees on either side of the player.
- These kicks are now more likely to be impacted by error resulting in potentially less accuracy, ball speed and ball spin.
- Adjustments to the impact of defensive pressure on a shooting player:
- Increased the impact of defensive pressure on a shooting player when it is coming from in front of the shooting player.
- Reduced the impact of defensive pressure on a shooting player when it is coming from behind the shooting player.
- Reduced the likelihood that a shot which was correctly aimed into the net, and that was targeting a location near to the post, would miss the net in a shooting situation where the attacking player is under no defensive pressure and is not off balance.
- When dribbling, players were getting pushed off the ball too easily in situations where the defending player was approaching the attacking player from the side. The attacking player will now be slightly more effective at holding the defending player off.
- The effect of this change will scale based on the strength of the attacking player, with stronger players seeing the greatest effect from this change.
- Some adjustments to the speed by which an attacking player, who has just lost the ball to a successful tackle, is able to recover the ball.
- A minor reduction to the acceleration of a player that has executed the Open Up Fake Shot skill move.
- When playing in an Online match, you will now be able to see the Timed Finishing indicators for your opponent.
- This only applies to a shot that would generate a Very Early (red), Early (yellow) or Great (green) shot, it will not apply for Late (gray) shots, or any shot where the player didn’t attempt to use Timed Finishing.
Addressed the following issues:
- Sometimes, when trying to execute a low driven shot, the player was executing a chip shot instead.
- Improvements in situations where a player that was in a better position to win a header was losing it due to the other player warping in front of them.
- Addressed some issues where player switching was late, or was not happening, when defending against an aerial ball.
- When performing a first time thigh trap, the player receiving the ball was slowing down too much after making the trap.
- Keepers were sometimes kicking the ball forward when moving towards it instead of picking it up.
- Keepers were rarely not diving to intercept the ball after a cross was made into the box and the ball was close to the keeper.
- Keepers were sometimes not reacting to a penalty kick that was shot directly at them or very near them.
- Keepers were sometimes hitting a powered up first time lob pass too soft and low, potentially resulting in the opposing team getting the ball.
- In a penalty kick situation during a match, if the player taking the penalty kick hit the post directly, without the keeper touching it, they were able to play the ball again before another player touched it.
- User controlled players were able to push the keeper out of the way in a free kick situation.
- Keepers are now more difficult to move.
- If a keeper is moved, they will now attempt to return to their original position after being moved.
- An offside will be called if an attacking player is interfering with the keeper during a free kick while in an offside position.
- Defenders will no longer follow their mark into the goal and potentially cause interference with their keeper.
- In the rare instance where the ball was heading towards an open net, and the attacking user was pressing the Cancel controls, an offside attacking player would still try to attack the ball, causing an offside call and the goal being called back.
- Paul Pogba was performing the incorrect run up animation when taking a long free kick.
FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT):
Made the following changes:
- We have made changes to the Division Rivals pre-match flow in an effort to reduce the difficulty of some players finding a match.
- Your team will now always be displayed on the left side, and your opponent will always be displayed on the right side, regardless of which team is Home or Away, on the following screens:
- Team Select screen.
- Kit Select screen.
- Match Preview screen.
- On the Kit Select screen, both teams will now default to the kit assigned as their Home Kit.
- When on the Team Management screen, your team’s crest will be displayed on the right side of the screen.
- Your team will now always be displayed on the left side, and your opponent will always be displayed on the right side, regardless of which team is Home or Away, on the following screens:
- We have made the following changes to Roles section of Dynamic Tactics within FUT:
- When using the Auto-Assign Player Roles button, the impact of chemistry on a player’s attributes will now be taken into consideration when assigning players.
- When attributes are being displayed on this screen, the impact of chemistry on those attributes will also be shown when viewing this screen in the FUT Squad screen.
- We have hidden the attributes being displayed on this screen when it is accessed during the pre-match flow in all FUT modes due to an issue that we are working to resolve in a future title update when available.
- When viewing this screen in the Team Management screen via the Pause Menu in a FUT Offline Mode, such as FUT Squad Battles, the attributes will still be showing their values without the impact of chemistry, something we are working to resolve in a future title update when available.
Addressed the following issues:
- Stability issue in FUT Friendly Seasons if your opponent backs out of the pre-match flow while on the Kit Select screen.
- Stability issue after watching a FUT Champions Channel replay.
- When swapping your FUT Squad Manager, the contract percentage bonus provided by the new manager was not applying until the player logged out and logged back into the FUT Servers.
- The Match Earnings leaderboard sometimes was displaying the incorrect value for some players.
- One of the Starter Objectives referenced a feature not present in FIFA 19.
- Stability issue if a player exited and entered the same screen repeatedly.
Career Mode:
Addressed the following issues:
- When playing as the manager for the Hyundai A-League, you were always being fired after completion of your first match, regardless of the result.
- Selling a player that had been assigned as a Quick Sub was causing the following issues:
- When using the associated Team Sheet in a game, players were unable to leave the Team Management screen after entering it through the Pause Menu.
- Visual issues on the associated Team Sheet when viewed in the Squad Hub.
Visual / Presentation:
Made the following changes:
- Added the assets for 50 new player and manager starheads.
- Server side changes are required before these starheads will be available for use in game, please follow @EASPORTSFIFA on Twitter for updates on when these are available.
- The full list of additions can be found in the Pitch Notes article about this patch, you can find it on https://www.ea.com/games/fifa/fifa-19/pitch-notes
- Updates to a number of team kits and crests.
Addressed the following issues:
- The Cockerel displayed in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is now correctly looking to the east.
- Sometimes, player models were appearing in the background after exiting a match.
- Sometimes, a white box would appear in the background after exiting a match.
*Note – The following issue has been identified with this patch, we are working to resolve in a future title update when and if available.
- During a match, when bringing up the ‘Select Kick Taker’ overlay during a Set Piece situation, it is possible for the attributes of a player to be displayed as over 99.
- This issue is visual only, the maximum attribute value in terms of gameplay impact is 99.
- This issue can occur in all non-FUT modes within FIFA 19.
- This issue would only occur if the player was receiving a form boost that would cause the impacted attribute to exceed 99.