Quick Play vs Ranked Patches : *Keeper Rework* : Solution to Prio Meta
QP VS RANKED PATCHES
The conflict that multiplayer games struggle with: Fun vs Comp. Nerfs to keeper make sense for casual lobbies, but for high level competitive scenes it has made keeper nearly unplayable. This is where my first suggestion would help (sorry if it would be difficult coding wise). If it's possible to separate quick play patches from ranked patches (with an option to toggle between versions in customs), this would allow a striker focused balance style for quick play to be more high scoring and fun for new players. However ranked should be all around balanced and separated from this "high scoring" balance shift we see now.
*KEEPER REWORK*
I believe keeper needs to be reworked if you wish to implement a new fake shot mechanic as well as no longer catching the ball with def stance alone. Otherwise keeper will fall into an even worse state and no one will enjoy it. I think we should take inspiration from FC26 Pro Clubs keeper system including:
- A trail for where the ball is going to end up.
- Added bonus if you add a "point of contact" visual when someone interacts with the ball, along with a color to show which player (blue visual means teammate will interact and red means opponent will interact).
- A visual to highlight which direction a shot is going (this will be good for the fake shot mechanic as this visual can psych out the keeper).
- To replace the slide mechanic, add a reactionary save. When holding down the old slide button, any shot within a close proximity will be automatically deflected. This rewards good positioning, and it can have a debuff of slower movement while holding it down.
SOLUTION TO PRIO META
This one should be fairly simple. To fix this, you can no longer have any jumping shot animations off of a teammates *shot* pass. Any other jumping animation can still be done, except for shooting (headers, settles, lob passes, etc.). This will reward precise team play, as well as make the comp scene more fun to watch.