With a new friendly mode EA caused a stir last week. Does this mean the return of FUT tournaments or is an unwritten law of the community being challenged?
The Ultimate Team mode of the FIFA series stands above all for competitive gaming: With Rivals, the Champs Qualifiers and the associated Finals as well as the Squad Battles, there are a multitude of competitions in which players can measure themselves against each other. The focus is always on achieving the best possible rewards to take your team to the next level.
Oasis of relaxation in friendly matches
The friendly matches (FUT Friendlies) represent the antithesis to this orientation. In this PvP mode, there are a variety of opportunities to play a few games without the pressure of winning.
However, EA has already shifted more and more tasks into the actually non-competitive FUT Friendlies in the past sequels. In these tasks, users can, among other things, acquire special players or tokens that can be exchanged for rewards.
Against the resulting competitive idea in friendly matches, a kind of unwritten law of the community developed: In FUT friendlies that serve a task, the golden goal rule applies – the first to score wins. The player in arrears leaves the match, thus handing victory to the leader.
Five tries per day
EA is now scratching this agreement with a new mode: friendly matches with daily limited attempts. Currently, this innovation is being tested with the “Glory Trail” and “Silver Hunt” objectives. In these, players reach a new level every three victories.
There is a maximum of 21 victories to be achieved, and the best possible reward awaits in the form of a pack. The highlight is that only five attempts per player are possible each day in these friendly match modes. This means that each player can play a total of 70 (glory trail) and 48 (silver hunt) games until the end of the competition.
These competitions are thus reminiscent of tournaments from earlier offshoots of the series. In these, there was also a limited number of competitions, and special cards beckoned as rewards – which became rarer a few years ago than in newer FIFA parts.
Champs mentality in Friendlies
This supposed rebirth of the tournament mode, however, leads to a problem, according to the reports of many players in forums: in the glory trail and pure silver friendlies, the mentality of profit-oriented game modes is moving in. Reddit users, for example, report FUT friendlies on the level of Champs Finals matches – arguably the most competitive mode in FUT.
The unwritten Golden Goal rule does not apply either. After all, you have to be economical with your kicks. And so the community is left with one question: Will the FUT tournaments of past FIFAs return or is EA just giving the Golden Goal rule the golden shot?
