Going live today is the FIFA 19 1.03 update. As FIFA 19 has been out for over a month now, it’s about time that a hefty update came in and fixed several issues still persisting in the game. Thankfully, the 1.03 update for FIFA 19 fixes a good amount of issues the game had in gameplay, Ultimate Team, and background systems. Read on below for the FIFA 19 1.03 patch notes.
FIFA 19 1.03 Update Patch Notes – How Much has Changed?
If you’re worried that the core gameplay of FIFA 19 has drastically changed, you’ll be relieved to know that it hasn’t. Instead, several noteworthy improvements have been made to the gameplay, ironing out a hefty chunk of issues and glitches FIFA 19 had. Two of the biggest changes in gameplay, however, come in nerfs to bicycle kicks and buffs to goalkeepers.
FIFA 19 1.03 Update – Bicycle Kicks Nerfed
One of the most consistent problems players had with FIFA 19 is that bicycle kicks are overly powerful and easy to pull off. Anybody who watches soccer (football) regularly will know that bicycle kicks are a rare occurrence. These spectacular volleys involve players jumping up and kicking the ball in mid-air while lying horizontally. It was far too easy to pull off in FIFA 19, but as of today, they have been nerfed. Everything below has been addressed and fixed (via FIFAForums):
- “Some players were incorrectly taking these kicks without meeting the Agility attribute requirements to do these kicks contextually.” This was happening with players with Agility ratings of 80 or higher and the Flair Trait, without holding “down the Flair Shot button.”
- Players could score overhead and bicycle kicks in unrealistic, crowded situations. The animations were too quick, too (for “some players with higher Agility attributes”), making it too easy to score.
- “These kicks are now more likely to be impacted by error resulting in potentially less accuracy, speed, and spin.”
- “The… effect will be more noticeable in situations where executing one of these kicks would be very hard, and less noticeable in situations where executing one of these kicks would be easier.”
Alongside the nerfs to bicycle and overhead kicks, goalkeepers have seen a nice buff.
FIFA 19 1.03 Update – Goalkeepers Improved
Another area of concern for FIFA 19 players were the goalkeepers. Thankfully, the men between the sticks have been improved in the 1.03 patch. The biggest issue before the update was arguably goalkeepers not reacting quickly enough (or at all) to the ball at their feet. EA Sports has noted the issue and has addressed these following problems as well:
- Goalkeepers were rarely picking up the ball when it was close to them.
- They were “trapping the ball outside of the box, despite an attacking player being near them, instead of clearing the ball.”
- You couldn’t take control of the goalkeeper as they rushed out of the net.
- “Rarely, after positioning your keeper with ‘Move Keeper’ controls, the keeper would dive out of the way of the incoming shot.”
- “Keepers were not picking up the ball after knocking it down with a tip down save.”
- The ball was traveling too fast during long goal kicks.
- You don’t have to wait for keepers to get back in position before taking a throw-in.
- Keepers will no longer warp into the net after making saves.
- Animation speeds of keepers standing up after making saves have been increased.
- “Rarely, the keeper would start to dive in one direction to make a save, and would instead animate as diving in the other direction.”
FIFA 19 1.03 Update – Ultimate Team Changes
The latest FIFA 19 update has addressed a lot of problems in Ultimate Team. Below, you’ll find a list of the most important changes that have been made to the online mode:
- EA has “made changes to the Division Rivals pre-match flow” in an attempt to make finding matches easier.
- You will no longer see your opponent’s FUT Club established date, name, and squad name.
- The Squad Battles and Daily Objective refresh timers will now count down correctly for all players.
- PC players won’t see the game crash at the start of a FUT Online Draft anymore.
- You’ll now see the changes to your Division Rivals ranking after a loss.
- It won’t show your FUT Coin balance as 0 “after being outbid on an item on the FUT Transfer Market.”
Plenty more visual changes have also been implemented, but you can find these in the full patch notes here.
FIFA 19 1.03 Update – What Else has Changed?
Alongside all of the changes above, there are plenty of other fixes contained within the FIFA 19 1.03 patch. Many quality of life improvements and changes have been implemented as part of this massive update. For example, some team kits have been improved, the intro audio for DFB-Pokal has been updated, “the scoreboard in Olympiastadion [has] the crests assigned to the wrong scores” no longer, and “your opponent in an Online match will no longer be able to skip your goal replays.”
There are an awful lot of changes coming to FIFA 19 as part of the 1.03 update, and we strongly advise you have a read of the complete official patch notes. As usual, EA Sports is working on further updates to implement in the future, ensuring the game is as realistic and fun as it should be. We’re happy that bicycle kicks have been nerfed, and that goalkeepers have been drastically improved, but is there anything EA Sports can do to decrease the number of times we see shots rebounding off the woodwork? Hopefully, that is something the company can implement in a future update.
