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9 features we want in FIFA 19 Ultimate Team
How to improve FIFA's most popular mode.
For the best part of a decade, Ultimate Team has served as not only FIFA's most popular feature, but one of the most beloved modes in all of gaming. Its squad building concept has undergone a variety of changes over the years, too, with the next game-changing feature always seemingly on the horizon.
Past innovations have included FUT Champions, Squad Building Challenges and an ever-evolving array of Inform items, but there is always room for improvement. Here are some features that would make the FIFA Ultimate Team experience even better when FIFA 19 is released.
1. Lessen the grind of FUT Champions
It takes ages to play 40 games a weekend
© EA Sports
If there's one thing that many FIFA fans tend to agree on, it's that FUT Champions is a bit of a grind in its current form. Players are required to play 40 online games across a three-day weekend for even a chance at earning the top prizes – a feat which can potentially take around 14 hours to complete. Our solution would be to either cut down the amount of games or extend the Weekend League format across an entire week.
2. Sets and Challenges
A selection of EA's sports games have recently adopted Sets and Challenges as part of their Ultimate Team offerings. The former is a way of earning rewards for collecting certain items – somewhat similar to the FUT Collection feature of old. Challenges are scenarios in which you can earn rewards for completing mid-match tasks as well as winning games. Both features have been well-received and would suit FIFA well.
3. Free FUT Draft entries
FUT Drat could be more popular if it wasn't so expensive
© EA Sports
First implemented back in FIFA 16, FUT Draft is a great way of playing with Ultimate Team's top superstars on the cheap. The feature arguably isn't as popular as it should be, however – the result of a 15k entry cost in coins. We're not saying that this should be scrapped entirely, but the odd free entry wouldn’t go amiss, and it would be nice to see implemented as an extra reward in Squad Battles or Online Seasons, for example.
4. Player training
If you've had a chance to play FIFA on mobile, you'll likely have engaged with its player training feature. In that game, you can actually turn anyone into a superstar with enough effort, allowing you to upgrade players of all skill levels. For the main game, we'd like to see it done the way PES' myClub mode does it – setting a limit on each player's potential, but allowing their attributes to increase with regular game time.
5. Custom kits, badges and stadiums
FUT needs more customisation options
© EA Sports
While Ultimate Team offers up a plethora of collectible kits and badges for use in the mode, we'd love to be able to customise our own unique designs. It would be great if we had full reign over our stadiums, too, right down to the seat colours, net material, and even custom audio chants for the fans. There's a mass of customisation potential in FIFA Ultimate Team, and we'd love to see it realised in FIFA 19.
6. FUT Career Mode
These days, the Single Player Seasons mode feels a little redundant in comparison to the more engaging Squad Battles. Instead of grinding out wins to acquire a set level of points, it'd be great to see a proper Career mode implemented in SPS' place. Competing with AI squads in league tables would add a greater level of engagement than the current system, and could even be implemented for online play, too.
7. Online Co-op
It would be great to play FUT in co-op
© EA Sports
One of the only downsides to FIFA Ultimate Team is how unsociable it can prove at times. It's very much a single-player mode, and there's currently no way of teaming up online to take on opposition players with friends. Of course, the standard Co-op Seasons mode is a good alternative, but seeing as FUT is FIFA's most popular mode, we're still hoping for a way to play online co-op with our Ultimate Teams.
8. Greater stat-keeping
It's not uncommon for FIFA Ultimate Team's biggest fans to rack up hundreds, if not thousands of games on a yearly basis. And while stats are available to identify key highlights such as the amount of goals scored per-player, it'd be great to see an added layer of depth to this feature going forward. Everything from the amount of distance covered to the amount of tackles made would make for fascinating reading at the end of the year.
9. Retro FUT features
Bring back FUT 09 items to celebrate the mode's 10th anniversary
© EA Sports
FIFA Ultimate Team's current incarnation debuted back in March of 2009, releasing as a paid add-on for FIFA 09. Therefore, FIFA 19 will pass through the ten-year mark around halfway into its lifecycle, and this serves as a great opportunity to hark back to those early days. It'd be great to see a separate retro mode with FUT 09-style items, gameplay modifiers and additional features that were unique to Ultimate Team all those years ago.
