FIFA 21 Title Update 8 patch notes: Stepover and Team Press nerf, Career and Ultimate team changes

FIFA 21 has had its fair share of issues, like every FIFA title honestly, but at least we players have been receiving a steady stream of updates aimed at improving the experience.

Many of the updates have attempted to make dribbling and the team press tactic less powerful, and its clearly still not in a place that EA Sports are happy with as they both face being nerfed in the latest patch, Title Update 8.

On the dribbling front, it is stepovers that have been nerfed, with both the Stepover and Reserve Step Over Skill Moves no longer easily chained. They have also been slowed down in their execution and speed at which players exit them.

Stepovers have lost some of their impact in Title Update 8. (Picture: EA Sports)

The Team Press Tactic, activated from the D-Pad, has also been slowed down in its own way, with a delay of two seconds when requesting the tactic, to increased cooldown.

The patch also promises a raft of bug fixes in Ultimate Team, as well as a change to players' potential in Career mode depending on the region from which they come.

The patch is out now on PC, with the PlayStation 4/5 and Xbox One & X|S versions expected later in the week.

FIFA 21 Title Update 8 patch notes

Gameplay

Made the following changes:

• Made several adjustments to the Team Press D-Pad Tactic.
  • Decreased the amount of time the Team Press D-Pad Tactic can be active for, before requiring cooldown, from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
  • Once Team Press is requested, its effect takes 2 seconds to activate.
  • In situations where the defending team is using Team Press and recovers possession, Team Press will not automatically remain active on the following loss of possession.
• Made several adjustments to Stepover and Reverse Step Over Skill Moves.
  • Both Skill Moves are no longer considered Easy Skill Moves and will be less effective when chained together while moving.
  • The animations for both Skill Moves have been slowed down.
  • Decreased player transition speed when exiting either Skill Move at forward angles.

Addressed the following issues:

• The goalkeeper sometimes gets stuck to the net geometry and is unable to put the ball into play, resulting in matches not finishing within the expected time.
• After a defender positioned themselves in front of the ball carrier following a heavy touch, the defender sometimes did not contest the ball.
• Improved referee penalty kick logic in situations where the goalkeeper dives at the ball carrier’s feet.
• Improved referee logic when making decisions in breakaway tackling situations outside of the box.
• When a goalkeeper moved then stood still during a penalty kick, they could sometimes deflect the ball into their own net when it was hit directly at them.
  • This does not affect other types of potential deflections that could occur.
• In situations where the ball carrier would start a shooting animation, but the shot was cancelled in time, the defender could sometimes perform an unintended blocking animation.

FIFA Ultimate Team

Made the following changes:

• In online matches, players will no longer see their opponent’s equipped Ball Item, they will instead always see their own.
• Co-Op Squad Battles matches can now be paused during gameplay by either player.
• Co-Op Squad Battles matches no longer have a pause limit.

Addressed the following issues:

• After claiming FUT Coins from Team Event Objectives, the overall FUT Coin total did not increase until FUT was exited and re-entered.
  • The correct amount of FUT Coins was being claimed, this issue only impacted when the display of the overall total would increase.
• When a previously locked Objective group was unlocked, it continued to display as locked until the player exited and re-entered FUT.
• The Co-Op widget could stop responding after the Pricing filter was used during a Transfer Market search.
• After engaging with the Recommended Consumable Search option found in the Radial Menu, not all menu navigation button callouts were functioning as expected.
• If a Co-Op Lobby guest left the Lobby while the Host was opening a pack, the Host’s menu background would incorrectly display.
• When previewing Goal Music, Chant, Anthem, and Crowd Items in My Stadium, the audio would reset if the previewed Item was selected.
• The progress UI would animate every time the Community Event screen was visited.
• Updated Competitor Mode description.
• The Club name was incorrectly displayed when viewing Player Ratings in the pause menu.
• Updated the FUT Champions Qualification Points icon displayed on the Weekend League details screen.
• Trophies displayed in Milestone Objectives were not facing in the correct direction.
• Updated background on the pop up that displays when choosing a Season reward that has multiple choices.
• When a Community Event was completed, the UI did not display correctly.
• Addressed a potential stability issue that could occur in a Co-Op lobby.
• Repetitive commentary could occur during some corner kicks.

Career Mode

Made the following change:

• The potential quality of Youth Players is now more aligned with the general football region that they come from.

Addressed the following issues:

• Player OVRs could remain unrealistically high in their 30s, resulting in players retiring seemingly at their peak.
• Addressed further instances of Strikers taking too long to be retrained as Center Forwards.

VOLTA FOOTBALL

Addressed the following issues:

• Some hairstyles did not display correctly.
• Updated a typo on the message that displays when discarding items.

Pro Clubs

Addressed the following issue:

• A Virtual Pro’s customized boot colors did not always save.

General, Audio, and Video

Made the following changes:

• Updated badges, kits, 2D portraits, stadiums, and ad boards.
• Added 34 new Starheads and updated 29 existing Starheads which will be activated at a later date through a Server Release.
  • Stay tuned to the EA SPORTS FIFA Tracker to learn when these Starheads will become active.

Addressed the following issues:

• The Nike Serie A TIM Merlin 2019 Hi Vis ball did not display a shadow in game.
• The inactivity timer did not start while the Origin overlay was active in some online matches.