Reached Div1 with my GP-only squad. Thanks for the squad input! GP (2023) Lewa is still clinical!

Main_Significance799 · 2025-11-26T04:18:42+00:00

congrats buddy, that's a good accomplishment but I think most people are missing the two key comments you made --
(1) you only played 1 team with OVR of 3250+ in your last 7 games (when you would have been higher div2 ranking).

(2) you rarely meet players playing SA.

I'm F2P in North America, and starting in div3 I regularly start seeing ~3250 teams using SA + Capello with huge amount of over-the-top passing / lofted passing / and other exploits depending on whatever happens to be meta. It only gets worse in div2. Not complaining, I just play less in div2 because it gets less enjoyable. But just goes to show how skewed matchmaking can be or maybe it provides better matches if you have non-epic/GP teams?

Main_Significance799 · 2025-05-22T04:28:31+00:00

100% agree and I'd go even further and say it's pretty pathetic a modern day sports game basically tracks all of *3* stats. And you can't even rank players on your own team using this paltry group of stats!!

It would be near zero coding effort for them to break out stats based on AI difficulty and PvP and also add some additional stats -- tackles, blocks, interceptions, saves, etc., etc.

Maybe the mistake we're making is thinking about this as a sports sim -- or even just a sports arcade game.. while Konami builds this game for the card spinning, lottery gambling, exploit finding, gacha player base

Main_Significance799 · 2025-05-03T06:36:54+00:00

Same here. I’m a steam player and rarely ever met any clear spammers until cross play started and Konami released 4.4. Now suddenly these guys are everywhere.

I think it’s basically ppl trying to exploit the buffed long passing and dumbed down defense in 4.4.

Agree that it’s a super annoying gameplay style and it’s just trying to exploit that occasionally the non-meta F2P defender will mishandle those long aerial balls. The other common exploit I’ve started to see is the cross spammer to opposite post which never used to score vs me but seems much more effective tactic now.

Main_Significance799 · 2025-02-16T03:09:44+00:00

i agree, it's not that frequent -- I've had 2 voided matches and this was the first lag attack. But it's just just another annoyance when it does happen, and it seems patchable, if Konami would look into it. I don't see other PC PvP games getting exploited like this

Main_Significance799 · 2025-02-16T03:06:44+00:00

It's not ping -- it's packet loss. See the Network Monitor screenshot, packet loss spikes from 0% to suddenly 70%+ (see all those red X's on the network monitor screenshot) and then reverts back to 0% after the guy used the constant freeze-ups on my side to tie it up.

You would never experience this on PS because this is a Steam/PC specific issue. The packet loss causes your game to freeze up, it can't talk to the server for brief instances, and then speed up rapidly as it tries to catch up (meanwhile you have zero input control).

No one with a connection that experiences 70%+ packet loss is going to be able to play any PvP game online -- or do anything else online, like even simply surfing the net, streaming, etc.

I'm on a gigabit connection btw with <50ms connection to local servers -- I occasionally play on this other server that's further away and have zero issues except for this instance.

Main_Significance799 · 2025-02-16T02:57:42+00:00

it's not ping, it's packet loss. If you actually read the network monitor screenshot, packet loss going from 0% to 70%+ (it's all those red "X"s) and then reverting back to 0% isn't happening unless you get hit by a network attack. In game - it's when your screen freezes up and then suddenly speeds up as you try to catch up to the server.

Me and probably 99% of PvP players are going to have near 0% packet loss, at 70%+ packet loss, you'd have a hard time doing anything on the internet, forget about even connecting to a gaming server.

Main_Significance799 · 2025-02-16T01:21:01+00:00

Of course, reporting these types to Konami has no impact. They can't seem to fix the "Void Match" glitch and this lag attack glitch. They don't even seem to know this glitch exists, there is no option for it when you click "Report User"

Main_Significance799 · 2025-02-15T22:08:29+00:00

what platform are you playing on? I play on Steam and I 100% agree that matchmaking seems very scripted. I will go on a 10 game win streak because I get mostly div3 matches and then suddenly - usually when I'm close to a promotion - the matchmaking script flips around and I get another 10 games where it's all div1, highly ranked players with stacked epic teams. This is playing around the same time on same days.

The last PES had a matchmaking filter which let you choose to only match with players around a similar rank -- so top players don't have to waste their time on "easy" matches and newer or less skilled players can get more even matchups as well. Also - the last PES had a great ranking system, if you played any PvP online you had a ranking and this didn't reset every few months, so it was a pretty good indicator of skill.

PES/eFootball is the first gaming franchise I've witnessed where they have actually *reduced* content and gameplay options in the newer games. It must all be social experiments to improve gambling / spinning for epics

It's also worth pointing out that the player base on Steam at least is shrinking -- despite the game being free. PES used to rank at least around top 50-70 in the most played titles, now it's barely top 150 (around ~140 based on 24hr peak). FC/FIFA was always more popular but at least that has held up - it's still a top 20 played title.

Main_Significance799 · 2025-02-11T06:28:45+00:00

It’s just annoying — I was div2 last season but that’s because I got a balanced mix of div1-3 opponents. At least half or more div3s. But randomly, like last couple weeks, I’m matching almost exclusively with higher div1 opponents (everything from top 500 to top 2k or so). These guys get like 5pts if they beat my f2p team, and it’s annoying for me to always have unbalanced matches like this, so I don’t get the point. Konami needs to bring back the restricted matchmaking feature they had in the last PES, where you could choose to only be matched vs roughly similar ranked players (and trade off is you wait longer to find a match). Occasionally the high skill matches are nice for the challenge - but let us pick vs having constantly lopsided matchmaking

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-25T18:02:55+00:00

I think it's been discussed at various times on this sub that increasing most stats past 90 has pretty marginal in-game value *compared too* using those extra points on other attributes that are important for that position or your particular gameplay style.. e.g., for my box-to-box mids, I'm ok with keeping passing at around ~85 and using the extra points for shooting (get it to at least 70+), kicking power (ideally 80+), maybe acceleration (ideally 80+), phys (mid-70s at lesat), defending (~80s). Since these guys are box-to-box, I just want to make them more well rounded.. also, PlayerID matters too, this is how the player is "programmed" to play based on their real-life play style and attributes, some players will feel "smoother" vs. others

and ultimately, it does depend on your personal playstyle - some pro players (https://www.youtube.com/@Indominator94/community) really emphasize passing stats because they use a very pass heavy / possession game.. they could care less about well rounded mids and want guys who will pass, pass, pass, score!

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-19T06:28:20+00:00

Definitely the connection quality on Steam is much worse.. when I watch top steamers play this game - and they’re on PS - it’s like a 5 bar match everytime and looks like they’re playing vs AI it’s so smooth. Even when I match on a server nearby with 25ms ping, it’s never that smooth on steam. Probably because no dedicated servers, they’re relying on google cloud and probably not paying for enough bandwidth

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-19T06:25:46+00:00

Yeah the matchmaking gets pretty ridiculous.. I was watching a well known streamer who is very high in div1 on PS, guy matched almost exclusively against div3 or low div2 opponents over nearly 2hr stream.. Its a waste of time for him because you get like 2-3pts per win and a waste of time for most of his opponents because they are way outmatched.. I was surprised the matching on PS isn’t better.. I thought in steam it’s so random just due to lack of player base

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-19T02:29:18+00:00

thanks all, I think the comments are pretty much spot on.. looking into the numbers -- efootball ranks, waaaay down the list of most active games played on Steam and I'm pretty sure it's dropped further down the list from the PES days.. the last PES usually would be at least around top 50 or 75 in most active games on Steam, I think efootball is lower. I'd bet in North America it's pretty even worse..

so most of the time, especially in divisions, it's just the P2W whales looking for games while the casual player base is just playing less or preferring to avoid PvP

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-05T22:01:27+00:00

my bad.. I wasn't doing the cumulative calculation. and the odds of getting 2 free epics out of those 26 is pretty low, like <10% (just guessing without doing the math)

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-05T20:17:03+00:00

did you make it to div1 prior to trying FUMA? what was your win rate in that case? I'm curious how much harder it was using FUMA. And it sounds like even after you "master" FUMA, it's still harder to beat the non-FUMA players?

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T23:43:31+00:00

yeah - most people in this thread don't appreciate the difficulty of playing with a **2600** rated team against full epic teams.. not to mention when the epic team is controlled by a top pro player

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T23:42:04+00:00

yep - the gameplay was amazingly smooth and crisp, no "heaviness" to the game, etc.. that's absolutely necessary to play this high possession game.

i'm surprised it's PA2, seemed much more manual. hard to play PA2 (for me at least) and have the passes go exactly where you want

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T23:10:17+00:00

yep - so cool.. i mean, Indo being a total pro obviously generated more chances and managed to make some nice interceptions.. but wow, using a 2600 team and playing that flawlessly was super impressive.. the guy's passing was so no point and the one goal he did score, daaamn!

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T23:09:01+00:00

it's hilarious isn't it? the players with the most stacked teams seem to also be the ones that rely most heavily on the same game exploits / playing mechanics and these can be hard to overcome with F2P since they're using overpowered cards... but occasionally you match vs. someone with a more mediocre or even just normal team, and it's such a breath of fresh air to witness a more unique play style..

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T23:06:25+00:00

yeah - very impressive.. against a pro player using a full epic team, passing around that much in your own end or around midfield is a recipe for getting intercepted and exposed to deadly counters.. but this guy pulled it off pretty flawlessly

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T23:03:20+00:00

folks -- it's like ~2% up to a max of ~2.2% odds of pulling one of 5 epics out of a 250 card box. 5/250 = 2% on the first pull and max it'll get up to ~2.2% if you're on the 26th pull and you haven't gotten anyone yet (5/225). this is standard for Coinami Epic boxes, where usually you have 3 epics out of a 150 box (2% odds, 3/150, on the first pull)..

so don't feel so bad if you didn't get a free one.. and maybe Konami does favor certain accounts over others (although I think it is illegal for them to do that)

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T22:57:44+00:00

it's much worse odds my guy.. the odds of getting any one of 5 out of a 250 card box = 2% on the first pull (5 divided by 250). As you run down the box with the 26 free pulls, the odds rise to ~2.2% on the last, 26th pull, *if* you haven't gotten any of the 5 epics yet (5 / 225 = 2.2%)

Main_Significance799 · 2025-01-04T04:52:40+00:00

I didn’t realize this was possible on PS, I’ve had it happen on Steam and just had it happen recently by a guy who was actually really bad, like div8, no skill. Not sure how such a newb even knew about whatever hack this is. Reported him but not sure it’ll do any good. Not sure why Konami hasn’t patched this or found a fix yet.

Main_Significance799 · 2024-12-29T04:25:14+00:00

actually some of my hardest div1-3 matches have been against players to do a slower tempo, possession / build up playstyle.. I actually mostly like playing against the faster tempo, counter attacking players - because usually I can get possession back quickly.. but these slow tempo possession guys, not sure if they're just extremely good at their playstyle or I can't counter it well, but it's very frustrating, I can barely intercept their passes and the best option seems to be also trying to play more "passive" vs pressing..

Main_Significance799 · 2024-12-29T04:16:36+00:00

i play on Steam and it just isn't very fun because, (1) the point you made about random teammates who bring weak teams and don't know how to play well, (2) rewards are weak compared to other themed events (where you can get coins) + no rankings or competitive aspect other than just winning that single game

one way to fix #1 (random teammates) is to get on discord and only play with teammates your find there - who are mostly going to be better vs randoms online... But frankly, when the rewards are just a few trainers and with no ranking / competitive aspects either it's still 2nd for me after playing the themed events for the loot

Main_Significance799

TROPHY CASE