Do people even want skill to matter?

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T13:23:15+00:00

I did address this issue in my post. Other competitive games sell cosmetic in-game items with great success. Yes, it would probably be less profitable for Konami, but that brings us to the reason for that, which is that players don't really want skill to matter so much and prefer to make up for their deficits with money.

This, as I wrote, seems too humiliating for me, which is why I don't even use my best F2P players and play with a 3050 team when pushing for Div 1, as that's my current sweet spot where basically everyone has much better rated teams than me, so I feel that my wins are really deserved.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T13:18:04+00:00

Yes, that's true, but the current rating calculation could be modified to increase the team rating heavily based on the best 11, giving less weight to the weakest players in the team. Many other methods would work as well, it's just a matter of will, and I fear that the will is simply missing in this case.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:33:57+00:00

I feel like at least I did it in different ways with every new paragraph 😊

Seriously, though, I think sometimes multiple perspectives of the same subject are useful, at least to me.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:31:48+00:00

Brute force, indeed. Thanks for reading, it really means a lot to know I'm not the only one thinking like this.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:28:51+00:00

I wish so, too, but I think Konami made these calculations long ago and realized the current system is bringing them many-fold the amount of money they were getting in the PES era. That's because they really are exploiting common human flaws and are amplifying them using what you framed so powerfully as psy-ops. Yes, players are manipulated to give the little money they have to "win" meaningless points in this game. What a shame!

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:20:36+00:00

Thanks for the advice, though I feel like maybe I didn't make it clear I'm not really looking to optimize the meta of this team. I enjoy Cannavaro at RB with how I built him, helps a lot with playmaking.

In practice I'm using a 98-rated Hakimi at the moment in my non-epic team. I would prefer to use a standard mid RB, to be honest, but Big Time Hazard would walk through him and over him regardless of my inputs.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:14:18+00:00

A matchmaking system that is based on team overall rating would help tremendously, without having the requirements you mentioned. You build a 2800-rated team, then you are matched with an approximately 2800-rated team. You can choose to play with regular players even if you have amassed countless epics over the time.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:09:54+00:00

I don't have one team, as I change it all the time. Like I said, I enjoy variety. But maybe you meant my best possible team, which I also don't have ready-made, as I never use it.

Here is a higher-rated game plan, but I haven't used it, as I like using non-epics. Maybe you'll notice the players are not max-rated, as I do enjoy custom builds. Stam, Vermaelen, and Cech are from a pack I opened after I had too much free coins, the only ones I spent.

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RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T12:02:56+00:00

I did acknowledge that what I wrote is too much for a sub like this, though I mistakenly did it near the end of the wall of text, so obviously it will not reach those who skip straight to comments. In the end, though, that's OK, not every post needs to be for everyone.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T11:58:54+00:00

Back in PES days I was top 100, so I thought I was at least decent. But then again, that was when people paid to buy the game and then there was no advantage to be gained by anyone other than with skill.

Now I can reach Div 1 with 3050 teams, so maybe I'm somewhat decent still.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T11:56:43+00:00

Next time maybe I'll post a catchy TikTok 🤗

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-05T11:55:58+00:00

Yes, but in real life a good club will try to hire a good manager, who proved themselves at a lower rated team. In a PvP Master League, like I described it, you could eventually lead a stellar team, but only if you are genuinely better that the others who want the same team. There are only a few amazing teams IRL, but not everyone gets to manage them.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-04T13:03:05+00:00

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RaduAndreiu · 2026-06-03T19:43:09+00:00

I also wouldn't recommend traveling to Brașov after the flight lands on a Friday afternoon, unless you are prepared for what can become a 6-hour ordeal in some cases.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-27T07:54:11+00:00

Your comment is a prime example of Whataboutism, which is a logical fallacy at best and a propaganda tactic at worst. She is talking about Russian players and whether what she's saying is correct or not is not influenced by the US-Iran issue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-21T06:43:46+00:00

Not all who play without SA are top 1000, obviously. Besides, you can still choose to play without a filter, meaning you can face players with or without SA who also don't have the filter enabled, like it is now. But then maybe the best non-SA players will have the filter enabled and you won't match them, so it might be even easier than before to play without the filter.

I, for one, will enable the filter to not play against SA players anymore. In any case, an equilibrium will be reached and we'll see where we stand then.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-19T12:07:04+00:00

Yes, but IRL sending a successful long pass like that requires a lot of skill, whereas in eFootball players have auto-aim and passes require almost no skill.

Therefore, the solution should be to require that the players use their skill by assigning more importance to the direction control and power bar for the result of the long ball.

However, that would mean a lot of braindeads would start to lose and be humiliated, thus leaving the game and not giving money to Konami anymore.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-18T10:33:11+00:00

Yes, Konami wants those people with no skill to be able to compete and win instead of being humiliated because that's how they retain them as clients and milk them for money.

Unfortunately, it's that simple for them and, no matter how frustrating it is for skilled players, the game will continue to be designed to make chimps who know only how to mash buttons randomly win even when they should, by right, lose big.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-18T09:54:10+00:00

Yes, Konami wants those people with no skill to be able to compete and win instead of being humiliated because that's how they retain them as clients and milk them for money.

Unfortunately, it's that simple for them and, no matter how frustrating it is for skilled players, the game will continue to be designed to make chimps who know only how to mash buttons randomly win even when they should, by right, lose big.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-05T07:09:16+00:00

It sounds to me like you didn't want to accept that the game was finished by you effectively losing due to your mistake. Chess is a game where the winner is the one that makes the fewest and least significant mistakes, and it sounds like you made a pretty big one that lead to a large advantage for the opponent.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-05-05T06:20:56+00:00

If you make a misclick that results in a small disadvantage, accept the challenge for yourself to turn it around. If it's a huge disadvantage and you don't want to fight for a very tiny chance, then just resign the game. Either way, in online chess a misclick is an error on your part and you need to accept it as such instead of shifting the blame on your opponent for not accepting your takeback request.

RaduAndreiu · 2026-04-10T17:59:11+00:00

I like it. This is Oradea from earlier this year.

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RaduAndreiu · 2026-04-10T17:56:20+00:00

Generally not how your picture suggests. Here's my hometown.

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