New Ball and New Game.

The new ball has been out for about 3 weeks now, everyone has played with it.

Here are some thoughts and opinions about it from myself and others;

It rolls very little before stopping, this makes it much easier for the goalie to block shots.
( Does the goalie animation work? I can't download it. )

Long shots from mid-field are no longer practical.

It shoots straight while running forward. Very easy to aim.
I think it's a bit too easy, I would like to see tha ball handler run at
a slight angle like with the old ball.

Full power shots seen to go over the goal if elevated even just a little.

It is easier to shoot while running sideways.

The longer you hold down the shoot key the farther it goes.
However, the ball seems to shoot the same distance at different levels of stamina.
I experimented shooting while running at different stamina levels.
The distance the shot traveled did not vary much.
The distance traveled seemed to vary more with the elevation of the shot.

Stamina;
At 7% you become useless.
I did not see any difference in running speeds above 7%
At all different levels of stamina above 7% it took 22 seconds to run across the field.

I think it would make play more realistic if players would
lose maybe 1% speed with every 5% loss in stamina.
This would make the defenders relativetly more stronger than the attackers
and force them to use passing tactics.
Another suggestion I've heard is to reduce the speed of the ball carrier slightly.
As it is now, a single defender can do nothing to stop an attacker if he gets past him.
Defenders must not let the attacker get past them.
There is no extra speed with the tackle.
If extra speed is added to the tackle maybe it could be disabled on the ball handler.
Talk to other players on other teams about this.

The ball is much more sticky now, passing is more reliable.

I think good passing and tactics are what is going to separate the better teams
from the weaker ones.

I played my first game today with the new ball. We were beaten easily.
The other team has apparently been practicing passing and was able
to get around our defenders.

Overall , the new ball is a big improvement over the old ball.
Game play is much more realistic and will require
better teamwork.

I think the player in other leagues will want to play with this ball instead of the old ones.

I've had players from Japanese teams ask if they can get this ball for their fields.
Will it be distributed or sold?

I will be writing on the tactics blog soon.