As if packing one Team of the Year was not hard enough!
It is widely known that EA has a history of manipulating “RNG” based outcomes in FIFA and EA FC. From pumping multiple Pele’s into the transfer market in order to hide the atrocious pack weight in FIFA 15 to dynamically adjusting drop rate according to the market value, there are numerous allegations against EA for manipulating the “casino” aspects of FIFA / FC games. However, despite these allegations, conclusive evidence to definitively prove such practices has been lacking, until now.
Recently, a new controversy has emerged in FC 24 Ultimate Team. Over the last 24 hours, actions taken by EA are being perceived as blatant manipulation, drawing significant attention and criticism from the community.
The Pack Weight Drama
In case you missed it, the Team of the Year promo is now live in FC 24 Ultimate Team. From Tuesday, 23rd January, to Thursday, 25th January, only TOTY defenders (a total of 10 cards) were available in packs. During this period, the odds of obtaining a TOTY player from a premium TOTY pack (priced at 400K coins or 2000 FC Points) stood at 5.3%.
As of yesterday, all TOTY cards (amounting to 22 in total) were included in the packs. Logically, one would expect the probability of packing a TOTY player to increase due to the larger pool of TOTY items available. Contrary to this expectation, the probability of packing a TOTY player from a premium TOTY pack has unexpectedly dropped to 2.9%.
Hi EA
How do we have half the chance of packing a TOTY as yesterday but double the number of TOTY cards available?
1️⃣ Today's odds
2️⃣ Yesterday's odds pic.twitter.com/Iwqx6aCELb— SAF Cal (@saf_cal) January 25, 2024
The significant and seemingly illogical decrease in the probability of packing a Team of the Year (TOTY) player is evident across all packs in the FC 24 Ultimate Team store. The odds of obtaining a TOTY player from a premium 81 x 100 pack have varied as follows:
- Before Thursday 6 PM BST – 4.7%
- At Thursday 6 PM BST – 2.2%
- At Thursday 11 PM BST – 1.7%
This stark change in odds strongly suggests that EA is manually adjusting pack weights. Many Ultimate Team fans had been saving packs for the latter half of the Team of the Year promotion, hoping to increase their chances of obtaining a TOTY player. However, with these altered odds, it has become even more challenging for the average player, especially those who do not spend additional money, to acquire a TOTY card.
EA have lowered the odds on the store packs
byu/Lacabloodclot9 inEASportsFC
When this issue started gaining traction in Twitter and Reddit, EA has temporarily stopped showing pack probabilities and informed the fans that they were updating those values. After a while, the lowered pack probability was displayed again.
are you guys finally putting the toty’s in packs @easportsfc? pic.twitter.com/f4blzPPk4u
— FUTBIN (@FUTBIN) January 25, 2024
As previously mentioned, the reduction in pack weight will affect all packs in FC 24 Ultimate Team. This implies that the odds of obtaining a TOTY player item in all saved packs have also decreased.
Although EA has historically manipulated the game’s ‘random’ elements, their approach was more discreet in the past. Nowadays, they appear to be less concerned with concealing such tactics, prioritizing revenue over transparency.
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