Because I have a FC 24

Related: FC 24 Needs To Rework Team Of The Week

I usually play Ultimate Team at a casual level, but this year I FC 24 Coins went hard. I grinded nearly every promo, I built the strongest teams, and I even spent a little money during Team of the Year (between buying a few packs and saving over a hundred, I still didnrsquo;t pull a TOTY). Whether I was trying something fun like a Liverpool past-and-present squad or using the most meta Benzemas and Fekirs (sorry), I kept my squad ahead of the power curve in a manner that you can only do by playing nearly every day.

Because I have a life, my FIFA games would mostly happen late in the evenings, after my girlfriend and daughter went to bed. It not a great time to play FIFA, and trying to grind through a Weekend League in the early hours just to be rewarded with the worst red picks yoursquo;ve ever seen is not the one. I quickly realised that, for the time I put in, Weekend League (or FUT Champions as it now known) is not worth it for me. What Irsquo;ve since realised is that none of it is worth the time I put in. 

I havenrsquo;t played FIFA since Team of the Season ended a few weeks ago. Irsquo;ve logged into the web app to do a few SBCs, but Irsquo;ve played no matches and there certainly been no grinding. What are the results? I feel better, for starters. Irsquo;m less stressed when Irsquo;m playing games (hobbies are supposed to be fun, who knew?). Irsquo;ve also had more time to play some games Irsquo;ve been meaning to get around to. Irsquo;ve started playing Dragon Age: Origins, a game that been in my backlog for years, and although Irsquo;m annoyed that my dog isnrsquo;t a better companion, Irsquo;m enjoying my first BioWare RPG. Irsquo;m enjoying my time gaming more and diving into smaller titles on my Switch ndash; ElecHead was great and Irsquo;ve got Blade Runner ready to go next. 

I had a similar experience when I stopped grinding out every Apex Legends battle pass. I still play the game regularly, but not forcing myself to collect every cosmetic out of FOMO makes for a much more enjoyable experience. If I sound like Irsquo;m just ragging on the games-as-a-service model, that might be because I am ragging on the games-as-a-service model. Grinding out reward after reward and being forced back into events and promotions purely because I donrsquo;t want to miss out is not how I want to play games, and reassessing my relationship with FIFA is my first step to getting the most out of my hobby again. 

Maybe Irsquo;ll pick it up this time next year when it costs about a tenner, maybe Irsquo;ll review it for the site and then put it down again, maybe Irsquo;ll play through a career for the first time in a decade. One thing for sure, though, Irsquo;m not going to touch Ultimate Team in FC 24.

FC 24 Needs To Rework Team Of The Week

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

Red picks are nice, but that purely for the colour and prestige associated with them. You earned those cards through sweat, tears, and a thousand cheeky pullbacks in FUT Champions, and yoursquo;ll show them off, goddammit. My 84-rated Jude Bellingham stayed in my squad for an embarrassing length of time just because he was a red pick. But he was a weak link in my team.

Related: Rudiger Going to Real Madrid Is A Nightmare For FC 24

I havenrsquo;t used a single Team of the Week player this season, at least as far as I remember. For a quick recap: Team of the Week players are an upgraded version of a player Gold card awarded in recognition of good play that week. If a player has another good week ndash; a hat-trick the week after scoring a brace, for example ndash; then their next Team of the Week card will be an upgrade on their upgrade. However, the upgrades are constantly outclassed by other cards, and FIFA has outgrown the need for the cards.

For many years, Team of the Week was basically the only upgrade a card could get. Team of the Year and EA FC Coins for sale Team of the Season would rear their heads once a year respectively, but other promotions were few and far between. Nowadays, however, there isnrsquo;t a day without another promo.