eFootball’s 2024 update arrives today, but there’s still no Master League release date
Konami previously said the popular mode would be added some time in 2023
Konami has released the latest major update for its eFootball live service game.
eFootball 2024 is the official name of the game’s version 3.0.0 update, and it contains a number of new features, updates and gameplay adjustments.
However, there’s still no word on the release of the much-anticipated Master League mode.
Master League was a staple of the series when it was known as Pro Evolution Soccer and was one of the most popular modes. However, it hasn’t been present since eFootball launched in September 2021.
Konami said last year that Master League mode “will be available as additional paid content during 2023”, which means that unless it’s been delayed, it should be released as a subsequent update in the next few months.
The changes that have been made to the game can be found in the patch notes below.
eFootball 2024 (version 3.0.0) Patch Notes
Feature addition and changes
- From v3.0.0 onwards, “Team Playstyle Level” will no longer be a gameplay element. Therefore, players will not have “Team Playstyle Proficiency”, and their Abilities will no longer be increased or decreased according to their Team Playstyle Proficiency values regardless of the Team Playstyle adopted.
- Previously, certain Standard players would have had a different player image once they reached Max Level. This feature will no longer be a gameplay element, and changes to player images will no longer occur. Users who possess max level Player Cards with a different image will see the image being reverted back to the status at the timing of signing.
- Foil Player Cards, which could be signed from the Standard Player List at a low probability, are no longer available.
- In the pre-match [Game Plan] > [Player Details] screen, Condition-related increases/decreases of Player Stats are no longer displayed.
- Challenge Events with Event Conditions have been renamed as “Themed Events”. Also, Event-exclusive “Loan Players” have been made available so that users can immediately participate in
- Themed Events even if they do not have enough players that match the Event Conditions.
- The “Rainy” and “Snow” Weather options have been made available for certain stadiums.
- “Base Team Settings” is now placed in the Game Plan, rather than the User Information.
- Base Teams can now be set for each Game Plan.
- Level Training and Player Progression can now be performed from the Player Details screen in Game Plan.
- Updated selectable Authentic Teams in “Trial Match”/”Friend Match”.
Updates and additions
- In-game assets and other data carryover process will be conducted when accessing the game for the first time after installing the version update.
- Updated licences.
- The country name of Czechia has been changed in some languages.
- The following data have also been updated:
- Team data
- Player photos, graphics and data
- Manager photos and data
- Strips
- Boots
- Balls
- Club emblems
- League and competition emblems
- Stadium graphics
- Trophies
- Cinematics and animations
- Commentary
- Menu music
- Avatar images
New season data updates
- The team structures of the following leagues have been updated with data from the new season.
- English League
- English 2nd Division
- Italian League
- Serie BKT (Italy)
- Spanish League
- Spanish 2nd Division
- Ligue 1 Uber Eats (France)
- Ligue 2 BKT (France)
- Eredivisie (Netherlands)
- Liga Portugal Betclic (Portugal)
- Liga BBVA MX – Apertura 2023 (Mexico)
- Credit Suisse Super League (Switzerland)
- Spor Toto Süper Lig (Türkiye)
- cinch Scottish Premiership (Scotland)
- 3F Superliga (Denmark)
- Belgian League
- Hilux Revo Thai League (Thailand)
Gameplay fixes and adjustments
Dribbling
- The speed balance between dribbling and defending has been adjusted. Players’ dribbling speed will now be slightly faster than before.
- Fixed an issue where players that are dribbling would sometimes run out of bounds or lose possession to an opposition player when trying to avoid a sliding tackle.
Feints
- Adjustments have been made to improve the response of body feints, Scissors Feints, Overtakes, Flip Flaps and In & Outs.
Traps
- For ball control and dribbling, the response after ball touches have been greatly improved
- Implemented adjustments so that players will take touches with greater awareness regarding the direction of the goal. If a directional input is not performed, the player will now automatically control the ball in the direction of the goal.
- Implemented adjustments to alleviate the issue where, when attempting to control the ball in mid-air, the ball may roll over the player’s body and could take a long time before hitting the ground.
Passing
- Implemented adjustments for passes, allowing the player to choose a more suitable teammate as the target.
- Implemented adjustments so that through balls will now be played towards a more adequate position.
Shooting
- Implemented adjustments so that the players with a high “Kicking Power” Player Stat will now have a slightly higher shooting speed.
- Implemented adjustments so that when players attempt a First-time Shot at close range, they will now opt to perform a quick shot motion instead of swinging their feet wide. However, for shots with a large Power Gauge input, players will still swing their feet wide and play a powerful shot as before.
- Fixed an issue where the trajectory of Chip Shots was sometimes too low, even with a large Power Gauge input.
- Implemented adjustments so that a more appropriate header motion will be triggered when receiving Chipped Through Balls and other mid-air balls from behind.
Kicking
- Implemented adjustments to alleviate the issue of players taking an extra touch instead of playing one-touch passes and one-touch shots after a kick input.
- Implemented adjustments so that more appropriate kick motions will now be triggered in order to reduce the frequency of players attempting shots with a seemingly unnatural body position.
- Previously, when kicking the ball after a “Knock-on” input, the speed of the kick would sometimes become too fast. As such, the kick speed of these kicks has now been slightly reduced.
- Fixed the issue where, if the ball was far from the player’s feet, an incorrect kicking motion would sometimes be performed. Specifically, the motion for kicking the ball far away would be performed, even if the player wanted to kick the ball towards a closer target, which resulted in poor response.
- Implemented adjustments so that players’ special kicking motions are triggered based on the raw values of Player Stats instead of other factors like Condition etc.
- Fixed an issue where players would sometimes score an own goal when trying to clear the ball in an unnatural body position.
Defence
- Adjusted the positioning of players so that it is now easier to reclaim possession when applying pressure.
- Adjusted the positioning of players in Match-ups.
- Fixed an issue where players were sometimes slow to get up after performing a block.
- Adjustments have been made to the situational judgement of players in order to avoid clearly unreasonable blocks.
- Adjustments have been made to blocks, and more specifically the ball behaviour with respect to the players’ Abilities. The coverage area of blocks is now correlated with the “Defensive Awareness” Player Stat and the “Blocker” and “Interceptor” Player Skills. On the other hand, the ease of ball recovery after a block attempt is now correlated with the “Tackling” Player Stat and the “Blocker” Player Skill.
Goalkeeper
- Re-implemented adjustments to ensure that goalkeepers will make the appropriate decision to catch an oncoming ball in the air in appropriate scenarios, as previously they may instead elect to punch the ball away.
- Fixed an issue where the goalkeeper would sometimes not take any action after coming off his line.
- Fixed an issue where the goalkeeper would miss a back pass which results in an own goal.
- Fixed an issue where the trajectory of a punt kick from the goalkeeper would sometimes be excessively off course.
AI
- Implemented adjustments to the positioning of supporting players in relation to the ball holder to allow for smoother passing plays in attack.
- Fixed an issue where players trying to make a run behind the defensive line would sometimes jump out too late.
- Fixed an issue where players trying to make a run behind the defensive line would move in a direction that made it difficult for them to receive the pass.
- Implemented adjustments to ensure that full backs will no longer make overlapping runs outside the touchline.
- Fixed an issue where players running towards the opposition area during counter attacks would sometimes stop running in an inadequate timing.
- Implemented adjustments so that when players with “Roaming Flank” Playing Style are positioned near the ball, it is now easier for them to move into the flank.
- Implemented adjustments so that players with the “Fox in the Box” Playing Style will no longer attempt to receive the ball with their backs against an opposition defender. This action will now instead be performed by players with the “Target Man” Playing Style.
- Implemented adjustments so that players with the “Fox in the Box” Playing Style will attempt to make runs behind the defensive line with greater frequency, regardless of the configured Team Playstyle.
- Implemented adjustments to increase the frequency that players with the “Goal Poacher” Playing Style will attempt to make runs behind the defensive line when the Team Playstyle is set to “Possession Game”.
- Implemented adjustments to the positioning of players so that when keeping possession in the final third with Team Playstyle set to “Out Wide”, it is now easier for teammates to receive oncoming passes.
- Implemented adjustments to increase the frequency that centre forwards attempt to make runs behind the defensive line when the Team Playstyle is set to “Out Wide”.
- Implemented adjustments to the positioning of teammates during throw-ins so that it is now easier for them to receive oncoming passes.
- Implemented adjustments so that players in an offside position will quickly make themselves onside according to the situations.
- Implemented adjustments so that players will adequately dodge away from teammates and their oncoming shots.
- Implemented adjustments to the positioning of players so that they will keep a more adequate distance with the opposition players when performing man-marking.
- There was an issue where passes could be easily played behind the defensive line immediately after kick-off. As such, adjustments were implemented to the movement of players who are applying man-marking.
- Implemented adjustments to alleviate the issue where full backs that are performing man-marking would move towards the centre of the pitch without passing on their man-marking duties to a teammate.
- Fixed an issue where defending players would sometimes move slower than expected when expecting Chipped Through Balls into the penalty area.
- Implemented adjustments to increase the frequency of substitutions for AI-controlled teams. This adjustment also increases the frequency of substitutions for when [Substitutions] is set to anything other than “Off” in Automatic Match Support.
- Implemented adjustments to the AI in VS AI matches so that players will make more appropriate decisions and perform actions with respect to their individual characteristics. The difficulty balance for each Match Level has also been adjusted.
- Implemented adjustments so that during set pieces, the “Call for the Ball” command under “Off the Ball Controls” will no longer be operable after the kicker has commenced the kicking motion.
- To avoid unintended triggering of Sharp Touch, the default Sharp Touch command has been changed to “pressing Dash twice”. The original settings can be configured by going to [Command Configuration] > [Detailed Settings].
- To address a known issue, Off the Ball Controls are no longer available in Co-op.
Fouls
- Implemented adjustments for fairer foul decisions with regard to the circumstances.
- Implemented adjustments to avoid calling an offside foul even if there is a player involved in an offside position, in the case where the defending players are likely to retain possession.
Other Gameplay Enhancements
- Implemented adjustments so that the cursor will switch to a more appropriate player in defensive situations.
- Implemented adjustments to the consumption of Stamina, as previously midfielders with high Stamina Player Stat would sometimes run out of Stamina midway through the second half.
- Fixed an issue where the Direction Guide arrow would sometimes be different than the directional input when performing a kick.
Fixed the issue where the match will not end at the appropriate timing even after the approximated additional time has passed. - Implemented adjustments to how a players’ Form affect their Conditions. Precisely, players with “Normal” or “Inconsistent” Form are less likely to have a Condition that is “Poor” or lower. Furthermore, when players with “Inconsistent” Form have a “B” or higher Live Update Rating, their Conditions will be set to “Normal” or above.
- A variety of new animations have been added for shooting, blocking, tackling etc.