I don't understand why seabass is trying to make the game appeal to people who don't play the game rather than the hard core fans who have helped make the game what it is.
Because if you only try to appeal to hardcore fans then your fanbase will never grow. You will always lose customers but never replace them.
It is always important to try to generate new custom as well as retain old fans.
You don't get anywhere in the industry by being a computer game purist and not thinking at all about turning a profit.
We all - hardcore and new fans alike - want to see PES with as many (or more) licenses as FIFA, but it isn't going to happen without increasing profit/sales.
The devs need to appeal to a whole spectrum of fans. You use the manual pass. New players will of course use the pass button. It's about preference, and the game needs to have enough options to give everyone the choice.
I would like the ML to be more immersive, more like a manager game, with real money, player unhappiness, demanding moves and new contracts, etc. The ability to move clubs and manage elsewhere. In future years perhaps BAL and ML could be merged so that when you're near the end of your career you're offered player-manager positions and when you eventually retire you're playing a normal ML.
None of these things would appeal to a new player, but as someone who has been playing for over a decade, I like the direction the game has come in and would like to see it go further. These changes would not alienate new fans, as they would not need to play this mode.
But making a change to something as fundamental as passing the ball would push away new fans, without whom the game would stall.
I've written more than I meant to, but I hope it makes sense :erm:
