These last 2 or 3 patches have made a complete mess of the career mode
. (Not that it's been great since day one but it definitely sustained more damage in recent patches.)
1. AI NEVER drops any chances anymore, everything is caught, (even if I'm bowling). A difficult one to get right, granted, as sometimes the drops seem incessant but right now C22 is on a par with the Ashes Cricket's
catch all system.
2. Press conferences are now broken & no longer work.
3. Perks won't level up.
4. AI batters are massively overpowered when facing humans, sometimes hitting 4 or 5 sixes per over in T20's & run rates remain absolutely out of control. (I've just had a run of matches where the AI team has posted consecutive totals of 240+.) I've also just had a match where I went for 83 off just 3 overs & that's a common occurrence rather than just a single bad match. Thankfully the ridiculous back foot cut shot off full balls has been drastically cut down but it's now been replaced with this ridiculous new shot where an AI batsman can step right outside their off stump (outside of the wide markers in fact) & pull/hook absolutely everything bowled to the offside, or they now incessantly back foot slog over the covers. (A huge list of available shots the AI can choose from & as with C19 it seems to get stuck using just 2 to score.) AI batters also rarely miss or mis-time, even low order batters have consistently perfect timing.
I've also just seen another AI batter get 143 (69) not out, 10 x sixes, 16 x fours, with just
10 singles from that innings which is an utterly ridiculous tempo to maintain & it's happening match after match without fail. 6's & 4's have become the absolute rule & singles or dots the rare exceptions which is ludicrous.
Worse still, when I'm at the non-striker's end I routinely watch my AI batting partners waft or completely mis-time on 3 or 4 deliveries in a row screwing the run rate & causing intense pressure at my end without fail. Yet, the AI shifts from behaving like a genuine number 11 when facing another AI bowler & becomes Brian damn Lara the moment a human bowler steps up. (Clearly it's not like the AI can't be scripted to behave within a certain limit if it can suddenly start wafting or mis-timing off another AI.)
5. Slips now 95% useless. In early patches I still used to get regular slip catches off my bowling, (usually at 2nd slip). Recently 2nd or 3rd slip have literally become decoration only & no longer serve any purpose whatsoever. If I use a 1st slip with a leg spinner very rarely I can get a wicket but it's from something daft like a keeper fumbling & bumping the ball up to 1st slip or a ball bouncing up off a keepers knee pad to slip, there's never any truly genuine slip catches anymore.
6. I'm only ever offered 2 teams from overseas competitions, never the full selection of teams that should be available for me to choose from.
7. It's impossible to get a run out as a bowler. (If you tap right bumper/shoulder as the ball is being returned & mash A at the right time sometimes it'll attempt to stump but the game has been poorly scripted so that there's never any run outs in a career. I haven't even had one close chance & the AI NEVER makes any running mistakes in a career.)
The career mode was undoubtedly the best part of previous iterations but it remains a dysfunctional, broken down mess in C22
!!
