EA Sports changes the Division Rivals system in FIFA 19. You could now play in a higher league and shorten the Weekend League qualification – if your skill rating is right.
This is Division Rivals: Division Rivals is essentially the main mode in FIFA 19 Ultimate Team. Spread across different divisions, you can climb the ranks over the course of a week and earn rewards that are distributed every Thursday.
The division you play in is determined by your skill rating. The higher your skill rating, the better the division you play in. EA Sports has now made some changes in this area.
Players suddenly in higher leagues
What changes in Division Rivals: EA Sports has adjusted the necessary skill rating for promotion within divisions 1 to 6. This means: Instead of the previously required skill rating of 2400, you now only need a value of 1900 to promote to the first division.
Source: EA Sports
If you currently find yourself stuck in Division 6 with a rating of 1100 points, you will automatically promote to Division 5. A similar rule applies to the other leagues – however, automatic relegation is not possible.
Weekend League qualification is now faster
What this change means for your rewards: With the adjustment of the skill values, EA Sports aimed to distribute players more evenly across the divisions. As EA emphasizes, most players were stuck between Division 7 and 5. This should now change.
Source: EA Sports
This also means that you could now receive better rewards. The differences between the divisions are quite noticeable: For example, if you have completed Division 6 in 1st place, you could choose between the following options:
- Option 1: 52,000 coins, 100 FUT Champions points
- Option 2: 1 Prime Gold player pack, 1 Mega pack, 1 rare gold pack (tradeable), 100 FUT Champions points
- Option 3: Double the amount of packs from Option 2 – however non-tradeable, 100 FUT Champions points
In Division 5, the rewards look similar, but you can grab 58,000 instead of 52,000 coins. In addition, there are double the Jumbo Premium Gold packs. Instead of 100 Champions points, you receive 195.
This is how the Weekend League qualification changes: Importantly, you now need fewer victories in higher leagues to qualify for the Weekend League. Because: You earn more FUT Champs points per game, the higher your division is.
In Division 5, for example, a victory that brings 20 FUT Champions points is only multiplied by a factor of 3.2, making it worth 65 points. In Division 1, however, the factor is 25! If you secure a win in Division 1, it is worth a full 500 points. This means that a quarter of the qualification, which requires 2000 points, is completed with just one victory.
Since promotions are now significantly easier due to the adjusted point thresholds, many players will likely qualify for FUT Champs faster. Moreover, you could receive better rewards.
And there is another new feature regarding the Weekend League:
Will I now only play against pros?
Players are worried about this: On the FIFA Subreddit, there is a discussion about whether the adjusted promotion thresholds and automatic promotions make sense. After all, you would now face stronger players with top cards, which would be particularly difficult if you barely managed to stay in your current division.
On the other hand, some Division 1 players complain that they now have to face weaker opponents instead of having opponents at their own level.
Skill rating may be decisive: However, these concerns seem unfounded. Matchmaking is more based on the skill value of players than on the division. This means: A player with 1400 points is more likely to encounter an opponent in a similar rating range than a player with 2400 points – regardless of the league. Since the rating has not changed directly, but only the league in which you play with a certain rating, the difficulty of opponents should not noticeably increase.
The perhaps best attack in FUT history now makes its return in FIFA 19:
