My general feedback, much of which no doubt repeats what I am seeing on the forums and on content creators.
I'm very underwhelmed by this year's game, and also apprehensive about next year's game.
This year, the headline features just aren't big enough; yes the ME is better, but it's not a new game worth improvement. Other headline features are mediocre; I turned the CL sound off after my first game, and skipped through the draws. The squad planner is somewhat useful, but still buggy. I've been playing since CM01/02, and this is the first time I've really regretted the purchase. Ultimately I'm seeing it as a database upgrade.
I'm apprehensive about next year as I know a large part of the headline feature will be women's football. I'm all for it, and glad it's being introduced. But I'm worried at what cost to the progress the game will make in other areas. There are so many things that still haven't improved with the game; set plays, corners, training, graphics! I would much prefer improvements there than license additions etc, which are fixed anyways with mods within a day of purchasing the game.
General thought, is that I wish SI would increase the cost of the game to unlock more investment into new features. I've had so much value from the game over the years, that I'd happily pay £50-£60 for it, if there were real progressive features being delivered. In honesty, I'm shocked the SI have kept the game and the price they have for so many years; with the economy the way it is, the cost of wages for top developers rising, they must surely be running and a low profit margin. Furthermore, I'd also be more than happy paying c. £6-£10 a month on a subscription model, for regular releases of new features.
Final wish, is that the game was more open to MODs, we've started to see the power of some bolt ons on the market: Zealand's facepack, database additions, skins etc. I wish the MODs could start going deeper into functionality, and that SI could work with them to improve the feature availability of the game.
Cheers,
Kev