Recent Discussions
Isn't it kind of insulting to the NHL and the sport of hockey
That EA thinks in order to people to be entertained playing a hockey game it has to be a complete exaggeration of the sport? The game is full of hip checks and Michigan goals, is all offense and no defense, and has almost no puck battles, dump ins/outs, or loose pucks. If one of the "kids" that are apparently so enthralled with fancy dekes and crazy hip checks (that happen a couple times a year in real hockey)that are EA's target market for this game go to a real NHL game, they will be really disappointed to see a lot of physical puck battles, board play, loose pucks, chips out of/into the zone, etc. With hockey back, just watch the games. See how often players lose possession, how hard it is to break out of the zone and get through the neutral zone cleanly, how little each player possesses the puck before moving it, how many times two players race for a puck just to essentially get a "puck chop" at it to get it out of their zone or into the other team's zone. Then play or watch NHL 24 and see how little of that there is in this game. I understand no one wants to play a game that is a complete simulation of the sport, that would be boring. But my god, there should be way more dump ins than Michigan attempts in typical game of video game hockey, regardless of how "sim" you want it to be, and that is not the case with NHL 24. Unbelievable.
NHL 24 Issues
Gameplay: A.I.: Step up to give the opponent odd man rushes, path to block you, take penalties. Often don't go for loose pucks after "failed" dekes, hits, shots, or after a goalie pass. Defender A.I. break up passes (noticeably saucers) more effectively than human controlled. Sometimes don't cover anybody during OT. (Opponent line change?). Crash their own goalie, resulting in own goals. * Teammate A.I. will skate and stand 3 feet away from you whilst having plenty of room to use. The 2-3 foot pass also often misses. * While set up in the O-zone, players are usually facing toward center ice when receiving a pass. One-timers can take a long time to set up. When receiving a long pass, momentum can carry the receiver ~10 feet across the blue line (offside). Bad player switching also contributes. Defense attack while on the PK. Pass receivers are often fighting momentum. D > neutral zone passes that aren't taken in stride and that have any kind of coverage result in that big abrupt pass receive animation. Forwards constantly rotating out to the blueline when set up in the O-zone, dragging a defender with them, confusing attacking Defenders positioning. The same thing with Defenders skating to center ice to join a rush if a forward gains possession before a breakout. A.I. can easily lock on to players for board pins further away from the boards and on moving targets. Big contrast compared to human controlled players. Will ignore last man back after a line change. Goalies: Spin backwards to face plays behind the net. Pass into their own pads when aiming sideways. Unable to locate the puck or become frozen in animation. Cover animation results in own goals. Goalie interference is called when contact is made outside of blue paint (if the goalie dives at you) or if you are knocked into the goalie by a defender. Non-calls for obvious interference if a defender is in the vicinity. Goalie remains pulled after a goal, or goalie pull doesn't register between whistles. Goalies will flop after point shots (off the rush/while full stamina), after rebounds that don't result in a shot animation. After a recent patch (1.5.0?) goalies are letting in a lot of unscreened point shots (off the rush/while full stamina). Exploit Goals: Firing passes through the crease often results in a goal, whether it's through multiple positioned defenders, or off of your defender (own goal). Glitch goal: Holding down pass and shooting causes goalie to move wrong way and puck to "curve". DunkinDeli make a video on it. *Fixed* Zegras pass on breakaway freezes goalie. Zegras pass and returning it to your stick, from out of the air. Nasher made a popular video on it last year. Curling from the goal line causes goalie to go in to butterfly & come off the post. Firing a pass through the 5-hole. Note: You don't have to be aiming the pass to a teammate. * One hand deke while going behind the net causes goalie to leave post early. Spin-o-rama off of the side of the net causes the goalie to leave the post early. Short saucer pass from the side of the net. Goalie fumbles it or loses it in pads. Datsyuk flip going across the goalie (along the goal line). Goalie slides to hug the opposite post. Hitting: Bad hit tracking/pathing (bubble), speed boost, bumps not registering. Shoulder checks' wild follow-through animation. Inconsistency with boarding/charging calls. Hip checks: OP on small, fast skaters (who coincidentally have low hitting attributes). Weak interference penalties from trying to shoot the puck off of a rebound or having the puck poked while trying to shoot. *Addressed* Hit bubble - Players dodge while basically at a stand still, or with (what should be) no room to dodge. eg. Sandwiched between a player and the boards while on a rush. Hits aim towards teammates or other nearby players that you're trying to check. "Snaking"/Elite edges make it more likely to aim at the wrong player. Animations: Deking - The puck goes the opposite way on windmill and 1h tucks, broken animations on certain "same side" dekes, less room for the 1H deke, basic stick handles not registering near the net. Loose puck pickup behind the net can lunge or slingshot you. Shot animation bug where you spin in place/turn in to rubber. Poke checks aiming the opposite direction of the puck or blatantly, directly, in to skates. Rare bug: getting bumped while going into the Michigan set-up can cause the player to get stuck in the animation. Tie-up animation bug. Multiple initiations in quick succession. * Shot follow through ignores incidental contact (defender stick, even body). Players with the puck can get stuck in a slow turn animation. Other - Skill Gap Stuff: Player switching: late switches or switches to the wrong player. Puck magnetism: Needing multiple poke checks in a row to change possession (especially along the boards), the puck being knocked in an impossible direction to one players team, one team getting multiple contested rebounds in a row. DSS nerfs - poor poke aim, slowed skating, crouch block quickness and default stick positioning are different this year. Discrepancies in power/ease of use between Total Control and Skill Stick. Mainly Total Control hitting and 1-button Michigans. The 1-4 trap/collapsing is the META when AI pressure and turnovers become overtuned. Results in skill-zoning, less active player input, lower skill players winning more games. While defending, after a standstill crouch block or sweep check (laying down to block passing lane) -- defenders can end up repelling away from, or getting sucked in towards the net. Either opening up a cross crease or causing the defender to bump their own goalie. * Players can glove slapshots and v-high goalie lobs without fumbling. Generally, defense has become less rewarding. Nerfs to the DSS, poke check, shot blocks. The addition of the pressure system. "Skilled up" Zone ability often launches the puck. Sometimes out of play - if off the goalie's mask. Pressure meter fills from weak, maybe even missed shots. Soft passes from behind the net often prioritize your D-man at the blueline instead of the man infront of the net. Full pressure bug: When under pressure, and after taking a time out, you stay under full pressure until it activates again. People (and A.I.) can intentionally draw tripping penalties by turning away from the play. Puck physics bug: Puck will bounce away at high speed after certain hits/offloads, low speed shot tips, when it goes off the side/back of the net. Teammates staying on ice with 0 stamina after manual line change, even skating them to the bench does not work. Icon passing is often just as unreliable as regular passing. Bug where if you instigate a fight, the other player can get the penalty, or you can initiate the fight yourself. Extra penalties being accessed. eg. 6m for 3x goalie interference. Puck getting stuck ON the post/crossbar after a shot. Flopping fish/seizure bug. Rare bug when an injury and puck possession happen at the same time, game will go into limbo. No whistles, but still able to control and use players. (The fix was to knock a net off it's moorings) HUT Rush completely broken -- multipliers don't work, goals still not registering properly. *Fixed* Glass breaks on weak shots and hits. Button mapping: Protect puck is harder to use, activates accidentally and wears on the controller. Between the legs animation after hip checks. 1-touch passing loose pucks when attempting to switch players. Total control: accidental reverse hits when using the LS. Hybrid Controls: tie-up interference penalties after faceoffs. Goals deflected off of skate/own goals not counting toward objectives. Bug where when you break your stick, you use a phantom one. * Vision control doesn't show on screen if you're stick handling. *Fixed* "Shadow players" when playing in the NYI rink. * Time on scoreboard clock and boards clock are slightly off. (goals with .1s left on the boards don't count). Connection issues (lag compensation, server proximity, server load). When a fight breaks out behind the opposing goal, you can't see. Sometimes unable to change forward lines between whistles or after intermission. You can no longer "short sauce" the puck to your goalie. The puck usually bounces out. Stick lifts going in to pick ups and DSS poke checks no longer count toward objectives. Penalty shots don't occur if the trip happened between the blue and red lines. U.I./Other bugs: EASHL: Regular crashes, unable to join, lobby disconnects. Leaderboard sort does not work properly. Hitting R3 during search can take you to Battlepass and crash your lobby. Loadout overlay won't close - forces you to have to rejoin lobby. Happens often. Shop sometimes completely empty. * Club jerseys defaulting to plain NHL jerseys. A club can accrue losses if club members leave a lobby and "autofilled" players play, and lose. HUT: People losing players, PUCs until they restart -- having to manually look for them in collection. * Bugs with lines -- swapping a player with a blank slot (after you remove a player from lineup) creates a bug as if the removed player is still in the lineup - creates multiple of the same player on special teams lines. *Addressed* Auto filling any player(s) will reset all of your XF abilities, upgrading a player already on a line will activate all of their abilities. "Compare price" sends you back an extra screen. *Fixed* Untradeable card(s) on auction. There was one with a bid, but no buy now option. * After auto-filling players, they show back up in collection (unable to fill/use again). * B-S-G-D collectible sets are confusing and in some cases diminish value as you trade them up. *Addressed* Lines in Moments: Wrong players, "Objective players" on the 4th line and/or not on special teams/overtime lines. *Addressed* "Card types" in auctions are mislabeled. Rivals rewards improperly displayed. Players having missing/bugged synergies. Missing/wrong rewards. Continuous "searching" bug when opening collection. * Store packs not labelled as Untradeable. Cards stored in sets, which upgrade and become unusable in the set, disappear. Sometimes after adding a new search parameter, the auction freezes and bricks the game. Customization items - blank, with just a description of the item. *Addressed* Jerseys stuck counting as "active jerseys". Cards in collection stuck as "part of an active offer". Compare price and then inputting BIN parameter kicks you back. After buying an item, hitting "item options" twice in quick succession gives an error and kicks you back to NHL 24 main screen. People receiving Tim Campbell cards in place of new event cards. Custom goal horn and play-by-play names don't work. "0 games completed" taking up the entire objective screen. * Upgraded PUI's rolling back, and people losing the PUCs. * Unable to leave and claim rewards when doing Moments in co-op. Team record from "Team View" is broken. 1W = -1L(?). Latvia jersey and some players' pictures are missing. Some players have the wrong pack animation (<80 with 80+ and vice versa). 98 to 99 card upgrades cost 8 PUCs. For Defencemen, it's mostly faceoff stats. High value cards' maximum BIN fluctuates. eg. FH Bonk going from 3.4m to ~1.3m overnight. A lot of the time wingers/defenders are assigned to take draws on the PK, 4-on-4 or after an injury. Would be nice if a Centre was automatically selected, or if there were an option to select who takes faceoffs in these circumstances (in edit lines). Some card art layers show through. Load/menu screens being slower than last year (especially in EASHL). Tabbing to Xbox messages for more than 5-10s can crash your game. Mismatched play-by-plays names. Example: Wenatchee's being "the Ice". After game goal replays (Y on Xbox) don't work. * Replay camera bugs. * Black screen bug (lights out). Incorrect player information (height/weight/handedness). Only team name (HUT) or "EA PLAYER" (EASHL) showing for leaderboards. Light jerseys labelled dark and vice versa. Players appearing stuck in the boards after a line change. Cut scene bugs: Both teams on the same bench during end of game celly. Game winning celly on a normal goal. Penalty box cut scene - the player already inside of the box is shown entering. Goalie tether and on-ice suggestions turn themselves back on. * Inaccurate stats for players who are top in the category ie. McLeod/Jenner/Pavelski for Faceoffs, Doughty/Dobson for Endurance. Players have holes in their model. (Stomach area). Play-by-play: "he's/she's" mixed up, Patrik "Elias". Outdated fan models. X-factor ability stats aren't tracked properly. Broken physics in the new celebration cutscenes. After the net is knocked off, the netting remains behind. Hair styles (Langway) phases through helmet/looks bald. Visual bug: Wrong or grayed out background. Wrongful coin wipes + bans. Black on black text on PUI cards. Earlier in the year it happened in the post-game menu. * Helmet "ping" sound when shooting it off a helmet-less goalie. Autofill doesn't always prioritize untradeables. Exit and claim doesn't show on screen if the whistle is after a penalty. You can get the crosscheck animation (and penalty) with no stick in hand. (Fighting) Sometimes a player can't path correctly, other player with gloves dropped will abandon the fight, pick up their stick and rejoin the play. A fight will continue after a player is "black barred" and continues to get hit. Minimum player height is 5'5". Opinions/asks: EASHL: Have the same Information/equipment across home/away/pro, or the ability to copy loadouts. Get rid of bags. People are not interested in having to open them solely for coins. ONES is shinny hockey. PWF/ENF builds shouldn't be the META for running interference on the goal leader. Change goalie fatigue for Open Practice. Constant black bar unless you AFK outside of the zone for a while. Shin/elbow pads as EASHL items. Cross-platform messaging. "Pick sticks" with 2 captains for drop-in games. Add the option to kick players from Club drop-ins. HUT: Bring Fantasy Hockey trade-in sets back for players on LTIR/Out indefinitely. Add an in-game tracker for Rush objectives. "Last price sold" for auction cards. Adjustments for packs/pack odds. It's upsetting pulling nothing but base cards from 30-100k packs this late in the year. (Save for these new random Maple Leaf packs). * Ability to rearrange or hide moments/sets. Bring the storage set back. *Added* Have separate player stats for Squad Battle and Rivals. Also, more stats. Faceoff %, hits, blocks, passing %, etc... Ability to skip all animations for PUI choice set packs. Filter option for autofill: NHL/non-NHL players. When refunding pucks, it should show the upgrade tiers original cost. Option to empty set to collection. Have the dates of the games on Game Day cards. Bring back the "Team Builders" collection. *Added* A "Lock player" option - to mark active duplicates and keep from auto-filling important players. Better autofill for Team Builder sets. Not having to send every excess 80+ back to collection before filling again. HUT Rush: have reverse hits, shot fake, breakaway dekes count toward points. Maybe add basic stick handles -- forehand>backhand, backhand>forehand, "triple deke". Give elite cards customizable X-Factor abilities. Good dynamic events like Movember for HUT. Add "show duplicates" for collectibles (from collection). GM Connected or a Fantasy type draft league mode. Add ability to configure synergies and see adjusted stats on cards you don't own. Add back trade messages. If not the full use, at least a practical system with a selection of messages. A 3rd option for year-long sets - aside from Team Builders and Ultimate PUI sets. Allow cards' stats to go over the 99 cap with synergies, stat based X-Factors, possible future chemistry. Add variants for year-long X-Factor/PUI/Fantasy Hockey/TOTY. Maybe for QoL, have variant trade-in sets during TOTY/TOTS. This would add a lot of longevity and value to these types of cards. Usable logos for defunct and relocated teams. Ability to cancel trades. Ability to select multiple cards to put in to the trade window. Have clearly shown original jersey numbers for cards. Updates for gameday and Fantasy cards on Monday/Thursday. TOTW/Live Moments sets for (tradeable > non tradeable+) and/or (lower OVR cards+ > higher OVR version of the same player). Create 3rd/alternate option for jerseys. Maybe add all the grey/yellow/ambiguous jerseys to this group. More J. Robertson type upgrade paths for cards. Have captaincy mean something. +2 for C/+1 for A again, or move the "Born Leader" X-Factor to captaincy. Authentic NHL coaches. Add practice mode to HUT. Have "Next Challenge" from end of game screen. "RB" button end of page while in sets. (Team Builders & Road to 99). Team Building more resemblant of The Show's. Get Team Builders back after completing them. Only have to complete every set once. Maybe increase the cost to adjust for changes. Get rid of Rivals only challenges. Only hurts offline player base. Some people getting negative escrow, can't "buy now" in auctions. Have your current chosen coach shown on your bench. A mode with a hugely raised AP cap. A mode with pre-made (something like TOTW) teams. RT99 collectible in daily challenges. Add a player name search filter. Many icon players never received upgrades. Customization/Creation Zone: Add ability to create helmetless players. Adjust length of selected hair. More accurate goalie gear & colour for existing jerseys. Create your own logo/jersey/goalie helmet for both HUT and EASHL Club teams. (Indecent ones could be avoidable by not allowing overlapping logos/shapes/etc.) Also by updating the ban system. Create-a-play (maybe at least for the Powerplay). More WoC types of customization for HUT. Presentation: Edmonton/Dallas face off light show are too bright & distracting. Option to turn off the full pressure on-ice graphic. Ability to skip the new celebrations (others have said: having them only for Overtime or Milestone goals). *Addressed* Better intermission highlights. Deke finishes, manual goalie saves, hat-trick recap, reverse hits. Bring back the 3 stars of the game. More attention to milestone achievements. A couple new presentation scenes like taping and marking the puck, pre-game ceremony of receiving a silver stick for 1000 games played. Referee helmet camera could be an interesting replay angle. Bring back real NHL rink/city footage for presentation. Bring back the raising of the Stanley Cup banner. Add jersey retirement ceremony for certain players. Add catfish, octopus, and rubber rats for Nashville, Detroit, Florida wins. (catfish and octopus for club options). Better matchmaking settings: later in the year, matchmaking falls off. Could be adjusted mid-way. There are also no settings for EASHL. Many times you get lobbies on opposites sides of the country. Ability to accept/decline all fights. Option to turn off gamertag appearing instead of player name. Overtime doesn't go on long enough. Penalties are overtuned. *Adjusted* Prohibited player names are too strict. Automated or outsourced system? Add "vision" player select. After leaving your zone with possession, pressure should clear faster. *Addressed* Official Discord ??? Add back the analog stick input indicator (instant replay). The speed burst from hitting is unrealistic. Mercy rule for blow out games (~7 goals?). Incidental board contact to keep people from sticking the puck inside the boards. Add back the ability to swap starting goalie with your back-up during a game. * Good in-game polls - vote on changes. Could mean less community backlash. PWHL rules - jailbreak, best of three (and then) sudden death shootout. An official companion app. The community favourite HUTBuilder could use some help. Manual bat-in puck and swat puck/break up pass (R3). Bring back cuts and bruises after fights. Maybe add them after getting a high stick. More dekes - added standstill dekes, the Ribeiro, French poke, 1h shot, magic wand, maybe the "Zoro" or puck juggle. Add back faceoff formation in team strategies. Have refs clean up sticks/helmets after the play moves. Add niche things like flipping the puck to the ref after the whistle. A "Push puck" button could be a solution to the "self sauce". Playoff mode has no edit lines or strategies, retired jersey option doesn't work. * Add tournaments from other leagues: Spengler cup, Memorial cup. New attributes - backhand, poise, leadership (or something for morale/glue guys), more goalie stats...other stats could be tuned, like awareness & aggression. Add a "Circuit" game mode. Play different leagues, adding a player to your team after each win. Add an All-Star skills competition "mini-game". Passing/shooting accuracy, saucer accuracy, puck handling course, speed lap, one-timers. Ability to do pre-game warm-ups in BAP. GM Mode: Update injuries, allow editing of generated players, and bring back the Winter Classic and All-star games. Make the R3 shot fake momentarily freeze goaltenders in certain cases. Add back audio name preview. Add back in-game edit lines. Make the Kucherov fake deke viable. It's awkward to aim. You're constantly crashing in to the goalie. Goalie saves it 99% of the time. Have glass explode in "appropriate" modes like EASHL 3's, HUT Rush, games that are supposed to be from the older era. An X-Factor for behind the net -- Gretzky, Smyth office. Have player weight matter for glass breaking big hits. GM Mode: Expansion drafts years into a GM career. New sounds for things like the puck ringing around the boards. Obviously some things are more important than others, and could be expounded upon. Some things under Gameplay could be considered opinion. * For "could use another look" or may have been fixed already. Edit: Modified the subject to better reflect the content of the post. -CM
Happy Holidays, EA NHL Community!
Happy Holidays, EA NHL Fans! I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on 2023 with you all and thank you for your undying passion for this game as well as your participation here on Answers HQ. It's sincerely appreciated! I know this last year hasn't been the easiest. We certainly had a lot of feedback from the community about the previous state of the game. With the release of NHL 24, we've put a big focus on acting on your valuable input and plan to continue to do so. The detailed and constructive feedback, along with those videos you all spend your own valuable time capturing has made a big difference. I understand there's still much to improve on though so please keep it coming! As far as participation here during the next couple of weeks goes, much of the Answers HQ team is on their holiday break so our presence will be a little lighter. We will still be monitoring the boards so feel free to continue reporting any issues. There just might not be as quick a response as there normally is. We will of course still be watching for critical issues so if any of those happen, we'll get them resolved as soon as we can. On a personal level, I want you all to know how much I sincerely appreciate your participation here. I'm extremely grateful to be a part of this community. It's also an honor to advocate for you all and help bring attention to the issues you raise. Many of which I can fully relate to. If it weren't for the community's passion for this game, I wouldn't be here. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all. Have a fun, happy and safe holiday season. Cheers! 🍺🍸🥳Community Requests Returning!
Hey, HUT Fans! It's the return of community requests! In previous years we gathered your suggestions each week for possible upgraded items. This time around, we're going to take those suggestions and then let you all vote on which ones you'd like to see receive a special Community Requests item. We've got a few guidelines: Players must already have an existing HUT item Voting will take place only on Answers HQ EA Sports NHL will make the final decisions on nominees For this initial week, suggestions will be accepted through Sunday with voting to begin Tuesday at 2 PM PST. Nominees can be submitted by responding here.
NHL 24 Tunnel of Doom Goal Celebration?
Quite intrigued by the full gameplay videos out there and sincere congrats to the audio team, sounds great and Cheryl works well... ...but the EA branded jump cut to the darkened, awkward, bizarre solo player celebration as soon as the puck hits the net seems totally unnecessary, breaks immersion and happens far too quickly to be a fluid progression from the ice to cutscene. Never mind your team mates idling in the tunnel of doom behind rather than celebrating. Can that be turned off? Even just in video form it looks like a purchase blocker. Never mind the goal... have this instead! Seems like the wrong presentation choice imo. It doesn't enhance the action like pre-game goalie stats, rather, it detracts from the core gameplay element of scoring a goal.NHL 24 another year they dont listen to offline community
Info so far which makes it a easy decision for me to not buy the game Presentation Tougie24 on You tube has playtest the game. The Intros are still short unfortunately. The philosophy is getting people into games as fast as possible. Which does suck for people like us who wants that extra immersion like we used to have. The new pressure system which seems to force us to look at a big pressure meter on the ice with no option to turn it off.Answer below from another thread. I asked the question just a few minutes ago to Tougie24 and he said that there’s no way you can toggle that OFF. And no hybrid controls and franchise mode is according to the EA producer him self not that they have out their energy on this year.Welcome back EA Aljo!
Let's all take a second to welcome back our community manager @EA_Aljo and show a little support for the person who has to deal with our constant bickering at all times in these forums. Show as a community that while we may not always agree with them, they are a valued member and someone who works hard at communicating between EA and us to try and make this game better!Dumping the puck
What's the deal with the difficulty introduced this year with something as simple as dumping the puck? I mean, it's always been problematic, but this year, it's ridiculous that half the time your skater has a problem reaching their own blue line. The CPU also can't dump the puck out. This is a real issue, especially with the new pressure system. Dumping the puck should be something so simple to do. You can do one button Michigan dekes, but you can't dump the puck? I'm not sure how this passed QA and everyone though this was good? This was an issue in the tech test and I thought it would be fixed on release. @EA_Aljo is this something that is going to be addressed in the forthcoming patch? Thanks.Introduce yourself - What's your EA NHL Story?
Hello, fellow NHL fans! With the release of NHL 24 upon us, we may see some new community members. I just wanted to introduce myself and give some background on what brought me here as well as give you all the chance to tell your own EA NHL story. I've been playing hockey video games longer than I care to admit, but all the way back to Ice Hockey on Nintendo along with Blades of Steel. I played the NHL series on and off in the early 90s, but became heavily focused on playing music so there wasn't a lot of gaming going on until a good friend introduced me to NHL 98. It became an obsession and brought me back to my love of hockey games and lit a fire in me for the sport in general. I spent countless hours on the couch, locked in friendly competition with a healthy dose of trash talking, battling away until the early hours. Amazing times for sure. Each year the new game was eagerly anticipated. Release day was practically a holiday for my friend and I. Yes, mainly just the one as the crowd I rolled with didn't have too many hockey fans. This was Oregon in the late 90s. We battled each other over the next 10 years until NHL 09 when EASHL was introduced and a whole new hockey world opened up for us. Friends were made playing drop-ins that, to this day are some of the most important people in my life that still gets together for club games regularly. I still find it incredible this all came from a shared love for a video game of a sport we were all passionate about. It's hard to imagine my life without them. This series has been life changing. It's what got me to pack up everything and leave friends & family behind to seek out a career in the gaming industry with the hopes of eventually being involved with the EA NHL series in some capacity. I wanted to know what went in to making this game as well as provide support to its community. In 2014 I started with EA in Texas where my passion for this series ended up leading me to different social and community roles and eventually here. Over the years I've been able to travel to events in Vancouver to meet the dev team at the EA Sports studios as well as attend EA Play where I was able to engage with other NHL fans. Going to the place this game is made and meeting the incredible people behind it has been an amazing experience to say the least. One I couldn't have dreamed of 20+ years ago. So, there's my story. I'm still as much a fan of this game as ever. Which is why I try to be an advocate for you all and make sure your voices are heard. Your issues are often my issues as well and the ones I may not be as passionate about are just as important. I'm going to make it a personal focus to join the community more often outside of my own club games so you may see me pop up in drop ins. Hope to see some familiar names from here and I'm very much looking forward to hitting the ice with you all. If you've got your own story to share, go for it! I know we have a very diverse community here so it would be great to hear what brought us all together with a shared passion for the sport of hockey and the game many of us have grown up with.
Lack of Direction - What is the EA NHL series?
This is not intended to be a rant or complaint thread, though there may be some examples which feel that way. The direction and design simply isn't being made clear to the consumer base. What is this game supposed to be? According to the branding and marketing, it is an "NHL" game. The connotation of "NHL" on the cover, is "a gaming experience which mirrors hockey in a form that is representative of the NHL". What are some reasonable expectations given that context? 1. Presentation: NHL uniforms, NHL equipment, NHL players, NHL arenas, etc. In game (primarily in CHEL), those aspects are often completely ignored. Purposefully. - Uniforms are discarded in favor of everything from hoodies to pajamas (or worse) - Equipment gets the same treatment ignoring helmets/visors and including gloves, skates, and sticks with often silly designs - Rinks that are a step below amateur in outdoor venues with none of the quality or atmosphere of an NHL arena This isn't counting the alternate game modes which take some of these aspects even further. 2. Game Modes: NHL hockey is at it's core 6v6 on the ice, 5 skaters and 1 goaltender, with specific rules designed for the sport. EA has introduced ones and threes "arcade" modes as well as the 3v3 watered-down version of NHL OT with its own set of rules. These are secondary (or even inconsequential) to what is expected from an NHL series, which is 6v6 on-ice play with NHL rules, but they are given attention and dilute the userbase for what "should" be the primary focus. A robust and accurate representation of 6v6 NHL gameplay. 3. Gameplay: NHL rules, physics, and player ability should be accurately represented. The rules are more or less as expected in 6v6 (ignoring other game modes because the rules are often just made up or non-existent). There's room for improvement in the application of those rules (rather than just random chance when x and y occur). Perhaps we are not yet at a point technically where rules can be applied through an analysis of the physical interactions alone. The physics themselves, as applied in game, create too many unrealistic situations. Solid objects passing through each other and pucks magnetized or otherwise influenced to remain in play are among the most egregious. Perhaps there are technical limitations involved here as well, but at the very least stick blades and pucks should be solid and have realistic interactions. "Pong" achieved that in 1972. There's no reason we can't have it in 2023. With the stick and puck interactions resolved, other elements related to player abilities should be able to be resolved incrementally. - Hitting interactions have been ramped up to market the game, but NHL players are more elusive and resilient than EA gives them credit for. They don't get rag dolled on legal body checks frequently and they don't stay down for more than a few seconds unless injured. - Lacrosses and Hipchecks have been brought up continuously already and EA took some action, but it simply doesn't go far enough. You might see a hipcheck once a game (if that) and it's done with momentum against speed up the boards. Hitting is a skill and hip checks involve the most skill to pull off while requiring certain conditions to be present. The Lacrosse move has been successful maybe a handful of times and attempted maybe a few times a year. It also takes skill and a certain set of conditions, chief among those is an unaware goaltender and AI goaltenders should not be unaware unless those conditions are met. Having both of these as "one-touch" buttons completely ignores the skill aspect. They don't even require accurate setup or positioning. - Generally speaking, every "flashy" but mostly realistic thing implemented in the game happens with exaggerated impact and/or frequency. While mundane things that very frequently happen in real life occur with less frequency. A player catching/intercepting a slapshot is rare (especially the catching part) and never as clean as the game represents. The puck deflecting over the glass on a shot happens a lot, but it slows down the game with more faceoffs, so it rarely happens. I believe I've gone far enough with explaining the difference between this game and expectations, though we all know there is more to cover. This isn't about bugs or little items that get overlooked. My intention is to get everyone to step back and ask themselves "What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Who are we doing it for? How can we do it better?". My personal view is that I want a game that at least attempts to look and feel like the NHL. My feeling is that those are not priorities for EA. I am seeing increasing numbers of players that share my perspective (though not necessarily to the same extent, I don't presume to speak for everyone) being driven away or becoming disenchanted with the franchise in the face of so many design decisions which appear to cater to an entirely different group of players. Perhaps I'm no longer the target audience and the majority wants 3v3 with superpowers and character skins. If that's the case I will simply accept it and move on. I can find something else to do with my time. EA hasn't made it clear, at least to me, what exactly this game is supposed to be and who it is supposed to be for. Perhaps they don't even know themselves. I'd appreciate it if they would present a clear direction, at least for next year if they can't now. I'm no longer going to dive into the current product blindly.
NHL25 Wishlist (hopefully some in NHL24)
- Full presentation back (removed in NHL23) - All NHL teams intro (instead of few teams) - Being able to CONTROL EVERY TEAM in Franchise/Custom League or at least let us have the same league editing as in Custom League for season mode. I spend hundreds of hours on retro rosters, with as much as possible accurate appearance, contracts, gear, overall rating. But I have 32 teams… and it kills a little the magic in season mode. For Franchise, I like to play with different teams during the season. It’s offline mode anyway. Let us use it as we want. MLB and NBA have this for years. - Add back the « Stanley Cup playoffs » text on the ice when it’s playoffs. You already use it for Rivals and other EASHL, last Playoffs I saw it few times and even Stanley Cup Finals. - Three stars animation at the end of the game. - Winter Classic mode (generic arena in the worst case). Add the actual Winter Classic arena for play now and for the 2 teams playing it in that season in season/franchise mode. + two team for future years are chosen randomly every season. - ALL STAR GAME during Franchise and Season mode. Like back in the days, with generated lineups depending on sim. - Return of Stanley Cup banner rising in Franchise and Season mode - Hat trick recap like older games. - Accurate gloves colours! Penguins 2015-2016 are bright yellow when they should be golden. I’m sure many other retro or current teams have this problem. Put black gloves or edit palette to Penguins gold. - Playoffs mode has been a mess for years! No edit lines, strategies, retired numbers option doesn’t work. Please let us compete for different trophies too. Memorial Cup, Spengler Cup, etc. Creation : - Edit generated players - Create helmet less players - Edit players (appearance, overall ratings) once Franchise, Season mode has started - New beards, more length instead of 0 to 4, 0 to 6-7. - Hair colour, maybe letting us use the colour wheel since many are off or too extreme. - Hair style, more hair style, especially for black descendants. Maybe possible to edit length would be nice. - New goalie masks (been the same forever) - Add new attributes such as Backhand power, accuracy, we have speed, we need speed with the puck. Offensive awareness is vague. Should be called Offensive constancy. Same for defensive. And the value of this should be higher. So instead of having to put Caufield strong, and speedy. You put 90 off and it makes him a 86 right away. - Add new mentality attributes for Franchise purposes, should be a loyalty, money interest and winning meter. Depending on the meters, players choose to re-sign for much less to win. - Edit player injury options players such as Landeskog, Nolan Patrick, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane. Being able to add an injury without having to put the player 70 overall. Being able to decide if they are injured which body part, how long. If I play season or franchise and Eichel gets injured for 6 months in real life, I can add it so it matches reality. NBA 2K has it and it’s awesome. Durability is fine. I would add body parts along the way. Knees, ankles, elbows, fingers, back, shoulders and head. Crosby is not injury prone if not for concussion for example. Goalie masks models - 1950 (Jacques Plante, early years) - 1970-1980 (Dryden, Wregget, Cheevers) 1950-1970-1980-1990-2000’s model goalie masks, you add them in the standard mask. Make them blank, and we can edit colours for straps, grid and the rest of the mask with the colour wheel. The other part, is to revamp all the existing goalie masks of every league. Some have been added recently, but some are 10-11 years old. Throughout the year with patchs maybe? I’d really like to see 3 new looking models for all NHL teams + at least one iconic goalie mask! I’m thinking, Luongo, Brodeur already in the game, but maybe, Price, Joseph, Fleury, Giguere, etc. With actual colour and design as much as possible. (Because of copyrights) - Add new « vintage » gear such as CCM HT1 helmet, Jofa 390 helmet, more wooden hockey stick, leather gloves for 50-60’s hockey, option to remove shoulder pads, classic black and white ccm skates like in 90’s hockey to match more the idea of the custom league! Sidney Crosby’s CCM Fit Lite 80 (5K) helmet, ! The guy that was face of NHL for years and doesn’t have his proper helmet since NHL11.. so, does Tarasenko and alumnis Pronger, Briere, Sedin twins, just to name a few don’t have their actual helmet. Time to add it back.. NEW SUGGESTIONS : Add presets in Custom League. Such as 1950, 1960, 1970, 1990, 2000’s. Within those presets would have rules, gameplay sliders, number of teams, salary cap, etc. (that you could still manage), overall look maybe even a filter like old camera/broadcast. (NBA 2K did this in NBA2K23 and it’s genius). Edit existing arena, from seat colors, to the name or even change venue and decade. Edit uniform just like in created team, change the gloves colours, font, etc. for existing teams. Ones - Revamped Free for All from 2004’s version, different indoor/outdoor environments, arcade style of play, every player from every team is available and not just 7 players you have to unlock. Threes circuit —> NBA streets Vol2 type, you play against 5 different divisions - ECHL/CHL/AHL/EUR and NHL. In each you play 10 games, everytime you defeat a team, you pick a player from this team. You choose 10 teams of all teams in that category. Once this league finished, you have to pick one hero card from it. For example in CHL : A 2006 London Knights Patrick Kane with 75 ovr, younger, actual hair, facial hair, face and skills for example. The card has the authentic 2006 picture. Maybe they could go on your HUT team in the end. EUR : Victor Hedman 17 years old, with Modo, and so on. Until you need to defeat Gretzky, Lemieux, Lidstrom and Roy for example as a boss. Being able to change age (switching between custom age or real birthdate) in roster or in season/custom league mode, so your player is not 48 years old. Being able set default jerseys in custom league, season for retro teams for example instead of always having to pick them. Retired numbers for franchise/custom league an actual animation of the jersey being lifted and players looking at it. The player in suit waving. Something exciting. Milestones should be more rewarding! If you score 500, 1000 points, etc, there are animation right now, but it’s not exciting enough. Franchise, sim engine is off. I hate that every sim is really different, 90% of the time, best players and teams should be best players and teams..! I’d sim and get Columbus first in the league and having Arturi Lekhonen even with McDavid at 68 pts. Needs to be changed. We like surprises but you know…! Potential is also off! I don’t get why every players get to 90 overall within a year…
Defensive Absurdity Still Abound
Why are we still stuck with absurdist devs who purposefully make all defensive tools clunky and terrible? Poke checks - painfully slow, wildly inaccurate, and results in huge speed penalty. We know this is purposeful since all this did not used to be true. Why is it that the devs think that, when hockey players have possession of a puck to control, they have MORE agility and control over their stick? Heck yeah, offense Bro! DSS - similar to poke checks, why do the devs think that the same player on offense who can dangle the puck on a string has zero ability to use the stick AND skate at the same time on defense? Do they think defensive players lose nerve endings in their legs when they use their stick? Yes, let’s heavily discourage all types of stick use on defense! Hitting - despite the advertising, hitting has been nerfed to the point of largely being useless (and indeed discouraged). It is far too easy as the puck carrier to avoid a square hit. But in what world does the body not disrupt the puck-carrier unless and until a hit is perfectly square and timed. That’s just obviously not how hockey works, yet here we are yet again. Silly season. I’ve seen some posts saying to also nerf hip-checks. DO NOT, unless you are going to SUBSTANTIALLY buff normal hitting and shoves. If we’re going to keep purposefully clunkifying all other defensive tools to the point of idiocy, at least leave this one, as unrealistic as it is, to act as SOME counterweight. Bottom line, this is a pretty absurd feeling and looking game when you don’t have the puck. But hey, yeah, one-button MICHIGAN goal attempts for the puck carrier—thank heavens this super routine part of the game has been realistically accounted for this year. Totally logical and glad you spent time on that. P.S. The canned tunnel celebrations are just terrible. Anytime your decision is to take control away from us on something like celebrations, that is almost always going to be wrong. But you know that by now.Off the ice for a bit
Hey, NHL Fans! I just wanted to give a heads up that I'll be away 11/8 - 11/16. In the meantime, there will other CMs around to handle moderation and support issues as well as get any critical issues raised. As far as bug reports and feedback go, I'll make sure that all gets collected and submitted to the team when I return. They also visit the boards so chances are good they'll be seen. As with most issues, please try to grab video/screenshots. Those help out tremendously. Instructions for capturing video can be found here. Take it easy, everyone. Have fun and good luck on the ice!NHL 24 Feedback
To date, I can genuinely say NHL 24 is the WORST hockey game ever made. - $90 to $130 for an unfinished game. - Bugs that essentially break the game where it’s un-playable. - Glitch goals are 10x worse than previous games. - The new “Checking System” delivers the same hit in every scenario and hip checks are so overpowered. Hitting controls are also awkward. - Pressure system is actually a joke, very overpowered and the fact that it’s Ai controlled made game scenarios unrealistic. - BUTTON MAPPING IS THE WORST THING BROUGHT TO GAMING! Takes skill out of the game. Edit: Modified the subject to better reflect the content of the post. -CMFarewell For Now.
I had to start a topic for this because it feels right. A forum member asked me why I really hang here on this board when I actually dont talk about the game, at first I got a bit insulted, but when I let it sink in, his right. I have lived my life around this serie sence 15… and put my soul and heart around it, mainly because my love for hockey and its been fun to have a place to share with all of you. Thats probably why I still stick around, its hard to let go of something you put down so much time and effort on. It became a part of myself, perhaps too big part of myself. Thats why it's time to move on, at least for now, if I som day decide to pick up the game again I then know where to find you. I hope you all find peace with the game and dont take it too serious. Peace im signing out, thank you all for the time! 😏✌️
