Re: Will not purchase next year...

The one thing that helps 2k is the esports league that generates millions in revenue which the NBA sponsors and players can be drafted and be paid to play wich often adds to the number of people who buy the guy and play regularly something NHL games desperately needs

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@KlariskraysNHL wrote:
@frenchie5280Some of the NHL teams actually do some sponsored esport events. Most notably the Columbus Blue Jackets are probably the most into it. But for something like what 2K has the NHL would need to get on board with EA for something like that. The 6s community would instantly turn way more competitive.

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I find the current landscape very "clique-y".

An official path to gaining a spot on an esports team would be awesome. Right now, you have to buddy-up with whoever 'runs' these teams to try and crack a roster spot, which is typically impossible unless you're personally known.

It would be cool if people were put in place to manage a team much like in real life with coaches holding try-outs, maybe even a draft, etc. 

2k is miles ahead of the NHL series but that's to be expected... Basketball is a WILDLY more popular sport than hockey and this means the number of fans of the sport is much higher which in turn means the number of gamers willing to buy the sport's game-version is much higher, right? In turn, this allows for 2k to allocate more resources( i.e. DEVS) to the yearly project which results in the product you're raving about.

NHL will quite literally NEVER be on par (or even close) with NBA 2k. It's just a fact of life. Reality, if you will. 

Another thing that should be noted is that it isn't "easy" to add a fully voiced, fully acted, fully animated career mode to ANY game. It's basically the equivalent of building a game within your game. I'm not saying that means it shouldn't be done, so don't get me wrong... but saying things like "It would be so easy to just do X thing," shows in ignorance in regards to software development. 

Again, just because something is hard/labor-intensive doesn't mean it shouldn't be done... it just means sacrifices would have to be made in other areas to re-allocate those resources. The bottom line is this: In order for EA NHL to become the game we all want it to be, the sport of hockey would have to SOAR in terms in popularity, become a world-wide phenomenon, and become something that most sports fans are interested in. That's never going to happen. 

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@rsandersr47 wrote:
Does anyone get the feeling the devs/ management at top cares about this game or making a quality game? I'm really wondering.. the fact we have the same bugs every year makes me think they don't care, they likely don't even play it.. If I made a game that I loved and played it, I would at least have some common bugs fixed after a year.

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My opinion is that those in positions to direct massive, fundamental changes to gameplay, modes etc. are not willing to take that risk and/or they don't feel supported from the people above THEM to take those risks. They may also feel shorthanded with such a small development team.  Deciding to take a risk on a big change to any given mode comes with so much anxiety at effecting the bottom line - they give into complacency in an effort to ensure just enough things change so that the game can be marketed with 'new' features, and the ROI is .025% higher than previous years.

The loss of Ben Ross (and the loss of Geoff Harrower, who developed big things for the motion engine in NHL/UFC) does not bode well for either series. Although it might be refreshing to get some new blood under the hood of these things, the fact that these two left EA (and now Brian Hayes as well) sets of alarm bells that maybe there is a lack of vision coming from the top and a lack of trust in the truly creative people within their development teams.

That said, executives at EA need to take a long, hard look at the NHL series and its current stalemate when it comes to modes, features and being compared to other games such as MLB The Show and NBA2K. What really grinds me as a fan of sports games is the drumbeat of microtransactions and how a majority of time and effort goes into ensuring players are coming back to those modes by way of addiction rather than by way of an immersive and compelling virtualization of our favorite sports. 

I don't think the core development team of the NHL series "doesn't care". Sure, there are people there just collecting a decent paycheque for software development, engineering, etc. But having actually met with and interacted with the development team in-person, albeit 10 years ago, they are genuinely passionate about the product they put out.

I disagree. They used to have a much larger community that stopped playing because their voices we're and still are being ignored. There are two options for this series to grow: New management, or time in between to make a make a better product. That's why they are so gung-ho on adding the "new crowd" because you're not getting most of the old ones back. 

@Rename34345 

While I get that not everything has been added that the community has requested, we're not ignoring you all. Many changes have happened due to community feedback. If you're talking about regular patches to address gameplay with 23, obviously, that hasn't happened. That doesn't mean the feedback you all provide is being ignored. It's entirely possible we'll see that incorporated in a future release. 

In a perfect world, we could easily make the changes being asked, but that's not the case. Most often, making a positive change in one area results in a negative effect in another. So, we have to take the time necessary to make sure that doesn't happen or is minimized as much as possible. This is often why feedback we receive doesn't make it in to the game until years later. 

You also mention taking time in between to make a better product. We haven't had many updates for 23, but this hasn't gone over well. So, it doesn't seem that the community really wants this. We can't take that time while simultaneously providing frequent gameplay updates. 

As far as having a larger community before goes, keep in mind that a lot has changed with the community over the last 10 years. The same people playing then have moved on to having careers and families. My club that started with NHL 09 played almost daily. Now, we're lucky to get one night a week together just because our schedules don't line up. I'm not saying this is the sole reason for what is perceived to be a smaller community, but it needs to be considered. 

I definitely understand there's many of you wishing for the days of old while continually adding new updates and features. I'd love that as well, but the sport of hockey is essentially the same year after year. It's not exactly easy to keep the game fresh and new while also retaining legacy gameplay. Overhauling the gameplay year after year would probably be pretty frustrating for the playerbase. There's also the issue of dealing with a new meta every year from making gameplay changes to move away from the previous meta. People are always going to seek out the easiest ways to score so it's a constant battle of trying to stop one meta, without introducing another. Having goalies cover the short side, but now leaving the far side open is a good example.

Thanks for all the feedback here. I know many of you are upset at the lack of attention said feedback has received. The team is very well aware of that and I'm hopeful we'll see this put in to action better in the future. We'll just have to wait for news about that in the coming months.

@KlariskraysNHL 

I agree communication has been minimal this year, but there also hasn't been much to communicate. There have been almost no changes to gameplay so there really isn't anything to go in to more detail on. However, this is recognized and we're looking to do a better job of that. I just don't have anything I can share currently. 

I'm not here to here argue, I get that you have to cheerlead for EA. A huge potion of the community asked for gm connected for 8 years now. Lobbies have asked for, ways to play online with and versus friends...but honestly that would take away from HUT. The time it took to add all those hats, different ways to wear them...come on. I didn't realize there was a significant amount of regular players asking these things. Those things could have been paid add ons, come on EA...

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@KlariskraysNHL wrote:
@EA_AljoI remember playing around 2,000 plus games of EASHL a year then reality of life hit and now if I play 500 games I feel like I've play a god awful amount.

The real issue isn't their lack of changes but more so the lack of communication of why things are happening. I think in all honesty they need to at least do deep dives explaining changes to things. And if they will make changes during the iteration of 24 they make a video on why, how, etc for the change(s).

Also turn off comments on it because it won't be pretty no matter what. But at least hearing reasoning for things might go some way for many.

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Agreed. 

I've been trying to nail down the Michigan and the Michigan Pass and it's crazy how there's no tutorial for these things in-game. I have to watch cringey YouTubers try to explain it through their insufferable radio voices. "wwHHHaaTTtss Up Guyysssssss" 😞

@EAAljo as someone myself who has been part of the casual/competitive and content creator communities for this series there are quite a few thing that need addressing. As for lobby system, many of the members were around ages 22-40 something. I was 20 when I first played NHL 14 and the lobbies is how clubs were formed. We took indoor OTP as our main focus of play since club was there for competition when we had time, as many of us had lives back then too. When they removed it, we had a heck of a time finding games, and 99% of the people didn't like the new system, especially when it went to outdoor casual 6's. I knew half of them, as they are on my friends list, along I had 30+ friends from my hometown, along IRL hockey opponents who gave up too.

We pretty much said after NHL 18 to say goodbye to EASHL drop-in due to the current system. We had 9 clubs we used to face up until NHL 20, and now have disbanded due to upset of the current direction. Yes many have full-time jobs or families, but that is why the game needs to attract the younger crowd. In competitive leagues, even the high school competitors don't want to play this game, and that goes for the league organizers also. World Finals for GWC is coming up and the support lacked since NHL 23 is in such a bad state. NHL 24 needs to be hands down one of the greatest games since many longtime consumers already aren't wanting to support the series. As a streamer the NHL category has dwindled down to tumbleweeds, everyone else has switched to different games for content. 

As for offline players we need to have options for game mode preferences like BAP/Franchise mode. BAP should let us toggle on/off what content we want to experience. Say add Full Season Juniors, AHL, Prospects/All-star game, Cutscenes/Cinematics ( a big one ), Franchise mode could let us get rid of the 25 year cap and let us play longer seasons like 82 seasons or so... 

We just want to see more for what we pay out of our pockets as consumers. The current direction is driving 99% of the customers away, and it is coming to reality that EA needs to be better in providing a quality product, especially when NHL 23 lacked for a full priced game,,,

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@EA_Aljo wrote:

@Rename34345 

While I get that not everything has been added that the community has requested, we're not ignoring you all. Many changes have happened due to community feedback. If you're talking about regular patches to address gameplay with 23, obviously, that hasn't happened. That doesn't mean the feedback you all provide is being ignored. It's entirely possible we'll see that incorporated in a future release. 

In a perfect world, we could easily make the changes being asked, but that's not the case. Most often, making a positive change in one area results in a negative effect in another. So, we have to take the time necessary to make sure that doesn't happen or is minimized as much as possible. This is often why feedback we receive doesn't make it in to the game until years later. 

You also mention taking time in between to make a better product. We haven't had many updates for 23, but this hasn't gone over well. So, it doesn't seem that the community really wants this. We can't take that time while simultaneously providing frequent gameplay updates. 

As far as having a larger community before goes, keep in mind that a lot has changed with the community over the last 10 years. The same people playing then have moved on to having careers and families. My club that started with NHL 09 played almost daily. Now, we're lucky to get one night a week together just because our schedules don't line up. I'm not saying this is the sole reason for what is perceived to be a smaller community, but it needs to be considered. 

I definitely understand there's many of you wishing for the days of old while continually adding new updates and features. I'd love that as well, but the sport of hockey is essentially the same year after year. It's not exactly easy to keep the game fresh and new while also retaining legacy gameplay. Overhauling the gameplay year after year would probably be pretty frustrating for the playerbase. There's also the issue of dealing with a new meta every year from making gameplay changes to move away from the previous meta. People are always going to seek out the easiest ways to score so it's a constant battle of trying to stop one meta, without introducing another. Having goalies cover the short side, but now leaving the far side open is a good example.

Thanks for all the feedback here. I know many of you are upset at the lack of attention said feedback has received. The team is very well aware of that and I'm hopeful we'll see this put in to action better in the future. We'll just have to wait for news about that in the coming months.

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So basically the answer remains: “keep paying premium game prices every year” for the *possibility* that the dev team will actually do something about the toxic and completely unrealistic gameplay.

I can’t believe this response actually got approved by the PR team. 

im done with EA NHL. 24 will be the first year since ‘92 where I don’t buy the game. This franchise deserves to die because the customers get treated with absolute contempt.

@Mordecus 

That isn't at all what I was saying. I get the skepticism for sure, but nothing has been announced yet. Hopefully, you can at least keep an open mind about the future. 

I never touch HUT, I refuse to play the money grab mode.  My issues are all with EASHL and Be A Pro never getting an update.

EASHL is just a cesspool for toxicity, people with the racist names, people just being an all around a-hole without getting booted from games, human goalies (some of them, I've played with a lot of good human goalies) being allowed to just * around without getting booted.  I would say give us a kick feature so we can kick the toxic players out, but idk if the NHL community is mature enough for that, the AI is an issue every year it seems, the zone abilities have killed the game, close quarters and truculance are AWFUL (And this is coming from someone that uses BOTH) goalies are horrible when trying to stop the puck against someone with CQ, not to mention most of the penalties.  I'm sure people can add more to this as well.

Here's another great point. They had time to add things nobody asked for whatsoever, but let people like : bolt upright and about 20 others absolutely ruin the online community for years with no bans or options to kick from games. Same name even. But there was definitely time to add hats, hut and ones.