Re: NHL 24 caters to the toxic community of the Series
@SturmWolfe wrote:It's every year. Yet the there are an abundance of unhappy players.
The game has changed. Defensive responsibility became a skill you need to master. Rather than master it (which includes adapting to perceived deficiencies in development/programming/design choices), we have a vocal minority of players who demand the game be changed. They sit in echo chambers like these forums, comment sections on social media, Reddit, Twitter, etc and insist that because everyone in their echo chamber agrees with them, that everyone must agree with them. That couldn't be further from actual truth.
The game isn't perfect. Lots of fixes have been acknowledged by the dev team here (why do we tend to ignore all the times Aljo sees a legit clip of something awful and follows up with "I'll pass this on to the team"?) and ultimately, if the team stays true and doesn't cave into players who want things simplified and sterilized to fit their one-dimensional play style, it will continue to evolve in a positive direction.
@SturmWolfe wrote:There have been no implementation to fix any of the issues that countless players bring to EA. We send the video footage. They give the same "thanks, we'll send it along to the devs" response every time.
No community engagement. Just the same basic 4 updates we get a year that do absolutely nothing to fix ongoing issues that have been around for at least decade now.
Because much of the time, the "issues" that "countless" players bring up aren't issues. They're mostly (not all!) clips of players simply being outplayed by a dominant opponent and/or demonstrating a fundamental flaw in their skill on defense or offense. Sometimes it's just a small mistake but players demand it be 'fixed'. Like.. what should EA 'fix' about the fact someone constantly rushes a puck carrier mashing poke check and a pass slides under the heel of their stick and they claim "passes get forced like this all the time" ?
Poor community engagement is understandable. Aljo does a great job being active in these forums but because he doesn't validate some users' demands that EA change the whole game or he gives them an honest answer surrounding a flaw in someone's skill.. people think "aw nobody is listening".
I always like to take this opportunity to remind people that we used to have consistent engagement from the actual gameplay producers in here. But because toxic users would literally tell people who made the game that they were wrong about certain elements, didn't "know hockey", etc - they stopped. I don't blame them. I sometimes wonder myself why I continue to post on these forums but then I think about how watered down, simplistic and basic many of the complainers want the game to be.. I don't. I want more complexity, more animations, more tools that require mastery so that there's a genuine skill gap.
Some people here would prefer a hockey IQ test and then demand the outcomes of their games be determined by that.
@SturmWolfe wrote:Yeah, there is a way to defend against one dimensional players. The main complaint you seem to overlook is that it's boring. Having to defend against the same boring old far side / far side wrap / behind the net short side is boring.
Then don't play? If the game bores you.. simply don't play it. One-dimensional players are easy to defend against. Chances are, if you're seeing an opponent try the same methods against you over and over - they've identified a flaw in your defending and are trying to bait you into making a mistake. That's hockey.
@SturmWolfe wrote:It's also incredibly annoying when you place a player behind the net to press the player against the boards to stop a short side behind the net goal. It doesn't work half the time. It's an exploit no matter how you want to put it.
You shouldn't be taking defenders behind the net to chase a puck carrier. At all. If an opponent is parking behind the net waiting for short-side one-timer, set your defense to collapse and protect the net. dont' frantically swap control of defenders (so that your a.i. remains consistent) - always remember to swap to control the last man back (RT + R3) - and just keep those passing lanes closed. Problem solved.
It's these skills that need to be mastered (player switching, remaining positionally sound so as not to disrupt your a.i.) that will yeild more success. But instead, most people just complain and their echochambers make them think everyone feels the way they do.
@SturmWolfe wrote:Same goes for the far side shots. You place your player in a good position to block the shot. The player then passes and your computer is out of position. You manually switch your player to the open dman and it doesn't work as intended.
Because chances are, you're frantically trying to swap controls. A.I. is out of position because you've likely pulled the player you're controlling out of position - forcing the a.i. to make up for loss of coverage - which in turn exposes a hole in the D.
I've only ever had player switching problems when I'm caught in a bad spot and being frantic. When you learn to master RT & RS player switching, combined with RT & R3 - you'll notice there's a reason top-level players are able to shut less-skilled players down so easily.
