Goalies

EA just once again, has the wrong people making decisions with this franchise, it’s so infuriating.

Right now, most people are still in the honeymoon phase with this game and don’t see how this crap is going to play out with what they’ve done to the goalies, and the implications this is going to have on the overall gameplay once people really figure the game out. Let me explain…

People cried about cross crease goals going in the last few years, when in reality it’s their horrible defence allowing teams to get them in the first place. Granted, pass interceptions were abysmal and complete RNG at times. Now pass interceptions were worked on for 23, and are actually pretty decent now when compared to NHL 22, that alone was enough of a nerf to the cross crease meta, because now the D actually have the tools to pick off these passes and be rewarded for good positioning. This is how the game should be balanced, THE HUMAN D given the tools to succeed!!! But once again, EA, rather than putting the game in the players hands, decides to double down on AI determining the outcome of games, by now bailing out massive defensive breakdowns by human users, when they have just been given the tools to succeed to stop it themselves in the first place.

Why year after year do these devs feel the need to make the AI more impactful in the game, when in reality they should be as non impactful as possible. Not only that, but the fact EA doesn’t realize that each mode needs to be tuned completely seperate from one another. Again, let me explain…

Offline modes, the AI should be impactful, and provide a challenge for offline players by being aggressive and having goalies and AI defenders be difficult to beat. Move on to online HUT and Versus mode…. You can only control 1 player at a time in these modes, so the AI should be positionally solid, but very passive, which would force players to have to switch when defending and not just rely on the AI playing fetch for them. Positionally good so that when SWITCHED TO by the human, they can make a play. Goalies in HUT and versus should also be CONSISTENT in what goes in the net, and should not be the reason teams win or lose.

Now onto EASHL, imo AI shouldn’t even exist in this mode, this should 100% be purely humans, it’s what the mode was made for, but I get that not everyone can get a full squad on to play and it would suck not being able to play at all. That being the case, the AI should literally be pylons in this mode, they should be treated like BOTS in fortnite, where they are just beyond bad and not impactful, but just there to be enough of a decoy. This is not HUT or versus where you only have control of 1 player, you have other human user teammates there that should be reading plays and playing man on man coverage anyways. The AI goalies in club, again should be as consistent as possible, they should not have these constant save of the year moments and determine the outcome of games while the other teams goalie plays like a peewee bum. I honestly don’t get the mindset of these devs thinking the AI in online modes should be as good as your average player in this game, when in reality they should be bad which will force you to find other humans to play with.

These human goalies being programmed to make these miraculous cross crease saves is a complete joke and people don’t realize how the meta of the game is going to further turn into a 1 man show style of play because passing simply won’t be rewarded anymore. I’m already 150+ games into playing 23, I’m 52-2-1 in drop ins, 19-0-0 in HUT, global champion for 1s eliminator, 12-0-0 in 3s eliminator,  and 63-3-3 in club, I can 100% tell you guys, the meta is to pass as little as possible. Puck interceptions being jacked up, and goalies stopping cross creases the way they are, means breakaways, wrist shot and slap shots, taking it to the net, and rebounds are now the meta. Not once of those things in the meta requires you to pass the puck, does nobody else realize this?

Please for the love of god NHL devs, please rethink your mindset on how you tune this game…