The chat part doesn't have to be there. Heck just let us find games easier for those who can't find or don't have time for club. The chat text doesn't have to be a thing. Trying to find a drop-in game now even with cross-play is painful and ends up mostly just CPU since it's a dying population. None of my IRL friends play anymore since they got rid of the way OTP was prior to NHL 20.
Just gonna leave this here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EA_NHL/comments/zk0bu4/which_matchmaking_method_would_you_prefer_for/
53% bring back drop in lobbies to 15% current matchmaking engine to 33% who have never played with drop in lobbies.
That's nearly 4 to 1 ratio of people who prefer drop in lobbies over the current matchmaking engine.
Oh well!
Somewhere, somehow, there's a "community list" of ideas and priorities that make it into this game. I haven't actually seen this list, but as per responses from some moderators, there's a community demand for changes. No polls or votes. No canvassing. No majority community input. No real conversation on the topic of discussion.
Of course, we don't see these complaints that result in the changes, because apparently it's better to ask for forgiveness then it is to ask for permission. And those complaints are usually after the fact, when a certain change was implemented, and has become a problem.
Obviously, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately, and in this case, it isn't very much except for grief. Yeah, there's a demographic that wants very much for this series to be enjoyable, and have an experience that keeps us coming back. But the current state of this series has seen that demographic declining, and moving on.
Personally, and over the last several weeks, I'm back to playing "The Division". This game came out in 2016. And with 54 days, 17 hours, and 44 minutes of playing time, it's still absolutely fun to play! At launch, it started out rough, but it's now a very solid game. There's nothing copy and paste about it, and it's a reliable source of entertainment.
Bottom line, the NHL series needs an overhaul, and it has to be an overall effort. Charging a hefty price for a weak product is thievery, and this very small demographic is being robbed.
