We Need Actual Gameplay Fixes For NHL 23...

Let me lead off by saying that I completely agree with you.  NHL 23 desperately needs gameplay fixes.  It's needed them since day one.  Actually, prior to day one since almost all of the major gamplay issues were seen and reported by the community during the technical test.

That said, the odds of there being any gamplay updates at this point are vanishingly small.  The way EA has handled the NHL series over the last couple of years it's obvious that they've take a 'fire and forget' approach when it comes to gamplay.  Whatever state the gameplay side of things is in at release is what it's going to be for the duration of the game's existence.

This stance has been justified by EA by basically saying "There were a couple of years the community liked the beta gameplay and didn't like our changes after release so we're very reluctant to make any changes after release going forward.".  This justification falls flat on it's face when you consider that regardless of what happened in the past, in NHL 23 there were a myriad of obvious, major gameplay problems that were brought up during the technical test feedback and again immediately upon release of the game.  NHL 23 isn't a situation where the beta was well received which may have justified a hands-off approach to gameplay.  It's a game that's needed major gameplay adjustments since the beginning.

In the face of several major gameplay issue why is EA still so reluctant to address them?  The way I see it, there's a few options:

1. There's no incentive to fix things.  Be it financially or buying good will there may not be any internal pressure to fix NHL 23.  Few new sales will be driven by gameplay changes and as long as HUT players are paying for packs everything's golden. I think this factors in a bit, but probably isn't the sole reason for the lack of gameplay changes.
2. The current state of gamplay is working as intended and needs no changes.  If this is the stance of the dev team then there's no hope.  I'd like to think that they at least recognize the need for changes and just can't address it for whatever reason.  Of course we can't know for certain because we get no feedback...
3. They want to make changes but can't due to technical reasons.  We've been told here many times that some changes risk unforeseen consequence due to the complex nature of the game.  And while this can be true of complex software, the fact that any and all gameplay changes apparently fall into this category is an indication that the EA NHL team has major coverage issues when it comes to manual and automated tests.  The idea that the community can bring up major gameplay issues in the beta and can't reasonably expect them to be addresses until the following year's release absolutely screams "we have no way of reliably testing any changes we make".

All of this is basically why I've all but given up on giving any feedback or bug reports here.  Any issues brought up won't be addressed in the current product.  We're essentially being told that even problems raised in the beta will require us to buy next year's release to even have a hope of seeing them fixed.  And at this point in the year I imagine that NHL 24's feature set is all but locked in, so any new problems raised now will probably have to wait for NHL 25 to be fixed.  There's little incentive from a customer's point of view to provide feedback when we don't get any dev response and have no realistic expectation that our feedback will result in actual changes in the current release.

The lack of transparency from the devs only adds to the frustration.  While I understand they've had a 'bad experience' with these forums in the past I don't see that as an excuse to shut down all communication with the community ( it's EA's forums they can moderate them as they wish ).  There's no reason why we can't get some feedback on some of the reported issues.  Even if it's just "yes, that's a bug" or "that's working as intended and here's why".

They have made it clear they won't be doing gameplay updates. No good reason was given as NOBODY is happy with the state of the game not even the previous "gamechangers". The devs/community mangers are either blind or just stubborn to admit all the issues that need fixing. It is actually embarassing to see one of the top NHL streamers post video after video of what is wrong with the game and then come into these forums and see community managers state they need more video proof. Play one single game and you will see issues. They either don't care (this is the way I am leaning) or are that blind. Add on all the ridiculous suspensions and bans it just makes the game unplayable.

@GizzyGremlin 

The reason we need video is because we're not always able to reproduce what is reported. There are of course issues we have reproduced, but if we're asking for video, it means we still need it to help with the investigation. I personally have experienced many of the same issues as you all and have acknowledged when we're aware of them.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you've been living in Canada, over the last several years, and have seen what we've been dealing with, it's evidently clear that corporate corruption ru(i)ns everything that we've become accustomed to enjoying. And that's not just periodically, it's permanent.

Stop buying this game. That's a start. 

It’s really quite simple: don’t buy NHL24. It’s the only message they understand.

There’s no point in reporting issues to the community managers because it’s abundantly clear that their entire remit is shush down the glaring problems and gaslight the community by denying glaring issues aren’t really because “we’ve investigated and can’t reproduce the problem” that everyone experiences every single game or “ your video isn’t quite from the right angle/right speed/ doesn’t show context”, or “ you didn’t minutely turn left/right/up/down and in this one single frame x happened” or simple outright locking the topic/deleting the post/banning you for reporting it

And here is why that is the case: they  can’t fix the issues because EA is philosophically bought into the Frostbyte engine - every single game they produce - from RPGs to driving games to first person shooters to sports games are built on the same underlying architecture. there was a good article written two years ago detailing the difficulties they have in writing single player games on an engine that assumes a client-server architecture . So when the NHL team actually has physics problems, that has to get kicked up to the team in charge of the core Frostbyte engine and how high do you think NHL issues, a small franchise with a small community , ranks in their priority list compared to, say, Battlefield, or FIFA or NFL?

so it’s a lot easier to just keep regurgitating the same game, make a few minor tweaks, overpromise the handful of fixes they did , and then tell the community managers to keep a lid on things as best as they can. And as long as the addictive part of pack sales keeps players playing the game and spending money , where’s the issue? The fact that the gameplay is atrocious and the community is upset doesn’t show in the sales figures.

so again: don’t buy NHL24. It’s the only message they will understand. I won’t and I faithfully bought every game since 92. Enough is enough.

First. I agree with you.

second. Do you remember nhl22? In 22 you couldnt even breath on the goalie with out getting a penalty.

in 23 its atleast a little more realistic. But still needs balance.

Yeah I think 23 is my last one for a while. Honestly the communication is what really makes me mad/sad. Aljo gives half answers or avoids the topic entirely, and what he can talk about he can't say much about. What is the point of having community managers and employees like that when they don't do anything for the community? No transparency on bans/suspensions either which is ridiculous. 

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@Mordecus wrote:

There’s no point in reporting issues to the community managers because it’s abundantly clear that their entire remit is shush down the glaring problems and gaslight the community by denying glaring issues aren’t really because “we’ve investigated and can’t reproduce the problem” that everyone experiences every single game or “ your video isn’t quite from the right angle/right speed/ doesn’t show context”, or “ you didn’t minutely turn left/right/up/down and in this one single frame x happened” or simple outright locking the topic/deleting the post/banning you for reporting it

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This really isn't the case. I experience many of the same issues the rest of you do. Some I don't. This is also why good video is key to getting issues reproduced. Something else to keep in mind is that there might be a rare combination of customizations that could cause an issue to occur that aren't noticeable in a clip. The videos you all submit are really crucial for getting your reports investigated. Even if those issues aren't resolved in the current game, it's very possible they will contribute to future games.

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@GizzyGremlin wrote:

Yeah I think 23 is my last one for a while. Honestly the communication is what really makes me mad/sad. Aljo gives half answers or avoids the topic entirely, and what he can talk about he can't say much about. What is the point of having community managers and employees like that when they don't do anything for the community? No transparency on bans/suspensions either which is ridiculous. 

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When an account is actioned due to breaking the Answers HQ rules, a message is sent saying what you did.

I would definitely like to see us have better communication in general though. I'm really not trying to give half answers. Mainly, I can't talk about anything that hasn't been already announced. This pertains to what's coming in the future. Otherwise, I'm trying to give as complete an answer as I can.