Will not purchase next year...
To whom it may concern, I have owned every NHL games since NHL 94 and I actually even had NHLPA 93 before the rights to players association and were acquired and NHL 23 will be my last one. I have ...
Forum Discussion
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.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerWhile 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.
- @EA_Aljo I 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.- EA_Aljo
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.
@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.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" 😞
- @KidShowtime1867 I mean chances are maybe one of them in part of the program helping promote NHL. For me when it would come to games with technical type things I'd always turn to YouTube for learning how to pull things off. When EA had the training course in the game I never found it even remotely helpful as it simply taught the most basic of things. It also didn't advise you on how to play if you were a beginner.
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...
@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,,,
@EA_Aljo wrote: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.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.
- EA_Aljo
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.
- @EA_Aljo I feel like this team lost credibility so even the most open minded individuals have likely given up at this point.
"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."
This to me is the worst thing to hear and why I think it only makes sense to give up any hope with having a quality game.
Is the sport of hockey changing drastically? No! Does that mean it's difficult to keep this game fresh and new? NO!! There are SOOO many things that can be added to make this game feel fresh. Several people have come to the forums and offered ideas to make every mode better.
Overhauling gameplay year after year? Yeah, I'm sure if gameplay changed a lot every year that WOULD be frustrating.. when is the last time gameplay has been overhauled? No EA games (that I'm aware of) have been given a full overhaul since the switch between ps2 to ps3. EA would never do an overhaul "year after year" just one year give us a FULL overhaul of goaltending. I remember one year maybe 21 or 22 goaltenders were supposed to have better awareness when it came to rebounds and tracking loose pucks around the net. They are SO bad at these things. The only thing I noticed was rebounds coming off the goalie faster and they sometimes try to direct it into a corner. Those two changes should not be a year's worth of changes.. goaltending needs a LOT of attention, and user goalies need some sort of boost.
