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
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.
@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,,,
