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.
@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.I never touch HUT, I refuse to play the money grab mode. My issues are all with EASHL and Be A Pro never getting an update.
EASHL is just a cesspool for toxicity, people with the racist names, people just being an all around a-hole without getting booted from games, human goalies (some of them, I've played with a lot of good human goalies) being allowed to just * around without getting booted. I would say give us a kick feature so we can kick the toxic players out, but idk if the NHL community is mature enough for that, the AI is an issue every year it seems, the zone abilities have killed the game, close quarters and truculance are AWFUL (And this is coming from someone that uses BOTH) goalies are horrible when trying to stop the puck against someone with CQ, not to mention most of the penalties. I'm sure people can add more to this as well.
