Changes and Features Suggestions
Issues with Franchise Mode, Teammates/Opponent AI, Franchise Presentation, and Play by Play calls.
**Franchise Mode:
- Franchise NEEDS to be allowed to be played for much longer than 25 years, or indefinitely.
- Poor logic for developing players leads to frustrating situations where players who perform average or above average lose x factor abilities.
- Menu's on the PS5 in franchise mode are insufferably slow/unresponsive/laggy.
- Lack of ability to dictate playbook and playstyle leads to an unfortunately necessary pursuit to find the "perfect" head coach. Most players want to be able to dictate how their team plays the game. Not to be dictated to by arbitrary restrictions placed by game systems.
- Coaches need to be more akin to what you see in Madden. With skill trees and progression that happens AS the season goes on. And not just develop at a predetermined point once a year.
- Player progression needs to be more involved than just player performance on game day. Random stat boosts here and there and the occasionally gained x factor does not lead to an interesting experience.
Suggestions for this would be to implement a practice mode and mini games to play before games so players can earn XP that can be used to invest in specific stats and use said XP to purchase x factors that is suitable for the position the player is on.
- Arena development is woefully bare bones. There are just simply not enough features for it to be interesting. Coupled with the fact that an arena cannot be upgraded fully within the time alloted(25 years) to play franchise mode, it becomes a mostly useless feature, as sellouts are the only major difference for bringing money into the franchise.
Without any significant changes to franchise mode, I and many players will likely not purchase NHL 25.
**Teammate/Opponent AI:
-Teammate neutral zone logic needs to be improved. As it stands, you see wingers completely out of position, sometimes running into you when you're attempting to generate speed into the offensive zone of attempt to breakout.
-AI opponents are not very aggressive. In a game with 3 minute periods, on superstar difficulty, I am easily tripling or doubling the opponent AI in hits. This could remedied by making the AI deke more often and pass in ways that discourage hitting. It's just way too easy to hit the opponent AI in this version of NHL 24. It also does not feel authentic to the sport as a whole when you're getting 60 hits a game. Most being big hits.
**Franchise Presentation:
-Lack of variety in cutscenes for milestone goals for players AND the franchise as a whole makes the franchise mode feel.. stale and not rewarding when your players and franchise accomplishes goals.
-This year's presentation isn't really intuitive in general. Franchise Mode would greatly benefit from a much more traditional, but informative presentation style. This would be much more interesting than what is currently the style.
-More presentation regarding team and player performance in general.
**Play by Play Calls:
-Honestly, I don't mind Pounder personally. It's the lack of lines and repetition of the existing lines that grinds on my ears more than anything.
-there needs to be way more lines for goals attributed to an x factor.
-There needs to be more lines related to player history and performance.
-There needs to be more lines related to franchise history and performance.
-There needs to be more lines regarding player and franchise milestones.
