CHEL: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Bugs

ADDENDUM:

If only TWO changes could be made to 24 that would improve the game tenfold:

1. When you try to shoot a rebound (and sometimes a onetimer), and you time it poorly, your player should whiff instead of attempting a cross-check
2. Hipchecks need to be fixed
   • mapped differently so they're not so easy to execute (like last year)
   • the physics need to be improved so you can't hip-check unrealistically (e.g., hipchecking the back of legs)
   • and/or you should be penalized for hipchecking improperly

Let this sink in. Hipchecks happen in NHL 24 in ONE CHEL game more than entire NHL season. It's unrealistic. Please fix it!

I agree with everything except I like the face button passing option, minus the dumb sound effect. 

@DEDLYGOD

Mixed opinion on this, while it look good on paper, in game it take any need to aim out of the equation and I'm not sure if this should be considered as a good addition. Missing a pass while under-pressure because you couldnt find someone to aim at fast enough was a thing and realistic. All you have to do now is press R2 and press any face button if in trouble. Yes you can still get intercepted and all but the pass will always be aimed directly at a teammates nonetheless.

What's next, game will auto aim your shots for you in any given open spot in the net for you? Hold back on the right stick and press the face button that suit you. L2 for top left, L1 for bottom left, R2 for five hole and R1 for top right!

I agree that there are issues with the existing passing. I find myself constantly changing my pass aim assist to find the sweet spot where my passes go where I want but also don't lock onto unintended targets. 

With that said, I think icon passing "dumbs down" the passing when it comes to competitive play. It levels the playing field between those good at passing and those that are not. Passing is an integral part of hockey. It literally can be the difference between scoring and not, winning and losing, etc. I don't think it should be treated as a "here's a face button to do it for you" type of deal.  

I think the quality of life benefits make more sense for offline play, where if someone struggles with passing it makes the game more accessible to them. But for competitive play, I would honestly encourage you to do what I do--- try to tweak your pass aim assist to find where the pass aim isn't locking you onto unintended targets. You may have to continue to tweak this as you change your attributes or swap out boosts for new boosts. 

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@Pengman wrote:

THE GOOD

• Magnetic/suction hitting appears to be removed / reduced.
• Hitting with R-stick, or with the face button (B button) to do a shoulder check, appears to require more skill, and be more of a timing play. In NHL 23, when you went to hit someone, the game would lock you onto the opponent--as if you became a homing missile--and you would suction towards your target. It allowed for a lot of unrealistic hits and rewarded risky behavior that the puck carrier should have been able to avoid. Avoiding these obvious hits is a lot easier in 24.
• Magnetic/suction/queued rebounds appears to be removed / reduced.
• In NHL 23, if there was a rebound, players would just tap shoot over and over, and their player would warp towards the puck for a rebound goal. In NHL 24, you cannot do this. You have to be right on the puck. Unfortunately, if you're not, your player will shove and will take a lot of unwanted penalties (this will be addressed down below).
  • NOT rewarding players for "spazzing" shoot on rebounds is a good thing.
• The skating, flow, and pace of the game feels more realistic/natural
• Players feel like they have a bit more weight to them, and the flow of the game feels more smooth and less frenetic. The skating and pace of the game just has a more "physicalized" feel to it.
• Net front battles
• shoulder checking in front of the net does not lead to an automatic penalty. Kudos. Being able to clear out the front of the net with bumps and shoves is much more realistic than 23.
• Stumble and fall-over animations for net front battles adds a nice realistic element.
• Animations.
• So many newly added animations that really flesh out the overall experience. Kudos.
• Goalie improvements
• AI goalies appear much better at making saves on shots that most team's generally exploited in 23. Kudos.
• Nets coming off the moorings, sticks breaking, glass breaking, and being checked into the bench.
• How often these things occur is very rare. In the DEMO, these were happening every game it seemed. But in the full-game they have been reduced to more acceptable levels. This currently balanced really well.

THE BAD

• Cross-checking/shoving when you're trying to shoot
• Can't shoot rebounds, and sometimes one-timers, because it causes a shove animation (which often leads to a cross check/interference penalty). Holding LT appears to not prevent this. Btw, I commend EA for trying to eliminate queued/suction shots. But the solution should not be a shove animation that often leads to penalties. Why can't your character just whiff and miss the puck if you time it poorly?   Yup.  SUCKS.
• Getting kicked out of the game for poor team play.
• Great idea of drop in. Bad idea for CHEL.
• Pressure system needs to be tweaked
• The concept is really good for offline play, because it puts a greater emphasis on line changes.  
• Needs to be tweaked for CHEL. Needs to be just a tad bit less punishing.   Yup. SUCKS.  
• One-touch passing
• I don't dislike the implementation of this, but for the last 10 years (or whatever it is), when a pass is coming towards my player, I could hold RT to charge up a pass. That way I could receive the pass, skate with it, and choose when I want to pass it. Why not make it so touch passing requires you to time it right as the puck gets to your player and it's a single RT squeeze, while if someone HOLDS the RT they will NOT one touch, but rather queue up a bullet pass? Yup. SUCKS.  
• Protect the puck. Why ruin a good thing?
• Protect the puck on a face button makes sense. It's something that happens every shift in the NHL. Why remove it from the face button?
• How it now works: click in the L-stick and move the L-stick to left or right to protect the puck.
  • Unfortunately, L-stick is how you speed boost, and if you want to move your stick to curl it back so you can pass the puck behind your back, well, now the game thinks you want to protect the puck. Once you curl it back, it doesn't do the behind the back pass animation. You have to stop boosting, and THEN you can hold the puck, curl it back, and pass it behind your back. This is cumbersome. Yup. SUCKS.
• Post-whistle fighting is a serious problem.
• In NHL 23, fighting post-whistle required two willing combatants. Yup. SUCKS.
• In NHL 24, someone can pull you into a fight without you agreeing to it. Is this a bug? Yup. SUCKS.
• Goal Scoring Presentation. What's with this All-Star on-the-ice camera after scoring goals?
• NHL 23 celebrations were great. You scored the goal. Got to see your arena lights on your player and opponent's goalie. Could actually watch your celebration animation from a good camera angle. Your teammates could skate towards you and press A to hug you. Why was this ruined with an immersion killing on-the-ice camera, as if you're at the All-Star game or something, and the entire arena lights turning off each time. This is BAD presentation. It was fine in 23. Yup. SUCKS.
• Defensive Skill Stick should function differently
• When you use Defensive Skill Stick (RB+R-stick), can its initial angle be the direction you're aiming? Current implementation, it has to do a poke check first before you have control over your stick. This causes you to do unintentional trips when you just want to use full stick control to put your stick in a lane. Yup. SUCKS.  Too bad it's been this way for as long as I can remember, so we know they'll never fix it.  I actually totally gave up on this defensive skill stick back in 2021 because of how terrible it was with the initial poke animation.
• Dumping - just seems it's a bit wonky.
• RB+R-stick dumps are intentionally weaker/softer. RT+R-stick dumps don't seem to be that much stronger though (but do appear to go higher and farther). I think this will require more acclimation. Possibly is a good implementation, but it seems wasteful to have dumping on two different controls. Yup. SUCKS.
• Also, delay of game penalties basically do not happen anymore. If you're pressuring hard in 23, it often could lead to a delay of game. Now in 24, not only can the puck not go over the glass, most teams won't even try to dump in the first place because the RT+R-stick mechanic isn't even listed in the controls (whoops). Teams avoiding dumping makes the game unrealistic.Yup. SUCKS.
• Goalie passing while surrounded by opposition.
• NHL 24 once again doesn't fix a problem that has plagued it since, well, forever?? You shoot the puck on net. You crash the net. You surround the goalie. But the other team STILL calls for the puck, with no fear, because they know the pass will go right through all your players. How is this not fixed. Very unrealistic. Yup. SUCKS.
• Shot glitch utilizing the Michigan
• Skating in on the goalie, going into the Michigan animation, then saucer passing out of it (does a flip shot), and glitches the goalie often--at a very high percentage-- and it was all through a simple face button. This will be exploited and abused. Yup. SUCKS.

THE UGLY

• Face Button passing is unnecessary; better suited for an arcade mode
• The constant sound effect and icons that pop on the screen is annoying. Also you can still hear the sound effect each time the OTHER TEAM'S icons pop on their screens. 
• Face Button dekes is unnecessary; better suited for an arcade mode
• The Michigan is a highly skilled -- and should be extremely rare-- deke, and shouldn't be so easily executable from a face button.
• Face Button hip checking is unnecessary; better suited for an arcade game
• Hip checks rarely happen in hockey games, yet in NHL 24, they happen probably 25-50 times each game. It's exploited by every team. Unrealistic. Over-powered. Reverse hit cannot counter it.
• Face Button reverse hitting is unnecessary; better suited for an arcade game
• Reverse hitting rarely happens in hockey games, yet has it's own face button--- stolen from protect the puck, that literally happens every shift. Does that make any sense? Also, the solution to the over-the-top hitting of NHL 23 (with truculence, etc.) should not be allowing every player to reverse hit-- it should be to FIX truculence and call penalties properly.
• Battlepass.

AND THE BUGS

• Jersey glitches. Everyone on the club is seeing different colored numbers and captain patches (during games AND CHEL menus). Appears that it loads the primary color from your opponent's jersey onto your jersey. Yup. SUCKS.
• Cannot use chrome helmets while in CHEL games Yup. SUCKS.
• Cross-play game chat doesn't appear to work for everyone (even with appropriate settings enabled) Yup. SUCKS.
• There's certainly more, but these are the main ones I have come across so far.

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Game is *.

How has nobody complained about the fact that you can’t see the puck when it’s behind your net on the end wall? Ridiculous. So annoying!