Comparing the impact of x-factors/abilities vs. attributes
I recently did a test where I took a goalie with 36 pokechecking with silver 'All or Nothing' and compared it to the same goalie build but with 99 pokechecking and no 'All or Nothing.' These are the results.
36 pokechecking with silver 'All or Nothing'
https://www.xbox.com/play/media/SPrQujSWYB
99 pokechecking without 'All or Nothing'
https://www.xbox.com/play/media/Dwb94GMMBu
Ignoring whether the puck went in the net or not, because that's not really what I was concerned with, I noticed some surprising things.
1. Accuracy: the accuracy of the goalie's aim seemed to be good on the 99 build, but with the flaw that the 99 build seemed to really only want to pokecheck directly in front of him. If the skater came in at an angle, the 99 build struggled with accuracy and would give up really bad goals. The 36 build, however, seemed to excel at aiming his pokechecks regardless of where the puck carrier was, so much so that the goalie would often adjust his aim after the pokecheck if he missed.
2. Follow through: For whatever reason, the 99 build would always automatically get back up after pokechecking, even if I continued to hold down the X button. This can sometimes lead to situations where the goalie actually succeeds in poking the puck off the puck carrier's stick, but then lets the puck pass under him as he's getting up. The 36 build, on the other hand, would stay down on the ice as long as I held the X button, leading to some nice cover animations.
3. Animations: In my experience, the 99 build gave me typically only one animation and possibly a second variation of that animation depending on where the puck was. This animation is kinda slow, not the most accurate, and mainly stops the puck by tackling the skater. Interestingly, I found the 36 build gave me far superior animations that were more often than not the correct type of animation for the scenario. The 36 build would also seem to swipe and swat at the puck, batting pucks away from the skater the way a real goalie would.
In conclusion, I'll say that this test probably left me with more questions about abilities, x-factors, and attributes than it answered. I think the main question I have after this test, @EA_Aljo , is why, or even how, could 36 pokechecking far and away outperform 99 pokechecking, which should theoretically enable that attribute to be the absolute best in the game, just be cause of a silver ability?
Going forward, I think a lot of players would like for these abilities and x-factors, if they must be in the game, to be more clear in exactly what the ability does, and how much of an effect they really have. Numbers, data, etc.
Thank you.
