CQ & OT X-Factor Balancing?
Will there be any updates to the balancing of the Close Quarters and One-Tee X-Factors coming in the near future? Both perks still seem very strong and create an unbalanced game for EASHL. These perk...
Forum Discussion
@TTZ_Dipsy Wasn't the CQ a power nerf, not accuracy?
I was thinking about this before, but I'm not so sure it's the perks that need a nerf as much as it's the goalies and defensive interceptions that need a buff.
If you watch a game of real hockey, pay attention to the goalies and their positioning. Most of the time, the goalie is near the outer edges of his crease so that he can cut down the angle of the shot, aka challenging the shot. He's able to do this because he knows that, at least most of the time, the other team isn't likely to get passes through a sea of skaters for a wide open backdoor goal.
Now, what about when the goalie ISN'T confident in the pass not getting through? Say maybe because his defense is bad or his team is on a PK? Well, the goalie starts playing more conservatively and positions himself further back in his crease so that he'll need to move a shorter distance for backdoor plays, cross creases, one timers, etc.
Well, in the NHL video games, this same exact logic is exists. As goalies, we're constantly dealing with a laundry list of handicaps.
* bad defenders
* very fast, agile forwards
* poor ability for defenders to intercept passes even when positioned properly
* very fast, powerful, and accurate passes by forwards and offensive-minded defensemen
Because of this, the majority of human goalies will play more conservative because we can't count on the defenders, even if positioned well, to break up passes, and if the pass gets through while we're challenging the shot, our goalies can't keep up with the speed and agility of the forwards. As a result of this conservative approach, goalies end up exposing more of the net to the offense and our savability on shots goes down.
If EA wanted a more realistic hockey game, they'd buff defenders ability to break up passes as well as the lateral speed of goalies. Until then, what you have is a game of uber conservative defense and cartoonish forwards.
@EA_Aljo, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this essay lol.
Funny how we had them nerf offense after 11 and it just resulted in progressively nerfing every aspect of the game until we end up with what we have now. Force cross creases a foot off the goal line or else you can't score. NHL 11 had insane offense ability arguably too much as far as shooting goes but to me that provided more variety of offense than what we experience now. Funny how after most of the offense shooting threat was nerfed the defensive play turned to * in the following years also. Game was better when you had the tools to play offense and defense completely, not at 50%.
@SummerOfDekes wrote:I was thinking about this before, but I'm not so sure it's the perks that need a nerf as much as it's the goalies and defensive interceptions that need a buff.
If you watch a game of real hockey, pay attention to the goalies and their positioning. Most of the time, the goalie is near the outer edges of his crease so that he can cut down the angle of the shot, aka challenging the shot. He's able to do this because he knows that, at least most of the time, the other team isn't likely to get passes through a sea of skaters for a wide open backdoor goal.
Now, what about when the goalie ISN'T confident in the pass not getting through? Say maybe because his defense is bad or his team is on a PK? Well, the goalie starts playing more conservatively and positions himself further back in his crease so that he'll need to move a shorter distance for backdoor plays, cross creases, one timers, etc.
Well, in the NHL video games, this same exact logic is exists. As goalies, we're constantly dealing with a laundry list of handicaps.
* bad defenders
* very fast, agile forwards
* poor ability for defenders to intercept passes even when positioned properly
* very fast, powerful, and accurate passes by forwards and offensive-minded defensemen
Because of this, the majority of human goalies will play more conservative because we can't count on the defenders, even if positioned well, to break up passes, and if the pass gets through while we're challenging the shot, our goalies can't keep up with the speed and agility of the forwards. As a result of this conservative approach, goalies end up exposing more of the net to the offense and our savability on shots goes down.
If EA wanted a more realistic hockey game, they'd buff defenders ability to break up passes as well as the lateral speed of goalies. Until then, what you have is a game of uber conservative defense and cartoonish forwards.
@EA_Aljo, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this essay lol.
Sounds exactly how it should be. And goalies should actually get a nerf in save reaction speed so they're forced to challenge shooters as well. If you catch a goalie deep in the net and it's a well aimed shot from a good location it should go in.
Goalies sit on their goal line majority of the game in EASHL.
