Had enough!
From AI generated offside. Interference calls, and goals called back for taking an extra shot at the goalie. Game just is no longer enjoyable. Packs WAY OVER PRICED. Content of packs abysmal. The ha...
Forum Discussion
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerI'm definitely not going to deny that the game has its issues. However, it doesn't appear to be broken. You say you want the game to be enjoyable regardless of skill level. What would make that better for you? There are already multiple difficulty settings. In HUT, you are going to most often get matched up with others around your skill level as well. You also have multiple difficulty levels for offline play in this mode. This may not happen so much during off peak hours where there's a smaller player pool though. So, what are your ideas to make the game more enjoyable for all skill levels?
As far as the bias between offline/online goes, are you talking about how there occasionally is an online requirement for the daily objectives? The majority of them are completed in offline modes. Not to mention all the Moments objectives. There are far more offline objectives than online. Of course we're going to reward the online players as well when there's a requirement to play a Rivals game. Thankfully, HUT Rush objectives often include XP collectibles so skipping that game and not completing the daily requirements can be made up there.
Also, we always encourage video of any issues you find. It would be great to see the offside calls being missed as they seem to be very accurate and I haven't seen other videos showing those calls not being made. I have seen times when icing doesn't get called though. Interference calls are absolutely frustrating. I hear ya there. If there were one thing I could fix immediately, that would be it. I still don't think the game is broken or unplayable and it doesn't appear that I'm alone in that thought. At least according to the amount of players the game currently has. Of course, not everyone has the same definition of fun though and it's unfortunate we didn't meet that for you. Hopefully, future releases will be more to your liking.
@EA_Aljo wrote:I'm definitely not going to deny that the game has its issues. However, it doesn't appear to be broken. You say you want the game to be enjoyable regardless of skill level. What would make that better for you? There are already multiple difficulty settings. In HUT, you are going to most often get matched up with others around your skill level as well. You also have multiple difficulty levels for offline play in this mode. This may not happen so much during off peak hours where there's a smaller player pool though. So, what are your ideas to make the game more enjoyable for all skill levels?
As far as the bias between offline/online goes, are you talking about how there occasionally is an online requirement for the daily objectives? The majority of them are completed in offline modes. Not to mention all the Moments objectives. There are far more offline objectives than online. Of course we're going to reward the online players as well when there's a requirement to play a Rivals game. Thankfully, HUT Rush objectives often include XP collectibles so skipping that game and not completing the daily requirements can be made up there.
Also, we always encourage video of any issues you find. It would be great to see the offside calls being missed as they seem to be very accurate and I haven't seen other videos showing those calls not being made. I have seen times when icing doesn't get called though. Interference calls are absolutely frustrating. I hear ya there. If there were one thing I could fix immediately, that would be it. I still don't think the game is broken or unplayable and it doesn't appear that I'm alone in that thought. At least according to the amount of players the game currently has. Of course, not everyone has the same definition of fun though and it's unfortunate we didn't meet that for you. Hopefully, future releases will be more to your liking.
Your definition of playable must be different from the vast majority of players.
I get your job is to promote the game but to deny this years game is awful doesn't help.
EA has to start listening to users or there won't be anyone buying it in the future.
- EA_Aljo
We have been listening. You can see this in the patch notes for each update. Bigger changes will need to wait for future games.
Broken means the game is unplayable due to bugs in the game. People tend to use that word though anytime something frustrates them. Especially when it comes to not winning games they feel they should. If the game were truly unplayable, they wouldn't be able to even finish a game. When we see accounts with hundreds or thousands of games on them from people saying it's broken, it really doesn't make sense. Why would someone play a broken game that much? There's a big difference between not enjoying it and claiming it's unplayable and broken when you've spent hundreds of hours on it.
I've been pretty open about my frustration with this game. Yes, there are issues, but there's a lot more good than bad. My club is still having a lot of fun playing together and never once have we not been able to play due to the claims it's a broken game.
- @Stubo_NHL24 Constant black screen of death, constant booted to dashboard, losing connection constantly, extreme lag(dependent on person) are things I can consider unplayable.
Unplayable and Glitch goal are just common things thrown around without real meaning to what they are. Scoring the same goal over and over isn't a glitch. It's just programming they figured out. Now if they find a way to score a goal from behind the net going thru the back of the net to count as a goal then that is truly a glitch goal.
The dev team for NHL has actually done a ton of work this year. They have heard the feedback both good and bad. It might not always be things you agree but they are trying to make changes to get different results they feel will better the game somehow. I mean I don't agree with the truculence buff, but they probably did it so that people might decide to use the anti hitting trait/less damage trait more. We all know people aren't going to gravitate away from the goal scoring/movement ones to take less stamina impact from hits. It's not how majority want to play. I wouldn't be shocked if NHL 25 sees even more changes to affect metas and builds.
@Stubo_NHL24 wrote:Your definition of playable must be different from the vast majority of players.
Weird. Here I am, playing NHL 24 almost every day. Works just fine. Maybe your definition of unplayable is simply a reflection of you conforming to groupthink.
@Stubo_NHL24 wrote:I get your job is to promote the game but to deny this years game is awful doesn't help.
Their job is not to promote the game. It's to support people on these forums with their issues and pass things along to the development team.
Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with the definitions of; playable and opinion.
You'll likely come to the realization that your opinion is that this game is unplayable. It's not a fact. Although the groupthink and hivemind will reinforce your opinion that the game is awful, it is still not a fact. The game can be played. The game can be considered fun. Why else would thousands of people continue to play it every single day?
@Stubo_NHL24 wrote:EA has to start listening to users or there won't be anyone buying it in the future.
EA doesn't need to listen to people who parade around every corner of social media, regurgitating the same hyperbolic statements about every single iteration of this game in some vein attempt to get social media points and affirmation while simultaneously playing and buying the game every year.
They need to listen to people who actually take the time to explain their issues with the game. And by that I mean screenshots, videos, etc. Not walls of text written solely to demonstrate one's knowledge of hockey and how everyone else is inferior - especially developers and producers who've literally worked on the virtualization of the sport for 30 years.
But of course, the contrarians who lurk these forums and other platforms who target anyone who has anything positive to say about game or GOD FORBID they entice users to ACTUALLY DEVELOP SOME SKILLS rather than blame EA for everything that's wrong in their life, have likely ruined that from happening again.
Don't bother replying - I aint gonna read it. Cheers.
@EA_Aljo wrote:I'm definitely not going to deny that the game has its issues. However, it doesn't appear to be broken. You say you want the game to be enjoyable regardless of skill level. What would make that better for you? There are already multiple difficulty settings. In HUT, you are going to most often get matched up with others around your skill level as well. You also have multiple difficulty levels for offline play in this mode. This may not happen so much during off peak hours where there's a smaller player pool though. So, what are your ideas to make the game more enjoyable for all skill levels?
I think for many users, they'd like a game that flows a lot more like hockey than the current "meta" allows for. Regardless of "skill" (I assume he means "twitch skill") a user should be able to have success in making hockey plays. Unfortunately with the state of the online/default tuning, playing this game like hockey is extremely difficult and usually unrewarding. From the lack of AI puck support, the AI's inability to fill open lanes on the rush, their lack of net-front presence, and just goalies in general not really allowing any "high danger" first shot goals outside of the programmed "glitch" moves that are designed to score with near certainty, users are left with the choice of either playing real hockey and losing a majority of games or learning how to play "NHL" (not hockey) in order to win at the expense of having any sort of "real hockey" feel to their success.
I don't think difficulty level changes this for offline either. Especially in 23 and 24, goalies are extremely good at limb reaction saves. They're robotic to a fault. As an IRL goalie, I find them to be extremely unrewarding to play against despite countless hours of slider testing and attribute testing to try and "fix" them (I do this even if it's not my "main" game in an attempt to stay informed on the current state of meta/tuning). Goalies in 22 and before were much more dynamic and lifelike when it came to limb reaction speeds and saves. Just alone in my NHL 20 games today, I've had 3-2, 5-4 (2OT), 6-2, and 4-2 scorelines using the same sliders with all teams having the same exact roster composition/attributes/ratings. I don't get that same level of dynamic scoring in 23 nor 24 because 1st goals just simply don't go in if you refuse to take "glitch" shots.
On this note, the AI had their aggression off the puck severely nerfed in NHL 21. This is well known, I've talked about it a lot on here. So from an offline perspective, difficulty doesn't really change anything other than CPU success rate in scoring and saving shots. It's quite literally the same game loop/experience. There's no more or less passing required, goals still require the same pattern to score, AI aggression still the same, so the only real "dynamic" experience available is through online play due to the human element and now we're back to the same challenges described in paragraph one of my response.
And of course, the game isn't "broken" nor "unplayable" and there isn't tons of "glitch" goals so I wish people would stop using hyperbolic words because it muddies these discussions the same way video evidence tends to to around here, but at the same time "glitch goal" has been used since NHL 07's "curve shot" at the latest, so I think by now anyone who has been invested in this community long enough should try to look past the word "glitch" and replace it with "exploit" or " for sure" goal and continue the discussion so we don't chase away obviously frustrated players. Feedback is always tough to sift through though, I get it.
Appreciate the reply @EA_Aljo
It's nothing personal, I have no issue with yourself. You seem a decent guy thats doing a thankless job.
If you remember back to the first conversation we had, I couldn't speak highly enough of the game and how much I've enjoyed it for decades. I have nothing against EA either. Probably 90% of the games I've played over the years have been made by EA. FIFA, PGA, Battlefield and many more. I know you guys can make really good games.
I still stand by everything I've said about 24. I have played well over a 1000 games so far this year and I feel like I'm not just playing against someone online, I feel like I'm battling against my own AI. No matter what formation or tactics I use the game is just constant rushes/breakaways. I have tried to explain this before. The defenseman doesn't defend the zone. If a fwd is attacking at full speed the defenseman should recognise that and not take the shortest route to the fwd. Just about everytime in that scenario the fwd passes the defenseman will ease. Its totally impossible for the user to do anything to stop it because as soon as you switch to the closest defenceman he skates in the wrong direction for that split second before you get control.
I don't understand how you can have a game thats been so good for decades (minus a couple), which is impressive in itself, to get so bad. You'd think it would improve with technology?
As for the YouTube fella above, its sleeveless, right? The guy that gets interviews with EA devs. Not really that surprising you defend the game at every turn on here. I'd happily defend many of the previous versions of this game but I stand by opinion of 24.
- @Stubo_NHL24 well the game is bad because they listened to the twitch game changers (before sleeves) these guys wanted the AI to be extra stupid and basically do nothing ,and since they really only listen to what top players have to say ,the nhl series has gone down ever since
Regarding the use of the word broken. When something is not working up to the standard that it should. Something is wrong within. And the only way to remedy that problem is to FIX it. Hence the word broken. Perhaps if I substitute the word unacceptable outcome, it might be less an offensive word regarding the game. As you have agreed. Missed icing calls. Missed offsides. Goalie infractions called back when the individual player with the puck is trying to finish a goal attempt. Players laying on the ice, flopping like a fish, and no whistle blown even after you take possession of the puck. An the interference calls. 80%+ generated by the AI. As are offside when you cross the blueline with puck possession. Why I have brought this contention up is. It has been a constant for the past several issues of this game. And it's seems even though videos and othe complaints have been voiced by other community members. Nothing changes. As for the bias. Online/offline. My only beef with that is in SB. Where EA almost every second week, injects a Rivals objective in order to complete the Daily or weekly objectives. This isolates the offline community from obtaining the over all objective. I understand that this comment can and probably is seen as a personal failure on my part. However. It's the obvious everyday, every game issues that are at issue here. Let's just call this complaint, as a call to EA, to address, these somewhat minor problems, so the game can run without community complaint.
@dogheels wrote:Regarding the use of the word broken. When something is not working up to the standard that it should. Something is wrong within. And the only way to remedy that problem is to FIX it. Hence the word broken. Perhaps if I substitute the word unacceptable outcome, it might be less an offensive word regarding the game. As you have agreed. Missed icing calls. Missed offsides. Goalie infractions called back when the individual player with the puck is trying to finish a goal attempt. Players laying on the ice, flopping like a fish, and no whistle blown even after you take possession of the puck. An the interference calls. 80%+ generated by the AI. As are offside when you cross the blueline with puck possession. Why I have brought this contention up is. It has been a constant for the past several issues of this game. And it's seems even though videos and othe complaints have been voiced by other community members. Nothing changes. As for the bias. Online/offline. My only beef with that is in SB. Where EA almost every second week, injects a Rivals objective in order to complete the Daily or weekly objectives. This isolates the offline community from obtaining the over all objective. I understand that this comment can and probably is seen as a personal failure on my part. However. It's the obvious everyday, every game issues that are at issue here. Let's just call this complaint, as a call to EA, to address, these somewhat minor problems, so the game can run without community complaint.
Well stated!
And I'd like to clarify in my previous post that I don't believe the onus for a constructive conversation to take place is on you to replace words like "glitch" or "broken" because those words have been used in the context of NHL in the exact way you used them. In fact, I believe those words can be found in almost all sports game communities so I definitely don't think it's necessarily on you. However, on these forums specifically, those words tend to illicit less than ideal responses and usually wind up leading to less than constructive conversations which is why it's best to steer clear of them to avoid future discussions about the definition of "broken" when we should be discussing your valid points/criticisms/complaints.
@Limp_KidzKit wrote:Well stated!
And I'd like to clarify in my previous post that I don't believe the onus for a constructive conversation to take place is on you to replace words like "glitch" or "broken" because those words have been used in the context of NHL in the exact way you used them. In fact, I believe those words can be found in almost all sports game communities so I definitely don't think it's necessarily on you. However, on these forums specifically, those words tend to illicit less than ideal responses and usually wind up leading to less than constructive conversations which is why it's best to steer clear of them to avoid future discussions about the definition of "broken" when we should be discussing your valid points/criticisms/complaints.
I'm with you on this. While personally I try to use more precise language when talking about issues with the game, not everybody has the same communication style and getting bogged down in semantics rather than dealing with the problem at hand doesn't help anyone. A clarifying statement about the preferred term can be helpful, but it shouldn't become the focus of the conversation or a springboard for people to dismiss legitimate problems. I think @EA_Aljo does a pretty good job of walking this line.
That said, there is a balancing act. Someone coming here just saying "The game is broken!" or "Feature X is broken" isn't being constructive. Providing examples, being clear about what isn't behaving correctly and why are still important.
- EA_Aljo
@dogheels wrote:
Regarding the use of the word broken. When something is not working up to the standard that it should. Something is wrong within. And the only way to remedy that problem is to FIX it. Hence the word broken. Perhaps if I substitute the word unacceptable outcome, it might be less an offensive word regarding the game. As you have agreed. Missed icing calls. Missed offsides. Goalie infractions called back when the individual player with the puck is trying to finish a goal attempt. Players laying on the ice, flopping like a fish, and no whistle blown even after you take possession of the puck. An the interference calls. 80%+ generated by the AI. As are offside when you cross the blueline with puck possession. Why I have brought this contention up is. It has been a constant for the past several issues of this game. And it's seems even though videos and othe complaints have been voiced by other community members. Nothing changes. As for the bias. Online/offline. My only beef with that is in SB. Where EA almost every second week, injects a Rivals objective in order to complete the Daily or weekly objectives. This isolates the offline community from obtaining the over all objective. I understand that this comment can and probably is seen as a personal failure on my part. However. It's the obvious everyday, every game issues that are at issue here. Let's just call this complaint, as a call to EA, to address, these somewhat minor problems, so the game can run without community complaint.
Can you get me video of the offside issues you're seeing? I did not agree that those are being missed. I agree there are times icing isn't called when it should be though.
It would be good to see players laying on the ice. There is the one, very uncommon issue, where a player glitches and gets stuck sort of twitching on the ice. Otherwise, there are times goalies seem to be laying down too long, but I'm not noticing this with players so some video of this would be appreciated.
The interference calls I'm seeing are mostly caused by the human controlled player(s) when trying to shoot back loose pucks. There is the occasional AI one though as well. As I've said many times, we're aware of this.
Again, I get that having Rivals matches is frustrating, but you can also make up the lost XP collectible through HUT Rush. Almost every objective can be completed offline so I'm really not seeing a heavy bias in this area for online play.
Why are players allowed to walk through body position?
Game might not be broken per se, but it's stale as hell. Likely think because it's selling it must be good. No, it's just the only choice.
