EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerHitting acceleration reverted today 2/5
Hello, NHL Fans. The change that was made in last week's update regarding the accelration with hitting being removed, was reverted.
Forum Discussion
Obviously I'm in the minority on this, but I'm uncertain how anyone who wants this game to be sim would agree that accelerating from a body check attempt is favorable to a more nuanced and positional approach to body checking.
I don't consider the hitting mechanic to be perfect, but the recent change did add responsibility to the hitter which opened up the game a bit more. But I'm outgunned on this one and the community has spoken. Looking forward to abusing the heck out of this again.
- EA_Aljo
@KidShowtime1867 wrote:
Obviously I'm in the minority on this, but I'm uncertain how anyone who wants this game to be sim would agree that accelerating from a body check attempt is favorable to a more nuanced and positional approach to body checking.
I don't consider the hitting mechanic to be perfect, but the recent change did add responsibility to the hitter which opened up the game a bit more. But I'm outgunned on this one and the community has spoken. Looking forward to abusing the heck out of this again.
I agree. I preferred the changes to hitting, but obviously much of the community did not feel the same. I'll say it once again, we get requests for the game to be less arcade and then get complaints when that happens.
- @EA_Aljo I can see that you reply faster then i wrote it. Maybe try different way. You mdecide switch off hybrid and tune this hitting to be more simulation. Dont revert this updates, because this updates only change gameplay to be more realistic. And yes always low players which been used to only click buttons will cry, that they need to learn something new. But literally, they can play hybrid in versus modes and offline modes, but dont understand why hybrid should be allowed in HUT, when hybrid gives you big advantage.
- Oh, great news! Thanks.
@EA_Aljo Well, thats for a deeper discussion. This game will never be "realistic", it just cant be. The thing is, that hitting is a good way to compensate other defensive methods that are not perfect. And when it was nerfed (and it was nerfed too much, dont know if it is possible, but the change should have been minor, not that big), it was again favouring offense which is already favoured too much, so defending became even more frustrating. If position play and stickchecking worked perfectly, then nerfing bodychecking would be a good step.
@EA_Aljo wrote:
@KidShowtime1867 wrote:Obviously I'm in the minority on this, but I'm uncertain how anyone who wants this game to be sim would agree that accelerating from a body check attempt is favorable to a more nuanced and positional approach to body checking.
I don't consider the hitting mechanic to be perfect, but the recent change did add responsibility to the hitter which opened up the game a bit more. But I'm outgunned on this one and the community has spoken. Looking forward to abusing the heck out of this again.
I agree. I preferred the changes to hitting, but obviously much of the community did not feel the same. I'll say it once again, we get requests for the game to be less arcade and then get complaints when that happens.
I’ll just quote something I recently said in another post:
“I completely agree. I’m happy they toned down the hitting; it was out of control and so unrealistic. Like you said, it was more like NHL Hitz, and I think many people like myself expect a more realistic representation of the game.
The problem is that defense isn’t given many better options in this game.Take a look at some of my other posts on these issues and tell me what you think:
Hitting
Sim vs Arcade
New Control Suggestionshttps://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-News/REAL-Total-Control-Not-Arcade/m-p/13161058#M7851
“
The main point is we wouldn’t feel the need for arcade-like hitting if we didn’t need to compensate for a lack of proper stick checking and bodying/battling controls.
@ssoliz91 wrote:
The main point is we wouldn’t feel the need for arcade-like hitting if we didn’t need to compensate for a lack of proper stick checking and bodying/battling controls.You're not wrong and I like your idea, but adding complexity to the controls appears to be non-negotiable from very vocal parts of this community. They don't want more responsibility, especially when it comes to defending. Some users want their button presses to do exactly what they expect at all times, regardless of what responsibilities they're abdicating. Of course, there are instances where people are positionally sound - they understand the controls - but still get hit with a bug or a misfire in an animation sequence. That's why I begged people to post clips of the hitting not working the way they wanted. Because in spite of the favorable view some of us had on this change, there will always be room for improvement. But like clockwork, the social media voices get amplified and the airing of grievances for clout, likes & retweets gets the game trending for the wrong reasons, and boom - changes reverted.
EA is being captured by the audience a bit here. When they make changes, they're not going to see celebrations about it on social media because a) people don't typically do that and b) saying anything positive about this game on social media is a recipe for getting flamed and trolled, regardless of whether your observation is valid or not.
So of course, every change that has this much of an impact is going to be met with resounding negativity - especially in the cesspool that is Twitter. Every "competitive" player will simply fall in line with the rest of the hivemind and insist the changes are "broken" because they took a few more L's than usual in their favorite pay-to-win mode.
In any case, regardless of what my view is on this change - all of us should be on the same page in giving EA some credit here. They're listening to us. They're making important changes and doing so quickly when they're met with enough feedback to warrant it. That's a good sign, no matter what side of the debate you're on when it comes to hitting.
- @KidShowtime1867 I’m all for a sim game, but until offense and defense are put on even terms, I’m happy they gave us defenseman one of the few working tools back.
The nuance of balancing hitting in this game is exacerbated by the effectiveness of the hip checks as well. In woc after the update the hip check was by far the best method for separating the skater from the puck again and actually getting the puck pick up after. I'll argue that it still could be more effective than regular checking even after the revert today, you don't get the recovery animation after, can never be called for charging/elbowing. There are hardly any * to going for a hip check vs a regular hit in almost any situation where you think body contact would be needed. On top of this all is the fact that the hip check caters to the small shrimpy speedster builds that can exploit their speed to go for crazy back check hits or forecheck hits that would otherwise be called charging or boarding if attempted with the normal hitting mechanic.
I'm sad they have reverted the hitting acceleration ☹️
I really don't like how suddenly you get an acceleration just because you wind the hitting up. When playing, it always feel like a surprise hit because it is so sudden and unrealistic. I really believe that is one of the big reason why many players had difficulties in Moments with having cpu surprise attack with a big hit.
Yes, the hitting was nerf but I feel like it is not the acceleration that is the problem but the power of the windup to hit. It is still very doable to do a big hit without the acceleration. Just need the power into it, that's all.
Now, I guess I will need to get used to all the surprise attack from sudden acceleration.
@KidShowtime1867 wrote:Obviously I'm in the minority on this, but I'm uncertain how anyone who wants this game to be sim would agree that accelerating from a body check attempt is favorable to a more nuanced and positional approach to body checking.
I don't consider the hitting mechanic to be perfect, but the recent change did add responsibility to the hitter which opened up the game a bit more. But I'm outgunned on this one and the community has spoken. Looking forward to abusing the heck out of this again.
I don't disagree, but I do think it's important that certain offensive perks and styles of play have a counter, which is what this type of hitting is to the players who elite edge their way around the zone in circles holding the puck away from everyone. I'm all for a more sim style of game too, but you can't take away one aspect of the game that leaves another aspect unbeatable.
@Destroyer95 wrote:
@KidShowtime1867 wrote:Obviously I'm in the minority on this, but I'm uncertain how anyone who wants this game to be sim would agree that accelerating from a body check attempt is favorable to a more nuanced and positional approach to body checking.
I don't consider the hitting mechanic to be perfect, but the recent change did add responsibility to the hitter which opened up the game a bit more. But I'm outgunned on this one and the community has spoken. Looking forward to abusing the heck out of this again.
I dont disagree, but I do think it's important that certain offensive perks and styles of play have a counter, which is what this type of hitting is to the players who elite edge their way around the zone in circles holding the puck away from everyone. I'm all for a more sim style of game too, but you can't take away one aspect of the game that leaves another aspect unbeatable.
You're absolutely right and I wish I knew the solution.
They created so many problems for themselves by trying to "reinvent" hitting this year. The fact that they couldn't find a middle ground is so EA, one extreme or the other.
You are right. This gameplay tonight after the patch is crap. 85 hits a game is not hockey. No skill required. This game is not hockey. There will not be a much needed overhaul to this game until it is new gen only. It is so not fun to try to play hockey when the game play is just crap like it is now.
When my team is playing we're only seeing around 30-50 hits per game counting both teams. If people are seeing them in the 70 to 80s then it's probably a goon squad just chasing hits or people need to learn to slide and avoid checks from people trying to steamroll them. I mean I play as a defenseman and in my league I played 22 games and finished the season with only 25 hits. Now back in NHL 23 I was averaging around 5 hits per game. My build hasn't changed so I would say they have toned down checking a bunch and smart players know when to avoid the obvious open ice hits.
@KlariskraysNHL wrote:If people are seeing them in the 70 to 80s then it's probably a goon squad just chasing hits or people need to learn to slide and avoid checks from people trying to steamroll them.
I agree. Although I'm not a fan of the added acceleration to body checking, it's still avoidable if you're not trying to skate at full speed all game long. I also think the changes had an effect on the reverse-hit because I've rarely been successful with it:
You'll notice that I'm able to avoid a hit if I enter a glide. This is the key to avoiding the tractor-beam:
