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
@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.
Sorry @EA_Aljo, but this is a gross oversimplification and highly misleading. You omitted the part where EA intentionally nerfed already clunky defensive stick mechanics in an arcade way in order to aid arcade offensive puck possession. We know this to be true because poke check and DSS did not used to be this slow and penalized (speed penalties and actual penalties). As has been stated multiple times in the last couple years, it is absurdly arcade to give a player carrying the puck more ability and agility with his stick than the player without the puck. You compound that when you also allow that puck-carrying player the arcade ability to rather easily shed body and stick contact with no or little impact to maintaining/quickly regaining possession. As a result, puck possession in this game nowhere near resembles the NHL (and neither does defensive stick use/abilities). I personally have made numerous requests for the game to be more "sim" in this regard. So to characterize the revert as “less arcade” without acknowledging the overall context or balance issues created by the devs decisions towards offensive arcade in the first place is an irresponsible message to send to the community in my view.
I never doubted for one minute that the hitting wouldn't be reversed ,after all the twitch streamers and most top players were losing their minds that they couldn't AI launch anymore, once again proving that they matter most
- EA_Aljo
@Treatmentworke66 wrote:
I never doubted for one minute that the hitting wouldn't be reversed ,after all the twitch streamers and most top players were losing their minds that they couldn't AI launch anymore, once again proving that they matter most
It wasn't just streamers and top players. Unless everyone that complained about this on these forums are also top players and Twitch streamers. We pay attention to feedback as a whole. Not just those that are more visible.
- @EA_Aljo just like the puck flip, that a lot of people on here and on other platforms want to see return
@Treatmentworke66 wrote:
@EA_Aljojust like the puck flip, that a lot of people on here and on other platforms want to see returnthis puck flip?
@Treatmentworke66 wrote: guys can take full runs from across the ice and they hardly get charging penaltiesThis just isn't true.
@EA_Aljo wrote: When we make something more difficult and widen the skill gap, we get a lot of negative feedback. Poke checks causing too many penalties, having pre-made builds and making hitting less affective are a few examples. These were all very negatively received and ended up being changed.Obviously you're not the one making the decisions on the reversions, but I'd be interested to know why the hitting reversion happened so quickly as opposed to the others which tended to stick around for a few weeks at least.
@EA_Aljo wrote:I think we have a good balance now of pokes not causing too many penalties, but I'm very much not a fan of the slow down from it. I'm also not claiming that the game doesn't have arcade elements. I'd surely like to see those reduced as well. It would be good to see the carrier not have as high a success rate with picking up the puck after contact. I'd rather the puck be dislodged more so the defender has a better chance of gaining control. Defense could use a boost in general. At the same time though, it's a position that takes skill to play well. Good defenders are going to be able to defend against the puck carrier. Whether that's poke checks, hits or just good positional play, it all takes skill to succeed at. Yes. It's a challenge. Maybe too much. I'd certainly like it if that were balanced better without making either side overpowered.
This is the best answer from an EA employee anyone could really ask for.
