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
148 Replies
Amazing, thanks to the team for listening
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.
@RSall14 wrote: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.
The initial change to the hitting mechanic is still very welcome by those of us who enjoy sim-style hockey. The fact that there are so many vocal people who don't even give these changes a chance before demanding they be reverted is pretty typical of that portion of the community. These people were the reason this game was stagnant without tuner updates for a couple of years and who insisted "the beta was better" with no acknowledgement of the META adaptation during the short window of playtime. Of course the game was "better" (ie; without a discernable META) during a timeframe of 10 days. Everyone was still learning and adapting. That alone makes the game feel so much different and organic.
It's when the meta develops and the players adapt that the real changes need to be made, not just blanket reversions to some perceived 'glory days'.
- @RSall14 Yeah I too wish instead of reverting back they find the middle ground of the two. I would rather see small changes to things until they find a sweet spot.
I have no horse in this race, but I am curious as to why this change reverted so quickly?
Obviously the sample size of the changes made only last week is extremely small and the call for change didn’t seem to be as extreme as other changes made in recent years.
Well this didnt do much difference.. Im just telling you if they dont bring back the Controls and Hitting we have had for many years many players including me wont buy this game next year . IF you make a hit in this years game it doesnt even look like a REAL hit anymore. I played a game in nhl 23 today and I cant even describe how much better game it is
- @EA_Aljo Again, the root cause is a lack of direction.
You don't get much more directionless than running in circles and this is about as circular as you can get.
Making contact was fine either way really, mostly a timing adjustment, but the reactions to that contact are too extreme.
If you don't flatten the player they simply pick up the puck again and continue moving.
Contact should have variable outcomes depending on how well a hit connects.
The majority of hits should simply result in separation from the puck. The players stop while the puck keeps going.
A glancing blow can allow the player to shrug off a hit and chase the puck down.
A big hit should be square contact with a minimum combination of speed between the two players. If someone slows down to brace for a hit, they should at least have the ability to keep their feet. If they try to beat a big hit by keeping their feet moving (and fail to avoid contact), they should be knocked down.
Those elements in combination (maybe not perfect as defined, but generally) should give a clear overall picture as to how these interactions take place.
Something like: (Where X is attacking player's speed and Y is defending player's speed)
Scenario 1: Good contact
If X + Y > 100 = Big Hit
If X + Y < 100 = Small Hit
Scenario 2: Bad contact
If (X + Y) > 100 > Small Hit
If (X + Y) < 100 > Glancing Blow
There would have to be modifiers for things like strength, checking, balance, etc., and the threshold of "100" would have to be determined, but that should give an idea.
Then there's the aftereffect of a hit. The puck's speed and direction at contact should be maintained regardless of the result of the hit, resulting in more pucks being knocked loose, while the physical effects of how long a player is down or how frequently they are injured, should be reduced and limited to when Good contact AND Big hit are established.
Regardless, the point is to map out the expected direction and then work to implement it. https://youtu.be/GcozFtk0AT0?si=YXu5lEclKED4QQu8
Instances like this have me going for hip checks exclusively myself now. As the RD in this clip I feel like I should be getting a better outcome from this hit albeit it was a poor decision on the PK none the less. Between the control input on RS being awful and giving me outcomes like this almost half the time and the possibility of this just being a connection issue I hardly go for body checks now. I don't like the button hitting either as you can't cancel the animation once the button is pressed unlike with the shoulder check on RS where you can simply not follow through if the situation calls for that. This was pre patch also just to be clear, I don't think the hitting in this game is the worst it's ever been but it's simply not a reliable tool in your defensive arsenal compared to pokes and hip checks. The control on RS needs to go back to nhl 23, find a middle ground for how much speed burst you get while going for a hit. A well timed hit should never need more than 1 sec of wind up so I don't get the whole speed burst argument myself, hitting was a iffy choice defensively to begin with after the new control layout this year, I think a lot of the gripe with it could be handled by simplying going back on the control layout.
@BabyPuncher525 wrote:https://youtu.be/GcozFtk0AT0?si=YXu5lEclKED4QQu8
As the RD in this clip I feel like I should be getting a better outcome from this hit albeit it was a poor decision on the PK none the less.
You're right though, you should've had a better outcome. Once again, this is why clips are so important.
Your clip shows that the puck carrier seems to pass the puck the instant you go for a hit. The puck actually bounced off you and back to him, so it's not as if he kept possession through the hit. But still, your hit should've resulted in taking him out of the play. I suspect the puck pickup animation from the puck carrier allowed him to avoid the hit:
I think the fact that the puck carrier didn't have possession at the instant you released body check was why the hit was errant. Had the puck carrier actually had possession, I think the outcome would've been something like this:
- @KidShowtime1867 I don't know how nuanced it is, but obviously situations like this aren't going to impress defensive players. Regardless of puck possession this guy should not be getting the puck back instantly. I just chalk it up to connection and the new control layout being less than intuitive to put it kindly. I can handle being beat and dangled but this should be a finished hit wether or not the pass gets through. Nice slow mo edit too, I was trying to pause it at points and see what happens more clearly, I couldn't say for sure if he'd attempted a pass watching it back at reg speed, just looked like a backhand glide, but I doubt the average player is even looking that closely into it, they're just calling BS and rightfully so at times.
