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
I agree. I think the biggest issue was trying to completely change the hitting mechanics which needed to add acceleration or slow downs for it. They could of probably found a better solution for players who think hitting was bad in 23 and previous years. Holding hit for too long before hitting someone maybe should give elbow penalties or something like that with old mechanics. The new hitting is rough, even if you do connect on a hit most times the player bounces up and gets back into the play before you do and if you miss the hit you go into that shove looking animation which takes you completely out of the play. Its crazy. Dont get me started on the interference penalties in front of the net trying to shoot rebounds or passes from teammates because it checks/shoves the defenseman. Lol
@EA_Aljo It's only a small minority that buy the game that post their grievances online. A high percentage of those who do will be kids.
This game has a cult following going back many decades, most of which are older gamers that don't use this board,, stream their games live or want to be famous on YouTube.
There was nothing wrong with the changes made previously. If anything it improved the gameplay and looked more like the real game.
Kids these days just want everything handed to them on a plate. They don't want to take the time to learn. Happy to have what should be a skill move all at the click of a button or if things are too difficult the toys come out the pram.
If the game keeps going the way it is you guys are going to lose that core following that have financed the game for decades.
@EA_Aljo wrote:There was a very high amount of negativity from the change. It's possible there could be further adjustments in the future.
And there is a very high amount negativity from the change back. Will EA just revert again?
It seems very difficult, if not impossible, to strike a balance between your customer base looking for an arcade-like game and those looking for a sim-like game.
It would seem the best solution would be to create an all out Hitz-like mode and an all out Sim-like mode for users to choose from within the same game.
@Stubo_NHL24 wrote:@EA_Aljo It's only a small minority that buy the game that post their grievances online. A high percentage of those who do will be kids.
This game has a cult following going back many decades, most of which are older gamers that don't use this board,, stream their games live or want to be famous on YouTube.
There was nothing wrong with the changes made previously. If anything it improved the gameplay and looked more like the real game.
Kids these days just want everything handed to them on a plate. They don't want to take the time to learn. Happy to have what should be a skill move all at the click of a button or if things are too difficult the toys come out the pram.
If the game keeps going the way it is you guys are going to lose that core following that have financed the game for decades.
Couldn't agree more. EA seems to be stuck in audience capture mode and they're letting social media groupthink dictate sudden reversions in changes.
This saddens me as we were finally getting tuner updates again and I doubt EA will continue if they're this shook from social media comments. Some online "personalities" base their entire identity on hating anything EA does that they themselves can't master and abuse within 2-3 days. Then their cult followers who use social media to spread hatred and conform to the groupthink, amplify 'issues' and make them appear to be larger than they are.
Just look at the feedback here.. "I was 17-1 before the patch and now I'm 7-7... EA needs to change things"
How brutal is it that the gameplay is being dictated by sweaty HUT players who refuse to adapt and only complain about changes when it results in them taking more L's?
They shouldnt have messed up the controls either. I play with skillstick and have always done and I dont want the shove to be there and many others feel the same . It should be like it was before,
@recipe87 wrote:They shouldnt have messed up the controls either. I play with skillstick and have always done and I dont want the shove to be there and many others feel the same . It should be like it was before,
I think the change to the mechanic (shove/shoulder) were welcome. Took some getting used to for sure, but once you get down the technique, it felt refreshing and new.
It's this flip flop from killing acceleration to adding it back that is frustrating. all because a few kids couldn't give it 2 days.
- EA_Aljo
@ssoliz91 wrote:
@EA_Aljo wrote:
There was a very high amount of negativity from the change. It's possible there could be further adjustments in the future.
And there is a very high amount negativity from the change back. Will EA just revert again?
It seems very difficult, if not impossible, to strike a balance between your customer base looking for an arcade-like game and those looking for a sim-like game.
It would seem the best solution would be to create an all out Hitz-like mode and an all out Sim-like mode for users to choose from within the same game.I don't think it will be reverted again. It's possible it could be balanced better though. Of course, should there be changes, we'll make an announcement.
It did make it hharder to get a good hit after the previous update. That's because it was way too easy to lock on like a guided missile. It took timing and skill to get a more realistic hit. It also slowed the game and made it feel more rewarding with good play and not all about speed. That's even though I thought it was still a bit too fast at times, but it was much much better.
@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.
