@recipe87 wrote:
I am surprised that there are persons still playing this game
That's because there's a lot of us who don't spend time in echo-chambers where all anyone does is complain for fake internet points. We don't give into the victimization that every bad bounce is because some developer at EA has it out for us. We can acknowledge when an opponent is more skilled than us rather than lay all of our turnovers & bad decisions at the feet of "developers with no hockey IQ".
We enjoy the game for what it is. We have our gripes, absolutely. But we also appreciate the ability for my friends and I, scattered geographically, to join up on a moment's notice and play some 6v6 virtual hockey. I like being able to quickly play an OVP game against skilled opponents. There have been no barriers to entry for either of these. When new gameplay elements are added, we adapt. When old controls are changed, we adapt. When the developers try to refresh the meta, we try to play to the strengths of the changes rather than post in echo-chambers demanding the changes be reverted to fit our particular playstyle.
There's a whole population of people playing this game that don't concern themselves with demanding updates, arguing about philosophical implications of subtle gameplay changes or spending any time trying to convince everyone else the game is terrible because they took a sweaty L after dumping real world $$$$ on HUT packs that they thought should give them an advantage over all of their opponents.
Once you poke your head out of the cesspool of social media, you'll realize there's a whole world of just enjoying the game for what it is without getting all worked up and forming an online identity surrounding a general disdain for a videogame.