NCAA 25 vs NHL
Man am I excited for the NCAA 25 game. Everything I read… “we made the game for the community”, “we interviewed players and coaches to get a better understanding”, “we listened to community wishlists”. I’m sorry, what? They listened to community wishlists? Weird. NHL 25 needs to find a way to satisfy the online gamer and the offline gamer. I, myself, am an offline gamer. Be a pro and Dynasty are my modes. And like in NCAA, the whole point is to build a winning college program. Exactly what I love doing in NHL. Drafting, trading, scouting. Please expand upon these areas. Option for being at the actual draft if you’d like, sitting at the tables in the war room, calling your player to the stage. Would be electric. At least for the first round. Can skip, have the option to turn it off, whatever. Fix the “draft interviews”. That is a decent idea? But holy smokes is it the most worthless thing the game has in it. Why can’t I interview players throughout the year? And why am I asking players “how long until you’re nhl ready?” Also, whenever fog of war is on, there’s absolutely no reason my own players have hidden attributes going into FA or at other times during the season unless it’s a newly added draft pick. Deadline day and free agency day are basically holidays in the hockey world. Interview a player, go back and forth with contract talks, or add in performance bonuses, social media updates or news that inform of signing or trades with more hype. You guys are on the right track with teams adding FAs to fill needs, but still can’t seem to figure out how to have teams not be stupid enough to allow young elite players be restricted FAs because of cap issues. Teams would never allow Reinhart or Pettersson to be RFA until December and then not play because of these cap issues. Then you look at their roster and they signed 4 dudes in FA for absurd 2-3 year contracts. Furthering their cap problems.
Be a pro. Now this game mode is flat out unplayable. And I wish I could. It’s so boring. Snoozefest. Like I said, I want nothing more in the game than to be the mastermind of creation and build my team through scouting, drafting, FA, etc. Be a pro I also want to be the mastermind of creation. It’s BE A PRO. Not “play a bunch of games with a position lock”. Nothing happens in this game mode. Rookie year has some hype, then you’re old news. Can’t contract negotiate, buying the “perk items” is basically worthless because by the time you can afford some of it, the “attribute boosts”
don’t really matter. Needs to be a practice mode. Maybe a gym mode, I don’t know. Anything. Influence on who comes to the team in FA or trading. Chemistry amongst teammates like how Debrincat was a huge reason Kane came to Detroit. The identity of your player is basically worthless. Interactions with other players are boring. I want interactions with teammates, opponents, media. I want to be able to update my own social media account if I choose. I want to use the perks I’m purchasing. I want to be able to have a rock star identity, or be a true leader and perfect human like Lidstrom. Marchand is a pest on the ice, sometimes has some great comments to the media, but his teammates love him. Ovie is a man child. Wants nothing more than winning, but has fun while doing it. Crosby is as pure a leader you can have. These qualities need to be in the game.
Anyone else build on this? More ideas. J want to hear what you guys got and see if it sparks my brain as well. NCAA listened to their wishlists and community? Will NHL do the same? And forgive me if any of these changes have been made, I have played A LOT less of this game recently.