@phomi99 wrote:
@Limp_KidzKit wrote:
@phomi99 wrote:
@Limp_KidzKit wrote:
@phomi99 wrote:
@Stubo_NHL24 wrote:
Am I the only one that finds this hilarious?
titles was the equivalent of playing NBA 2k for the 1st week when they had the automatic half court glitch shot.
Problem is player base became so reliant on CPU defending and glitch shots.
And now you're playing a game where taking two muffins from the point turns the goalie into flopping fish and there's zero threat to giving up an IRL grade A shot from the house because if it's not one of the approved patterns of skating + shot aim, goalie makes the save look as routine as stopping a dump-in.
So where's the creativity?
Yea I've started to notice more and more players spamming this unfortunately.
I totally get where you're coming from. It's not easy to pickup on these things, especially for people who play online either exclusively or at least for the majority of their time. For years, I was always drawn in by the little updates you know? Don't get me wrong, there's been some great "little things" added like NHL 20 adding goalie stick deflections, and NHL 22 really addressing the NZ gap issues with defensemen, but once I stopped playing online and started playing offline only while trying to look past the shiny "little thing" update of the year, I started to realize the core gameplay loop was actually worse off than before. Take NHL 22 for example, I was so impressed by the NZ gap that it took me awhile to realize the in-zone play was completely handcuffed by the competitive scene getting their wish of having AI defenders stand still and do nothing. It made the offline game a shell of its former self.
Another thing I noticed in NHL 22 after getting past the NZ gap improvement was the lack of a center drive on the rush. Instead of fixing the AI not being able to cover the center drive (if you go play NHL 20, you'll notice this is a pretty glaring issue with rush defense) they just removed the center drive. So I don't know if you all notice (again, I don't blame anyone for not as you have to be looking for it first of all, and second playing offline exclusively means I'm not dealing with an on-puck user to pay attention too so I get more opportunity to look and observe) but players in NHL 21 and beyond just don't center drive on the rush anymore. This gives the illusion of "better defense" when combined with tighter NZ gaps, but in reality it's just the offense not doing a routine play they should be doing anymore.
This is also why "in zone" play can feel "tight' because your AI don't do anything anymore to support the play. They are much slower at moving and cycling than in NHL 20 and before. This leads to less openings, less creativity, and because of this offensive players get frustrated, they ask for more speed, they ask for DSS nerfs, they ask for backskating slowdowns, less interceptions, you name it, but it's all symptomatic. It's not addressing the real issue being the AI and their static offensive play and their passive defensive play.
So I don't mean to be aggressive with you, I'm trying to genuinely ask you where you're seeing creativity from in these new titles. I personally find them less creative than NHL 20, even when using my own sliders. The core gameplay loop, what I need to do to have success and fun is not nearly achievable in 21-24 as compared to 20. So I think the more people breakdown exactly what they're doing/seeing/using to have success in this game, they'll realize they're doing the exact same thing for yet another year with maybe a slight variation of a feature or skating movement but that's it. There's no more orless first shot goals, you're using the same patterns, you're still passing at the same rate as the last 4 years, yits quite literally the same thing over and over despite playing the most "random" and dynamic of the "big 4" sports offered in North America.
NHL Team
