NHL Team
Community ManagerWhat's your point? We get requests for features to return very frequently. Which often, doesn't happen. This time it did though. Seems like a win for the community as it's been requested since launch.
@EA_Aljo if the dev team could fix the default faceoff line ups and line changes that would be awesome. Going on 2 years now that the default faceoff formation is defensive. Every game we have to rush and cycle through each line to change the faceoff formation before puck drop.
Also there are times where you literally cannot make line changes unless you press b for some reason. If you have possession of the puck that typically means pressing B shoots it and losing possession.
@EA_Aljo wrote:What's your point? We get requests for features to return very frequently. Which often, doesn't happen. This time it did though. Seems like a win for the community as it's been requested since launch.
I meant what was the point of EA changing it the first time?!
It wasnât a problem before and the community liked it so EA thinks they know best and changes it. Then the community says they want it back so EA changes it back. Thatâs the problem a lot of the community has with EA. They âfixâ things that arenât âbrokenâ all the time instead of fixing the things that actually are broken.
The new control system is another example. Nothing that wrong with the old one besides maybe a couple of adjustments that were needed. But letâs make it all about accessibility. I rather have something that is harder to do but is more rewarding than something that is easy to do yet unfulfilling.
Obviously itâs a video game but imagine if in the real NHL every player had the same abilities to do all the same skills, dekes and whatever else? That would make it a very unrealistic and unsatisfying league IMO.
@thebrazenhead75It was probably changed due to the pressure system. You get full pressure for what like 30 seconds. So they probably changed the last minute to 30 seconds because of that. But now with the full minute returning that is gonna make full pressure even crazier potentially now.
Controls were changed because they added some new things to the game and had to remap things around. They also were hoping probably that the 1 touch buttons would be a success into bringing new people into the game allowing them to learn faster and hopefully stay with the game longer.
People don't think enough about having to grow the game in terms of sales and such by bringing in new people. Maybe they have people who don't know hockey but play other sports give this a try and complain that controls are too complicated for them. Me personally I'm not a fan of the new controls for the most part. Guess we will see what from NHL 24 is gonna remain going into NHL 25. Might also mean they take less big chances in the future and could play it safe resulting in everyone saying it's just NHL 24.5 like they love to do.
@KlariskraysNHL wrote:@thebrazenhead75It was probably changed due to the pressure system. You get full pressure for what like 30 seconds. So they probably changed the last minute to 30 seconds because of that. But now with the full minute returning that is gonna make full pressure even crazier potentially now.
Controls were changed because they added some new things to the game and had to remap things around. They also were hoping probably that the 1 touch buttons would be a success into bringing new people into the game allowing them to learn faster and hopefully stay with the game longer.People don't think enough about having to grow the game in terms of sales and such by bringing in new people. Maybe they have people who don't know hockey but play other sports give this a try and complain that controls are too complicated for them. Me personally I'm not a fan of the new controls for the most part. Guess we will see what from NHL 24 is gonna remain going into NHL 25. Might also mean they take less big chances in the future and could play it safe resulting in everyone saying it's just NHL 24.5 like they love to do.
Then they should un nerf the puck dump then to balance things out then. But no, EA needs to force things to justify their pressure system. đ
Also with the new controls as Iâve previously mentioned. Letâs remove a goalie ability (paddle down) and map another (desperation) save to two buttons. Thatâs incredibly stupid. Only morons would think that is a good idea.
Im all for bringing in new customers but not at the expense of existing ones. There are ways to do so without alienating the loyal ones that have been buying this game for years. New players should have to adapt. Not the existing ones.
If I like a game enough Iâll play it no matter the difficulty not because itâs easy to play. EA needs to concentrate their marketing on what makes playing online hockey fun and rewarding. Not because itâs easy. I remember playing Gran Turismo and I had to pass certain tests before being able to enter any races. Some were damn hard too but so rewarding when completed.
Keep that easy stuff to offline modes. For online modes that are competitive, maybe make new users pass some basic tests to be able to play. It would only help them rather than them drop into a game and embarrass themselves. Easy one touch dekes etc arenât going to help them with that.
Community Manager
@thebrazenhead75 wrote:
@EA_Aljo wrote:
What's your point? We get requests for features to return very frequently. Which often, doesn't happen. This time it did though. Seems like a win for the community as it's been requested since launch.
I meant what was the point of EA changing it the first time?!
It wasnât a problem before and the community liked it so EA thinks they know best and changes it. Then the community says they want it back so EA changes it back. Thatâs the problem a lot of the community has with EA. They âfixâ things that arenât âbrokenâ all the time instead of fixing the things that actually are broken.
The new control system is another example. Nothing that wrong with the old one besides maybe a couple of adjustments that were needed. But letâs make it all about accessibility. I rather have something that is harder to do but is more rewarding than something that is easy to do yet unfulfilling.Obviously itâs a video game but imagine if in the real NHL every player had the same abilities to do all the same skills, dekes and whatever else? That would make it a very unrealistic and unsatisfying league IMO.
I don't know if it was a bug or if it was intended. If it was intended, why not try it out? We've had a lot of comments over the years that the game is just a copy and paste with updated rosters. Then again, we also hear how NHL 14 was perfect and we should just release that again and update those rosters. The sport of hockey is largely unchanged over the last 20 years. Yet, we're expected to either rehash a game from 10 years ago or recreate it and make it feel like a brand new game every year. Both of those scenarios are unrealistic. What is realistic is changing things up. That can mean removing features, modifying existing ones or adding new ones. Changing mechanics, updating modes, updating graphics and audio, etc. Yeah, it isn't always well received. We have to take some chances though.
Accessibility is huge. We need to make a game that appeals to as large an audience as possible. You want the game to grow? Making it more accessible and drawing in a bigger playerbase is going to do that. Look at Madden and FC. Those have a huge, worldwide following. Hockey has a worldwide following as well. On a far smaller scale though. If you want the truly brand new game that represents a 100+ year old sport that sees little change year to year, it's got to grow. Limiting ourselves to the hardcore, sim, veteran crowd is not the way to do that. I've made it well known that I'm not a fan of the changes to controls. However, I'm glad we also made the game more accessible and drawn in players that otherwise wouldn't have been there. We all adapted when the skill stick controls were introduced. We can all adapt to the new controls. And if those new controls are unfulfilling, use the old ones. It's not like you're forced to use Total Control. Yes, Skill Stick had it's own changes, but it's also harder to use so maybe they would be more fulfilling for you.
The online community that asks for a sim game doesn't realize there's a bigger audience out there. If we only made a game that catered to that community, you'd see far less change year to year as the much lower sales wouldn't allow us to make the changes we do each year. Most likely, we'd be limited to fixing bugs and updating rosters. And if that's all you want, then I go back to my statement of the demands for a new game are more the demands for a rerelease of NHL 14. Today's casual, one button Michigans are tomorrows hardcore players. We all started with easy controls on a casual level and look where we all ended up? Some turned that passion into a career as an influencer. Some became world champs. In my case it put me here every day talking to you all. A lot of the people that make this game are here because they started playing it when they were kids. These forums are full of people that were once casual fans that have grown far beyond that.
I get this years game isn't exactly everyone's bag of pucks. There were a lot of big changes. We've had a huge amount of feedback from you all and that is going to help shape the future of this game. We'll keep trying to find ways to keep you all having fun regardless of being a grizzled veteran or someone stepping onto the ice for the first time.
@thebrazenhead75 wrote:
Keep that easy stuff to offline modes. For online modes that are competitive, maybe make new users pass some basic tests to be able to play. It would only help them rather than them drop into a game and embarrass themselves. Easy one touch dekes etc arenât going to help them with that.
Drop-in games are where you're meant to learn those skills. That's where a huge amount of us learned how to play going back to NHL 09 with the first year of EASHL. It takes a lot more than mastering one touch dekes to be good at this game.
@EA_Aljo wrote:
@thebrazenhead75 wrote:
@EA_Aljo wrote:What's your point? We get requests for features to return very frequently. Which often, doesn't happen. This time it did though. Seems like a win for the community as it's been requested since launch.
I meant what was the point of EA changing it the first time?!
It wasnât a problem before and the community liked it so EA thinks they know best and changes it. Then the community says they want it back so EA changes it back. Thatâs the problem a lot of the community has with EA. They âfixâ things that arenât âbrokenâ all the time instead of fixing the things that actually are broken.
The new control system is another example. Nothing that wrong with the old one besides maybe a couple of adjustments that were needed. But letâs make it all about accessibility. I rather have something that is harder to do but is more rewarding than something that is easy to do yet unfulfilling.Obviously itâs a video game but imagine if in the real NHL every player had the same abilities to do all the same skills, dekes and whatever else? That would make it a very unrealistic and unsatisfying league IMO.
I don't know if it was a bug or if it was intended. If it was intended, why not try it out? We've had a lot of comments over the years that the game is just a copy and paste with updated rosters. Then again, we also hear how NHL 14 was perfect and we should just release that again and update those rosters. The sport of hockey is largely unchanged over the last 20 years. Yet, we're expected to either rehash a game from 10 years ago or recreate it and make it feel like a brand new game every year. Both of those scenarios are unrealistic. What is realistic is changing things up. That can mean removing features, modifying existing ones or adding new ones. Changing mechanics, updating modes, updating graphics and audio, etc. Yeah, it isn't always well received. We have to take some chances though.
Accessibility is huge. We need to make a game that appeals to as large an audience as possible. You want the game to grow? Making it more accessible and drawing in a bigger playerbase is going to do that. Look at Madden and FC. Those have a huge, worldwide following. Hockey has a worldwide following as well. On a far smaller scale though. If you want the truly brand new game that represents a 100+ year old sport that sees little change year to year, it's got to grow. Limiting ourselves to the hardcore, sim, veteran crowd is not the way to do that. I've made it well known that I'm not a fan of the changes to controls. However, I'm glad we also made the game more accessible and drawn in players that otherwise wouldn't have been there. We all adapted when the skill stick controls were introduced. We can all adapt to the new controls. And if those new controls are unfulfilling, use the old ones. It's not like you're forced to use Total Control. Yes, Skill Stick had it's own changes, but it's also harder to use so maybe they would be more fulfilling for you.
The online community that asks for a sim game doesn't realize there's a bigger audience out there. If we only made a game that catered to that community, you'd see far less change year to year as the much lower sales wouldn't allow us to make the changes we do each year. Most likely, we'd be limited to fixing bugs and updating rosters. And if that's all you want, then I go back to my statement of the demands for a new game are more the demands for a rerelease of NHL 14. Today's casual, one button Michigans are tomorrows hardcore players. We all started with easy controls on a casual level and look where we all ended up? Some turned that passion into a career as an influencer. Some became world champs. In my case it put me here every day talking to you all. A lot of the people that make this game are here because they started playing it when they were kids. These forums are full of people that were once casual fans that have grown far beyond that.
I get this years game isn't exactly everyone's bag of pucks. There were a lot of big changes. We've had a huge amount of feedback from you all and that is going to help shape the future of this game. We'll keep trying to find ways to keep you all having fun regardless of being a grizzled veteran or someone stepping onto the ice for the first time.
@thebrazenhead75 wrote:
Keep that easy stuff to offline modes. For online modes that are competitive, maybe make new users pass some basic tests to be able to play. It would only help them rather than them drop into a game and embarrass themselves. Easy one touch dekes etc arenât going to help them with that.
Drop-in games are where you're meant to learn those skills. That's where a huge amount of us learned how to play going back to NHL 09 with the first year of EASHL. It takes a lot more than mastering one touch dekes to be good at this game.
How much accessibility does EA need without alienating their current fanbase? Is it really worth the extra sales to gain a few players that might play one or two games a week at the expense of losing a couple of players that play one or two games every night of the week?
I see tons more people saying they quit buying and playing the game more than I see new players. This game is NEVER going to be on the same level of FIFA or MADDEN. They need to maximize their niche market and if they want to increase their player base (sales) then sell the game of hockey itself and what makes it great to play.
Im not one of those that needs a new revamped game every year. I buy it anyways because itâs the only hockey game and I grew up loving hockey What I do want though is fixes to be done that definitely need it and no changes to the things that arenât broken. Once again, âpaddle downâ should absolutely be out back in. Take out one of the redundant âdesperation savesâ. I donât need two buttons to do the same thing (which I rarely if ever use) while not being able to use an ability that I did quite often use. Whoever made that change and approved it is a * and should be fired!
How stupid would it be if a contractor/renovator took out your bathroom sink and added another toilet? Thatâs what EA essentially did.
