Nhl 24 the game for everyone and anyone.
This used to be a game that took skill to be good at. Many of us have spent decades trying to master the skills to get where we are now. It's more than obvious that EA have given up on us loyal fan...
Forum Discussion
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerI wholeheartedly disagree with catering to casuals and streamers. You can look at the patch notes to see that the changes made were a direct reflection of the feedback we received here as well as from other social media platforms.
We want to make a game that appeals to as wide an audience as possible. That is what helps the game grow. Should that happen, it stands the chance of adding more resources behind development which, in turn, means bigger changes with each release. If we make a game that only satisfies the very small playerbase that wants a simulation style experience, it would be very possible this game would cease to exist.
@EA_Aljo This implies the playerbase would not grow if the game was more satisfying to play. At what point is the direction of the series the issue? Why is simulation blamed for the lack of sales and not the arcade elements that have always been there? Sales have gone down not up year over year. That's a fact. Not speculation.
- EA_Aljo
@llamaverox wrote:
@EA_Aljo This implies the playerbase would not grow if the game was more satisfying to play. At what point is the direction of the series the issue? Why is simulation blamed for the lack of sales and not the arcade elements that have always been there? Sales have gone down not up year over year. That's a fact. Not speculation.Where did I say there was a lack of sales? Of course we'd like to see more sales. That's only good for the game in the long run. The biggest contributor to this game being more niche is the sport of hockey itself. I understand why you'd feel everyone hates the arcade elements that were added. The people that discuss this game on social media are the hardcore crowd. You don't hear from the much higher audience that doesn't fit into that category. Everyone can speculate all they want on sales figures. We know how many people are playing and if it were as low as being assumed, we wouldn't continue to release this game year after year. At least not with the amount of support it has.
Look, we can have a game that appeals to a small audience or we can have a game that does its best to appeal to a wider audience. Hockey is a game for all. We're not going to cater only to one crowd over the other. I personally consider myself to be in that hardcore group. I'm not fond of the arcade elements that were added. However, they are helping to expand the playerbase. Today's casuals are tomorrow's sim/hardcore players. There was a time we all were more casual fans. As you develop interest and get more competitive, your preference can change from enjoying 1 button Michigans to complaining about the efficacy of flip dumps.
- @EA_Aljo I still heavily disagree that the changes asked for would hinder sales. We also both know the reason they continue to make the game every year. Ultimate team. If there was no ultimate team there would be no NHL game.
Ea despite the massive sale of madden and fifa, make more money from Ultimate team than all their game sales combined yearly. 4.3 billion in revenue across their games. EA only needs to sell 500k copies and the ultimate team sales alone will fund the next years game. - EA_Aljo
@llamaverox wrote:
@EA_Aljo I still heavily disagree that the changes asked for would hinder sales. We also both know the reason they continue to make the game every year. Ultimate team. If there was no ultimate team there would be no NHL game.
Ea despite the massive sale of madden and fifa, make more money from Ultimate team than all their game sales combined yearly. 4.3 billion in revenue across their games. EA only needs to sell 500k copies and the ultimate team sales alone will fund the next years game.Of course HUT makes money. There's no denying that. If we removed that mode, would the game die? I don't think it would. HUT isn't actually the most popular mode. EASHL has it beat. Sure, the game might not receive the same amount of updates without HUT, but it wouldn't be out of production.
The sales of other games don't contribute to the overall budget NHL has. Each game is treated independently. What NHL makes goes back into NHL. Just like FC and Madden. Money from those games doesn't get diverted to others.
@llamaverox wrote:
@KidShowtime1867 It's not really about being nice and stating my honest opinion. I've bought the game every year. I've spent thousands of hours with this series. I used to stay up til 6 in the morning with my buds because we wanted to get another game in. Now we play for an hour and can't stand it.
I don't know what else I'm supposed to say about it. I've turned off by the game. I play it out of an addiction.I'm curious what makes you addicted. If you truly hated the game, I don't understand why you would keep playing it. This game isn't exactly physically addicting.
- @EA_Aljo I love hockey. I love the 6s teamwork. There is no other game out that gets the team aspect of a sport game so right. I want the gameplay to replicate my love and it feels shallow and no skill gap. I want to have fun with my favorite series. I am not right now.
- EA_Aljo
@llamaverox wrote:
@EA_Aljo I love hockey. I love the 6s teamwork. There is no other game out that gets the team aspect of a sport game so right. I want the gameplay to replicate my love and it feels shallow and no skill gap. I want to have fun with my favorite series. I am not right now.I really don't think there's no skill gap. Especially with EASHL. a skilled team of 6s that has great chemistry is going to wipe the floor with a rookie club. 6s is some of the most fun and competitive, team gameplay today. There absolutely is a skill gap. Otherwise, why would leagues even have different divisions? Wouldn't that not even matter? Why would they draft players also? If no skill were required, anyone could be on any team.
Again, why play if you don't like it? I don't play games based on other sports. I just can't get into them like I can hockey. I don't play Franchise Mode in NHL because I don't enjoy it. I guess I don't understand why someone would choose to spend their leisure time with an activity they actively hate.
@EA_Aljo"actively hate" I don't actively hate it, I actively don't like the direction the series is in.
In 6s especially the skill gap in this game isn't the game itself it's the human controlled players hockey iq. The reason the good teams and I use that term loosely as I don't really believe even the best teams are better than their forces. (I used a 6'9 enforcer vs the top line of lg avalanche and we destroyed them so my personal experience backs that up.)
The issue is that it's not really skill gap it's a skill wave. If you have 5 guys that are competent at the game, you have a shot vs anyone. Which absolutely should not be the case. As you will get 2 or 3 goals off of nonsense that don't feel good to score.
The higher you get in division the more cheesy people play. Take advantage of worse players decision making while making the less skilled play because they know it will work. Etc Etc.
I could go on for an hour.
The addiction is to the series itself. Them making bad changes that I vocally want them to change doesn't change that. Am I supposed to not be vocal about and just shut up and play my games? No I'm going to constructively criticize while being told "It's just the way it is adapt" No thank you.
@llamaverox wrote:
If you have 5 guys that are competent at the game, you have a shot vs anyone. Which absolutely should not be the case. As you will get 2 or 3 goals off of nonsense that don't feel good to score.This makes no sense. Why should a team with 1 player deemed 'not competent' be instantly dismissed and not have a chance against anyone?
@llamaverox wrote:
The higher you get in division the more cheesy people play. Take advantage of worse players decision making while making the less skilled play because they know it will work. Etc Etc.Taking advantage of "worse players' decision making" is considered cheesy?
@llamaverox wrote:Am I supposed to not be vocal about and just shut up and play my games? No I'm going to constructively criticize whole being told "It's just the way it is adapt" No thank you.You absolutely should not just shut up and play without being critical of things you deem to need work. Keep it coming.
However, when someone is simply trying to explain to you how you can utilize the mechanic you want in a different way to get the same exact outcome you desire, you should listen to them and practice the advice rather than just hating because it's not the answer you want.
- @EA_Aljo I think it's more a lot of us including myself had such a strong passion for the game and the series as a whole. I remember playing through 3-4 82 games seasons on franchise mode before the next game would release. From NHL 23 and 24 I am lucky to have the urge to play 1 or 2 games every month. So we want to play it cause it has meant so much and we have such a strong passion for NHL, but due to choices being made has diminished that passion to a point where we want to love it but can't.
- EA_Aljo
@llamaverox wrote:
@EA_Aljo"actively hate" I don't actively hate it, I actively don't like the direction the series is in.
In 6s especially the skill gap in this game isn't the game itself it's the human controlled players hockey iq. The reason the good teams and I use that term loosely as I don't really believe even the best teams are better than their forces. (I used a 6'9 enforcer vs the top line of lg avalanche and we destroyed them so my personal experience backs that up.)
The issue is that it's not really skill gap it's a skill wave. If you have 5 guys that are competent at the game, you have a shot vs anyone. Which absolutely should not be the case. As you will get 2 or 3 goals off of nonsense that don't feel good to score.
The higher you get in division the more cheesy people play. Take advantage of worse players decision making while making the less skilled play because they know it will work. Etc Etc.
I could go on for an hour.
The addiction is to the series itself. Them making bad changes that I vocally want them to change doesn't change that. Am I supposed to not be vocal about and just shut up and play my games? No I'm going to constructively criticize while being told "It's just the way it is adapt" No thank you.I took you saying that you can't stand the game to mean that you hate it. I still am having a hard time differentiating between the two. I'm just not sure why someone would keep choosing to spend time with a game they can't stand. That said, I most definitely appreciate how constructive you're being. Seriously, I can't say that enough. We want people to be vocal about their likes as well as the dislikes. Too often it's ignored because it's more of a rant than coherent, constructive feedback.
At any rate, what you're talking about is a skill gap. One side is taking advantage of the poor decisions lesser skilled players make. The lesser skilled players are attempting plays they know work because their opponents are allowing them. If they're getting shots on net, someone's not defending those. Even with the nonsense goals, which we all see regularly, they're still generating offense. It's not like they're just dumping puck after puck down the ice and scoring. Yes, I'm aware that can happen with bouncing the puck off the boards.
People choosing to play cheesy is human nature. That's not inherent to our game alone. This happens with pretty much every competitive game. People are always looking for the easiest way to win. That goes for real world competition as well. As far as our games go though, we can only combat that so much before it starts affecting the overall gameplay that then affects the people playing legit. What exactly is the cheesy play you're talking about anyway? Rebounds, far side shots, the Omaha, making a 6'9" enforcer with truculence getting 40 hits a game, forced cross-crease passes? I get that people play cheesy. I'm not condoning it by any means. You also have to keep in mind that's part of the competitive nature I was talking about. Which is part of the skill gap. This is a video game. It's never going to be a 1:1 recreation of real hockey. Stopping the cheese is going to be part of the skill required to win.
- EA_Aljo
@MasterB89 wrote:
@EA_Aljo I think it's more a lot of us including myself had such a strong passion for the game and the series as a whole. I remember playing through 3-4 82 games seasons on franchise mode before the next game would release. From NHL 23 and 24 I am lucky to have the urge to play 1 or 2 games every month. So we want to play it cause it has meant so much and we have such a strong passion for NHL, but due to choices being made has diminished that passion to a point where we want to love it but can't.I can totally understand that. Especially for offline modes. They haven't received the same attention recently that online modes have. My EASHL club used to play 4 nights a week. We don't now, but that's not due to not enjoying the game. We've been doing this for 15 years. We all have careers, got married, some of us have kids. Life gets in the way of playing 20+ games a week like we used to. So, I can definitely understand not playing due to a lack of interest. If my favorite mode, EASHL, was no longer fun, I'd be spending my time elsewhere. As you've chosen to do. Hopefully, as the offline modes are expanded on, we'll see players like yourself return.
@KidShowtime1867 wrote:
@llamaverox wrote:
If you have 5 guys that are competent at the game, you have a shot vs anyone. Which absolutely should not be the case. As you will get 2 or 3 goals off of nonsense that don't feel good to score."This makes no sense. Why should a team with 1 player deemed 'not competent' be instantly dismissed and not have a chance against anyone?"
A misunderstanding of what I said.
I'm saying that my teams are generally full of guys that aren't great at the game. We still win against world class playoff winning teams because we just are able to force cheese plays all game. It's not right. My teams should lose 6-0 against some of these teams but because the game allows offense to do whatever it wants, games end up 3-4 or some other nonsense.
I used a 6'9 enforcer where I alone was able to dominate because of the way the game uses height and weight. I was the same speed as everyone else at 86 because my stride lengths were longer I could literally win faceoffs to myself.
That is to say. The game should have a skill gap based on mechanics not just whether you can cheese the game better.
@llamaverox wrote:
The higher you get in division the more cheesy people play. Take advantage of worse players decision making while making the less skilled play because they know it will work. Etc Etc."Taking advantage of "worse players' decision making" is considered cheesy?"
Misunderstood what I said. I said, take advantage of worse decision making while making a cheesy play.
I want high skill teams to win 8-1. I don't want them doing that because they forced a pass through 3 guys that won't stand on the one-t's stick.
