NHL25 Wishlist (hopefully some in NHL24)

Just seen this for the first time. Hope you don't mind I stole a bunch of stuff from this. This list is really good.

Mine that I've been updating throughout the year: https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-News/NHL-24-Issues/td-p/13096798

Bring back full presentation and include goalie stats and highlight top players stat line during the warm up. Could be a hot or cold player, a newly traded player or player returning from a big injury...make each game feel unique with a developing story by focusing on it in the warmup. 

Ticker in the main franchise menu showing standings and stat leaders for the league. You could even have a ticker in game showing you updates from around the league as you play.  

Option to see box scores from around the league.

Real NHL coaches and full career stats for them! 

Goal and end of game celebrations needs a total do over. 

Just Like Eki said in his last weekend streams= i wish that in nhl 25 u need to have more hockey iq to make goals, set up plays and be more creative. Not like this what we have in nhl 24 that the game just rewards players tooo much that just shoot all the time and forcing it 24/7. This is what i just hate. I understand that there are players Who enjoy playing like that and this game but they have no skill to do nothing else. Ai needs to be better, speedboost hitting need to be gone, greasy goals needs to be gone etc🙂 thanks ea hope u listen And make these changes! @EA_Aljo 

---

@Jutila22 wrote:

Just Like Eki said in his last weekend streams= i wish that in nhl 25 u need to have more hockey iq to make goals, set up plays and be more creative. Not like this what we have in nhl 24 that the game just rewards players tooo much that just shoot all the time and forcing it 24/7. This is what i just hate. I understand that there are players Who enjoy playing like that and this game but they have no skill to do nothing else. Ai needs to be better, speedboost hitting need to be gone, greasy goals needs to be gone etc🙂 thanks ea hope u listen And make these changes! @EA_Aljo 

---

If you're playing against any player truly adept at defending in NHL 24, you need to set up plays to get around it.

If your opponents are constantly able to "force" the same goals against you - that's a defensive deficiency that you need to recognize. Take note of where your lapse is, and work to shore it up. 

Every single goal in this game is defendable. To be good at this game means to be good at defending. Being good at defending is heavily depenant on how much responsibility you're willing to take on before you start blaming the game.

Many people blame the game instantly and then wonder why they always see the same goals all the time.

Then there are those of us who take the time to see our problems and the way we are playing that contributes to those goals happening. We tighten that up and start frustrating the one-dimensional players who try the same thing all the time. 

Bad goals still happen. The game still bugs out and gives a bounce to an opponent from time to time.. but that happens. It's a game. Not real life. 

For me my biggest wishes would be presentation back, or even better an updated version of NHL 14 (which is better then what we have now - less graphics as well.

And also to stop animations and reactions like these. I have played countless hours of prior NHL games and never had this issue so much in any prior game. 

https://www.xbox.com/play/media/GKgZHP6CBr

I'd like to share my perspective coming from someone who used to love EA NHL games growing up but now that I'm older I have lost all interest. For some context, NHL13 was probably the peak of the franchise for me, the last game I remember playing much at all was NHL19.

I understand that having not played any NHL games much in the past 5 years I really can't offer any feedback on the details of recent games, however I can at least offer feedback on what it was that made me give up on the franchise.

So firstly, let's start with the reality. I grew up. When you're young you don't really put much thought into game design, you simply play the game and enjoy it (or you don't). As I got older and more knowledgeable when it came to the actual NHL, the inaccuracies of NHL games started to bother me more and more to the point where I could no longer overlook things.

I primarily played Franchise or Be A GM mode. It's honestly the only thing that really interested me as a player. I can play hockey in real life, but I can't manage a hockey franchise in real life so this video game was the closest thing that I could ever experience like that. When you start to realize that little to no effort is put into actually improving the franchise mode it gets pretty hard to justify purchasing a full priced game every year. I have no interest in playing "World of Chel" or "HUT", I respect these modes for what they are but it's all I ever hear about when it comes to a new NHL game. It's not improving the experience I want from an NHL game which is a reasonably realistic Franchise Simulator. For that I need to see improvements in:

- Simulation: Sims should produce realistic statistics. If I look at a player's real statistics (shots, hits, pims, pts etc) I would expect them to be in the same ball park for the simulation. Better yet, add in advanced stats.

- Ratings: They're unrealistic and in my opinion very arbitrary. What does 82 passing even mean? Unpopular opinion likely but I'd change to a 5 star rating system. 3 star passing means you are "NHL average". 3.5 would be above average, 4 would be high end, 4.5 would be Elite and 5 would be exceptional. I think this would help rating consistency, asking scouts to rank players on a scale to 99 is going to lead to a lot more discrepancies than a 5 star system. Each league would have there own toggable scale (example AHL could have their own 5 star system, and junior would have another 5 star system that differs from the NHL). 

- Attributes: As far as I know, there hasn't been a change to attributes in over 10 years. I think it's time to make some changes. The biggest change I would like to see is a "Character" category with attributes like Charisma, Discipline, Intensity, Leadership, and Poise which have an on ice as well as off ice impact when it comes to franchise mode. For example, Charismatic players have star power and prefer big markets, Intense players work harder to stay consistent and will value contenders, Disciplined players avoid penalties and off ice altercations, players with Leadership will mentor young players, players with Poise are less likely to crack under pressure (playoffs, rivalries, etc) and are easier to manage morale. Stuff like that. It was interesting that they added morale, but the system itself seems arbitrary. How do you manage morale of virtual players that have no apparent characteristics?

- Realistic contracts, IR, and waivers system: Negotiations are pretty flawed in game, for example a prospect that's a fringe NHL player might spend the whole season in the AHL and if his contract is up and he develops into a 2nd liner over the offseason as per the games definition he is asking for 4 to 5 million all of a sudden. He has no NHL experience, makes no sense. There is no IR system. Waivers isn't a thing because you start the season before a waiver date is set which isn't realistic, there should a be a teaining camp (used to evaluate players after an offseason and cuts need to be made). Every player will accept the same calculated off (used to be 85% of whatever they asked back in the day). Have different Agents negotiating differently so you actually have to put thought into contract talks. Better yet, simulate talks with an agent. Basically, more realism is required when it comes to managing a franchise.

- Results based Player EXP: Potential should make it easier for players to gain EXP and increase attributes as it is an important factor however nothing should be guaranteed. Sometimes you get a journeyman player that breaks out later after having a successful season. Sometimes player development gets botched. Development should be a key feature in any franchise mode, it's arguably the most important aspect in team building.

- Dual Positions and Player Types: This is long overdue, nothing worse regarding realism than the game dressing a player as a C when they can't player C. It totally botches line combinations by the AI. Additionally why are we still stereotyping players into one play style. For example Ryan Getzlaf was more than a Playmaker, he was a power forward too. Patrick Kane is more than a Playmaker, he was a notorious Dangler (not even a thing anymore). Basically, expanding on player type will help the game understand player development better.

- Expansion and Relocation: So they've added Relocation which is cool but not really practical. What about expansion? It's an on going topic, I think it would be interesting if 5 to 10 years into a Franchise mode the league presents the option of an expansion draft and adds a random team / city (you could potentially remake designs for in custom teams). That's a nice to have.

Anyways, a longer post than I initially intended, but to summarize I feel ea NHL has abandoned franchise mode and that essentially alienated me from the franchise. I'm not interested in the other modes they offer, I just want somewhere I can get my fix of being an Armchair GM.

The continuing expansion has been on my wishlist. I would like the option to add new teams every 2-3 years with expansion drafts. 

The mentality attributes is actually genius. Way back, EA had a similar thing in GM Mode where you could add points to a grading system that ranging from players healing from injury quicker to better odds of signing players for a little less. Adding something like that to the players in terms of contracts or line chemistry would actually make the game more immersive. I really like that idea. 

So jealous looking at all the work EA put into presentation, sights sounds ect with college football. Now they are going to release a huge list of the career mode. If only the hockey game could get simlar attention. The presentation in NHl is a travesty now. I want a game more like an NHL broadcast and less like Fortnite.