REAL Total Control (Not Arcade)

[Update (1/23/24)]

Towards the bottom of this post, you will see my original post that I posted a few months ago (it may be worthwhile to first start your reading down at my original post).  Since then, I have developed my ideas a little further and would like to share them with EA and the community. 

I would love to hear your feedback.  Also, please let me know if there are any typos, errors, inconsistencies, or anything that’s missing; I may have overlooked some things.

Please understand that these suggestions are in an effort to add more options to control settings rather than replace current control settings.  In fact, there is room to create a hybrid control setting between the current Skill Stick setting and my new suggestions.

Also, it’s worth noting that these controls would be for advanced players looking to get even more control of their avatars. 

You will notice that I have reconsidered everything in terms of a Regular Controller and not an Elite/Pro controller.  That being said, I would still recommend an Elite/Pro controller to put RB/R1 and LB/L1 on the paddles; otherwise, you’d need to adopt the ‘claw grip’ to properly use some of the passing controls. 

So please, grab a controller and keep it in your hands while you read this. I want you to really try to imagine what these controls would feel like. 

Original Post Below

This year’s “Total Control” is more like “Total Arcade”.    That is ok as an option for some gamers, but serious NHL gamers expect more.  So this is what I propose:

XBox Elite & PlayStation Pro Controllers

Imagine if EA sold their own custom XBox Elite & PlayStation Pro controllers.

Things would look like the photos below. 

Because the Right Stick is used more often than the Face Buttons in NHL, the switched positions of the Right Stick and Face Buttons offer a more ergonomic design.

Also, notice that one of the Paddles of an Elite/Pro controller have been moved to an addition Face Button to accommodate for the Player Positions of hockey.

***Even if EA did not sell their own custom XBox Elite & PlayStation Pro controllers, the original Elite and Pro controllers would do just fine with the one odd placement of P2 (the center button).***

So imagine you have these different preset controller layouts to choose from:

Total Control

94

Hybrid

Skill Stick

Elite/Pro

Custom (I really think this option just needs to exist regardless of anything else in this post.)

Additionally, you could choose different layouts for Offense and Defense independently of one another.

I apologize for the small font.  I have added the photos as attachments to this post as well so you can click those links.

Advantages of an Extra Face Button

The extra Face Button P allows for the Face Buttons to directly correlate with the 5 positions on the team (except goalie); this way each button is dedicated to its own position regardless of what position you are in control of. I understand that as the person controlling the puck, you only have 4 options to pass to, but having dedicated buttons for each position would provide consistency to Icon Passing;  you will always know pressing Y will pass to your Right Wing (for example) which means you don’t have to hold RT (like you do now) to figure out which player has which button.

Furthermore, since each position’s ‘player indicator’ currently has it’s own dedicated color, those colors could correlate with the colors of the Face Buttons to make it even easier to use Icon Passing… you would never need to actually see A, B, X, Y, or P on the screen (unless maybe if you want to turn it on in settings). 

You can use the Face Button that is dedicated to the position that you control as a Drop Pass.  For example, if you are Left Defense, all you would have to do is tap A to Drop Pass / Leave Puck… and you still have the option to do it the original way it is now.

Difference of Basic Puck Control and Total Puck Control

Holding P1 for Total Puck Control would be a way to remove accidental shots when puck handling

It would also be a way to add more control to puck handling.  
For example, pulling down on the Right Stick while holding P1 could pull the puck in close to your skates away from a poke without it being a full drag to the forehand or backhand, and from there you could push it out to your forehand or backhand if you want.  Or, from the forehand, rolling up on the Right Stick while holding P1 could tease the puck out in front of the player on the on the forehand side, and could be pulled back by rolling the Right Stick back.  Same thing goes for the backhand.  (Remember, these are just a few random examples of what could be done with the extra space on the Skill Stick when shooting is removed.)

Advantages of P3 (Protect)

The way things are now, you cannot attempt to puck handle while you hustle; you can only protect the puck when you hustle.  But by separating Hustle and Protect Puck in my suggested controls, you can hustle and puck handle at the same time (even if hustling means that your puck skills are reduced a little).

You could also choose to protect the puck without hustling.  This would be something like the typical forehand/backhand, but with more body separation between the puck and the defender.

You can still choose to protect the puck while hustling.

Holding P3 without using the right stick would brace your puck handler for impact preventing big knock downs.

A well timed double tap of P3 would be a reverse hit.

So ultimately, P3 is a button pressed when you are being bodied by a defender.

Advantages of Body Checking Modifier

Holding P1 allows you to use the skill stick entirely for Body Checking.

This gives you more control of the direction of hits.  This is honestly advantageous for the offensive player as well because the defender wouldn’t be assisted in their hit; they would actually need to time and aim it well.

This would definitely solve the issue of accidentally hitting on offense when you don’t have the puck and are are trying to go for a one-timer, rebound, etc. and picking up an unwanted interference call.

You’ll notice that I’ve tied Board Pin to the Push Checking.  This makes plenty of sense because holding a “push” on someone at the boards is exactly what a pin is.  I also think that this would start more scrums on the boards which would be more authentic to the game of hockey.

Stick Checking

Because Body Checking is removed from the skill stick, the skill stick can be used entirely for full control of the hockey stick’s positioning and movement on defense.

Being able to actively position the hockey stick would give defenders a much better toolset to handling skilled puck handlers.

Poke checking would not be assisted, giving players more control and helping them avoid unwanted trips.

Mapping stick lift to the right trigger allows you to use the pressure sensitivity of the triggers to control the height of your stick lifts, allowing you to make the choice between subtle little lifts and aggressive lifts.  Holding a lifted stick would be the same thing as a Tie Up.

Because you can position the stick with more control, stick lifts don’t need to be assisted/out-of-control as they are now.

You could also lift your own stick to attempt to knock a puck down out of the air.

Puck Battling / Net Battling (P3)

Hold P3 to enter a physical entanglement with another player whether or not they have the puck. 

Puck Battle (When the Offensive Player Has the Puck)
    -If defender is in good position, engaging will tie the players up in a battle for the puck.  The defender will then need to use the Stick Checking and Body Checking controls to win the puck, while the puck handler will need to use Protect, Passing, and Shooting controls to win the battle.
    -If the defender is out of position, engaging will only slow the defender down, giving advantage to the puck handler. 

Net Battle (When the Offensive Player Doesn’t Have the Puck)
    -Players engaged away from the puck will need to use the Stick Checking and Body Checking controls to battle for body position and stick positioning.
    -The player who initiates the battle will run a risk of incurring an interference penalty. 

Because P3 is Battle on defense and Protect on offense, it would be a seamless/natural transition from being in control of the puck to being the one fighting for the puck and vice versa… allowing for a constant back and forth battle for the puck. 

This would add so much more realism and fun to the game.

Easier Access to Goalie Control

As of now, you need to perfectly time a combo of L1 and A to switch, and it is incredibly hard to pull off.  But with these new controls, if you just press the View Button alone, you could switch to the goalie. 

This would be useful for:

-fast breaks

-handing opposing puck dumps

-cleaning up passes that go awry

The goalie isn’t tied to the crease all the time in real hockey. 

Honestly, I only started this “project” (if we can call it that) in an effort to give more control to Defense.  Then, while I was at it, I figured I would take a stab at proposing some ideas for Offense as well.  So feedback is welcome!