I would like to have an open discussion about player build attributes, traits and zone abilities. I welcome all to constructively discuss which of the above mentioned. Interested in your thoughts on what you believe is broken, doesn't perform properly, could use tuned, removed or added. Let's stay on topic and keep this thread for just the builds and not grief game play and improvement needs please.
You should be able to reach 99 in any stat (with bonuses) if you want, even if you have to literally slap a -5 on to everything else to do it.
There are currently only a handful of stats that can go that high (offensive/defensive awareness, passing, hand eye), and some can even reach 98, but most get hung up in the high 80's or low-mid 90's which hinders a lot of builds
I agree that you should be able to customize however you want. It also seems that attributes stop having an effect once they reach a certain #. Same if the # is too low and some aren't even worth putting any points into at all.
Making hipchecks a single button (which I actually have been suggesting for years) made it so the body checking stat is useless so now everyone can pump into other things - Would have been nice if they tweaked it to just "checking" and the higher it was the faster you could do it (in addition to ease).
The whole system could use a revamp.
The gameplay needs correcting first so you can accurately adjust attribute effects to tune that gameplay.
The attributes need to be reclassified and balanced.
The X-Factors were kind of just thrown on top and need to be rebalanced to fit into the system as well.
The Tactics category is the prime example. The attributes in that category are almost meaningless for a majority of players. Fighting and Faceoffs get -5 by default and deking (which is a skill, not a tactic) normally gets boosted (though discipline does get some attention it can also be ignored by many builds).
The gameplay nerfs stick checking by applying magnetism for the puck carrier along with auto-recoveries (among other things).
A high stick checking stat does not mitigate those effects (other than penalty risk).
Stick Em Up (X-Factor) does not have a noticeable impact either (again, other than penalty risk).
Checking however, is programmed to be overpowered, the attribute make a significant difference, and Truculence virtually ensures every check will be "bone-crushing" and leave a player on the ice in the fetal position.
Over 90 in a stat shouldn't necessarily make you 90% effective at something, but it should severely tip the probability in your favor.
If you're facing someone with a 90 in a countering stat, the probability should return to 50%.
Say an attacking forward has 90 Puck Control:
If a defender has 90 Stick Checking, there's roughly a 50% chance of the puck being separated from the player. (Separated being the key word here.)
If a defender only has 80 stick checking, maybe that changes to 65/35 in favor of the puck carrier.
If a defender has 70 stick checking it becomes 80/20.
(*With a range of values in between of course.)
If you add a relevant X-Factor, it can modify those probabilities, but also tilt toward specific outcomes.
Stick Em Up for example, could reduce penalty chance on a failed stick check attempt by 50% and increase the effect of the contact on a successful stick check attempt by 50% (poking the puck completely out of range of the puck carrier instead of 6 inches). (*Just randomly using numbers as examples, if 50% turns out to be too much or not enough, that's where adjustments would come in.)
As for how attributes are categorized, I'd adjust them:
Speed Acceleration Balance Agility = Skating
Wrist/Slap Power/Accuracy Passing = Shooting
Deking Hand-Eye Puck Control Stick Checking = Stick Skills
Endurance Durability Strength Body Checking Fighting = Physicality
Off/Def Awareness Discipline Faceoffs Shot Blocking = Mentality
Each player type would get difference baseline and custom values for specific categories.
Sniper for example would have high base values in the shooting attributes and lowest in the passing, and more extra points to spend in the "shooting" category.
Playmaker would have high passing, faceoffs, and offensive awareness and more points to spend in the "mentality" category.
Grinder would have high faceoffs, def awareness, and more points to spend in the "physicality" category.
(When I say more points to spend you can interpret that as adding extra points 1-for-1 or the current system with custom adjustments to gain points to spend elsewhere, but the cost to add/subtract changes according to the player type's preferred attributes. You could do -5 to passing for a sniper and get a +5 to wrist shot accuracy, but -5 wrist shot accuracy would only give you enough to add +2 to passing.)
Anyway this got longer winded than intended so I'm just going to cut it off here.
I think they do away with off/def awareness, discipline and faceoffs. Those should all be based on the players positioning and playstyle. Especially how the awarenesses aren't noticeable and even if you are in position you can't rely on the stat. They should revert it back to how it was on old gen minus the legend card grind.
What attributes do you find useless and not worth investing much into? I'm curious if we agree.
How do you know Puck Control attribute affects your ability to resist poke checks? The description in the loadout menu only says it helps you settle pucks for more accuracy. Settling a puck means the puck is already on your stick and you are tryin to flatten it out
@Proud_White_Dad wrote:How do you know Puck Control attribute affects your ability to resist poke checks? The description in the loadout menu only says it helps you settle pucks for more accuracy. Settling a puck means the puck is already on your stick and you are tryin to flatten it out
This is something I never really see brought up but the attributes literally have different definitions for CHEL vs other modes
Puck Control in Be A Pro for example defines it as the ability to resist poke checks but as you noted in CHEL it says nothing about that and mentions settling pucks for more accurate shots and passes
Even the X-Factors, tape to tape etc have different wording in their respective definitions, again in Be A Pro it says all passes within vision but in CHEL it says backhand passes specifically
If anyone wants to see for themselves just go into the skill tree in Be A Pro and read the attribute descriptions compared to the same ones in CHEL
So apparently we’re dealing with things that have the same name but different meanings and affects depending on which game mode you’re playing
Why you would even bother doing that is beyond me and it just leads to more confusion and people thinking they aren’t being told the whole story
