EASHL

I've made a post for how to make threes better, gameplay, and goalie.. now EASHL in general.

Currently we do the same things in EASHL every year.. make the same builds, using (mostly) the same system, buy the same gear, play (mostly) the same modes, end the game with far more coins than we care to spend, and nothing much to play for (apart from the fun of playing.) I think we need to change up this system.. Madden has tip toed into having a career mode and having online modes where that same guy is used, FIFA, 2K have systems for this.. NHL is the only next gen game that you just go in and make your build.. no progression outside of having boosts each season now. Let's give players more to play for.

Imagine this..

We enter EASHL for the first time in NHL 26.. we get a slightly different opening to what BAP has.. but we ARE playing a pick up game of hockey in some unnamed place far from civilization. A scout from your favorite team is there. You get interviewed before the game, this is where you build out your character...

character creation will allow you to change your height and weight (as you change your height and weight you can visually see how this effects your starting attributes. It will also effect how much some attributes will cost, essentially you can still be a tall and fast player but it will cost a LOT, currently you have to choose to be tall OR fast) you will decide on your pro position (in multi player you can choose a different position)

After the game he is interested, your favorite team then offers you a try out based on his word. A trainer comes and offers to help you obtain your first ability. You get an agent soon after..

Your trainer gets you set up with abilities. Working with him will unlock abilities and allow you to equip them. Ability system will now be different.. every ability both zone and superstar hold values.. you could have 5 superstar abilities and no zone ability.. more desirable superstar abilities could be worth more than less desirable zone abilities. No more will every player have a zone ability and no more will there be a build that everyone uses (if balanced properly)

Attribute system will also be different. The faceoff attribute will be the only attribute that won't change. Every build will have the same (high) faceoff attribute so that players can easily move to C if their club needs them to, and also so that centers don't have to use up attribute points. Beyond that, every attribute will have its own independent xp values. As the attribute gets higher the xp needed is also higher. Speed will be by far and away the most expensive attribute. Creating a speedster will mean your player will collect pucks and control pucks far worse than that of a more balanced player. Offensive attributes in general will cost a little more. Again, if balanced correctly there shouldn't be a "best build" 2K has been balancing their attributes for years and there are LOTS of "best" builds. In NHL there is a VERY small window of best builds.

How good can your player get?

You can build your player up to a 90 ovr through just xp progression.. if you want a beeter player you will need cap breakers.. how can you get cap breakers? Getting high CR in any ONLINE eashl mode. Getting the max CR rank in any mode would allow you to get the full 99. You don't have to get to 90 before earning the cap breakers but you will need to earn the xp to get to 99 which will take time. Getting bronze is 91, silver 92, gold 95, platinum 97 (these could be changed) you can earn XP in any mode including your BAP career which replaces that other offline mode in EASHL. Your career mode will be set on EASHL level difficulty. This mode will allow players whom are waiting for their club to get on to grind their player but they can't earn a cap breaker. 

Your career mode will allow you to play a bit of gm too, similar to 2K you can suggest guys your team trades for and choose who comes and goes.

Club story. Also a club story mode would be nice. This mode would give large cash bonuses to the club to make early game purchases. It will have harder and harder challenges. It will start and allow teams to figure things out in a relatively easy game.. 

The store will have EVERYTHING available at all times. This is to include the Club store. The club gets money after each game. No more will it take 6 months of random rewards to get the logo you want that you unlocked each of the last 8 years.. it should not take more than a couple months of routine playing to get what you want.

These changes will fix the issue of players making new accounts, it will make trolls obvious, it will give players who play a lot something to work toward. 

In addition to all this we need ways for players to find a club and for clubs to find players. The focus of EASHL should be getting ALL humans on the ice. Players should also be able to be on 3-5 diff clubs imo.

Player report cards.. BAP mode is set to EASHL difficulty so we can see how well they play their position according to their report card. The report card should show what positions they play, their stats, how often they quit, etc.

Drop-in should be viewable to allow club GM's to recruit. The club recruiters/ gm's can view lobby report cards and send club invites straight from the game. They can also cycle through diff lobbies. 

Having a human goalie gives the team more XP and money for the player and club. Human goalies can have far better stats than their cpu counterparts. Goalie abilities cost far less than skater abilities. Goalies can play in all modes including threes. Human goalies will slightly lessen a CR blow when losing and slightly grow a CR for winning. 

Problems I could forsee? players grinding a ton to get to 99 facing players who are still 75 especially due to the small population we have. The only way to prevent this is to have a better matchmaking system. 2K also has this issue. Maybe winning gives far more xp when facing a better team? Even losing gives some xp? This is something that happens in any game, I'm sure some streamers will face top teams with teams of 60, 70, 80ovr. It may be an issue but I think most players are gonna rather have a progression system like this than have nothing but a loadout builder w/ everyone using the same handful of builds.

I may add to this/ clean it up/ organize it some other time. I was just jotting stuff down as I was remembering what all I'd change. I know at one point I tried to come up with a balance for attributes and how much speed would need to cost in relation to other attributes for players to NOT choose to have 99 speed. I think things like players losing control of the puck when going bh,fh,bh too quickly is something that should happen to speedsters. Not being able to gather the puck when racing down the ice and not looking back, fanning on the shot should happen more often with a low accuracy stat, passes being further off with a low passing stat, even when using the button passing (personally I think button passing should lower the accuracy even further as imo that's easier especially in eashl, maybe not in HUT or VS) I think players should be able to lose an edge sometimes if you're pumping too much into speed and not agility. If they turn too sharp maybe they slip? There are lots of ways to balance the game and not make speed the best build. Other games find ways to balance. Would players choose a 99 speed player if every other stat was 0 and players lost their edges and couldn't turn well or recieve passes if not looking back? Probably not, right? Well at what point do players start making 99 speed? Ask pro players. Use that info to decide the speed stat.. then base all other attribute off of its relation to that. That's how we get people making several diff builds and not cookie cutter builds. Maybe the first year this is implemented the attribute values are reworked each season and we have to re allocate our points? Then in NHL 27 we have a working system where the attributes are not reworked? If the team did something like this, balance would have to be the biggest focus. 

This team making "wheels" as a build worries me that they would struggle to create balance. These pre-made builds are wild.. why not just allow players full customization of wild builds AND have them be balanced.. AND it be something players have fun working toward! It just makes too much sense. I had a few new friends play when it became free and the first day they loved the fact their skater was just as good as anyone else.. after a couple days they got bored and wished they could grow him like they had done with their player in 2K. It's time for NHL to catch up and have more to play for besides unlocking the same cosmetics and playing to play. Give us something to work toward.. an actual fun goal. 

Additions..

Drop in gives .3 of the progression of other modes and you cannot earn cap breakers. This will prevent clubs from trying to get easy wins in drops.

BAP should have a mini story of 1-3 other players from your small town who also get picked up. Maybe a friend and a rival or two..