EA Sports — Fix NHL 25Dear EA Sports,I'm writing as a long-time player and fan of the EA NHL series, but I’ve got to be honest—some of the current gameplay mechanics are making the experience frustrating and borderline unplayable.First, the pre-builds in World of Chel are completely overpowered. There’s little incentive to experiment or play with variety when certain builds dominate every match. It kills the competitive balance and creativity that should be at the heart of the game. Customization used to be exciting—now it feels like you’re either picking the “god build” or getting steamrolled.On top of that, the hipchecks with total control are pathetic, as it's far too easy to perform, resulting in spamming them. It’s like the mechanic was thrown in for show. For a game built on physicality and hockey realism, it’s a huge letdown.The NHL community deserves better gameplay balance and mechanics that actually reflect the intensity and skill of the sport. Please take a serious look at these issues—many of us are passionate about this game, but it's becoming harder to enjoy with these problems left unaddressed.Also Where is EA Fair Play policy for Oceania?We have no Oceania servers and are forced to play with 150+ ping — it's almost unplayable and is extremely unfair.We're part of the community too — we pay the same as everyone else. Start supporting your Oceania players properly.

PenzOilz wrote:I choose to be lazyEvery day you have two choices: to lean in or lean out. To build or decay. To strengthen your capacity or weaken it. Laziness feels harmless in the moment, but it’s cumulative — and before you know it, it becomes your identity.

Disclaimer: Not from EA, just the opinion of an outsider.You may not like this but this is probably the hard truth and just how the world works. In the grand scheme of things you probably don't pay the same as everyone else. You may pay $60-70USD (or comparable) however at any given time currently, roughly 16,000 players are online for EASHL and the reality is that Oceania's population is approximately 46,497,450, which is about 0.57% of the world's total population. 0.57% of the EASHL population is roughly 91 out of the 16,000 people if the percentages were comparable. If we take those same numbers and relate them to the amount of copies of NHL that are reported sold (1.0-1.3 million) that would mean that only 5,700-7,410 copies are sold to the Oceanic community. The reality is that EA is a business and not that the Oceanic community is less important from a humanitarian aspect, it just doesn't bring in the necessary value in terms of financial profitability to support a server in that area. It is unfortunate but that's just business. Best of luck.

Hey there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. What FourZeroVI said is why there is no server there. Also, if there were, most likely you would only play the same people over and over again since you'd be limited to whoever else was on that server.As far as the pre-made builds go, I don't think they're overpowered. Just like any other build, it's more about how they are played than what their abilities are. The best players in the world will still play amazing with a bad build. The worst players aren't going to find success just by using the best ones. I agree on the hipcheck. I'd love to see that returned to the old controls. I think it encourages it's use and it can be used pretty unrealistically. I'd love to see this change.Thanks again for the feedback.

I understand speedy players are tough to play against. They aren't impossible though. However, it will be more challenging if you're using human defenders. If you are, set your strategies so they hang back more. Otherwise, the human players need to be conscious of those player's speed so you can lessen their chances of a breakaway.

The teams you're playing would also be susceptible to high ping. I absolutely get the frustration of having a high ping. I just don't think the pre-made builds are so good they can't be defended.

Fix NHL25 | EA Forums

12 Replies

FourZeroVI
New Veteran
8 months ago
Disclaimer: Not from EA, just the opinion of an outsider.

You may not like this but this is probably the hard truth and just how the world works. In the grand scheme of things you probably don't pay the same as everyone else. You may pay $60-70USD (or comparable) however at any given time currently, roughly 16,000 players are online for EASHL and the reality is that Oceania's population is approximately 46,497,450, which is about 0.57% of the world's total population. 0.57% of the EASHL population is roughly 91 out of the 16,000 people if the percentages were comparable. If we take those same numbers and relate them to the amount of copies of NHL that are reported sold (1.0-1.3 million) that would mean that only 5,700-7,410 copies are sold to the Oceanic community. The reality is that EA is a business and not that the Oceanic community is less important from a humanitarian aspect, it just doesn't bring in the necessary value in terms of financial profitability to support a server in that area. It is unfortunate but that's just business. Best of luck.
PenzOilz
Rising Novice
8 months ago
Yes i do get that but from an indivual perspective we pay the same if-not more here in Australia......yes business are in existance for profit but there is plenty of business thay do well in one area and not so well elsewhere and offset each to cover.... so i cant see why they cannot take a small hit to comply with their fairplay policy ....ea themselves causing disruptive play for us is not fair and i want them to hear it ...cheers for the reply
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
8 months ago
Hey there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. What FourZeroVI said is why there is no server there. Also, if there were, most likely you would only play the same people over and over again since you'd be limited to whoever else was on that server.

As far as the pre-made builds go, I don't think they're overpowered. Just like any other build, it's more about how they are played than what their abilities are. The best players in the world will still play amazing with a bad build. The worst players aren't going to find success just by using the best ones.

I agree on the hipcheck. I'd love to see that returned to the old controls. I think it encourages it's use and it can be used pretty unrealistically. I'd love to see this change.

Thanks again for the feedback.
KidShowtime1867
Hero
8 months ago
I propose a moratorium on AI-generated posts.
PenzOilz
Rising Novice
8 months ago
Funny thing is because of the ping we spend most of the time playing against each other anyway, by prebuilds its just we cannot match the speeds of them amd size so they become hitting machines ...also they have elite edges etc that we cannot ad to normal builds ...
PenzOilz
Rising Novice
8 months ago
I choose to be lazy
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
8 months ago
I understand speedy players are tough to play against. They aren't impossible though. However, it will be more challenging if you're using human defenders. If you are, set your strategies so they hang back more. Otherwise, the human players need to be conscious of those player's speed so you can lessen their chances of a breakaway.
PenzOilz
Rising Novice
8 months ago
Cheers ...we go ok ..i guess reaction time being a tad slower via ping makes it a tad more noticeable for us down here.
KidShowtime1867
Hero
8 months ago
PenzOilz wrote:
I choose to be lazy
Every day you have two choices: to lean in or lean out. To build or decay. To strengthen your capacity or weaken it. Laziness feels harmless in the moment, but it’s cumulative — and before you know it, it becomes your identity.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
8 months ago
The teams you're playing would also be susceptible to high ping. I absolutely get the frustration of having a high ping. I just don't think the pre-made builds are so good they can't be defended.