Difficulty all depends on skill level honestly. It's going to vary. I don't play online because it's all exploits and not fun. Always feels like I don't deserve to lose, then when I win I feel like it was cheese lol. So in that way my skill hasn't really been crazy last few years and have enjoyed the difficulty on Superstar in Franchise. It feels similar to NHL 24 in terms of difficulty. Only AI change I have REALLY noticed is less 10 foot carries by the CPU over the blue line on delayed off sides. Other than that, AI reads feel basically the same