Forum Discussion
this year, hold LT worsens interception. The player lifts the stick off the ice. If release LT, then the stick is on the ice and the interception is better. I think so.
Holding in LT doesn't worsen interceptions. While your stick isn't on the ice, it doesn't make you less likely to intercept a pass. Your player will still initiate the pickup if in good position and if they have enough time to react. In many cases, while someone is in the path of the pass, they won't intercept it due to not having time to react. This happens when the defender is too close to the passer. Your defensive ratings are also taken into account.
I was playing D for more than 10 years but I stopped because defensive awareness currently means nothing to this game. Every year you are systematically destroying defense. My DD build with DA 94 equipped with gold Quick Pick X-Factor ability refuses to even move the stick to intercept the passes unless you are perfectly aligned with the puck recipient with your stick on the same side, but forwards that skate out of our D zone can intercept strong passes and quickly move their sticks to another side even if they are not watching the puck and are turned to the pass sender with their back just to be able to support that stupid pressure system. Forwards skate into defense with full speed utilizing LT without any drop of puck control and skating speed !!! As a D I can't even extend my stick without speed penalty. I can't even skate backwards keeping my stick extended without speed penalty. You can clearly see in many situations, that offense is favored over the defense and this is not what I want to see in competitive game. And the last thing, super annoying, those weird skating animations that everyone is utilizing to confuse the opponent and make body contact event worse because of animations. I mean player's body broken in the waist that even my cat cannot track that movements. That should be completely removed from the game.
- KidShowtime18677 months agoHero
Ampereturn wrote:
As a D I can't even extend my stick without speed penalty.
Yes you can.

Here I extend my stick multiple times without a speed penalty:

Ampereturn wrote:
My DD build with DA 94 equipped with gold Quick Pick X-Factor ability refuses to even move the stick to intercept the passes
Post a video of a pass you think you should've intercepted.
Ampereturn wrote:
Forwards skate into defense with full speed utilizing LT without any drop of puck control and skating speed !!!
If an opponent manages to cross your blue-line unimpeded to the point of achieving full speed, your problem began during the transition or turnover, and you left your defenders at a disadvantage long before the puck even entered the zone.
Ampereturn wrote:
You can clearly see in many situations, that offense is favored over the defense and this is not what I want to see in competitive game.
If you're seeing this 'many situations', it means the players you're competing against are better at this game than you. It's really that simple.
Ampereturn wrote:
I can't even skate backwards keeping my stick extended without speed penalty.
Yes, you can. Hustle still works while in Defensive Skill Stick. To enter DSS without a speed penalty, hold RS to the left or right and then initiate DSS by holding R1. You will immediately enter skill stick without a poke check penalty. While the stick is extended, you can still utilize hustle in an attempt to match speed with the puck carrier.


- Ampereturn7 months agoSeasoned Hotshot
Hi Kid,
No, you can't. It's slowing you down anyway. Not that much as poke check, but you can't maintain the same speed. Did you realize how many times you have to skate as D in the same direction as your oponent entering your zone? This is not how D should be played in real hockey. Sorry.
- KidShowtime18677 months agoHero
Ampereturn wrote:
No, you can't.
I literally proved that you can.
Ampereturn wrote:
It's slowing you down anyway.
The only thing that 'slowed' me down was transitioning from backskating to forward which is realistic.
Ampereturn wrote:
Did you realize how many times you have to skate as D in the same direction as your oponent entering your zone? This is not how D should be played in real hockey. Sorry.
Sometimes, defending a puck carrier means matching their direction. To claim "that is not how D should be played" is wrong. Defense and the way it's played changes contextually given the scenario. There absolutely are times as a defender that you're going to match the direction of the puck carrier in order to execute an affective action.

But, I'll give you some examples facing only the direction you think I should be


- EA_Aljo7 months ago
Community Manager
I've been playing D since EASHL first started. More than 15 years ago at this point. Obviously, this position, along with the others, has changed a lot. What I've done is adapt. Yes, it's challenging. D is a difficult position to play well. It's most certainly not impossible though.
We all know that LT'ing is an exploit. Hopefully, it'll be addressed in the next game. Regardless, those players can be stopped. You have to be more careful about staying in front of them. Which, a good defender is going to do anyway because speed has always been the killer attribute. If you're beat by someone LT'ing, you'd probably also get beat without it.
I see the claims that offense is favored by our developers. It's really not. Offense is favored by the players. There are obviously more forwards than any other position. People want to be the star. And those players are typically the ones that score. Yes, they get a whole bunch of dekes at their disposal. Those don't really make a difference if they don't know how to use them. And, if they're going up against defenders that don't know how to stop them, they're going to have a field day. In the end, any forward can be stopped by skilled defenders. I'm not saying D couldn't use some changes. I absolutely think there's room for improvement. The changes that have been made though were not just to favor offense.- Ampereturn7 months agoSeasoned Hotshot
Hi EA_Aljo ,
thank you for your words, I fully understand what you are saying, I have adapted over the years, I would say, I'm playing decent D, but in my opinion, this game is not balanced properly. I'm in situation that I started to hate this game. But this is not for this discussion, but for another thread. Thank you.
- EA_Aljo7 months ago
Community Manager
You're welcome! Feel free to start up another thread to discuss balancing between the builds.