Okay, a lot to process in this thread. First off, I will not be buying this year in pre-order, which I have done for many years, I will be waiting until the price drops and the initial bugs are worked out this year, as I feel the yearly commitment isn't worth the cost of the full priced game anymore. I have played NHL video games since at least 92 as well, and although there are many flaws with the current version, graphics is one major improvement in the game.
There are also many improvements that have been made in terms of making offline modes more immersive, though better dialogue with coaches/players throughout the year in both BAP mode and Franchise mode would go a long way to improving these.
Also in offline modes the league licensing is needed to expand the player/prospect pool of actual players instead of AI generated players, I won't go on with that point as we have discussed this previously EA_Aljo, you know my thoughts on this point, and we understand the challenges.
As for not having women commentators, I don't have a problem with female announcers, they are on Amazon Prime, and have been on CBC and other programs for awhile. Pounder, is annoying though, so a different female announcer would be nice, and not so much repetition from previous years (always been a peeve).
As for the PWHL I actually think this was a good improvement, and wish that they showed up in player movement and editing screens, as Aljo stated, hockey is for everyone, so if you don't like PWHL players in the game, don't use them, simple as that.
Hitting has driven me nuts, as it is much more difficult, especially for kids who do have smaller hands, my son now rarely plays NHL with me, as his small hands can't do the hitting, and it is also a lot harder on controllers, I go though more controllers with the skill sticks breaking due to wear and tear from the timing, but I understand wanting to get rid of one button hits. however, it would be better if this was an option that you could use. Skill hitting should 100% be in online mode so that it is the same for all, but for offline, let me choose what type of hitting I want. This is still something that needs to be worked on.
We also need for editing of players to be opened up completely, so that this time of year, I can age players to match the current time of year that we are in. Its my game let me be open with what I want to do with players. The same would said for allowing us to move underaged players between teams/leagues.
In create team mode, allow me to create an AHL affiliate at the exact same time, and then put these teams in the player movement section. I don't want to have to hide players to prevent duplication, nor do I want a Europe teams as my AHL team.
I would not say the game is complete trash, its a blanket statement that over exaggerates the problems. What we need is for more dev time spent in focus groups with long time players. It seems very copy and paste each year. I think part of the problem is putting out a new edition each year. Most games don't do that. The reason behind not doing that is so that you can continuously update the game without going through a new launch every year, which leaves more time for development and less time spent focusing on the launch. When you launch a new version it comes with higher expectations, especially with the increased costs each year. What should happen is a season pass that covers the updates for the year, and roster changes every 2-3 weeks. Season's passes are cheaper and more tolerable than dropping money on a minorly changed version each year that is more and more expensive.
This strategy is always best paired with quarterly videos that have the devs explain new changes and upcoming projects that are being worked on, as well as working with YouTubers/Social media influencers who play the game to help promote. When I used to do promotional videos for businesses on YouTube, this was always best with a good mix of livestreams, shorts, and gameplay videos. I was also a manager in the past, and so marketing/promotion was all part of that. I would do this with NHL myself, but I have found that many hardcore players can be cruel to those who don't play the exact way they play, its my game, I will play it the way I want to play it, and I don't care what others think about how I choose to play, which is why I don't play online.
For me, I have a severe pain condition with no treatments and no cure, it causes seizures, and playing video games has to be as stress free as possible, and act as a distraction, to reduce pain and seizures. So I pretty much play video games for most of my waking hours when I am not doing family related things. This mostly includes building games, space games, and NHL. They are the most engrossing and distracting.
Long winded way of saying, yes there are things that need improving, but it has come a long way over the years.
