EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerNHL 25 Gameplay Deep Dive Trailer and Blog
Hey, NHL Fans! The NHL 25 Deep Dive Trailer premiers today at 11 AM EST. Catch the video below and the blog here.
Forum Discussion
What was up with how short that was? Didn't feel like a gaming deep, felt like a shallow dive. What we learned: advanced skating IQ, oh wait, already knew about that one from the TRAILER. Advanced AI, def should be an improvement, and the advanced one timer, seems cool, but also seems like something that will lead to single style goals, again. Was hoping for more from that video considering there was an extra week to prepare for the video. Most games have 15-30 min weekly deep dives prior to launch, just saying
What are they supposed to do, give you a 30 minute video of people using vision control and scoring one-timers? Sure, it was short (we're never satisfied) but it got to the point.
Plus, there are additional details at the end of the blog with some bullet points that many of us has been asking to be resolved over the course of the last year:
Goalies
- General Improvements preemptive save decisions & animations.
- Improved poke check & puck cover responsiveness and situation-solving.
- Improvements to save motion coming onto the goalposts.
- Increased save range including better solving for lacrosse goals.
- Goalies stay on their feet longer, and won’t drop to or stay in butterfly if they have time to get back up.
- Tweaks to save and capability models
- Improved readiness for controlled and redirected saves
- Rebalanced goalie precision
- Improved decision-making for positioning
- One timers
- Facing in-tight shots
- Challenge distances
- New Actions Added
- AI goalies will use the spread-v
- User goalies can saucer pass
- Goalies can cover the puck off of teammate's stick to better protect their own goals
- Post-goal emotional reactions
- Pad stack and desperation side poses are now merged
Hitting System
- Improvements to hit alignment to ensure more consistent outcomes
- New shoulder check animations from back-skating
- Improvements to shove and hit conflicts with shooting controls
- Get-up time is scaled based on player fatigue and the level of hits taken
- Fatigue drain varies based on the size of the hit delivered
- The bigger the hit the larger the stamina loss
- AI will now use the hip check
- Player sizes factor more into hit outcomes
Sustained Pressure System
- A team that activates pressure will receive 20% increase to their on-ice player stamina meters
ooh i do NOT like that pressure system change. i don't know how it'll actually play out, but i hate the logic behind it - a team that's working the puck around the zone does not magically GAIN energy after a certain amount of time irl.
- EA_Aljo
What do you want more information on? It really won't be apparent just how different the gameplay is until you get to play for yourself. It's not the easiest to show off in a trailer. There are a lot of changes the community requested. Better skating, better AI, manual one Ts, improved strategies, etc. I think the changes to vision control alone are going to be very well received. You'll just have to wait a few weeks to find out when you get your hands on it.
I'd like to know if the defensive AI was improved, and if so, to see some clips of it. The video shows off some improvements to offensive AI, but there is a lot of horrendous defensive AI play on display. Defense is where the game's AI needs improvement more urgently, please show us what has been done in that aspect.
All of the EA games usually have roughly a 4-6 min deep dive. FC 25 = 4:30. Madden 25 = 4:30. F1 24 = 5:15. This is not uncommon of EA to do. As for the extra week to prepare you are wrong about that. The content creators were shown a video to make their reactions on. If they were to change the video, than everyone would have to also change the content they prepped for.
Honestly though, these videos should be coming out sooner to give more information. EA does not set a good bar standard for deep dives. You want good deep dives, take a look at Cities Skylines 2, Planet Coaster 2, Planet Zoo, Starfield, etc, if they mentioned improvements on their blog/websites, it was covered in the videos. This helps drive excitement, as well as giving real information for making purchasing decisions. EA typically just relies on repeat buyers, so they put very little effort into properly promoting and developing excitement for a new release. Admittedly, will pre-order it, but that is just cuz I have bought every single NHL game since they were first released on Sega, yes I am aging myself, lol 😂
Really like the changes made to the AI teammates. Hopefully will lead to less frustration for me.
I see the goalies still incorrectly prioritize depth over angle and dive unnecessarily, so hopefully that gets cleaned up relatively soon because it fills me with rage every time. 🙃
This was certainly an interesting trailer. Things that I noted:
- There lacks transition animations on the scorebug when it comes to both the shot counter and the goal display. Instead of a smooth transition from the standard scorebug display to the "GOAL" display when a team scores, it snaps from one state to the next.
- The very first clip of the trailer (after the 40 second introduction) shows AI Charlie McAvoy whiffing a check - this was a MAJOR issue with the AI in NHL 24, as it did not appear like they knew how to properly use the new checking system.
- Improved skating looks fantastic - in my opinion, the game has never looked this fluid.
- There does appear to be actual improvements to the AI's ability to get open, both on the power play and at 5 on 5.
- Interesting idea to show a known cheese goal in the trailer.
- Noticed that shot speed now appears on the boards - this is a lovely QoL addition, and it leaves me very interested as to whether shot speed was finally calibrated to be realistic. Slap shots in NHL 24 (and games prior) easily click over 120 mph with the games online slider preset. They either addressed this, or the boards are showing inaccurate calculations.
- The reactive actions section was gold - that "panic turns" change is EXTREMELY interesting.
- EA_Aljo
Thanks for the feedback. I'm curious what you mean by cheese goal. Are you talking about the short side shot? That's a pretty legit goal in real hockey. Also, it's not a shot that goes in every time. You have to give the carrier time and space to pull it off. Which, is a result of bad defense.
Still just the same old game with the exact same big emblem we all asked to be removed. It should be criminal to just patch the same game every year and sell it as AAA.
So that was it? It was like 5 minutes long. I don't feel like they really went into a "Deep dive" onto anything.
I like the look of it but I'll judge it when I get it on the 27th.
One thing I'm not sure about is giving the offence a boost when the pressure system hits full. There needs to be something in place where the defence can get a boost. Maybe for a perfect check, blocked shot or a completed pass out of the o zone. The harder the move the bigger the boost.
For example -
Stick checks - 5%
Body checks - 10%
Blocked shots - 20%
Short, but looks pretty good. I still suspect the community will find a way to abuse the new skating in completely unrealistic ways, but on its face the new skating looks like a big step up from the current system. Nice to see defensive players getting some love with the new skating as well.
The changes to the AI look promising, but I'll need to see it in action to be totally convinced.
Making one-timers more skill based will be nice. At least it won't be "hammer up on stick, wait for pass" any more.
Collision detection and avoidance have long been needed, so that's a good add as well.
Overall things look promising. Especially compared to last year's reveal where it was obvious from the get-go that the pressure system and goalie fatigue would be problematic as they were presented at the time. As always the community will find any possible way to abuse the new systems, but I think everything on display here is a good step in the right direction.
People always find ways to abuse systems. Its why you see the same type of goal used over and over. I choose to play Franchise mode, then it is just me against the computer/AI. Got tired of online play pretty quick. I have the skill for it, but people take it way too seriously, would rather just play to relax, not deal with people's temper tantrums.
- EA_Aljo
You can always block communications. Personally, I go into my own party so I don't have to hear my opponent. If someone is going to rage in messages, they can easily be blocked.
At around 2:42 in the trailer - when looking at revamped position and rush zones. Can I get an understanding of why Kyle Connor after the pass looks like they are turning to leave the zone and then after a second or 2 reacts to the play still continuing to the net? How this relates to the changes to the AI and what positioning they were going into to be the most affective on the ice?
- EA_Aljo
I don't think he's turning to leave the zone. Looks more like he's about to cover the open ice left after Vilardi skates in close for a shot.
Connor is leaving the area assuming the skater will either stay in the middle or go to the right. Connor is in the process of curling into the middle slot
I really like the vision control for defense. One of the annoying things in the current game is when you're trying to defend in front of the net and the puck gets to a player front, your player can kinda get turned around and face the goalie instead of the guy with the puck.
Looks like some good changes to the game this year.
So, a couple of things:
- SKATING: Looks awesome. Definitely an improvement.
- AI:
- What was up with that one clip during the AI section where the offensive player in the slot is struggling to get open and then the defenseman who is covering him suddenly decides to leave him and skate to the goalie's side, giving the offensive player a wide-open shot? That didn't show "improved offensive AI logic" to me. Instead, it seemed to show a situation where the DEFENSIVE AI makes a "mistake" intentionally so that the offensive player has more room.
As someone who pretty much only plays Online Versus, that was troubling to see. - To be more positive: it was cool to see AI skaters avoiding incidental contact when navigating the zone.
- What was up with that one clip during the AI section where the offensive player in the slot is struggling to get open and then the defenseman who is covering him suddenly decides to leave him and skate to the goalie's side, giving the offensive player a wide-open shot? That didn't show "improved offensive AI logic" to me. Instead, it seemed to show a situation where the DEFENSIVE AI makes a "mistake" intentionally so that the offensive player has more room.
- MISSING:
- No comment about the "speed boost" hitting that was present for almost all of NHL24's lifespan? I was hoping we would move on from that...
- No notes about improved communications with the servers so that the menus aren't INCREDIBLY sluggish? I tried to play WoC towards the end of the year and MAN... those menus are TERRIBLY slow.
I know the "game modes" video is coming soon but if Be a Pro has the same intro/storyline/voice lines/XP bugs again... man... that would just be unreal at this point.
