With all due respect and as much as we appreciate Updates and new stuff (thanks). We also very much appreciate if the dev team(s) prioritize to fix the very annoying issues (AI, Matchmaking, etc.)!! Focus on those - because time is ticking, soon they will start to get into NHL 26 and we are still dealing with the same issues in NHL 25, and then you say „oh we have to wait for the new game to get those issues fixed.“

This release did not interfere with post launch support.Then can you explain why there's been zero engagement on the "Match Club Size" issue? This is the thing people have been asking since launch when it was first noticed.

Coming from someone who has absolutely conquered/decimated Arcade and things like Eliminator to dust over the years, I can't help but think this wasn't the best choice to make (especially with 25's current poor reception). I really feel like the team should have focused more on QoL and bug fixes than semi-reintroducing this mode back to the fold (if it is anything like 3on3)

Cool, but what about what people are ACTUALLY asking for? Match Club Size for WoC match making?

EA_Aljo wrote:You all are acting as if we just threw this together in the last few weeks instead of work on ongoing issues.There really aren't any other conclusions to draw. A fundamental matchmaking change has impacted a lot of the player-base and all we want to know is what exactly changed in matchmaking and why it was changed.We're met with "we'll have to wait and see" over and over and then EA starts marketing a 'major update' that seemingly does nothing to address this core issue.It's just so perplexing that WoC suffers from:1 person can still pause the game for 11 other players - that's absurdUsers can still grief by playing out of position, causing offsides and being a general troll with no repercussions. A club welcoming drop-in players can be held hostage by said players with no tools to boot themIf a team's one pause is used up in the 1st period, you're unable to call a timeout in the 3rd. Absurd. Players with RP of 15,000-19,000 being matched up with sweats that have RP of 25,000+. Absurd. None of that being addressed while we see new big head mode and PWHL integration rubs me the wrong way and I know I'm not alone in that.

NHL 25 Holiday Update Coming Nov 15th

89 Replies

Hester147
Seasoned Vanguard
4 months ago
A "new", old way to play NHL arcade lol . NHL arcade really made it back before gm connected or matchmaking settings in eashl. Gotta love it
phomi99
Seasoned Veteran
4 months ago
Why fix the game and make it enjoyable when you can add to the chaos.
Hester147
Seasoned Vanguard
4 months ago
How can they fix the game if they don't have resources? All the resources are going to this holiday update. You don't understand how hard it is to implement something back in that's worked the last 5 NHL games. It's super hard and super resource intensive. That's what the super talented dev team keeps telling us
Juhani_91_91
Seasoned Ace
4 months ago
EA_Aljo
Nice to see, that EA Sports add PWHL to the game.
Can you tell, if we can use PWHL or women's national teams players in team creation ?
If we create women's team in NHL 25, can we play with it against PWHL teams or women's national teams ? If we created women's team in NHL 24, we can't playing with it against women's national teams.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
4 months ago
This update wasn't just whipped up today. It's been in the works for a long time. Well before the issues with matchmaking. Which is a completely separate issue.

While GM Connected had a passionate fanbase, it was a small one. The focus has obviously been on online modes as well as Franchise Mode so we can better support the most popular areas of the game. As we have said many times, there is interest in bringing this mode back. We'll have to wait for a future version of the game before that happens.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
4 months ago
Hello. We don't have any additional details currently. We'll have to wait for more news or until the 15th when this update is released.
Margera09
Rising Veteran
4 months ago
With all due respect and as much as we appreciate Updates and new stuff (thanks). We also very much appreciate if the dev team(s) prioritize to fix the very annoying issues (AI, Matchmaking, etc.)!! Focus on those - because time is ticking, soon they will start to get into NHL 26 and we are still dealing with the same issues in NHL 25, and then you say „oh we have to wait for the new game to get those issues fixed.“
inek30011111111
Seasoned Newcomer
4 months ago
Will female players be able to hit and fight after this update?
Hester147
Seasoned Vanguard
4 months ago
Can you point to data or anything relavant to point towards the community requesting the return of NHL arcade? Sure it was a fun mode a decade ago, but I HAVE to imagine that player base was even smaller then GM connected. Not to mention GM connected got about 2 years to grow, before it was scrapped when moving on to NHL 15. If you gave HUT a 2 year lifespan, it would have had a small community. And like the community has repeatedly relayed for over a decade. The primary reason gm connected failed was due to extremely slow and buggy simulation time frames. I don't get how the other EA titles have implemented this in other games, but NHL fails to do so.

The bottom line is "new" features should not be released until people who paid full price of the game can play it as expected. Matchmaking isn't a maybe, it's a don't do it and watch your WOC fanbases crumble. Eventually WOC will be the new GM connected that gets removed and we will hear the "small player base" excuse while ignoring the issues the plagued the mode
buster4327
New Novice
4 months ago
It would cool if they drop USHL or BCHL or some new European league like Mestis