I’m so sick of the constant rage quit, people backing out the last second, all you will ever see in this game is people quitting out. It’s makes this game so annoying to play and overall EXTREMELY HARD to put up with. Why isn’t there penalties for quitting out ALL the time? Why can’t there be like a 30 min timeout from searching or whatever. There will be times you will be searching in Lobby for OVER AN HOUR because people back out from seeing the other team. Or you get a full team matched up and at puck drop there’s 2 Human players. Like what is that? What happened to this game? There has to be some fix in the future for NHL games. Because this makes me not want to buy this game anymore. And I’ve been playing since NHL ‘14. I love this game but jeez man, COME ON!!

There are a lot of problems that cause people to quit. I don't think there is enough effort put into the product to mitigate these issues, and so it just keeps happening. Here would be my suggestions for improving the current situation:1.) You are allowed (x) number of quits per (y) time period. After which you have two options: a.) You can rejoin the match that you quit out of b.) You must wait until that game finishes to join another game2.) Stop allowing only one side to have a human goalie3.) Allow a team to change their uniform once. After such a change, allow the other team (x) number of seconds to adjust their jersey.4.) Remove RP from drop-ins, or better, base RP on grades during the game and not solely on win/loss. Your performance in game should be how you earn/lose RP and not whether or not you won or lost. This would also fix the issue of your whole team quitting on you.5.) Stop letting the goalie be continuously pulled during play or offer a vote system when there is a request to pull the goalie.6.) There needs to be some sort of reputation system for players who join games and don't play their position, constantly go offsides, constantly pull the goalie, try to score in their own net, etc. I'm not sure a vote to kick system is the right choice because it could be abused if a team votes to kick someone just because they aren't as skilled in the game. Maybe force them to go through a tutorial before they can play online again or something after they do this. Maybe also implement some sort of cooldown for joining an online game again for the most egregious players who do this.7.) Allow reconnects to the game if for some reason you disconnect during play. This should have been added a long time ago.8.) Smurf accounts are a real thing, and this is where you can lose a ton of RP. I'd like to see the card system return, or maybe some variation of it. If you had to earn those points again in some way, it would make smurfing less effective and might discourage people from doing it. Right now, there is no penalty for doing this. Changing the RP system could make this less meaningful.9.) When people start leaving the lobby, start searching again for new players, don't just start the game. The old lobby system was better at dealing with this. I don't know why the game isn't smart enough to try to fill as many slots as possible. I get that people can quit after the game launches but maybe offer a reprieve to the quitting mechanism mentioned above if the game launched with (x) number of players and lost (y%) of players before puck drop. You could also offer the option of taking everyone back to the lobby until more people join.10.) Begin the game right away once (x%) of players have set their status to ready.11.) Allow players to go to the bench and change their builds during play. Maybe allow a one-time change or once per period. This would mitigate those who wait until the last second to change their builds.12.) Human goalies should need a certain level before they are able to join a drop-in game. Make them learn to play the position first. This would also stop some people from trolling goalie.13.) See above number 6 for human goalies who skate out of their net, try to start fights, etc.14.) Stop letting people use offensive builds on defense and vice-versa.15.) Allow position switching between periods. If for some reason you lose a d-man or something during play, you should be able to switch back to that during intermission. Or maybe you want to drop back and play defense and let a teammate move up.There are probably others, but these would be top on my list. A lot of the quitting could be addressed but there needs to be some sort of impediment for trolling. Throwing your hands up in the air and screaming "but what about abuse" is not going to fix this issue and it's been going on for far too long. The people who troll are already abusing the systems in place. I do think the vote to kick could be abused, but there are other options. I know this is anecdotal, but so many people I know who used to play this game religiously won't even touch it now. With the lack of commitment to address issues that plague this game, to the pre-built loadouts, to the crazy characters on the ice (werewolf, etc.) it's not surprising that people can't readily find games.

Honestly I think this game could use a smite style matchmaking. Each player could preset their preferred role and secondary role(ex C then RD). You won’t always get those roles but it’ll try to match on it. Match a team of 5 and you can ask another player to switch roles. Pick your build, then blind drop against another team. No lobby screen where you see the other team at all. Quitting is a 30min penalty. At the end of the first period a surrender vote can be started.

The real problem is when i enter a drop in game and im paired with Randoms, during the game when they quit im forced to leave the game and i lose rp. If someone quits during a game the player that did not quit should not lose rp, the individual that quit should lose double the amount of rp.rp > Rank points.

This whole post kinda proves the point there’s a culture of quitting in this game. If players have these extensive lists of reasons to quit and will only play if every single condition is met, the constant quitting will continue. The biggest one for me is quitting in the pregame lobby. It slows down matchmaking time so much. That’s why I recommend removing it. If you want to bail during a game and give me your RP, it’s not as bad. I still think a 30min quit penalty with an end of the first surrender vote would be a good way to go. If you can’t play one period of a game that doesn’t meet all your personal criteria maybe offline is a better fit for you.

I feel like this just applies again lolThis whole post kinda proves the point there’s a culture of quitting in this game. If players have these extensive lists of reasons to quit and will only play if every single condition is met, the constant quitting will continue. The biggest one for me is quitting in the pregame lobby. It slows down matchmaking time so much. That’s why I recommend removing it. If you want to bail during a game and give me your RP, it’s not as bad. I still think a 30min quit penalty with an end of the first surrender vote would be a good way to go. If you can’t play one period of a game that doesn’t meet all your personal criteria maybe offline is a better fit for you

Players Backing Out | EA Forums

33 Replies

MasterB89
Seasoned Ace
4 months ago
First off I want to state that this is CHEL only do the need to frantically change is irrelevant. Would be nice to stay at the topic at hand please.
Secondly, I understand myself on how to defend it, I was teaching my nephew and his friends (new players to NHL) about the game and how it works. The fault of the game is that Green Tee mixed with One tee (as one example - LT spam is another) puts a premise on the game for High skill players to only exploit for wins, where they wanted to enjoy playing hockey (there was fun game they were matched up with lower tier players who played actual hockey).
"And if theses 'new' players are attempting to play a mode that's inhabited by users who've literally been playing this game for 30 years, then they have a very disillusioned perspective of their skill-level and it's no wonder they would be frustrated trying to learn how to play a game in its most competitive game modes. "
Lastly, If you the mentality of the NHL community is based on then there is no wonder why the player counts are so slow. This negative mentality is harmful to any game let alone NHL. Whereas, I was trying to voice an option based on my experience of trying to help and grow the NHL 25/26 community and was directing their thoughts and options of a new player trying to play any game mode in CHEL.
MasterB89
Seasoned Ace
4 months ago
I understand what you are saying and get that its more a positional thing which I did try to teach them along with changing strategies. It was more me trying to relay the options of the new player experience when trying to play CHEL.
When we enabled clubs we found more teams where it was only exploits. That was why we turned it off in the first place. Maybe your team plays more on skill but that is not a large part of the NHL community that we saw.
I do agree that max level doesn't always determine skill cause we beat teams that had players like that. Its more the fact that the lack of variety for some teams/players you play against sucks the fun out of the game (not yours).
I'm not the highest knowledge on the in's and out's but if the mindset of the community is what was stated in the above comment then how is EA NHL trying to bring in a younger audience? That was basically what I have meant from the start. Due to factors like no matchmaking and OP builds, One-tee + green Tee, the LT exploit it shows a new player that the experience you are offering is not worth it for them to play or buying the game.
Big_E_Bronco50
Rising Vanguard
4 months ago
Honestly, this “younger audience” needs to grow up a bit. Use adversity to grow rather than constantly complaining it’s not fair. Veterans, like myself, have earned our strips. Maybe try making friends with a few vets and putting your time in. Ive lost count of the number of level 1 noobs I’ve taken in and shown how to compete. As club regulars have moved on we’ve replaced them with new rookie players. It’s one of the things I love about this franchise. It’s not a spoon fed, laid back experience. Rather, it’s an extremely competitive game that rewards time investment and knowledge. If you really give it a try, take your lumps, & try to learn from each game…you’ll realize how rewarding of an experience it is. Adding SBMM would literally take away everything that makes this game special. You will never grow as a player without playing against advanced competition.

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Players Backing Out

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