Scoring
Backhand, forehand, backhand, goal. I feel trying to make good plays and set up 1T shots, or anything else just seems far less effective than just backhanding for every goal.. it's sad that it can ev...
Forum Discussion
Anyone that plays this game can easily notice way LESS people playing G. Drop ins are one example. It takes me longer now to find games because I’m backing out of lobbies that don’t have a human goalie. More CLUBS are running games without a goalie. Anyone that plays this game daily during peak hours will notice and agree.
That doesn't make sense. Lots of people play all modes in this game and aren't tracking the popularity of goalie. You may pay particularly close attention, but again - you are only playing drop-ins. Playing drop-ins is not something elite, league-level goalies are doing.
How would you know how many clubs are running goalies compared to those without if you're not steeped in club games multiple days a week?
Once again with the video clips? Waste of my time when it’s so obvious to anyone that plays the game consistently who will see all the goals caused by these unnecessary animations.
Providing a simple video clip of what you deem an "unnecessary animation" would give the developers the exact insight they'd need in order to fix the issue you have. Why keep refusing to do that?
That’s the #1 reason people are complaining about in game and on social media platforms.
The #1 reason why people complain on social media is because they get 'likes', 'retweets' and generally positive affirmations from like-minded, social media addicted users who have disdain for the game. Conflating social media interactions with general consensus is a recipe for being incredibly misinformed. Not just in the context of video games, but as a whole; social media incentivises the cesspool of human emotions. Never use it as a metric for anything.
Plus, algorithms keep you locked in echo-chambers. So, if you spend a lot of time discussing the game and how bad it is - the social media gods will ensure you're locked in an environment where that opinion is praised. They want you to keep coming back
Doese EA need video clips (proof) of sticks going through players, the boards etc? No. Why? Because it’s so obvious to anyone that has been playing the game for years and video clips aren’t needed.
Providing clips is not just for the development team. Often times, clips can showcase human error which can then be resolved; resulting in a player getting better outcomes in their games because they provided a clip where they were making a mistake.
In the context of sticks through players, boards and subsequent interactions with the puck - the clips posted on the old forums and the developer interaction and explanations led a lot of us to get a much better understanding of the mechanics at play and the logic being used to present those mechanics in a nuanced and balanced way. I use to LOVE those developer interactions.. but I digress...
Anyone doesn’t need to know anything about goalie controls to know how idiotic removing one tool while duplicating another is. I don’t know enough about bathroom renovations but I know how completely IDIOTIC it would be to remove a toilet paper holder with another soap dish. If I hired someone to renovate my bathroom and they did that then I would immediately fire them. The only reason I can think of why nobody at EA has responded to this is because they don’t want to admit to such an idiotic mistake.
I don't use the paddle-down mechanic but that likely says more about my goalie skill than anything. That said, are you sure there are two buttons in the goalie controls that do the same desperation save? My understanding is one would be for stacked pad save, the other for blocker/glove desperation save, but I could be wrong.
In any case, regardless of the duplication of the desperation save mechanic and the omission of paddle down - there are a lot of goalies (yourself included) that are having a lot of success playing goalie in NHL 25. As someone who plays on a club who strictly uses a human goalie, we have not noticed at all a decline in human goalies. Looking at leaderboards, there are a lot of very skilled tendies out there.
Keep defending EA and its many glaring mistakes and all the other problems with this game. The majority of the people that play this game know the truth.
I am not "defending" EA because that implies you are attacking them, which I'm sure you're not meaning to do.
I would absolutely love to see some examples of the "unnecessary animations". It would really go such a long way in helping identify the issues. I think you'd love to contribute to the betterment of the game, no?
I NEVER said I was playing “amazing”. Don’t use words that I didn’t use!
My apologies for using the term 'amazing'. You're right, you did not use that exact terminology but in my defence, an accurate summarization of your description of yourself goaltending would include the word amazing, but again.. not a direct quote. My bad.
Actually I play both drops and clubs as I’ve stated before. I play with A LOT of different players. Some of the best, elites, above average and more. I’ve played with elite league goalies (when I play D) too and actually there are a lot of Elite league goalies that do play drops. How do I know this? Because I’ve played with them and have conversations with them in game.
Again, I’ll ask. Can you honest say you’ve never seen your club human goalie let up a goal that wasn’t their fault and wasn’t the result of an unnecessary animation?
It is so obvious there has been a decline in the amount of human goalies this year and that’s including clubs. If there was a way to check the leader boards of total club games played as a human goalie last year at approximately this time compared to this year, I’d bet last year would be a lot more.
In regards to “paddle down”. It’s been removed completely starting with last years game. It’s impossible to not notice it missing. There are only so many buttons on a controller. It’s obviously not on the goalie controls screen. So where the F did it go and why? Actually I just checked the goalie controls screen. Desperation Dives (hold) is mapped to R1 AND Square. Pad stack is O. So wtf? Why is DD’s mapped to two buttons?
I have a couple of clips of NHL goalies using it to help prevent 5 hole goals saved on my FB account. I’ll see if I can post them here without it being linked to my actual FB account for personal reasons.
Or, send me a temporary friends request and play a couple of drop ins and/or clubs with me. Then you can see for yourself that at least one of those animation goals (with no fault of mine) will happen within a game or few. They’re just so inconsistent and that’s the problem.
Actually I’m about to hop on for tonight so I’ll record a couple of games and then post them back here when I have time. Then you can dissect them all you want but I already know what you’ll probably say.
- EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Again, I’ll ask. Can you honest say you’ve never seen your club human goalie let up a goal that wasn’t their fault and wasn’t the result of an unnecessary animation?
Of course. I've said this many times, the game isn't perfect. Goalies are probably the hardest position to make 100% accurate. They're limited by the animations available to them. Obviously, a real goalie isn't doesn't have a such a limited set of moves. As with the game in general, it continues to expand over time as we adapt to new technology.
In regards to “paddle down”. It’s been removed completely starting with last years game. It’s impossible to not notice it missing. There are only so many buttons on a controller. It’s obviously not on the goalie controls screen. So where the F did it go and why? Actually I just checked the goalie controls screen. Desperation Dives (hold) is mapped to R1 AND Square. Pad stack is O. So wtf? Why is DD’s mapped to two buttons?
It was intentional this was removed. Unfortunately, I don't have any other details. While there have been a few requests for it since it was removed, there hasn't been a lot of talk about it. I'll pass on the feedback for you.
Or, send me a temporary friends request and play a couple of drop ins and/or clubs with me. Then you can see for yourself that at least one of those animation goals (with no fault of mine) will happen within a game or few. They’re just so inconsistent and that’s the problem.
I know this wasn't directed at me, but I'd run some games with you. Just let me know.
I don't think anyone is saying goalies in our game never make mistakes. I've had many frustrating moments where they let in something super weak or flop around unnecessarily. While there are times games are won and lost because of this, in general, in my experience, the majority of games are being won by the deserving team. That doesn't mean they had more ToA and shots. Any shot on net has the potential to score. You see this in the real world as well. Something people don't mention here is that the majority of goals are scored on good shots. However, the ones against us are typically the ones we remember the most.
