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
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.
I too miss this mechanic especially since the R1/RT button is just a duplication of the dive. But if it were removed because it caused an issue with something else I understand.
I have to be honest, I do think with the implementation of abilities weve gone from having to watch 1 or 2 xfactor players to watching all five and with that goalies have not been able to keep up. Its like facing 5 mcdavids, or 3 mcdavid forwards and 2 makars on defense. I do understand the need for a better defensive game by most players but I still feel as if goalies are fighting a losing battle, and at the end of the day if the majority of the community isnt expert defense players, goalies just arent gonna have a fighting chance. From a video game perspective it would be nice if a goalie could make up for this if he were to be a great goalie.
Was thinking about this some more as well, because of the attention given to defense and goalie, it would be nice to add an additional statistic to the intermission screen such as High Danger Chance %. Basically if there are 10 shots and 8 of them are within the High Danger Chance area, this statistic would be 80%, similar to the faceoff and pass % statistic. This will at least give some information and attention that could be brought to whether or not the defense is doing an adequate job of protecting the center of the ice.
I'd also like to requote this idea as I think it is not only important for the gameplay and evaluation of gameplay but to help alleviate and share some of the toxic blame that comes naturally with a competitive game. I truly believe that the reason you may see less and less human goalies is because of how much blame a goalie takes on and no matter what you try to say, its always going to be 5v1.
Screens: As shown in a few clips Ive seen, as well as utilizing gold x-ray, screens are happening almost every play and on every shot, even breakaways, I think the only solution to this is to limit the effects these screens have. Again with all of the boosts given shooters, yes goalies are given boosts as well but youre taking them away in the very same sentence with things like screens.
Passing: I have seen passes that are so fast due to being able to skate around with the R2 button held the entire time that no human goalie can react to it so goalies are forced to try and cheat the play or preemptively move as the pass begins (basically making an educated guess that the pass is gonna happen) in order to even have a chance at a save.
Covers: I'm not sure what the issue is with covers but what I can tell you is that whatever causes goalies to attempt a cover, miss, and sometimes throw it into their own net needs to be addressed. This includes post play, which im sure everyone has seen, where a goalie is attempting to cover the puck that is just outside the post and instead looks like he's playing the game hungry hungry hippos instead.
At the end of the day I understand the balance of wanting a simulation hockey game as well as a fun to play game. A potential balance to having 5 skaters with 3 abilities a piece to worry about would be to give goalies a 4th ability. Not sure how that would go over but I think when you add something like 5 players on the ice all with x-factors, you need to make the goalies a little more powerful especially in WOC because youre seeing more fire power on the ice in front of you than a typical nhl game.
"I do understand the need for a better defensive"
Yes, I think as a community most NHL players lean more offensively and have more talent in scoring goals.. that being said I think the game tends to lean more offensively (although I have found this game does a much better job at allowing defensive players to pick off passes and I feel more involved on defense, poke checking is mostly in a good place, i think net battling feels a bit clunky at times) I think icon passing and perfect puck handling just gives the game more of an offensive lean, and then there is the issue of builds. The defense is always at the mercy of the offense. If they have "wheels" at the wing with 99 speed and then a powerforward with a really good reverse hit/ net front capabilities at center, you gotta make a build fast enough to control wheels but defensively sound enough and durable enough to withstand any physical play of the center. If the defenseman underestimates either in what they can do the problem then falls on the goalie. I personally think wheels was just a bad idea altogether but that's a different issue.
I REALLY like the high danger shot percentage idea. Maybe even a shots saved above expected metric. I'm unsure how well the video game could correctly identify these metrics though (not trying to shame the devs on that, I'm not even sure how analytical people get all of their numbers sometimes)
"Passing: I have seen passes that are so fast due to being able to skate around with the R2 button held the entire time"
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the passing speed tops out, I also think the pass seems to cancel out if held too long. That being said, I personally dislike the icon passing. In the real NHL passes are missed a lot, I thought things seemed better when players were forced to aim their passes (that's a different argument though) I just think for icon vs manual passes there should be a tradeoff. (No chance of saucer with icon)
"Covers"
I agree with everything you wrote here! This is the kind of stuff I made this post for. This is why I believe goalies need the most attention in the game right now. Some of the animations just seem too wild, misplaced, or unrelable.
4 ability goalie I could get behind. I think humans could use a boost whether in stats or abilities to close the gap with cpu goalies. There was a time I felt the answer was to make cpu goalies worse to incentivize more humans.. I think the real move is to find more ways to improve humans. I think giving them a bit more attribute points or another ability would be cool.
I think another thing EA should REALLY consider bringing back (and adding onto) is that training camp mode. In fact I would have a whole practice mode built into EASHL where different drills can be custom built, players could play on offense or defense, etc. I would also include a goalie training course. Have a real life goalie and perhaps a couple of the best EASHL goalies give tips/ suggestions as to how to play the position. After the game have the coach report card and have it suggest diff drills to improve their game. They give up multiple 1T then have it suggest a drill in defending that or what attributes/ abilities may help balance out their game better. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this game is SO much better with human goalies. Let's do everything we can to incentivize people to play that position and for clubs to actually seek them out.
