What is EA doing?
It seems the company is purposely self sabotaging their development over the years. It's pretty obvious at this point. The job postings are for lead devs of the game engine and "1 year contracts". ...
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EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerIt seems the company is purposely self sabotaging their development over the years. It's pretty obvious at this point. The job postings are for lead devs of the game engine and "1 year contracts".
These often become permanent positions.
EA Sports does not care about this franchise to have any form of gainful employment. There is no hiring requirement for even being knowledgeable about hockey at all. You join the club, then you're out the door the game is made.
This is absolutely not true. Sure, there are positions where hockey knowledge is not required, but when it comes to gameplay especially, they are very passionate about the sport.
There are a ENDLESS list of problems but the response is "maybe it will be fixed next year."
I'm not going to guarantee something will be fixed. It's not unusual to find a last minute issue that delays a fix. Rather than tell everyone X issue is being addressed in the next update, we'll give a statement acknowledging the issue. There have been many times where I said this and they were still fixed in an update. I can't say anything about what's coming until it's been announced. In some cases, we'll mention this early so you'll see that discussed here.
I'm not going to guarantee something will be fixed. It's not unusual to find a last minute issue that delays a fix. Rather than tell everyone X issue is being addressed in the next update, we'll give a statement acknowledging the issue. There have been many times where I said this and they were still fixed in an update. I can't say anything about what's coming until it's been announced. In some cases, we'll mention this early so you'll see that discussed here.
I understand you have a position with only so much oversight and can't guarantee things. I appreciate the acknowledgements. I do not appreciate when the team has months to work on things.
1. LT - Can't hit players unless it's perfectly lined up. Can't stick check them unless it's a perfectly angled sweep check.
Then you get the LT wraparound glitch that neither your computer dmen or goalie will track and it's a goal 90% of the time you're playing div 2 or div 1 players. I have to manually switch to my goalie but it happens very quickly.
There is absolutely no reason for it to be in the game.
https://youtu.be/9idZ-3rKbys?si=HOwsuUpzPaBq2HXw
I outplay my opponent and I lose because of this garbage.
2. Every time I deke and my opponent misses their poke / sweep check. I can't be tripped. Doesn't matter if it's toe drag, between legs, windmill, toe kick, or even a basic holding forehand or backhand. My skate will flop sideways or my leg will lift awkwardly. No trip.
3. Stick lifts. You'll get a penalty when you barely touch your opponent or miss them entirely but when your stick literally goes through them or you hook them. You don't get a penalty most of the time.
4. Manual switching to players needs to be adjusted. I don't care if my player is closer to the puck carrier. I want to switch to a dman and backcheck because a lot of the time my dmen don't move until the opponent is beside them skating faster already. Then it ends up a two on one. Even if you have a NZT set up and conservative offense.
5. Players should not be able to glide around without being able to be knocked off the puck. When I switch to a bigger player, I should be able to deck them easily. If I don't my computer won't do it either. I can set my strategy to aggressive defense but my computers still do nothing.
6. Players shouldn't be able to glitch their stick into the boards or play the puck into the boards without losing possession. That needs to be fixed and it hasn't been fixed ever.
7. Computer forecheck is a toss up. My players will only seem to check my opponent if they're the only one in the offensive zone. The moment I leave they will hit. If I am forechecking with my computer. They do nothing. Same goes for defending. It's rare they will check with the human player.
8. Reverse hitting is broken. You shouldn't be able to reverse hit when you're stick checking or poke checking your opponent with space. On the flip side, hip check should not be an alternative to counter a reverse check at slow speeds.
9. Hip check has been broken for about 3 years. Even the smallest slowest hip check can know the opponent off the puck. Especially in WoC with a small player with low hitting and strength. I do it all the time.
10. Poke checking is too accurate. You can press it multiple times and it doesn't loss effectiveness. I have been told the more you poke check the less accurate it is. You can even poke check accurately without even looking at the puck. I have also asked poke check to be included against non puck carriers. You can take interference calls without the puck. Tripping shouldn't be the exception. Intelligent defending should be a thing.
11. Passing the puck when you're infront of your opponent's goalie. I can place two of my players on both sides of my opponent's goalie and they can manage to pass through my players more than half the time. It should be an easy empty net goal.
12. The menu UI in the game has been absolutely awful for years. It's laggy and it's completely unnecessary to have so much "fancy" animations. Making sets and opening packs is a chore in HUT especially. If I make multiple xfactor / icon packs. I want the option to skip the annoying opening animations. I don't want to sit there for 20 minutes opening multiple packs. The coin animation glitch in HUT has also been there for years. I will be in the middle of a game in intermission and coins get counted from like an hour ago.
13. "Skill based one timers." There is absolutely no skill involved in holding the right stick up when making a pass. It is extremely easy to score from point one timers.
13.1 Puck bounces are predictable when a player shoots blocker side via snap shot or one timer. The puck goes into the down low corner 90% of the time. Allowing your opponent to easily grab the rebound and set up point one timers perpetually. If you preemptively set yourself up down low to get the rebound you still chance putting yourself out of position to make a block.
14. Passing - Icon passing is still not fixed. Passing to players at the point is also needing adjustment. You make a pass without any player in the passing lane and the pass goes no where near your teammate. Then you get to play fetch.
15. Over skating the puck. I have a new controller. I have tested this in online and offline. There are times when you're controlling your player to get the loose puck and your player will just simply skate over the puck or away for no reason.
I could go on but there you have it. Things that need fixing that have been there for multiple years as well.
- EA_Aljo
LT - Can't hit players unless it's perfectly lined up. Can't stick check them unless it's a perfectly angled sweep check.
I have had no problem hitting players doing this. Can you get some video of sweep checks not working?
Every time I deke and my opponent misses their poke / sweep check. I can't be tripped. Doesn't matter if it's toe drag, between legs, windmill, toe kick, or even a basic holding forehand or backhand. My skate will flop sideways or my leg will lift awkwardly. No trip.
I'm only aware of this happening with the between the legs deke. We'll need video of it.
Stick lifts. You'll get a penalty when you barely touch your opponent or miss them entirely but when your stick literally goes through them or you hook them. You don't get a penalty most of the time.
We're aware of hooking calls not happening.
Manual switching to players needs to be adjusted. I don't care if my player is closer to the puck carrier. I want to switch to a dman and backcheck because a lot of the time my dmen don't move until the opponent is beside them skating faster already. Then it ends up a two on one. Even if you have a NZT set up and conservative offense.
We'll need video of this. Personally, I have had no problems with switching players. Especially with manual switching.
Players shouldn't be able to glitch their stick into the boards or play the puck into the boards without losing possession. That needs to be fixed and it hasn't been fixed ever.
While I'm in agreement for the most part, this would make skating along the boards with the puck almost impossible. We have to have clipping to a degree. Otherwise, it would cause limbs to bend in ways that would break them. Hopefully, this improves in time.
Computer forecheck is a toss up. My players will only seem to check my opponent if they're the only one in the offensive zone. The moment I leave they will hit. If I am forechecking with my computer. They do nothing. Same goes for defending. It's rare they will check with the human player.
Can you get some video of this?
Reverse hitting is broken. You shouldn't be able to reverse hit when you're stick checking or poke checking your opponent with space. On the flip side, hip check should not be an alternative to counter a reverse check at slow speeds.
A poke check should still work if you make contact with the puck. If this is happening and no poke is occurring, we'll need video of it.
Hip check has been broken for about 3 years. Even the smallest slowest hip check can know the opponent off the puck. Especially in WoC with a small player with low hitting and strength. I do it all the time.
I would absolutely love to see the hipcheck be less affective.
Poke checking is too accurate. You can press it multiple times and it doesn't loss effectiveness. I have been told the more you poke check the less accurate it is. You can even poke check accurately without even looking at the puck. I have also asked poke check to be included against non puck carriers. You can take interference calls without the puck. Tripping shouldn't be the exception. Intelligent defending should be a thing.
Poke check aims at the puck. So, if it's not timed properly, it's easy to miss. Personally, I don't think it's too accurate. If you're close enough to get poked, you stand a chance of this happening. Protecting the puck better, deking or getting rid of it will evade pokes better.
Passing the puck when you're infront of your opponent's goalie. I can place two of my players on both sides of my opponent's goalie and they can manage to pass through my players more than half the time. It should be an easy empty net goal.
It frequently is an easy empty net goal. Take control of those players and get them in better position. So many people blindly pass the puck out. You can switch to one of your players in front of the net and move them back a bit.
The menu UI in the game has been absolutely awful for years. It's laggy and it's completely unnecessary to have so much "fancy" animations. Making sets and opening packs is a chore in HUT especially. If I make multiple xfactor / icon packs. I want the option to skip the annoying opening animations. I don't want to sit there for 20 minutes opening multiple packs. The coin animation glitch in HUT has also been there for years. I will be in the middle of a game in intermission and coins get counted from like an hour ago.
Agreed.
"Skill based one timers." There is absolutely no skill involved in holding the right stick up when making a pass. It is extremely easy to score from point one timers.
You do have to time it right. You can't just hold up and get a perfect one T. Regardless, I'd like to see these modified so they aren't so affective or easy to do.
Puck bounces are predictable when a player shoots blocker side via snap shot or one timer. The puck goes into the down low corner 90% of the time. Allowing your opponent to easily grab the rebound and set up point one timers perpetually. If you preemptively set yourself up down low to get the rebound you still chance putting yourself out of position to make a block.
Goalies could be better with rebounds. Regardless, this can be countered. If you're facing a lot of shots from the point, anticipate your opponent is going to do this and protect the points better. Intercepting D to D one T's often lead to an easy goal.
Passing - Icon passing is still not fixed. Passing to players at the point is also needing adjustment. You make a pass without any player in the passing lane and the pass goes no where near your teammate. Then you get to play fetch.
Yes. We know about icon passing. I haven't had a big issue with passing to the point when it's aimed right, but the team is aware of the feedback with this.
Over skating the puck. I have a new controller. I have tested this in online and offline. There are times when you're controlling your player to get the loose puck and your player will just simply skate over the puck or away for no reason.
Even when going into a glide? We'll need video of this.
1. LT - Can't hit players unless it's perfectly lined up. Can't stick check them unless it's a perfectly angled sweep check.
I don't understand how this doesn't compute for some of you. "Can't hit unless perfectly lined up" or a "perfectly angled sweep check" is the result of a skilled puck carrier employing methods to limit or null the effect of a hit. Playing againg stiff competition, your skills are going to need to be close to perfect. I'm not sure how the argument of "I need to be able to knock people off the puck easier" is a legit argument when you consider that people such as myself are actually able to defend this.
I'd also like to point out that if a puck carrier manages to generate the speed required to make a defender susceptible to the evasive mechanics of the LT - that's a defensive lapse. You should be angling the puck carrier wide to discourage the use of the LT to begin with:
There is absolutely no reason for it to be in the game.
https://youtu.be/9idZ-3rKbys?si=HOwsuUpzPaBq2HXw
I outplay my opponent and I lose because of this garbage.There is zero way for us to know you outplayed this opponent. Further more, this clip begins with the puck carrier already at top speed in your D-Zone. Your D-Man is already behind a step. There's nothing unrealistic about this movement:
Here is a clip of one of our defenders handling this move aptly. Sticks out DSS to discourage a move to the slot. Puck carrier reverts to LT abuse. Has a small step on the D, but not the speed required (thanks to the D). Gets a close chance, but ultimately snuffed out by a well timed manual poke check (DSS and R3)
2. Every time I deke and my opponent misses their poke / sweep check. I can't be tripped. Doesn't matter if it's toe drag, between legs, windmill, toe kick, or even a basic holding forehand or backhand. My skate will flop sideways or my leg will lift awkwardly. No trip.
If this happens every time you deke, it should be very easy to capture a simple video of this to help the developers narrow in on a possible issue.
3. Stick lifts. You'll get a penalty when you barely touch your opponent or miss them entirely but when your stick literally goes through them or you hook them. You don't get a penalty most of the time.
You need to learn the body position required to use stick lift with no penalty. I very rarely take any high-stick or slash calls because I know when and when not to use it. Hooking calls are a known issue.
4. Manual switching to players needs to be adjusted. I don't care if my player is closer to the puck carrier. I want to switch to a dman and backcheck because a lot of the time my dmen don't move until the opponent is beside them skating faster already. Then it ends up a two on one. Even if you have a NZT set up and conservative offense.
There is a mechanic for just this. Hold RT and click R3. This is a fundamental skill for anyone who's serious about improving their defensive game.
Manual player switching with Right Stick is also quite accurate. Here's a clip of me controlling just my high wingers in order to put pressure on the point. This is all done with manual switching. Holding RT and moving flicking RS in the direction of the winger I want (left or right)
5. Players should not be able to glide around without being able to be knocked off the puck.
If a player is effectively using body position and momentum to brush off flagrant body checks, I don't see how this is an issue? If a player is gliding around you seemingly able to avoid every body check, it means you're chasing them. Use DSS more and angle puck carriers to where you want them to go rather than be focused on a big hit.
6. Players shouldn't be able to glitch their stick into the boards or play the puck into the boards without losing possession. That needs to be fixed and it hasn't been fixed ever.
This is just how sports videogames are. Clipping is a fact of life and has no bearing on the outcomes of any given scenario. I understand you expect people to lose the puck when getting close to the boards, but there are a lot of animations while in control of the puck (such as skating stride) where you have zero control of where your stick goes. It would be incredibly frustrating to just lose the puck while screaming up the side boards because the stride animation made your stick contact the boards.
Computer forecheck is a toss up. My players will only seem to check my opponent if they're the only one in the offensive zone. The moment I leave they will hit. If I am forechecking with my computer. They do nothing. Same goes for defending. It's rare they will check with the human player.
The Ai will make body checks if the human controlled player is in their forecheck position. A LOT (and I mean A LOT) if online players are trying to forecheck with their defencemen because it's just the last player they had control of when the dump-in happened. Doing so means your AI is in recovery mode and they won't take any actions until everyone is back in their position.
. Reverse hitting is broken. You shouldn't be able to reverse hit when you're stick checking or poke checking your opponent with space. On the flip side, hip check should not be an alternative to counter a reverse check at slow speeds.
No, it's not. And yes, if you've mistimed a poke check, you should be susceptible to a reverse hit. A hip check can absolutely be nulled with a reverse hit as well.
Here is what a well timed poke check looks like against a reverse hit
Hip check has been broken for about 3 years. Even the smallest slowest hip check can know the opponent off the puck. Especially in WoC with a small player with low hitting and strength. I do it all the time.
A reverse hit can negate the hip check. Also, hip checks are quite easy to see coming and are easily avoidable.
Poke checking is too accurate. You can press it multiple times and it doesn't loss effectiveness. I have been told the more you poke check the less accurate it is. You can even poke check accurately without even looking at the puck. I have also asked poke check to be included against non puck carriers. You can take interference calls without the puck. Tripping shouldn't be the exception. Intelligent defending should be a thing.
This is incorrect. Every subsequent poke is less accurate, slows your player down and increases penalty probability.
I agree that players can execute an accurate poke check with no visibility on the puck. That can be frustrating when playing against someone who knows how to capitalize on this.
Intelligent defending IS a thing.
Here is a clip of how I'm utilizing Right-stick player switching to stop my opponent from abusing the one-tee.
Here are some Defensive Skill stick examples which, IMO, is the elite-level skill many don't seem to want to master.
Not many people use it to deflect shots, but it works great:
Not to mention using it to break up passes:
Utilizing it to freeze your opponent and force them to make decisions they don't want to or simply separate them from the puck and getting the perfect angle so your poke check doesn't cause a trip:
Passing the puck when you're infront of your opponent's goalie. I can place two of my players on both sides of my opponent's goalie and they can manage to pass through my players more than half the time. It should be an easy empty net goal.
Not always. The close proximity to your teammate when executing a pass will dictate your teammates' ability to receive it cleanly. If you're holding pass too long and your opponent is too close - the speed is too high, they won't react and the puck will seemingly go right by them. This is a skill issue. You need to learn when to use soft, short passes and when you utilize heavy passes.
The menu UI in the game has been absolutely awful for years.
Agreed 1000%
"Skill based one timers." There is absolutely no skill involved in holding the right stick up when making a pass. It is extremely easy to score from point one timers.
There's a misunderstanding that every one-timer is a skill-based one timer. They're not and there are still a lot of one timers that get saved, blocked, directed wide, etc. You can still utilize the old method described above, but when you stop and try to actually time your shot action - and you do it right - the increase to accuracy is obvious. At release, it was awfully easy to nail it. EA has adjusted and I think it's in an okay place right now.
Puck bounces are predictable when a player shoots blocker side via snap shot or one timer. The puck goes into the down low corner 90% of the time. Allowing your opponent to easily grab the rebound and set up point one timers perpetually. If you preemptively set yourself up down low to get the rebound you still chance putting yourself out of position to make a block.
You should be able to see these shots coming. Take control of last-man-back (Hold RT and click R3) and guide the defender to where the rebound will go. This method of shooting for a rebound for a puck into the corner is a real-world strategy too. Although I will concede it's rather predictable in EA's NHL, however - as a defender that just means you need to be ready for it to happen and you'll be just fine.
Passing - Icon passing is still not fixed. Passing to players at the point is also needing adjustment. You make a pass without any player in the passing lane and the pass goes no where near your teammate. Then you get to play fetch.
Only in World of Chel do the icons not come up unless the setting is adjusted. It still works. Icon-based passing is literally always accurate. If you're icon-passing to the point and "the pass goes no where near your teammate" this indicates you're likely not pressing the right icon or you're trying to execute a pass with your back to the receiving player.
One thing I've picked up on with icon passing is that if you hold RT even after a pass is made, the icons persist, so you can make quick passing plays like this:
The other cool thing is that when you hold RT after an Icon pass, the icon for the player you just passed to will be the same icon for the passer. This means on a 2-on-1 situation, you utilize the same icon for a quick back and forth: (notice how the Y icon quickly changes to the B icon once we start the back and forth:
Over skating the puck. I have a new controller. I have tested this in online and offline. There are times when you're controlling your player to get the loose puck and your player will just simply skate over the puck or away for no reason.
Would be good to see some video of this. usually if a player ignores a loose puck, it's because the human is throwing some kind of input at them which interrupts the puck pickup.
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