What went wrong with EASHL and the NHL franchise as a whole

EA_Aljo​ Just remove xfactors  and abilities. Go back to Boost packs like you had on NHL 09-14.

I agree with the lame battle pass garbage remove that completely.  Remove Prebuilds from Eashl. Put hitting back to what it was on previous years.  

Changing the Hitting continues to widen the gap between Offense and defense. This game heavily favors Offense now.

How good or not to make the AI play is a hard decision for EA to make.  Good players know how to exploit them as teammates and when opposing them.  I’ve been on both sides and have seen a lot of other players do the same.  If EA makes them too good then that puts let’s emphasis on using human teammates.  You make them too bad and that punishes the human players teammates when those AI are replacing human quitters.

In general the better one plays the better their AI teammate(s) play and vice versa.  Setting certain strategies can help too.  Regardless I won’t play a game with as a teammate(s) an AI Dman or Dpair because they’re simply too easy to beat with speed on the outside.  Same with a C because a decent human should be able to win the majority of face offs against them.  AI wingers are ok though if you set them to high pressure forcheck and breakout aggressive and wide.

I’d like to see EA implement/give more incentive to use humans instead.  Like for 6’s a team must have a minimum of 4 humans instead of the 3 now.  In 3’s two humans should never have an AI skater teammate.  That’s on them though because finding a 3rd is easy.

As for goalies.  That’s very difficult.  General rule of a human goalie is to back out of games against an AI goalie.  That way they both are taking a chance on which goalie they get and how they’re going to play.  They do play better when you play better in front of them but sometimes it’s not in our control.  Too many times though we’ve seen games where we massively outplay and take a wide variety of great chances/shots only to be robbed by the one AI G only to have our AI G let up the weakest goals on very few shots.  It happens and I’m not going to explain it nor do I want an answer because I already know.

I disagree about the “individualism” nature of the game in EASHL.  It has been getting better over the years for example as forwards pass back to the point a lot more now compared to when I started playing EASHL. EA has made it more viable to score in more ways than the past which has helped.  I’ll give them that.  You still get some puck hogs but I find a lot less than years pass.  The changing of RP based on team play over individual play makes a difference too.  Although it should be evenly balanced.  For example if I have a great game I shouldn’t lose any RP because my teammate(s) were the reason we lost.

It’s not hard to get full games of humans (more so without goalies).  The game plays a lot better with full 6’s.  The more AI the worst the experience and that’s why I really only play full 6’ unless I’m playing D and both teams have AI goalies.  

fredo911 wrote:

This does nothing but encourage 95% of players to make their character 5' 3", 120 lbs and exploit this to death. This is not a skill issue, literally anyone can do it, meaning it is actually a lack of skill issue with the game.

Any team in WoC or any player in HUT/OVP that actually knows how to play defense in hockey will stop this 99% of the time. Those who understand defending know that stopping your opponent starts as soon as they have the puck. 

If your opponent is able to take straight-line routes in order to obtain the speed necessary to blow by your defenders, this is a defensive posturing problem by you and/or your team. 

fredo911 wrote:

Why can't defense shove in front of the net? How are they expected to play defense if you can't clear the net?

As EA_Aljo​ mentioned, this is entirely possible. It's to the point of it almost being comical how much you can shove a player at the net-front with no penalty. 

fredo911 wrote:

The goalies have been so nerfed that goal/shot totals of 4/8 or 3/5 are most common and then teams quit.

Too many people get in their heads about the goalies and how they believe EA 'nerfs' them. In a mode like WoC where AI goalies are the same across every game and every team, it's hilarious seeing teams decide they got the 'bad' goalie in any given mode because they've given up four or five 2-on-0's the goalie didn't stop. Yea... totally the goalie's fault lol

fredo911 wrote:

Dumping the puck has been nerfed to create more offense. It continues to make the game feel less realistic

This makes no sense. Dumping the puck works great now. Last year it took longer to build up power and this year there's still some responsibility to generate power but with less frames. Meaning you can more quickly get a high-and-out dump.

That said, EA didn't want you to be able to simply hold R1 and flick up with zero repercussions to null out a full pressure by your opponent. Clearly, they identified that being a possible exploit and worked to nerf it. From a gameplay balance it makes sense but I can also see the other side of the argument that players should be able to perform a quick high-and-out dump. 

I would say - nerf the high-and-out dump while pressure is full, much like skating/passing is nerfed under the same circumstances. If pressure is building but not yet full, players should still be able to alleviate pressure with a very quick high-and-out with slightly quicker power generation than we see now.

fredo911 wrote:

X factors. The game is decided based on x factors. This only encourages the individualism of this game. Take note of College Football 25, it has "x factors" and it does not in any way take over a game.

X factors don't 'take over a game' in NHL either. If a player with a certain X-factor is dominating you and your team, you need to adjust to squash it. 'Close Quarters' causing problems? Instruct your team to collapse to the net in order to quickly kill any chances in close range. 'Truculence' got you down? Communicate that with your team and ensure everyone knows quick passes are the name of the game. 

X factors give visual cues as to what action/area of the ice players are more apt to work for. These should also be defensive indicators if you're a smart defender.

fredo911 wrote:

A piece of advice, make the cpu players good. Make the defense good. Make the goalies good. Make people actually play as a team.

Thanks for all the feedback. Appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

The cpu teammates, defense specifically, have been so nerfed, it allows anyone to skate around them, go forehand backhand and score. This does nothing but encourage 95% of players to make their character 5' 3", 120 lbs and exploit this to death. This is not a skill issue, literally anyone can do it, meaning it is actually a lack of skill issue with the game.

The AI players react to how the human controlled players are performing. So, if you're out of position a lot, they will be as well. They're moving around to cover the open ice. Which means the aren't in the best position to defend. They also are playing according to the strategies you set. You want to use strategies that counter how your opponents are playing while complimenting your own team's playstyle. I'm not saying this is going to make them defend every play though. They are AI, they will make mistakes. On the other hand, I see human players making just as many, if not more mistakes than the AI.

Why can't defense shove in front of the net? How are they expected to play defense if you can't clear the net?

Defenders can shove in front of the net. Just hit up on right stick. 

The goalies have been so nerfed that goal/shot totals of 4/8 or 3/5 are most common and then teams quit.

Most of my club's games are 3 goals or less on either side. Bad defense is going to lead to more goals. Just like good defense will stop more. If you mostly play with AI D though and you're not conscious of positioning, as I mentioned previously, more goals are going to be scored.

Dumping the puck has been nerfed to create more offense. It continues to make the game feel less realistic

Dumping the puck was changed to promote the pressure system. Yes, creating more offense in this case is a by-product of that. I'm not a fan as well. Regardless, I've adapted. Most of the time I slap the puck out of our zone if we're on the PK. Otherwise, I can bank it off the boards or send it to a teammate. We have other ways to get the puck out of the zone than just dumping it.

X factors. The game is decided based on x factors. This only encourages the individualism of this game. Take note of College Football 25, it has "x factors" and it does not in any way take over a game.

X-Factors boost specific abilities. They don't decide the outcome of games though. No matter how good the XFs are, it comes down to the difference in skill between the humans. 

Less fortnite more hockey

I completely agree. I'm not a fan of the fantasy skins and animations. Regardless, they don't take away from my enjoyment of the game since I'm really only focused on the on-ice action. I just don't really notice too much what the other players look like until play stops. Even then, for me, it's just not worth being concerned with. I get that's not the case for everyone. 

A piece of advice, make the cpu players good. Make the defense good. Make the goalies good. Make people actually play as a team. Instead of a game losing it's audience more and more every year encourage people to get the game because it is the closest representation of hockey we can get.

I've already commented on the AI players so I'm not going into this again. However, not enough focus is on the human players. People tend to think they're better at this game than they actually are and then blame the AI players or the game in general. People having more accountability for their own actions will go a lot farther than blaming the game. If you can't recognize and be accountable for your own mistakes, you'll never improve.

This is incredibly easy to stop. You talk about teamplay but you aren’t willing to backcheck and take away this play. If you want to hop online and have the cpu d feed you goals while you goal hang, this game isn’t for you. So many teams have wild, unorganized 3 man forechecks, then complain when they get punished for it. You need to play with more anticipation and better positioning. I really don’t mean this to sound harsh. I’m just saying take a step back and look at how aggressive and out of position your team could be playing. Clogging the neutral zone and making your opponents life miserable is a great strategy in this game. Best of luck to you. 

Yup I 100% agree with this. The ability to skate around defenders with ease is absurd. And then forehand backhand goal every time.