You think we'll ever get the changes we actually ask for?

I totally get where you're coming from. It feels like year after year, we keep asking for meaningful changes—things like GM Connected, career modes with minors, and PC releases—but instead, we get the same old recycled game with small tweaks and features nobody really asked for. I think a lot of us are frustrated by the constant we hear you from EA, but with no real follow-through. It’s like they’re stuck on this old engine, just adding small things and hoping we won't notice that the core issues never get addressed.

At this point, I honestly wouldn't mind if they took a year off to really focus on rebuilding the game from the ground up. It’d be worth the wait for a hockey game that actually feels fresh and gives us the changes we’ve been asking for. Until then, we’re probably going to keep seeing the same cycle. Pretty disappointing. I think a lot of us are frustrated by the constant "we hear you" from EA, but with no real follow-through. It’s like they’re stuck on this old engine, just adding small things and hoping we won't notice that the core issues never get addressed.

I've been chatting on these forums about this game since NHL12 came out. I've gone through periods of being SUPER into it and not playing it at all some years. There has rarely been a dramatic change to QoL, bug fixes, or modes outside a couple of iterations of the game. 

The fact that Be a Pro is STILL using the SAME campaign cutscenes, and STILL has the SAME XP bugs (my guy in 24 couldn't progress important stats like acceleration, agility, and others once they got to 90... completely killed the mode for me).

It is extremely disheartening that they axed GM Connected and never thought to bring back even a SIMPLIFIED version of it.

Sadly, they haven't given AI goaltending the tender love and care that is so severely needed. Soft, unscreened wrist shots going in right after the player enters the zone and shoots it far-side? Let alone if the shot is taken within the last 10 seconds of a period. 

Maybe even more egregious is the freakin PLAYER CUSTOMIZATION for EASHL/WoC being so incredibly bare-bones - using the same faces we've had in the game since NHL14 at least! Such a small number of hairstyles, eyebrow styles, etc. Why not give us actual sliders for our players' faces and features? 

Going on a decade and every goalie's helmet in Chel is still blank white and they can't seem to be able for the life of them to program something for that. 

Thank God we got werewolves and robots or whatever though. That's REAL hockey.

Just for the fact they had even brought it up last year in an interview hints  they are cooking something up in the Online Franchise department in my opinion.  Hell Franchise offline this year is getting some work done it it too.  To me they go hand in hand.   It's also not something that should be rushed.   People sure want GM Connected back so badly but back then it wasn't a highly played mode among the community and it had lots of problems.   It's best to get things correct the 1st time for people to enjoy a return of the mode.

As I've said for PC well with a new Nintendo Switch coming out there is potentially more powerful and it has a huge playerbase too maybe they making a version of NHL.  Also now come November there will be the PS5 Pro which is 1 more system they will have to maintain the game working on.   Getting things to work properly on PC with all the configurations is easier said than done.   I would suggest you look up the issues people have with Madden and FC on PC this season and see if it's smooth sailing or not.  And they got much much bigger teams and funds to work with.

Licensing isn't cheap so skipping years isn't gonna magically make the game better.  If anything they would probably cut back staff.  Also I can't see the community wanting to play NHL 24 for 2 years without changes.  Then we talk about HUT and how it would need to be completely wiped for the off-cycle year.

And yes it's a known fact t hey don't talk about future content because it can get them in trouble.  So we will always be left in the dark.  Only thing you can really do is give good constructive feedback/ideas and let us pass along the information.   After that it's up to them to decide how they shape the future of the game.

You make some great points. I definitely agree that GM Connected, if it does make a return, needs to be done right. It’s easy to forget that the original mode had its fair share of issues, and bringing it back rushed wouldn’t help anyone. Taking the time to do it properly will hopefully ensure a smooth experience.

As for PC, I can see why it’s a challenge. With all the configuration issues Madden and FC are facing, it makes sense that NHL wouldn’t want to launch on PC until it’s ready. Plus, with the new Switch and PS5 Pro, they’ve got a lot of platforms to consider.

I think you're right about skipping years too. While it sounds good in theory to take a break and come back with a bigger overhaul, the reality is that licensing and development costs wouldn’t make it feasible without scaling back in other areas, which could hurt the game even more. As frustrating as it is, it looks like all we can do is keep giving feedback and hope the changes we really want make it into the game eventually.

It doesn't take a decade to roll out a new feature.

GM is great in theory, but no one plays it. The leagues dont finish. 

The game has significant upgrades every year. Animations, gameplay, skating, hitting, new game modes, new goalie animations. The game every year has roughly the same amount of updates and gets better every single year. " If you dont think the game has improved go play 20 or 19 or 16 when the jump for the new consoles occurred. 
Ive been coming to the forum since before 2008 and these exact threads are started. 

BE a PRO bugs or CHEL STAT bugs? Everyday EA watches the forums were they made aware of that? 

You can play NHL on the cloud on your PC. ping is great. 

To me this thread is a me me post. Every other week we get posts like this. Hockey is hockey, you dont need GM connected to make it better. All that will happen is the league will be filled with three quarter AI teams, scheduling to play other players will be a pain and the leagues just wont work. 

like omg "Why not give us actual sliders for our players' faces and features? "

this has absolutely nothing to do with GAME PLAY, 

The players could look like blades of steel players with the same gameplay we have today, who cares hockey is hockey. 

That is you assuming it's becoming a feature.  Like since I saw that interview about GM Connected I'd assume it didn't start getting worked on til recently if at all judging from the video.  As far as presentation goes they might be wanting to add their own presentation over a more authentic presentation.  Whatever we see in videos/blogs is what we have to go on is coming to the game in 25.

Considering that again, we've been asking for it for the better part of a decade, why are you assuming they've "just started to work on this" ? 

The entire point of this post is getting the changes we've asked for,  not the ones they decide we need. It's clearly gone over your head.

Personally, I would not use GM connected. But I am hoping that the promised changes to Franchise Mode will actually be revealed this week, as they are supposed to. I also hope that many of the Franchise Mode changes will involve storyline and making it more engrossing, instead of the same every playthrough. It would be great if those same changes were rolled out onto BAP mode. If the info dropped this week is in line with the many things I have seen requested with Franchise and BAP modes, then there will be a lot of happy people with that. If the changes are only minor and inconsequential changes, then we are going to see a lot of angry posts on this forum over the next couple of months. On that note though, no matter what they do, they will not please everyone. Some will hate the changes, others will like them, that is simply the nature of any industry.