Matchmaking

Riktorious wrote:

Not a VIDEO game style that you seem to cater too. 

This is a video game. 

Riktorious wrote:

We want competitive games..  don't have to win.   We want hockey games.  Fun hockey games.

I’d recommend joining a league that matches your skill level. EA has built in the ability to run private leagues, including private matches and even an API for stat tracking. There are plenty of leagues out there actively looking for players.

With EASHL, you’re always going to face strong competition. That’s simply the nature of online gaming. Matchmaking pulls from a global player pool that includes some of the best players in the world. If you want to improve, you have to learn how to compete against teams like that.

I understand the frustration. It can feel like certain teams score at will or exploit mechanics, especially if you haven’t developed the skills to counter them yet. That’s not fun. But this isn’t unique to NHL or EA SPORTS. Every multiplayer game ever made has a subset of players who can dominate others. That reality isn’t going away, and EA isn’t going to be the first developer to achieve perfect, 100% real-world realism.

EA_Aljo wrote:

that's also jut the competitive nature of games. In the real world, playoffs are seeded so the top team plays against the bottom team. The best I can advise is to stick with those difficult games to better learn how to play higher skilled teams.

This absolutely nails it. To build on that, most of the gameplay “issues” people complain about are the same ones high-skill teams deal with every game. The difference is those teams know how to manage them and still come out on top.

Why? Because they understand they’re playing a video game and approach it as such. They don’t get angry mid-game over sequences that don’t line up with their expectations of real-world hockey. Instead, they recognize anomalies and either adapt to neutralize them or use them to their advantage. That awareness and adaptability is a big part of what separates top-level teams from everyone else.

If the population is not low or dwindled.  Why can't you match 2 v 2 or more competitive or balanced games ?? 

You still can. You just can't specify 2s only.

We played  6 games in round 1  got ousted.  Played 5 of those against much superior ranks.  Played 2 in round 2 or joining again.  Got matched against 4 purples , against us 2,  who were either just too good or too good at exploits like short side dekes... etc.    So, we stopped playing playoffs. 

I've been in games where my team is outranked yet we still come away with a win. You won't find any of us at the top of the leaderboard, but we're all pretty decent at our positions and we have good team chemistry. I don't let someone's rank deter me from playing them. Sure, there are times we've been outmatched. There are also many times we thought a team was going to be harder than they were. You need to recognize how they're playing and counter that. If they're always going for the short side, drop back and defend it. You can't really rely on AI D to do that for you.

Losing is not the issue.  We lost close games to Purple because we do play a good HOCKEY game.  Not a VIDEO game style that you seem to cater too. 

Would we be having this discussion if you always won those games though? Look, sadly, video game representations of real world sports are probably always going to have some way(s) to be exploited. You could say that for any competitive game really. People have been finding exploits with this game going back to the 90s. Online competitive play just made more prevalent since you're competing with the world and not just your buddy on the couch. In a perfect world, everyone would play authentically, but that's just not a realistic expectation in today's world. There's always going to be those that play a video game style.

If you want to continue to have a job and continue this Title for years to come.  Listen to the community.  Not the youtubers.....   the majority PAYING customers don't give a hoot about Moose heads.. fancy moves.   McDavid speed for every player.  We want a fun competitive game that is well made by the developers.  

Yeah, I don't care about the fantasy characters also. I'd love for a toggle to turn those off so I just see regular players. I don't care about the builds though. They're very beatable. And, if the majority of paying customers don't care, why do you see so many using them? In almost every game there's one or 2. You have to realize that the hardcore community makes up a fraction of the overall playerbase. I get that you and your friends are part of this. So are mine. That makes it feel like everyone feels the same when the actual community is far more diverse.

I want a competitive game too. I also feel this game is competitive though. There's always going to be varying skill levels no matter what you play. It's on the individual, and team in the case of hockey, to improve their own skill and team chemistry. Team chemistry is so crucial. I've been playing with the same guys for the past 15 years so we know each other's playstyles very well and have built our game around that.