More Issues With NHL - 26 Edition

@TTZ. Appreciate your indepth commentary on the woes of this game. And i agree. The devs approach any and all games they produce, with the additude of, we know whats best  completely ignoring those that actually play the game on a daily basis. Good job on your prose.

I should point out I think I've made more videos with more clips in just 26 than I have for all the other titles combined...

New year same problems

http://youtu.be/XWD4hbE1GAk?si=jvn4rRETsRdtuSl6

1. AI is dumb and always trying to score on itself. Before anyone tries to give any credit by saying they somehow know it's gonna be called back, they don't; this has been happening since NHL 10.

2. Sudden light show out of nowhere - we don't have any of that stuff unlocked either (and why the heck can't we get all that arena customization nonsense out of the way early instead of being forced to play a few hundred games?).

3. Another awkward save by the goalie and the play going on too long. If my friend managed to hit the puck and score, it would have counted - That blatant of stick phasing should not be able to lead to goals.

4. Annoying as all heck to have the goalie just skate out of his net to launch the puck to the right side like that (never ever goes left so it's an intentional and unavoidable/scripted event). I haven't seen him flip it over the glass (yet) but if it ever happens...

Another example  at the end of how Truculence and Spark Plug completely changes how 3's is played. You can just deck the halls with anybody and be left to do whatever you want.

Hey that's fun, I yet again can't use my 'Eagle' emote after scoring. Shows this is a grudge match too when we've never seen these people in our life. It doesn't show for some reason but I get Big Tipper or something I don't use and the other guy gets Quick release? How is that fair?

5. Look how fast my buddy gets up from his hit and look how long the other guy is taken out for. I get the whole rock paper scissors x factor and stat calculations nonsense at work here but it's getting out of hand.

I proceed to cream the guy and of course the stupid AI gets caught up on his corpse not once, but twice! This happens so often its painful. Why can't/don't you guys make them just a teeny tiny itty bitty pretty please with sugar on top ever so slightly smarter?

I casually do my bread and butter move (it's called the Liquorice Whip), knowing full well the goalie "just can't even". I've brought up this kind of move for years now - I understand it's a relatively normal move but there's gotta be better awareness/learning/positioning/*something*

6. Another one to emphasize my point because I can. Also, I can't do my chosen emote again. (yes, I made sure to equip it for all characters.)

7. People will shout "play better D' from the mountaintops but oho, you'd be surprised to know there is a fantastically stupid reason why they were able to get the breakaway but I messed up editing and shaved too much off the beginning of the clip. Not that it matters; I want y'all to witness the amazing defensive plays by our AI guy here and the subsequent cheff kiss of goaltending prowess thereafter.

Also, I don't particularly enjoy seeing so many Jordan NHL's out there, especially on the same team. I'd go as far as to say at least 10% of players don't even care enough to name their players and that should be quite telling of something. Like, I understand interest waning over time, but this is a "competitive" league with custom teams and stats, weird.

8. I kill the man with what should be an illegal check and skate off with 0 consequence. Lee could have chosen the obvious and smart play and just banked the puck up to Jeffrey but decides to give it to me? OK thanks for that man, I guess I'll do your job and pass it up - NOPE. No look swats it away?

We go back up and the goalie is again swimming to make a save when he didn't need to but then just emotes on me like he's playing Fortnite? Well, jokes on you buddy - musta overcast his mana on that one because he just let me waltz in for the goal without trying. 

9. Can't use my emote again. Way too many hats being thrown onto the ice - I understand we're hot and the kids love TTZ, but I don't see that many fans constantly following us on the road.

10.  I don't know about others but I personally find this super ugly on the ice. I'm a Samsung guy and hate seeing anything Apple, especially a void black logo that can sometimes stick to your screen like a regular ticker or song notification. You already have Discovery stuff on the boards, please keep it there. 
Also, what is up with the placement? It switches every time and you can sometimes see the same things on the same sides which shows a lack of polish. Hard cam orientation isn't an issue but would be aesthetically pleasing if the logos could face away from eachother when using different camera settings.

11. The goalie has 0 stamina and this idiot AI not only makes a horrible shot decision, but still manages to miss the net lol. How are people defending this? How am I the bad guy for pointing this out?

12. This should have been goaltender interference.

13.  EA_Aljo​  Just look at the abysmal  state of interference in this game; I don't think I could have been any more blatant if I tried.

14. I'll admit, I love this goal celebration but c'mon now, honestly, what the heck are we doing? We are straying way too far from an authentic experience.

15. Didn't even move. How can anyone look at that and think goalies are in a good spot?

16. Goalie actually made a poke save, congrats but look how easy it is to get to him off the faceoff. I've been bringing this up for years now and nothing ever gets done. We need more animations, more physics/geometry, and positions and strategies for faceoffs, especially with how fast everyone is now and the AI's inability to defend.

17. Another goaltender guffaw. Who does that?

18. My Liquorice Whip failed me but it doesn't matter since a cross is all you need. This clip is mainly to show just how easy it is for offense - Missing a 95% guaranteed goal isn't in the least bit upsetting because I know i'll immediately get another chance at one but on defense, you need be play 100% perfect 100% of the time.

19. Here's some raw footage, tell me what you think.

 Look at me become completely unable to hit people. I don't care if I get interference; I want to troll them at this point - give me what I want!
Bumping off players like they're superman, bad passes are leading to entire teams getting completely obliterated by hits and taken out of the play (many times by a single person),
You have Ai not doing anything to defend, goalies giving up super telegraphed moves - since we're playing a bad team stat wise of course we see an uptick in posts and then the goalie starts standing on his head..
Hits start doing nothing to other people, even when fully connecting, you get bad puck pickups but its ok because the puck just magically bounces right back to you, then people are missing passes because they cant see or are trying to hit which makes them incorporeal, bad animations then lead to broken passes, people slipping - what a total cluster of bumper ball hockey. I honestly can't recommend this to anyone new.

Of course my hair has a mind of it's own like that one Halloween episode of The Simpsons and did the other team seriously exhume a corpse to act as their coach? I enjoy Weekend at Bernie's as much as the next person but this is a family sport.

20. EA_Aljo​ please send this and 21 to the team. I was trolling a hit and we still got a goal - This completely negated their attempt at a penalty shot. It used to be that the puck would stop on the goal line (at 1 single second left if need be). Of course, this counted as my friends 100th goal so the cutscene got all messed up.

21. Same thing here. Both sides trolling eachother, I got rewarded for bad play, and they didn't get their penalty shot. Why did my Warrior activate? That should only be for hits unless the description is wrong again.

This is why I keep harping on a truly next gen title, even if it's just for more animations and calculations - We've been at capacity for a while now and even left last gen behind but we're half way(+?) through current gen and still shifting what pieces we have around. We can technically already hit teammates in certain situations so maybe other than (or in combination with) avoidance animations, there can still be more awareness of both puck and player - If I make the decision to smash my own guy it should be on me.

The goalie is more of a pressing matter but running picks became frustratingly popular when people were getting used to the avoiding poke spam trips and eventual L2 spins since you completely shut down their speed. I wouldn't begin to know how to properly "fix" that but the way you can still knock players with it makes it something that needs to be looked into.

Him being slippery is fine but the ragdoll needs to be addressed - Realistically the animation makes sense but in-game when your arm (strictly arms, nothing else happens with legs or the head other than a rare and completely normal injury), is snapped past, say, 90° from your body unnaturally (ie via collision and not something like a manual poke sweep), your controls go haywire - The chances of this happening increase with the severity of the collision but can still happen from a nothing play. 

Issues vary from just needing to wait for your arm to "settle" to things like severe control inversion or not being able to pass/shoot the puck; Kind of like it's mimicking a sort of temporary injury but any type of stoppage in play will fix it. Been happening since at least 23.

These backhands are a result of my player not being able to face north fast enough when resetting a left/right stutter after a botched rush or deflection/block that allowed us to reset. If I react fast enough I try to quickly deke to my forehand but I usually don't pull that off - Sometimes a weak wrister can happen which usually nets a goal.
Ehh I would say these backhands (hitting the post, never a huge miss to the left or into the goalie) are 50/50 at best; this is pretty much the exact spot I'd be in every time, plus or minus a few pixels.

It's just frustrating to see as a defender. It would be asking to much to see clear zones, cones, and peripherals of exactly how each single stat point affects your player but maybe 1 extra defensive awareness would have made a difference - A lot of people are running off of assumptions with builds at the moment, especially in 3v3.

You can try to cover the pass but the thing with 3v3 is, those were Steez's only 2 chances to stop the goal - literally. You can block me all you want (which was our set play and the right choice to try getting in the way of), but if given the chance to go 1 on 1 with the goalie, hoo boy Jeffrey is sinking it or getting tripped by another desperation poke. Even in your gif scenario that is a complete death sentence if Kedon went backhand forehand (or just flicking it with Backhand Beauty - definitely OP) and roofed it top right corner with the amount of room you open (both 3's and 6's). We currently don't have the logic for covering the receiver and letting the goalie handle the shooter, at least with the space given.

One of the teams we played was made up of 2 elites and a diamond - they play pretty much the same as everyone else until you start to swing the momentum - this tends to happen at a minutes left in the 2nd with rest of the game playing actual good and fun hockey, no matter what xfactors there are; wish it lasted longer but the amount of RP at stake means something at that point which is why I think there need to be changes to matchmaking. We'd all be forced into great hockey.

These types of hits happened before Truculence but it definitely makes it easier to pull off. 1 guy down is bad enough but 2 is instant situation critical in 3's. Elite isn't worth 85 points in my mind (though it's pretty close); the blue/purple one will serve you just fine. Having xfactors isn't necessarily the problem, I think the real issue is how they were added on top of AI and collision/physics telemetry that was never meant to accommodate them in the first place. The whole engine needs an overhaul for things to run smoother and cohesively

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

I assume drop-in "Nuke" here was gonna go for a hit and that's why he missed the easy pickup

Doesn't look like it. This just looks like a plain old missed pickup by the game. One could argue the incoming teammate and subsequent avoidance animation was queued which may have affected the pickup, but that's something that should be fixed, IMO. Good catch.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

I was only able to do so because not only did my friend also proceed to pick their other guy

That guy was way out of position after chasing you for a body check. The pick looks awful, but it doesn't appear to be a body check or anything - just getting in the way. I don't think EA is going to add interference penalties unless a shove or body check is executed. This is why the avoidance animations are so important and many more need to be added. Another good capture.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

this clip is about me breaking my arm again 

This is just a missed hit and the ragdoll of your arm has no impact on why this missed. Big Rig did it's job here, but the angle of the hit was not conducive to generating real impact:

Should've angled the carrier more to the corner:

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

missing on these types of plays happens a lot. Like, a LOT a lot

I agree hitting the post can be frustrating, but I think you're overstating how often this happens. To be fair, if the recipient of the puck had been calm and steady and corralled the puck and moved forehand before shooting, this would be a goal. It seems you are just holding shoot and going towards the net. Not a bad idea because a lot of goals come from doing that, but you can also trigger a shooting animation that nerfs accuracy - such as the shovel backhand you executed here

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

Sure, he wasn't looking in the direction of the first pass, but I can understand the frustration that comes from this - Instead of the puck coasting further to the side to take both players out of the play and slow things right down, instead of red continuing momentum to the side to reset the play, and instead of having the control to stop/pull back, it just lands right back on our tape. 

These are just advantageous pickups. Steezus' pickup was blind, as you mentioned - so there isn't a full reception. Your player had body positioning after the disruption and picks up the puck. Bad luck for Steezus but just the nature of positioning and puck luck. As for the puck simply being deflected wide of the entire play - I don't think the puck trajectory lent itself to doing so. Once someone interacts with it - like Steezus did - the angle changes but they aren't doing anything to increase the trajectory so much that it just glides into the zone.

On Steezus' part, he played it right by just keeping up with forward skating to get in between you two. However, he should've recognized you having the one timer and completely taken away the pass by getting right into your grill and forcing Jeffrey into a one on one with the goalie:

Here's a typical 2 on 1 and how I recognize the One-Timer and simply skate into the stick of the recipient and ensure I have body positioning to get the pickup animation:

Steezus seems to have adopted the, "If I'm in the pass lane, I should intercept it 100%" but as we've learned with EA's NHL series, there's been an added emphasis on reaction time. Steezus had enough reaction time to execute the automated poke reach, but was too in-tight to the pass in order to execute an actual pickup.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

No worries, he just casually loops around and takes out another two players again which gives us ample time on a two on 1. Hit the bar and it shot off into the crowd again...

Watching your team abuse truculence sure is grating. This works on novice teams for sure but you'd have a tough time against most skilled teams who implore solid D and know how to get around hit chasers. 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

Should this not have been goaltender interference? We been given goals and have had goals taken away for a lot less...

The defender is pushing the player into the goalie. This negates the interference logic.

And another one.

1. Oldie but a goody palate cleanser: the classic ringing it off the bar into the crowd. Not a major issue but still one to consider as it breaks up the play in what, I'm no math magician so can only assume, isn't a proper display of physics.

2. A little threefer. I assume drop-in "Nuke" here was gonna go for a hit and that's why he missed the easy pickup - I wish there was something hard coded or even a toggle option in the menus where we can select which functions takes priority in these types of situations. This could help negate hitting when going for shots or the amount of double passes that take place (the latter you can L1 cancel but that also opens you up to shotblock trips and in my opinion needs too fast of a reaction).

You can't tell because there is no overlay (please bring this back and give us more options for them) but I could not for the life of me move in closer for the hit; there was some sort of invisible barrier that didn't want him to die.

I'm glad the goalie made the save here, probably because this specific animation is so rare but I want to bring up the fact AI goalies have been adding another foot or so to their max distance when making aggressive saves when players get up close.

3. Few more things to unpack here. Buddy gets a two for 1 special with his hit - To my knowledge, this was semi-fixed last year but I think this year's interference issues are why we scored. I was only able to do so because not only did my friend also proceed to pick their other guy, the goalie when into business for himself.
Now, I appreciate a good poke as much as the next guy but this was way too early, should probably have led to a trip, and sprawling out like that first thing was probably the worst choice that could have been made. I will give him brownie points for actually sticking with the play though. Thanks Obama.

4. He definitely lubed up with a whole tub of butter before the game because he was super slippery with Big Rig all game but this clip is about me breaking my arm again  - Sometimes this just critically impairs control until the arm snaps back into place, but other times you can find yourself needing to get a whistle to fully "reset". 

5. I am definitely going against momentum with a backhand, yes, but missing on these types of plays happens a lot. Like, a LOT a lot; I don't see why I shouldn't be scoring more, especially when the goalie doesn't react to it. Also 60% threat analysis seems pretty low for what is essentially an empty net with a gimme goal - Starting to feel like Patrik Stefan here.

6. I was able to get a nice hit from behind at the same time our drop-in gave 'im the 'ol booty blast - Neither of us got a penalty and it all led to a goal. 
Steez here made 2 decent defensive attempts that ultimately fell flat - First immediately went back to us and then he tried in desperation to extend the stick which looks like it made contact but ultimately did nothing.

Sure, he wasn't looking in the direction of the first pass, but I can understand the frustration that comes from this - Instead of the puck coasting further to the side to take both players out of the play and slow things right down, instead of red continuing momentum to the side to reset the play, and instead of having the control to stop/pull back, it just lands right back on our tape. 

Kudos on him for maintaining the line forward (I would have probably studder stepped there), but then that poke doesn't get in the way of my shot, it just turned incorporeal and the goalie has no chance. I don't know his pokechecking stats but having more deflection/redirection abilities as a defensemen would go a long way for this game, especially in 3's. Perfect storm of micro issues leading to the goal but when it's sped up in a real time setting, it gives the team on the losing end the illusion of dirty pool.

So the play continues on, Cheryl Pounder tells em it's all about us escaping a penalty call and that was the final straw, these guys quit out. We lost audio and the play still continued though... what would have happened if the AI scored on us to tie the game?

7. Yes, thank you! This screen is so much better than the strange "OF WORLD CHEL" stacked ice one. Please continue to use more backgrounds like this.

8. Lol so another one of those serendipitous plays that could have gone so bad so quick (and usually does; i'm actually amazed this didn't happen late in the game when we were making a comeback or it was tied and we'd lose like 1,500 RP if they scored).

No worries, he just casually loops around and takes out another two players again which gives us ample time on a two on 1. Hit the bar and it shot off into the crowd again...

9. Should this not have been goaltender interference? We been given goals and have had goals taken away for a lot less...

Also, by this time we were on a 13 or so game win streak and Pink Whit had been there for at least 4 or 5 of em - Why do drop-in stats reset every single game even if they remain in the dressing room/lobby for multiple games? It'd be nice to see total session stats. Also, why are logos always so dark?

10. Activated my go go gadget extendy arm there and somehow scored - I wish there were some tweeks to the presentation here - my arm was broken, the stick was flexed the wrong way, the goalie's leg was stuck in the post, and he didn't even make an attempt to move into the pass - he instead just no look pokes at it.

11. I don't like how I snagged the puck and I guess the other team couldn't stomach it either and quite. I love how the hats just continue to rain down with everything else frozen; pretty decent amount for an away game.

12. I can't remember the exact reason I added this clip, probably the goalie getting easily deked. Anyway, I still think all players should have more natural awareness of where the puck is at any given time so there can, at least, visually, be more attempts at grabbing it. 

13. This was apparently a grudge match - The other team only played 4 games total and we've never seen em before but I guess there can be a grudge when the other team is also using white jerseys... please fix this.
Also, should grudge matches not just be for dedicated clubs? Like, we had some random drop in playing with us. In the future I'd like to see actual grudge matches between teams who have a real history, complete with proper 4th xfactors that consider previous games shortcomings and positive aspects.

Goalie NO. Goalie BAD


14. Probably not interference but maybe charging? Whatever I did, it led to a goal.
We used to have those calls but they were a tad buggy and I assume the team figured it was easier to remove them than apply a complicated fix - I think we need to see a return of elbow calls, hits from behind, unsportsmanlike etc. if you want to continue using xfactors in their current state.

Stats like Discipline, Shotblock, and Durability are completely useless/pointless - We need to start tweaking how stats work in general (with vastly better descriptions) and maybe it's time to axe/create a select few

A knee on knee would make more sense in a real life scenario but fine, I didn't properly describe it because I honestly didn't think i needed to - It doesn't matter at the end of the day anyway what it is in the game because the whole point is to show another example of hitting not being in a good spot. 

I understand the clipping helps the spaghetti code out, I just want more polish added to the game. Most of these scenarios are unpolished and even real NHLers are stunned, on camera (in official videos, mind you), with what goes on on. You say fluid gameplay but it's not fluid visually, and realistically speaking, completely changes the play at hand.

His attempt to poke just goes right through my friend? Reality and immersion breaking - It could have led to a penalty which would have stopped the entire sequence, and it looks bad
You then have my guy's stick go through him without even pushing the skate or tangling their player up which again, would happen normally and the game does have the code/animations for.

You needa run straight lines to maintain and gain speed yeah? Trying that hard to immediately cut in to a guy when you realize what happened will undoubtedly cause you to lose more speed. Again, he should have more than enough in the speed+accel stats (and i've shown stamina) to keep up down the middle and yet he can still blow by with plenty of energy of his own without the apparent use of xfactors - There was 100% no way to fully stop that once it started so I have no choice to call shenanigans on that; best he'd manage with a perfect stretch straight down would be blocking the attempt to go to the right but of course all you need to do is just deke left.
You claim to want him to deke past but that is exactly what we wouldn't want since it plays into his style and gives him more speed (which obviously you can't determine from just these vids alone); he wants to cut over to the other side for his bread and butter with a quick release. By using all that stamina to get down, our guy would need to immediately stop and hold out the stick for a dangerous poke which would take him further out of position - Goalies tend to drop down as soon as you pass their center vision so it'd be a massive disadvantage either way.

Your 6v6 plays differently than 3v3 and most of your defensive strategies aren't as easy on paper since we need jack of all trades builds and can't just dedicate ourselves to a single position. The AI will crash the net no matter what setting you have them on so yeah, you might (definitely) have to cover for them at some point - Drop ins are either spectacular or absolute garbage and eventually leave anyway - It's much easier to just pretend like the AI and goalies don't even exist. Literally every type of shot, no matter the speed or angle, is dangerous to AI goalies and human G's are laughably bad; I can wholeheartedly say I have never once seen a good human G.

So what if the defenseman was blocked? He shouldn't have been there in the first place and this is the reason why allowing drop-ins for your club is a stupid idea - Leave the "let's see what he's got" bs to practice or unranked. Again, what does any of that play matter but the goalie itself? Heck, I'll just give the opposing player the puck and we'll all just sit down with popcorn and watch, hang that nasty goalie out to dry -- He just poofs it and the goalie attempts a pad save? Why on earth would it do that? 0 awareness to, I don't know, cover the puck up? I'll call that out every time, especially when he can a clear view of it.

You keep making comments like that but when teams want the game to be harder, it should mean something. I don't want the AI to play like superstars all the time (don't keep trying to twist my words on this subject, you know exactly what I want) but I also don't want to babysit special needs players. My buddy is literally autistic and mocking these brain dead plays, it makes me angry just how bad they usually are when they can, from time to time, show moments of sheer brilliance. You can tell us to just "play better" all you want but I would like the game's core issues to actually be fixed. Again, i'm a ones global champ, the Chef is top 100 in HUT (which has it's own myriad problems), and "Atem" basically owns the VS betting market - we know how the game works and top whatever leaderboard if we truly wanted to dedicate the time, but the game just makes itself difficult to enjoy and that makes it not worth it. 

Strong defensive play will only give you a 50/50 chance on these goalies - go back and look at my other videos; I'm sure there are a few examples. This is what I don't like about the moving mountains style of defensive hockey compared to offense.

A habit of running into players, yeah that's how hitting works - it's basically the only fun thing left in the game. My broken arm that completely hinders control shouldn't even be a thing so maybe the devs can actually fix that hm? This isn't real hockey though, it's a video game where yes, you definitely can dole out massive blackhole-esque hits from nothing. We need a mix of both arcade and realism and the game is failing on both fronts. 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

the main issue his how he just crumples because of the awful hit mechanics and just stays down like he's been shot when I've shown people getting up right away from a lot worse.

Truculence is known to be completely OP. This absolutely should be fixed. My reasoning for pointing out there was no 'kneeing' is because the fact you claim the player was hit with a 'knee' shows you're not paying attention to the close details that would give you a better understanding of the nuance.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

the mechanic blows chunks and I don't know why you want to defend it.

I'm not defending it at all. Pay closer attention.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

Him stumbling into the boards and my guy just phasing his whole stick through the body to get the puck isn't weird to you? 

We’ve talked about stick-through-body clipping countless times, so this shouldn’t be surprising. The short version is: videogames sometimes have to bend reality to maintain fluid gameplay and consistent outcomes.

When the natural trajectory of your stick would make contact with another player’s body, the engine has a choice: either animate a full physical collision—which is extremely costly to compute in real time and often produces janky or unintended results—or allow the stick to pass through the model. In many cases, the game intentionally opts for the latter.

It’s not that the stick shouldn’t hit the player; it’s that the engine doesn’t have the physical animation bandwidth to resolve that contact properly without causing unrealistic knock-ons. So instead, the stick is momentarily treated as non-physical to avoid a collision that would disrupt the intended outcome of the play. Essentially, the clipping is a controlled compromise to keep gameplay smooth, readable, and fair—rather than adding chaotic, unintended interactions every time two animations overlap.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

All that momentum for the puck to stop completely in the skates? It doesn't work like that and players don't just plant like a tree in the NHL.

I'm sorry, are we watching different scenarios? 

Tell me how the puck should react to being skated directly into a skate...

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

Your own gif right above your response shows his stamina bar, the fact he stops for a split second there shows he'd have even more stamina. We have mics too, its not like we can't communicate where our "health" is at any given time. You want a screenshot of his build too?

He doesn't stop. He glides for like 5 frames and gets beat because rather than close the gap and angle out, he chooses to skate in a straight line to match speed. Doing this allowed the carrier to generate straight-line speed. Rookie mistake.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

OK there Mr. -50,

Let's maybe leave the personal attacks out of this eh? We've been doing well in that regard, no reason to derail it now. 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

this guy always wanted you to take the angle so he could use his dekes to clear away.

That’s exactly what you want to accomplish as a defender in this situation: slow down the puck carrier and force them into a lateral move directly in front of you. This achieves two key things: it buys time for your backchecking forwards to recover and support, and it creates an ideal moment for you to use DSS or a poke check to disrupt possession as the puck carrier crosses your center plane.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

This is just an example of how much faster and easier it is for the offense to resnag the puck than it is to hit/make a defensive play and come out the victor

But you are conveniently omitting how your player skated directly into a defender and caused a turnover at a time in which your defender was incapacitated. That same forward was then forced to backskate and as I've mentioned - actually had a small window of opportunity to close the gap and angle out, chose rather to try and match speed and got burned. Welcome to hockey.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

I just wish that making any sort of defensive play felt more rewarding than it currently is

It's insanely rewarding playing defence if you're dedicated to the position, read and anticipate plays properly. Many of the people who claim defending is so difficult is because they're busy reacting to plays rather than reading them and anticipating them. 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

Could blame the drop-in d man you claim was such a great idea but it's not like that would have made a difference anyway

It was a great idea. Judging by your clips, your team leans on truculence abuse and constantly driving the net with your two forwards, leaving the DMan all alone. That's poor 3v3 play. 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

"Rebound should be fixed" Well there ya go , so yes, I will blame the goalie on this.

You're blaming the goalie for letting in a goal where your opponent had 2 players, all alone with all the time and space in the world while all 3 of you were actively skating away from that danger. Make it make sense. 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

Everything else in that scenario doesn't matter and you know full well I'm right that the goalies are horrendous

Goalies being left alone to face repeated odd-man rushes should never be expected to perform like brick walls. In real hockey, even elite goaltenders have low odds in those situations because the attacking team has time, space, and multiple passing/shooting options. When your defense is out of position, you’re essentially handing the opposition a high-danger scoring chance before the goalie even has a chance to react.

Strong defensive positioning is what prevents those situations from happening in the first place—closing gaps, angling attackers wide, eliminating passing lanes, and forcing low-percentage shots. When that structure breaks down, the goalie is at an immediate and unavoidable disadvantage.

It sounds as though you’re asking for the goalie to act as a bailout mechanic, erasing the consequences of poor defensive play and turning every 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 into a routine save. That wouldn’t be realistic, and it would undermine the entire defensive side of the game. If the goalie were expected to stop an endless stream of odd-man rushes, there’d be no incentive for anyone to play proper defense.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

CHOOO CHOOOOO pain train coming through, you can just cosplay as Mr. Slam and knock people down.

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

I did initiate a hit though and you can clearly see my arm getting broken on his back which bungles everything up

Because, as evidenced in your other clips - you have a habit of skating directly into players and then trying to execute a mechanic. 

Tell me this - should a real life NHL player be able to execute a top-tier body check while their positioning currently has one of their arms stuck on an opponent who they are on top of? 

TTZ_Dipsy wrote:

For once I would appreciate if you could just not blindly defend the 1's and 0's of the game - 

Posting GIFs, highlighting issues in clips you've posted is literally the exact opposite of 'blindly' defending something.

You need to have more whimsy here mate, I don't care if its a knee, a shoulder check, him tomahawking him in the face with the stick, the main issue his how he just crumples because of the awful hit mechanics and just stays down like he's been shot when I've shown people getting up right away from a lot worse.

I have shown numerous examples of how truculence can affect both sides, this has nothing to do with tasting my own medicine - the mechanic blows chunks and I don't know why you want to defend it.

Him stumbling into the boards and my guy just phasing his whole stick through the body to get the puck isn't weird to you? You get locked into animations where you need to just hope you snag the puck - thats not good.

All that momentum for the puck to stop completely in the skates? It doesn't work like that and players don't just plant like a tree in the NHL. People bring up numerous examples of inferior collision all the time, this is just a small taste. Brush it off all you want but we've needed better geometry for ages.

Your own gif right above your response shows his stamina bar, the fact he stops for a split second there shows he'd have even more stamina. We have mics too, its not like we can't communicate where our "health" is at any given time. You want a screenshot of his build too?

OK there Mr. -50, that's all well and good in a perfect scenario but this guy always wanted you to take the angle so he could use his dekes to clear away. What happened to them making the puck carrier slower? There was no backskate and caught flat footed, no temporary stat buff to this guy. So what is he's playing defense now? I keep saying in 3v3 you need to play all positions - the whole point is to keep circling and switching as a unit.

This is just an example of how much faster and easier it is for the offense to resnag the puck than it is to hit/make a defensive play and come out the victor; he even got it before his teammate rushing is. The came caters to offense, its fine, I just wish that making any sort of defensive play felt more rewarding than it currently is. It'sn ot like he isn't allowed to get the puck back at all, but he certainly shouldn't have many options in this scenario and deserved a follow up crushing. Could blame the drop-in d man you claim was such a great idea but it's not like that would have made a difference anyway - You can shrug off all the hits you want with Warrior, Truculence is still devastating even when not used to it's fullest potential - guy should have such low stamina at this point there he's more susceptible to a follow up.

"Rebound should be fixed" Well there ya go , so yes, I will blame the goalie on this. Everything else in that scenario doesn't matter and you know full well I'm right that the goalies are horrendous. "Just defend better" - If that one screenshot of your +- is anything to go off of, you should probably slide off that high horse and we can all just agree the goalies need work, regardless of anything else.

My guy, you don't even need to flick the sticks to lay people out, you should know this. CHOOO CHOOOOO pain train coming through, you can just cosplay as Mr. Slam and knock people down. I did initiate a hit though and you can clearly see my arm getting broken on his back which bungles everything up - yet another issue they don't want to fix. You can still destroy people with shoves as well (again, you should know this); the shove was attempted a little late but still well within the over generous hit window (which also needs to be addressed)

For once I would appreciate if you could just not blindly defend the 1's and 0's of the game - Just because that how it is, doesn't mean that's how it 'should" be.