NHL 26 Gameplay Deep Dive Aug 13th

I guess it is safe to say the other deep dive trailers will be on each Wednesday of this month too.

Optimistic hopes..

They talk about goalie improvements (AND have ACTUALLY made changes and improvements to the position)

They talk about changes to the hitting system and net front stuff.

They talk about balance in rewarding good opportunities and not just using brain dead movements/ strategies to score.

Pessimistic guesses

They show us a new shot/ deke to help the offense.

They make something easier for people to score, whether it be hurting the defense further, playmaker easier, or a boost to goal scoring.

They say there will be improvements to skater AI and goalie play but after a week we just make subtle adjustments and they feel every bit as bad.

We will see. Hopefully the changes to X factors and the NHL Edge data can be good..

Can you honestly ever see goalies being perfected to a point where there is no (cheese goal)? I don’t think it’s possible. That triple deke has been around for decades now so there must be a reason. Regardless though, I think there will always be something..

Because many of the goals people deem cheese aren't that to them.  Giving up shots in close especially a deke is considered your fault.  Why do you think those things never get looked at?  Because it's human error 99% of the time.  Now there are baffling times goalies let in the dumbest of things but goalies have still improved quite a bit over the years in various years.  They never used to put pucks into corners on saves, rebound control is better for the most part,  faster reactions on double saves, and a bit better on handling one tees over the years.  But much like goalies get improvements so do the shooters so it's always counter balancing.

Anyway happy gameplay trailer launch day!

There are stupid goals in real life as well. I remember Vancouver versus Columbus last season, Columbus' goalie comes way out of his net to play the puck, hoping to beat the oncoming Vancouver player. He does, but passes the puck and the Vancouver guy intercepts it and gets an easy goal. That stuff happens all the time. Like you state you are never going to get a perfect goalie in game, but they aren't perfect in real life either. Same with players, they make dumb mistakes, having everyone be perfect in the game, would be unrealistic. Is the AI ridiculously dumb at times? Yes, but everyone can admit that so are they at times. 

The backhand goals would suggest they've not improved, each year it seems they make slight progress in an area then create gaping holes in others now it's D2D 1T, backhand, and full pressure from one slap after someone enters the zone. As far as human mistakes.. again, I now play bad positionaly to take away the backhand because it has a higher % chance than a 1T. In real life I would NEVER position myself in this way, a goalie would be trusted to hold his post, in this game the AI goalie reads controller input so a simple Bh, FH,BH pulls him off the post even when there is little to no threat that the opponent can take it across and go far side. I should trust a goalie to hold his post more than I trust him to make a diving save across his crease to stop a 1T but in NHL 25 I absolutely don't. I'd be much happier to see 1T's go in super easy than a backhand go in super easy because at least then I would be playing positionally and giving up an easy 1T would be easier to swallow because it would more than likely be human error. In EASHL D2D can be stopped by playing well, in HUT (i dont play that) I've heard that you gotta decide to have AI take away net front stuff or D2D (you can correct me if I'm wrong there, I don't like to play with any AI if I don't have to but often have/ play against AI goalie. Maybe playing your AI hard on the point and usering the center or something down low in the crease defends the zone well?

As far as the gameplay trailer.. its basically everything I expected them to say. Focus on the NHL edge, Xfactors, then some stuff on goalie play. None of it can be verified through the videos. It doesn't inspire much confidence when half the trailer was real NHL footage (also not to suggest it means it's definitely bad) it's gonna be a wait and see. I'm happy with the fix to hip checks, speed boost, and reverse hits (if I'm being honest, all of that should have and would have likely been a free title update in nearly any other $70 game but I digress) that's good to see them acknowledge and/or fix the biggest issues to gameplay. If goalies are actually improved by the Ice Q then all my biggest gameplay complaints will have been addressed. I'm not asking for brickwall goalies.. I just don't want to play poor positionally to stop something a goalie SHOULD see coming (I also probably should find some humans to play in goal if I'm being honest with myself, but I think the position needs some updates, many people hate playing in net) 

If everything they've fixed is in working order my next fixes would likely be net front stuff and maybe update the whole fighting mechanic (personally I hate fighting and wish I could just select NOT to drop the gloves especially after a clean hit) the fighting seems a bit outdated and clunky, fighting isnt overly important but I think an update after 10 or so years is probably warranted. Net front stuff also feels really clunky.. sometimes stuff works sometimes its hard to trigger. These 2 things definitely feel the most outdated.

I think updates to hitting in general could be used too. I think hitting was probably improved from.the old style as you just had to hold up and it would connect (unless they turned their hips, which was a whole different issue) the system now is fine, I think the biggest hit annimation is a little on the extreme side and sorta arcade looking.. maybe update that.. then maybe make a small window of correction when going into a hit (Not the giant bubble of correction of old though)

in this game the AI goalie reads controller input

Goalies, and AI players for that matter, do not read controller inputs.

(if I'm being honest, all of that should have and would have likely been a free title update in nearly any other $70 game but I digress)

On one hand, I agree. The problem is that, especially in the case of fixing the LT glitch, there can be a very big impact on other aspects of gameplay. For example, pivoting is used by all skaters. So, finding the best way to handle that without slowing down pivoting, which would be terrible for defenders, is going to take time and testing to achieve. And something that is probably better saved for the next game rather than making drastic changes mid-lifecycle and force everyone to adapt to the new pivoting. So, I get that they look like simple fixes for a patch, it's more about the overall impact to the game that affect other areas as well. The classic, fixing one thing breaks another.

Appreciate all the feedback. Thank you!

Hello EA_Aljo​ this is from a life long fan. I really enjoy the games but I believe realistic gameplay has always been lacking and its time for a change. For example, CPU zone entries are always the same, carrying pucks into the zone individually. No puck dumps, nor passing entries. The CPU power play and offensive zone puck possession is as unreal as it gets; there is never any cvycling of the puck which is intrical to teh real game. Has that been addressed?

Hey. Unfortunate, we'll have to wait to see if the new AI handle these scenarios better.