NHL 26 WOC is now pay to win
To start off, I have loved playing NHL for years on xbox. I've taken a break from playing since NHL 24, which was an absolutely great time. My favorite game mode was WOC since it was so much fun to c...
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I feel we’re arguing over definitions.
The definition of pay to win, see below, is you pay money to get immediately gameplay advantages or skip a grind to get these advantages. No one, including my self, the others opposed to these or the definitions, are arguing that these advantages guarantee wins. I feel this is a strawman argument.
There are pay to win loadouts in NHL26. Certain prebuilt loadouts are behind a paywall that can’t be replicated with custom loadouts. Also apparently some of the red x-factors are behind this paywall after the grind period expired.
As far as I am aware, I haven’t been able to play a lot of CHEL lately, these pay to win aspects aren’t too egregious yet. I also am aware that video game production is highly capital intensive and there is a real need to increase revenue to keep it going at an acceptable profit rate. It doesn’t make me some weird victim to be concerned that the pay to win aspects in my favorite game will increase slowly to such an amount that eventually players who want to remain competitive will have to allow themselves to be fleeced. So myself, and others, strongly feel the need to stop these pay to win aspects in the bud. Especially with this current economy.
Yes skilled players with team cohesion who are using custom loadouts can easily smash unskilled players with pay to win stuff playing hero hockey. But with two comparable teams, the team with the pay to win aspects are much more favored to win. Think of a match in play now between team USA and team Japan between two equal skill players.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerAs mentioned previously, nobody is debating the definition. Paying for an advantage is commonly known as P2W. When it comes to NHL 26 in particular, skill is going to get you wins rather than a pre-made loadout. However, I recognize the pre-made loadouts fall into that P2W definition.
Yes skilled players with team cohesion who are using custom loadouts can easily smash unskilled players with pay to win stuff playing hero hockey. But with two comparable teams, the team with the pay to win aspects are much more favored to win. Think of a match in play now between team USA and team Japan between two equal skill players.
If you have 2 teams made up of players with the same skill, the better builds have an advantage. I wouldn't call them favored to win. Especially with the nature of the sport of hockey. Which also has a high amount of unpredictability with puck bounces.
We're going in circles here. There is very little good feedback coming out of this. So, I'd like to find out what you all would do to make things more fair. Making these loadouts free is most likely not going to happen. Just like allowing custom builds the same attributes as pre-made loadouts is unlikely. Otherwise, what's the point of them? What would you do to ensure everyone has an equal chance at winning whether using custom or pre-made loadouts?
Also, how often are you all running into players with these builds and are struggling to beat them? How much are they actually taking away from your enjoyment of the game?
Well first off, Kid is very deliberately debating the definition by claiming it's "pay for advantage" and keeps trying to derail the topic by saying the builds don't guarantee wins when that's not at all what anyone else is saying.
"If you have 2 teams made up of players with the same skill, the better builds have an advantage. I wouldn't call them favored to win." ???
We're going in circles because of insane and irrational logic like this. A team has a clear advantage; they should, therefore have, even if slightly, better odds to win out the gate.
The only way to remove the P2W stain from the game is to make any EA curated builds free (with at least 1 catchup event if tied to a battlepass), and to have cosmetics be the ONLY thing that can be purchased via the store.
All I saw in Div 1 was people using those builds but who cares at the end of the day? The amount of times you see those players shouldn't matter at all - it's the fact they exist AT ALL that is the problem and it's so sad seeing a bunch of you trying to defend such scummy practices. Again, it doesn't matter one ounce how negligible the advantage CAN be or if you're so full of yourself you think you're just naturally better at stopping any build they throw at you, EA is attempting to milk even more money out of the consumer by utilizing immoral practice I'm pretty sure the vast majority of "regular" users don't want/care for.Well first off, Kid is very deliberately debating the definition by claiming it's "pay for advantage" and keeps trying to derail the topic by saying the builds don't guarantee wins when that's not at all what anyone else is saying.
Please stop attacking me. I am offering my opinion without attacking anyone. Please, I'm begging you to stop reducing these debates into mindless baseless attacks.
"If you have 2 teams made up of players with the same skill, the better builds have an advantage. I wouldn't call them favored to win." ???
Equal skill level doesn't mean exact same decision making. The issue with this example is that you're still making the assumption that builds are the one and only factor in determining who is 'favored' to win.
A team has a clear advantage; they should, therefore have, even if slightly, better odds to win out the gate.
You're once again incorrectly assuming builds are the only factor in determining game outcomes.
I hear you on this. What is the point of a season pass if it doesn't have a reward the players are going to want? I think the old salts don't really care as much about cosmetics. I also don't know how much having them really brings in the Fortnite crowd. I do appreciate attempts to increase the playerbase as its win-win for EA and the online players.
The pre-loads don't kill my enjoyment as much as I originally thought they would, but its also tough to judge because I don't have a consistent baseline. We match up against teams of all skill levels, with the pre-builds and without. But what I can say I am still more concerned about things like speed being king, unlimited reverse hit, too large a hitting window ruining the game no matter what build you use.
It is groan-inducing loading into a lobby and seeing the other side entirely rocking McDavid, MacKinnon, and Chara. Instead of meta game x-factors we now just have meta game pre-builds as they allow exploiting higher level x-factors. EA saw it fit to rebalance the cost of equipping the meta x-factors, so there is a tacit acknowledgement that something there is wrong. That line of thinking should extend to the pre-builds then.
- EA_Aljo
But what I can say I am still more concerned about things like speed being king, unlimited reverse hit, too large a hitting window ruining the game no matter what build you use.
Yes. I 100% agree with you on this. People exploiting OP XFs and mechanics are the things that drive me nuts. I couldn't care less about the pre-made builds because all of them have been absolutely beatable. The teams that are challenging are the ones that play well together. They find the open lanes using snappy, tic-tac passing, they just know where their teammates are, they use set plays, they have team chemistry and just know how to use each other's skills. That is how you win games. Pre-made builds are only going to give you so much of an advantage. Which is why they really don't bother me.
It is groan-inducing loading into a lobby and seeing the other side entirely rocking McDavid, MacKinnon, and Chara. Instead of meta game x-factors we now just have meta game pre-builds as they allow exploiting higher level x-factors. EA saw it fit to rebalance the cost of equipping the meta x-factors, so there is a tacit acknowledgement that something there is wrong. That line of thinking should extend to the pre-builds then.
It is, but in most cases they really aren't as challenging as they may seem. I think a lot of people hope those builds are going to make up for a difference in skill and team chemistry. If they are relying on the higher numbers and XFs for wins, I don't think it's going to really play out as well as they think. Granted, I almost exclusively play 6s. Pre-made builds are probably a bigger threat in 3s where you have more open ice.
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- EA_Aljo11 months ago
