What Do we Gotta Do?

MostlyHubris​  You aren't the only one that has been flown anywhere get over yourself. I been to EA PLAY via invitation, I spoken to Devs at Studio in Orlando for Madden, NBA LIVE and RPGS. I Still test for them not just NHL. Take your own advice and read the room outside of the forum i.e. social media engagement for any of the EA tweets, Reddit, and oh did you read the part about crical industry/user reviews I guess you missed that too. 

Timba101 wrote:

the evidence of pain point is clear in majority

"Clear majority" keep following here. 

Timba101 wrote:

almost Unanimous consenting feeling that X-factors are what are breaking the gameplay.

"almost" which leads back to the point of more than the minority by overwhelming amount. I also stated and showed critic reviews, sentiments from other sources. Since you want to hang yourself up on 40 people. You also aren't reading, but I'm not surprised even your name says it all Mostly Hubris. 

MostlyHubris wrote:

Articulate, thoughtful feedback will always get more recognition. Always. It's gotten me plenty of closed alpha/beta invites and lots of developer engagement in a small handful of games. In fact, it got me flown out to Burnaby for NHL Community Day, way back when. The team will listen. I haven't ever seen anybody at any events who just yells that the game is garbage, though. Weird stuff. 

It doesn't matter how you feel not just my experience, but EA developers own words from not just NHL, since it seems, your scope is limited to just NHL. Developers use all valid feedback regardless of how it is conveyed contrary to your opinion. Matter of fact the ones who acknowledge it like EA_Aljo​ even though he isn't a dev (I presume), still gets more respect because they understand there is improvement needed. We can point to many more examples such as Battlefield devs making a 180 and so on after toxic and critical backlash of 2042 (also sales).  Another example Star Wars Battlefront 2, the backlash was not nice (also sales), you probably missed that on your flight to the studio. Anthem shut down because of backlash and direction; we can keep going but not enough time. Just because you don't like the delivery doesn't mean it is not valid. 

Customers DRIVE change. Irate (if it crosses the line they will get banned guaranteed) or calm 

You continually come here as a contrarian of "its not happening to me" look at me "I can poke check" so therefore it isn't a problem again... hubris. This is the last time I respond to such a dense individual as you. Clearly you fail to have any sensitivity to the community of let's say, "40 people here" because the game sells "millions of copies". Regardless of how you feel it won't stop until the customer feels satisfied for their $100 or $70 or sale purchase. they have earned the right to be irritated when they don't find value. 

Before you even insinuate IM NOT SAYING they should come here and ask for people's job or say violent things to the devs. Yet, they are intitled to say "this game is sh*... and here are the sh*... reasons why." If people that are too soft to take that kind of criticism are the reason why we lost accountability and we are where we are with a middling borderline bad game.  

MostlyHubris wrote:

They will release tuner sets and make occasional updates and patches, but for the most part, NHL 26 is in the books and NHL 27 is already in the works.

If you don't find a problem with this EA selling a product that is less than optimal and don't understand why hard-working people and fans are highly upset. Then, you are the one out of touch and can't relate to any of the pain points experienced. Carry on with your hubris.  :) 

I did not ever say "I can poke check so it's fine". Stick checking is one of my biggest and most constant gripes. Didn't read anything else since you're just here to make things up when they suit you. Exhausting tryhard. Next. 

All I said (which is true whether you care to understand it or not) is that hyperbolic or abusive feedback is not going to get you recognition, and that using the community manager like a punching bag is probably going to lead to less engagement. 

Articulate, thoughtful feedback will always get more recognition. Always. It's gotten me plenty of closed alpha/beta invites and lots of developer engagement in a small handful of games. In fact, it got me flown out to Burnaby for NHL Community Day, way back when. The team will listen. I haven't ever seen anybody at any events who just yells that the game is garbage, though. Weird stuff. 

While a profanity-laden rant may feel good, those will rarely get a response. I'd rather focus on the messages being constructive. I absolutely get that we all are very passionate for this game and that combined with frustration leads to some pretty spicy messages. I'm going to give attention to someone taking the time to maturely give us their thoughts rather than the ones just yelling insults and saying the game is terrible. Those are also the messages that never get seen by the developers. So, if you want to make a difference, you stand a far better chance of that happening by just being cool and chilling on the hateful messages.

EA_Aljo​ If it came out that way I apologize. The Frustration is real. I think Ive given some real good Feedback but sometimes its hard to Keep the Emotions down. When People have been giving Criticism for years and we still are not seeing Results. Instead we just keep seeing more and more garbage being added.  And Just have our suggestions/concerns ignored. 

NHL 27 

Remove all Prebuilds and Skins

Remove All Xfactors.

Bring Back Boost packs seen on NHL 14

Use NHL 09-14 Menus

Fix all Attributes make them work Properly.

Get rid of Wind up hitting its awful. 

I can understand the frustration and I know that can boil over at times. We just need to keep things constructive here.

We aren't ignoring anything. I know it looks that way. There is a huge amount of feedback. As with every year, some of it is addressed. Some is not. Just because we don't action a request, that doesn't mean it's being ignored. Chances are good it's still being evaluated, but there is no guarantee that every issue reported is going to be addressed.

I don't agree on pre-builds though. Those aren't winning games alone. Like any build, it takes skill to be successful. My club regularly shuts down teams using pre-builds. I'd love an option to turn off seeing the skins though.

I'd like to see the XFs balanced better. Going back to NHL 14 isn't the answer. That game had it's issues as well. People are nostalgic about it, but if that game came back today, I'm sure we'd get complaints. Especially with being able to skate laterally against your blades. It was very unrealistic. You also didn't have a loose puck. There was the lock on hitting as well. Yeah, my club played way more NHL 14 than we do 26. It's also been 12 years and we all don't have the same amount of time to play like we did back then. Personally, I think we'd do a lot better by balancing the gameplay of 26 rather than going back to 14.

Menus are a different issue. Times have changed. There's a lot more going on behind the scenes now. Personally, the menus don't bother me. They're not fast, but I don't find them to be annoyingly slow either. I'd definitely like to see them streamlined though.

EA_Aljo​ I understand that. I just get mad because Ive watched our time on NHL dwindle down to almost nothing compared to the older Titles. Some of thats Priorities but alot of its the quality of the game. Between NHL 2009-2014 Id say I avg about 1500 hours of game play maybe more. Lot of people are going to laugh but the reality is NHL was the only game i was playing. We'd play Friday Saturday every weekend for about 4 hours late at night. The last Few years we avg maybe 200 hours total the game plays so poorly or takes so long to Find a game now that its not even worth playing. NHL used to be the game that Friends of mine who moved out of state Got on to catch up over a long week to talk 💩 and have fun. Now with BF6 on its way NHL will be the game that collects dust. 

I get you dont think Prebuilds are a problem. And it's not that we cant beat Prebuilds. Its the fact that they're even in the game. EASHL is a mode meant for Customization. You can customize almost everything about your player right down to the thread on your skates. There are now More prebuilds than Custom builds in the game. I believe its 15 prebuilds to 12 custom. Im sick of opening up the game and seeing Unlock Orca or Play as Shark. Get out of here with that garbage. You want prebuilds put them in Arcade mode. If we cant customize our player build to the level EA can Customize the prebuilds they shouldnt be in the game. I also see the writing on the wall with Prebuilds. I believe eventually EA will keep the prebuilds and eliminate Attributes again. And I dont want that. I want to Make my player to my style of play. Removing Prebuilds would be a great start for NHL 27. Also instead of Prebuilds why dont you create or atleast rework some of the Custom builds to make them more distinct. I also think you should get rid of the Build height and weight caps. I think a Powerforward should be able to be 5'9 190 pounds. Gallagher could be the best example of a smaller power forward. Danglers/Snipers should be able to be 6'3 220. Look at kovalev bigger body amazing hands great shot.

When I talk about NHL 09-14 i only bring it up because NHL 14 had more to give to the game. NHL 14 had features that were more gameplay oriented. NHL 26 the New feature is Cosmetic lol. 

The Boost system is far better than the Xfactors. Xfactors have and will continue to ruin the game. It doesn't matter how much you nerf there will always be problems. Xfactors have to much power over a build. It really makes attributes irrelevant and thats a huge problem. So go back to the old game and copy the boost system. 

NHL 09-14 also Allowed us to test the Attributes. In free skate. They had shot radar to test the speed of our shots. They had target shooting to test accuracy and a couple skating drills. Another great feature that was removed. 

Nhl09-14 had the ability to Change your stick flex the curve of your stick blade and Skate radius. Another great feature removed. 

Im not asking for you to give us NHL 14 game play im just asking for Key features to make a comeback. Like I dont understand how A newer game doesnt have the features a game from 12-16 years ago. Instead like we get cosmetics in the newer games. Its an absolute shame. 

The menus where you changed attributes on NHL 14 were way nicer than they are on 26. Nice and Bold. Menus just looked way better back then. Or maybe im just sick of seeing the same laggy menus on the last 5+ years of this game.

If EA gave us NHL 26 maybe even NHL 22 gameplay. With the Features from NHL 14 that I just brought up. Combined with the Attribute and Boost system that NHL 14 had this game would be so much better. 

OH and If you brought back match club size/goalie would be helpful as well. 

Id also like to see Total controls completely removed or atleast changed. Pressing one button shouldn't be a Michigan. 

Ill continue to post these suggestions as NHL was far better back in the day than it is now even with the problems NHL 14 had NHL 26 has more and isnt as fun. 

If NHL 14 was put back online Id rather get on that game than NHL 26 and I think alot of people would agree. NHL 14 needed some work but instead they completely changed the game and Butchered the Heck of out it since. 

EA_Aljo​ I appreciate you for taking the heat that the community dumps on you. I know you probably get sick of us or atleast me. But I just want NHL back to what it could be not what it is.

If my friends and I had the same amount of time to play that we had with NHL 14, chances are excellent we'd still be playing just as much. It's just not possible at this stage of our lives. So much has changed since then. I get that the game doesn't hold the same interest for you. Everyone's different. I still come across people that play a huge amount of games. 

Pre-builds just don't bother me. Except for the skins. I don't care for those. Pre-builds or not, people find the meta and build the fastest player they can. In the end, you can have a player with everything at 99, but it doesn't matter if they don't have the skill to play. There's so much more in this mode than just attributes so I personally don't put a lot of weight into them. Yes, they're important, but they aren't really going to make up for a skill or chemistry with your teammates.

There were changes this year to builds. It's entirely possible they will change again in the future.

You can turn on the on-ice trainer to see your targeting. The shot speed is shown on the boards. I don't know if this is in the practice arena or not though. I know a mode where you shoot at targets would be fun, but there are probably bigger things to work on that would benefit the community more. 

One button controls don't bother me that much either. I rarely ever see anyone even attempt a Michigan let alone score with one. 

We don't have the same features from NHL 14 because it's 12 years later. We already get accused of copying and pasting the game every year. Yet we continually get asked to bring back 14. Have you played 14 lately? I'd be curious to see what people think after not playing it for so long.

I know some of you are super passionate about menus. I would love the option to just make them all text based. Totally boring looking. I'm not a presentation guy so basic menus would be awesome. But that's not really a reality in 2025. There's so much that has to go on in the background. We will continue to try to optimize them.

I hope match club size returns. We'll have to wait and see if it happens.

EA_Aljo​ People play the game because its the only NHL game out there. NHL 26 isnt even the best game in the last 5 years and its certainly not Better than NHL 09-14. Again I admit NHL 09-14 had there problems mostly Poke check was broken and a number of Attributes didnt work properly. NHL 26 gameplay is fine but Xfactors along with a few other things just absolutely destroy the game.

Again Im Not Asking you to remake NHL 14 im just asking for Boost packs seen on NHL 14 to replace xfactors. The Boost system was far better and way simpler.

As Far as Features Yes Its 12 years later. Yet we have less Features that actually Matter to the game than we did 12 years ago. The Ability to change Stick curve Flex and skate radius was awesome. The Ability To go into Free skate and test your shot and skating was awesome. The Main Feature on NHL 26 is Cosmetic garbage. Once a month We get a new prebuild with an awful skin. Or we get a dumb Holiday Jersey great.  NHL 14 offered More quality Features than NHL 26. 

Do you know there are Youtube Videos that show all the cool features previous games had and how many were removed? Some of them Were re added and claimed as new its actually pretty funny.

Prebuilds again dont belong in EASHL. EA had already had to Shrink the Hockey store. At the beginning of the year there was way more product to get.  Get rid of prebuilds and Skins and theyd be able to Add more Gear and even create a team store so we could get more team product faster than Hockey bags and the random stuff they give us in Hockey bags.  I just have this Feeling that EA is going to force us to use Prebuilds again and ditch Attributes theyve done it once and it was terrible. EASHL give you the freedom to be creative so be creative.  As far as changes to Builds it wasnt super noticable. Would be cool to see player builds be more distinct than they are. Playmaker and Two way make grinder feel irrelevant in this game. Grinder used to be so fun.

As Far as menus Its pretty its not about being passionate about them its sick if seeing the same thing for the last 10 years now. Theyre also super slow for being on new gen. The Simplistic menus on those old games were better. The text/font everything just looked way better.  

Custom music should be brought back that was a great Feature. Since most the Music On NHl games is awful. At the very least NHL should do like a greatest hits from over the years. Id rather listen to the same music than the trash thats been on the newer games 

If we could get a mix of Old and new that would be a plus. Obviously Gameplay should be more realistic as technology Evolves. So NHL 26 gameplay with The Suggestions ive made could make this game unbelievable. But the Longer Ea holds on to Xfactors the further this game will be from greatness. Those Earlier games offered the better features on the creativity side. The newer games offer better game play.

I really hope we get these changes but highly unlikely. 

Appreciate the feedback. Thank you.