WOC Defense

Defense is absolutely broken.  Couple that with every opposing forward using wheels and 95+ speed and this game is just flat out boring and unplayable.

consideration: add to the ability stick em up, "eliminates the slow down from using the poke check/stick lift"

the game is tuned for tons of pucks to go in the net no matter what that's why you see so many own goals 

The game is not specifically tuned for own goals just to raise scoring. That is completely false.

Thanks for the reminder to check on this. I believe the slow down was removed. That or I'm just not noticing it if it's still in.

I've got a few dozen more games under my belt and came back to add some stuff. 

I dislike Elite Edges even more than I dislike Wheels. The "dance in the corner until I get pressured, then spin and force the cross crease pass" game is getting old fast. You add in the auto-saucer/blind pass X-factor and your defense might as well not even be on the ice. I'd almost rather see X-factors gone completely, but since I imagine that's not a possibility, it seems like offensive and defensive X-factors ought to cancel each other out better than they are currently doing. 

Positioning/defensive awareness tied to positioning is in a bad spot. If a player can blind saucer pass it backward out of the corner for a fast break, I have to be able to intercept or deflect a pass I can reach pretty much every time. It feels like too much defensively is tied to which way you're facing (or not enough offensively is tied to which way you're facing). I don't mean blind interceptions if you're completely out of the play, but it's way too easy to pass through the slot with three guys in defensive position right now. NHL teams cycle all game looking an opening and finish 2-1; people are quitting EASHL games 45 seconds in when it's 3-0 because cross crease passes are still way too easy to force. Positioning has to mean something; it would eliminate the feel of those "nothing you can do" goals where the puck goes right through you. Maybe also need a boost to defensive puck pickups and/or to reduce the accuracy of shots off rolling or loose pucks. There's a lot of plays down the boards where I take it away from a guy 2, 3, 4 times and he just keeps skating and picking it back up. There's no button for puck pickups, it's passive and I have to rely on numbers behind the scenes, so it needs to feel like I have a chance. It creates a scenario where all he has to do is skate full speed toward the net, whereas I have to stay with him and every action I do slows me down. I need some more payoff for those actions i.e. separation of puck from player or slower offensive pickup time. 

This game, specifically EASHL/WoC is in a world of hurt right now.   This game is playing night and day different from launch, and not in a good way at all.   It's borderline unplayable right now.   If you're a club that thrives on sound, structured hockey like ours is...it's extremely unforgiving.   I'm a 25 year vet of this series with my own money, longer than that when you count gifts and stuff prior to 2001.

"Winded" get ups- Look, I get that they'll be slower if you're winded, but 40 in game seconds for a non-winded get up (still 3/4 full stamina) is egregiously awful.   15 in game seconds for an injured get up, 5-10 for a non winded/non-injured get up would be enough.

Pokechecks- Specifically bad position pokechecks are being rewarded again.   I understand that we don't want the embarrassingly soft tripping calls 25 was known for, but my lord...there's got to be a few more called.   

Hit Bubbles-  These seem to be back again, seems that unless you run truculence (which definitely appears to create a massive contact box, or "hit box"), people can just bubble off you.   The attributes effects definitely need some fine tuning

Puck Pickups-   Since the last tuner, we've noticed that one team, either ours or the opponents seems to ever be able to scoop loose pucks.   Every game, one team can skate into a mess of 12 legs and come out with it clean, while the other team skates right over an uncontested loose puck.

Passing- This is atrocious right now.   Even with Send It, Tape to Tape, and 90+ passing, passes consistently seem to go random directions.   This is was the easiest one for me to determine, because my first thought was "I didn't aim correctly/moved the stick too fast", then I went to thinking that my controller was pooched, so I switched to a brand new out of the box one...same problem.   OPA also seems to reset after every game, even when you adjust it in the settings menu of WoC, which I'm sure doesn't help matters

X-Factors- Big problem since the tuner/update is X-Factors not triggering.  Big Rig hasn't triggered for me once in three days on my build despite the conditions being met, Spark Plug hasn't worked in a week.   Then there's Wheels/Elite Edges that are WAY too OP'd similar to truculence.   In a perfect world, just keep the attribute tweaking and drop the X-Factors...make the reliance more on skill alone as opposed to skill + boost.

Gameplay as a whole- Right now, it's ugly.   Clunky, disjointed, no flow.   There needs to be far more interference penalties...you're getting trucked 5, 6, 7 seconds after releasing the pass with no call.   Goalies are suddenly embarrassingly inconsistent yet again, despite having been great on launch.   Game's in a bad spot and falling fast.

I don't really think that's the case. I just don't think they test enough. If you just lob shots from wherever at the AI goalie, they're pretty good. Honestly, if you just skate in and do a no-frills cross crease one-timer, he'll probably get it half the time, maybe more. You add in a late man coming down and he starts to cheat off the post, and he might get it one out of ten times. Then you add in the intangibles like goalie screen effect, the "pressure meter" (which I am not a fan of at all), I think the numbers start to get all jumbled up. We played a game last night where I was crossing over and my defenseman hit me in the **bleep** with his shot when I was in the circle. The AI goalie absolutely sent it with his save attempt in an absurd way and I just backhanded the loose puck into a completely empty net for the game winner. This guy had previously been very good. I just think the intangibles like deflections or things that aren't intentional directions of the puck toward the net don't make it onto their radar. Missed passes go in a lot, bounces off the defenseman go in a lot. Sucks. 

I don't know where you are getting this information from and what not but I don't think there has been a single gameplay change yet except for the glitch with No Contest that caused you to pick up a loose puck and skate like there was a rocket ship attached to your back. Literally nothing else has changed. Also for anyone that talks about the "force across" system of cross creases, that's been in the game for years and won't ever go away I think. Players will huck it without any regard for what's in that pass lane because all it takes is one to get through and it is basically a goal. Someone I remember said it best that the higher the skill you go up in any sports game, the less you are able to play the game like you would the actual sport.

EA_Aljo​ I cant remember where I saw it but you were looking into if attributes were maxed at 99 even with xfactor increases factored in, did you ever get any information on this?

This game, specifically EASHL/WoC is in a world of hurt right now.   This game is playing night and day different from launch, and not in a good way at all.   It's borderline unplayable right now.   If you're a club that thrives on sound, structured hockey like ours is...it's extremely unforgiving.   I'm a 25 year vet of this series with my own money, longer than that when you count gifts and stuff prior to 2001.

I definitely agree changes need to happen. Especially when it comes to speed and Truculence. Still though, sound, structured hockey can still win games. This is how my club plays. We started off rough, but have adapted to the new game and are winning more than we're losing. This also depends on how well your team works together though. Team chemistry plays a huge role.

"Winded" get ups- Look, I get that they'll be slower if you're winded, but 40 in game seconds for a non-winded get up (still 3/4 full stamina) is egregiously awful.   15 in game seconds for an injured get up, 5-10 for a non winded/non-injured get up would be enough.

Yes. Truculence is brutal with this. I really hope we see some changes.

Pokechecks- Specifically bad position pokechecks are being rewarded again.   I understand that we don't want the embarrassingly soft tripping calls 25 was known for, but my lord...there's got to be a few more called.   

Can you get some video of this? We've mostly been hearing complaints about poke checks not working well enough. Which, I'm sort of in agreement with, but I've also had a lot of successful poke checks. So, I think that too is part of adapting to the new game. Still though, if you're in close, it feels like the puck is regained too easily after a separation.

Hit Bubbles-  These seem to be back again, seems that unless you run truculence (which definitely appears to create a massive contact box, or "hit box"), people can just bubble off you.   The attributes effects definitely need some fine tuning

Again, we need video. I don't run Truculence. My hitting is in the 70s. Yet, I'm still landing well timed and aimed hits.

Puck Pickups-   Since the last tuner, we've noticed that one team, either ours or the opponents seems to ever be able to scoop loose pucks.   Every game, one team can skate into a mess of 12 legs and come out with it clean, while the other team skates right over an uncontested loose puck.

There has been no tuner update yet so nothing changed with pickups since launch. We are investigated stick checks and pick ups though.

Passing- This is atrocious right now.   Even with Send It, Tape to Tape, and 90+ passing, passes consistently seem to go random directions.   This is was the easiest one for me to determine, because my first thought was "I didn't aim correctly/moved the stick too fast", then I went to thinking that my controller was pooched, so I switched to a brand new out of the box one...same problem.   OPA also seems to reset after every game, even when you adjust it in the settings menu of WoC, which I'm sure doesn't help matters

Passing is very sensitive this year. It's been raised to the team so hopefully, we see it get adjusted. I don't think it's atrocious though. My club is still able to have a passing percentage in the 80s. Is your OPA changing to 0% every game or are you saying you're setting it to something else and it's reverting to 100%?

X-Factors- Big problem since the tuner/update is X-Factors not triggering.  Big Rig hasn't triggered for me once in three days on my build despite the conditions being met, Spark Plug hasn't worked in a week.   Then there's Wheels/Elite Edges that are WAY too OP'd similar to truculence.   In a perfect world, just keep the attribute tweaking and drop the X-Factors...make the reliance more on skill alone as opposed to skill + boost.

Can you get a video of the Big Rig/Spark Plug issues? We're investigating Wheels/Elite Edges.

Gameplay as a whole- Right now, it's ugly.   Clunky, disjointed, no flow.   There needs to be far more interference penalties...you're getting trucked 5, 6, 7 seconds after releasing the pass with no call.   Goalies are suddenly embarrassingly inconsistent yet again, despite having been great on launch.   Game's in a bad spot and falling fast.

Again, video would be great. We really need to see what you're experiencing. I've had some fantastic games playing 5s/6s, but it's also with some decently skilled players that work together really well. We focus on moving the puck and creating space to set up good plays. This has been key to our scoring rather than relying on one person to skate around until they get open for a good shot or just forcing shots and hoping for the best.

Changes need to be made. I'm absolutely in agreement. I don't think it's remotely unplayable like some are saying though. When you get the right teammates, it's been very fun. Even when we lose. Except the blowouts, which we had a couple of early on, but now games have been mostly close.