Community Manager
Not enough info to have a real opinion yet. It seems like we are in for more micro transactions (even more than last year) I suppose that is the way predatory companies do business these days. If we are gonna be paying $ for attribute increases and such, I hope a custom build can rival an EA build. I hate micro transactions as much as anyone but if it's somewhat affordable and it is on par with an EA build.... I suppose it's a small win.
The generalist/ xfactor tradeoff is interesting.. I just hope it's tuned well as I feel X factors are just FAR too powerful and they will ultimately be the meta choice. I'm not confident it will be balanced, but I hope I'm wrong.
I like anything and everything linked to creating the skater I want and the less restriction the better. I do wonder how much speed and other things is effected by height or if it's the same as previous years.. some of them I'm not sure coincide as much as we make them out to but I understand creating a balance. I don't want people running around at 7'0 300lbs and not having attributes take a hit.. but it also always seems silly to have half the guys on the ice running around at 5'7 for max speed. Personally I would allow for players to be able to get to 99 speed even at taller heights but take major hits elsewhere to do so. We may have a bit less 5'7 players. If you guys just rebalanced attributes each season for the lifetime of 1 game you could find a true value for each attribute based on the players choices in attribute allocation after each rebalance.. this would eventually lead to meta builds being out and players just making a player that fits their playstyle.
TLDR Ultimately if I feel I'm pretty unrestricted to create the guy I want... and that guy can compete with an EA build, it's a win despite probably having to pay money if I'm not active enough. Extra points if it's balanced well enough that >50% of people are running with the same 2-3 custom/ EA builds. If EA builds still reign supreme over custom builds then this entire post is pointless and everything we've tried to express in the forums was for nothing. Time will tell.
Community ManagerTLDR Ultimately if I feel I'm pretty unrestricted to create the guy I want... and that guy can compete with an EA build, it's a win despite probably having to pay money if I'm not active enough. Extra points if it's balanced well enough that >50% of people are running with the same 2-3 custom/ EA builds. If EA builds still reign supreme over custom builds then this entire post is pointless and everything we've tried to express in the forums was for nothing. Time will tell.
Regardless of spending or not, success primarily comes down to individual skill as well as team chemistry. The clubs I played with in 26 had no problem competing against teams using the paid builds. When we lost, it was because we got outplayed. It wasn't because they had less skill, but used pre-builds. With 27, team play is even more crucial since it's easier to intercept passes as well as poke checks and stick lifts are working better.
As always though, we'll have to give it some time and see what kind of feedback we get. Changes are always possible down the road.
You did mention that once or twice, ultimately that was YOUR experience, an individual experience.. most of the community had varying experiences competing with these builds.. I hope their grievances made it to the ears of the devs at least once or I'm not sure what this is for. No point in developing a custom build if an EA build is just gonna be better. Tbh I just quit playing the game altogether before I deployed as it just felt gross with how the builds were released. I get it.. money! It just seems like we are getting away from fun (making a build you want) and going corporate.. releasing builds every so often that are better than the previous (takes 0 work for devs) and asking for more money. At least just be AS predatory but make it fun so there is a balance.. 🤷♂️ I realize you have to defend the choices this company makes though, so we can pretend teamwork and stuff means attribute advantages mean almost nothing, of course it's litterally what makes HUT money.. of course that also means most of this post is pointless as we could just use teamwork instead of cap increases and stuff.. why bother with builds at all if we have teamwork and skill and teamwork and skill always decides a game? If we are STILL defending the EA builds.. I have a pretty bad feeling about the devs plans for this year. Hopefully Hegseth just keeps us out here so I don't have to worry about it anyway lmao..
Community ManagerNo point in developing a custom build if an EA build is just gonna be better.
Can you give me more details? In your experience, what exactly is happening when someone uses one of the pre-made builds? Are you consistently finding that you can't compete against teams using those builds? They don't guarantee wins by any means. They also don't instantly make someone OP. If a player was struggling to win using the available builds, that really isn't going to change if they switch to a pre-made build. There's so much more to being competitive than raw attribute numbers.
Preach brother!! Once the Battle Pass was introduced we all knew this was coming. If you notice the only true progression is the way for EA to create Friction, gain control and earn $$$$.
Preach brother!! Once the Battle Pass was introduced we all knew this was coming. If you notice the only true progression is the way for EA to create Friction, gain control and earn $$$$.
I’ve been saying this for about long time now…..
