Follow-up and a Challenge to Cheesers, Exploiters, and even EA itself

The consensus of opinion is just the opposite, if you'd like to read the discussion over on Reddit where it was posted.

Guess it's mass hysteria, right?

Not that we have seen it revert to a nearly identical rendition of NHL 21, right?

It's just unfortunate everyone over there won't post here, due to past experiences I am forbidden from saying.

When you run your most loyal player base off your forums to engage in discussion elsewhere, that's saying a lot.

Sadly, most who stick around here are the EA apologists who will back whatever nonsense is thrown around here. 

No one as yet has provided video of what happens in the video game happening in a REAL NHL game.

Same goal same way 6 times in a row on 6 shots.

Same skate along boards back and forth for 20, 30, 40 seconds until the cross crease exploit is available, all the while doing puck protect as defensive players bounce off the bubble of protection. 

It was NOT like that upon release. Period. Defense, positioning, and IQ were rewarded. Cheese and exploits were at a minimum. Now, the exploits and cheese are back with the low IQ, low skill players spamming the same things I mentioned. Over and over and over. 

But, hey... all the rest of us who play the game are clearly in denial. Not the EA apologists. 

I make my points. All I ever hear in return is "No, it's not!", "It's the same!", "Just git gud, bruh!", and so on.

And for those who say to post videos, many people have. And all we get is a response that "You're playing wrong.", "It's not the game, it's you.", "Try doing such and such instead.", etc.

Why not just put the gameplay tuner back to the best hockey game we had in AGES?

Not make excuses for why WE, the players, are wrong for trying to play HOCKEY like it's... oh, I don't know... HOCKEY, instead of an exploit cheese fest again.

Because the game through the beta, trial, release, and first couple weeks WAS as good a hockey game as we have ever had. I'll stand by that and die on that hill. EA CAN make a great hockey game. They showed it to us. Then changed it AFTER the fact when we had been sold on it and paid for the game we enjoyed. That's the frustrating part. We, the true hockey fans, HAD the hockey game we wanted and anticipated. We got to play it, enjoy it, and revel in what we thought was the next major step in the evolution of hockey gaming. 

Only to have it yanked out from under us, then told (or potentially lied to) that nothing had changed. There's nothing to see here. Don't bother looking behind the curtain. No, really. We released a gameplay tuner that clearly changed NOTHING about the game you all adored, but suddenly loathe as soon as that tuner hit. Just a complete coincidence. No, really. It is. We promise. Cross our hearts.

So, go ahead. Call me names. Insult me. Do whatever. I back up my points and, again, challenge you to read through the Reddit post and comments. Or just bury your head in the sand that EA provides as cover here while they disenfranchise, disregard, and ignore the true hockey fans who have any fair critique of the game that EA CHOSE to ruin.

I'm not simply here saying the game sucks, is trash, is a dumpster fire, or any of that with nothing worthwile to back it up or add. I give my perspective along with reasons why. Heck, I even offer possible solutions so the cheesers, exploiters, and casuals can have their game and the real hockey fans can have ours. It doesn't have to be "either/or". It CAN be both. We CAN have both.

Again, unfortunately, it seems EA is alienating it's hardcore hockey fanbase. Which is sad. Because the chances that casual players will spend money on what's already considered a niche sport is slim. And when the hardcores stop supporting it and buying it, too, because they feel dismissed... it's not a good marketing or business strategy. 

Thanks for reading!

Blah blah blah

Paragraph after paragraph yet you said nothing.

You'd be a good politician.

You provided no proof for your points.

Yes I read that Reddit thread, mostly people just piling on because it's fun to bash EA, I do that plenty myself.

To me though, it feels the same as it did during the beta, trial, and release.

But you don't care, you're like a flat earther at this point.  They could take those people to space and they'd still say the earth was flat.

EA could show you that their tuner code for game play has been the same since launch and you'd still say they were wrong.

I look forward to your next novel full of pointless drivel where you yet again provide no proof to your claims.

Forgot about this thread, my bad. I'm just lazy and don't exactly feel like sifting through the entire NHL network so you're gonna have to wait on getting a full game's worth of real NHLers playing like their arcade (not full-blown hockey sim) counterparts. Canucks have been blowing it the last 5 games you could probably get some great footage watching those games.

Let's quit it with the jabs and name-calling; this is why they usually tend to watch from a distance. 

I haven't noticed any difference in the game from launch to now - you can believe me or not. My personal opinion is players have started to level up and the new gameplay has finally "clicked" for them so naturally, they'll gravitate to what always used to work for them - My team has learned how to counter the usual meta over the years though so that could be it. The last tuner fixed syncing and other issues so obviously they can't just revert it - a new one will have to be made and then that will inevitably be scrutinized as well. 

I have the game on PS4 and PS5. PS4 is for clubs and PS5 vanilla, launch version and they are different. One thing I can notice immediately; there’s no more puck deflection animations in PS4, haven’t seen a single one and puck doesn’t bounce. On the PS5, this happens quite often, and pace a bit slower. Talking about adapting to gameplay is silly. I have adapted but that doesn’t make the game play any better. They did a classic bait and switch, but forgot that this year we can actually test the difference side by side thanks to overly expensive dual entitlement.

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@Greyinsi wrote:

I have the game on PS4 and PS5. PS4 is for clubs and PS5 vanilla, launch version and they are different. One thing I can notice immediately; there’s no more puck deflection animations in PS4, haven’t seen a single one and puck doesn’t bounce. On the PS5, this happens quite often, and pace a bit slower. Talking about adapting to gameplay is silly. I have adapted but that doesn’t make the game play any better. They did a classic bait and switch, but forgot that this year we can actually test the difference side by side thanks to overly expensive dual entitlement.

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Unless you have no internet connection running to your PS5, you’re playing with the patch. Now you could be running the base tuner offline, as you could with PS4. I don’t see any differences. Wish I did so I could take clips from each and submit these gameplay discrepancies. 

@TTZ_Dipsy



"My personal opinion is players have started to level up and the new gameplay has finally "clicked" for them so naturally, they'll gravitate to what always used to work for them"



That's exactly what I think is going on

Players are just "figuring out the game and X factors" better now. Let's examine this theory, shall we?

So, this must have ALL happened for the WHOLE player base at the SAME time, coincidentally when the new tuner dropped. Right? Yup. That MUST be it.

We ALL figured it out at the SAME time JUST at that exact coincidence of timing. It isn't that... you know... the tuner CHANGED the gameplay entirely to make the game an arcadey mess that is akin to 21, 20, and 19. And at JUST that SAME time, all those "awesome" players who were so good at exploiting the mechanics and animations in previous years just so happened to "get good" again. Right?

The game WAS as good as any hockey game ever during the beta, trial, and first couple weeks of release. It rewarded positional hockey, actual dump and chase, realistic physics, and... most importantly... IQ based plays. Sadly, that's all gone and EA has dumbed down the game to an exploit filled cheese fest all over again to appease the "influencers" who will run off to the next new shiny thing, the Game Changers who ironically can't change with the improved gameplay, the HUT crowd who can't handle having to play fairly simulated hockey without their "SiCk PlAyZz, BrUh!", and casuals who don't care all that much or play all that much or buy the game all that often.

Meanwhile, we, the hardcore hockey fans, who LOVE the greatest sport in the world are disregarded, dismissed, and ignored. All this AFTER we saw a GREAT game, played a GREAT beta, and PAID for THAT game... ou to have the old bait and switch pulled on us.

Thanks, EA!

"If it's in the game and good, we remove it to appease the lowest common denominators!"

You make it sound like this is your first NHL - there is always a patch that addresses beta feedback and I'm sure people freaking out they couldn't pass probably DID do something but EA's official response has been the latest patch didn't change anything to the gameplay, this is why you're supposed to collect video evidence to the contrary. You know, catch them in their lie since they aren't the ones that need to prove anything, unfortunately.

Honestly, I don't think I can really care much less about other people having a hard time with the game - My team always focuses on cross-creasers anyway so, with better shot block mechanics, we're doing better than ever. Not saying the game is in a great state by any means, I've been advocating they take at least a year off for ages now; I've just gotten to the point where it's easier to roll with the punches than to go against the grain - casual fans are always gonna take priority over true simmers