NHL 21 complete mess!
What happened to EA??? They used to be so... average.... at making hockey hockey games. This one is a complete mess. The goalies are non existent. Even with the sliders all the way to 100, the goalie...
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EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerAre you seeing 90% of shots for and against you count as goals? I haven't been experiencing this personally and we're not getting other reports of it. I'd like to find out why this is happening to you.
I'm seeing the computer dance on in and do a couple moves and they beat the goalie every single time. It's like my goalie isn't there. I appreciate that it may not be happening to you, that's usually the case with developers for some reason, but for us, the players, it happens frequently. I've bought games where I experience bugs but the developers say they didn't and never fixed it for we the ones who have experienced the issue. I see it a pot in games these days. Games get the green light but they are put out half finished. Cyberpunk ring any bells? Money was their desire, not a finished game. Same goes with other developers. Sims 4, another EA title, has the same bug that EA refuses to fix. I really wish an EA rep would contact me on that game too. This is the hockey game we are dealing with however. I've loved the NHL series since it began but I just can't play this one. The goals against are not realistic. Not at all. I don't know why the goals against are so easy for the computer but all I know is that the game needs some proper AI adjustment patches immediately. As it stands it's like having a pulled goalie. He's useless in net.
- EA_Aljo
We're not getting many reports about this. If you're letting AI players skate around until they get good scoring chances, they're probably going to score on you. If you can get some video showing the problem, that will help. Are you playing manual defense or do you control one player and sit in the middle while letting your AI teammates defend for you? What difficulty level are you playing on?
I had it on semi pro but the computer was scoring cheap goals, you know, like crashing into the goalie and the puck trickles in. One of the bugs that has never been fixed in years. Even one where the goalie gets pulled out of the way when he's crashed into and another computer player gets the puck and puts it in the net easily. I switched it to the easiest setting but there is no challenge as even my goals go in easily on this level. The whole difficulty scaling is so unrealistic and has been for years. Easy is too easy, semi pro is harder, much harder, and pro is forget about ever scoring at all and getting scored on easily.
And the same issue where the computer is way faster than any of my players, even when I'm controlling the guy close to him. It's almost as if the AI knows I'm going to switch to that character. As soon as I switch they get rid of the puck. And so forth. It's not very realistic. I skate with the puck and they just barely touch me and I lose the puck. I skate faster and it's hard to keep up with the computer players. They are way too fast to be realistic. I even had to turn off penalties because in the last few years you poke check and they trip up so easily and a penalty is drawn. The computer does it to you and they draw no penalty. So I made it fair by turning off penalties completely. Only fighting gives me a penalty. Goalies are at 100 but the sliders are useless.
I want to like this game, coming from NHL 19, which I most likely will go back to since I doubt there will be an update for 21, but I just can't get behind it. I end up turning it off when the computer starts getting goal after goal in a matter of seconds. Seconds apart from each other. My AI teammates are a joke. They are never in place to receive passes, they don't cover me, they are always behind the play, they are hardly ever open. Like I said, I've played previous installments and never had this many issues. I don't know what else to do. I even lower the difficulty in the AI, AI learning, etc, but the computer disregards it completely.
- EA_Aljo
You might see better AI placement on the higher difficulties, but I understand that might be too high a challenge for you. If you can get some video of the issues you're seeing, I'll try to advise on how you can keep your teammates in position better. What mode are you playing exactly? Since you're changing the sliders, I assume this is Be a Pro, Franchise or Play Now? You should be able to get an appropriate challenge by adjusting the sliders and difficulty though.
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- EA_Aljo2 months ago
