Suggestions to improve the EASHL experience in NHL 26 +

Firstly, on the technology side of things, so many online games have the system in place to allow players to join after they get disconnected. EA for sure has the resources and the capability to implement this feature for an online game of theirs. They have done it in APEX Legends, so it obviously has been done before.

This isn't Apex legends though. I get that it's easy to make the assumption every game works the same. They really don't though. For example, with NHL there's a lot to be considered that you don't have with other games. Things like:

• If the player was injured
• If they had a broken stick
• If there were serving a penalty
• Their current stamina level
• What their stats were

These are just a few things off the top of my head. I'm sure there's a lot more going on. I get that it doesn't seem like it should be difficult to built a flawless system for reconnecting, but that's not the case or it would have been done.

Telling the players that their connection is the problem is unfair. My game crashes once every one to two months it feels like. That is not likely an issue on my end because of how infrequent it is. Regardless, you shouldn’t be blaming the players when there is a solution that your team could implement to fix the issue entirely. 

I think if your game crashes several times over the course of a whole year, that's really not a big deal. No matter what you're doing online, no ISP will guarantee 100% uptime. There are going to be the occasional interruption. Even if it's only for a moment. It's easy to blame the game when everything else is still running. The thing is, our sports games will disconnect even for a momentary interruption. This also helps combat cheating so you don't yank the cord when you're down to avoid a loss. Most devices will quickly reconnect though so unless you specifically check your router logs or talk to your ISP, you're not going to notice your internet dropped. I'm also not saying that there's never an issue on our end. Normally when there is, we get a large amount of people reporting it at the same time. Which is something that rarely happens. So, is it on your end or ours? That's very difficult to tell. Especially when it's so infrequent and you can quickly reconnect. 

You think it is unrealistic to change builds mid game? I wish you were joking… :(  There is a bench full of players, and you are telling me non of them have a different skill set than my own? Do hockey teams in real life not have substitutions that allow for different people with different skills to hit the ice and make an impact on the game?

Yes. It's unrealistic because you create one player. You're not creating a team of players where you can hop between different bodies with different builds. It would be different if we had a system where you could create a team of players to swap between. Which, I think takes away from the immersion of having your own player and the point of WoC in general. You can always play Online Versus if you want to switch lines. What is more realistic is being forced to adapt to how your opponent's are playing. Just like a real player/team would.

You want a situation that can be a perfect example of why we should be able to change builds mid game, but regardless of what I say, you are going to have a counterpoint for it. How about realism? Player agency? Or the fact that it would add another layer to the gameplay loop and make it more fun? We can change lines in HUT games to get new players with different skills on the ice, why can’t we do something similar to this in EASHL?

Changing lines in HUT is different. That's one player controlling a whole team. WoC is meant to be up to 6 humans playing together with everyone using their own created player. I think there's a lot to be said about someone's skill when they can adapt to the changes with each team they face. Not to mention, the chemistry you have with your team and creating a player that compliments their builds. Again, what is a good reason for switching to a different build? Do you want to suddenly change to a bigger player when your 5'7" dangler is getting flattened all game long? I think that's unrealistic when in reality, a bigger teammate is going to step up for you. Or, learn how to evade those players and move the puck better.

You even said a problem that this could fix “it’s frustrating when I forget to update my loadout”. This would take away that frustration!

I was talking about changing the handedness. I really don't see a big deal with that. Yes, it's unrealistic, but it's something I could personally live with. That's totally different from playing for a bit, going down by a goal or 2 and switching to a different player thinking that's going to suddenly make your team play better.

I really like NHL games, and sadly this is the only video game series that does hockey. I really want this series to reach its full potential. It’s disheartening to have the community manager not being receptive to the community’s feedback :(

We are always receptive to feedback. Besides that though, I'm also a player of this game like the rest of you. I have my own ideas for what I want to see get added/changed. My statements here were purely my own personal feelings as someone who's spent 30 years playing this franchise. Regardless of whether or not I agree with the feedback, I pass it on to the team. It's not up to me what changes get made and I definitely wouldn't want a game that catered only to my desires. We have a very diverse audience and it would be pretty shortsighted of us to not take into account the community as a whole.