Why have they have removed the basic ability to edit players in Franchise mode?

For all of us OFFLINE players that loves to play Franchise mode, the ability to edit players would make the experience of the mode more enjoyable. 

For me I always want to play for example a right handed winger on my left side, but the game always have them as right winger. They same goes for defensemen, the "normal" is always

a right handed d-man on the right side and a left handed d-man on the left side.

But that is not how I like to play the game,  Iove to be able to be a threat with my d-men more than just having them to play board play.

And it helps the one-timers to have a right handed player on the left side and a left handed on the right side. 🙂

But thats just one of the things you can enjoy with the ability to edit players.

There is so much more, like changing the charachter of a generated players for example.

Is was good in NHL 20 when you could change more in the edit player, but sadly removed in NHL 21....

@EA_Blueberry , I know you didn’t ask me, but if I could jump in and give my two cents.

While there are a lot of scanned players that look amazing in the game, there are also quite a few that don’t look anything like themselves and their physical attributes (height, weight) are incorrect as well

As far as being able to edit within franchise mode goes, it doesn’t really make any sense that we aren’t allowed to do it. I know for myself, I spend quite a bit of time editing players (mostly potential, player types and positions) before I start the mode that it’s frustrating if I miss someone and notice when I’m already part way through a season. If I do then want to make this change I have to start my franchise all over. This is especially frustrating because every time a roster update is released by EA I have to redo all the changes I have made to my liking.

Another reason is that quite a few of the generated prospects player types do not align with their attributes and it would be nice to change that to be more accurate.

At the end of the day, since this is an offline mode many of us don’t understand why it was taken out because it only impacts our own mode.

It’s a bit of both. If you want to play a franchise throughout the year, the player rating updates won’t affect the franchise and you can’t change it yourself. So you almost have to restart if you want to play with the breakout players being properly rated and the teams playing to what they should be. The fact that you can’t change positions also really messes with the generated lineups

The second part is that I used to mass edit the rosters into fun scenarios (like make my team all really small or big, make all the goalies 99 overall, add legends in by remaking players, etc.) which kept me playing the game forever. I played one franchise for like 20 years. Now, I play a few seasons with a few teams and that’s it bc there’s zero replayability; there’s no creative freedom to edit anything and add things on the fly.

This is something that was in previous NHL games for a while and it’s in every other sports game as well. It helps franchise mode so much bc it gives us control to play how we want within the game. Maybe the team didn’t realize how much it did but being able to fully edit players really does a lot for franchise mode

Is the ability to edit players once you start a franchise mode just gone? Not being able to edit my team/ prospects positions, player types, shot style etc. mid franchise mode just ruins the game for me especially since you can't even do something as simple as changing player's hairstyle's 

I understand why they made the changes, its to prevent people from "cheating" to create all players as Playmakers, Snipers, and Power Forwards to make their chemistry. While it makes the game more fun, it really limits your prospects. I can't tell you how many times I got an Elite Center Playmaker that had crap passing and horrible faceoffs, but unbelievable shot power and accuracy. In the old days, I'd change him to a Sniper Left Wing, so he might be worth while, but I can't now. Also, someone like Morgan Geekie (Go Seattle) who is turning out to be a playmaker not a TWF, can't be changed without resetting my save - which seems silly.

I think another really bad design is the Coaching Staff. I mean I know I am suppose to be the GM, but most of us (I assume) like playing as a coach - setting up lines and watching them flourish. Why don't players start to take on their coach's line preferences? I got a front line of Robertson (86 PLY), Tarasenko (87 SNP) and DuBois (89 PWF) yet they only get a +1 Chem because they don't fit the scheme. Don't players change how they play based on Coaches? Why can't we either see changes in players or be allowed to create our coaches?

Also, what's up with every defensive prospect (generated by the computer) being Pinch/Cycle - It makes Hold the Line a completely worthless, and why aren't my OFD's getting "Shoot" or at least "Balanced?"

In the same line of questioning, where is Carry? I've got a coach with Carry, Shoot, Balanced, Balanced - and I've NEVER gotten a prospect with Carry. Its always Balanced or Dump (and I've never seen a coach with Dump on the first or second line)

I love the game, I'm not going to lie, but there ae some weaknesses - and I know there is so many complaints. Can we just get an answer for some of them? Is hold the line just really super powerful? I'm not asking for ground breaking changes to the game, just an answer as to why things are/aren't done.

@IrishOwlThey seriously removed the option to edit players once you start a franchise mode? So all my prospects are stuck as big bearded/ silver hair clones who I can't tell to start passing more/ play more physically etc.? Who the hell are you cheating, yourself? They're better be an option to let us edit our franchise mode players or else I'm probably getting a refund now if so since all I use is the out of date create a modes/ franchise mode.

@all-Beef-chicken 

Yeah, they removed the ability to edit players within Franchise in NHL 21, I guess it was to make coaching harder...

It was a big request last year to allow us to be able to edit players and obviously a big request again, so hopefully we can see it in a patch this year. They at least allowed us to edit X factors, which seems to be the biggest impact on chemistry this year anyways.

@Beauts90So either I refund the game right now or wait for a patch that can count as a new feature in NHL 23 and lose my money. It feels like they just didn't bother and passed it off as "making it harder" instead of giving us the option to turn it on or off, hell you can't even use the nice big option of hairs on your prospects/ generic players. Glad to know opening virtual packs of cards look nice tho....