In order to provide some context around my comments there are a few things you should probably know. I’ve been playing hockey video games since the 90s, I’m a huge Rocket League fan, and I’ve put about 3 hours into 3v3 so far (as part of a two person group).
Executive Summary
Burn the Moneypuck™ in a fire
Sack the commentator
Shorten celebration + replay breaks
Improve goalie AI
Streamline UI
General UI
Joining a friend on Xbox was not very intuitive, but once in a group it seemed to work really well.
Maybe it exists, but allowing us to pick default starting lineups for 3v3 would be nice, even if only for our preferred team. Having to swap out Muzzin for Doughty AND Iginla for Carter every game is tiresome and delays the game for all players.
The options for Light/Dark jerseys during match making is strange. Make this a global preference maybe?
Make the last played 3v3 mode the default when re-queuing. I was having to switch from 5-point to Periods every queue.
Allow us to re-queue from results screen after a match, having to exit is slow.
Free skate mode to learn all the new moves please!
General 3v3
After goals it often seems as if the opposing team and the AI can start playing before you do. perhaps a small count down will allow the clients to re-sync? We would get rushed and lose the puck before we could even control our players.
For 3v3 mode only, it feels like the celebration + replay takes way too much time given how short games are. It often feels like I was ‘Waiting for User’ more than i was playing hockey. (Side note: ‘Waiting for User’ is the worst thing in the world, even in NHL17, at least ALSO show replays to me while I wait)
Get rid of pause for 3v3; Games are too short to require it. If you can’t commit 10 minutes to play this game don’t even bother.
Goalie AI seems way worse? Not sure if that’s intentional for higher scoring games, but you already have odd man rushes very often. Having both bad AI and odd-man rushes just makes for ****, un-fun goals going in from random locations.
Would have been nice to get a solo-queued human 3rd in our games rather than an AI.
Show both teams ratings after a game. Would be cool to see.
First to 5 Mode
We spent the first hour playing this mode and all I’ll say is I don’t like this mode at all. Considering the sorry state of the AI in this game the Moneypuck™ is too punitive. Easy to save long-distance wrist shots creating a 3 point differential is maddening and two in a row can basically end the game.
It might be a fun party mode or something, but giving it a competitive ranking seems silly.
Period Mode
Spent most of our time here. I don’t understand why there are period breaks. Just make the game a flat 6 min in my opinion. Are substitutions even necessary after 2 min of playing? If fatigue plays a factor in a 6 min game, maybe remove that as well. Let’s just play some 3v3 hockey with our favorite players and not worry about them getting tired.
Miscellaneous
The commentator, my god. As soon as he said, “More like Kopi-score!” I turned him off. He is trash and he should feel bad.
The skating is slow and clunky and the dekes are way to slow even as a Dangler. Goalies freeze up on almost every one timer. Passes through 2 dmen and end up in the net happen way to much. Computers dictate the game just like 17. i understand its just a beta but wow im close to refunding my preorder. I really hope EA listens to us and continues to make this game into a solid NHL game and not just another $60+ roster update with a new game mode
DEKING-now you may have noticed I put it in all caps because this year was supposed to be amazing when it came to fluidity and creativeness with the new Deking system, now yes they hit it right on the button, but after trying all these dekes online they were normally always failed dude to insane AI reads or the overpowered like check from behind, due to the fact Dmen get an in-game speed boost if a fwd is on a breakaway, if your gonna give the Dmen Karlsson Rocket like speed on back checks than Fwds should have increased puck control and Deming along with agility to try and avoid the insane back checks. Now back to Deking I love what they did and the Deking is complex but fun and gives the game a better feel, just wish the agility and awareness was turned up more.
Defenders don't get a speed boost. They still get beat. You're probably hustling all game long where defenders typically have energy reserved for when they need it.
Go in to a glide when you turn. Let go of the left stick and you'll make much tighter turns. Keep in mind you're on skates... on ice. You can't exactly turn on a dime, reverse direction and keep the same speed.
Deking - Not talking about the new fancy LB dekes. Mainly talking about the use of the right stick to move side to side. Significantly slower and way more clunky. No reason with preset builds that my guy should feel like he's an amateur 1 with his deking attribute being a 40.
Skating - The skating alone is a mess. Agility and acceleration being a huge issue.
What do you get a salary for? Nothing new. A game of the past level. Do you think that everyone will buy? You are deeply mistaken. You fool people by introducing last year's game for a new one.
Likes:
- The option in drop ins and club to be able to search for 6v6 or else. Hopefully this cut down on search times and ppl leaving lobbies early.
- DSS is ok, not perfect, but is better than it was.
-The fact you can now know what is being edited on player equipment when it comes to colors (showing the zones beforehand)
-When you make changes to your settings while in game it carries over to your next game (it actually saves...amazing /sarcasm)
Dislikes
- The fact badges are still being shown so others can see them as well...ppl get scared and leave when they see them. IMO you should only see your own.
- Skating seems forced and labored.
- The between the legs move should be limited to playmakers or at least the success should be very low for non playmaker types. Also, if you're in this animation and get rocked, the likelyhood of you being injured should be increased 10 fold. If you're injured you should have an even lower success rate with shooting, passing or even keeping control.
- The glitchy rebound shot from off the boards needs to be nerfed, it's just too ridiculous at this point.
- Not a fan of the chop mapping being moved although I understand the reasoning. Another combo like hold R2 then press R1 and LS (directional) perhaps?
- There's no option for set cameras depending on the position you choose. If i'm forward I like to use classic, if I'm D I like to set overhead. I doubt I'm alone in this.
- Nets come off too easily.
This is just a hunch, but I think nets coming off the mooringsa little easily is how they intend to combat players crashing into the goalie and putting the puck into the net, without necessarily "punishing" players who do with a 2 min penalty for interference (which SHOULD be correct).
After a few times that the net comes off and stops the play because the other team going in too hard on net, hopefully they'll get discouraged from doing it again.
Day 2 input:
Have spent most of time in online versus. Not a fan so far. It is too bad because it likely means HUT is going to be no different. Same glitch goals, same hot spots, same this, same that. I haven't had a genuinely fun hockey game on versus.
No hip check or stick chop? Come on. At least when I'm getting shell shocked, I used to be able to throw a couple hip checks to make the game fun.
I could just be god awful at this game (probably lol) but it's no fun at all. It's no different than 17. The only differences that I've noted were in 3's..
This is just a hunch, but I think nets coming off the mooringsa little easily is how they intend to combat players crashing into the goalie and putting the puck into the net, without necessarily "punishing" players who do with a 2 min penalty for interference (which SHOULD be correct).
After a few times that the net comes off and stops the play because the other team going in too hard on net, hopefully they'll get discouraged from doing it again.
In a perfect world I'd agree with you, but this is EA and many dumb ppl play this game. I'd rather they had the pims lol
MY PLAYERS SUFFER FAT-MAN LAG IN THE BETA, JUST LIKE THEY DID IN 17, JUST LIKE THEY DID IN 16, AND JUST LIKE THEY DID IN 15. THIS HAPPENS MORE THAN HALF THE TIME AGAINST ME WHERE MY OPPONENTS ARE ON RED BULL AND MINE CAN'T EVEN HANDLE A PUCK OR SKATE. YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING TO FIX THIS COMMON ISSUE.
LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE EA. WE'VE BEEN YELLING ABOUT IT FOR YEARS NOW AND YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT GIVE US SEAMLESS PUCK PICKUPS, TEAM MASCOTS, AND HOT DOG VENDORS IN THE STANDS. THE SKATING ENGINE WORKS ONLY FOR THOSE WITH ZERO LATENCY...NOBODY ELSE, AND ITS THOSE ZERO-LATENCY FOLKS WHO ARE YOUR LEADERBOARD WINNERS EVERY YEAR WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE FIGHTS THE CONTROLLER MORE THAN THEIR OPPONENTS.
TAKE THE TIME AND LOOK AT THE THREADS AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT THE COMPLAINTS ARE ALL ABOUT. WE DON'T WANT ANY MORE FEATURES UNTIL YOU CAN RESOLVE THIS LATENCY/LAG/WHATEVER ISSUE.
I'D BE HAPPY TO CHAT IN PM AND GIVE MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE PROBLEM AREAS AND HOW EA, MY ISP, AND UPGRADING ALL OF MY INTERNET EQUIPMENT HAVE HAD NO EFFECT ON THE QUALITY OF GAMES PLAYED. I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE ON MY END, TO NO AVAIL.
I hatttteeeee the new deking, I feel like I have 2 second lag trying to pull of any **** or stick handling, honestly I like nhl 17 better as of now. It feels more responsive.
3v3 arcade is fun but the periods are way too short, it makes close games painful to play, every two minutes the period is over.
3v3 eashl is annoying too, faceoffs can't be won on forehand and backhand wherever you want, which makes a lot of faceoff wins go to no one.
The gameplay is my biggest issue, it's just too slow, too clunky, too unresponsive. I might pass on nhl 18 until these issues are fixed, Destiny 2 comes out in september as well. Seems like a better choice to me now.
I hatttteeeee the new deking, I feel like I have 2 second lag trying to pull of any **** or stick handling, honestly I like nhl 17 better as of now. It feels more responsive.
This right here. It's just off. Not as smooth as I was expecting. Not enough control of the puck. I ditched the new dekes because they just aren't realistic to pull off in a 5v5/6v6 game.
I noticed last night that when I was sitting in the penalty box, the fan on my PS4 PRO was going on overdrive, really loud humming. During normal game play it was almost silent. So I paid a little more attention to it, and sure enough, it seems that during penalties or after the whistle animations and camera runs, the fan seemed to get louder.... it was pretty worrying, and I wouldn't want to have running that high revs regularily. Might be a coincidence of course. Anyone else noticed anything similar?
About graphics, why does the 'camera' wobble a bit during camera runs at the start of the period (showing the arena etc)? It's fairly annoying, as are the wierd camera angles from outside rink before face-off. I wish those would go (I thought I took a penalty at one point with the funky camera angle).
Another minor graphics issue, the counter and player names in the pause screen seem to jerk a lot when the numbers or the mic icon change there. I mean, when the counter runs down, the whole 00:00 number twitches around, same with the names when the icon changes as mic pics up sound from the user. These just give a bad impression of shoddy programming? It's a beta and all, but still.
When I played EASHL dropins very late last night local time, the connection was pretty sweet, butter smooth skating etc. It was really great, I wish it was like that all the time.
Honestly 3v3 arcade is the only mode I can stand playing right now, if they extend the periods for that mode I might consider buying the game, it feels like a good mode to play with buddies while having a few beer.
yep skating is off , deke system is terrible, so many things are better in 17. i'm sure i'll eventually get to a point where i only complain about half of this stuff but still.
i'm blown away at how EA continues year after year to release games that somehow manage to take steps back on certain features that were fine the year before. i mean seriously doesn't anyway speak up and say "hey somehow this is worse than what we already have, fix it or scrap it".
eashl
-menus have issues with text not showing properly: they go off the screen to the right.
-names on the jerseys are not showing properly: the upper side of the text is not showing.
The skating feels a bit off but better than NHL 17 to me. Like most here, I feel the skating engine probably needs to be rebuilt.
Poke checks feel more effective which is a good thing. I do find there's some button response issues with pokes vs. DSS. Sometimes I hold down poke to engage DSS and nothing happens and other times I tap poke and it engages DSS when I just want a poke.
I don't mind the new button mapping for chops. Just takes some getting used to.
One other thing I noticed in EASHL 3s that I think needs addressing. I was playing a team that was trying to ready up with only 2 forwards which I thought was strange because I haven't found the AI to be particularly good in 3s. They ended up getting a d man who quit after the first period, likely due to some peer pressure. The rest of the game they had a forward who camped at our blue line and the second his CPU got possession, he'd call for it and the CPU would deliver a pin point saucer pass from behind his own net every time. The pass was almost impossible to intercept. I know we had the advantage of a 3 on 2 in their zone but the ability of CPUs to get to loose pucks made it a very effective strategy for the other team. I know we've always had cherry picking stick tappers but I feel like giving CPUs sauce and bank passes in a 3s mode somewhat aggravated the issue. Maybe they shouldn't use them when players actively call for the pass? I don't know but I feel like it could potentially break 3s if left unchecked,
Replies
Executive Summary
General UI
General 3v3
First to 5 Mode
We spent the first hour playing this mode and all I’ll say is I don’t like this mode at all. Considering the sorry state of the AI in this game the Moneypuck™ is too punitive. Easy to save long-distance wrist shots creating a 3 point differential is maddening and two in a row can basically end the game.
It might be a fun party mode or something, but giving it a competitive ranking seems silly.
Period Mode
Spent most of our time here. I don’t understand why there are period breaks. Just make the game a flat 6 min in my opinion. Are substitutions even necessary after 2 min of playing? If fatigue plays a factor in a 6 min game, maybe remove that as well. Let’s just play some 3v3 hockey with our favorite players and not worry about them getting tired.
Miscellaneous
The commentator, my god. As soon as he said, “More like Kopi-score!” I turned him off. He is trash and he should feel bad.
Defenders don't get a speed boost. They still get beat. You're probably hustling all game long where defenders typically have energy reserved for when they need it.
Go in to a glide when you turn. Let go of the left stick and you'll make much tighter turns. Keep in mind you're on skates... on ice. You can't exactly turn on a dime, reverse direction and keep the same speed.
Skating - The skating alone is a mess. Agility and acceleration being a huge issue.
Lots to fix
- The option in drop ins and club to be able to search for 6v6 or else. Hopefully this cut down on search times and ppl leaving lobbies early.
- DSS is ok, not perfect, but is better than it was.
-The fact you can now know what is being edited on player equipment when it comes to colors (showing the zones beforehand)
-When you make changes to your settings while in game it carries over to your next game (it actually saves...amazing /sarcasm)
Dislikes
- The fact badges are still being shown so others can see them as well...ppl get scared and leave when they see them. IMO you should only see your own.
- Skating seems forced and labored.
- The between the legs move should be limited to playmakers or at least the success should be very low for non playmaker types. Also, if you're in this animation and get rocked, the likelyhood of you being injured should be increased 10 fold. If you're injured you should have an even lower success rate with shooting, passing or even keeping control.
- The glitchy rebound shot from off the boards needs to be nerfed, it's just too ridiculous at this point.
- Not a fan of the chop mapping being moved although I understand the reasoning. Another combo like hold R2 then press R1 and LS (directional) perhaps?
- There's no option for set cameras depending on the position you choose. If i'm forward I like to use classic, if I'm D I like to set overhead. I doubt I'm alone in this.
- Nets come off too easily.
This is just a hunch, but I think nets coming off the mooringsa little easily is how they intend to combat players crashing into the goalie and putting the puck into the net, without necessarily "punishing" players who do with a 2 min penalty for interference (which SHOULD be correct).
After a few times that the net comes off and stops the play because the other team going in too hard on net, hopefully they'll get discouraged from doing it again.
Have spent most of time in online versus. Not a fan so far. It is too bad because it likely means HUT is going to be no different. Same glitch goals, same hot spots, same this, same that. I haven't had a genuinely fun hockey game on versus.
No hip check or stick chop? Come on. At least when I'm getting shell shocked, I used to be able to throw a couple hip checks to make the game fun.
I could just be god awful at this game (probably lol) but it's no fun at all. It's no different than 17. The only differences that I've noted were in 3's..
That's enough beta for today >:(
In a perfect world I'd agree with you, but this is EA and many dumb ppl play this game. I'd rather they had the pims lol
LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE EA. WE'VE BEEN YELLING ABOUT IT FOR YEARS NOW AND YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT GIVE US SEAMLESS PUCK PICKUPS, TEAM MASCOTS, AND HOT DOG VENDORS IN THE STANDS. THE SKATING ENGINE WORKS ONLY FOR THOSE WITH ZERO LATENCY...NOBODY ELSE, AND ITS THOSE ZERO-LATENCY FOLKS WHO ARE YOUR LEADERBOARD WINNERS EVERY YEAR WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE FIGHTS THE CONTROLLER MORE THAN THEIR OPPONENTS.
TAKE THE TIME AND LOOK AT THE THREADS AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT THE COMPLAINTS ARE ALL ABOUT. WE DON'T WANT ANY MORE FEATURES UNTIL YOU CAN RESOLVE THIS LATENCY/LAG/WHATEVER ISSUE.
I'D BE HAPPY TO CHAT IN PM AND GIVE MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE PROBLEM AREAS AND HOW EA, MY ISP, AND UPGRADING ALL OF MY INTERNET EQUIPMENT HAVE HAD NO EFFECT ON THE QUALITY OF GAMES PLAYED. I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE ON MY END, TO NO AVAIL.
3v3 arcade is fun but the periods are way too short, it makes close games painful to play, every two minutes the period is over.
3v3 eashl is annoying too, faceoffs can't be won on forehand and backhand wherever you want, which makes a lot of faceoff wins go to no one.
The gameplay is my biggest issue, it's just too slow, too clunky, too unresponsive. I might pass on nhl 18 until these issues are fixed, Destiny 2 comes out in september as well. Seems like a better choice to me now.
PSN undertaker9999
This right here. It's just off. Not as smooth as I was expecting. Not enough control of the puck. I ditched the new dekes because they just aren't realistic to pull off in a 5v5/6v6 game.
About graphics, why does the 'camera' wobble a bit during camera runs at the start of the period (showing the arena etc)? It's fairly annoying, as are the wierd camera angles from outside rink before face-off. I wish those would go (I thought I took a penalty at one point with the funky camera angle).
Another minor graphics issue, the counter and player names in the pause screen seem to jerk a lot when the numbers or the mic icon change there. I mean, when the counter runs down, the whole 00:00 number twitches around, same with the names when the icon changes as mic pics up sound from the user. These just give a bad impression of shoddy programming? It's a beta and all, but still.
When I played EASHL dropins very late last night local time, the connection was pretty sweet, butter smooth skating etc. It was really great, I wish it was like that all the time.
i'm blown away at how EA continues year after year to release games that somehow manage to take steps back on certain features that were fine the year before. i mean seriously doesn't anyway speak up and say "hey somehow this is worse than what we already have, fix it or scrap it".
eashl
-menus have issues with text not showing properly: they go off the screen to the right.
-names on the jerseys are not showing properly: the upper side of the text is not showing.
Poke checks feel more effective which is a good thing. I do find there's some button response issues with pokes vs. DSS. Sometimes I hold down poke to engage DSS and nothing happens and other times I tap poke and it engages DSS when I just want a poke.
I don't mind the new button mapping for chops. Just takes some getting used to.
One other thing I noticed in EASHL 3s that I think needs addressing. I was playing a team that was trying to ready up with only 2 forwards which I thought was strange because I haven't found the AI to be particularly good in 3s. They ended up getting a d man who quit after the first period, likely due to some peer pressure. The rest of the game they had a forward who camped at our blue line and the second his CPU got possession, he'd call for it and the CPU would deliver a pin point saucer pass from behind his own net every time. The pass was almost impossible to intercept. I know we had the advantage of a 3 on 2 in their zone but the ability of CPUs to get to loose pucks made it a very effective strategy for the other team. I know we've always had cherry picking stick tappers but I feel like giving CPUs sauce and bank passes in a 3s mode somewhat aggravated the issue. Maybe they shouldn't use them when players actively call for the pass? I don't know but I feel like it could potentially break 3s if left unchecked,