Beta as i see it from a D point of view

SQUINTSQUINT

First off i have a perspective of playing for both top ten teams as well as having played a great many drop-in games, as well as a great many leagues. I am currently the 86th dd-man in 19 with a +286 even though i didnt get 19 until april when it was on sale for $20 (i passed on 18 completely) and that i play drops 80 percent of the time if not closer to 90.

That being said... i think that this version thus far, HAS to be the hardest to play defence EVER! I have videos of me pokechecking 2 times perfectly, only to have the dude just keep on keeping on. I have sticklifted a guy twice as well and he just keeps going like i did nothing. I play as a DD man with the stick specialty. I take maybe .30 penalties per game, even though i poke at least 30 times per game. So if a DD man cant do it then who the heck can?? So it seems to me that using either a poke or lift will either A: Do nothing or B: result in a penalty for even trying.

Now too make matters worse i play in "zone view" well now i have this bottom new hud that completely takes off a full inch of my screen. A full inch that i need to see when i am onside in the offensive zone and a full inch that i need to benefit from, when dealing with cherry pickers (If you play forward you will never notice this, but as a defensive d-man this only makes things harder) and there is ZERO option to turn this hud off!! Who asked for this?!! Even if it didnt take up my play space it is still obtrusive just by drawing my attention to it! It is right by where i have to see where my guy is!! Honestly whyyyyy??!

Next gripe...When i try for a one-timer from a perfect faceoff win....well in 19 it sometimes works and sometimes doesnt, but in this version my guy will grab the puck and delay like 2 seconds to shoot! He will literally corral the puck and a full second later shoot. No one timer in 20 attempts ever. Just a turnover for the delay. or at best a weak shot that is sooo telegraphed it is pointless to even try (much like pokes or lifts) .

Same goes for dumps. This is literally the first year ever, where if we are on the PK and i load up a dump down the right boards as a LD that my guys will literally turn first before he does it. So now the draw comes in the defensive zone to me. and i not only have to charge the dump and make sure i aim it properly "so it doesnt go over our board resulting in a second penalty" but i also have to compensate for a turn as well, literally making D that much harder.

Now i consider my greatest asset as a dman to be taking away the 2v1 crosses. I am every bit as good as i have ever been doing this. For a great while now i have been angered by every version that the delay after doing so to get a pass off after, seems to have grown and grown. This beta the delay is INSANE! If i have broken up a perfect cross and i press pass immediately after... well sorry bout your luck buddy, cause the forward will just go "doink" and lift it (100 times better than i as a dd-man can) and shoot and score.

I was going to post my replays but i must have deleted them as soon as i did the beta (which was approx 15 games in , and more than enough time to know i hated it)

Now you all can bash me like you do every year that i make a post on my beta gripes. For myself i fight hard to not buy the game each year (like i didnt in 18) but mannnnnn this year, this year i won't even notice.

Kudo's on you EA for adding a highlight of the period, but if the view shown is soooo bad, that we cant even see what happened, then why even bother?

On a plus note the commentary is leaps and bounds better. Is that enough to warrant a buy? Well not for me. Easiest pass EVER by me. So for that i guess i also thank you.

Just the way i see things and hopefully you can all either agree or disagree without the bashing. I've been playing them since the first sega game. Doesn't make me a know it all but it does give me a great many versions point of reference.

Cheer's

SQUINTSQUINT

And not too be a complete downer. I think that reverting back 19 to close to beta settings, made it the best since 14 since last gen.

But you need to make a great dman a game changer again like it used to be. As it stands now, unless you are on a top 50 club. a great Dman dont really amount to a hill of beans in comparison to an average forward in even a drop-in game. In 12 and under a great d game could actually affect the outcome.

Its a forwards world now and im just living in it i guess

SQUINTSQUINT

A step in the right direction is too take off ANY and ALL pass or shoot delay, after breaking up a cross crease pass or rebound for ANY defence type. Just my 2 cents. This alone would go a lonnnnnng way.

SQUINTSQUINT

Or at the very least give us a 1 second protective timeframe to react before we are stripped.

NickKefz

I have played mostly at D in this beta and it is certainly much harder but also much more rewarding when you figure it out. You cant play it like 19 and backskate track the puck carrier or person you are defending, you have to play your space and man realistically now that the game wont do most of the work for you and the forwards actually have speed with the puck. Funnel them into space where you know you can strip them or force them into an area that you have teammates backchecking/defending, you know actually play defense. If you are facing a guy stick lifting him theres real good chance he gets it back you have to turn into his body and lift and turn your back to him so he cant get it back.

Off of faceoffs do not hold LT trigger I think this is probably the reason you are getting a slight delay, in fact try not to use LT too much its not that good without the backskating trait on or having a smaller more faster and agile build.

SQUINTSQUINT

NickKefz wrote: »

Off of faceoffs do not hold LT trigger I think this is probably the reason you are getting a slight delay, in fact try not to use LT too much its not that good without the backskating trait on or having a smaller more faster and agile build.

While i do not disagree that this may not be the reasoning for this happening, is it not unfair to defense to have to deal with this happening, when they as offense can strip it from us within a fraction of a second yet we as D have to do 3 things to prevent it on us? As a D i have to not hold in LT before i break up the cross so that i can pass it quicker, but they as forwards can just sticklift and steal it willy nilly if they are close. No delay no nothing. I just want some parity and i am not seeing it.

rblaze1988

This game is a mess. It is nhl 19 but many times worse. I have literally been auto stripped/stick-lifted by the opponents AI while i try my hardest to forecheck in the offensive zone while my opponent just skates around waiting for the game to do all the work. I literally have steam coming out of my ears while i have the puck and I’m trying to create plays and my opponent is just hanging back while his AI breaks up every play and blocks every shot. I get past the opponent defense and come in on a break away and his player magnetically speeds up to me catches up and either bodies me or somehow gets in front of me and lifts my stick while when he is coming into my zone on a rush i poke the puck twice he manages to get around me i switch defenders lift the stick or hit him he still is unaffected...i don’t really have anything else to say. I’m at my wits end and i really won’t have a problem not buying this no effort re-hash of the last 4 years. They did not fix a single issue that we have pointed out and pleaded them to fix. This is an embarrassment and a slap in the face. I’ll be playing modern warfare this fall. Maybe a new publisher can steal the rights/license to make nhl hockey games because I’m done with this series. I have no faith that they will be able to do anything that will make this game palatable for me. I’m just mad because i would like to play with my teams updated roster.

rblaze1988

And i have gone 2-5-1 and i have not been able to win more than 10% of my faceoffs. I literally have tried every thing that i have known to try and win a face off and i was pretty successful in the past nhl games on faceoffs i have been able to time them just perfectly to the puck drop and i used to be successful during most games but ever since nhl 19 it just feels random. Like a coin toss or pre determined before the game starts whether i will win face offs or not but in the beta i haven’t been able to even break even on face offs. It’s funny how i will lose all my face offs and then the one or 2 that i won almost always turn out to be scoring plays for me or vice versa for my opponent. This was blatantly obvious in nhl 19. I just don’t have the luxury of sacrificing my mental state for the sake of this game anymore