I play as a human goalie using the fixed camera. I noticed that the cut scene for a penalty shot between the penalty being called and the actual shot is currently messed up. By the time the cut scene finishes, the shooter it’s already in motion and you don’t have enough time to react. Easy fix would be to not let the skater move until the goalie has loaded in.
The lateral movement seems a bit sluggish again this year and the overall human goalie gameplay is almost identical grim the previous four years.
Actually i realized last night that you have to go to 32 team with custom rosters for franchise to be able to choose the Alumn teams as replacement teams in franchise mode. So I substituted in some alum teams and simmed the first week of the season and none other than Gordie Howe was leading the league in scoring. Obviously you would replace these rosters and create your own roster save if you dont want legends in the franchise. I also noticed that the legends I looked at anyway are all aged 27, so id assume that means if you do use them in franchise mode, they will be around for a bit without retiring....again haha
I play as a human goalie using the fixed camera. I noticed that the cut scene for a penalty shot between the penalty being called and the actual shot is currently messed up. By the time the cut scene finishes, the shooter it’s already in motion and you don’t have enough time to react. Easy fix would be to not let the skater move until the goalie has loaded in.
The lateral movement seems a bit sluggish again this year and the overall human goalie gameplay is almost identical grim the previous four years.
Jtric
That was pretty much my experience from playing the BETA; nothing much changed on the human goalies front. Making a 6'7" Mammoth goalie, backing up to the goal line and parking him in the middle of the net grants you a 90% success rate without really having to do anything. Just wait for shots and let the game do the work.
Meanwhile if you actually try to play like a real goalie, like coming out to challenge a shooter, taking away the angles and anticipating shots, you'll end up getting shafted more often than not. That's not any different than how this game has played for years.
I'm gonna wait until the game releases and the mandatory "Day 1 Patch" arrives to play the trial, because I don't wanna use up my 10 hours playing a game that isn't even "final code" and then people calling me out about not being fair... But I have a feeling it won't alter my perception in any significant way.
I play as a human goalie using the fixed camera. I noticed that the cut scene for a penalty shot between the penalty being called and the actual shot is currently messed up. By the time the cut scene finishes, the shooter it’s already in motion and you don’t have enough time to react. Easy fix would be to not let the skater move until the goalie has loaded in.
The lateral movement seems a bit sluggish again this year and the overall human goalie gameplay is almost identical grim the previous four years.
Jtric
That was pretty much my experience from playing the BETA; nothing much changed on the human goalies front. Making a 6'7" Mammoth goalie, backing up to the goal line and parking him in the middle of the net grants you a 90% success rate without really having to do anything. Just wait for shots and let the game do the work.
Meanwhile if you actually try to play like a real goalie, like coming out to challenge a shooter, taking away the angles and anticipating shots, you'll end up getting shafted more often than not. That's not any different than how this game has played for years.
I'm gonna wait until the game releases and the mandatory "Day 1 Patch" arrives to play the trial, because I don't wanna use up my 10 hours playing a game that isn't even "final code" and then people calling me out about not being fair... But I have a feeling it won't alter my perception in any significant way.
So extremely disappointing.
That’s what I’m saving my time for as currently I wasn’t enjoying the game to use my limited time.
I just don't feel like I can give my 100% honest opinion/criticism on the game until then and the first patch is dropped to correct some minor issues the devs probably didn't have time to fix for release day.
Not that it will make a difference; the patch obviously isn't going to suddenly make the goalies play like goalies (LOL). And it isn't like it makes any difference to me whether other people agree with me or not, but I wanted to know, for MYSELF, that I gave it a fair shot.
I'll be saving some hours for after release to make up my mind, if I had to decide right now it would probably be a no.
The way the game plays right now (6's eashl) you are punished for passing, rewarded for hogging, and defense is useless except for pass interceptions because this is the year of the curl. Going to be a lot of 3v3 in dropins because there will be an even bigger lack of Dmen this year. It's everything I was hoping this series would move away from.
I'd be more specific but you guys have covered it pretty well and I feel like I've had the same complaints for so many years now. Hopefully a day 1 patch surprises me.
One of the reasons you won’t see players back skating into the zone in high level play is because it would just expose the puck to a back checking forward. In eashl, there is almost never a back checking forward.
If you want to stop this strategy, stop trying to curl in front of the puck carrier as forward and glide behind him instead, writhing for your defenseman to turn him back to you. Work with your D man to force him to the boards and box him in.
When you sprint up and try to curl in front, you are just opening up the inside lane for an easy cut in as you bump into ur D-man.
It's not. It's cool to hate on EA but this is not the worst NHL to date.
It's this kind of hyperbole why the community cant be taken seriously.
Agreed. It's not the absolute worst NHL ever made. I think NHL 2003 and NHL 15 take those "honours". From what I've played and seen, NHL 20's not bad. It's just... not for hockey purists. It's for videogamers. That's fine, I guess.
Ok my bad, yes NHL 15 was worse, I may have exaggerated a bit lol. But for the 5th installment of NHL on the ps4/xbox one it still feels like we are nowhere near the gameplay we had on previous gen consoles, which is pretty sad.
I get that it's all opinion based and people are gunna disagree, but I feel like there is absolutely no consistency in the game we have now. Seems like every year the skill gap gets less and less and the game feels more like it does whatever it can to keep the game as close as possible.
The game used to feel like a game of chess where you're trying to outsmart your opponent based on their decisions with and without the puck and if they messed up it cost them. Now it's become a game where someone can simply put the controller down and go take a dump, and their AI will pick up the slack. Sure it's easier since it's essentially a power play at that point, and chances are you will still score. But my point is, that you are still going to have to work a lot harder than you should considering your opponent isnt even holding the controller
What other online game can you be 1v1 against somebody, they set the controller down, and it's not just a complete given that you run away with the game at that point. I mean, in NHL say they get control of the puck while they are afk, sometimes you can hit them, poke, stick lift and they still maintain possession even though they arent even there. I'm sure everyone here at some point has been playing someone that afk'd and you sat there and had to work harder than you should have to get the puck off an afk player
It's not. It's cool to hate on EA but this is not the worst NHL to date.
It's this kind of hyperbole why the community cant be taken seriously.
Agreed. It's not the absolute worst NHL ever made. I think NHL 2003 and NHL 15 take those "honours". From what I've played and seen, NHL 20's not bad. It's just... not for hockey purists. It's for videogamers. That's fine, I guess.
I like the way you worded this, I think you're onto something with this line.
Ok my bad, yes NHL 15 was worse, I may have exaggerated a bit lol. But for the 5th installment of NHL on the ps4/xbox one it still feels like we are nowhere near the gameplay we had on previous gen consoles, which is pretty sad.
I get that it's all opinion based and people are gunna disagree, but I feel like there is absolutely no consistency in the game we have now. Seems like every year the skill gap gets less and less and the game feels more like it does whatever it can to keep the game as close as possible.
The game used to feel like a game of chess where you're trying to outsmart your opponent based on their decisions with and without the puck and if they messed up it cost them. Now it's become a game where someone can simply put the controller down and go take a dump, and their AI will pick up the slack. Sure it's easier since it's essentially a power play at that point, and chances are you will still score. But my point is, that you are still going to have to work a lot harder than you should considering your opponent isnt even holding the controller
What other online game can you be 1v1 against somebody, they set the controller down, and it's not just a complete given that you run away with the game at that point. I mean, in NHL say they get control of the puck while they are afk, sometimes you can hit them, poke, stick lift and they still maintain possession even though they arent even there. I'm sure everyone here at some point has been playing someone that afk'd and you sat there and had to work harder than you should have to get the puck off an afk player
Hahaha yes! Happened in EASHL a few times.. poke it off, he somehow grabs it back.. bump him and he reaches out to get it again.. me being me decides to skate full speed and hit him and get a charging call and have to sit in the box and he comes back to play and they're in a power play. Curling is too good.. intercepting passes is a bit over powered (but good in arcade threes (I play that when I take a break from 6's) seems like they keep working on making that mode better, it's also pretty easy to hit those raggers in that mode. Funny enough threes might have a better sim than eashl right now.. they should just tinker with eashl and keep threes how it is. Turn down pass interceptions and skating ability in eashl and I'd like to think the game might play pretty well!
What other online game can you be 1v1 against somebody, they set the controller down, and it's not just a complete given that you run away with the game at that point. I mean, in NHL say they get control of the puck while they are afk, sometimes you can hit them, poke, stick lift and they still maintain possession even though they arent even there. I'm sure everyone here at some point has been playing someone that afk'd and you sat there and had to work harder than you should have to get the puck off an afk player
Actually... No.
I may be highly critical of the game, but this is one aspect of the game that I absolutely HATE how the community has misconstrued, and I mostly blame the "elites". One thing that grinds my gears when I go to a known NHL stream is when the broadcasters start complaining about the "OP bots" because the other guys just sit back in front of their net or drop their controllers. Dude, you're an elite NHL player, sponsored by EA, you usually score 10 goals per period by twitching all over the ice with LT? You abuse the behind the net glitch and the tuck in goals? It kills me to hear them complaining about the bots when they're using EVERY exploit they can to score. LOL!!
As a former offline only player, I get absolutely GIDDY when my opponent tries to play back and let his AI try to do the work. The AI is so horrible! Yes, there are things it can do that humans can't and it will react to some things much faster than we can. But it's highly predictable and you can exploit it to do certain things even at the highest difficulty levels.
Take my advice: play a few games offline at ALL-STAR or even SUPERSTAR difficulty and learn the AI tendencies. It's not important if you win or lose those games, you just want to pick up on what it does. So that the next time your opponent is dumb enough to "leave his controller down", you can dominate him instead of crumbling.
I once played a dude who was NOTORIOUS for playing Goalie Lock in HUT. He was on a 20+ win streak when I got matched up with him. I had seen him a few days ago frustrate the heck out of some top streamers at the time. After one period I was already up 8-1 against him because I wasn't intimated by his "overpowered AI"... LOL!
I also played a lot of NHL 2K which was a much, much more difficult game to play against the AI than EA's NHL. Way more difficult because the AI didn't run around like a puck seeking zombie all over the ice and ruin your positioning. Scoring wasn't just a matter of taking the right shot from the right spot. Keeping the puck in the opponent's zone was very difficult. And keeping the AI from scoring on your end was even more difficult because you had to play TEAM defense and not just fly everywhere and play "EA" defense (which means always being on the puck holder).
So yeah... Playing against someone who puts down the controller in this game? Piece of cake, IMO. I have no problem against those. Against people who abuse goal scoring exploits? Yeah, that's a little harder. Because you end up having to use cheese to fight cheese. And you hope that you can somehow out-cheese the cheeser. LOL!
The pass interceptions are laughably OP. The number of behind the back, back hand blind pass interceptions is ridiculous. I felt like 19 had an ok balance between Def and Off and I'm saying this as someone who only plays Defence. However now I'm not sure what to do. I used to stay in position and wait for sticks to overlap the auto puck dislodge or make a bump to separate the puck. If I was in poke position I would maybe try that and get good separation. But now I feel like none of this works. Bumps get shook. Auto separation on the stick overlap doesn't really happen anymore. and even a well timed poke doesn't separate the puck and they just get it right back and now I'm beat. How is this so unbalanced now?
It's not. It's cool to hate on EA but this is not the worst NHL to date.
It's this kind of hyperbole why the community cant be taken seriously.
The series has so much potential though, and I feel with each iteration of the game they are straying farther and farther away from what makes authentic hockey, hockey.
What I mean is that I think they are going all in on the arcade style of play that caters to the casuals and the instant gratification they receive by taking it end to end, stringing together eight dekes with a cross ice wrister from the circle hash marks. All the while ignoring that they have other teammates on their team. It factors right into the psychological way to monetize the game, and one that EA certainly loves to play at. Activision created it, EA perfected it.
When previous versions of the game feel more like an NHL game than this glorified pond hockey having, loot hockey bag opening, gimmie your money for HUT packs, constant rehash of previous years of a game, then it's not hyperbole, Rainbow.
This game is in DIRE need of going back its roots. Where simulation and real innovation took point.
Really really hate how much you slide when you’re knocked to the ice. Will slide 10 feet from a regular knock down.. it’s ridiculous
As a whole, it feels like the players are "sliding" around more. Yeah, you could make an "ice" joke here, but watch a game of NHL 93 on YT. The skating is reminding me EXACTLY of that when I'm skating around. The physics seems off, which factors right in to your playing sliding the length of the rink when they're hit.
The pass interceptions are laughably OP. The number of behind the back, back hand blind pass interceptions is ridiculous. I felt like 19 had an ok balance between Def and Off and I'm saying this as someone who only plays Defence. However now I'm not sure what to do. I used to stay in position and wait for sticks to overlap the auto puck dislodge or make a bump to separate the puck. If I was in poke position I would maybe try that and get good separation. But now I feel like none of this works. Bumps get shook. Auto separation on the stick overlap doesn't really happen anymore. and even a well timed poke doesn't separate the puck and they just get it right back and now I'm beat. How is this so unbalanced now?
This falls right into my theory that EA is catering to an "offense beats all" type of gameplay. They are no gameplay "penalties" for bad offensive play. I can skate as fast as I want, deke as much as I want, twist and twist around a defense, and still have a high rate of maintaining the puck, even through auto-stick dislodge. A well timed poke should send the puck away at good speed, but it seems to stop in its tracks, and then is regained by the player still skating forward while I'm flat-footed.
Meanwhile, If I miss a poke check or stick lift, that forward skates right on by. If I time my stick lift or poke wrong, I get a penalty. If I'm beat and I desperation dive, and tap someone on the skate going down, I get a penalty. It's a one-sided game, and it has been for quite awhile, unfortunately.
The game definitely has more arcadey feel to it but in some ways that's a good thing.
What we have now is 10x better than the stuck in the mud trying to turn an 18 wheeler momentum we had before but less turn on a dime dreidel we had before that. I really like where skating is at right now.
I like lots of contact but too much incidental contact is bad for the game imo because we cant control our limbs or how we carry our stick ... but what we have now is terrible in terms of contact. LT figure skating is breaking this game and contact needs to be amped way up. Fixing that alone will create much better balanced gameplay
Replies
The lateral movement seems a bit sluggish again this year and the overall human goalie gameplay is almost identical grim the previous four years.
Jtric
That was pretty much my experience from playing the BETA; nothing much changed on the human goalies front. Making a 6'7" Mammoth goalie, backing up to the goal line and parking him in the middle of the net grants you a 90% success rate without really having to do anything. Just wait for shots and let the game do the work.
Meanwhile if you actually try to play like a real goalie, like coming out to challenge a shooter, taking away the angles and anticipating shots, you'll end up getting shafted more often than not. That's not any different than how this game has played for years.
I'm gonna wait until the game releases and the mandatory "Day 1 Patch" arrives to play the trial, because I don't wanna use up my 10 hours playing a game that isn't even "final code" and then people calling me out about not being fair... But I have a feeling it won't alter my perception in any significant way.
So extremely disappointing.
That’s what I’m saving my time for as currently I wasn’t enjoying the game to use my limited time.
Not that it will make a difference; the patch obviously isn't going to suddenly make the goalies play like goalies (LOL). And it isn't like it makes any difference to me whether other people agree with me or not, but I wanted to know, for MYSELF, that I gave it a fair shot.
The way the game plays right now (6's eashl) you are punished for passing, rewarded for hogging, and defense is useless except for pass interceptions because this is the year of the curl. Going to be a lot of 3v3 in dropins because there will be an even bigger lack of Dmen this year. It's everything I was hoping this series would move away from.
I'd be more specific but you guys have covered it pretty well and I feel like I've had the same complaints for so many years now. Hopefully a day 1 patch surprises me.
One of the reasons you won’t see players back skating into the zone in high level play is because it would just expose the puck to a back checking forward. In eashl, there is almost never a back checking forward.
If you want to stop this strategy, stop trying to curl in front of the puck carrier as forward and glide behind him instead, writhing for your defenseman to turn him back to you. Work with your D man to force him to the boards and box him in.
When you sprint up and try to curl in front, you are just opening up the inside lane for an easy cut in as you bump into ur D-man.
It's not. It's cool to hate on EA but this is not the worst NHL to date.
It's this kind of hyperbole why the community cant be taken seriously.
Agreed. It's not the absolute worst NHL ever made. I think NHL 2003 and NHL 15 take those "honours". From what I've played and seen, NHL 20's not bad. It's just... not for hockey purists. It's for videogamers. That's fine, I guess.
I get that it's all opinion based and people are gunna disagree, but I feel like there is absolutely no consistency in the game we have now. Seems like every year the skill gap gets less and less and the game feels more like it does whatever it can to keep the game as close as possible.
The game used to feel like a game of chess where you're trying to outsmart your opponent based on their decisions with and without the puck and if they messed up it cost them. Now it's become a game where someone can simply put the controller down and go take a dump, and their AI will pick up the slack. Sure it's easier since it's essentially a power play at that point, and chances are you will still score. But my point is, that you are still going to have to work a lot harder than you should considering your opponent isnt even holding the controller
What other online game can you be 1v1 against somebody, they set the controller down, and it's not just a complete given that you run away with the game at that point. I mean, in NHL say they get control of the puck while they are afk, sometimes you can hit them, poke, stick lift and they still maintain possession even though they arent even there. I'm sure everyone here at some point has been playing someone that afk'd and you sat there and had to work harder than you should have to get the puck off an afk player
I like the way you worded this, I think you're onto something with this line.
Hahaha yes! Happened in EASHL a few times.. poke it off, he somehow grabs it back.. bump him and he reaches out to get it again.. me being me decides to skate full speed and hit him and get a charging call and have to sit in the box and he comes back to play and they're in a power play. Curling is too good.. intercepting passes is a bit over powered (but good in arcade threes (I play that when I take a break from 6's) seems like they keep working on making that mode better, it's also pretty easy to hit those raggers in that mode. Funny enough threes might have a better sim than eashl right now.. they should just tinker with eashl and keep threes how it is. Turn down pass interceptions and skating ability in eashl and I'd like to think the game might play pretty well!
Actually... No.
I may be highly critical of the game, but this is one aspect of the game that I absolutely HATE how the community has misconstrued, and I mostly blame the "elites". One thing that grinds my gears when I go to a known NHL stream is when the broadcasters start complaining about the "OP bots" because the other guys just sit back in front of their net or drop their controllers. Dude, you're an elite NHL player, sponsored by EA, you usually score 10 goals per period by twitching all over the ice with LT? You abuse the behind the net glitch and the tuck in goals? It kills me to hear them complaining about the bots when they're using EVERY exploit they can to score. LOL!!
As a former offline only player, I get absolutely GIDDY when my opponent tries to play back and let his AI try to do the work. The AI is so horrible! Yes, there are things it can do that humans can't and it will react to some things much faster than we can. But it's highly predictable and you can exploit it to do certain things even at the highest difficulty levels.
Take my advice: play a few games offline at ALL-STAR or even SUPERSTAR difficulty and learn the AI tendencies. It's not important if you win or lose those games, you just want to pick up on what it does. So that the next time your opponent is dumb enough to "leave his controller down", you can dominate him instead of crumbling.
I once played a dude who was NOTORIOUS for playing Goalie Lock in HUT. He was on a 20+ win streak when I got matched up with him. I had seen him a few days ago frustrate the heck out of some top streamers at the time. After one period I was already up 8-1 against him because I wasn't intimated by his "overpowered AI"... LOL!
I also played a lot of NHL 2K which was a much, much more difficult game to play against the AI than EA's NHL. Way more difficult because the AI didn't run around like a puck seeking zombie all over the ice and ruin your positioning. Scoring wasn't just a matter of taking the right shot from the right spot. Keeping the puck in the opponent's zone was very difficult. And keeping the AI from scoring on your end was even more difficult because you had to play TEAM defense and not just fly everywhere and play "EA" defense (which means always being on the puck holder).
So yeah... Playing against someone who puts down the controller in this game? Piece of cake, IMO. I have no problem against those. Against people who abuse goal scoring exploits? Yeah, that's a little harder. Because you end up having to use cheese to fight cheese. And you hope that you can somehow out-cheese the cheeser. LOL!
The series has so much potential though, and I feel with each iteration of the game they are straying farther and farther away from what makes authentic hockey, hockey.
What I mean is that I think they are going all in on the arcade style of play that caters to the casuals and the instant gratification they receive by taking it end to end, stringing together eight dekes with a cross ice wrister from the circle hash marks. All the while ignoring that they have other teammates on their team. It factors right into the psychological way to monetize the game, and one that EA certainly loves to play at. Activision created it, EA perfected it.
When previous versions of the game feel more like an NHL game than this glorified pond hockey having, loot hockey bag opening, gimmie your money for HUT packs, constant rehash of previous years of a game, then it's not hyperbole, Rainbow.
This game is in DIRE need of going back its roots. Where simulation and real innovation took point.
As a whole, it feels like the players are "sliding" around more. Yeah, you could make an "ice" joke here, but watch a game of NHL 93 on YT. The skating is reminding me EXACTLY of that when I'm skating around. The physics seems off, which factors right in to your playing sliding the length of the rink when they're hit.
This falls right into my theory that EA is catering to an "offense beats all" type of gameplay. They are no gameplay "penalties" for bad offensive play. I can skate as fast as I want, deke as much as I want, twist and twist around a defense, and still have a high rate of maintaining the puck, even through auto-stick dislodge. A well timed poke should send the puck away at good speed, but it seems to stop in its tracks, and then is regained by the player still skating forward while I'm flat-footed.
Meanwhile, If I miss a poke check or stick lift, that forward skates right on by. If I time my stick lift or poke wrong, I get a penalty. If I'm beat and I desperation dive, and tap someone on the skate going down, I get a penalty. It's a one-sided game, and it has been for quite awhile, unfortunately.
What we have now is 10x better than the stuck in the mud trying to turn an 18 wheeler momentum we had before but less turn on a dime dreidel we had before that. I really like where skating is at right now.
I like lots of contact but too much incidental contact is bad for the game imo because we cant control our limbs or how we carry our stick ... but what we have now is terrible in terms of contact. LT figure skating is breaking this game and contact needs to be amped way up. Fixing that alone will create much better balanced gameplay