How about some defense!!!!! When little guys have speed and the ability to roll off every check by simply pivoting and puck protect it sucks!!! I take big guys cause I like smashing people. If u wanna score and can dangle great for you but you shouldn't be able to stand up to hits like this game allows right now
Also, for your next update, can we get a no play by play name option for created players? Itd be a 5 minute fix for a programmer. I want to create players with names that are not in the NHL or AHL.
"...we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now."
Are the developers that far out of touch with reality? I mean this with all due respect, but there have been constant issues reported by many many people (many in EA forums) that are very consistent with each other - similar problems that many users are experiencing across the board - but no changes need to be made and the gameplay is in a good place? Hardly.
Even when the game was released and the trailers said "you talked...we listened" - that wasn't even remotely true. Who did they listen to? EA-only groups? Did they pick and choose what people to listen to while ignoring the vast majority that are saying something else entirely?
This game isn't fun anymore. NHL19 had something going, but instead of building on that, it's like it went backward. Here's a laundry list for you (note: most of this refers to CHEL, but applies to other modes as well):
1) EASHL is in a downward spiral. Guys that are extremely low levels are somehow having careers of 90-100 goals (which isn't possible if you haven't even played the game long enough to be higher than level 10). On the other hand, guys that are high levels are somehow getting easily schooled by low levels and guys with no perks in their loadouts.
2) Scoring is way too inconsistent on both sides of the puck. Players that exhibit no decent skill at all are somehow able to exploit games as if they're Gretzky in computer form. I can't tell you how many times I or my teams has out-shot, out-played, out-checked, out-passed, out-maneuvered, and pretty much out-everything, only to somehow get blown up cuz every shot they took went in (despite only being able to get off very few attempts).
3) The AI is even able to waltz up behind you and give you the shiv and walk away with the puck despite having no position to do so.
4) I can't tell you how many times I've blown past somebody who was skating backward, only to have them magically recover and race to my front as if I wasn't even going full-speed while using the fastest loadout you can have.
5) Also, what's with your own AI players skating in front you and blocking your way?
6) Hitting feels non-existent. I can't tell you how many times I've had the perfect position to run somebody over, only to have them bounce around me like a repelling magnet (this happens in other modes as well - most notably Threes). Also, I've hit people who had the puck before only to have the ref give him a penalty shot...and for what?
7) Passing is way too easy to predict and intercept for some reason. I remember being able to make bee-line passes that could often get through defenders if you had a lane, but now it's like if a defender is within 10 feet of the puck, good luck passing anywhere unless your teammate is also 10 feet away from the nearest defender. So what's the problem? Hackers? Lag-switchers? Goal-glitchers? If the problems aren't human-created, then what?
8) AI goalies are not any better than previous years (as has been pushed and promoted for NHL20). They make almost idiotic decisions, they don't fight to control loose pucks, they don't recover well at all after deflected shots, and they don't handle the easiest and simple of shots that any reasonable goalie would block with no trouble (at least it was that way in NHL19). I can't tell you how many times I've watched the LAZIEST of shots zip past a goalie who looked otherwise incapable of making a save. Maybe that's from goal-glitching (which is lame), but whatever it is, it's dumb.
9) I remember playing NHL19 and while I would often lose games, I was also good enough to win about the same number of games if not more. I usually played with good teammates, but often still found a way to do well even without teammates. Even in losing efforts, I'd still play very well. Now, nothing makes sense. Even from a statistical standpoint, the game shouldn't be this bad. I should still be able to produce even average results, but for some reason it's like playing this entire game on superstar difficulty or something. Success has been abysmal, which was never true in NHL19 (even when I was a lower level). My ability to play well didn't change - the game did.
10) Can somebody PLEASE get rid of the worthless, enforced watching of replays? PLEASE!
11) Why on earth did you remove regular Threes and replace everything with Eliminator? Goodness, at least give us the option of playing regular Threes OR Eliminator. The Eliminator mode forces you to sit in lobby screens for 5, sometimes even 10 minutes or more while waiting for the server to catch up (or whatever is going on). It used to be that you could leave a lobby and attempt to join a new one, but now you're stuck and can't do anything to get out of it. While I do like the concept of a tournament, it shouldn't be the standard mode that everyone has to play - should have given us more options at least.
12) And why did you make it first to 7? That's lame. The money pucks can almost negate a full game that would otherwise be fun to play out until the last second. There's like almost no ability to come from behind and win.
13) Why are you only counting stats toward player progression from EASHL? What was the problem with allowing all modes to contribute to your player progression like NHL19? Now, all we can do is play EASHL to get the same XP points that we would have gotten from all 3 modes in NHL19. That's ridiculous, especially considering EASHL is essentially broken and even less fun to play than Threes and dare I say Ones (which is not even that good of a mode - seriously - people don't like it).
14) It seems the attempt here was to make the game more "realistic," but I tell you this, it is far from realistic. We don't want a super realistic game anyway. Sure, some aspects are good to give an authentic feel, but come on - it's a video game. You'll never make a video game like this to be perfectly realistic, so at least make something that has video gamers in mind cuz we're gonna spot everything that isn't even close to realistic.
15) Going back to passing - how many times am I gonna make an easy open pass to my teammate that is standing not 5 feet from me, only to have the puck sail to who the heck knows where? This has been a problem for some time. Only in EA does it feel like I can make a direct, open pass to an open man, only to have the puck fly in a complete other direction (and yes, I'm aiming my stick in the right direction) - and yes, while using passing perks in my loadouts! It is way too easy to turn the puck over, blow up your own offensive push, or lazily hand the puck to the other team as if your intent was to gift-wrap it for them.
16) This one is not gameplay related, but fan related - could someone tell me why Buffalo NEVER gets the black/white goat head jerseys from 1996-2006, but every other team seems to have every uniform in their existence? I mean Toronto even has like 3 jerseys that all look the same aside from some small variations. I'm glad you guys gave Buffalo the slug jerseys in this one, BUT that is also the least popular jersey Buffalo has ever had...and yet they still don't even have the classics from 1980s/early 90s much less the black/white goat head. I understand there could be very simple reasons for this, but I just want to know why. Is there a licensing problem? A developer issue? What is it? I just want to know!
17) Ok, back to CHEL. I like that the items you can unlock were expanded...however...I feel that I continually unlock worthless junk that I'll never ever touch. And now that there's far more items than last year's game, it will be increasingly harder to unlock anything I would actually like. I know it's random and it's done that way to keep the level of variety out there, but it was already expansive enough to do that in NHL19. I'm tired of unlocking countless hockey bags full of nothing. I mean at least gear the hockey bags toward the type the player is using. For example, if a player only ever plays as a skater (and never a goalie), all the goalie items are gonna be worthless. There has to be some way to gear things toward each type of player. Or at least cut down on the worthless items (like how many different variations of the same exact horn do you have to have?). Now, don't get me wrong, I like having many different goal horns, cellys, intros, big hit emotes, and so forth, but why does there have to be so many versions of the exact same thing? Even with gear, sometimes you'll find several different versions of the same colored item. Yes...I like variety (a lot of us do), but please cut back on the meaningless junk, or at least make the worthless stuff unlocked already. I mean I played NHL19 for the entire last year and didn't even come close to unlocking half of the available items that I actually liked - mainly because I kept unlocking worthless junk. And I mean if you're going to add a bunch of stuff to the hockey bags, then at least increase the number of items you can get in a bag. It was already hard enough to get good stuff to use in NHL19, so now it's only harder to do that because of the increase in items. And don't say "well we gave new ways to get extra bags - Threes eliminator for example" cuz even those bags have so few items in it. If you're going to jack up the number of CHEL items, then PLEASE gives us more in each bag. 15-20 items oughta do it. There's so much of a mess of useless items, that this is more than a reasonable number. It's already hard enough to level up (I mean it takes several hours worth to level up in the higher levels), that it's not like people will be unlocking every single item any time soon (not even for months).
18) Poke-checking. Oh boy...where to start. Still way too sensitive. If you're poking from behind, sure I get it.That can cause tripping...easy. But when you're in front and you still end up tripping him as if you were behind? That's not realistic at all. Can't tell you how many times (mainly in EASHL) that I get called for tripping when the guy is standing (not even skating) in front of me, but because the sensitivity is too ridiculously high, he trips...and of course they get a penalty shot. It's like if the stick even gets close to a guy's skates, he stumbles. That's far from reality. In fact, if it were real, the skaters would skate through it with no problem. In reality, actual skaters have such great balance that they only really trip if they have their legs taken out, or if a guy tangles his stick up in another dude's skates. If you want reality, go with that. However, this is not what happens in NHL20. It seemed like it was getting better in NHL19, but now it just seems to have really gone downhill...and fast.
19) To add to that, some of the movements that you make when you have the puck are just simply unnatural. Like how you guy turns in a complete circle with the stick/puck fully outstretched. That's not real at all. I thought this was fixed last year, but I guess not. Real-life players don't pinwheel with the puck when turning - so why does this still exist in NHL20? Changing direction should just be a matter of shifting position, not pinwheeling until you're offside. The stick placement is just so robotic that it still does not have a natural feel to it. I mean you guys fixed some of the skating to give it a more authentic feel, so why not the stick?
20) Checking - you should NOT be able to check someone to the ice from a completely standstill. Do you know how many times I've had a guy go from not moving into a full check as if he were skating at full speed?
21) And for that matter, it is WAY too easy to bump a guy off the puck. I've literally had guys lightly bump into me (almost as if it were a tap on the shoulder) that caused me to somehow lost complete control (and vision) of the puck. It's like getting tapped on the shoulder and then my guy goes blind or something, cuz not only is the puck loose, but he doesn't even try to pick it back up. Moreover, why does it seem so incredibly difficult to pick up loose pucks in any other situation? You know how many times I've had my guy in perfect position to snatch up a loose puck, or intercept an errant pass, only to have my guy literally just watch as the puck sails by? Doesn't even try to stop it.
22) To add to that, I've also noticed how some guys get destroyed, or significantly pushed off the puck...only to somehow maintain complete control and possession as if your guy is incapable of picking of the loose puck. I've knocked so many guys over, or out of the way, or poke-checked the living daylights out of, only for them to somehow pick up the puck and keep going - and in most cases score lazy goals afterward.
22) Kinda feel like being a bruiser/enforcer/big guy has been nerfed. It is way too easy to avoid checks. Yeah, there needs to be some balance between getting checked and avoiding checks, but I feel like this year, it is way too easy to avoid checks (unless you're simply unskilled and don't know how to maneuver or get out of the way). I touched on this earlier, but it's really like you miss an easy check as though you're a repelling magnet that just floats away from the attacking player. Furthermore, it feels like if you do land a solid hit, the guy (no matter how small) pops back up as if they didn't just get hit by a train. Now this isn't true for everyone - especially those with a low energy meter - but it happens all too frequently. It's like hitting doesn't do anything to disrupt a play.
23) Also, I feel like the effects of changing a player's weight, height, and perks has the wrong effects in some cases. Yeah, I know there has to be a balance here - but (for example) there are a ton of little guys with incredible stamina in real hockey that are otherwise "weak" in this game. And for that matter, there are a lot of big guys that have excellent stick handling and speed (I mean even Connor McDavid is 6'1" and Jack Eichel is 6'2" but both are among the fastest players in the NHL - granted their weight is below 200). Shoot, Crosby, Draisaitl, and Matthews are all over 200 lbs, but are extra speedy on the ice. My point here is that how your weight, height and perks affect your player's abilities needs to be re-examined. Just because you're big, doesn't mean your speed or ability to handle/shoot the puck should take a hit and vice versa. While I like what you've started with the different types of players to create your loadouts with, I think it needs an overhaul. Maybe do away with the different types of skaters and instead create like a skill point system where you can choose whatever weight/height you want (within reason) that gives a base set of abilities that you can add to as you unlock skill points. Isn't that how it once worked in be-a-pro or something like that? Now of course, I don't mean make it so you can be 5'10" and 250 lbs with the ability to bolt from one end of the ice to the other while simultaneously being able to check the daylights out of someone twice that height. Some things are just ridiculous. But as it stands now, I think this system needs to be improved significantly to address a variety of skill types and abilities available to more than just one weight class. For example, the whole "don't expect this player to do this or that because of their class type" isn't consistently accurate. What I think should happen is a reward/point based system that rewards players based on their ability to do well in the game. This will force players to better their skill level.
24) STILL NO ONLINE CONNECTED FRANCHISE?! Nuff said.
25) Btw...Ones...still the least popular game mode. Who cares if you made it available offline?
There's so many other things I could list, but I'll wrap it up with this. I don't feel the original statement I quoted at the beginning of this post is accurate. I feel the developers are out of touch with the real problems that are happening in this game. At any given time, when I hop on to play, do you know how many times I will see the player pool population is "low"? Every time. Only ONCE have I ever seen it say "high" and that was when it first came out. Even in NHL19, I would only ever see "low" on a rare occasion (and that was over the course of a full year). It would very often be normal or high. As for NHL20, these player pools have continually dropped from "high" at first release to "low" on a VERY consistent basis. Yeah, I'll get normal from time to time, but the majority of the time, these pools are consistently "low." That tells you something. If this game is fine "as-is" then why am I constantly seeing "low" populations on any given day? Does that mean people are just staying offline to play the regular modes since they're tired of the nonsense they run into online? Could be...or people are realizing this game isn't good as-is and were hoping for a step forward from NHL19, but instead feel like what they got was something several steps backward? Seems to me that the problems are pretty consistent (as noted in these forums), but they're either being ignored, or treated as if they don't really exist. I don't know for sure, but a statement like "we think the gameplay is good as-is so we're not going to change anything" is completely out of touch with reality.
The biggest problem is the server delays. I have almost never experienced a game in the same way as I do playing AI. Usually it feels like playing in quicksand. The rest of the details of the game is not a problem as long as the god damn servers are fixed. Who cares if the Nashville mascot has a carrot out of his ear or what Jerseys are missing. Fix the servers!
While I agree that the server delays should be fixed, there are A LOT of people that DO care about the correct jerseys being in the game. Presentation is part of the entire package. Ask a Vancouver fan about the wrong logo being on the away jersey or a Carolina fan having to wait to use a newly redesigned away jersey (though I am aware those have been put in with the new patch). Those things drive people like us absolutely nuts, especially if you're playing Franchise mode.
No, we dont care about jerseys. Game mechanics should be the TOP priority, aesthetics last.
The biggest problem is the server delays. I have almost never experienced a game in the same way as I do playing AI. Usually it feels like playing in quicksand. The rest of the details of the game is not a problem as long as the god damn servers are fixed. Who cares if the Nashville mascot has a carrot out of his ear or what Jerseys are missing. Fix the servers!
While I agree that the server delays should be fixed, there are A LOT of people that DO care about the correct jerseys being in the game. Presentation is part of the entire package. Ask a Vancouver fan about the wrong logo being on the away jersey or a Carolina fan having to wait to use a newly redesigned away jersey (though I am aware those have been put in with the new patch). Those things drive people like us absolutely nuts, especially if you're playing Franchise mode.
No, we dont care about jerseys. Game mechanics should be the TOP priority, aesthetics last.
You obviously didn't read what I said above, OF COURSE game mechanics should be high priority but just because YOU don't care about aesthetics doesn't mean that there aren't A TON of people who do.
"...we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now."
Are the developers that far out of touch with reality? I mean this with all due respect, but there have been constant issues reported by many many people (many in EA forums) that are very consistent with each other - similar problems that many users are experiencing across the board - but no changes need to be made and the gameplay is in a good place? Hardly.
Even when the game was released and the trailers said "you talked...we listened" - that wasn't even remotely true. Who did they listen to? EA-only groups? Did they pick and choose what people to listen to while ignoring the vast majority that are saying something else entirely?
This game isn't fun anymore. NHL19 had something going, but instead of building on that, it's like it went backward. Here's a laundry list for you (note: most of this refers to CHEL, but applies to other modes as well):
1) EASHL is in a downward spiral. Guys that are extremely low levels are somehow having careers of 90-100 goals (which isn't possible if you haven't even played the game long enough to be higher than level 10). On the other hand, guys that are high levels are somehow getting easily schooled by low levels and guys with no perks in their loadouts.
2) Scoring is way too inconsistent on both sides of the puck. Players that exhibit no decent skill at all are somehow able to exploit games as if they're Gretzky in computer form. I can't tell you how many times I or my teams has out-shot, out-played, out-checked, out-passed, out-maneuvered, and pretty much out-everything, only to somehow get blown up cuz every shot they took went in (despite only being able to get off very few attempts).
3) The AI is even able to waltz up behind you and give you the shiv and walk away with the puck despite having no position to do so.
4) I can't tell you how many times I've blown past somebody who was skating backward, only to have them magically recover and race to my front as if I wasn't even going full-speed while using the fastest loadout you can have.
5) Also, what's with your own AI players skating in front you and blocking your way?
6) Hitting feels non-existent. I can't tell you how many times I've had the perfect position to run somebody over, only to have them bounce around me like a repelling magnet (this happens in other modes as well - most notably Threes). Also, I've hit people who had the puck before only to have the ref give him a penalty shot...and for what?
7) Passing is way too easy to predict and intercept for some reason. I remember being able to make bee-line passes that could often get through defenders if you had a lane, but now it's like if a defender is within 10 feet of the puck, good luck passing anywhere unless your teammate is also 10 feet away from the nearest defender. So what's the problem? Hackers? Lag-switchers? Goal-glitchers? If the problems aren't human-created, then what?
8) AI goalies are not any better than previous years (as has been pushed and promoted for NHL20). They make almost idiotic decisions, they don't fight to control loose pucks, they don't recover well at all after deflected shots, and they don't handle the easiest and simple of shots that any reasonable goalie would block with no trouble (at least it was that way in NHL19). I can't tell you how many times I've watched the LAZIEST of shots zip past a goalie who looked otherwise incapable of making a save. Maybe that's from goal-glitching (which is lame), but whatever it is, it's dumb.
9) I remember playing NHL19 and while I would often lose games, I was also good enough to win about the same number of games if not more. I usually played with good teammates, but often still found a way to do well even without teammates. Even in losing efforts, I'd still play very well. Now, nothing makes sense. Even from a statistical standpoint, the game shouldn't be this bad. I should still be able to produce even average results, but for some reason it's like playing this entire game on superstar difficulty or something. Success has been abysmal, which was never true in NHL19 (even when I was a lower level). My ability to play well didn't change - the game did.
10) Can somebody PLEASE get rid of the worthless, enforced watching of replays? PLEASE!
11) Why on earth did you remove regular Threes and replace everything with Eliminator? Goodness, at least give us the option of playing regular Threes OR Eliminator. The Eliminator mode forces you to sit in lobby screens for 5, sometimes even 10 minutes or more while waiting for the server to catch up (or whatever is going on). It used to be that you could leave a lobby and attempt to join a new one, but now you're stuck and can't do anything to get out of it. While I do like the concept of a tournament, it shouldn't be the standard mode that everyone has to play - should have given us more options at least.
12) And why did you make it first to 7? That's lame. The money pucks can almost negate a full game that would otherwise be fun to play out until the last second. There's like almost no ability to come from behind and win.
13) Why are you only counting stats toward player progression from EASHL? What was the problem with allowing all modes to contribute to your player progression like NHL19? Now, all we can do is play EASHL to get the same XP points that we would have gotten from all 3 modes in NHL19. That's ridiculous, especially considering EASHL is essentially broken and even less fun to play than Threes and dare I say Ones (which is not even that good of a mode - seriously - people don't like it).
14) It seems the attempt here was to make the game more "realistic," but I tell you this, it is far from realistic. We don't want a super realistic game anyway. Sure, some aspects are good to give an authentic feel, but come on - it's a video game. You'll never make a video game like this to be perfectly realistic, so at least make something that has video gamers in mind cuz we're gonna spot everything that isn't even close to realistic.
15) Going back to passing - how many times am I gonna make an easy open pass to my teammate that is standing not 5 feet from me, only to have the puck sail to who the heck knows where? This has been a problem for some time. Only in EA does it feel like I can make a direct, open pass to an open man, only to have the puck fly in a complete other direction (and yes, I'm aiming my stick in the right direction) - and yes, while using passing perks in my loadouts! It is way too easy to turn the puck over, blow up your own offensive push, or lazily hand the puck to the other team as if your intent was to gift-wrap it for them.
16) This one is not gameplay related, but fan related - could someone tell me why Buffalo NEVER gets the black/white goat head jerseys from 1996-2006, but every other team seems to have every uniform in their existence? I mean Toronto even has like 3 jerseys that all look the same aside from some small variations. I'm glad you guys gave Buffalo the slug jerseys in this one, BUT that is also the least popular jersey Buffalo has ever had...and yet they still don't even have the classics from 1980s/early 90s much less the black/white goat head. I understand there could be very simple reasons for this, but I just want to know why. Is there a licensing problem? A developer issue? What is it? I just want to know!
17) Ok, back to CHEL. I like that the items you can unlock were expanded...however...I feel that I continually unlock worthless junk that I'll never ever touch. And now that there's far more items than last year's game, it will be increasingly harder to unlock anything I would actually like. I know it's random and it's done that way to keep the level of variety out there, but it was already expansive enough to do that in NHL19. I'm tired of unlocking countless hockey bags full of nothing. I mean at least gear the hockey bags toward the type the player is using. For example, if a player only ever plays as a skater (and never a goalie), all the goalie items are gonna be worthless. There has to be some way to gear things toward each type of player. Or at least cut down on the worthless items (like how many different variations of the same exact horn do you have to have?). Now, don't get me wrong, I like having many different goal horns, cellys, intros, big hit emotes, and so forth, but why does there have to be so many versions of the exact same thing? Even with gear, sometimes you'll find several different versions of the same colored item. Yes...I like variety (a lot of us do), but please cut back on the meaningless junk, or at least make the worthless stuff unlocked already. I mean I played NHL19 for the entire last year and didn't even come close to unlocking half of the available items that I actually liked - mainly because I kept unlocking worthless junk. And I mean if you're going to add a bunch of stuff to the hockey bags, then at least increase the number of items you can get in a bag. It was already hard enough to get good stuff to use in NHL19, so now it's only harder to do that because of the increase in items. And don't say "well we gave new ways to get extra bags - Threes eliminator for example" cuz even those bags have so few items in it. If you're going to jack up the number of CHEL items, then PLEASE gives us more in each bag. 15-20 items oughta do it. There's so much of a mess of useless items, that this is more than a reasonable number. It's already hard enough to level up (I mean it takes several hours worth to level up in the higher levels), that it's not like people will be unlocking every single item any time soon (not even for months).
18) Poke-checking. Oh boy...where to start. Still way too sensitive. If you're poking from behind, sure I get it.That can cause tripping...easy. But when you're in front and you still end up tripping him as if you were behind? That's not realistic at all. Can't tell you how many times (mainly in EASHL) that I get called for tripping when the guy is standing (not even skating) in front of me, but because the sensitivity is too ridiculously high, he trips...and of course they get a penalty shot. It's like if the stick even gets close to a guy's skates, he stumbles. That's far from reality. In fact, if it were real, the skaters would skate through it with no problem. In reality, actual skaters have such great balance that they only really trip if they have their legs taken out, or if a guy tangles his stick up in another dude's skates. If you want reality, go with that. However, this is not what happens in NHL20. It seemed like it was getting better in NHL19, but now it just seems to have really gone downhill...and fast.
19) To add to that, some of the movements that you make when you have the puck are just simply unnatural. Like how you guy turns in a complete circle with the stick/puck fully outstretched. That's not real at all. I thought this was fixed last year, but I guess not. Real-life players don't pinwheel with the puck when turning - so why does this still exist in NHL20? Changing direction should just be a matter of shifting position, not pinwheeling until you're offside. The stick placement is just so robotic that it still does not have a natural feel to it. I mean you guys fixed some of the skating to give it a more authentic feel, so why not the stick?
20) Checking - you should NOT be able to check someone to the ice from a completely standstill. Do you know how many times I've had a guy go from not moving into a full check as if he were skating at full speed?
21) And for that matter, it is WAY too easy to bump a guy off the puck. I've literally had guys lightly bump into me (almost as if it were a tap on the shoulder) that caused me to somehow lost complete control (and vision) of the puck. It's like getting tapped on the shoulder and then my guy goes blind or something, cuz not only is the puck loose, but he doesn't even try to pick it back up. Moreover, why does it seem so incredibly difficult to pick up loose pucks in any other situation? You know how many times I've had my guy in perfect position to snatch up a loose puck, or intercept an errant pass, only to have my guy literally just watch as the puck sails by? Doesn't even try to stop it.
22) To add to that, I've also noticed how some guys get destroyed, or significantly pushed off the puck...only to somehow maintain complete control and possession as if your guy is incapable of picking of the loose puck. I've knocked so many guys over, or out of the way, or poke-checked the living daylights out of, only for them to somehow pick up the puck and keep going - and in most cases score lazy goals afterward.
22) Kinda feel like being a bruiser/enforcer/big guy has been nerfed. It is way too easy to avoid checks. Yeah, there needs to be some balance between getting checked and avoiding checks, but I feel like this year, it is way too easy to avoid checks (unless you're simply unskilled and don't know how to maneuver or get out of the way). I touched on this earlier, but it's really like you miss an easy check as though you're a repelling magnet that just floats away from the attacking player. Furthermore, it feels like if you do land a solid hit, the guy (no matter how small) pops back up as if they didn't just get hit by a train. Now this isn't true for everyone - especially those with a low energy meter - but it happens all too frequently. It's like hitting doesn't do anything to disrupt a play.
23) Also, I feel like the effects of changing a player's weight, height, and perks has the wrong effects in some cases. Yeah, I know there has to be a balance here - but (for example) there are a ton of little guys with incredible stamina in real hockey that are otherwise "weak" in this game. And for that matter, there are a lot of big guys that have excellent stick handling and speed (I mean even Connor McDavid is 6'1" and Jack Eichel is 6'2" but both are among the fastest players in the NHL - granted their weight is below 200). Shoot, Crosby, Draisaitl, and Matthews are all over 200 lbs, but are extra speedy on the ice. My point here is that how your weight, height and perks affect your player's abilities needs to be re-examined. Just because you're big, doesn't mean your speed or ability to handle/shoot the puck should take a hit and vice versa. While I like what you've started with the different types of players to create your loadouts with, I think it needs an overhaul. Maybe do away with the different types of skaters and instead create like a skill point system where you can choose whatever weight/height you want (within reason) that gives a base set of abilities that you can add to as you unlock skill points. Isn't that how it once worked in be-a-pro or something like that? Now of course, I don't mean make it so you can be 5'10" and 250 lbs with the ability to bolt from one end of the ice to the other while simultaneously being able to check the daylights out of someone twice that height. Some things are just ridiculous. But as it stands now, I think this system needs to be improved significantly to address a variety of skill types and abilities available to more than just one weight class. For example, the whole "don't expect this player to do this or that because of their class type" isn't consistently accurate. What I think should happen is a reward/point based system that rewards players based on their ability to do well in the game. This will force players to better their skill level.
24) STILL NO ONLINE CONNECTED FRANCHISE?! Nuff said.
25) Btw...Ones...still the least popular game mode. Who cares if you made it available offline?
There's so many other things I could list, but I'll wrap it up with this. I don't feel the original statement I quoted at the beginning of this post is accurate. I feel the developers are out of touch with the real problems that are happening in this game. At any given time, when I hop on to play, do you know how many times I will see the player pool population is "low"? Every time. Only ONCE have I ever seen it say "high" and that was when it first came out. Even in NHL19, I would only ever see "low" on a rare occasion (and that was over the course of a full year). It would very often be normal or high. As for NHL20, these player pools have continually dropped from "high" at first release to "low" on a VERY consistent basis. Yeah, I'll get normal from time to time, but the majority of the time, these pools are consistently "low." That tells you something. If this game is fine "as-is" then why am I constantly seeing "low" populations on any given day? Does that mean people are just staying offline to play the regular modes since they're tired of the nonsense they run into online? Could be...or people are realizing this game isn't good as-is and were hoping for a step forward from NHL19, but instead feel like what they got was something several steps backward? Seems to me that the problems are pretty consistent (as noted in these forums), but they're either being ignored, or treated as if they don't really exist. I don't know for sure, but a statement like "we think the gameplay is good as-is so we're not going to change anything" is completely out of touch with reality.
You made it too easy for them. You literally gift wrapped most complaints across the entire forums and took a good amount of time to write this. Unfortunately, since they are so out of touch with reality and drowning in their own delusions of thinking this is a good game, i doubt most of these will even be touched.
"...we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now."
Are the developers that far out of touch with reality? I mean this with all due respect, but there have been constant issues reported by many many people (many in EA forums) that are very consistent with each other - similar problems that many users are experiencing across the board - but no changes need to be made and the gameplay is in a good place? Hardly.
Even when the game was released and the trailers said "you talked...we listened" - that wasn't even remotely true. Who did they listen to? EA-only groups? Did they pick and choose what people to listen to while ignoring the vast majority that are saying something else entirely?
This game isn't fun anymore. NHL19 had something going, but instead of building on that, it's like it went backward. Here's a laundry list for you (note: most of this refers to CHEL, but applies to other modes as well):
1) EASHL is in a downward spiral. Guys that are extremely low levels are somehow having careers of 90-100 goals (which isn't possible if you haven't even played the game long enough to be higher than level 10). On the other hand, guys that are high levels are somehow getting easily schooled by low levels and guys with no perks in their loadouts.
2) Scoring is way too inconsistent on both sides of the puck. Players that exhibit no decent skill at all are somehow able to exploit games as if they're Gretzky in computer form. I can't tell you how many times I or my teams has out-shot, out-played, out-checked, out-passed, out-maneuvered, and pretty much out-everything, only to somehow get blown up cuz every shot they took went in (despite only being able to get off very few attempts).
3) The AI is even able to waltz up behind you and give you the shiv and walk away with the puck despite having no position to do so.
4) I can't tell you how many times I've blown past somebody who was skating backward, only to have them magically recover and race to my front as if I wasn't even going full-speed while using the fastest loadout you can have.
5) Also, what's with your own AI players skating in front you and blocking your way?
6) Hitting feels non-existent. I can't tell you how many times I've had the perfect position to run somebody over, only to have them bounce around me like a repelling magnet (this happens in other modes as well - most notably Threes). Also, I've hit people who had the puck before only to have the ref give him a penalty shot...and for what?
7) Passing is way too easy to predict and intercept for some reason. I remember being able to make bee-line passes that could often get through defenders if you had a lane, but now it's like if a defender is within 10 feet of the puck, good luck passing anywhere unless your teammate is also 10 feet away from the nearest defender. So what's the problem? Hackers? Lag-switchers? Goal-glitchers? If the problems aren't human-created, then what?
8) AI goalies are not any better than previous years (as has been pushed and promoted for NHL20). They make almost idiotic decisions, they don't fight to control loose pucks, they don't recover well at all after deflected shots, and they don't handle the easiest and simple of shots that any reasonable goalie would block with no trouble (at least it was that way in NHL19). I can't tell you how many times I've watched the LAZIEST of shots zip past a goalie who looked otherwise incapable of making a save. Maybe that's from goal-glitching (which is lame), but whatever it is, it's dumb.
9) I remember playing NHL19 and while I would often lose games, I was also good enough to win about the same number of games if not more. I usually played with good teammates, but often still found a way to do well even without teammates. Even in losing efforts, I'd still play very well. Now, nothing makes sense. Even from a statistical standpoint, the game shouldn't be this bad. I should still be able to produce even average results, but for some reason it's like playing this entire game on superstar difficulty or something. Success has been abysmal, which was never true in NHL19 (even when I was a lower level). My ability to play well didn't change - the game did.
10) Can somebody PLEASE get rid of the worthless, enforced watching of replays? PLEASE!
11) Why on earth did you remove regular Threes and replace everything with Eliminator? Goodness, at least give us the option of playing regular Threes OR Eliminator. The Eliminator mode forces you to sit in lobby screens for 5, sometimes even 10 minutes or more while waiting for the server to catch up (or whatever is going on). It used to be that you could leave a lobby and attempt to join a new one, but now you're stuck and can't do anything to get out of it. While I do like the concept of a tournament, it shouldn't be the standard mode that everyone has to play - should have given us more options at least.
12) And why did you make it first to 7? That's lame. The money pucks can almost negate a full game that would otherwise be fun to play out until the last second. There's like almost no ability to come from behind and win.
13) Why are you only counting stats toward player progression from EASHL? What was the problem with allowing all modes to contribute to your player progression like NHL19? Now, all we can do is play EASHL to get the same XP points that we would have gotten from all 3 modes in NHL19. That's ridiculous, especially considering EASHL is essentially broken and even less fun to play than Threes and dare I say Ones (which is not even that good of a mode - seriously - people don't like it).
14) It seems the attempt here was to make the game more "realistic," but I tell you this, it is far from realistic. We don't want a super realistic game anyway. Sure, some aspects are good to give an authentic feel, but come on - it's a video game. You'll never make a video game like this to be perfectly realistic, so at least make something that has video gamers in mind cuz we're gonna spot everything that isn't even close to realistic.
15) Going back to passing - how many times am I gonna make an easy open pass to my teammate that is standing not 5 feet from me, only to have the puck sail to who the heck knows where? This has been a problem for some time. Only in EA does it feel like I can make a direct, open pass to an open man, only to have the puck fly in a complete other direction (and yes, I'm aiming my stick in the right direction) - and yes, while using passing perks in my loadouts! It is way too easy to turn the puck over, blow up your own offensive push, or lazily hand the puck to the other team as if your intent was to gift-wrap it for them.
16) This one is not gameplay related, but fan related - could someone tell me why Buffalo NEVER gets the black/white goat head jerseys from 1996-2006, but every other team seems to have every uniform in their existence? I mean Toronto even has like 3 jerseys that all look the same aside from some small variations. I'm glad you guys gave Buffalo the slug jerseys in this one, BUT that is also the least popular jersey Buffalo has ever had...and yet they still don't even have the classics from 1980s/early 90s much less the black/white goat head. I understand there could be very simple reasons for this, but I just want to know why. Is there a licensing problem? A developer issue? What is it? I just want to know!
17) Ok, back to CHEL. I like that the items you can unlock were expanded...however...I feel that I continually unlock worthless junk that I'll never ever touch. And now that there's far more items than last year's game, it will be increasingly harder to unlock anything I would actually like. I know it's random and it's done that way to keep the level of variety out there, but it was already expansive enough to do that in NHL19. I'm tired of unlocking countless hockey bags full of nothing. I mean at least gear the hockey bags toward the type the player is using. For example, if a player only ever plays as a skater (and never a goalie), all the goalie items are gonna be worthless. There has to be some way to gear things toward each type of player. Or at least cut down on the worthless items (like how many different variations of the same exact horn do you have to have?). Now, don't get me wrong, I like having many different goal horns, cellys, intros, big hit emotes, and so forth, but why does there have to be so many versions of the exact same thing? Even with gear, sometimes you'll find several different versions of the same colored item. Yes...I like variety (a lot of us do), but please cut back on the meaningless junk, or at least make the worthless stuff unlocked already. I mean I played NHL19 for the entire last year and didn't even come close to unlocking half of the available items that I actually liked - mainly because I kept unlocking worthless junk. And I mean if you're going to add a bunch of stuff to the hockey bags, then at least increase the number of items you can get in a bag. It was already hard enough to get good stuff to use in NHL19, so now it's only harder to do that because of the increase in items. And don't say "well we gave new ways to get extra bags - Threes eliminator for example" cuz even those bags have so few items in it. If you're going to jack up the number of CHEL items, then PLEASE gives us more in each bag. 15-20 items oughta do it. There's so much of a mess of useless items, that this is more than a reasonable number. It's already hard enough to level up (I mean it takes several hours worth to level up in the higher levels), that it's not like people will be unlocking every single item any time soon (not even for months).
18) Poke-checking. Oh boy...where to start. Still way too sensitive. If you're poking from behind, sure I get it.That can cause tripping...easy. But when you're in front and you still end up tripping him as if you were behind? That's not realistic at all. Can't tell you how many times (mainly in EASHL) that I get called for tripping when the guy is standing (not even skating) in front of me, but because the sensitivity is too ridiculously high, he trips...and of course they get a penalty shot. It's like if the stick even gets close to a guy's skates, he stumbles. That's far from reality. In fact, if it were real, the skaters would skate through it with no problem. In reality, actual skaters have such great balance that they only really trip if they have their legs taken out, or if a guy tangles his stick up in another dude's skates. If you want reality, go with that. However, this is not what happens in NHL20. It seemed like it was getting better in NHL19, but now it just seems to have really gone downhill...and fast.
19) To add to that, some of the movements that you make when you have the puck are just simply unnatural. Like how you guy turns in a complete circle with the stick/puck fully outstretched. That's not real at all. I thought this was fixed last year, but I guess not. Real-life players don't pinwheel with the puck when turning - so why does this still exist in NHL20? Changing direction should just be a matter of shifting position, not pinwheeling until you're offside. The stick placement is just so robotic that it still does not have a natural feel to it. I mean you guys fixed some of the skating to give it a more authentic feel, so why not the stick?
20) Checking - you should NOT be able to check someone to the ice from a completely standstill. Do you know how many times I've had a guy go from not moving into a full check as if he were skating at full speed?
21) And for that matter, it is WAY too easy to bump a guy off the puck. I've literally had guys lightly bump into me (almost as if it were a tap on the shoulder) that caused me to somehow lost complete control (and vision) of the puck. It's like getting tapped on the shoulder and then my guy goes blind or something, cuz not only is the puck loose, but he doesn't even try to pick it back up. Moreover, why does it seem so incredibly difficult to pick up loose pucks in any other situation? You know how many times I've had my guy in perfect position to snatch up a loose puck, or intercept an errant pass, only to have my guy literally just watch as the puck sails by? Doesn't even try to stop it.
22) To add to that, I've also noticed how some guys get destroyed, or significantly pushed off the puck...only to somehow maintain complete control and possession as if your guy is incapable of picking of the loose puck. I've knocked so many guys over, or out of the way, or poke-checked the living daylights out of, only for them to somehow pick up the puck and keep going - and in most cases score lazy goals afterward.
22) Kinda feel like being a bruiser/enforcer/big guy has been nerfed. It is way too easy to avoid checks. Yeah, there needs to be some balance between getting checked and avoiding checks, but I feel like this year, it is way too easy to avoid checks (unless you're simply unskilled and don't know how to maneuver or get out of the way). I touched on this earlier, but it's really like you miss an easy check as though you're a repelling magnet that just floats away from the attacking player. Furthermore, it feels like if you do land a solid hit, the guy (no matter how small) pops back up as if they didn't just get hit by a train. Now this isn't true for everyone - especially those with a low energy meter - but it happens all too frequently. It's like hitting doesn't do anything to disrupt a play.
23) Also, I feel like the effects of changing a player's weight, height, and perks has the wrong effects in some cases. Yeah, I know there has to be a balance here - but (for example) there are a ton of little guys with incredible stamina in real hockey that are otherwise "weak" in this game. And for that matter, there are a lot of big guys that have excellent stick handling and speed (I mean even Connor McDavid is 6'1" and Jack Eichel is 6'2" but both are among the fastest players in the NHL - granted their weight is below 200). Shoot, Crosby, Draisaitl, and Matthews are all over 200 lbs, but are extra speedy on the ice. My point here is that how your weight, height and perks affect your player's abilities needs to be re-examined. Just because you're big, doesn't mean your speed or ability to handle/shoot the puck should take a hit and vice versa. While I like what you've started with the different types of players to create your loadouts with, I think it needs an overhaul. Maybe do away with the different types of skaters and instead create like a skill point system where you can choose whatever weight/height you want (within reason) that gives a base set of abilities that you can add to as you unlock skill points. Isn't that how it once worked in be-a-pro or something like that? Now of course, I don't mean make it so you can be 5'10" and 250 lbs with the ability to bolt from one end of the ice to the other while simultaneously being able to check the daylights out of someone twice that height. Some things are just ridiculous. But as it stands now, I think this system needs to be improved significantly to address a variety of skill types and abilities available to more than just one weight class. For example, the whole "don't expect this player to do this or that because of their class type" isn't consistently accurate. What I think should happen is a reward/point based system that rewards players based on their ability to do well in the game. This will force players to better their skill level.
24) STILL NO ONLINE CONNECTED FRANCHISE?! Nuff said.
25) Btw...Ones...still the least popular game mode. Who cares if you made it available offline?
There's so many other things I could list, but I'll wrap it up with this. I don't feel the original statement I quoted at the beginning of this post is accurate. I feel the developers are out of touch with the real problems that are happening in this game. At any given time, when I hop on to play, do you know how many times I will see the player pool population is "low"? Every time. Only ONCE have I ever seen it say "high" and that was when it first came out. Even in NHL19, I would only ever see "low" on a rare occasion (and that was over the course of a full year). It would very often be normal or high. As for NHL20, these player pools have continually dropped from "high" at first release to "low" on a VERY consistent basis. Yeah, I'll get normal from time to time, but the majority of the time, these pools are consistently "low." That tells you something. If this game is fine "as-is" then why am I constantly seeing "low" populations on any given day? Does that mean people are just staying offline to play the regular modes since they're tired of the nonsense they run into online? Could be...or people are realizing this game isn't good as-is and were hoping for a step forward from NHL19, but instead feel like what they got was something several steps backward? Seems to me that the problems are pretty consistent (as noted in these forums), but they're either being ignored, or treated as if they don't really exist. I don't know for sure, but a statement like "we think the gameplay is good as-is so we're not going to change anything" is completely out of touch with reality.
You made it too easy for them. You literally gift wrapped most complaints across the entire forums and took a good amount of time to write this. Unfortunately, since they are so out of touch with reality and drowning in their own delusions of thinking this is a good game, i doubt most of these will even be touched.
Sadly, the proposed changes will not appease the 17 streamers that EA makes this game for.
[*] Reskinned the “Waiting for All Users to Resume” screen that comes after the pause menu so that the text is more legible
"[*] Reskinned the “Waiting for All Users to Resume” screen that comes after the pause menu so that the text is more legible"
This change is welcome. However, there should be a position indicator when displaying usernames. It would be nice to know which of my teammates is talking or which positions are using mics.
> @Socair said: > (Quote) > > @Tommi32 does this happen with all the fonts you have?
Yes it does. And I think it has been the same for every other team aswell. When we play as home team, our C's and A's are not showing and when we are the road team, we have the A's and C's and the opponent doesn't.
we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now.
Lol what? Yes, just like there’s a consensus that the earth is flat.
Come on, man. You guys can’t be accidentally this clueless at this point. We get now that you want to ignore our feedback, but don’t misrepresent a consensus that gameplay is in a good place. It ain’t. The one man hero magnetic puck ragging spinning bouncing silliness is embarrassing. Seriously, please watch a hockey game tonight.
Although we usually release a tuner around this time, we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now. But there are a few areas we are monitoring and would like your feedback on:
Interceptions from behind Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console Puck loss when pivoting at high speed
#1 - What, I wonder, would constitute the gameplay being "in a good place" right now?? Is it the constant LT abusing for the 2nd year running? The wraparound glitch goals? The RB/R1 saucer glitch/exploit? The AI being able to make tape to tape passes from anywhere, in any position, backhand/forehand or it being able to reach for passes 5 feet away when they're not even looking at the play? The ability to instantly gain possession of a puck on a one handed backhand interception? Goalies giving up more ludicrous goals than the past 3 years combined (on superstar difficulty no less)? The still present lateral acceleration which, combined with the skating speed buff, makes player swivel like they're on a table top hockey rink? The ability to smash into the boards and bounce off them keeping possession of the puck, even though they also get hit against the boards by the opponent, simply because they spun around? The inconsistent goal reviews that see some goals called back because an opponent (or even a teammate sometimes) brushed against the goalie, yet a couple of plays later when an opponent actually slams into the goalie and takes him out, the goal counts? The constant intermission replays of the helicopter in Drop-ins? Or how about the awful shadows in the same game mode that don't allow a goalie or d-man to see what's going on? Is it the inability to change the scoreboard to a more classic look instead of the always at the bottom "news ticker" scroll bar? Maybe it's the "failed to retrieve data" disconnects some people still experience (this is the 3rd year in a row now?) when trying to play online? It certainly can't be that for the 4th year running, we still aren't allowed to build our own custom player/arch type that matches our gamestyle rather than be pigeonholed into these cookie-cutter builds no one asked for?
Last year everyone loved the NHL 19 beta and initial release of the game only to see a tuner and patch start the downward spiral within a couple of weeks after release. Now a lot of people are upset that things that were supposed to have gotten fixed from last year aren't, and we're "in a good pace gameplay-wise"?? I'm just curious...
#2 - To answer your questions:
Interceptions from behind: wouldn't mind it so much if they were deflected away instead of just the AI gaining instant possession of the puck. Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console: I thought this year both consoles had similar consistency with the hits and bumps. That said, it's too easy for players to simply roll off from hits by quickly spinning or turning away because of their over abundance of agility simply because they entered a "glide" state. I can skate very well and enter a glide too, but it would be impossible for me to glide and simply rotate 360° on an axis while keeping forward momentum like players do in this game. There's realism and there's physics, and none of them are truly present in this game to be able to gauge how the "hits at relative speed" are. But If I could venture an opinion, I'd say that the physics of the hitting are not even remotely close to where they should be. I don't think small bumps should make players automatically lose puck possession, but they should cause the receiving player to stumble a bit allowing the defense time to get back into position. That would be the ideal scenario of hitting at low relative speeds. Puck loss when pivoting at high speed: if you're controlling a player rated under 75 overall, yeah, I think it's adequate. Anything higher than that and they may as well be duct-taping the puck to their sticks while pivoting at high speeds. It's also not just that they can retain the puck while pivoting, it's that they can retain control by CONSTANTLY doing stutter pivots over and over again. I can get behind the notion that this is, after all, a videogame and it's all in good fun, but this isn't fun and it just looks plain ridiculous. One could even say it looks stupid. Doing one half spin, waiting for the opponent to bite to one side and then blasting past him on the other? Ok, fine! But these people turning their backs to the opponent and skating backwards from their own blue line and then just spazzing out with LT/L2 while still keeping control of the puck?? I feel it wore its welcome last year... Yet here we are in NHL 20 and that stuff is still present in the game and still broken as all heck. But hey! We're in a good place gameplay wise.
Sorry for being so hard on ya. Don't mean to shoot the messenger, but yeah... I'm not too impressed with this year's iteration of the game. And I feel like a lot of others aren't as well. Just terribly disappointed, I guess...
"...we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now."
Are the developers that far out of touch with reality? I mean this with all due respect, but there have been constant issues reported by many many people (many in EA forums) that are very consistent with each other - similar problems that many users are experiencing across the board - but no changes need to be made and the gameplay is in a good place? Hardly.
Even when the game was released and the trailers said "you talked...we listened" - that wasn't even remotely true. Who did they listen to? EA-only groups? Did they pick and choose what people to listen to while ignoring the vast majority that are saying something else entirely?
This game isn't fun anymore. NHL19 had something going, but instead of building on that, it's like it went backward. Here's a laundry list for you (note: most of this refers to CHEL, but applies to other modes as well):
1) EASHL is in a downward spiral. Guys that are extremely low levels are somehow having careers of 90-100 goals (which isn't possible if you haven't even played the game long enough to be higher than level 10). On the other hand, guys that are high levels are somehow getting easily schooled by low levels and guys with no perks in their loadouts.
2) Scoring is way too inconsistent on both sides of the puck. Players that exhibit no decent skill at all are somehow able to exploit games as if they're Gretzky in computer form. I can't tell you how many times I or my teams has out-shot, out-played, out-checked, out-passed, out-maneuvered, and pretty much out-everything, only to somehow get blown up cuz every shot they took went in (despite only being able to get off very few attempts).
3) The AI is even able to waltz up behind you and give you the shiv and walk away with the puck despite having no position to do so.
4) I can't tell you how many times I've blown past somebody who was skating backward, only to have them magically recover and race to my front as if I wasn't even going full-speed while using the fastest loadout you can have.
5) Also, what's with your own AI players skating in front you and blocking your way?
6) Hitting feels non-existent. I can't tell you how many times I've had the perfect position to run somebody over, only to have them bounce around me like a repelling magnet (this happens in other modes as well - most notably Threes). Also, I've hit people who had the puck before only to have the ref give him a penalty shot...and for what?
7) Passing is way too easy to predict and intercept for some reason. I remember being able to make bee-line passes that could often get through defenders if you had a lane, but now it's like if a defender is within 10 feet of the puck, good luck passing anywhere unless your teammate is also 10 feet away from the nearest defender. So what's the problem? Hackers? Lag-switchers? Goal-glitchers? If the problems aren't human-created, then what?
8) AI goalies are not any better than previous years (as has been pushed and promoted for NHL20). They make almost idiotic decisions, they don't fight to control loose pucks, they don't recover well at all after deflected shots, and they don't handle the easiest and simple of shots that any reasonable goalie would block with no trouble (at least it was that way in NHL19). I can't tell you how many times I've watched the LAZIEST of shots zip past a goalie who looked otherwise incapable of making a save. Maybe that's from goal-glitching (which is lame), but whatever it is, it's dumb.
9) I remember playing NHL19 and while I would often lose games, I was also good enough to win about the same number of games if not more. I usually played with good teammates, but often still found a way to do well even without teammates. Even in losing efforts, I'd still play very well. Now, nothing makes sense. Even from a statistical standpoint, the game shouldn't be this bad. I should still be able to produce even average results, but for some reason it's like playing this entire game on superstar difficulty or something. Success has been abysmal, which was never true in NHL19 (even when I was a lower level). My ability to play well didn't change - the game did.
10) Can somebody PLEASE get rid of the worthless, enforced watching of replays? PLEASE!
11) Why on earth did you remove regular Threes and replace everything with Eliminator? Goodness, at least give us the option of playing regular Threes OR Eliminator. The Eliminator mode forces you to sit in lobby screens for 5, sometimes even 10 minutes or more while waiting for the server to catch up (or whatever is going on). It used to be that you could leave a lobby and attempt to join a new one, but now you're stuck and can't do anything to get out of it. While I do like the concept of a tournament, it shouldn't be the standard mode that everyone has to play - should have given us more options at least.
12) And why did you make it first to 7? That's lame. The money pucks can almost negate a full game that would otherwise be fun to play out until the last second. There's like almost no ability to come from behind and win.
13) Why are you only counting stats toward player progression from EASHL? What was the problem with allowing all modes to contribute to your player progression like NHL19? Now, all we can do is play EASHL to get the same XP points that we would have gotten from all 3 modes in NHL19. That's ridiculous, especially considering EASHL is essentially broken and even less fun to play than Threes and dare I say Ones (which is not even that good of a mode - seriously - people don't like it).
14) It seems the attempt here was to make the game more "realistic," but I tell you this, it is far from realistic. We don't want a super realistic game anyway. Sure, some aspects are good to give an authentic feel, but come on - it's a video game. You'll never make a video game like this to be perfectly realistic, so at least make something that has video gamers in mind cuz we're gonna spot everything that isn't even close to realistic.
15) Going back to passing - how many times am I gonna make an easy open pass to my teammate that is standing not 5 feet from me, only to have the puck sail to who the heck knows where? This has been a problem for some time. Only in EA does it feel like I can make a direct, open pass to an open man, only to have the puck fly in a complete other direction (and yes, I'm aiming my stick in the right direction) - and yes, while using passing perks in my loadouts! It is way too easy to turn the puck over, blow up your own offensive push, or lazily hand the puck to the other team as if your intent was to gift-wrap it for them.
16) This one is not gameplay related, but fan related - could someone tell me why Buffalo NEVER gets the black/white goat head jerseys from 1996-2006, but every other team seems to have every uniform in their existence? I mean Toronto even has like 3 jerseys that all look the same aside from some small variations. I'm glad you guys gave Buffalo the slug jerseys in this one, BUT that is also the least popular jersey Buffalo has ever had...and yet they still don't even have the classics from 1980s/early 90s much less the black/white goat head. I understand there could be very simple reasons for this, but I just want to know why. Is there a licensing problem? A developer issue? What is it? I just want to know!
17) Ok, back to CHEL. I like that the items you can unlock were expanded...however...I feel that I continually unlock worthless junk that I'll never ever touch. And now that there's far more items than last year's game, it will be increasingly harder to unlock anything I would actually like. I know it's random and it's done that way to keep the level of variety out there, but it was already expansive enough to do that in NHL19. I'm tired of unlocking countless hockey bags full of nothing. I mean at least gear the hockey bags toward the type the player is using. For example, if a player only ever plays as a skater (and never a goalie), all the goalie items are gonna be worthless. There has to be some way to gear things toward each type of player. Or at least cut down on the worthless items (like how many different variations of the same exact horn do you have to have?). Now, don't get me wrong, I like having many different goal horns, cellys, intros, big hit emotes, and so forth, but why does there have to be so many versions of the exact same thing? Even with gear, sometimes you'll find several different versions of the same colored item. Yes...I like variety (a lot of us do), but please cut back on the meaningless junk, or at least make the worthless stuff unlocked already. I mean I played NHL19 for the entire last year and didn't even come close to unlocking half of the available items that I actually liked - mainly because I kept unlocking worthless junk. And I mean if you're going to add a bunch of stuff to the hockey bags, then at least increase the number of items you can get in a bag. It was already hard enough to get good stuff to use in NHL19, so now it's only harder to do that because of the increase in items. And don't say "well we gave new ways to get extra bags - Threes eliminator for example" cuz even those bags have so few items in it. If you're going to jack up the number of CHEL items, then PLEASE gives us more in each bag. 15-20 items oughta do it. There's so much of a mess of useless items, that this is more than a reasonable number. It's already hard enough to level up (I mean it takes several hours worth to level up in the higher levels), that it's not like people will be unlocking every single item any time soon (not even for months).
18) Poke-checking. Oh boy...where to start. Still way too sensitive. If you're poking from behind, sure I get it.That can cause tripping...easy. But when you're in front and you still end up tripping him as if you were behind? That's not realistic at all. Can't tell you how many times (mainly in EASHL) that I get called for tripping when the guy is standing (not even skating) in front of me, but because the sensitivity is too ridiculously high, he trips...and of course they get a penalty shot. It's like if the stick even gets close to a guy's skates, he stumbles. That's far from reality. In fact, if it were real, the skaters would skate through it with no problem. In reality, actual skaters have such great balance that they only really trip if they have their legs taken out, or if a guy tangles his stick up in another dude's skates. If you want reality, go with that. However, this is not what happens in NHL20. It seemed like it was getting better in NHL19, but now it just seems to have really gone downhill...and fast.
19) To add to that, some of the movements that you make when you have the puck are just simply unnatural. Like how you guy turns in a complete circle with the stick/puck fully outstretched. That's not real at all. I thought this was fixed last year, but I guess not. Real-life players don't pinwheel with the puck when turning - so why does this still exist in NHL20? Changing direction should just be a matter of shifting position, not pinwheeling until you're offside. The stick placement is just so robotic that it still does not have a natural feel to it. I mean you guys fixed some of the skating to give it a more authentic feel, so why not the stick?
20) Checking - you should NOT be able to check someone to the ice from a completely standstill. Do you know how many times I've had a guy go from not moving into a full check as if he were skating at full speed?
21) And for that matter, it is WAY too easy to bump a guy off the puck. I've literally had guys lightly bump into me (almost as if it were a tap on the shoulder) that caused me to somehow lost complete control (and vision) of the puck. It's like getting tapped on the shoulder and then my guy goes blind or something, cuz not only is the puck loose, but he doesn't even try to pick it back up. Moreover, why does it seem so incredibly difficult to pick up loose pucks in any other situation? You know how many times I've had my guy in perfect position to snatch up a loose puck, or intercept an errant pass, only to have my guy literally just watch as the puck sails by? Doesn't even try to stop it.
22) To add to that, I've also noticed how some guys get destroyed, or significantly pushed off the puck...only to somehow maintain complete control and possession as if your guy is incapable of picking of the loose puck. I've knocked so many guys over, or out of the way, or poke-checked the living daylights out of, only for them to somehow pick up the puck and keep going - and in most cases score lazy goals afterward.
22) Kinda feel like being a bruiser/enforcer/big guy has been nerfed. It is way too easy to avoid checks. Yeah, there needs to be some balance between getting checked and avoiding checks, but I feel like this year, it is way too easy to avoid checks (unless you're simply unskilled and don't know how to maneuver or get out of the way). I touched on this earlier, but it's really like you miss an easy check as though you're a repelling magnet that just floats away from the attacking player. Furthermore, it feels like if you do land a solid hit, the guy (no matter how small) pops back up as if they didn't just get hit by a train. Now this isn't true for everyone - especially those with a low energy meter - but it happens all too frequently. It's like hitting doesn't do anything to disrupt a play.
23) Also, I feel like the effects of changing a player's weight, height, and perks has the wrong effects in some cases. Yeah, I know there has to be a balance here - but (for example) there are a ton of little guys with incredible stamina in real hockey that are otherwise "weak" in this game. And for that matter, there are a lot of big guys that have excellent stick handling and speed (I mean even Connor McDavid is 6'1" and Jack Eichel is 6'2" but both are among the fastest players in the NHL - granted their weight is below 200). Shoot, Crosby, Draisaitl, and Matthews are all over 200 lbs, but are extra speedy on the ice. My point here is that how your weight, height and perks affect your player's abilities needs to be re-examined. Just because you're big, doesn't mean your speed or ability to handle/shoot the puck should take a hit and vice versa. While I like what you've started with the different types of players to create your loadouts with, I think it needs an overhaul. Maybe do away with the different types of skaters and instead create like a skill point system where you can choose whatever weight/height you want (within reason) that gives a base set of abilities that you can add to as you unlock skill points. Isn't that how it once worked in be-a-pro or something like that? Now of course, I don't mean make it so you can be 5'10" and 250 lbs with the ability to bolt from one end of the ice to the other while simultaneously being able to check the daylights out of someone twice that height. Some things are just ridiculous. But as it stands now, I think this system needs to be improved significantly to address a variety of skill types and abilities available to more than just one weight class. For example, the whole "don't expect this player to do this or that because of their class type" isn't consistently accurate. What I think should happen is a reward/point based system that rewards players based on their ability to do well in the game. This will force players to better their skill level.
24) STILL NO ONLINE CONNECTED FRANCHISE?! Nuff said.
25) Btw...Ones...still the least popular game mode. Who cares if you made it available offline?
There's so many other things I could list, but I'll wrap it up with this. I don't feel the original statement I quoted at the beginning of this post is accurate. I feel the developers are out of touch with the real problems that are happening in this game. At any given time, when I hop on to play, do you know how many times I will see the player pool population is "low"? Every time. Only ONCE have I ever seen it say "high" and that was when it first came out. Even in NHL19, I would only ever see "low" on a rare occasion (and that was over the course of a full year). It would very often be normal or high. As for NHL20, these player pools have continually dropped from "high" at first release to "low" on a VERY consistent basis. Yeah, I'll get normal from time to time, but the majority of the time, these pools are consistently "low." That tells you something. If this game is fine "as-is" then why am I constantly seeing "low" populations on any given day? Does that mean people are just staying offline to play the regular modes since they're tired of the nonsense they run into online? Could be...or people are realizing this game isn't good as-is and were hoping for a step forward from NHL19, but instead feel like what they got was something several steps backward? Seems to me that the problems are pretty consistent (as noted in these forums), but they're either being ignored, or treated as if they don't really exist. I don't know for sure, but a statement like "we think the gameplay is good as-is so we're not going to change anything" is completely out of touch with reality.
You made it too easy for them. You literally gift wrapped most complaints across the entire forums and took a good amount of time to write this. Unfortunately, since they are so out of touch with reality and drowning in their own delusions of thinking this is a good game, i doubt most of these will even be touched.
Yeah...I agree...I just wanted to get it out...just the once...so I could say I did lol
[*] Reskinned the “Waiting for All Users to Resume” screen that comes after the pause menu so that the text is more legible
"[*] Reskinned the “Waiting for All Users to Resume” screen that comes after the pause menu so that the text is more legible"
This change is welcome.
I think you misspelled "unnecessary"
No, I noticed it right away. It is much easier to read. I just wish it showed what position people are playing as well. That way you can see which positions are actually using mics and quickly identify which user is playing what position.
#1 - What, I wonder, would constitute the gameplay being "in a good place" right now?? Is it the constant LT abusing for the 2nd year running? The wraparound glitch goals? The RB/R1 saucer glitch/exploit? The AI being able to make tape to tape passes from anywhere, in any position, backhand/forehand or it being able to reach for passes 5 feet away when they're not even looking at the play? The ability to instantly gain possession of a puck on a one handed backhand interception? Goalies giving up more ludicrous goals than the past 3 years combined (on superstar difficulty no less)? The still present lateral acceleration which, combined with the skating speed buff, makes player swivel like they're on a table top hockey rink? The ability to smash into the boards and bounce off them keeping possession of the puck, even though they also get hit against the boards by the opponent, simply because they spun around? The inconsistent goal reviews that see some goals called back because an opponent (or even a teammate sometimes) brush against the goalie, yet a couple of plays later when an opponent actually slams into the goalie and takes him out, the goal counts? The constant intermission replays of the helicopter in Drop-ins? Or how about the awful shadows in the same game mode that don't allow a goalie or d-man to see what's going on? Is it the inability to change the scoreboard to a more classic look instead of the always at the bottom "news ticker" scroll bar? Maybe it's the "failed to retrieve data" disconnects some people still experience when trying to play online? It certainly can't be that for the 4th year running, we still aren't allowed to build our own custom player/arch type that matches our gamestyle rather than be pigeonholed into these cookie-cutter builds no one asked for?
Last year everyone loved the NHL 19 beta and initial release of the game only to see a tuner and patch start the downward spiral within a couple of weeks after release. Now a lot of people are upset that things that were supposed to have gotten fixed from last year aren't, and we're "in a good pace gameplay-wise"?? I'm just curious...
#2 - To answer your questions:
Interceptions from behind: wouldn't mind it so much if they were deflected away instead of just the AI gaining instant possession of the puck. Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console: I thought this year both consoles had similar consistency with the hits and bumps. That said, it's too easy for players to simply roll off from hits by quickly spinning or turning away because of their over abundance of agility simply because they entered a "glide" state. I can skate very well and enter a glide too, but it would be impossible for me to just rotate 360° like players do in this game on an axis that runs through the middle of their bodies. There's realism and there's physics, and none of them are truly present in this game to truly be able to gauge how the "hits at relative speed" are. But If I could venture an opinion, I'd say that the physics of the hitting is still not where it should be. Puck loss when pivoting at high speed: if you're controlling a player rated under 75 overall, yeah, I think it's adequate. Anything higher than that and they may as well be duct-taping the puck to their sticks while pivoting at high speeds. It's also not just that they can retain the puck while pivoting, it's that they can retain control by CONSTANTLY doing stutter pivots over and over again. I can get behind the notion that this is, after all a videogame and it's all in good fun, but this isn't fun and it just looks plain ridiculous. One half spin, waiting for the opponent to bite to one side and then blasting past him on the other, ok, fine! But these people turning their backs to the opponent and skating backwards from their own blue line and then just spazzing out with LT/L2 while still keeping control of the puck?? I feel it wore it's welcome last year... Yet here we are in NHL 20 and that stuff is still present in the game and still broken as all heck.
Sorry for being so hard on ya. Don't mean to shoot the messenger, but yeah... I'm not too impressed with this year's iteration of the game. And I feel like a lot of others aren't as well. Just terribly disappointed, I guess...
With your update and changed animations for the goalie, the terrible "enter the zone, snap shot from the blue line, goalie rebound, easy lay-up goal" is definitely a big problem again that you worked so hard to fix in the last game. Please fine tune again!
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Are the developers that far out of touch with reality? I mean this with all due respect, but there have been constant issues reported by many many people (many in EA forums) that are very consistent with each other - similar problems that many users are experiencing across the board - but no changes need to be made and the gameplay is in a good place? Hardly.
Even when the game was released and the trailers said "you talked...we listened" - that wasn't even remotely true. Who did they listen to? EA-only groups? Did they pick and choose what people to listen to while ignoring the vast majority that are saying something else entirely?
This game isn't fun anymore. NHL19 had something going, but instead of building on that, it's like it went backward. Here's a laundry list for you (note: most of this refers to CHEL, but applies to other modes as well):
1) EASHL is in a downward spiral. Guys that are extremely low levels are somehow having careers of 90-100 goals (which isn't possible if you haven't even played the game long enough to be higher than level 10). On the other hand, guys that are high levels are somehow getting easily schooled by low levels and guys with no perks in their loadouts.
2) Scoring is way too inconsistent on both sides of the puck. Players that exhibit no decent skill at all are somehow able to exploit games as if they're Gretzky in computer form. I can't tell you how many times I or my teams has out-shot, out-played, out-checked, out-passed, out-maneuvered, and pretty much out-everything, only to somehow get blown up cuz every shot they took went in (despite only being able to get off very few attempts).
3) The AI is even able to waltz up behind you and give you the shiv and walk away with the puck despite having no position to do so.
4) I can't tell you how many times I've blown past somebody who was skating backward, only to have them magically recover and race to my front as if I wasn't even going full-speed while using the fastest loadout you can have.
5) Also, what's with your own AI players skating in front you and blocking your way?
6) Hitting feels non-existent. I can't tell you how many times I've had the perfect position to run somebody over, only to have them bounce around me like a repelling magnet (this happens in other modes as well - most notably Threes). Also, I've hit people who had the puck before only to have the ref give him a penalty shot...and for what?
7) Passing is way too easy to predict and intercept for some reason. I remember being able to make bee-line passes that could often get through defenders if you had a lane, but now it's like if a defender is within 10 feet of the puck, good luck passing anywhere unless your teammate is also 10 feet away from the nearest defender. So what's the problem? Hackers? Lag-switchers? Goal-glitchers? If the problems aren't human-created, then what?
8) AI goalies are not any better than previous years (as has been pushed and promoted for NHL20). They make almost idiotic decisions, they don't fight to control loose pucks, they don't recover well at all after deflected shots, and they don't handle the easiest and simple of shots that any reasonable goalie would block with no trouble (at least it was that way in NHL19). I can't tell you how many times I've watched the LAZIEST of shots zip past a goalie who looked otherwise incapable of making a save. Maybe that's from goal-glitching (which is lame), but whatever it is, it's dumb.
9) I remember playing NHL19 and while I would often lose games, I was also good enough to win about the same number of games if not more. I usually played with good teammates, but often still found a way to do well even without teammates. Even in losing efforts, I'd still play very well. Now, nothing makes sense. Even from a statistical standpoint, the game shouldn't be this bad. I should still be able to produce even average results, but for some reason it's like playing this entire game on superstar difficulty or something. Success has been abysmal, which was never true in NHL19 (even when I was a lower level). My ability to play well didn't change - the game did.
10) Can somebody PLEASE get rid of the worthless, enforced watching of replays? PLEASE!
11) Why on earth did you remove regular Threes and replace everything with Eliminator? Goodness, at least give us the option of playing regular Threes OR Eliminator. The Eliminator mode forces you to sit in lobby screens for 5, sometimes even 10 minutes or more while waiting for the server to catch up (or whatever is going on). It used to be that you could leave a lobby and attempt to join a new one, but now you're stuck and can't do anything to get out of it. While I do like the concept of a tournament, it shouldn't be the standard mode that everyone has to play - should have given us more options at least.
12) And why did you make it first to 7? That's lame. The money pucks can almost negate a full game that would otherwise be fun to play out until the last second. There's like almost no ability to come from behind and win.
13) Why are you only counting stats toward player progression from EASHL? What was the problem with allowing all modes to contribute to your player progression like NHL19? Now, all we can do is play EASHL to get the same XP points that we would have gotten from all 3 modes in NHL19. That's ridiculous, especially considering EASHL is essentially broken and even less fun to play than Threes and dare I say Ones (which is not even that good of a mode - seriously - people don't like it).
14) It seems the attempt here was to make the game more "realistic," but I tell you this, it is far from realistic. We don't want a super realistic game anyway. Sure, some aspects are good to give an authentic feel, but come on - it's a video game. You'll never make a video game like this to be perfectly realistic, so at least make something that has video gamers in mind cuz we're gonna spot everything that isn't even close to realistic.
15) Going back to passing - how many times am I gonna make an easy open pass to my teammate that is standing not 5 feet from me, only to have the puck sail to who the heck knows where? This has been a problem for some time. Only in EA does it feel like I can make a direct, open pass to an open man, only to have the puck fly in a complete other direction (and yes, I'm aiming my stick in the right direction) - and yes, while using passing perks in my loadouts! It is way too easy to turn the puck over, blow up your own offensive push, or lazily hand the puck to the other team as if your intent was to gift-wrap it for them.
16) This one is not gameplay related, but fan related - could someone tell me why Buffalo NEVER gets the black/white goat head jerseys from 1996-2006, but every other team seems to have every uniform in their existence? I mean Toronto even has like 3 jerseys that all look the same aside from some small variations. I'm glad you guys gave Buffalo the slug jerseys in this one, BUT that is also the least popular jersey Buffalo has ever had...and yet they still don't even have the classics from 1980s/early 90s much less the black/white goat head. I understand there could be very simple reasons for this, but I just want to know why. Is there a licensing problem? A developer issue? What is it? I just want to know!
17) Ok, back to CHEL. I like that the items you can unlock were expanded...however...I feel that I continually unlock worthless junk that I'll never ever touch. And now that there's far more items than last year's game, it will be increasingly harder to unlock anything I would actually like. I know it's random and it's done that way to keep the level of variety out there, but it was already expansive enough to do that in NHL19. I'm tired of unlocking countless hockey bags full of nothing. I mean at least gear the hockey bags toward the type the player is using. For example, if a player only ever plays as a skater (and never a goalie), all the goalie items are gonna be worthless. There has to be some way to gear things toward each type of player. Or at least cut down on the worthless items (like how many different variations of the same exact horn do you have to have?). Now, don't get me wrong, I like having many different goal horns, cellys, intros, big hit emotes, and so forth, but why does there have to be so many versions of the exact same thing? Even with gear, sometimes you'll find several different versions of the same colored item. Yes...I like variety (a lot of us do), but please cut back on the meaningless junk, or at least make the worthless stuff unlocked already. I mean I played NHL19 for the entire last year and didn't even come close to unlocking half of the available items that I actually liked - mainly because I kept unlocking worthless junk. And I mean if you're going to add a bunch of stuff to the hockey bags, then at least increase the number of items you can get in a bag. It was already hard enough to get good stuff to use in NHL19, so now it's only harder to do that because of the increase in items. And don't say "well we gave new ways to get extra bags - Threes eliminator for example" cuz even those bags have so few items in it. If you're going to jack up the number of CHEL items, then PLEASE gives us more in each bag. 15-20 items oughta do it. There's so much of a mess of useless items, that this is more than a reasonable number. It's already hard enough to level up (I mean it takes several hours worth to level up in the higher levels), that it's not like people will be unlocking every single item any time soon (not even for months).
18) Poke-checking. Oh boy...where to start. Still way too sensitive. If you're poking from behind, sure I get it.That can cause tripping...easy. But when you're in front and you still end up tripping him as if you were behind? That's not realistic at all. Can't tell you how many times (mainly in EASHL) that I get called for tripping when the guy is standing (not even skating) in front of me, but because the sensitivity is too ridiculously high, he trips...and of course they get a penalty shot. It's like if the stick even gets close to a guy's skates, he stumbles. That's far from reality. In fact, if it were real, the skaters would skate through it with no problem. In reality, actual skaters have such great balance that they only really trip if they have their legs taken out, or if a guy tangles his stick up in another dude's skates. If you want reality, go with that. However, this is not what happens in NHL20. It seemed like it was getting better in NHL19, but now it just seems to have really gone downhill...and fast.
19) To add to that, some of the movements that you make when you have the puck are just simply unnatural. Like how you guy turns in a complete circle with the stick/puck fully outstretched. That's not real at all. I thought this was fixed last year, but I guess not. Real-life players don't pinwheel with the puck when turning - so why does this still exist in NHL20? Changing direction should just be a matter of shifting position, not pinwheeling until you're offside. The stick placement is just so robotic that it still does not have a natural feel to it. I mean you guys fixed some of the skating to give it a more authentic feel, so why not the stick?
20) Checking - you should NOT be able to check someone to the ice from a completely standstill. Do you know how many times I've had a guy go from not moving into a full check as if he were skating at full speed?
21) And for that matter, it is WAY too easy to bump a guy off the puck. I've literally had guys lightly bump into me (almost as if it were a tap on the shoulder) that caused me to somehow lost complete control (and vision) of the puck. It's like getting tapped on the shoulder and then my guy goes blind or something, cuz not only is the puck loose, but he doesn't even try to pick it back up. Moreover, why does it seem so incredibly difficult to pick up loose pucks in any other situation? You know how many times I've had my guy in perfect position to snatch up a loose puck, or intercept an errant pass, only to have my guy literally just watch as the puck sails by? Doesn't even try to stop it.
22) To add to that, I've also noticed how some guys get destroyed, or significantly pushed off the puck...only to somehow maintain complete control and possession as if your guy is incapable of picking of the loose puck. I've knocked so many guys over, or out of the way, or poke-checked the living daylights out of, only for them to somehow pick up the puck and keep going - and in most cases score lazy goals afterward.
22) Kinda feel like being a bruiser/enforcer/big guy has been nerfed. It is way too easy to avoid checks. Yeah, there needs to be some balance between getting checked and avoiding checks, but I feel like this year, it is way too easy to avoid checks (unless you're simply unskilled and don't know how to maneuver or get out of the way). I touched on this earlier, but it's really like you miss an easy check as though you're a repelling magnet that just floats away from the attacking player. Furthermore, it feels like if you do land a solid hit, the guy (no matter how small) pops back up as if they didn't just get hit by a train. Now this isn't true for everyone - especially those with a low energy meter - but it happens all too frequently. It's like hitting doesn't do anything to disrupt a play.
23) Also, I feel like the effects of changing a player's weight, height, and perks has the wrong effects in some cases. Yeah, I know there has to be a balance here - but (for example) there are a ton of little guys with incredible stamina in real hockey that are otherwise "weak" in this game. And for that matter, there are a lot of big guys that have excellent stick handling and speed (I mean even Connor McDavid is 6'1" and Jack Eichel is 6'2" but both are among the fastest players in the NHL - granted their weight is below 200). Shoot, Crosby, Draisaitl, and Matthews are all over 200 lbs, but are extra speedy on the ice. My point here is that how your weight, height and perks affect your player's abilities needs to be re-examined. Just because you're big, doesn't mean your speed or ability to handle/shoot the puck should take a hit and vice versa. While I like what you've started with the different types of players to create your loadouts with, I think it needs an overhaul. Maybe do away with the different types of skaters and instead create like a skill point system where you can choose whatever weight/height you want (within reason) that gives a base set of abilities that you can add to as you unlock skill points. Isn't that how it once worked in be-a-pro or something like that? Now of course, I don't mean make it so you can be 5'10" and 250 lbs with the ability to bolt from one end of the ice to the other while simultaneously being able to check the daylights out of someone twice that height. Some things are just ridiculous. But as it stands now, I think this system needs to be improved significantly to address a variety of skill types and abilities available to more than just one weight class. For example, the whole "don't expect this player to do this or that because of their class type" isn't consistently accurate. What I think should happen is a reward/point based system that rewards players based on their ability to do well in the game. This will force players to better their skill level.
24) STILL NO ONLINE CONNECTED FRANCHISE?! Nuff said.
25) Btw...Ones...still the least popular game mode. Who cares if you made it available offline?
There's so many other things I could list, but I'll wrap it up with this. I don't feel the original statement I quoted at the beginning of this post is accurate. I feel the developers are out of touch with the real problems that are happening in this game. At any given time, when I hop on to play, do you know how many times I will see the player pool population is "low"? Every time. Only ONCE have I ever seen it say "high" and that was when it first came out. Even in NHL19, I would only ever see "low" on a rare occasion (and that was over the course of a full year). It would very often be normal or high. As for NHL20, these player pools have continually dropped from "high" at first release to "low" on a VERY consistent basis. Yeah, I'll get normal from time to time, but the majority of the time, these pools are consistently "low." That tells you something. If this game is fine "as-is" then why am I constantly seeing "low" populations on any given day? Does that mean people are just staying offline to play the regular modes since they're tired of the nonsense they run into online? Could be...or people are realizing this game isn't good as-is and were hoping for a step forward from NHL19, but instead feel like what they got was something several steps backward? Seems to me that the problems are pretty consistent (as noted in these forums), but they're either being ignored, or treated as if they don't really exist. I don't know for sure, but a statement like "we think the gameplay is good as-is so we're not going to change anything" is completely out of touch with reality.
No, we dont care about jerseys. Game mechanics should be the TOP priority, aesthetics last.
You obviously didn't read what I said above, OF COURSE game mechanics should be high priority but just because YOU don't care about aesthetics doesn't mean that there aren't A TON of people who do.
You made it too easy for them. You literally gift wrapped most complaints across the entire forums and took a good amount of time to write this. Unfortunately, since they are so out of touch with reality and drowning in their own delusions of thinking this is a good game, i doubt most of these will even be touched.
Sadly, the proposed changes will not appease the 17 streamers that EA makes this game for.
I for one appreciate the effort and hopefully it will benefit the community.
It's ridiculous.
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> @Tommi32 does this happen with all the fonts you have?
Yes it does. And I think it has been the same for every other team aswell. When we play as home team, our C's and A's are not showing and when we are the road team, we have the A's and C's and the opponent doesn't.
"...we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now."
You are so wrong. Consensus with who? The 4 people on your dev team?
I think you misspelled "unnecessary"
Lol what? Yes, just like there’s a consensus that the earth is flat.
Come on, man. You guys can’t be accidentally this clueless at this point. We get now that you want to ignore our feedback, but don’t misrepresent a consensus that gameplay is in a good place. It ain’t. The one man hero magnetic puck ragging spinning bouncing silliness is embarrassing. Seriously, please watch a hockey game tonight.
Umh... So the AHL Devils went back to Albany? Otherwise I'm guessing this was a typo...
Also:
#1 - What, I wonder, would constitute the gameplay being "in a good place" right now?? Is it the constant LT abusing for the 2nd year running? The wraparound glitch goals? The RB/R1 saucer glitch/exploit? The AI being able to make tape to tape passes from anywhere, in any position, backhand/forehand or it being able to reach for passes 5 feet away when they're not even looking at the play? The ability to instantly gain possession of a puck on a one handed backhand interception? Goalies giving up more ludicrous goals than the past 3 years combined (on superstar difficulty no less)? The still present lateral acceleration which, combined with the skating speed buff, makes player swivel like they're on a table top hockey rink? The ability to smash into the boards and bounce off them keeping possession of the puck, even though they also get hit against the boards by the opponent, simply because they spun around? The inconsistent goal reviews that see some goals called back because an opponent (or even a teammate sometimes) brushed against the goalie, yet a couple of plays later when an opponent actually slams into the goalie and takes him out, the goal counts? The constant intermission replays of the helicopter in Drop-ins? Or how about the awful shadows in the same game mode that don't allow a goalie or d-man to see what's going on? Is it the inability to change the scoreboard to a more classic look instead of the always at the bottom "news ticker" scroll bar? Maybe it's the "failed to retrieve data" disconnects some people still experience (this is the 3rd year in a row now?) when trying to play online? It certainly can't be that for the 4th year running, we still aren't allowed to build our own custom player/arch type that matches our gamestyle rather than be pigeonholed into these cookie-cutter builds no one asked for?
Last year everyone loved the NHL 19 beta and initial release of the game only to see a tuner and patch start the downward spiral within a couple of weeks after release. Now a lot of people are upset that things that were supposed to have gotten fixed from last year aren't, and we're "in a good pace gameplay-wise"?? I'm just curious...
#2 - To answer your questions:
Interceptions from behind: wouldn't mind it so much if they were deflected away instead of just the AI gaining instant possession of the puck.
Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console: I thought this year both consoles had similar consistency with the hits and bumps. That said, it's too easy for players to simply roll off from hits by quickly spinning or turning away because of their over abundance of agility simply because they entered a "glide" state. I can skate very well and enter a glide too, but it would be impossible for me to glide and simply rotate 360° on an axis while keeping forward momentum like players do in this game. There's realism and there's physics, and none of them are truly present in this game to be able to gauge how the "hits at relative speed" are. But If I could venture an opinion, I'd say that the physics of the hitting are not even remotely close to where they should be. I don't think small bumps should make players automatically lose puck possession, but they should cause the receiving player to stumble a bit allowing the defense time to get back into position. That would be the ideal scenario of hitting at low relative speeds.
Puck loss when pivoting at high speed: if you're controlling a player rated under 75 overall, yeah, I think it's adequate. Anything higher than that and they may as well be duct-taping the puck to their sticks while pivoting at high speeds. It's also not just that they can retain the puck while pivoting, it's that they can retain control by CONSTANTLY doing stutter pivots over and over again. I can get behind the notion that this is, after all, a videogame and it's all in good fun, but this isn't fun and it just looks plain ridiculous. One could even say it looks stupid. Doing one half spin, waiting for the opponent to bite to one side and then blasting past him on the other? Ok, fine! But these people turning their backs to the opponent and skating backwards from their own blue line and then just spazzing out with LT/L2 while still keeping control of the puck?? I feel it wore its welcome last year... Yet here we are in NHL 20 and that stuff is still present in the game and still broken as all heck. But hey! We're in a good place gameplay wise.
Sorry for being so hard on ya. Don't mean to shoot the messenger, but yeah... I'm not too impressed with this year's iteration of the game. And I feel like a lot of others aren't as well. Just terribly disappointed, I guess...
Yeah...I agree...I just wanted to get it out...just the once...so I could say I did lol
No, I noticed it right away. It is much easier to read. I just wish it showed what position people are playing as well. That way you can see which positions are actually using mics and quickly identify which user is playing what position.
Nailed it.