My wish is to improve the gameplay. Physics, AI, goalie IQ, promote team play and discourage the one man circus show this game has become. In my opinion this game is all flash, and no substance.
I would like HUT to be rebuilt with the user in mind. I think it costs too much to do most sets. You either have to grind non stop or pay.
So in essence you're saying its like a Michael Bay film? Lol
Quick play mode on drop ins and clubs. Limited pauses. 15 instead of 30 seconds in between periods and during pauses. LIMITED replays. Basically just keep the game moving
The ability to trade content in CHEL (Because I can care less about other teams gear besides my teams stuff) and when you pick your favorite team when you start the game, you should get a hockey bag with your favorite team gear.
The ability to trade content in CHEL (Because I can care less about other teams gear besides my teams stuff) and when you pick your favorite team when you start the game, you should get a hockey bag with your favorite team gear.
For real. I need more Ducks gear. Love this though.
The ability to trade content in CHEL (Because I can care less about other teams gear besides my teams stuff) and when you pick your favorite team when you start the game, you should get a hockey bag with your favorite team gear.
For real. I need more Ducks gear. Love this though.
I think this would work because this isn't monetary based, it's just progression based. So being able to trade would be very nice.
Having said that, next year I hope they go back to Pro Hockey rinks and no longer have this clown gear so it's hopefully a moot point lol
Add the ability to change player roles (top 6, top 9, etc)
No trade clause / modified no trade clause
Performance bonuses in contracts
Rehaul the contract negotiation system (that doesn't mean just change the wording once in a while, rehaul the whole thing, it's time!). We sometimes have no idea why a player suddenly is not interested in extending their contract. Let's have that chat system built into the prospect/coach system in play with players so we can truly negotiate contracts. Including performance bonuses or signing bonuses or NTC/NMC would be a plus. Or maybe have us negotiate with the player's agent (as in real life) instead of with the players themselves.
Rehaul of moving players between CHL/NHL, we need better control over this. Not knowing whether to have AHL depth or not going into the next season is frustrating because if the guys that are in junior end up available for your NHL/AHL team the game will automatically cut some players to put your roster at 50 players. To my knowledge, you don't even know who the game cuts from your team, is it the worst trade value players, worst overall players? Chosen at random? Or at the very least let us choose the players it cuts from the team?
Reassign players to other leagues (IE: SHL/Liga/Russia/CHL/etc) especially those who end up as depth in the AHL. Would be cool to have this interact with the morale system too so the player doesn't always react positively to being sent back to Europe and their attributes grow slower or decrease (and they turn into a bust) or they see it as a positive thing and their attributes grow faster (and possibly turn into a gem) . As it stands now we have no control whether a player is sent back to the CHL or not once they are AHL eligible, this is done automatically and it shouldn't be!
Coaches system isn't perfect but it's a great improvement from previous years, what we are missing though is the "trainer" and the better your trainer the less frequent injuries are or the faster they heal.
I don't know why, but I've been looking for a thread like this for years and I always had a hard time finding it. Probably because I'm so dumb. Anyway, I exclusively play Franchise Mode and have a lot of suggestions:
1) As several people have said, goalie mask customization. Even if we still have the same options, but can change colour zones (like with the pads) that would be terrific.
2) Allow us to change/customize jerseys for existing teams. I know you can update custom team jerseys in the off season, but I would LOVE to be able to switch the Ducks back to their 1992 jerseys. Selecting the old jerseys before each game doesn't work for me because the arena is still orange and centre ice is their current ugly logo.
3) Add more vintage logo options in the create team mode.
4) I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with this one: A co-ed roster option. Let's say 2021 includes Women's International teams for Canada, US, Russia, Sweden, and Finland. If you select the co-ed roster option in Franchise Mode, there would be a requirement to have 2 or 3 women dressed on each roster. There would be a draft at the start of the Franchise to disperse the current women on each team. Women would be included as prospects in the regular draft after this. I feel like this would add more strategy in building the teams and would be a lot of fun.
5) Mid-Season International Tournament option. I assume you wouldn't be able to call them the Olympics, but I think it would be cool if you could get hired as a GM of an international team for an international tournament that occurs every 4 years. It doesn't have to be mid-season, and could be a September tournament, but I like the Olympics more.
6) Fix expansion draft schedule. I'm sure this will get fixed on its own by NHL 22, but it drives me crazy that I have to choose between having a 32nd NHL team or having an accurate schedule. If you add the 32nd team right now you play every team 2-3 times season regardless of division alignment.
7) Modified Fantasy Draft. Allow a protect option for a fantasy draft that allows each team to protect 5 players. I love doing fantasy drafts, but usually like the franchise players to stay on their respective teams.
8) Start Franchise at any year. I'm sure this would be hard to do, but it would be cool if you could go back and start at the 2010 draft, or the 2000 draft and build a franchise from that point on.
Adjust the command of pulling your goalie (specifically in WOC EASHL 3 vs 3) on a delayed penalty. Everyone avoids doing it because you can't tell if you put your goalie back in or not once the puck was finally touched. It would be nice to have a short period of 4 vs 3 on a delayed call. It could even be a "coaching command" that you can set up so that the goalie sprints for the bench once the ref puts his arm up for a penalty, and then returns automatically once the puck is touched. And if you don't want it, leave it as off in the coaching commands (those commands that nobody uses in WOC).
A small "ping" sound in the lobby, when all your teammates are locked on "ready". Sometimes room leaders are staring at their phone or eating, etc. and don't notice that everyone is ready, and everyone else is stuck waiting on them...
Mainly quality of life improvements for Online versus and/or HUT:
- KICK FOR IDLE! Can't believe this is still missing from the game. It's so bad that people even use it as a tactic sometimes... You're behind 3-0, put down the controller, wait for your opponent to get bored and stop playing, try to score. If he comes back, idle again.
- FIFA's star rating matchmaking system for teams in Online versus. Or at least some sort of tier system. e.g.
Tier 1: Alumni, all-stars, top level nationals
Tier 2: Top NHL teams, high tier nationals
Tier 3: Bottom NHL teams, mid tier nationals
Tier 4: AHL and Top Euro teams, low tier nationals
Tier 5: Juniors and mid tier Euro teams
Tier 6: ECHL and **** tier euro teams
You can match with a team from one tier higher/lower class.
This would unlock all the other leagues for online versus use and stop the stupid all-stars - Ottawa games from happening.
- Better ranking system for online versus and HUT. Please. The current system is dull and isn't rewarding in any way. Some kind of division system based on consecutive wins or losses would be great. I don't really even understand what's the point of the current system.
At the moment you can have your rating in the 900-1000 range and still match with a dude who is rated 300 and uses the all star team. After you've beaten the poor guy for one period and waited the next two periods because he decided to waste your time and idle, you gain no rating points. I would rather not play and wait for a better opponent than play those games.
A small "ping" sound in the lobby, when all your teammates are locked on "ready". Sometimes room leaders are staring at their phone or eating, etc. and don't notice that everyone is ready, and everyone else is stuck waiting on them...
Guilty of that one.
A subtle ping would be nice addition to help speed things up.
1. Reach out to CapFriendly: - CapFriendly has every single NHL player contract available online. They list NMC, NTC, actually salary, actual cap hit etc. They even have waiver information, entry level contract deadlines, buyout calculators, long term IR, etc. They have an armchair GM feature which allows users to make moves and customize rosters, while having to actually fit within the rules of the NHL. If EA were to subcontract capfriendly to manage all of this information the game would be amazing.
Currently EA has the following issues which CapFriendly could fix: - No IR feature which causes injuries to screw up the cap and roster. Can't call up players even though they have 700k contracts because injured players still count against the cap, etc. - Unrealisitic Waivers. Any player that is waiver eligible has to pass through waivers. EA however gives the player a grace period during the preseason which waivers is not active. That is totally inaccurate. - No information on NMC, NTC, actually salary etc. You would think with the owner mode feature and budget that EA added they would want to take it further and included actual $$$ not just cap hits. GM's can money ball by acquiring players with low $$$ relative to their actually contract. Could be a great feature for the hardcore players. - Unrealistic Entry level contracts. There are different deadlines for signing a player to an entry level contract depending on which league they come from. For example CHL players have to be signed earlier than players from the NCAA, europe or the KHL.
Seriously EA. If you cant do it yourself seek out help. It is not that hard, this information is available to the public.
2. NCAA and KHL prospects. - They need to be in the game. Some of the best prospects are playing in these leagues, and not including them breaks franchise mode. Yes we can create players ourselves, but that takes forever and there are several issues with it. For example creating an unsigned NCAA prospect and assigning him to an NHL team automatically forces them into a 1 year contract. The following year they will ask for a new contract when they should be signing and cheap entry level contract.
3. Attributes - These are so far off it is disgusting. An example, NHL prospects that are know for their skating ability have skating attributes in the 70's, meanwhile the worst NHL skaters have skating attributes in the 80's. Making all players just have low attributes is just lazy. Most of the time prospects just lack strength and the hockey sense before they are NHL ready, but they already possess the skills needed and they just need some fine tuning. Going from 70 skating to 90 should be literally impossible. If you aren't a strong skater when you are drafted, then why would you be when you get to the NHL. Another example is Max Domi having higher defensive Awareness than Selke candidate Phillip Danault. That is just embarrassing, it shows a total lack of dedication by EA to actually rating players realistically. Attributes and progression needs to be way more realistic, it is terrible as of now. Custom rosters is an easy solution to this, I'm sure the community would put more effort into this than the developers. If EA is not going to put an honest effort into accurate player ratings, than they should give the tools to the community to do it themselves. There is nothing wrong with that.
Fixing those 3 issues would go a long way to fixing franchise mode. From there all that would need to be done is fine tuning the other features.
I exclusively play Franchise. Many thanks for the trade finder and for bringing back the player search - those are invaluable. The scouting revamp was great as well, and the gameplay of 20 is the best to date. All of my comments relate to Franchise mode.
1. My main gripe is not being able to pick the expected duration of my next contract. You used to be able to specify the # of years you want, now it's completely random. You also used to be able to choose the type of team you wanted to GM for (IE rebuilder, contender, hopeful etc). Please bring that back. Put in 2 year contracts. I'm an in-demand GM - I should be able to set my terms as I see fit: if I don't want a contract longer than 3 years, I should be able to specify that. As it is now, I have to reload a gazillion times to get the team I want to take over to give me the contract I want to take on.
2. You definitely need a stats page tracking historical performance, especially in long GM careers. I wish I knew how many times I'd won a cup, but there's no way to check my historical record. Said page should also track historical earnings, which teams you played for, GF/GA - all the normal NHL standings stats. Heck you could record captains, top goal scorers, awards won etc - but a simple historical table of my GM performance would be nice and an easy add.
3. I like the new coaching and scouting updates in general. One thing though, is not being able to change your system and having it linked to the coach - I'd like to be able to change systems in the game. Perhaps explore assigning expected minutes per game per player a la NBA2K? I'm not sure what the perfect formula here would be, but it's immensely frustrating when you hire a coach who has literally everything perk/stat you want, but runs four lines when I want somebody to run two stacked lines instead. Static coaches are annoying - coaches should be able to change tactics. Not every coach is Mike Babcock.
It's unclear how the associate, assistant and goalie coaches impact or influence anything in the game, or boost players' stats, learning, or abilities. The entire interview process built into the game is cumbersome and frustrating - I just offer coaches 50K more than they ask and they sign, irrespective of their preferences - unsure if that whole system offers any gameplay value or is particularly deep.
4. Fog of war could be tweaked - it'd be nice if you could set fog of war for scouting/minor leagues but have it off for the NHL - every player in the NHL is a known commodity, it doesn't make a ton of sense that I'd need to pro scout Chris Kreider just to pin his actual trade value down. You should also make Fog of War for coaches an option - I really wish I could see a coach's full profile pre-hiring, rather than being required to hire him/her to find out they insist on running 4 lines when that doesn't fit my system.
5. Line chemistry is a cool add, but it's really unclear as to what makes players like each other, and chemistry doesn't seem to change - ever - even if a trio play together a bunch. Also, shouldn't real-world chemistry be built into the game? Like how is Bergeron, Pasta and Marchand - known commodity and chemistry line, only a +1 in the game? It doesn't make much sense.
I'd like to think a line could get better chemistry if they play together for X games - kind of like how the scouts progressively get better at the region they are assigned to. Heck chemistry could even get worse over time if two players really don't mesh well. I also wish I could scout chemistry before trading - like if I KNOW a certain player would play well with my 3C, it would incentivize trading for them, but as it is now it's a total crapshoot. Sometimes players just don't mix well, and sometimes a line of 3 PWFs has a +3. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how it works - and it's not dynamic so you can't build chemistry - you just have to hope you have it.
6. Please build in line presets - I hate every time there's an injury I have to meddle with every line ad nauseam because of how the catch-all 'best lines' option sets things up. This also applies to the AHL - very low rated players in the AHL get replaced by mediocre players who aren't even on my roster when I use 'best lines' and by that virtue get zero playing time. This necessitates going deep into my edit lines every single time there is an injury. Adding presets would speed up season simming a ton. Another option would be flagging certain players to your coaches so you can ensure they are always playing. EG If I have 3 centres on my 4th line, it'd be nice to be able to guarantee which one will be auto-assigned to work the dot.
7. Every player's primary NHL team should show up when you bring up their profile - I don't want to have to Google which affiliate belongs to which team as frequently as I do.
8. Change the hockey rumours guy! Why is there just one picture of one silver-haired dude? Couldn't you instead cycle through like 6 real analysts? If you've got Ray Ferraro announcing in game, why can't he pop out a rumour every now and then?
9. Fix the glitch where if you're on the PP or PK, the score marquee doesn't show up. This has been an issue for a number of years - if you score 5 on 5, you get a little note of who scored and got the assists, but if you're shorthanded or on the advantage, for whatever reason the pop up doesn't show up. What gives?
10. Introducing untouchables (as a selectable option) is an idea - it's weird when you can just indiscriminately trade for anybody you want - some teams simply would never entertain trading certain players.
All said, this last update to Franchise was easily the best in years - super grateful for the EA team and for your eyes on these notes! Cheers.
Oh snap - one other weird thing in Franchise - US Central consistently has WAY more players than East and West in scouting - it's been that way for years. There are literally never any players from 'rest of the world'. Allvenskan only has players for the first two years - after two years of simming, there are never any players from Allvenskan any more and there's no reason to ever scout it.
I exclusively play Franchise. Many thanks for the trade finder and for bringing back the player search - those are invaluable. The scouting revamp was great as well, and the gameplay of 20 is the best to date. All of my comments relate to Franchise mode.
1. My main gripe is not being able to pick the expected duration of my next contract. You used to be able to specify the # of years you want, now it's completely random. You also used to be able to choose the type of team you wanted to GM for (IE rebuilder, contender, hopeful etc). Please bring that back. Put in 2 year contracts. I'm an in-demand GM - I should be able to set my terms as I see fit: if I don't want a contract longer than 3 years, I should be able to specify that. As it is now, I have to reload a gazillion times to get the team I want to take over to give me the contract I want to take on.
2. You definitely need a stats page tracking historical performance, especially in long GM careers. I wish I knew how many times I'd won a cup, but there's no way to check my historical record. Said page should also track historical earnings, which teams you played for, GF/GA - all the normal NHL standings stats. Heck you could record captains, top goal scorers, awards won etc - but a simple historical table of my GM performance would be nice and an easy add.
3. I like the new coaching and scouting updates in general. One thing though, is not being able to change your system and having it linked to the coach - I'd like to be able to change systems in the game. Perhaps explore assigning expected minutes per game per player a la NBA2K? I'm not sure what the perfect formula here would be, but it's immensely frustrating when you hire a coach who has literally everything perk/stat you want, but runs four lines when I want somebody to run two stacked lines instead. Static coaches are annoying - coaches should be able to change tactics. Not every coach is Mike Babcock.
It's unclear how the associate, assistant and goalie coaches impact or influence anything in the game, or boost players' stats, learning, or abilities. The entire interview process built into the game is cumbersome and frustrating - I just offer coaches 50K more than they ask and they sign, irrespective of their preferences - unsure if that whole system offers any gameplay value or is particularly deep.
4. Fog of war could be tweaked - it'd be nice if you could set fog of war for scouting/minor leagues but have it off for the NHL - every player in the NHL is a known commodity, it doesn't make a ton of sense that I'd need to pro scout Chris Kreider just to pin his actual trade value down. You should also make Fog of War for coaches an option - I really wish I could see a coach's full profile pre-hiring, rather than being required to hire him/her to find out they insist on running 4 lines when that doesn't fit my system.
5. Line chemistry is a cool add, but it's really unclear as to what makes players like each other, and chemistry doesn't seem to change - ever - even if a trio play together a bunch. Also, shouldn't real-world chemistry be built into the game? Like how is Bergeron, Pasta and Marchand - known commodity and chemistry line, only a +1 in the game? It doesn't make much sense.
I'd like to think a line could get better chemistry if they play together for X games - kind of like how the scouts progressively get better at the region they are assigned to. Heck chemistry could even get worse over time if two players really don't mesh well. I also wish I could scout chemistry before trading - like if I KNOW a certain player would play well with my 3C, it would incentivize trading for them, but as it is now it's a total crapshoot. Sometimes players just don't mix well, and sometimes a line of 3 PWFs has a +3. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how it works - and it's not dynamic so you can't build chemistry - you just have to hope you have it.
6. Please build in line presets - I hate every time there's an injury I have to meddle with every line ad nauseam because of how the catch-all 'best lines' option sets things up. This also applies to the AHL - very low rated players in the AHL get replaced by mediocre players who aren't even on my roster when I use 'best lines' and by that virtue get zero playing time. This necessitates going deep into my edit lines every single time there is an injury. Adding presets would speed up season simming a ton. Another option would be flagging certain players to your coaches so you can ensure they are always playing. EG If I have 3 centres on my 4th line, it'd be nice to be able to guarantee which one will be auto-assigned to work the dot.
7. Every player's primary NHL team should show up when you bring up their profile - I don't want to have to Google which affiliate belongs to which team as frequently as I do.
8. Change the hockey rumours guy! Why is there just one picture of one silver-haired dude? Couldn't you instead cycle through like 6 real analysts? If you've got Ray Ferraro announcing in game, why can't he pop out a rumour every now and then?
9. Fix the glitch where if you're on the PP or PK, the score marquee doesn't show up. This has been an issue for a number of years - if you score 5 on 5, you get a little note of who scored and got the assists, but if you're shorthanded or on the advantage, for whatever reason the pop up doesn't show up. What gives?
10. Introducing untouchables (as a selectable option) is an idea - it's weird when you can just indiscriminately trade for anybody you want - some teams simply would never entertain trading certain players.
All said, this last update to Franchise was easily the best in years - super grateful for the EA team and for your eyes on these notes! Cheers.
Lots of great ideas. Also try using the trading difficulty of "hard". Untouchables are on there, I find. You can try to trade for them but you're gonna get boned in doing so. Trying to get a McDavid costs you your life on that difficulty unless I'd assume he's near retirement.
Also, they need to fix the waivers to make them realistic so we can't abuse the waiver wire in the offseason.
- Old drop-in format for 6's. I want an arena with atmosphere, team selection, uniforms, etc. like before. Not this clown gear and ODR.
- Cross-play support and a PC version. The community is dying and will not grow if it takes forever to find a matchup. Only the diehards have patience to waste time in menus.
Also, in Franchise, if you complete a GM's task or objective, could you possibly reward the player with a reasonable sum of cash you can actually do something with? It's annoying going back into budget to add the new injection of $50,000 (which doesn't buy anything in the game) each time I complete an objective. Either make it 250K-750K rewards, or add a ton more objectives (like 10 per year) so the potential rewards make it worthwhile to pay attention to your GM. As it is, the GM is so spartan and gimmicky that I ignore the GM completely, but dominate and still always have them at 'Amazing' happiness. If you completely and consistently ignore your GM's objectives, silly or superfluous as they may be, chances are you'll be considered an annoyance, even if you're a good team.
Maybe also include performance bonuses? Like if you have 40 wins by the trade deadline, you get X. Could have player-specific objectives (IE X reward if X player plays X games, or scores X points, you get X$, or a GM could request you don't trade a specific pending UFA at the deadline). Basically, you never ever have enough budget to keep your arena maintained after fixing it from the previous season, and there's no way to consistently generate meaningful revenue during the season to address that with so few, undervalued objectives. It makes the whole systems management thing rote and aggravating more than immersive and fun. Good on ya getting rid of setting concessions prices though - things started getting weird there.
As the previous poster noted - fix the waivers thing - when you take a player on waivers, he MUST go on your NHL roster. If you take a player on waivers you should immediately be taken to a roster moves screen where you still have the option to opt out if you don't like the moves you'd need to make to accommodate that new player in your 23. For whatever reason in the game, players taken go to your minor affiliate - possibly because this avoids situations where the AI takes a player on waivers only to dump a better more valuable player with a lower overall onto the wire? I don't know how to make it work, I just know it doesn't follow the actual rules and makes it easier to game the system than it already is.
1. A better be a pro, more control over your player. you can negotiate contracts, trades, have a more specific build for example your build should have a way larger impact on the way your player plays, rather than right now where all players are kinda similar. A small story would be nice, play a game in high-school get drafted to whl, qmjhl or ohl and play in the memorial cup. Having to answer press questions that will have an impact on contracts and teammate moral. Endorsement deals would be addition as well. 2. In franchise mode more customizing your team and players, being able to add a new jersey mid season would be great. As well as free agency and deadline should be a bigger event, you should be able to talk to some players 1 on 1 and negotiation find out what they think of your team. 3. Winter classic, Olympic and All Star weekend would all be great in be a pro as well as franchise. 4. Improvement need to be made to the players themselves as well, I myself am very tired of going to poke the puck just to tap a skate and send the player flying through the air, no NHL player falls like that from a poke. Specialized skating strides as well and the way they dangle should be a choice in customizing, possibly even skate blade size and curve or stick flex and curve. 5. They could show play of the game or big saves between whistles. 6. Arenas should be different from venue to venue as well as home ice should give a slight advantage. 7. Being able to create a play would help as well as IA that does not just stand there and will actually play a two on one. 8. Net battles could be improved as well 9. Mascots could wear different jerseys and run a half time show.
Replies
So in essence you're saying its like a Michael Bay film? Lol
For real. I need more Ducks gear. Love this though.
I think this would work because this isn't monetary based, it's just progression based. So being able to trade would be very nice.
Having said that, next year I hope they go back to Pro Hockey rinks and no longer have this clown gear so it's hopefully a moot point lol
Add the ability to change player roles (top 6, top 9, etc)
No trade clause / modified no trade clause
Performance bonuses in contracts
Rehaul the contract negotiation system (that doesn't mean just change the wording once in a while, rehaul the whole thing, it's time!). We sometimes have no idea why a player suddenly is not interested in extending their contract. Let's have that chat system built into the prospect/coach system in play with players so we can truly negotiate contracts. Including performance bonuses or signing bonuses or NTC/NMC would be a plus. Or maybe have us negotiate with the player's agent (as in real life) instead of with the players themselves.
Rehaul of moving players between CHL/NHL, we need better control over this. Not knowing whether to have AHL depth or not going into the next season is frustrating because if the guys that are in junior end up available for your NHL/AHL team the game will automatically cut some players to put your roster at 50 players. To my knowledge, you don't even know who the game cuts from your team, is it the worst trade value players, worst overall players? Chosen at random? Or at the very least let us choose the players it cuts from the team?
Reassign players to other leagues (IE: SHL/Liga/Russia/CHL/etc) especially those who end up as depth in the AHL. Would be cool to have this interact with the morale system too so the player doesn't always react positively to being sent back to Europe and their attributes grow slower or decrease (and they turn into a bust) or they see it as a positive thing and their attributes grow faster (and possibly turn into a gem) . As it stands now we have no control whether a player is sent back to the CHL or not once they are AHL eligible, this is done automatically and it shouldn't be!
Coaches system isn't perfect but it's a great improvement from previous years, what we are missing though is the "trainer" and the better your trainer the less frequent injuries are or the faster they heal.
1) As several people have said, goalie mask customization. Even if we still have the same options, but can change colour zones (like with the pads) that would be terrific.
2) Allow us to change/customize jerseys for existing teams. I know you can update custom team jerseys in the off season, but I would LOVE to be able to switch the Ducks back to their 1992 jerseys. Selecting the old jerseys before each game doesn't work for me because the arena is still orange and centre ice is their current ugly logo.
3) Add more vintage logo options in the create team mode.
4) I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with this one: A co-ed roster option. Let's say 2021 includes Women's International teams for Canada, US, Russia, Sweden, and Finland. If you select the co-ed roster option in Franchise Mode, there would be a requirement to have 2 or 3 women dressed on each roster. There would be a draft at the start of the Franchise to disperse the current women on each team. Women would be included as prospects in the regular draft after this. I feel like this would add more strategy in building the teams and would be a lot of fun.
5) Mid-Season International Tournament option. I assume you wouldn't be able to call them the Olympics, but I think it would be cool if you could get hired as a GM of an international team for an international tournament that occurs every 4 years. It doesn't have to be mid-season, and could be a September tournament, but I like the Olympics more.
6) Fix expansion draft schedule. I'm sure this will get fixed on its own by NHL 22, but it drives me crazy that I have to choose between having a 32nd NHL team or having an accurate schedule. If you add the 32nd team right now you play every team 2-3 times season regardless of division alignment.
7) Modified Fantasy Draft. Allow a protect option for a fantasy draft that allows each team to protect 5 players. I love doing fantasy drafts, but usually like the franchise players to stay on their respective teams.
8) Start Franchise at any year. I'm sure this would be hard to do, but it would be cool if you could go back and start at the 2010 draft, or the 2000 draft and build a franchise from that point on.
Adjust the command of pulling your goalie (specifically in WOC EASHL 3 vs 3) on a delayed penalty. Everyone avoids doing it because you can't tell if you put your goalie back in or not once the puck was finally touched. It would be nice to have a short period of 4 vs 3 on a delayed call. It could even be a "coaching command" that you can set up so that the goalie sprints for the bench once the ref puts his arm up for a penalty, and then returns automatically once the puck is touched. And if you don't want it, leave it as off in the coaching commands (those commands that nobody uses in WOC).
A small "ping" sound in the lobby, when all your teammates are locked on "ready". Sometimes room leaders are staring at their phone or eating, etc. and don't notice that everyone is ready, and everyone else is stuck waiting on them...
- KICK FOR IDLE! Can't believe this is still missing from the game. It's so bad that people even use it as a tactic sometimes... You're behind 3-0, put down the controller, wait for your opponent to get bored and stop playing, try to score. If he comes back, idle again.
- FIFA's star rating matchmaking system for teams in Online versus. Or at least some sort of tier system. e.g.
Tier 1: Alumni, all-stars, top level nationals
Tier 2: Top NHL teams, high tier nationals
Tier 3: Bottom NHL teams, mid tier nationals
Tier 4: AHL and Top Euro teams, low tier nationals
Tier 5: Juniors and mid tier Euro teams
Tier 6: ECHL and **** tier euro teams
You can match with a team from one tier higher/lower class.
This would unlock all the other leagues for online versus use and stop the stupid all-stars - Ottawa games from happening.
- Better ranking system for online versus and HUT. Please. The current system is dull and isn't rewarding in any way. Some kind of division system based on consecutive wins or losses would be great. I don't really even understand what's the point of the current system.
At the moment you can have your rating in the 900-1000 range and still match with a dude who is rated 300 and uses the all star team. After you've beaten the poor guy for one period and waited the next two periods because he decided to waste your time and idle, you gain no rating points. I would rather not play and wait for a better opponent than play those games.
Guilty of that one.
A subtle ping would be nice addition to help speed things up.
1. Reach out to CapFriendly:
- CapFriendly has every single NHL player contract available online. They list NMC, NTC, actually salary, actual cap hit etc. They even have waiver information, entry level contract deadlines, buyout calculators, long term IR, etc. They have an armchair GM feature which allows users to make moves and customize rosters, while having to actually fit within the rules of the NHL. If EA were to subcontract capfriendly to manage all of this information the game would be amazing.
Currently EA has the following issues which CapFriendly could fix:
- No IR feature which causes injuries to screw up the cap and roster. Can't call up players even though they have 700k contracts because injured players still count against the cap, etc.
- Unrealisitic Waivers. Any player that is waiver eligible has to pass through waivers. EA however gives the player a grace period during the preseason which waivers is not active. That is totally inaccurate.
- No information on NMC, NTC, actually salary etc. You would think with the owner mode feature and budget that EA added they would want to take it further and included actual $$$ not just cap hits. GM's can money ball by acquiring players with low $$$ relative to their actually contract. Could be a great feature for the hardcore players.
- Unrealistic Entry level contracts. There are different deadlines for signing a player to an entry level contract depending on which league they come from. For example CHL players have to be signed earlier than players from the NCAA, europe or the KHL.
Seriously EA. If you cant do it yourself seek out help. It is not that hard, this information is available to the public.
2. NCAA and KHL prospects.
- They need to be in the game. Some of the best prospects are playing in these leagues, and not including them breaks franchise mode. Yes we can create players ourselves, but that takes forever and there are several issues with it. For example creating an unsigned NCAA prospect and assigning him to an NHL team automatically forces them into a 1 year contract. The following year they will ask for a new contract when they should be signing and cheap entry level contract.
3. Attributes
- These are so far off it is disgusting. An example, NHL prospects that are know for their skating ability have skating attributes in the 70's, meanwhile the worst NHL skaters have skating attributes in the 80's. Making all players just have low attributes is just lazy. Most of the time prospects just lack strength and the hockey sense before they are NHL ready, but they already possess the skills needed and they just need some fine tuning. Going from 70 skating to 90 should be literally impossible. If you aren't a strong skater when you are drafted, then why would you be when you get to the NHL. Another example is Max Domi having higher defensive Awareness than Selke candidate Phillip Danault. That is just embarrassing, it shows a total lack of dedication by EA to actually rating players realistically. Attributes and progression needs to be way more realistic, it is terrible as of now. Custom rosters is an easy solution to this, I'm sure the community would put more effort into this than the developers. If EA is not going to put an honest effort into accurate player ratings, than they should give the tools to the community to do it themselves. There is nothing wrong with that.
Fixing those 3 issues would go a long way to fixing franchise mode. From there all that would need to be done is fine tuning the other features.
1. My main gripe is not being able to pick the expected duration of my next contract. You used to be able to specify the # of years you want, now it's completely random. You also used to be able to choose the type of team you wanted to GM for (IE rebuilder, contender, hopeful etc). Please bring that back. Put in 2 year contracts. I'm an in-demand GM - I should be able to set my terms as I see fit: if I don't want a contract longer than 3 years, I should be able to specify that. As it is now, I have to reload a gazillion times to get the team I want to take over to give me the contract I want to take on.
2. You definitely need a stats page tracking historical performance, especially in long GM careers. I wish I knew how many times I'd won a cup, but there's no way to check my historical record. Said page should also track historical earnings, which teams you played for, GF/GA - all the normal NHL standings stats. Heck you could record captains, top goal scorers, awards won etc - but a simple historical table of my GM performance would be nice and an easy add.
3. I like the new coaching and scouting updates in general. One thing though, is not being able to change your system and having it linked to the coach - I'd like to be able to change systems in the game. Perhaps explore assigning expected minutes per game per player a la NBA2K? I'm not sure what the perfect formula here would be, but it's immensely frustrating when you hire a coach who has literally everything perk/stat you want, but runs four lines when I want somebody to run two stacked lines instead. Static coaches are annoying - coaches should be able to change tactics. Not every coach is Mike Babcock.
It's unclear how the associate, assistant and goalie coaches impact or influence anything in the game, or boost players' stats, learning, or abilities. The entire interview process built into the game is cumbersome and frustrating - I just offer coaches 50K more than they ask and they sign, irrespective of their preferences - unsure if that whole system offers any gameplay value or is particularly deep.
4. Fog of war could be tweaked - it'd be nice if you could set fog of war for scouting/minor leagues but have it off for the NHL - every player in the NHL is a known commodity, it doesn't make a ton of sense that I'd need to pro scout Chris Kreider just to pin his actual trade value down. You should also make Fog of War for coaches an option - I really wish I could see a coach's full profile pre-hiring, rather than being required to hire him/her to find out they insist on running 4 lines when that doesn't fit my system.
5. Line chemistry is a cool add, but it's really unclear as to what makes players like each other, and chemistry doesn't seem to change - ever - even if a trio play together a bunch. Also, shouldn't real-world chemistry be built into the game? Like how is Bergeron, Pasta and Marchand - known commodity and chemistry line, only a +1 in the game? It doesn't make much sense.
I'd like to think a line could get better chemistry if they play together for X games - kind of like how the scouts progressively get better at the region they are assigned to. Heck chemistry could even get worse over time if two players really don't mesh well. I also wish I could scout chemistry before trading - like if I KNOW a certain player would play well with my 3C, it would incentivize trading for them, but as it is now it's a total crapshoot. Sometimes players just don't mix well, and sometimes a line of 3 PWFs has a +3. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how it works - and it's not dynamic so you can't build chemistry - you just have to hope you have it.
6. Please build in line presets - I hate every time there's an injury I have to meddle with every line ad nauseam because of how the catch-all 'best lines' option sets things up. This also applies to the AHL - very low rated players in the AHL get replaced by mediocre players who aren't even on my roster when I use 'best lines' and by that virtue get zero playing time. This necessitates going deep into my edit lines every single time there is an injury. Adding presets would speed up season simming a ton. Another option would be flagging certain players to your coaches so you can ensure they are always playing. EG If I have 3 centres on my 4th line, it'd be nice to be able to guarantee which one will be auto-assigned to work the dot.
7. Every player's primary NHL team should show up when you bring up their profile - I don't want to have to Google which affiliate belongs to which team as frequently as I do.
8. Change the hockey rumours guy! Why is there just one picture of one silver-haired dude? Couldn't you instead cycle through like 6 real analysts? If you've got Ray Ferraro announcing in game, why can't he pop out a rumour every now and then?
9. Fix the glitch where if you're on the PP or PK, the score marquee doesn't show up. This has been an issue for a number of years - if you score 5 on 5, you get a little note of who scored and got the assists, but if you're shorthanded or on the advantage, for whatever reason the pop up doesn't show up. What gives?
10. Introducing untouchables (as a selectable option) is an idea - it's weird when you can just indiscriminately trade for anybody you want - some teams simply would never entertain trading certain players.
All said, this last update to Franchise was easily the best in years - super grateful for the EA team and for your eyes on these notes! Cheers.
Lots of great ideas. Also try using the trading difficulty of "hard". Untouchables are on there, I find. You can try to trade for them but you're gonna get boned in doing so. Trying to get a McDavid costs you your life on that difficulty unless I'd assume he's near retirement.
Also, they need to fix the waivers to make them realistic so we can't abuse the waiver wire in the offseason.
- Old drop-in format for 6's. I want an arena with atmosphere, team selection, uniforms, etc. like before. Not this clown gear and ODR.
- Cross-play support and a PC version. The community is dying and will not grow if it takes forever to find a matchup. Only the diehards have patience to waste time in menus.
Maybe also include performance bonuses? Like if you have 40 wins by the trade deadline, you get X. Could have player-specific objectives (IE X reward if X player plays X games, or scores X points, you get X$, or a GM could request you don't trade a specific pending UFA at the deadline). Basically, you never ever have enough budget to keep your arena maintained after fixing it from the previous season, and there's no way to consistently generate meaningful revenue during the season to address that with so few, undervalued objectives. It makes the whole systems management thing rote and aggravating more than immersive and fun. Good on ya getting rid of setting concessions prices though - things started getting weird there.
As the previous poster noted - fix the waivers thing - when you take a player on waivers, he MUST go on your NHL roster. If you take a player on waivers you should immediately be taken to a roster moves screen where you still have the option to opt out if you don't like the moves you'd need to make to accommodate that new player in your 23. For whatever reason in the game, players taken go to your minor affiliate - possibly because this avoids situations where the AI takes a player on waivers only to dump a better more valuable player with a lower overall onto the wire? I don't know how to make it work, I just know it doesn't follow the actual rules and makes it easier to game the system than it already is.
full customization and a progression system
2. In franchise mode more customizing your team and players, being able to add a new jersey mid season would be great. As well as free agency and deadline should be a bigger event, you should be able to talk to some players 1 on 1 and negotiation find out what they think of your team.
3. Winter classic, Olympic and All Star weekend would all be great in be a pro as well as franchise.
4. Improvement need to be made to the players themselves as well, I myself am very tired of going to poke the puck just to tap a skate and send the player flying through the air, no NHL player falls like that from a poke. Specialized skating strides as well and the way they dangle should be a choice in customizing, possibly even skate blade size and curve or stick flex and curve.
5. They could show play of the game or big saves between whistles.
6. Arenas should be different from venue to venue as well as home ice should give a slight advantage.
7. Being able to create a play would help as well as IA that does not just stand there and will actually play a two on one.
8. Net battles could be improved as well
9. Mascots could wear different jerseys and run a half time show.