Let's talk Manual Goalie control!
May 7, 2020 6:01PM
edited May 2020
OK it's time to talk manual Goalie control, or lack thereof...
Goalie control needs to go back to the smooth movement we had with last gen. When you're moving your goalie left to right (without precision) it's shouldn't shoot you halfway across the ice. I know the push looks "realistic" but it's pretty nonsensical most of the time. It should be smooth and you should be in full control at all times.
Bring back the option for auto puck cover. So many times the puck will be just laying in front of your goalie and he wont grab it, even when pressing the Triangle/Y button.
Hugging and releasing the post is terribly slow. Trying to hug the post doesn't always work right away, for one. In a scramble it leaves you vulnerable which isn't good. Also, once you hug the post (using RT/R2) you should be able to let go of RT/R2 to release the post (like in NHL 14/15 previous gen). It's quicker for reacting to a pass out in front of the net, or a player behind the net looking do to a wrap-around. Pressing a button a 2nd time to release holding the post is too slow. I think a dev explained that it was changed because of complaints, well, you don't realize what you have until it's gone. It was better the way it was. Go back and play NHL15 on last gen, go into goalie mode and practice a bit. You'll be shocked how much smoother, faster and easier it is to move and make saves. We need that back.
The puck arrow/shot tracker doesn't work all the time, at least not for goalie in EASHL, I could only get it to work in practice mode. It's functionality also changed from last gen. It used to be on all the time while the puck was in the zone, now it's only on when the opposing team has possession. It was better before when it was on all the time, it's harder to track scrambles in front of the net now. On a positive note I like how it shows how much of the net is and isn't covered now.
The control layout needs to be reverted back, or at least give us the option for the old control layout. It was a better layout for executing saves while moving. I can explain in more detail if needed.
Goalies are slow, in every aspect. With the speed of the game right now in EASHL (I think it's a bit too fast, but that's for another post) the goalies don’t stand a chance. Goalies are also too slow to stop simple dump-ins behind the net. This has been the case for a long time now actually, even last gen. Their skating should be faster, as fast as some of the slower player builds at least https://youtube.com/watch?v=lUQcIDAWoeQ
Why can't goalies make a save attempt while outside the crease? If you get caught or turn it over while outside the crease, you can only skate. You should be able to skate(hold X/A) AND make save attempts(let go of X/A) outside the crease. Never made sense to me.
That's all I can think of right now, let me know if you have other suggestions.
I want Goaltending to be fun and simple again. It's the hardest position in the game and goalies always get the blame when the team loses!
Goalie control needs to go back to the smooth movement we had with last gen. When you're moving your goalie left to right (without precision) it's shouldn't shoot you halfway across the ice. I know the push looks "realistic" but it's pretty nonsensical most of the time. It should be smooth and you should be in full control at all times.
Bring back the option for auto puck cover. So many times the puck will be just laying in front of your goalie and he wont grab it, even when pressing the Triangle/Y button.
Hugging and releasing the post is terribly slow. Trying to hug the post doesn't always work right away, for one. In a scramble it leaves you vulnerable which isn't good. Also, once you hug the post (using RT/R2) you should be able to let go of RT/R2 to release the post (like in NHL 14/15 previous gen). It's quicker for reacting to a pass out in front of the net, or a player behind the net looking do to a wrap-around. Pressing a button a 2nd time to release holding the post is too slow. I think a dev explained that it was changed because of complaints, well, you don't realize what you have until it's gone. It was better the way it was. Go back and play NHL15 on last gen, go into goalie mode and practice a bit. You'll be shocked how much smoother, faster and easier it is to move and make saves. We need that back.
The puck arrow/shot tracker doesn't work all the time, at least not for goalie in EASHL, I could only get it to work in practice mode. It's functionality also changed from last gen. It used to be on all the time while the puck was in the zone, now it's only on when the opposing team has possession. It was better before when it was on all the time, it's harder to track scrambles in front of the net now. On a positive note I like how it shows how much of the net is and isn't covered now.
The control layout needs to be reverted back, or at least give us the option for the old control layout. It was a better layout for executing saves while moving. I can explain in more detail if needed.
Goalies are slow, in every aspect. With the speed of the game right now in EASHL (I think it's a bit too fast, but that's for another post) the goalies don’t stand a chance. Goalies are also too slow to stop simple dump-ins behind the net. This has been the case for a long time now actually, even last gen. Their skating should be faster, as fast as some of the slower player builds at least https://youtube.com/watch?v=lUQcIDAWoeQ
Why can't goalies make a save attempt while outside the crease? If you get caught or turn it over while outside the crease, you can only skate. You should be able to skate(hold X/A) AND make save attempts(let go of X/A) outside the crease. Never made sense to me.
That's all I can think of right now, let me know if you have other suggestions.
I want Goaltending to be fun and simple again. It's the hardest position in the game and goalies always get the blame when the team loses!
Post edited by de4c0nfr05t on
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It's sad how slow goalies are in comparison to real life (unless you're an AI goalie, then you're on steroids) and even more sad when you compare how what should be the slowest person on the ice (somebody skating with the puck) is now the fastest.
They got the players reversed. The goalie should be able to move laterally faster than somebody with a puck. Fix it please.
If they gave the limbs a ton more animations and a bit quicker then it would go a long way. Butterfly goalies should be lightning fast with limb movements while standups should lack a bit more in limb speed since they are mostly using their bodies size. The average goalies that is we can't use some of the superstars who move insane for their size
I think all goalies have the same basic movements.. the builds (Hybrid, BF, Stand-up) are only different from which their attributes are allocated.. at least that's how it was with the old game.
Yes I know this and it's a huge problem imo. They should play differently with some different animations that benefit their builds more.
But there are so many QoL goalie moves that should be in this game that all goalies in the NHL use and they aren't
Oh absolutely! Make them unique! The more options the better. Also go back to something similar to the old attribute system, so we can further customize our players.
Also, unfortunately you wont be able to slide over like that in the V save formation because of the new goalie button layout.
They just need to remove the stupid paddle down and when you use the right stick down and left or right it slides you over to that post. The harder to flick over the more your goalie will move to hug it and the less you flick it the chances of merely pushing your pad for a save. These type of things would go a long way in goalies be better in shootout/penalty shots too.
EA could do these changes but they have never really given goalies their time to shine. Goal line goalie days was not shining that was lazy.
I wouldn't want that, I like R2/RT for hugging the post. It's been like that forever and I'm used to it. I just don't like how they changed its functionality.
The R2/RT wouldn't change. What I am talking about is making a cross crease save that requires a strong push over.
Mostly like this video below.
And you envision this to be a separate button or just happen using Right Stick? I wouldn't want this to be the regular Right Stick movement, it just means I have less control. If I want to make a save attempt I should hit a button or a button combination.
There would be too many times where I would accidentally make a save attempt when I just wanted to move quickly if this was just tied to RS movement.
I could see having you hold R1/RB and hitting RS left or right to make this move. Last gen goalie save attempts are based on holding R1/RB and using RS, I like this because it's independent of movement, which is not the case right now.
It wouldn't hinder you at all and instead allow for better puck stopping ability especially from the stupid insane accuracy of those goal line one timers always working.
Oh OK I see what you mean now. Yeah makes sense.
Great Post. Goalies always getting the blame when a team loses shouldn't happen. On the real ice, the best goalies in the world need good teams in front of them still and relative to their peers they will stand out but if they are facing a lot of quality chances, they are going to have trouble. We see this in the current game at the competitive levels. There are goalies that stand out in the community and they are even better if they have good teams in front of them.
The piece I like about the current model is that success can be attributed to the goalie. There is a wider skill gap and if you aren't good at the position, sure you can sit in your net and make more saves than if you are frantically diving around but you aren't going to have near the success of the goalie that is actively playing the position properly and accustomed to the controls. One issue with the game in the past was that when goalies did well, it was quite often just because the game did more for them and goalies weren't getting credit for actually standing out in net.
We changed the cover puck system because people were always calling out the 'hungry hippo' covers and how often they would get locked into them missing. The new system has the ability to resolve and has better puck prediction/accuracy so when it does go for a cover it has a higher chance to solve. We added a bunch of coverage this year in the content updates so there are more covers when you are just standing above the puck that will auto drop down but a goalies success will be higher if they drop down on the puck themselves. We can certainly add more coverage and continue to improve this system though.
For hugging and releasing the post, the issue with the old system is that you would come off the post if you let go of the trigger, but always the same way. The puck may have been out to your right and you may have wanted to come off the post to go out towards it but letting go of hug post would move you off towards the middle of the ice creating a gap between you and the post and sometimes the puck would get shot in short side. With the new system, you don't need to keep hug post held once you are on the post. The next motion on the left stick is the exit off the post in the direction you want to go which could be a move to the opposite post, a drop to butterfly to cut off an angle or a t-push to any direction. This should ultimately give more control to players and avoid being forced into a single direction that you need to leave the post but we can always work on making it more responsive as well.
It is an interesting suggestion to have the puck tracker on all the time. Competitive players had asked for those visualizations to not be available in online play as they felt tracking the puck was one of the main skills of the goalie so that if you had the vis doing that for you, it would take away from a skill differentiator. It is something that could always be considered though as it is available and just a choice to have kept it off.
What is the main piece you are missing from the new control layout? The alternate control scheme was created to give people the controls they had in the old system. It is actually the layout that leads to people not using non precision very often and feeling that goalies are slow. Non precision butterfly is quick but if people just use precision and then the right stick when they need a big push or a push to the post, they can still get there quick (which is what alternate goalies tend to do). But goalies that use the hug post command rather than the right stick to get to the post are often left wondering why their limbs aren't reaching out to the post and that is because they are just asking to hug the post, not take away that space like the right stick does. That said, we are looking at moves into the post that also stretch out the limbs to collide with the post before arriving there but that would still be more of a right stick move than just a regular hug post move most likely.
We added a control where you just have to hold A down without LS input as a thought on how goalies could navigate around the net quickly to get dump ins without having to manually navigate the net. It was supposed to help with that but would still take a quick reaction on the goalie to press the button. If that mechanic still makes sense, its possible that it could be improved.
I 100 percent agree that playing goaltender should be fun and no matter what we do with mechanics, it needs to be responsive and give players control. As far as making it simple, I don't necessarily agree as that is what leads to lower skill gaps and people not giving better goalies credit (i.e. "All you have to do is sit on the goal line"). But there are a lot of improvements we can make and it can certainly continue to be more responsive and intuitive. It is a very tough position to get right but already watching top goalies play the game, it is impressive what they can do in net and we will keep looking for ways to improve it moving forward.
This is exactly the sort of thing we have been looking at along with a more complete right stick.
Do you use alternate controls? And if so, how often do you use the precision movement toggle to get the faster speeds?
Thank you for taking the time to reply, much appreciated!
"There is a wider skill gap..."
Well a wider skill gap is OK to an extent, but if you make it too big there will be less goalies. Players will get frustrated with the position and give up trying, so you gotta be careful there.
"One issue with the game in the past was that when goalies did well, it was quite often just because the game did more for them and goalies weren't getting credit for actually standing out in net."
I don't agree with this at all, at least not for last gen EASHL/OTP. A good goalie can be a game changer. Some goalies made you wish there was a CPU in net. I don't remember a game in NHL20 EASHL where I was glad we had a human goalie. I'm not saying there aren't any, but there are fewer these days.
"We changed the cover puck system because people were always calling out the 'hungry hippo' covers and how often they would get locked into them missing."
Yes I know about the hungry hippo haha it's funny you call it that too, kind of became the universal name for it. That's not what I was referring to though. I was meaning when you made a save and the puck dropped just inches from you. The last gen the goalie would just put his glove hand on it automatically, NHL20 it doesn't seem to do that. Even pressing Triangle/Y often doesn't do anything.
"We added a bunch of coverage this year in the content updates so there are more covers when you are just standing above the puck that will auto drop down but a goalies success will be higher if they drop down on the puck themselves. We can certainly add more coverage and continue to improve this system though."
Yeah I think more coverage just in the short perimeter of the goalie, like a foot away or less would be helpful.
"For hugging and releasing the post, the issue with the old system is that you would come off the post if you let go of the trigger, but always the same way. The puck may have been out to your right and you may have wanted to come off the post to go out towards it but letting go of hug post would move you off towards the middle of the ice creating a gap between you and the post and sometimes the puck would get shot in short side."
So I tested this. As you probably know I still have and play NHL15 for PS3 regularly, there's still an active OTP community. I basically just play it because I like playing goalie, which is why I'm making this post to begin with.
So indeed when you let go of the post it popped your goalie out a little bit, I took some shots for example below. The player with the puck was at the faceoff dot, which is why the goalie came out a bit towards the corner as you can see:
Now here's the thing... when you let go of hugging the post (R2) and start moving right away with the Left Stick, the goalie doesn't jump out like this. It's really a non issue. If you have an old PS3 lying around the office I encourage you to try it. Heck Burnaby is 20 minutes away I'll bring mine there and show you haha
It really is much easier, way more responsive and gives you more control than what you have now, faster too.
"It is an interesting suggestion to have the puck tracker on all the time. Competitive players had asked for those visualizations to not be available in online play as they felt tracking the puck was one of the main skills of the goalie so that if you had the vis doing that for you, it would take away from a skill differentiator. It is something that could always be considered though as it is available and just a choice to have kept it off."
It definitely should be an option, it's a big help for newer players who maybe want to give goalie a try. Having it a more skilled position doesn't always mean you should make it as hard as humanly possible, you're going to scare most players away. Sometimes you just have to use common sense and don't always listen to these competitive players. If they're so good then they don't have to use the puck arrow. Why does that mean I can't you know? If they're that concerned it's a huge advantage then they can use it too. Or maybe disable it for Division 1 games? I get it that you're receiving advice from the pro and more competitive players, many games do, but please not at the detriment of the newer and less skilled players. They ARE the majority after all.
"What is the main piece you are missing from the new control layout? The alternate control scheme was created to give people the controls they had in the old system."
Well I'm so glad you asked sir!
The pull/replace goalie isn't a big deal I don't think, even though there wasn't really a need to change it was there? But the saves (Diving poke, stack pad, spread V, desperation save) those are way different. Please revert back! And now that I look at this, I think I know why I could never cover the puck with pressing Triangle/Y. You have to HOLD Triangle/Y now! Ummmm why? So the forward has that extra second to score? Come on guys lol Common sense again. Should not have to hold it, the goalie has to be fast.
"We added a control where you just have to hold A down without LS input as a thought on how goalies could navigate around the net quickly to get dump ins without having to manually navigate the net."
Interesting, so it would just be automatic? The goalie would shoot behind the net, hug the boards and wait to stop the puck? Might work I guess. I think even better would just be to increase the speed at which the goalie skates. Then when you get behind the net maybe hold R1 to put the stick down and stop the puck. Or if the puck is in the air you can press L1 to hug the boards and block it?
Speaking of goalie speed, I did a fun little test. This was with NHL15 on PS3, maybe if you have the time you could replicate it on NHL20 as I don't own that game anymore.. So I selected a 2 player game, controlled only 1 of the teams and locked onto goalie control. Waited for the puck to come into our zone, then skated out to the red line against the boards. I hit start on my stop watch and proceeded to skate down around my net and back up to the red line on the other side. I did this a bunch of times, the average time was about 14 seconds. Now that's just half the rink, as you can see in this clip I posted earlier an NHL goalie can lap the whole rink in just under 17 seconds, nearly twice as fast!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lUQcIDAWoeQ