Ok, so after playing further, I guess my requests have dwindled.
The main request is regarding stats for HUT games and how difficulty is determined..
1. Ideally: Within the player stats in MyTeam are, could you add maybe an R2 option (similar to the L2 option for skaters, defense, etc.
Could there be hopefully 3 options for stats (Online, computer, friends)? That way we can see how our players are doing against the computer (minor leagues) vs. against human competition?
If we have friends as separate stats, we can at least have a league of sorts with friends which makes up for connected GM being taken out.
If no friends, can we at least have online vs. computer? And let games vs. friends aggregate in the online totals? Computer games distort the stats, whereas online and friends are bigger games and similar in format. Also, please add hits at the very least so we have some defensive measure for those guys we're using gladiator for, etc.
2. Can you have the computer teams stats measure up with their actual play? If I have a star studded team with Lemieux at the helm, it is frustrating when the AHL's Bakersfield Condors (Pro difficulty TOTY challenge) defenders can backskate faster than Lemieux coming with a full head of steam. It just doesn't make sense. Top that off with their goalie staning on his head and my Patrick Roy letting in almost every shot. It does cause one to wonder what the point of having good cards is if it isn't the players that determine outcomes/difficulty but rather some secret "difficulty" algorithm.
I want to remind @EA_Blueberry that...well...you asked for it. So...here goes. I'm a very new HUT player (just a couple of weeks) who has come across from FIFA and am enjoying it immensely. Over the last day or so, I've noted a bunch of stuff down whilst playing that I feel could do with a change or be added, and wrote them up during the two hours of "A COMMERCIAL BREAK IS IN PROGRESS" messages that were on my screen while I was watching the Leafs/Sens match on NHL.TV last night.
I've tried to avoid gameplay-specific stuff as I'm not remotely qualified to comment. I don't play online much, so I've not commented on Rivals/Champs.
There is a lot. I'll split it into a couple of posts so it'll fit. Maybe it'll help. Maybe you'll fall asleep. Maybe you'll think "man, this guy is a NERD" but hey, I'm used to that.
Squad Battles Daily Refresh – Lose it. I shouldn’t have to play a PvE game mode in the game I purchased on the game developer's schedule. Either give me all 40 opponents in a big list from the get-go, or follow the FIFA system and allow me to refresh whenever I want, and where I gain points for my first 40 matches only.
Historical Records – Show my P/W/L/OT/SO/GPG/PIM from all previous weeks, and the current week.
Change Format – Maybe make Squad Battles an increasing challenge. Start with 77-rated teams and working your way up, rather than constantly bouncing from low-rated to high-rated and back again every four games. How about 32 games that award points (as you get now) then if you get enough wins, you qualify for a best-of-7 series against the TOTW which would give you a huge extra reward if you win? (Bonus award would depend on difficulty chosen, which would be locked for the series.)
Player Rewards – How about some player rewards to play for in SB? Nothing crazy, but I don’t see any harm in throwing in an SB-exclusive player card or something every now and again for those who get to a certain rank or above. Maybe even different-rated versions depending on where you finish.
Home Games – Wouldn’t mind one or two home games in SB, please. Can’t remember the last time I wasn’t on the road. What was the point in choosing my home arena?
Recalculate Skill Points – Getting 20 shots on goal in three full periods doesn’t require skill. It just requires you to shoot half-accurately from anywhere. Winning by five goals isn’t an indicator of skill on anything other than superstar difficulty, either. It’s an indicator that you’re playing on a difficulty level that’s too easy, or you’re playing against a super-weak team. So why award “skill” points for those things? The ONLY skill calculation should be a combination of the result (W/L/OTW/OTL only, not the number of goals scored), the opponent OVR, your OVR, and the difficulty level.
Squad Battles Streaks – Inspired by the fact I got three shutouts on all-star in a row (which would be rare for me even on Pro, so I am super-proud…shush!) how about streak awards? Could have them for shutouts, wins, clean play, shootouts, high passing percentage, goals, and anything else. Just a few extra points each time with a bit of a “Hey, you did a thing!” notification to liven things up a bit.
Ranks – Base the Squad Battles ranks on the previous week’s scores. The current system is massively frustrating. I get a bunch of points, get to a rank, come back the next day, and I’m a rank lower. I understand why it is the way it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s the way it should be. It’s tough to aim at a moving target.
AI Pressure/Strategy – We keep being told that the wild swings in difficulty in Squad Battles are due to strategy and pressure changes by the AI, and not due to changes in AI player abilities. Fair enough. I just played an 81 OVR side on all-star and was 0-0 at the end of the 1st, 0-6 at the end of the second, and the game finished 3-6. A team that was outshot 11-3 in the 1st period magically outshot me 2-20 and scored SIX GOALS in the 2nd. Then after being that dominant, barely touched the puck in the 3rd, had two shots, and conceded three unanswered goals. If that happens solely due to pressure changes and tactical alterations, show me the pressure changes and tactical alterations on screen. At least then I might be able to work something out other than “I had better rag the puck for 20 minutes until the opponent’s amphetamines wear off.”
Auction House Auction Count – On the price entry screen when putting a player up for auction, show me how many auction spots I have left.
Compare Price – In every single place I get the option to view the Player Info screen, I should have the option to search the auction house for the player. Or at LEAST get a live price comparison.
Increase Trade Pile Size – At the current time, there are less items up for auction in total in NHL 21 than there are on FIFA 17. Yes, I said FIFA SEVENTEEN. I understand that there are many more FIFA players than NHL players, but a lot of this is down to the fact that we only have 25 auction spots available. It certainly shouldn’t be the case that there are packs on sale that provide more items than I can sell at one time. If the trade pile limit was 100, I would have listed up a couple hundred golds in two sets of 100 last week in order to pick up a Fantasy Hockey player. I didn’t bother, because it would have taken hours.
Remember My Search – If I’m searching the auction house and set a bunch of filters and accidentally click back out, I have to set the filters again. Just keep the last search in place. Keep it until I log out of Ultimate Team, in fact. It’s only one button to clear it if that’s what I want to do.
Reset Current Filter – If I want to clear the “League” filter, for example, I have to select the League option, then select “Any” manually. There should be a button I can press to reset JUST the currently selected filter, as well as the button to reset ALL the filters, which already exists.
Multi-Set Synergies – Should be able to search for cards that have Distributor AND Howitzer, without needing to go to a third-party website on my phone.
Live Bid Updates – When I look at a live auction, I should see the live price. If you’re watching the auction as it ends, it doesn’t update properly. It’ll show that you’re the high-bidder and that the auction has ended, even if other bids have been placed and the auction is still live.
Outbid Alerts – If I get outbid and I’m in the game menus, give me an alert that tells me what’s happened, where I can press one button to get to the Active Bids screen.
Price Ranges/OVR Ranges – If I want to search for cards rated 83 or more, I can set the 83 as the low filter, but the game then sets the high filter to 84 automatically, so I have to raise it manually. Don’t do that. I didn’t ask for the game to do that. Same goes for price ranges.
Name Search – Should be able to search for a player by name. Simple as that.
Save Place on Market When Exiting Compare – If I’m on page 6 of the auction search and I hit “Compare Price” on a player and then exit the comparison, I get returned to page 1 of the search. No. Leave me on the page I was on.
Fix the Card Indicator Bugs – The duplicate indicator appears on cards that aren’t duplicates, the untradeable indicator shows up on tradeable cards, and I had to search through 25 auctions last night to find the one trade offer I had, because the trade offer indicator didn’t show up at all.
In Game Penalty Summary – When a penalty is assessed in HUT, the details are never shown in the broadcast package. If I skip the replay and the animation, I have no idea what the call was. After a goal, the goal details show on the score bar. Penalties should be the same.
Live Shot Count – Show the live shot count on the score bar. Most broadcast packages in the real world have this, and the score bar has MORE than enough space to be able to do it without interfering with gameplay.
Remove Goal Text – Talking about the big, rough, PS1-looking “GOAL” that comes up after a goal, here. It’s obvious a goal has been scored. Just get to showing the scorers/assisters already. Just put a flash in the score bar if you absolutely have to announce GOAL when there’s a horn already blaring, a team already celebrating, a crowd already cheering, a lamp flashing, and a commentator shouting "GOAL!"
Blocked Shot Count – If you’re going to set “Block 2 Shots” challenges, at least give me a count of blocked shots in the game stats.
Penalty Scaling – In a challenge with 1-minute periods, if I take a minor halfway through the 2nd, I’m shorthanded until the middle of overtime. That’s nuts. Scale it down so a minor is 30 seconds in a 1-minute period game, or 1 minute in a 2-minute period game.
HUT Rush Remove Option – I’ve never ONCE selected the “Return to Main Menu” option when exiting out of HUT Rush, which I accessed from HUT, because I was playing HUT. Just saying.
In-Play Objectives – If there’s an objective to make five saucer passes, and I make one, show “Saucer Pass (1/5)” in the score area at the top right, as opposed to just “Saucer Pass.”
Menus/General Exclude Backup Keeper from OVR – We all know what the backup keeper is used for. There’s no need to include a player that will NEVER appear on the ice in the Team OVR calculation.
Imperial/Metric Choice – We use feet and inches here in the UK, but the game thinks the whole of Europe uses centimetres. I have no idea how tall 191cm is or if the guy I’m buying is stick-thin or jumbo-fat. I have to change my console's language settings in order to get feet and inches. Surely, it wouldn’t be massively difficult to make it a menu setting in-game?
Card Designs – I LOVE the special card designs. But some of them are very, very hard to index. Every card should have a standardized name/stats/synergies/positions panel. Do what you want in the top section, but I should ALWAYS be able to read a player name in plain text. Take a look at Bergeron’s Lit vs Grit. His name is barely legible. The rating blends. Master Icons have similar issues. Mahovlich’s name is stretched so badly that it’s tough to read, especially when it's written sideways. Deactivated synergies are also very tough to see, sometimes. Remember that not everyone is an eSports Pro sat 3 inches from a 50” screen. Most of us are sat on a couch, 7ft (or more!) away from the screen. Also, remember that not everyone is a super NHL fan or a sports historian, so they might not be able to tell who the player is just by staring hard at the photo.
I wouldn’t be able to pick Mahovlich out of a lineup.
Auto Fill Specific Groups – The auto-fill option is good, but sometimes I just want to recalibrate certain lines. If I could select “Auto-Fill Line 4”, “Auto-Fill 5 on 3 Lines” or “Auto-Fill All Powerplay” for example, that would be cool. Also, “Auto-Fill (Untradeable Only)” would be nice.
Show Card Previews – If a set rewards a player card, I should be able to SEE that card and get to the player info screen from the set screen. I shouldn’t have to go and search the collection manually.
Show All Player Cards – From the player info screen, it would be cool if I could see ALL versions of that player that are available. So, on the info screen for Mitch Marner’s base card, I could see that he also has a TOTW and quickly view the info for THAT card if I want to.
Collectible Upgrade Sets – Why put the Player-to-Gold-Collectible, Player-to-Icon-Collectible, Icon-to-Gold-Collectible and Gold-to-Icon-Collectible sets in new groups every time a new bunch of sets launch? Just put them in the Upgrade Sets group and keep them there for the duration of the game.
Hide Tips Sets Group – Everybody completed the Tips set within the first ten minutes of playing the game. Why not hide them when they become useless?
Icon Coaches – There are icon players, so why not icon coaches? Give me a Scotty Bowman with two or three team synergies, already.
Optional Helmets – If I can customise my goaltender’s mask, why can’t I choose to cover up Sittler’s long-or-short-depending-on-the-camera-angle moptop? I like a bit of old-time hockey, but putting a helmetless Morenz against Brent Burns is just mean. Especially when Morenz is 118 years old.
Monthly Collectibles – Why do some monthly collectibles get awarded as packs, and others just as cards in the inbox? Put them all in the inbox. Opening packs that just contain a single collectible is busywork.
Low Icons – There is absolutely nothing to do with low-level icons like 74 Tyler Weiman. I can use the gold-level ones in rerolls, but surely there could be something better? How’s about an icon-specific re-roll, where you’ve got a small chance of getting a Master Icon? Or a guaranteed TOTW or Primetime roll?
MSP Reroll – Sometimes, you’re gonna get a dupe from the icon sets. Seems rough to throw them into a bronze reroll for a mini pack, if I’m honest. How about throwing two 84s in for a fresh 84 pick or something? Or an MSP-to-collectible set?
Old Collectibles Reroll – My club has Winter National collectibles and a couple of December monthly collectibles in it. I'm sure people who have been playing longer have a bunch more than I do just sitting there. Fire up a mixed-bag reroll where I can throw in ANY collectible (barring gold or icon) and get a pack or two.
Rush in Dailies – Take Rush games out of daily objectives. Most folks are going to complete the HUT Rush rewards early in the week. Then they’re having to play extra games at the end of the week that give them absolutely nothing (not even coins) just to round out the daily objectives to get the Monthly Collectible.
Clarify Fantasy Hockey Cards – I LOVE the Fantasy Hockey concept, but it’s messy. We’ve got Fantasy Hockey cards that upgrade when they score a goal, goaltenders that upgrade when they get a win, youth players listed as Fantasy Hockey cards that now can’t get an upgrade (because the tournament is over!) and cards with different designs that are also called Fantasy Hockey, that can only be upgraded in sets and don't upgrade based on real-world performance. Just add a line of text to the Player Info screen that gives the upgrade criteria. It would help new players (like me!)
Upgrade Icon – Following the above, add a special “upgrade” icon or strip to every single card that can potentially be upgraded. TOTY, Fantasy Hockey…doesn’t matter. If it upgrades, it gets the icon.
New Cards Preview – I can see the various new cards added to the game each day/week from the main hub, but it would be cool if I could see them in more detail without having to dig through the Collection screen. FIFA has a TOTW screen that shows the full TOTW, and you can click on each card to view the various stats. Would be nice if NHL had similar, but for all TOTWs and even the daily Primetimes.
Add Other League Sets – Minor league and European league cards are largely useless. Bronze and silver cards are useless (apart from a handful of goaltenders who can be used for backup.) Why not throw in some sort of Team Building-style league set, where you trade in say 50 ECHL players and get a nice pack and a choice of four or five heavily-boosted ECHL players? Team-per-team would be annoying – as it is with smaller or less-popular leagues in FIFA - but just “any 50 ECHL players” or something would work, I think.
Full NHL Set – Trade in ALL of the Team Building reward cards and get a selection of four or five exclusive and super-boosted NHL players. That Darcy Tucker isn't going to do much for anybody in February so again, his only use will be to throw him into the Guaranteed 75 and 80 reroll. Sorry, I mean the "Premium Two Gold Players Pack" reroll.
Selection Loop Around – This is the smallest thing ever, but if there is a list of something that I can scroll through, I should ALWAYS be able to loop around by moving past the last option. Look at the Team Building Sets section as an example. If I wanna look at the Jets set and then look at the Ducks set, I have to scroll all the way along, then all the way back. It’s a pretty basic UX issue.
Localised Times – Game currently shows expiry time for things in PT. I’m in the UK. I can’t imagine It would be that hard to show local times based on the system timezone.
Remove Number Change Cards – Seriously, now. This whole system is just nonsense busywork and pack-filler. The only person who doesn’t think so is the person who was tasked with coming up with something to fill out packs at the last minute.
Make Captaincy Mean Something – What’s the point in assigning a captaincy, other than to get the C on the jersey? The captain should be the key to the synergy of a team, so why not just double the synergy of the assigned captain? Sure, it would mean a player with 2x Distributor would get 4x Distributor, but so what? Just adds value and more team-building options.
Challenges – The default set of challenges are pretty lazy fare. The hardest challenge in the game (seemingly) is to beat the Avs on Superstar whilst scoring four times and getting a shutout. Gives 2,850 paltry coins. EVERY one of those 8,093,829 cookie-cutter challenges gives just coins. Why not throw a GOOD pack or two in for getting three stars in the entire “Skills Challenge” top set on each skill level?
Simplify Events – The current NHL 2030 event is a great example of how contrived it has all become. I can get 86-rated cards from sets, 88-rated versions of the same cards from crazy expensive sets, some different cards in packs (as far as I know), and 75-rated cards from challenges, that I can convert into 92-rated cards in sets if I have a trillion coins worth of collectibles available. But I can also upgrade those 92-rated cards to 93-rated cards using collectibles I earned from challenges and another quarter of a billion coins of non-event collectibles. Or I can get a loan player, but that stops me from getting more than one 93-rated player even if I’m collectible-rich, because I won’t have enough event collectibles left. Most of the sets are untradeable, but one isn’t. And more players are apparently coming next week, but I don’t know what they are or if we’ll get more challenges or sets, or if they’ll just be in packs.
My brain hurts. It doesn’t need to be this way.
Score 16 Goals in 3 Minutes on Rookie in Challenges – Stop this. Stop this now. Not in NHL 22. Now. It’s easy, but that doesn’t mean that it’s fun.
Last one. Congratulations if you made it this far.
Packs/Store Remaining Pack Limit – If I can only open two of a specific pack in the store in 24 hours, show me IN THE STORE that I can only buy two. If I’ve bought both of them, show me how long until I can open another. It makes no sense that you can show cooldowns on sets, but not on the thing that makes you money.
Red Pack Blues – Get rid of the crappy “red” pack that comes with each event. Nobody wants it. It has nonsense content that is absolutely atrocious value. We all know that packs are usually not great value, but this one is almost offensive.
Pack Odds and Contents – Been playing for three weeks and I still don’t know what is available in each pack. Seriously. Can I get an MSP from a Jumbo Elite pack? I wouldn’t know it, because you don’t show the odds of pulling an MSP from that pack. Yet on some packs, you show me the chance of packing an MSP as well as an “Icon” card (like that 74 Tyler Weiman) when nobody would even remotely care about the latter. Be consistent. Be informative. Tell me what my chances of packing every type of player card that are available in the pack are. If you don't want to show the odds, at least show a list that says "You can get this, this, this, this, and this type of card from this pack."
Absolute Fantasy Arena Customiser – Similar to what has been introduced in FIFA. Everybody gets a blank, generic arena, and they can change things such as seating colour, logos on the ice, board glass tints, goal horns, bench colours, goalpost colours, scoreboards, and the like. People would still be able to use their favourite real-world arena if they wished, of course.
The key to this being of any use would be if you then let me play a squad battles match at my home arena.
Fantasy Kits and Logos – We’ve got the choice of hundreds of jerseys and logos, but how about some fantasy ones? Again, similar to FIFA. I can choose “The Cool Cats” as my commentary name, but then I have to use a real-world jersey and logo. I just think that it would go some way to making my Ultimate Team into MY Ultimate Team and not just "me in charge of some players that don't play for the Leafs now playing for the Leafs."
Thank you for coming to the world's most boring TED Talk.
(I hadn't tried Franchise mode when I wrote the last two. I have now. Put the franchise arena creator and jersey editor into HUT. Just exactly as it is would be perfect, because you've done a great job on those two things!)
> @EA_Aljo said: > > Thanks for all the feedback. It's very much appreciated!
The one thing I wish for and alot of other players is a NON-AFK System. You have already implemented this in FIFA, HOW Have you not done this for NHL 19/20/21?
Its frustrating to spend an HOUR on one game cause of players prolonging the game with penalties and then going afk, over and over again. Please fix an AFK-system for the next game. I beg of you. This would make the game soooooo much better.
I would recommend for nhl22 having a search engine to look up players when making a trade through player movement. 3 years ago, at least the players were alphabetically ordered, now it takes us an eternity to find a player through free agents since they are filed from their overall level and not alphabetically. Same thing for created players, I have over 300 players created, if the first name starts with a Z and I want to assign him to a team, I have to scroll down for 2 minutes until I find the player I created......tedious.
I would like to have sets for customization items (goalie masks, jersey #, celebrations) as well as for coaches so I can trade them for something I want instead of just piling them up.
Stats please! I miss the "blocked shots" in the in-game stats menu. I would also like to have team and player stats with the ability to filter on online only, as well as SB etc. Furthermore I would also like to have an aggregated stat view for online opponents so I can follow up on how it goes over the season.
Make it seamless. No more confirming multiple times to play a game. It should only pop with lineup/strat then go stright into the game you selected.
Definately add more arenas not just nhl. And option fir more out door ones would be awesome.
Possibly make a rarity system for them and jerseys ?
I would like goalies helmets looked into for non nhl some are missing currently however still in the game just not in hut.
Rush should be a weekly event and never 2 weeks. It helps break up the end if the week or beginning when you maybe burn out from sb or rivals
Leader boards would be awesome! This way top tier players can see and compete against one another.
A thought would be in rivals to prevent tier dropping add a max of 1 tier drop per week. This way it should prevent one complaints I have heard through the multiple groups I am in.
Champs well this one it hard. I had people ask me why top tiered people are able to just whoop them. Qell that is about all I am gonna say to it. It happens it is Champs because you make it to point maker doesn't mean you'll win a game.
Are we able to look into the meta players? Change that up a bit so that smaller players can be more useful abd so that the low end meta cannot destroy a high end small player group like it currently can now?
Remove the god forsaken replays. Please God remove them. Or if a player any player hit a button it is skipped. Absolutely no possible way I want this put into the new game wheb it comes to hut. They can view there games all they want on there own time not mine. I don't makes them watch mine I expect to be able to skip there's.
nhl 21hut addicted here. the game play is perfect,many ways to score,deking has not much of an impact(i hate to deke),learning to defend cross crease is a huge difference in liking this year game i guess, strategies seem to make a difference,the opponent should be aware to defend cross crease or cheap goal at the same time,the speed on the ice make a difference ,etc. back from july 2020 after maybe 15 years hiatus; my biggest wish is bring back this year gameplay to nhl22(keep for ps4 too) and just repair and fix bugs,glitch and improve and add few thing.this year the game fit for any kind of play style
Last one. Congratulations if you made it this far.
Packs/Store Remaining Pack Limit – If I can only open two of a specific pack in the store in 24 hours, show me IN THE STORE that I can only buy two. If I’ve bought both of them, show me how long until I can open another. It makes no sense that you can show cooldowns on sets, but not on the thing that makes you money.
Red Pack Blues – Get rid of the crappy “red” pack that comes with each event. Nobody wants it. It has nonsense content that is absolutely atrocious value. We all know that packs are usually not great value, but this one is almost offensive.
Pack Odds and Contents – Been playing for three weeks and I still don’t know what is available in each pack. Seriously. Can I get an MSP from a Jumbo Elite pack? I wouldn’t know it, because you don’t show the odds of pulling an MSP from that pack. Yet on some packs, you show me the chance of packing an MSP as well as an “Icon” card (like that 74 Tyler Weiman) when nobody would even remotely care about the latter. Be consistent. Be informative. Tell me what my chances of packing every type of player card that are available in the pack are. If you don't want to show the odds, at least show a list that says "You can get this, this, this, this, and this type of card from this pack."
Absolute Fantasy Arena Customiser – Similar to what has been introduced in FIFA. Everybody gets a blank, generic arena, and they can change things such as seating colour, logos on the ice, board glass tints, goal horns, bench colours, goalpost colours, scoreboards, and the like. People would still be able to use their favourite real-world arena if they wished, of course.
The key to this being of any use would be if you then let me play a squad battles match at my home arena.
Fantasy Kits and Logos – We’ve got the choice of hundreds of jerseys and logos, but how about some fantasy ones? Again, similar to FIFA. I can choose “The Cool Cats” as my commentary name, but then I have to use a real-world jersey and logo. I just think that it would go some way to making my Ultimate Team into MY Ultimate Team and not just "me in charge of some players that don't play for the Leafs now playing for the Leafs."
Thank you for coming to the world's most boring TED Talk.
(I hadn't tried Franchise mode when I wrote the last two. I have now. Put the franchise arena creator and jersey editor into HUT. Just exactly as it is would be perfect, because you've done a great job on those two things!)
I just want to address the red pack or low end one. I do enjoy those for reasons of building up collectibles. If anything just lower the cost of them and double the rewards when you can exchange for them. The odds of getting a collectible or master player are so low that it should be doable with also giving players hope. Most likely it will earn you a few more dollars from in game purchases and recycle in game currency a lot faster.
Oh and when I say I use it for collectibles I mean gold players. I never expect to pull a collectible because the odds seem to be reduced this years compared to last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6eCwE8oCIE
Replies
The main request is regarding stats for HUT games and how difficulty is determined..
1. Ideally:
Within the player stats in MyTeam are, could you add maybe an R2 option (similar to the L2 option for skaters, defense, etc.
Could there be hopefully 3 options for stats (Online, computer, friends)?
That way we can see how our players are doing against the computer (minor leagues) vs. against human competition?
If we have friends as separate stats, we can at least have a league of sorts with friends which makes up for connected GM being taken out.
If no friends, can we at least have online vs. computer? And let games vs. friends aggregate in the online totals? Computer games distort the stats, whereas online and friends are bigger games and similar in format.
Also, please add hits at the very least so we have some defensive measure for those guys we're using gladiator for, etc.
2. Can you have the computer teams stats measure up with their actual play? If I have a star studded team with Lemieux at the helm, it is frustrating when the AHL's Bakersfield Condors (Pro difficulty TOTY challenge) defenders can backskate faster than Lemieux coming with a full head of steam. It just doesn't make sense. Top that off with their goalie staning on his head and my Patrick Roy letting in almost every shot. It does cause one to wonder what the point of having good cards is if it isn't the players that determine outcomes/difficulty but rather some secret "difficulty" algorithm.
I've tried to avoid gameplay-specific stuff as I'm not remotely qualified to comment. I don't play online much, so I've not commented on Rivals/Champs.
There is a lot. I'll split it into a couple of posts so it'll fit. Maybe it'll help. Maybe you'll fall asleep. Maybe you'll think "man, this guy is a NERD" but hey, I'm used to that.
Squad Battles
Daily Refresh – Lose it. I shouldn’t have to play a PvE game mode in the game I purchased on the game developer's schedule. Either give me all 40 opponents in a big list from the get-go, or follow the FIFA system and allow me to refresh whenever I want, and where I gain points for my first 40 matches only.
Historical Records – Show my P/W/L/OT/SO/GPG/PIM from all previous weeks, and the current week.
Change Format – Maybe make Squad Battles an increasing challenge. Start with 77-rated teams and working your way up, rather than constantly bouncing from low-rated to high-rated and back again every four games. How about 32 games that award points (as you get now) then if you get enough wins, you qualify for a best-of-7 series against the TOTW which would give you a huge extra reward if you win? (Bonus award would depend on difficulty chosen, which would be locked for the series.)
Player Rewards – How about some player rewards to play for in SB? Nothing crazy, but I don’t see any harm in throwing in an SB-exclusive player card or something every now and again for those who get to a certain rank or above. Maybe even different-rated versions depending on where you finish.
Home Games – Wouldn’t mind one or two home games in SB, please. Can’t remember the last time I wasn’t on the road. What was the point in choosing my home arena?
Recalculate Skill Points – Getting 20 shots on goal in three full periods doesn’t require skill. It just requires you to shoot half-accurately from anywhere. Winning by five goals isn’t an indicator of skill on anything other than superstar difficulty, either. It’s an indicator that you’re playing on a difficulty level that’s too easy, or you’re playing against a super-weak team. So why award “skill” points for those things? The ONLY skill calculation should be a combination of the result (W/L/OTW/OTL only, not the number of goals scored), the opponent OVR, your OVR, and the difficulty level.
Squad Battles Streaks – Inspired by the fact I got three shutouts on all-star in a row (which would be rare for me even on Pro, so I am super-proud…shush!) how about streak awards? Could have them for shutouts, wins, clean play, shootouts, high passing percentage, goals, and anything else. Just a few extra points each time with a bit of a “Hey, you did a thing!” notification to liven things up a bit.
Ranks – Base the Squad Battles ranks on the previous week’s scores. The current system is massively frustrating. I get a bunch of points, get to a rank, come back the next day, and I’m a rank lower. I understand why it is the way it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s the way it should be. It’s tough to aim at a moving target.
AI Pressure/Strategy – We keep being told that the wild swings in difficulty in Squad Battles are due to strategy and pressure changes by the AI, and not due to changes in AI player abilities. Fair enough. I just played an 81 OVR side on all-star and was 0-0 at the end of the 1st, 0-6 at the end of the second, and the game finished 3-6. A team that was outshot 11-3 in the 1st period magically outshot me 2-20 and scored SIX GOALS in the 2nd. Then after being that dominant, barely touched the puck in the 3rd, had two shots, and conceded three unanswered goals. If that happens solely due to pressure changes and tactical alterations, show me the pressure changes and tactical alterations on screen. At least then I might be able to work something out other than “I had better rag the puck for 20 minutes until the opponent’s amphetamines wear off.”
Auction Count – On the price entry screen when putting a player up for auction, show me how many auction spots I have left.
Compare Price – In every single place I get the option to view the Player Info screen, I should have the option to search the auction house for the player. Or at LEAST get a live price comparison.
Increase Trade Pile Size – At the current time, there are less items up for auction in total in NHL 21 than there are on FIFA 17. Yes, I said FIFA SEVENTEEN. I understand that there are many more FIFA players than NHL players, but a lot of this is down to the fact that we only have 25 auction spots available. It certainly shouldn’t be the case that there are packs on sale that provide more items than I can sell at one time. If the trade pile limit was 100, I would have listed up a couple hundred golds in two sets of 100 last week in order to pick up a Fantasy Hockey player. I didn’t bother, because it would have taken hours.
Remember My Search – If I’m searching the auction house and set a bunch of filters and accidentally click back out, I have to set the filters again. Just keep the last search in place. Keep it until I log out of Ultimate Team, in fact. It’s only one button to clear it if that’s what I want to do.
Reset Current Filter – If I want to clear the “League” filter, for example, I have to select the League option, then select “Any” manually. There should be a button I can press to reset JUST the currently selected filter, as well as the button to reset ALL the filters, which already exists.
Multi-Set Synergies – Should be able to search for cards that have Distributor AND Howitzer, without needing to go to a third-party website on my phone.
Live Bid Updates – When I look at a live auction, I should see the live price. If you’re watching the auction as it ends, it doesn’t update properly. It’ll show that you’re the high-bidder and that the auction has ended, even if other bids have been placed and the auction is still live.
Outbid Alerts – If I get outbid and I’m in the game menus, give me an alert that tells me what’s happened, where I can press one button to get to the Active Bids screen.
Price Ranges/OVR Ranges – If I want to search for cards rated 83 or more, I can set the 83 as the low filter, but the game then sets the high filter to 84 automatically, so I have to raise it manually. Don’t do that. I didn’t ask for the game to do that. Same goes for price ranges.
Name Search – Should be able to search for a player by name. Simple as that.
Save Place on Market When Exiting Compare – If I’m on page 6 of the auction search and I hit “Compare Price” on a player and then exit the comparison, I get returned to page 1 of the search. No. Leave me on the page I was on.
Fix the Card Indicator Bugs – The duplicate indicator appears on cards that aren’t duplicates, the untradeable indicator shows up on tradeable cards, and I had to search through 25 auctions last night to find the one trade offer I had, because the trade offer indicator didn’t show up at all.
Penalty Summary – When a penalty is assessed in HUT, the details are never shown in the broadcast package. If I skip the replay and the animation, I have no idea what the call was. After a goal, the goal details show on the score bar. Penalties should be the same.
Live Shot Count – Show the live shot count on the score bar. Most broadcast packages in the real world have this, and the score bar has MORE than enough space to be able to do it without interfering with gameplay.
Remove Goal Text – Talking about the big, rough, PS1-looking “GOAL” that comes up after a goal, here. It’s obvious a goal has been scored. Just get to showing the scorers/assisters already. Just put a flash in the score bar if you absolutely have to announce GOAL when there’s a horn already blaring, a team already celebrating, a crowd already cheering, a lamp flashing, and a commentator shouting "GOAL!"
Blocked Shot Count – If you’re going to set “Block 2 Shots” challenges, at least give me a count of blocked shots in the game stats.
Penalty Scaling – In a challenge with 1-minute periods, if I take a minor halfway through the 2nd, I’m shorthanded until the middle of overtime. That’s nuts. Scale it down so a minor is 30 seconds in a 1-minute period game, or 1 minute in a 2-minute period game.
HUT Rush
Remove Option – I’ve never ONCE selected the “Return to Main Menu” option when exiting out of HUT Rush, which I accessed from HUT, because I was playing HUT. Just saying.
In-Play Objectives – If there’s an objective to make five saucer passes, and I make one, show “Saucer Pass (1/5)” in the score area at the top right, as opposed to just “Saucer Pass.”
Exclude Backup Keeper from OVR – We all know what the backup keeper is used for. There’s no need to include a player that will NEVER appear on the ice in the Team OVR calculation.
Imperial/Metric Choice – We use feet and inches here in the UK, but the game thinks the whole of Europe uses centimetres. I have no idea how tall 191cm is or if the guy I’m buying is stick-thin or jumbo-fat. I have to change my console's language settings in order to get feet and inches. Surely, it wouldn’t be massively difficult to make it a menu setting in-game?
Card Designs – I LOVE the special card designs. But some of them are very, very hard to index. Every card should have a standardized name/stats/synergies/positions panel. Do what you want in the top section, but I should ALWAYS be able to read a player name in plain text. Take a look at Bergeron’s Lit vs Grit. His name is barely legible. The rating blends. Master Icons have similar issues. Mahovlich’s name is stretched so badly that it’s tough to read, especially when it's written sideways. Deactivated synergies are also very tough to see, sometimes. Remember that not everyone is an eSports Pro sat 3 inches from a 50” screen. Most of us are sat on a couch, 7ft (or more!) away from the screen. Also, remember that not everyone is a super NHL fan or a sports historian, so they might not be able to tell who the player is just by staring hard at the photo.
I wouldn’t be able to pick Mahovlich out of a lineup.
Auto Fill Specific Groups – The auto-fill option is good, but sometimes I just want to recalibrate certain lines. If I could select “Auto-Fill Line 4”, “Auto-Fill 5 on 3 Lines” or “Auto-Fill All Powerplay” for example, that would be cool. Also, “Auto-Fill (Untradeable Only)” would be nice.
Show Card Previews – If a set rewards a player card, I should be able to SEE that card and get to the player info screen from the set screen. I shouldn’t have to go and search the collection manually.
Show All Player Cards – From the player info screen, it would be cool if I could see ALL versions of that player that are available. So, on the info screen for Mitch Marner’s base card, I could see that he also has a TOTW and quickly view the info for THAT card if I want to.
Collectible Upgrade Sets – Why put the Player-to-Gold-Collectible, Player-to-Icon-Collectible, Icon-to-Gold-Collectible and Gold-to-Icon-Collectible sets in new groups every time a new bunch of sets launch? Just put them in the Upgrade Sets group and keep them there for the duration of the game.
Hide Tips Sets Group – Everybody completed the Tips set within the first ten minutes of playing the game. Why not hide them when they become useless?
Icon Coaches – There are icon players, so why not icon coaches? Give me a Scotty Bowman with two or three team synergies, already.
Optional Helmets – If I can customise my goaltender’s mask, why can’t I choose to cover up Sittler’s long-or-short-depending-on-the-camera-angle moptop? I like a bit of old-time hockey, but putting a helmetless Morenz against Brent Burns is just mean. Especially when Morenz is 118 years old.
Monthly Collectibles – Why do some monthly collectibles get awarded as packs, and others just as cards in the inbox? Put them all in the inbox. Opening packs that just contain a single collectible is busywork.
Low Icons – There is absolutely nothing to do with low-level icons like 74 Tyler Weiman. I can use the gold-level ones in rerolls, but surely there could be something better? How’s about an icon-specific re-roll, where you’ve got a small chance of getting a Master Icon? Or a guaranteed TOTW or Primetime roll?
MSP Reroll – Sometimes, you’re gonna get a dupe from the icon sets. Seems rough to throw them into a bronze reroll for a mini pack, if I’m honest. How about throwing two 84s in for a fresh 84 pick or something? Or an MSP-to-collectible set?
Old Collectibles Reroll – My club has Winter National collectibles and a couple of December monthly collectibles in it. I'm sure people who have been playing longer have a bunch more than I do just sitting there. Fire up a mixed-bag reroll where I can throw in ANY collectible (barring gold or icon) and get a pack or two.
Rush in Dailies – Take Rush games out of daily objectives. Most folks are going to complete the HUT Rush rewards early in the week. Then they’re having to play extra games at the end of the week that give them absolutely nothing (not even coins) just to round out the daily objectives to get the Monthly Collectible.
Clarify Fantasy Hockey Cards – I LOVE the Fantasy Hockey concept, but it’s messy. We’ve got Fantasy Hockey cards that upgrade when they score a goal, goaltenders that upgrade when they get a win, youth players listed as Fantasy Hockey cards that now can’t get an upgrade (because the tournament is over!) and cards with different designs that are also called Fantasy Hockey, that can only be upgraded in sets and don't upgrade based on real-world performance. Just add a line of text to the Player Info screen that gives the upgrade criteria. It would help new players (like me!)
Upgrade Icon – Following the above, add a special “upgrade” icon or strip to every single card that can potentially be upgraded. TOTY, Fantasy Hockey…doesn’t matter. If it upgrades, it gets the icon.
New Cards Preview – I can see the various new cards added to the game each day/week from the main hub, but it would be cool if I could see them in more detail without having to dig through the Collection screen. FIFA has a TOTW screen that shows the full TOTW, and you can click on each card to view the various stats. Would be nice if NHL had similar, but for all TOTWs and even the daily Primetimes.
Add Other League Sets – Minor league and European league cards are largely useless. Bronze and silver cards are useless (apart from a handful of goaltenders who can be used for backup.) Why not throw in some sort of Team Building-style league set, where you trade in say 50 ECHL players and get a nice pack and a choice of four or five heavily-boosted ECHL players? Team-per-team would be annoying – as it is with smaller or less-popular leagues in FIFA - but just “any 50 ECHL players” or something would work, I think.
Full NHL Set – Trade in ALL of the Team Building reward cards and get a selection of four or five exclusive and super-boosted NHL players. That Darcy Tucker isn't going to do much for anybody in February so again, his only use will be to throw him into the Guaranteed 75 and 80 reroll. Sorry, I mean the "Premium Two Gold Players Pack" reroll.
Selection Loop Around – This is the smallest thing ever, but if there is a list of something that I can scroll through, I should ALWAYS be able to loop around by moving past the last option. Look at the Team Building Sets section as an example. If I wanna look at the Jets set and then look at the Ducks set, I have to scroll all the way along, then all the way back. It’s a pretty basic UX issue.
Localised Times – Game currently shows expiry time for things in PT. I’m in the UK. I can’t imagine It would be that hard to show local times based on the system timezone.
Remove Number Change Cards – Seriously, now. This whole system is just nonsense busywork and pack-filler. The only person who doesn’t think so is the person who was tasked with coming up with something to fill out packs at the last minute.
Make Captaincy Mean Something – What’s the point in assigning a captaincy, other than to get the C on the jersey? The captain should be the key to the synergy of a team, so why not just double the synergy of the assigned captain? Sure, it would mean a player with 2x Distributor would get 4x Distributor, but so what? Just adds value and more team-building options.
Challenges – The default set of challenges are pretty lazy fare. The hardest challenge in the game (seemingly) is to beat the Avs on Superstar whilst scoring four times and getting a shutout. Gives 2,850 paltry coins. EVERY one of those 8,093,829 cookie-cutter challenges gives just coins. Why not throw a GOOD pack or two in for getting three stars in the entire “Skills Challenge” top set on each skill level?
Simplify Events – The current NHL 2030 event is a great example of how contrived it has all become. I can get 86-rated cards from sets, 88-rated versions of the same cards from crazy expensive sets, some different cards in packs (as far as I know), and 75-rated cards from challenges, that I can convert into 92-rated cards in sets if I have a trillion coins worth of collectibles available. But I can also upgrade those 92-rated cards to 93-rated cards using collectibles I earned from challenges and another quarter of a billion coins of non-event collectibles. Or I can get a loan player, but that stops me from getting more than one 93-rated player even if I’m collectible-rich, because I won’t have enough event collectibles left. Most of the sets are untradeable, but one isn’t. And more players are apparently coming next week, but I don’t know what they are or if we’ll get more challenges or sets, or if they’ll just be in packs.
My brain hurts. It doesn’t need to be this way.
Score 16 Goals in 3 Minutes on Rookie in Challenges – Stop this. Stop this now. Not in NHL 22. Now. It’s easy, but that doesn’t mean that it’s fun.
Packs/Store
Remaining Pack Limit – If I can only open two of a specific pack in the store in 24 hours, show me IN THE STORE that I can only buy two. If I’ve bought both of them, show me how long until I can open another. It makes no sense that you can show cooldowns on sets, but not on the thing that makes you money.
Red Pack Blues – Get rid of the crappy “red” pack that comes with each event. Nobody wants it. It has nonsense content that is absolutely atrocious value. We all know that packs are usually not great value, but this one is almost offensive.
Pack Odds and Contents – Been playing for three weeks and I still don’t know what is available in each pack. Seriously. Can I get an MSP from a Jumbo Elite pack? I wouldn’t know it, because you don’t show the odds of pulling an MSP from that pack. Yet on some packs, you show me the chance of packing an MSP as well as an “Icon” card (like that 74 Tyler Weiman) when nobody would even remotely care about the latter. Be consistent. Be informative. Tell me what my chances of packing every type of player card that are available in the pack are. If you don't want to show the odds, at least show a list that says "You can get this, this, this, this, and this type of card from this pack."
Absolute Fantasy
Arena Customiser – Similar to what has been introduced in FIFA. Everybody gets a blank, generic arena, and they can change things such as seating colour, logos on the ice, board glass tints, goal horns, bench colours, goalpost colours, scoreboards, and the like. People would still be able to use their favourite real-world arena if they wished, of course.
The key to this being of any use would be if you then let me play a squad battles match at my home arena.
Fantasy Kits and Logos – We’ve got the choice of hundreds of jerseys and logos, but how about some fantasy ones? Again, similar to FIFA. I can choose “The Cool Cats” as my commentary name, but then I have to use a real-world jersey and logo. I just think that it would go some way to making my Ultimate Team into MY Ultimate Team and not just "me in charge of some players that don't play for the Leafs now playing for the Leafs."
Thank you for coming to the world's most boring TED Talk.
(I hadn't tried Franchise mode when I wrote the last two. I have now. Put the franchise arena creator and jersey editor into HUT. Just exactly as it is would be perfect, because you've done a great job on those two things!)
Great feedback, you really took your time. 😁👏
Thanks! I hope they at least read it
Thanks for all the feedback. It's very much appreciated!
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> Thanks for all the feedback. It's very much appreciated!
The one thing I wish for and alot of other players is a NON-AFK System. You have already implemented this in FIFA, HOW Have you not done this for NHL 19/20/21?
Its frustrating to spend an HOUR on one game cause of players prolonging the game with penalties and then going afk, over and over again. Please fix an AFK-system for the next game. I beg of you. This would make the game soooooo much better.
Thanks in advance.
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Stats please! I miss the "blocked shots" in the in-game stats menu. I would also like to have team and player stats with the ability to filter on online only, as well as SB etc. Furthermore I would also like to have an aggregated stat view for online opponents so I can follow up on how it goes over the season.
Definately add more arenas not just nhl. And option fir more out door ones would be awesome.
Possibly make a rarity system for them and jerseys ?
I would like goalies helmets looked into for non nhl some are missing currently however still in the game just not in hut.
Rush should be a weekly event and never 2 weeks. It helps break up the end if the week or beginning when you maybe burn out from sb or rivals
Leader boards would be awesome! This way top tier players can see and compete against one another.
A thought would be in rivals to prevent tier dropping add a max of 1 tier drop per week. This way it should prevent one complaints I have heard through the multiple groups I am in.
Champs well this one it hard. I had people ask me why top tiered people are able to just whoop them. Qell that is about all I am gonna say to it. It happens it is Champs because you make it to point maker doesn't mean you'll win a game.
Are we able to look into the meta players? Change that up a bit so that smaller players can be more useful abd so that the low end meta cannot destroy a high end small player group like it currently can now?
I just want to address the red pack or low end one. I do enjoy those for reasons of building up collectibles. If anything just lower the cost of them and double the rewards when you can exchange for them. The odds of getting a collectible or master player are so low that it should be doable with also giving players hope. Most likely it will earn you a few more dollars from in game purchases and recycle in game currency a lot faster.
Oh and when I say I use it for collectibles I mean gold players. I never expect to pull a collectible because the odds seem to be reduced this years compared to last year.