Constructive approach
From what I gather it seems like being upset with this game is not enough. Coming here to vent doesnt really do anything. In order for us to make a positive change we need to not only talk about the issues but explain in great detail why we dont like them and explain what can be done.
So here we go. My attempt to be constructive. Please add in your thoughts in this format. Constructive and detailed thoughts-issues please. Lets get their attention.
Menus
- The menus are slow laggy and unresponsive. Some menus have a different layout than others. For example the edit lines menu (in rosters) is in a grid style format while in edit player you can use L2 to cycle. When you edit lines and return to its parent menu it does not save your place and you must cycle through all the teams again to return to where you were. This is only one example of the annoyance. Another example is when you know it takes 3 clicks to get to where you are going and you do that but it only registers 2 clicks because of the lag and you hit X expecting to enter the menu you thought and go somewhere else. You then have to backtrack and wait an extra few seconds for it to register your input.
- From what I have found there are a lot of web based elements in the menu design. This means the menu information is accessed via the server? It is odd though because even offline the menus are slow.
Potential fixes:
1. Consolidate menus in the same format.
2. Streamline the design and get rid of the times it takes too many clicks to get to where you want to go. Simplify.
3. Eliminate the need for these menus to have any online requirements. They should be predesigned and saved onto our consoles. No need to save disc space in 2020.
Be A Pro
- No CHL season or ability to play in the AHL. You are given captaincy without earning it or being a veteran. Conversation system-in game system is not contextually sound. Very little guidance on how to be a hockey player. Your coach doesnt tell you that you need to work on your cycle or that you need to be trailing the play on a 3 on 1 or you need to cover your pointman tighter.
Potential fixes:
1. First EA needs to bring back juniors and AHL play. Very few rookies are going to crack the roster in their first year. It would also be nice to be able to improve-decrease your draft stock by playing in juniors for a season or 2.
2. You dont become captain unless you became the best player on your team and you have some leadership qualities. Taking it from Shea Weber is not acceptable. In that circumstance maybe become an Alternate?
3. I am less worried about the off ice stuff and more concerned that in game or coaching conversations have nothing to do with being a better and more sound player. Add in things like hockey strategy and position. Common sense topics that encourage people to play the game right rather than just scoring goals.
EASHL
- The current playoff format is a waste of time unless you can play for 40 hours a week. It took away the win or go home excitement that regular playoffs brings.
- Not having the ability to edit any attributes or see them get better-worse via your own play makes this mode feel useless anymore. I have a hard time believing that people are grinding for goal horn elements. If this is supposed to be a RP mode then why cant we have more of a say in who we are as players? I think alot of people probably play this to have fun with their friends not because the mode is engaging.
- Hockey bags take forever to open if you have not kept up with it.
- Current ranking system is kind of dumb. You can be 92-94 and be higher than a team who is 90-22. Divisions is still cool but perhaps change it up in some way?
- No free agent system or club recruitment. Would make it hard for new players to find a club who do not have friends playing.
- You can be a D1 club and delete your club and remake one so you can beat up on D10 players.
- Online connections are not good. In comparison to other games I play this one is the worst.
- Banners are gone.
- Quitting is done a lot and without penalty.
- Would be nice to roll lines and accommodate bigger clubs or be able to swap loadouts-builds in game to counter different strategies.
Potential fixes
1. Bring back regular playoffs and banner collections.
2. Penalize people for quitting. Start assessing time based penalties (bans) to those who do this a lot.
3. Streamline the hockey bags concept to allow for mass opening.
4. Bring back lobbies so players can network.
5. Allow us to roll lines.
6. Bring back better customization when it comes to our builds. It makes no sense to apply an athletic trait to see our awareness go down simultaneously?
Franchise
- Record book is bugged. Hopefully this upcoming patch fixes that.
- Currently potential is bugged to have young players get worse in terms of natural progression.
- Editing players has been removed from what it once was.
- The chemistry and coaching system stuff is bugged out.
- When you go to withhold salary the opposing team has figures that do not make sense. You hold 5% and it says they have 2 mil under the cap and when you leave and return to this menu that 2 mil changes.
- No yearly introduction to the team, no banner raising, no pre game warmup, no pre game show, no league schedule, no system creation, no matchup screen, no box scores.
- Always forced to repair the restrooms at franchise start.
- Cannot search by C-LW-RW in player search.
- Trade logic is deeply flawed and the trade deadline feature sees bugs where it sometimes freezes.
- AI GM's do not sign RFAs even when they are the teams best player. Example would be Barzal.
Potential fixes
1. There should be a better fusion between on ice play and potential. These changes should be minimal over a season or 2 but should really start to show after a few seasons. Example would be an elite player having a bad season. Little changes. But if that continues he should then start seeing a bigger drop off if he fails for 2 or more seasons in a row.
2. We should be able to edit players and coaches in full. It is an offline mode and there is no reason to limit that.
3. Chemistry needs improved. Players playing together over time should increase their chemistry (if they have success together) just as much if not more than player types. Also player types should have more variance in what can get to a +5.
4. See the presentation point. All of that should be in the game. Other sports games have it.
Game Modes
- There are just too many. There are not enough people who play this game and it things us out greatly.
Features/Gameplay
- Roster-player-logo- sharing are absent.
- Crowd energy is weak and stale.
- Some sliders do not work or have the intended effect they are supposed to.
- Cannot create strategies-systems-plays.
- Vision control was removed and replaced with what it is now. This "face north" thing is not always practical and causes the players to move weird when trying to face the puck on defense.
- General gameplay is too fast when compared with the animations. Puck pick ups and pass receptions take too long while the game is too quick. It does not blend well.
- There is no penalty for using hustle constantly. This takes away space and makes the game play like bunch ball too often.
- AI players will curl away from the play with the puck in their D zone causing them to skate into trouble.
- AI players are like heat seeking missiles without the puck.
- Strategies do not corelate to the AI guys staying in their proper position. They will abandon where they should be if you ever so slightly move from your own position.
- Cannot execute a hard dump unless you wind up for a slap shot. Even then they are weak.
- Defensive accountability far outweighs offensive accountability.
- You can hold your stick out fully to the side and still execute hard accurate passes and plays even when contained.
- Making a stretch pass is easier than a 7 foot support pass.
- Cross crease passes are the online META by a long shot.
Potential fixes
1. Roster-logo-player-slider sharing are a must. There are so many people who work hard on this stuff for it all to be lost each year.
2. Crowd needs to feel lively. Like we are there. You can be up 2-1 with 3 minutes left and the arena feels empty.
3. We should have the ability to create strategies-systems-plays to our liking. It would help the game be more enjoyable for offline players.
4. Vision control needs to revert to looking at the puck. Since defense is held to a higher standard then they should be given the opportunity to face the puck without worrying about the wonky player movements.
5. Game speed needs reduced while animation speed increased to match each other. Default settings are way off. The only luck I have had is cranking speed to 6 and taking skating sliders down a ton.
6. Hustle needs to slowly bleed away. You should not be able to do this all game. It makes this game play like a non stop rush.
7. AI players make terrible decisions with the puck and need to have basic hockey stuff programmed into them. They deke in odd times and dump when they shouldnt. This needs revisited. Maybe create plays could help with this?
8. The dump is not good. You should still be able to take a hard wrister in your own zone off the glass.
9. Get rid of the rocket accurate backhand hold out your stick stuff. It is crap.
There. That is the best I can do. Please add
So here we go. My attempt to be constructive. Please add in your thoughts in this format. Constructive and detailed thoughts-issues please. Lets get their attention.
Menus
- The menus are slow laggy and unresponsive. Some menus have a different layout than others. For example the edit lines menu (in rosters) is in a grid style format while in edit player you can use L2 to cycle. When you edit lines and return to its parent menu it does not save your place and you must cycle through all the teams again to return to where you were. This is only one example of the annoyance. Another example is when you know it takes 3 clicks to get to where you are going and you do that but it only registers 2 clicks because of the lag and you hit X expecting to enter the menu you thought and go somewhere else. You then have to backtrack and wait an extra few seconds for it to register your input.
- From what I have found there are a lot of web based elements in the menu design. This means the menu information is accessed via the server? It is odd though because even offline the menus are slow.
Potential fixes:
1. Consolidate menus in the same format.
2. Streamline the design and get rid of the times it takes too many clicks to get to where you want to go. Simplify.
3. Eliminate the need for these menus to have any online requirements. They should be predesigned and saved onto our consoles. No need to save disc space in 2020.
Be A Pro
- No CHL season or ability to play in the AHL. You are given captaincy without earning it or being a veteran. Conversation system-in game system is not contextually sound. Very little guidance on how to be a hockey player. Your coach doesnt tell you that you need to work on your cycle or that you need to be trailing the play on a 3 on 1 or you need to cover your pointman tighter.
Potential fixes:
1. First EA needs to bring back juniors and AHL play. Very few rookies are going to crack the roster in their first year. It would also be nice to be able to improve-decrease your draft stock by playing in juniors for a season or 2.
2. You dont become captain unless you became the best player on your team and you have some leadership qualities. Taking it from Shea Weber is not acceptable. In that circumstance maybe become an Alternate?
3. I am less worried about the off ice stuff and more concerned that in game or coaching conversations have nothing to do with being a better and more sound player. Add in things like hockey strategy and position. Common sense topics that encourage people to play the game right rather than just scoring goals.
EASHL
- The current playoff format is a waste of time unless you can play for 40 hours a week. It took away the win or go home excitement that regular playoffs brings.
- Not having the ability to edit any attributes or see them get better-worse via your own play makes this mode feel useless anymore. I have a hard time believing that people are grinding for goal horn elements. If this is supposed to be a RP mode then why cant we have more of a say in who we are as players? I think alot of people probably play this to have fun with their friends not because the mode is engaging.
- Hockey bags take forever to open if you have not kept up with it.
- Current ranking system is kind of dumb. You can be 92-94 and be higher than a team who is 90-22. Divisions is still cool but perhaps change it up in some way?
- No free agent system or club recruitment. Would make it hard for new players to find a club who do not have friends playing.
- You can be a D1 club and delete your club and remake one so you can beat up on D10 players.
- Online connections are not good. In comparison to other games I play this one is the worst.
- Banners are gone.
- Quitting is done a lot and without penalty.
- Would be nice to roll lines and accommodate bigger clubs or be able to swap loadouts-builds in game to counter different strategies.
Potential fixes
1. Bring back regular playoffs and banner collections.
2. Penalize people for quitting. Start assessing time based penalties (bans) to those who do this a lot.
3. Streamline the hockey bags concept to allow for mass opening.
4. Bring back lobbies so players can network.
5. Allow us to roll lines.
6. Bring back better customization when it comes to our builds. It makes no sense to apply an athletic trait to see our awareness go down simultaneously?
Franchise
- Record book is bugged. Hopefully this upcoming patch fixes that.
- Currently potential is bugged to have young players get worse in terms of natural progression.
- Editing players has been removed from what it once was.
- The chemistry and coaching system stuff is bugged out.
- When you go to withhold salary the opposing team has figures that do not make sense. You hold 5% and it says they have 2 mil under the cap and when you leave and return to this menu that 2 mil changes.
- No yearly introduction to the team, no banner raising, no pre game warmup, no pre game show, no league schedule, no system creation, no matchup screen, no box scores.
- Always forced to repair the restrooms at franchise start.
- Cannot search by C-LW-RW in player search.
- Trade logic is deeply flawed and the trade deadline feature sees bugs where it sometimes freezes.
- AI GM's do not sign RFAs even when they are the teams best player. Example would be Barzal.
Potential fixes
1. There should be a better fusion between on ice play and potential. These changes should be minimal over a season or 2 but should really start to show after a few seasons. Example would be an elite player having a bad season. Little changes. But if that continues he should then start seeing a bigger drop off if he fails for 2 or more seasons in a row.
2. We should be able to edit players and coaches in full. It is an offline mode and there is no reason to limit that.
3. Chemistry needs improved. Players playing together over time should increase their chemistry (if they have success together) just as much if not more than player types. Also player types should have more variance in what can get to a +5.
4. See the presentation point. All of that should be in the game. Other sports games have it.
Game Modes
- There are just too many. There are not enough people who play this game and it things us out greatly.
Features/Gameplay
- Roster-player-logo- sharing are absent.
- Crowd energy is weak and stale.
- Some sliders do not work or have the intended effect they are supposed to.
- Cannot create strategies-systems-plays.
- Vision control was removed and replaced with what it is now. This "face north" thing is not always practical and causes the players to move weird when trying to face the puck on defense.
- General gameplay is too fast when compared with the animations. Puck pick ups and pass receptions take too long while the game is too quick. It does not blend well.
- There is no penalty for using hustle constantly. This takes away space and makes the game play like bunch ball too often.
- AI players will curl away from the play with the puck in their D zone causing them to skate into trouble.
- AI players are like heat seeking missiles without the puck.
- Strategies do not corelate to the AI guys staying in their proper position. They will abandon where they should be if you ever so slightly move from your own position.
- Cannot execute a hard dump unless you wind up for a slap shot. Even then they are weak.
- Defensive accountability far outweighs offensive accountability.
- You can hold your stick out fully to the side and still execute hard accurate passes and plays even when contained.
- Making a stretch pass is easier than a 7 foot support pass.
- Cross crease passes are the online META by a long shot.
Potential fixes
1. Roster-logo-player-slider sharing are a must. There are so many people who work hard on this stuff for it all to be lost each year.
2. Crowd needs to feel lively. Like we are there. You can be up 2-1 with 3 minutes left and the arena feels empty.
3. We should have the ability to create strategies-systems-plays to our liking. It would help the game be more enjoyable for offline players.
4. Vision control needs to revert to looking at the puck. Since defense is held to a higher standard then they should be given the opportunity to face the puck without worrying about the wonky player movements.
5. Game speed needs reduced while animation speed increased to match each other. Default settings are way off. The only luck I have had is cranking speed to 6 and taking skating sliders down a ton.
6. Hustle needs to slowly bleed away. You should not be able to do this all game. It makes this game play like a non stop rush.
7. AI players make terrible decisions with the puck and need to have basic hockey stuff programmed into them. They deke in odd times and dump when they shouldnt. This needs revisited. Maybe create plays could help with this?
8. The dump is not good. You should still be able to take a hard wrister in your own zone off the glass.
9. Get rid of the rocket accurate backhand hold out your stick stuff. It is crap.
There. That is the best I can do. Please add
10
Howdy, Stranger!
Replies
Would surprise me if stuff like this isn't on their 'wish-list'. Hopefully we se some of this when we move in to next-gen.
I really hope you are right. I am hoping that the next gen brings some of the greatness this game once had back. I dont know how you do it but I love your positivity Mega. I also hope people add to this - in a healthy way - to further reinforce the need for more customization options - better gameplay - and a better product.
I think we 'all' can do a better job together if we try to stay positive. If we think that the developers are one of us, instead of against us. We are all on the same boat here, but with alot of diffrent preferences of whats good and whats bad.
But I like what you sayin, and im defenetly behind you on this.
This is important for people to understand though - when people spend earned money on a product they think is lackluster and this doesnt get resolved in a timely manner (while being told the customer is always right and their satisfaction drives success) then frustration builds. Some things have been plaguing this game for 7 years now and we have seen very little movement. Offline players feel like they are neglected. There are many more EA responses on HUT threads which gives the picture that is their priority.
It is not easy for a lot of people to hold back that emotion especially when they come to a place like this.
I would like it if we had a gigantic gripe thread where people do less debating and more pleading their case. Some of us have good ideas and some do not.
Again though it is madness for a multi billion dollar company to be able to get away with what it does and give its customers the cold shoulder.
But I do like your positive and hopeful tone. I am jealous honestly. I have had this game since 95 and my excitement and hope for this game continues to go down. I do not want to dislike it. Hockey is my fav
And I think thats the same reason why so many dislike this game, it's never fun to score or set up plays, if you didn't really had full control of what you did. As I see it, it's impossible to have that, the way things are, but wi'll see what happen with the patch, tomarow I guess. 😊✊
We limit ourselves to what we respond to these days. We used to get involved in gameplay discussions, but there's almost always some sort of backlash so we've backed out of those conversations and are trying to just listen to feedback and make sure it gets seen. There are times we try to debunk assumptions and false claims, but that doesn't go well either. The HUT discussions have mainly centered around the DDA debate. Which we're also limiting our interaction on. We don't comment on bugs often because they are essentially bug reports and we have to wait for news from the dev team before we can really say anything about them.
You would see more interaction from mods/devs if things were more constructive here. Your post is an excellent attempt at constructive conversation. Hopefully, it stays that way. We would absolutely love to have these forums be a more constructive and friendlier place for all, but since there's a lot of hostility that comes after we respond, we've all taken a backseat to commenting as it just exacerbates the toxic nature here. We're not trying to give anyone the cold shoulder. We wish it didn't have to be that way as we're as much fans of this game as we are employees of the company that makes it. However, trying to keep the overall tone of the forums here to one that is welcoming and constructive is easier to do when we comment less.
Well I can't argue any of that. Cant imagine its easy doing what you do. Thanks for explaining that. Hopefully the EA side and customer side can keep in mind we are all people and humanize each other. Thank you
You're very welcome. That would be amazing if it were to happen. We're all here because of a shared passion for hockey and this game. We all want it to be the best it can. Changes don't come overnight though. Many times, they take months or years. Many feel they are being ignored because we don't resolve their issues in a timely manner. For example, someone that's very passionate about lifelike faces on players are going to be upset when we handle issues that directly affect gameplay instead. Gameplay is most always the priority and nothing is ever as easy as people think it is to fix. We're not ignoring anyone, but the dev team has to prioritize the bigger issues affecting the community first. Again, this is normally gameplay.
Thanks again for the constructive post. It's exactly what we like to see here when discussing things you're unhappy about with the game.
I completely understand and support everything you've said here. I would be nice, IMO, if the true bug reports could get some kind of acknowledgement (a like, or an insightful tag, or something like that), but I guess I can understand if you did that, then the dummies who report nonsense would start to lose their mind when they didn't get any acknowledgement.
As far as feedback goes, I am mostly satisfied with this game. I can live with most of the bugs until they are fixed, but I really really want more custom options, so I can make the game my own. I only play franchise mode (I'd play an offline international tournament if it was available). I'd love to play a franchise as the Ducks, but hate their logo/uniforms too much to do it. I'd love if their old logo was available, and I could create a Ducks team without hideous uniforms.
Also Seattle. It's understandable that they're not in the game, but if their logos (and maybe colours) could be added to the creation zone, I'd be more than happy.
Ideally I'd be looking for more Jersey design choices and more logo choices (especially the old logos--even Atlanta Thrashers).
The last thing that bugs me, and I hope this is a patchable fix, is the season schedule when you have 32 teams. It just has you run through opponents at random 2.5 times and doesn't take division or conference into consideration. By the end of the year you have a team in a strong division with 92 points not making the playoffs and teams in weak divisions making it with 82 points. I lived through it with NHL 20 and kept hoping it would be addressed in NHL 21. I really don't want to wait until I can't draft my own expansion team anymore to have this fixed. (PS: a Wishlist item for future modes would be to allow you to start a franchise with 1-4 expansion teams. I'm a big fan of building teams from scratch while leaving the rest of the teams in place)
This is a fair take, but you can understand the frustration, right? I have no context as to what's being attempted to be debunked, but you're trying to discredit a critique made by a paying customer. Most of them return customers.
As a regular EASHL player, it's frustrating how very little progress has been made in this mode over the years. The menu is strikingly similar to 20's. The matchmaking system is still insanely slow. The RP system is a glorified version of CR and is a nightmare for people who play drop-ins because the community is riddled with trolls and players that drop out with absolutely no repercussions. When the AI gets involved, they flip the script every game because they don't follow the same rules as human players--specifically their animations. This game mode caters to players who abuse the game mechanics that lean heavier towards offensive players each and every year, which make the final product look less and less like hockey.
The people complaining here may be doing it in a way that comes across as 'toxic', but the only reason they're posting on this forum is because they care enough to air their grievances. A bad game wouldn't have a community that is passionate enough to hold the game developers accountable.
Props to the OP. That took a lot of work.
I will be updating this thread and compiling information from threads on the forums. Anything that gets patched will be removed and updated too.
Trying to have a central location for any and all the stuff we care about. Just please keep it civil. No being a jerk or trolling. No reason for debate. Air your concerns as our opinions will differ. The idea is to have a good place for the developers to see legit concerns.
Thanks for the response!
Absolutely. I understand people are frustrated. Not going to deny that at all. These forums are intended to be a place where those issues can be discussed. However, reports of issues tend to also be composed as an attack on the dev team. It really hinders communication because asking for more details often results in angry responses. We're not trying to discredit critiques, but if we see false assumptions and accusations about the game, we're going to try to clear those up. If they are legitimate issues, we'll say so as well. Negative reviews of the game are fine, but keeping them constructive is your best chance at getting those issues handled as it's a lot more welcoming for communication.
I think no one can say it's an easy job to do, and be serious about it.
He's our man! 😏💪
Please note that this is key. If we can keep this detailed and constructive we will stand a better chance to be heard rather than saying aggressive things.
you're a victim of your circumstance. You moderate a forum for a video game that is run by a HORRIBLE model that sets up these EA Sports game for total failure. Annual releases at full price. Even the most positive customer hates that they are paying full price every year for what is essentially a patch. With that high cost and high turnover of "new" AAA titles every year come very high expectations. The fact that every year the game fails to meet those high expectations is the reason why you have so many disappointed people.
while it can feel toxic here when passionate customers complain and even attack but at least they care. i have TONs of gaming friends that have long since given up caring about this game. I used to have 100s of friends on my list that I met through NHL that most played it often if not nightly. Only a fraction of those people still play and for most part they only play league after the first month or so.
The underlying issue here - for me at least - is not that people's individual demands are being met in a what they deem to be a timely fashion, but that the *philosophy of the game itself* continues year on year to move further away from what most of us want from a hockey game... the dwindling online community seems to be a testament to this.
I disagree with this. There is frustration for alot of users. No question. I am one of these users. If we don't try to have well thought out critiques though we will never have a positive effect on the game.
I think it is lousy that GC's may have more of an effect on the game. Not an EA fanboy or anything. But can we not at least try to have an accommodation here?
Would you agree that having more customization options for the users - slider share/roster share/strategy share/create play share/player share/logo share would help?
Yeah I like the atmosphere in this thread start.
But I do understand hoods dissatisfaction too... I got days were I dont even wanna look at this game, but I also have moments were 'time stand still' with this game. Short moments of totally peace, with me, myself and the game, hehe.. So obvious there's something.. It just need to be more consistent.
But ofc everyone is free to just leave this game and never look back, but beacuse it's the only hockey game we fans got, and at least I do... Feel that the game is getting better and better. Thats whats keep me going.