Do Dev's really think this game resembles hockey?
Firstly, no I dont have video, all it takes actually playing the game you made for 30 seconds and it should become very obvious that its complete broken mess that doesnt even resemble hockey in the slightest bit.
Go play a miserable HUT rivals game where defense boils down to skillzoning and periodically switching to a defender and charging at the puck carrier and mashing poke check, or being behind the puck carrier and just extending your arm and holding poke check in. Thats it, thats defense. Completely nonsensical things that dont happen actual hockey games. Actual defense is playing positionally and defending passing lanes and such, not just spamming your stick into players from behind or charging at them and doing the same. This is where that one guy will say that he'd rather active defense be rewarded than positionally. Thats great and all but I dont really give a crap because that isnt hockey. This is supposed to be a hockey simulation right? Not a reward the adhd 12 year old that spams buttons because thinking is too hard. You wanna make a pass intercept button? Fine, even though thats essentially what vision control is/should be.
Lets get to offense where it boils down to either rushes up the ice where a guy spams that little chip in front of you glitch that lets you skate quicker because almost the only thing that matters in this game is speed. Or if they happen to not score on the rush(which is damn near impossible thanks to the feast of extremely simple/predictable short side wristers you can take) and its time to just figure skate around hoping your opponent accidentally trips you while they poke spam and you just wait for and force one timer after one timer. When it is more efficient to turn the puck over a bunch forcing the same thing hoping one slips through than to do anything that looks like offensive hockey, because you have almost zero room or time to do anything because defense is just charge at you and hit buttons, your game has a massive problem.
Dont you dare give up the first goal to someone either, because theres a good chance theyll just rag the puck until you over commit and give up an odd man rush.
There is zero chance any dev plays this game even casually online in some of these modes and actually enjoys it. Its just a sweatfest to the highest degree and not the least bit enjoyable. Either fix some of the same issues this game has had for years or just fully commit to the arcadey nonsense style of play you clearly want. Just go full NHL Hitz with it, at least that game knew what it was and because of that it was enjoyable.
Now go ahead and make fun of me for way too long of a post clearly made out of frustration, despite everything said being entirely true.
Go play a miserable HUT rivals game where defense boils down to skillzoning and periodically switching to a defender and charging at the puck carrier and mashing poke check, or being behind the puck carrier and just extending your arm and holding poke check in. Thats it, thats defense. Completely nonsensical things that dont happen actual hockey games. Actual defense is playing positionally and defending passing lanes and such, not just spamming your stick into players from behind or charging at them and doing the same. This is where that one guy will say that he'd rather active defense be rewarded than positionally. Thats great and all but I dont really give a crap because that isnt hockey. This is supposed to be a hockey simulation right? Not a reward the adhd 12 year old that spams buttons because thinking is too hard. You wanna make a pass intercept button? Fine, even though thats essentially what vision control is/should be.
Lets get to offense where it boils down to either rushes up the ice where a guy spams that little chip in front of you glitch that lets you skate quicker because almost the only thing that matters in this game is speed. Or if they happen to not score on the rush(which is damn near impossible thanks to the feast of extremely simple/predictable short side wristers you can take) and its time to just figure skate around hoping your opponent accidentally trips you while they poke spam and you just wait for and force one timer after one timer. When it is more efficient to turn the puck over a bunch forcing the same thing hoping one slips through than to do anything that looks like offensive hockey, because you have almost zero room or time to do anything because defense is just charge at you and hit buttons, your game has a massive problem.
Dont you dare give up the first goal to someone either, because theres a good chance theyll just rag the puck until you over commit and give up an odd man rush.
There is zero chance any dev plays this game even casually online in some of these modes and actually enjoys it. Its just a sweatfest to the highest degree and not the least bit enjoyable. Either fix some of the same issues this game has had for years or just fully commit to the arcadey nonsense style of play you clearly want. Just go full NHL Hitz with it, at least that game knew what it was and because of that it was enjoyable.
Now go ahead and make fun of me for way too long of a post clearly made out of frustration, despite everything said being entirely true.
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I think we all can relate to how you feel. You describe how the game can be in it's worst state.
But it wouldn’t be fair to just blame it on the developers, they are trying there best to give us a fun hockey game meanwhile we are trying or best to just win games.
And unfortunately it's easy to become a sweatfest because this 100% forecheck + hysterical aggressive poke behavior is still a pretty successful way to play.
For it to change it has to be more simpel to take advantage of players that just rush straight on without any other thought then 'get me the puck now!'.
If people start to see for themselves, that "hmm this aggressive way im playing ain't working anymore, I might need to rethink my tactics".. first then, we might get a much more fun and challenging gameplay.
But I understand it's not that easy to just fix it that way without losing anything of the things thats good with the game.
I remember back in the Xbox 360/PS3 years, the NHL series was great. I think it was NHL 10 that won sports game of the year. During this time 2K was making a pretty good hockey game as well but EA had them beat and as soon as 2K gave up EA started going downhill.
With the change to the new generation of consoles and the switch to frostbite maybe, and that’s a huge maybe they will have to start from close enough to scratch that it will make a difference for the better. I not holding my breath though.
When making sliders offline, I’ve found goalies to be the hardest position to tune. At All-star and Superstar, they don’t give up 1st shot goals, even from snipers in prime areas, unless you do an “exploit” move. On Pro, the goalies seem to give up just about anything and everything inconsistently, so you’ll see a few huge saves and then you’ll score five hole from blueline while you’re simply trying to start a forecheck.
I also have had a real trouble with fatigue. I want my players to slow down and show clear signs of fatigue, but the CPU seems to not compensate for fatigue and will blindly attack just as aggressively while fatigued and unable to keep up rather than forming a more defensive shell and moving very little. I also think the offensive team fatigues too much which diluted the impact long possessions can have. And all skills while tired decline dramatically to the point where it seems like I can’t score after holding the puck for awhile because my accuracy and puck receptions are so affected by the fatigue. Like, there’s no happy medium or real incentive to long possessions which the modern pro game is all about. Maybe this game needs a “zone possession” slider to offset fatigue when dominating play in the zone. I know NHL Hitz Pro had a “possession bonus” slider under their goalie menu which meant that you were more likely to score or create juicy rebounds if you possessed the puck for a long time as the goalie actually got fatigued like everyone else.
This game is just way too built around the rush for modern hockey. Glad the NZ isn’t no mans land anymore but holy cow do we need some serious TLC when it comes to both in zone offense and defense. And can my CPU teammates show the same urgency on a loose puck as their CPU counterparts one of these years?
Would be very pleased if fatigue could play a much bigger part in the future.
One, beacuse that might give a better balance with the game-speed.
And two.. Thats a cool thing to watch in real hockey, when the offensive team gets the play going in the o-zone and the other team just try to hold ground.
LOL
They can’t do this though, it would force guys to actually hold the puck with their goalie once and awhile to get a line change. I played a game the other day, after he passed it with his goalie 3 times straight to me for an easy goal each time. He quit and sent me a message accusing me of cheating.
Most complaints come involving HUT. Lower fatigue doesn't do anything when people probably now are rocking players with 90+ fatigue. People just need to learn it's gonna be the farthest thing from a hockey experience as cards go up.
I actually think fatigue works nicely in EASHL. I can't hustle both ways of the ice . So if i hustle go into the offense zone and lose it right away chances are i'm drained if they are going the other way instantly.
Also I'd say people would be annoyed with how long games would last if people never played the puck. Hell it would promote ragging even more forcing people to chase you thus tiring you out faster and they can just do a line change easier.
Hehe thats how the world works...
I must admit I never hold the puck.
But I actually wouldn’t mind if we really - had - to do it.
If the game was more look-a like hockey, I would definitely give every game the focus and patience it need. But as it is now, it just feels like a flying circus, so I might just join the party....
😏
Just a curious question.
Considering that alot of people dont play hockey in this game, how is it that 'everyone' knows whats wrong with the game?
I dont get that to match up.
Im typing this cause I get abit irritated after trying to play hockey with numerous of players, but all they do is the same thing.
Is it then the same people that comes here and complain that the game ain't 'hockey'.
Or is the only people that write on this forum the 1% that dont play like everyone else?
*And importent, I dont mean to be rude by question this, im just honestly curious how people can know so sure whats wrong with the game when alot of people dont play hockey. But they somehow know why there not playing hockey.
The developers haven't designed the game to encourage playing "hockey", and have actually disincentivized it.
You have to assume in a competitive game that people will do whatever is allowed in order to win. It is up to the people making the game to balance and tune it so that it isn't an exploit fest. EA doesn't do that, however. In order to win you have to figure skate and attempt the same 2-3 insanely high percentage plays all game. Their "highlights" often involve a nauseating mix of L2/lt abuse and behind the back passes.
The players exploiting only deserve part of the blame, most of it should be on EA for this product.
Thats - not - how I win, and I dont care about the elite.
I play this game cause I love hockey and I play hockey, against 95% that dont play hockey, and I imagine it's the same people that hate on the developers after that.
You want the developers to hold your controllers too?
He's not wrong, unfortunately. I'll try to play the passing, setting up plays game, but as soon as someone just keeps going for the guaranteed goals, then it forces you to play their game and just play the pathetic way EA wants us to play which is sad.
Personally I think they need to take a year off, hire a whole new team with a fresh perspective and fix this game. With the numbers dwindling every year, there's obviously something wrong and guess what, it's not the consumers.
But they can't really create a game were we is forced to play hockey. We have to give something back, im doing that the best I can by learning to play - exactly - how the game mechanics is suppose to work.
That gives me about 60-70% hockey, but my biggest problem is not the developers, it's the way many choose to play. If just my opponent's would play, sounds stupid to say, but more like me, I know it would be 90-95% hockey.
Im fine with the most in this game, but if I had to choose 2 things thats bother me, it would be these behind the back passes and how easy games tend to fall in to a bad state of mind if the opponent only push for speed and cross creases.
It's annoying to loose to people as I see it, has no fantasy or that much understanding how the game works.
So yes I do think the developers could help me/us, that like to play hockey even more, but 80% of the complaining im having a hard time to take serious, cause I been out there, ive seen it with my own eyes how little people seem to care about the hockey.
That part is true.. It's hard to not fall in this trap to play this speedy ugly way..
I wish it could be more easy to maneuver out people that just run for a hit on every singel play.
That would not be tolerated by any NHL coach. He would be send to the Junior league.
It takes more brain then that, to play hockey.
Players that can lay hits is often really smart players that can read 2 or 3 steps ahead of were the puck and player is going to be.. And then boom, out of nowere.