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Poke checking is An Inconsistent Mess, But I bet you like it

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usaalltheway1
129 posts Member
edited December 2016
Players are not punished enough on a consistent basis with their poorly timed poked .

(I'm mainly talking about forechecking wingers spamming the hell out of the Dmen once we gain control of the puck)

In fact , more often than not--they are usually rewarded. This is very prevalent in online vs.

I FULLY understand how to use a successful poke check . Body position and understanding exaclty when the puck carrier is vulnerable, along with being able to predict your opponents next move is key in mitigating a penalty.

Yet, having said that, I see on a consistent basis poorly executed poke checks not draw a penalty. I can have a goof poke through my legs multiple times and not draw a penalty. Again, this is more prevalent in online vs.

Poke-checking , like many other areas in this game , is an inconsistent mess.
Post edited by usaalltheway1 on

Replies

  • KoryDub wrote: »
    Last season, there was a brief period where poke checking was tuned so that there was more of a penalty for not taking the time to poke check properly, as you described above.

    The veterans of the franchise seemed to welcome the change.

    However, there was a very loud group of consumers who tore EA apart on Social Media and on these forums for making poke checking "useless" because of the number of penalties being handed out.

    My beef over that whole fiasco was the unwillingness of a LOT of users to take the time to learn how to poke check properly. Instead, they run to social media to generate a bunch of hate towards the change and finally forced EA to revert the changes.

    Personally, I was such a fan of the change. It forced users to poke effectively. The problem was that so many users were used to being rewarded for poor poke checks that this sudden change was just too much.

    What a shame .
  • SteelCitySnipr66
    44 posts Member
    edited December 2016
    I cant tell if pokes are op or underpowered. Its just weird. Sometimes its like a poke check wall and yet protect puck is impossible to poke it.
  • NHLDev
    1680 posts EA NHL Developer
    KoryDub wrote: »
    Last season, there was a brief period where poke checking was tuned so that there was more of a penalty for not taking the time to poke check properly, as you described above.

    The veterans of the franchise seemed to welcome the change.

    However, there was a very loud group of consumers who tore EA apart on Social Media and on these forums for making poke checking "useless" because of the number of penalties being handed out.

    My beef over that whole fiasco was the unwillingness of a LOT of users to take the time to learn how to poke check properly. Instead, they run to social media to generate a bunch of hate towards the change and finally forced EA to revert the changes.

    Personally, I was such a fan of the change. It forced users to poke effectively. The problem was that so many users were used to being rewarded for poor poke checks that this sudden change was just too much.

    What a shame .

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what are in the game currently.

    If you spam poke, you won't be able to keep up with the puck carrier because you can't keep speed while poking. If you spam poke, you will get less accurate with each poke increasing the chance of a trip. If a poke goes through an opposing players body (since there isn't stick on body physics collisions), it shouldn't allow the poke to take place (same goes for the stick lift). Pokes out in front are the most accurate and pokes behind you are the least accurate with a non uniform blend in between favoring the front with bigger fall off to the back and it is all run through player attributes.

    Strong pokechecking is a good counter to the abilities of the puck carrier. If it means players have to do a better job getting rid of the puck, when they are contained, that isn't a bad thing.
  • Assisted_6 wrote: »
    The thing is. Poke checking is more consistent when poking from behind then it is when you have a good gap on a 1 on 1 when facing the puck carrier. It's hilarious how many times you can see someone get a clear breakaway and have the D beat just to have the guy spamming r1 clearly in a position that should draw a Penalty but instead always knocks the puck loose and kills the scoring chance.

    Yes, and the tripping penalties you get when in perfect position with a 1-on-.........show me a NHL player get a tripping penalty when playing a 1-on-1
    You must unlearn what you have learned!
  • xxH3llsp4wNxx
    253 posts Member
    edited December 2016
    NHLDev wrote: »

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what are in the game currently.

    If you spam poke, you won't be able to keep up with the puck carrier because you can't keep speed while poking. If you spam poke, you will get less accurate with each poke increasing the chance of a trip. If a poke goes through an opposing players body (since there isn't stick on body physics collisions), it shouldn't allow the poke to take place (same goes for the stick lift). Pokes out in front are the most accurate and pokes behind you are the least accurate with a non uniform blend in between favoring the front with bigger fall off to the back and it is all run through player attributes.

    Strong pokechecking is a good counter to the abilities of the puck carrier. If it means players have to do a better job getting rid of the puck, when they are contained, that isn't a bad thing.
    And this is exactly why people say you cater to offense. Added more penalties for tripping when you can't poke in the direction you want, poke too much and you slow down. Yet you add back in the ability for puck carriers to pull the puck and hold it behind them unrealistically. This was removed in 15 and brought back for 16.

    So while you add more punishments for poke checking there is no penalty for a player skating circles and holding the puck behind his back. That doesn't sound like balanced gameplay at all. And to add to that you allow the goalies to pass through players in the crease again. This was also taken out in 14 or 15 and brought back into the game. Boo!!!
    Post edited by xxH3llsp4wNxx on
  • NHLDev wrote: »

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what are in the game currently.

    If you spam poke, you won't be able to keep up with the puck carrier because you can't keep speed while poking. If you spam poke, you will get less accurate with each poke increasing the chance of a trip. If a poke goes through an opposing players body (since there isn't stick on body physics collisions), it shouldn't allow the poke to take place (same goes for the stick lift). Pokes out in front are the most accurate and pokes behind you are the least accurate with a non uniform blend in between favoring the front with bigger fall off to the back and it is all run through player attributes.

    Strong pokechecking is a good counter to the abilities of the puck carrier. If it means players have to do a better job getting rid of the puck, when they are contained, that isn't a bad thing.
    And this is exactly why people say you cater to offense. Added more penalties for tripping when you can't poke in the direction you want, poke too much and you slow down. Yet you add back in the ability for puck carriers to pull the puck and hold it behind them unrealistically. This was removed in 15 and brought back for 16.

    So while you add more punishments for poke checking there is no penalty for a player skating circles and holding the puck behind his back. That doesn't sound like balanced gameplay at all. And to add to that you allow the goalies to pass through players in the crease again. This was also taken out in 14 or 15 and brought back into the game. Boo!!!

    Being 100% honest here I think we see so many issues with this game because of the current devs. I don't think they're as talented as they need to be. Ben says that the puck physics are more complicated compared to an FPS. We all know about the small team small budget excuse.
  • xxH3llsp4wNxx
    253 posts Member
    edited December 2016
    People assume that players poke spam because they're no good. A lot of People poke spam for 2 reasons.... 1 is that you can't manually aim your poke check and 2 is because there is no active stick so I poke often to keep my stick in the passing lanes. I forgot one...players can hide and protect the puck inside the boards, another reason to poke repeatedly.
    Post edited by xxH3llsp4wNxx on
  • NHLDev
    1680 posts EA NHL Developer
    Ryujinsum wrote: »
    Ben says that the puck physics are more complicated compared to an FPS.

    I am not sure what you mean by this. There are many differences between our game and an FPS but it has nothing to do with how complicated or not the puck physics are.
  • Assisted_6 wrote: »
    The thing is. Poke checking is more consistent when poking from behind then it is when you have a good gap on a 1 on 1 when facing the puck carrier. It's hilarious how many times you can see someone get a clear breakaway and have the D beat just to have the guy spamming r1 clearly in a position that should draw a Penalty but instead always knocks the puck loose and kills the scoring chance.
    The best part is not that it comes loose, the puck will go backwards like the guy poking just swept it up towards himself.
  • Ryujinsum
    62 posts Member
    edited December 2016
    NHLDev wrote: »
    Ryujinsum wrote: »
    Ben says that the puck physics are more complicated compared to an FPS.

    I am not sure what you mean by this. There are many differences between our game and an FPS but it has nothing to do with how complicated or not the puck physics are.

    It was poorly written by me, my bad. What I meant by that is when you responded to someone comparing NHL to an FPS in terms of lag. I don't remember if it was on the new forums or old ones. Essentially you were saying how there's more variables in NHL as the puck can change direction at any time compared to a bullet.
  • I have an 8-ball app on my phone and the ball physics are just fine and there are multiple balls changing directions all the time. If a cell phone app game can handle it, why can't NHL?
  • KoryDub wrote: »
    Last season, there was a brief period where poke checking was tuned so that there was more of a penalty for not taking the time to poke check properly, as you described above.

    The veterans of the franchise seemed to welcome the change.

    However, there was a very loud group of consumers who tore EA apart on Social Media and on these forums for making poke checking "useless" because of the number of penalties being handed out.

    My beef over that whole fiasco was the unwillingness of a LOT of users to take the time to learn how to poke check properly. Instead, they run to social media to generate a bunch of hate towards the change and finally forced EA to revert the changes.

    Personally, I was such a fan of the change. It forced users to poke effectively. The problem was that so many users were used to being rewarded for poor poke checks that this sudden change was just too much.


    As a D-man I loved that patch and I was super bummed it wasn't given more time.I took a fraction higher pim.I went from around 0.3 pmpg to 0.5 but I always try to be very conscious of not taking the trip and not spamming it.

    Its funny how many D-men yelled WTG!! You took away our only tool!! It didn't affect me at all negatively.I still poked just as much as I did prior and if anything it helped me to puck handle more knowing I could protect the puck if I kept my back to an aggressive spammer.

    It created so much more ice for me to create plays instead of feeling so rushed like I do know with 3 forecheckers barreling down at me after a defensive zone faceoff win all poking like they are the freaking Hanson Brothers.
  • I think poke checking should be more susceptible to giving you a penalty, but it should also be way more accurate and dislodge the puck with more force. I'm so tired of poke checking a guy like 3 times and he keeps picking it right back up.
  • NHLDev
    1680 posts EA NHL Developer
    edited December 2016
    Ryujinsum wrote: »
    NHLDev wrote: »
    Ryujinsum wrote: »
    Ben says that the puck physics are more complicated compared to an FPS.

    I am not sure what you mean by this. There are many differences between our game and an FPS but it has nothing to do with how complicated or not the puck physics are.

    It was poorly written by me, my bad. What I meant by that is when you responded to someone comparing NHL to an FPS in terms of lag. I don't remember if it was on the new forums or old ones. Essentially you were saying how there's more variables in NHL as the puck can change direction at any time compared to a bullet.

    Ah I see how you took it. No, it wasn't about the in game physics of the puck.

    It was about needing to be able to respond in real time to the play since the puck is still visible to the eye, unlike bullets in a shooter. In a shooter, you aren't physically dodging the bullet and you don't actually see it travel in real time so they make you connect/miss based on what happens on the local console of the shooter and then update the server instead of having everything update before sending it out to everyone. This gives the shooter an experience that feels really smooth but can lead to things like an opponent getting shot when they actually got behind cover, which is a way they hide that lag. This wouldn't work in a hockey game though and that is why I said it sort of the worst scenario having a fast moving game with a small fast moving object that you can still see.

    If you are curious, just look up anything around how networking works for shooters, shot synchronization, simulated bullets, etc. and it will have some better technical details of what they do. It may make more sense walking through some of the technical details.
  • NHLDev wrote: »

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what

    The tuner was my doing and it was a little harsh. Members of the team told me that it probably wasn't going to be received well by the community but I wanted to try it. We had a patch coming but I wanted to see what we could do with the tuner.

    We were asked to revert the change after the outcry but we still released all the proper changes in the patch that came out after and those changes are what are in the game currently.

    If you spam poke, you won't be able to keep up with the puck carrier because you can't keep speed while poking. If you spam poke, you will get less accurate with each poke increasing the chance of a trip. If a poke goes through an opposing players body (since there isn't stick on body physics collisions), it shouldn't allow the poke to take place (same goes for the stick lift). Pokes out in front are the most accurate and pokes behind you are the least accurate with a non uniform blend in between favoring the front with bigger fall off to the back and it is all run through player attributes.

    Strong pokechecking is a good counter to the abilities of the puck carrier. If it means players have to do a better job getting rid of the puck, when they are contained, that isn't a bad thing.
    And this is exactly why people say you cater to offense. Added more penalties for tripping when you can't poke in the direction you want, poke too much and you slow down. Yet you add back in the ability for puck carriers to pull the puck and hold it behind them unrealistically. This was removed in 15 and brought back for 16.

    So while you add more punishments for poke checking there is no penalty for a player skating circles and holding the puck behind his back. That doesn't sound like balanced gameplay at all. And to add to that you allow the goalies to pass through players in the crease again. This was also taken out in 14 or 15 and brought back into the game. Boo!!!

    While I would definitely agree defense has always been harder than offense, these bolded statements aren't entirely true. If you just hold the puck back, or go right-left more than once you start slowing down. The longer you hold the puck back (or the more you go right-left) the slower you get, and the more vulnerable you are to a hit.

    I think this is a welcome change, and pretty much solves most of the problems with that stuff, imo.

    I also think poke checking right now is fantastic. Just the right amount of penalties, and you can poke from behind on a breakaway. So many people complain about this, and it's like they never watch hockey. Don't see many breakaways in NHL hockey, but I see them all the time in the adult league games I ref. Many, many times the defensive player is right behind the offensive player and swings his stick to knock the puck off, or wacks the other guy's stick causing him to lose the puck. I almost never have to call a penalty shot. It is not super hard to jar a puck lose from behind if you know what you are doing, but the game doesn't have animations for all those moves. As such, I think the poke from behind is an excellent work around.
  • usaalltheway1
    129 posts Member
    edited December 2016
    Body position trumps attributes . What do I mean by that?

    One of my personal favorite builds for D is Offensive Dman. The agility and control I have with that build is glorious. It can effectively counter any offensive build . It can keep up with a dangler and power forwards are too slow to beat me. I have the best success all by positioning my gap about as tight as can be. The skating ability for offensive d allows for extremely tight gaps . I also use a very underrated tactic of just maneuvering my body position to cause the offensive player to lose control of puck . I don't press the right stick, don't touch Sticklift, dont press poke. If the offensive player has me in a tight spot , that tactic is always one I fall back on and it is extremely effective.

    Now if I pick defensive D or even two way, I don't have the success or nearly as many takeaways simply becuase it's not as fluid of a skater (even though it has a better defensive stick)

    I play offense too and sniper or dangler build is not even fair . I can make even the most hardcore Dmen look silly because on offense , speed trumps puck control . Once I know I have you beat because Im very keen on exposeing the tps a defender has , especially two way or defensive d, you can have 100 in poke checking it's not gonna help (unless I picked enforcer winger for the lols)


  • How about if you spam the poke check, you run the risk of not only taking a penalty, but losing your stick. Ta-Da!!!
  • COGSx86 wrote: »
    Assisted_6 wrote: »
    The thing is. Poke checking is more consistent when poking from behind then it is when you have a good gap on a 1 on 1 when facing the puck carrier. It's hilarious how many times you can see someone get a clear breakaway and have the D beat just to have the guy spamming r1 clearly in a position that should draw a Penalty but instead always knocks the puck loose and kills the scoring chance.

    Yes, and the tripping penalties you get when in perfect position with a 1-on-.........show me a NHL player get a tripping penalty when playing a 1-on-1

    You're not allowed to post things I agree with, Cogs. Please edit your post.

    Seriously, the forward is able to dangle the puck back and forth and between his legs like it was on a string, and despite the puck being right in front of my stick, I can't do much about it. The stick lift and poke check are just too clumsy and slow to be useful in these situations. I don't even care so much where the puck goes as long as that forward can't just dangle around while I look like a blind man with a walking stick.

    Forwards simply don't fear 1 on 1's.
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