Good list by the OP. I didn't read every post, so perhaps this has already been addressed, but the AI needs to change. The current system is nothing more than the AI tracking your movement of the left stick when you have the puck. Then, it goes the opposite of what you're doing when it has the puck. While I can appreciate where this once may have created challenging gameplay, it's just flat out cheesy now. Furthermore, at higher difficulty levels, is able to out-perform the attributes of the player. I use the Hawks in Franchise mode, playing full sim, all-star difficulty. I cannot for the life of me get the edge on any defenseman that is skating backwards, even when I'm skating full speed on the wing with Kane. That is complete nonsense, from a "100% physics based" standpoint.
1. AI players should be tied to their attributes at ALL difficulty levels, and the game's difficulty should be more related to the AI's execution of plays and strategies. They should take a boat load of penalties on Rookie and Semi-pro, and take far fewer penalties on Superstar. There should be a lot more sloppy execution on the lower difficulties, with players being out of position, puck chasing, etc. Those are examples of what should make the game easy on lower difficulties. Ratchet it up to All-star or Superstar, and the AI does a much better job staying disciplined, not going to the box nearly as often. Staying in position, properly handling defensive zone coverage, applying good backchecking pressure in the neutral zone when the human player has the puck. The amount of pressure then is tied to the game situation and the skills of the players on the roster. If a team has a weaker roster, the adjustment should come in the strategy, not magically making player 10 points more agile or aggressive because of the higher difficulty. If they have lowered rated skaters, then the decision should be to play more of a trapping style in the NZ, and allow the transition game to spark the offense, just as one example. On top of that, the game can be made quite dynamic by actually making the fatigue, endurance, poise, and aggressiveness attributes matter. Aggressiveness leads to a player taking more chances, which means sometimes he will step up and make a big hit instead of playing the position. He might also take an elbowing penalty because of his low discipline or poise in a big moment. There's a lot more that I can expound on that, but the idea is simple. Make the attributes matter, and hold the AI players to the same rules as the human players.
2. The skating mechanics need to be consistent for the puck carriers and non-puck carriers. I'll make an effort to record examples of what I'm referring to, but the puck carrier's skating ability is somehow enhanced over a non-puck carrying player, and that has to get balance properly. Again, attributes. An 80 is an 80. A 90 is a 90. Having the ratings matter in all situations, in all game modes, would go a long way to making the game great once again.
- Remove auto pick ups. Very rarely do they EVER help you. They've also made pick ups around the offensive blue line awkward and often ruin prime opportunities by forcing an offside call. They create huge defensive and break out issues. They look cool, sometimes feel cool, but they add nothing positive to gameplay in a competitive setting.
- adjust tie ups around the net. It's unrealistic and it offers nothing to tie somebody up for 3 seconds. Make them ultra quick, give the ability to rotate off them or counter by a shove/cross check.
- don't try buffering cross crease goals by forcing odd passes back to dmen, or by your forwards suddenly becoming the biggest idiot on the ice. A healthy solution to cross crease goals is.....DEFENSE.
- fix gliding on defense. Nobody should be able to glide backwards at the same speed as a streaking forward. In hockey, if you stop moving your feet, you get burnt. Gliding is something you should use only to force someone outside or to eliminate passing and shooting lanes.
- offer 2 sets of controls for auto deke and one for FULL control. There is nothing more frustrating than 'skilled' auto dekers who exploit a newbie game feature. It's absurd and there just isn't enough defensive control to effectively limit their success rates. You should be able to full control your stick handling and dekes should you choose to. These auto dekes were added for the new and casual gamers, but what about those who competitively play and don't want these auto dekes controlling your actions with the puck?
- backhand breakaways are so incredibly hard to execute in real life, yet they are the bread and butter of almost every offensive online player. These goals need to be buffered hardcore. Backhand shots are the least accurate and least successful of all shots. They shouldn't be so effective.
- board pins need work. You should be able to come into a board pin and jam at the puck. Also nobody should be able to explode away from the boards after being pinned, with the puck. It never happens in real hockey.
- find a way to add the ability to swat at opponents sticks. It's an every play occurrence in real hockey, where the defender lays his stick over the offensive player, or gives it a swat, quick whack, etc. It happens far more than poke checking.
- stop making the AI forwards skate towards you for an extra second after you gain possession. Any skilled player can exploit this AI weakness and make online play a total nightmare.
- increase the ability to pick up loose pucks. It's crazy how difficult it is to pick up loose pucks at random times, watching your player swoop 3 times after a loose puck but your opponent can pick it up with ease.
- for the love of God PLEASE MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO ADJUST YOUR DEFENSIVE COVERAGE AND FORWARD STRATEGIES LIKE BEHIND THE NET, CRASH NET at times other than right before a face off. Why in the world do you have less than 3 seconds to make this adjustment?
- why is changing players on ice so incredibly hard whenever your in the defensive zone and under high pressure down low? Why does the game simply not respond to player switches at these moments?
- give EASHL players the opportunity to switch to their opposite wings if the position is available. Give the defense the same opportunity. Make it possible to switch from wing to center in the event your center drops connection, or quits, or flat out sucks at face offs and your opponent is phenomenal at face off tie ups and the winger is good at rushing into the dot and flying to the slot for the guaranteed goals.
There are so many small tweaks the devs could make that would make the online experience so much more fun, user friendly and salvageable for when everything has gone wrong (dropped connections, afk players, leggy connections or just a genuine **** whooping all because your center or Dman, or winger is struggling)
Hustle: Get rid of that, bring back the "push the puck ahead of you" move. That was seriously like the most hockey thing you had in your game!!!!!!!!!!!
- Remove auto pick ups. Very rarely do they EVER help you. They've also made pick ups around the offensive blue line awkward and often ruin prime opportunities by forcing an offside call. They create huge defensive and break out issues. They look cool, sometimes feel cool, but they add nothing positive to gameplay in a competitive setting.
- adjust tie ups around the net. It's unrealistic and it offers nothing to tie somebody up for 3 seconds. Make them ultra quick, give the ability to rotate off them or counter by a shove/cross check.
- don't try buffering cross crease goals by forcing odd passes back to dmen, or by your forwards suddenly becoming the biggest **** on the ice. A healthy solution to cross crease goals is.....DEFENSE.
- fix gliding on defense. Nobody should be able to glide backwards at the same speed as a streaking forward. In hockey, if you stop moving your feet, you get burnt. Gliding is something you should use only to force someone outside or to eliminate passing and shooting lanes.
- offer 2 sets of controls for auto deke and one for FULL control. There is nothing more frustrating than 'skilled' auto dekers who exploit a newbie game feature. It's absurd and there just isn't enough defensive control to effectively limit their success rates. You should be able to full control your stick handling and dekes should you choose to. These auto dekes were added for the new and casual gamers, but what about those who competitively play and don't want these auto dekes controlling your actions with the puck?
- backhand breakaways are so incredibly hard to execute in real life, yet they are the bread and butter of almost every offensive online player. These goals need to be buffered hardcore. Backhand shots are the least accurate and least successful of all shots. They shouldn't be so effective.
- board pins need work. You should be able to come into a board pin and jam at the puck. Also nobody should be able to explode away from the boards after being pinned, with the puck. It never happens in real hockey.
- find a way to add the ability to swat at opponents sticks. It's an every play occurrence in real hockey, where the defender lays his stick over the offensive player, or gives it a swat, quick whack, etc. It happens far more than poke checking.
- stop making the AI forwards skate towards you for an extra second after you gain possession. Any skilled player can exploit this AI weakness and make online play a total nightmare.
- increase the ability to pick up loose pucks. It's crazy how difficult it is to pick up loose pucks at random times, watching your player swoop 3 times after a loose puck but your opponent can pick it up with ease.
- for the love of God PLEASE MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO ADJUST YOUR DEFENSIVE COVERAGE AND FORWARD STRATEGIES LIKE BEHIND THE NET, CRASH NET at times other than right before a face off. Why in the world do you have less than 3 seconds to make this adjustment?
- why is changing players on ice so incredibly hard whenever your in the defensive zone and under high pressure down low? Why does the game simply not respond to player switches at these moments?
- give EASHL players the opportunity to switch to their opposite wings if the position is available. Give the defense the same opportunity. Make it possible to switch from wing to center in the event your center drops connection, or quits, or flat out **** at face offs and your opponent is phenomenal at face off tie ups and the winger is good at rushing into the dot and flying to the slot for the guaranteed goals.
There are so many small tweaks the devs could make that would make the online experience so much more fun, user friendly and salvageable for when everything has gone wrong (dropped connections, afk players, leggy connections or just a genuine **** whooping all because your center or Dman, or winger is struggling)
- Remove auto pick ups. Very rarely do they EVER help you. They've also made pick ups around the offensive blue line awkward and often ruin prime opportunities by forcing an offside call. They create huge defensive and break out issues. They look cool, sometimes feel cool, but they add nothing positive to gameplay in a competitive setting.
- adjust tie ups around the net. It's unrealistic and it offers nothing to tie somebody up for 3 seconds. Make them ultra quick, give the ability to rotate off them or counter by a shove/cross check.
- don't try buffering cross crease goals by forcing odd passes back to dmen, or by your forwards suddenly becoming the biggest **** on the ice. A healthy solution to cross crease goals is.....DEFENSE.
- fix gliding on defense. Nobody should be able to glide backwards at the same speed as a streaking forward. In hockey, if you stop moving your feet, you get burnt. Gliding is something you should use only to force someone outside or to eliminate passing and shooting lanes.
- offer 2 sets of controls for auto deke and one for FULL control. There is nothing more frustrating than 'skilled' auto dekers who exploit a newbie game feature. It's absurd and there just isn't enough defensive control to effectively limit their success rates. You should be able to full control your stick handling and dekes should you choose to. These auto dekes were added for the new and casual gamers, but what about those who competitively play and don't want these auto dekes controlling your actions with the puck?
- backhand breakaways are so incredibly hard to execute in real life, yet they are the bread and butter of almost every offensive online player. These goals need to be buffered hardcore. Backhand shots are the least accurate and least successful of all shots. They shouldn't be so effective.
- board pins need work. You should be able to come into a board pin and jam at the puck. Also nobody should be able to explode away from the boards after being pinned, with the puck. It never happens in real hockey.
- find a way to add the ability to swat at opponents sticks. It's an every play occurrence in real hockey, where the defender lays his stick over the offensive player, or gives it a swat, quick whack, etc. It happens far more than poke checking.
- stop making the AI forwards skate towards you for an extra second after you gain possession. Any skilled player can exploit this AI weakness and make online play a total nightmare.
- increase the ability to pick up loose pucks. It's crazy how difficult it is to pick up loose pucks at random times, watching your player swoop 3 times after a loose puck but your opponent can pick it up with ease.
- for the love of God PLEASE MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO ADJUST YOUR DEFENSIVE COVERAGE AND FORWARD STRATEGIES LIKE BEHIND THE NET, CRASH NET at times other than right before a face off. Why in the world do you have less than 3 seconds to make this adjustment?
- why is changing players on ice so incredibly hard whenever your in the defensive zone and under high pressure down low? Why does the game simply not respond to player switches at these moments?
- give EASHL players the opportunity to switch to their opposite wings if the position is available. Give the defense the same opportunity. Make it possible to switch from wing to center in the event your center drops connection, or quits, or flat out **** at face offs and your opponent is phenomenal at face off tie ups and the winger is good at rushing into the dot and flying to the slot for the guaranteed goals.
There are so many small tweaks the devs could make that would make the online experience so much more fun, user friendly and salvageable for when everything has gone wrong (dropped connections, afk players, leggy connections or just a genuine **** whooping all because your center or Dman, or winger is struggling)
Instead of EXACT or RELAXED. Just let us pick. 5's and 4's clubs dont mind playing each other but do not want to play 3's and 2's clubs.
Please stop feeling the need to protect the lower skilled players from the top players. Currently I believe you can play as low as a DIVISION 5 club when you are in DIVISION 1. Until the community has grown to the point that there is a big playerbase this only punishes everyone. It is just a game...if noobs run into a great team they can back out or quit, but protecting teams only inspires people to remake their clubs and increases matchmaking times.
The early days of EASHL...any team could match up against any team...and the mode still continued to become more popular...
One of the main things id like to see and have wanted personally for years, is some sort of ability to control your stick defensively. Nothing major just as someone who played D almost exclusively id like to have the ability to manual put my stick in passing lanes instead of having to move my body in the lane witch opens up another. Defense feels like a more risk/reward when blocking passing lanes more than it does actually blocking lanes sometimes because in order to block one lane you open up another where as realistically i should be able to cut off two lanes at the same time (depends on proximity but im sure you all get what im getting at)
For example. theres times were theres a pass Straight cross crease that i want to take away, But also therees a pass towards the high slot. i always Defer to cross crease 9/10 times but that opens up the high slot, If i had the ability to move my stick into a lane i could essentially depending on how good my positioning is cover 2 lanes instead of being forced to choose.
Instead of EXACT or RELAXED. Just let us pick. 5's and 4's clubs dont mind playing each other but do not want to play 3's and 2's clubs.
Please stop feeling the need to protect the lower skilled players from the top players. Currently I believe you can play as low as a DIVISION 5 club when you are in DIVISION 1. Until the community has grown to the point that there is a big playerbase this only punishes everyone. It is just a game...if noobs run into a great team they can back out or quit, but protecting teams only inspires people to remake their clubs and increases matchmaking times.
The early days of EASHL...any team could match up against any team...and the mode still continued to become more popular...
I agree with this completely, extrmley realistic. Toronto still has to play teams like the Pens/Hawks ETC even though there not as good. sometimes you just face a team whos better than you. it happens.
1.) Bring back a full skill stick and get rid of auto dekes. This should be a 'must' in NHL 18. I want full control over my player's stick. I'll toe-drag if I want (holding a bumper to initiate it) and all the other useless auto deking. Can't tell you how many times I've been thrown into a toe-drag when I just wanted to go to my backhand. Bring back the old system. Eliminate the "impossible dekes," if needed. They were fun to master, but not all that realistic. Main point is to get 100% control of the stick again.
2.) Captains and assistant captains back in EASHL. Pretty self explanatory here. Not sure why it was taken out in the first place, and totally mind blown it hasn't been added back in.
3.) More logos and uniform choices in EASHL. Also, with uniform choices, more breakdowns for setting up your color scheme on your jersey. There is definitely a better way to describe that, but basically what I mean is that (for example): The striping for the waist area of the jersey should be separate from the arm striping.
4.) I know we have "goalie stances," now but some different skating styles would be a cool addition to choose from. It would give every player a different look. Maybe some players like to bend at the knees more. Some are more upright. Some are choppy skaters, some long strides. Stuff like that which could give each player a different look.
5.) More realistic celebrations. I don't like NBA, NFL, etc. etc. celebrations in a hockey game. More celebrations we see IN HOCKEY would be cool.
This list, besides point 1, is definitely more to presentation aspect of the game. I figured stuff like getting the AI to play better, fixing the skating more, and getting their servers in order are self explanatory and not really new points.
To touch on finding clubs and such... I know Xbox added clubs which have a cool EASHL Free agency you can join, but I really miss "community," that last gen had. Very easy to go in, read the messages, and then check the player out via the "player page," option. Could see clubs joined, club games played, G/A/P/PPG and all that good stuff.
- Remove auto pick ups. Very rarely do they EVER help you. They've also made pick ups around the offensive blue line awkward and often ruin prime opportunities by forcing an offside call. They create huge defensive and break out issues. They look cool, sometimes feel cool, but they add nothing positive to gameplay in a competitive setting.
- adjust tie ups around the net. It's unrealistic and it offers nothing to tie somebody up for 3 seconds. Make them ultra quick, give the ability to rotate off them or counter by a shove/cross check.
- don't try buffering cross crease goals by forcing odd passes back to dmen, or by your forwards suddenly becoming the biggest **** on the ice. A healthy solution to cross crease goals is.....DEFENSE.
- fix gliding on defense. Nobody should be able to glide backwards at the same speed as a streaking forward. In hockey, if you stop moving your feet, you get burnt. Gliding is something you should use only to force someone outside or to eliminate passing and shooting lanes.
- offer 2 sets of controls for auto deke and one for FULL control. There is nothing more frustrating than 'skilled' auto dekers who exploit a newbie game feature. It's absurd and there just isn't enough defensive control to effectively limit their success rates. You should be able to full control your stick handling and dekes should you choose to. These auto dekes were added for the new and casual gamers, but what about those who competitively play and don't want these auto dekes controlling your actions with the puck?
- backhand breakaways are so incredibly hard to execute in real life, yet they are the bread and butter of almost every offensive online player. These goals need to be buffered hardcore. Backhand shots are the least accurate and least successful of all shots. They shouldn't be so effective.
- board pins need work. You should be able to come into a board pin and jam at the puck. Also nobody should be able to explode away from the boards after being pinned, with the puck. It never happens in real hockey.
- find a way to add the ability to swat at opponents sticks. It's an every play occurrence in real hockey, where the defender lays his stick over the offensive player, or gives it a swat, quick whack, etc. It happens far more than poke checking.
- stop making the AI forwards skate towards you for an extra second after you gain possession. Any skilled player can exploit this AI weakness and make online play a total nightmare.
- increase the ability to pick up loose pucks. It's crazy how difficult it is to pick up loose pucks at random times, watching your player swoop 3 times after a loose puck but your opponent can pick it up with ease.
- for the love of God PLEASE MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO ADJUST YOUR DEFENSIVE COVERAGE AND FORWARD STRATEGIES LIKE BEHIND THE NET, CRASH NET at times other than right before a face off. Why in the world do you have less than 3 seconds to make this adjustment?
- why is changing players on ice so incredibly hard whenever your in the defensive zone and under high pressure down low? Why does the game simply not respond to player switches at these moments?
- give EASHL players the opportunity to switch to their opposite wings if the position is available. Give the defense the same opportunity. Make it possible to switch from wing to center in the event your center drops connection, or quits, or flat out **** at face offs and your opponent is phenomenal at face off tie ups and the winger is good at rushing into the dot and flying to the slot for the guaranteed goals.
There are so many small tweaks the devs could make that would make the online experience so much more fun, user friendly and salvageable for when everything has gone wrong (dropped connections, afk players, leggy connections or just a genuine **** whooping all because your center or Dman, or winger is struggling)
These. Particularly the wack the stick idea. Also, create loose pucks again. Poke checks don't move the puck AGAIN this year. Remove the bubbles when hitting somebody. I know you're an enforcer and you're getting hit by a two-way forward, but if you're lined up, that puck should at the very least pop loose. Ya know, if you do a windmill deke or a "loose puck deke", and you get hit, the way the puck pops out looks a lot more realistic. Why they can't implement the physics for regular hits that match this blows my mind. If you get lined up now, the puck just stops stuck under the forward so he can get up and get it right back again. I remember in the beta, this didn't happen and they were proud about how they invested time into it so that it didn't. But now, hitting is right back to NHL 13 (or 14 or 15 or 16).
Give AI defense the ability to poke check somebody that's on a breakaway rather than just staring at him skating behind him. Allow AI goalies to not look like complete tools on every breakaway.
Tone down the ridiculous tips/deflections where pucks are pre-programmed to hit the guy 8 feet wide of the net.
Make stick tie ups easier to get into.
Fix shooting animations. They're god awful and unreleastic.
Tone down shot accuracy, speed of passing, pass reception ease and goalie reflexes (so the game looks like hockey, instead of NHL 2k9).
Fix goalies in general. Clipping, you shouldn't have to have still feet to make a save, the goal post bubble, the goalie interferences, poor rebounds, poor reaction times to said rebounds, maybe make a penalty to goal line goaltending (maybe some type of penalty that works on a distance to the net in relevance to where the shot is taken in coordination to how close the puck is to the goalie) so that goaltenders are forced to challenge shooters.
Allow us more control of skating off the puck (and slowed skating with the puck) so we can actually turn our skaters in the direction we want them to turn).
So what does all of this do? Hold players accountable and gives skill back to the game. Good scoring chances are now created, and not gifted randomly. Players will have to be open to receive passes, no more skating into players offensively, but rely on keeping the puck away from sticks. Good one timers will go in (as they should if not anticipated by the goalie), more realistic goals, more realistic looking rebounds, more goal diversity, ugly goals looking like legit ugly goals. Shots will look less arcadey, rather than everything being a snipe. The game will look like hockey again!
Good list by the OP. I didn't read every post, so perhaps this has already been addressed, but the AI needs to change. The current system is nothing more than the AI tracking your movement of the left stick when you have the puck. Then, it goes the opposite of what you're doing when it has the puck. While I can appreciate where this once may have created challenging gameplay, it's just flat out cheesy now. Furthermore, at higher difficulty levels, is able to out-perform the attributes of the player. I use the Hawks in Franchise mode, playing full sim, all-star difficulty. I cannot for the life of me get the edge on any defenseman that is skating backwards, even when I'm skating full speed on the wing with Kane. That is complete nonsense, from a "100% physics based" standpoint.
1. AI players should be tied to their attributes at ALL difficulty levels, and the game's difficulty should be more related to the AI's execution of plays and strategies. They should take a boat load of penalties on Rookie and Semi-pro, and take far fewer penalties on Superstar. There should be a lot more sloppy execution on the lower difficulties, with players being out of position, puck chasing, etc. Those are examples of what should make the game easy on lower difficulties. Ratchet it up to All-star or Superstar, and the AI does a much better job staying disciplined, not going to the box nearly as often. Staying in position, properly handling defensive zone coverage, applying good backchecking pressure in the neutral zone when the human player has the puck. The amount of pressure then is tied to the game situation and the skills of the players on the roster. If a team has a weaker roster, the adjustment should come in the strategy, not magically making player 10 points more agile or aggressive because of the higher difficulty. If they have lowered rated skaters, then the decision should be to play more of a trapping style in the NZ, and allow the transition game to spark the offense, just as one example. On top of that, the game can be made quite dynamic by actually making the fatigue, endurance, poise, and aggressiveness attributes matter. Aggressiveness leads to a player taking more chances, which means sometimes he will step up and make a big hit instead of playing the position. He might also take an elbowing penalty because of his low discipline or poise in a big moment. There's a lot more that I can expound on that, but the idea is simple. Make the attributes matter, and hold the AI players to the same rules as the human players.
2. The skating mechanics need to be consistent for the puck carriers and non-puck carriers. I'll make an effort to record examples of what I'm referring to, but the puck carrier's skating ability is somehow enhanced over a non-puck carrying player, and that has to get balance properly. Again, attributes. An 80 is an 80. A 90 is a 90. Having the ratings matter in all situations, in all game modes, would go a long way to making the game great once again.
This is a great post but I don't believe EA has the capabilities to make those type of changes to the AI. Right now, with many users dumping money in to HUT I really believe there is no incentive for them to make drastic gameplay adjustments.
I think EA has the ability. The demo was fantastic. It had glitches, but the gameplay was the best it's felt since nhl12/13.
The defensive side of the game would make a huge improvement. If they could sort out the board pins, improve poke checking options and puck reactions, that alone would help a lot in combating the unrealistic super human keep-away players.
I'd like to see the full skill stick back for offense, tied in with more falling over/fumbling for the loopers and guys who hold the puck back behind their skate. Simple mechanics for now would help.
EA tried making the game more accessible in a competitive way for the casual gamers, but it really alienated the players who take it semi-serious and those who are hardcore. It wouldn't be hard to offer another set of controller settings for the hardcore guys. I get why they did it, but they are what, 3-4 releases into making the game more accessible to newcomers and the fan base has become hostile and online gameplay participation has to have decreased and haven't realized it was a mistake.
Okay, if we are going to get any fixes/suggestions/additions to gameplay....or the removal of things we want to see gone in next years game...now is the time to talk about it...NOT in MAY or JUNE next year.
If the things we talk about in this thread are completely ignored, then we will know our input is not valued.
This thread is to tell the DEVS what we want, and it is not to rant.
1. Slap passes...a good thing to have in the game...except the game does not register them as a pass therefore receptions and the ability to one-time a slap pass do not work as they should...fixing this would allow for more strategies to be employed which widens the skill gap and allows for more creativity.
2. Blue line deflection entries...this has become a staple of the NHL in real-life. If a forward is not given the puck on a breakout he parks it at the blue-line and is an option for his team to slap the puck at him from behind center ice and he deflects the puck into the zone and acts as an alternative dump-in. This is not only realistic but it allows for more strategies to be employed which widens the skill gap and allows for more creativity.
3. Shooting animations/animations in general/the "storing" of animations after a player has whiffed on a puck where the player proceeds to take multiple swings at the puck after he has already whiffed once just because of a simple programming error....or a complex programming error...this needs to be addressed because it is something everyone who has played this game has encountered.
4. Blocked shots...try and follow me here...I will do my best to put this in words and I hope you all agree. When you block a shot while just standing your player will do the "I just got hit by a puck that hurt badly animation" and the problem isn't that animation...the problem is the reaction of the puck. Most blocked shots in real-life do not go from 80MPH to 5MPH after hitting the player. The puck should glance off players in most cases and only a firm hit to the torso or upper body should produce a puck that remains in the same area of the block. What I am saying is...most blocks that hit the legs should be glancing hits that keep their speed and are now moving 40MPH into wherever...just not right next to the player. Legs are round...only a rare dead on hit to the shinsguards or thighs should produce a juicy puck to pick up and the ones that are to the sides of the shins and thighs should glance...keep their speed...and erratically fly into the corners with speed. This may be minor but many of us have saw a 100MPH shot be blocked and fall dead at the player who blocked the shot only to have the other team grab it while your G is still in a save animation and they get a free goal.
5. A new concept of poking needs to be discussed, I don't know how well received this would be because it would really be a huge defensive tool. If players were able to use "puck chop" as "poke check" it would be way more realistic. NHL players do not often do a traditional poke-check like we see in the game. In a one on one scenario where a defenseman is backskating if d men could swipe at the puck that the forward is carelessly putting right in front of our face that would force people to pass more and actually play hockey. Carrying the puck is way more common in this game then in real life and there are top teams that don't even bother poke checking in alot of scenarios because it is not worth risking the penalty. When you play against top teams the skaters make sure to constantly twitch their player out and the ability to put your stick out and maintain speed that has been brought back allows for player agility to be at an all-time high...which I am fine with...but defense needs a buff and this would be it in my opinion.
6. COD: Infinite Warfare is garbage....don't buy it : )
What do you guys think...we need to put this stuff out there as they are making the game and not after the game is basically completed.
1. I agree with entirely, slap passes are sometimes best used by d-men looking to hit a forward for a one timer in the offensive zone. Ray Bourque was great at the slap pass.
2. This and maybe also give the player the ability to catch the puck or knock it down with his glove onto the ice in front of him. Having this would allow for a little more open ice play which isn't exactly a bad thing, especially in the EASHL where defense is just a suggestion.
3. I agree, though I do not see it often enough for it to be bothersome.
4. If I follow correctly, you want the puck to act realistically to blocked shot situations. Nothing wrong with that at all really. I have the same gripes.
5. I don't think as a whole poke checking needs to be fixed, I like the risk/reward balance, I personally use very look effectiveness settings on franchise mode so it does not become an over used or overpowered technique. What I would love is to be able to have the ability to do a sweep check where you move your stick in I think it's a 45 to 60 degree sweep, it could be pretty effective on the PK or on 2 on 1 breakouts. Ideally having more control of your stick would make defense more balanced.
6. I haven't played the game so I refuse to hop on board and bash the game
Poke checking is something I brushed upon too. Like Sneakler said & you're own opinion, there does need to be a way to swipe, whack & "poke" at the puck. This one dimensional poke is so easy to avoid & exploit against by holding the puck out far & away, or back & away. It's just silly to be forced to weirdly push & poke at the puck, rather than being able to do short sweeps & whacks to disrupt the carrier.
The more defensive control & flexibility will force everyone to be more creative. Less puck possession capability will force people to be much more creative to create scoring chances.
It's beyond frustrating & lame as you enter the top 500 in VS and no opponents utilize dump ins, cycling or grinding things out down low. They carry it in along the boards, drop pass back to the trailing Dman into the zone & begin their superhuman dance into the slot , pull back & wait for the goalie twitch and shoot top far corner.
I avoid the high percentage goals on a regular basis, until I've had a bunch scored on me by someone who refuses to play competitively. This game is fun, intense & high energy when your opponent plays a solid, tough game without the go-to goals.
Replies
1. AI players should be tied to their attributes at ALL difficulty levels, and the game's difficulty should be more related to the AI's execution of plays and strategies. They should take a boat load of penalties on Rookie and Semi-pro, and take far fewer penalties on Superstar. There should be a lot more sloppy execution on the lower difficulties, with players being out of position, puck chasing, etc. Those are examples of what should make the game easy on lower difficulties. Ratchet it up to All-star or Superstar, and the AI does a much better job staying disciplined, not going to the box nearly as often. Staying in position, properly handling defensive zone coverage, applying good backchecking pressure in the neutral zone when the human player has the puck. The amount of pressure then is tied to the game situation and the skills of the players on the roster. If a team has a weaker roster, the adjustment should come in the strategy, not magically making player 10 points more agile or aggressive because of the higher difficulty. If they have lowered rated skaters, then the decision should be to play more of a trapping style in the NZ, and allow the transition game to spark the offense, just as one example. On top of that, the game can be made quite dynamic by actually making the fatigue, endurance, poise, and aggressiveness attributes matter. Aggressiveness leads to a player taking more chances, which means sometimes he will step up and make a big hit instead of playing the position. He might also take an elbowing penalty because of his low discipline or poise in a big moment. There's a lot more that I can expound on that, but the idea is simple. Make the attributes matter, and hold the AI players to the same rules as the human players.
2. The skating mechanics need to be consistent for the puck carriers and non-puck carriers. I'll make an effort to record examples of what I'm referring to, but the puck carrier's skating ability is somehow enhanced over a non-puck carrying player, and that has to get balance properly. Again, attributes. An 80 is an 80. A 90 is a 90. Having the ratings matter in all situations, in all game modes, would go a long way to making the game great once again.
- adjust tie ups around the net. It's unrealistic and it offers nothing to tie somebody up for 3 seconds. Make them ultra quick, give the ability to rotate off them or counter by a shove/cross check.
- don't try buffering cross crease goals by forcing odd passes back to dmen, or by your forwards suddenly becoming the biggest idiot on the ice. A healthy solution to cross crease goals is.....DEFENSE.
- fix gliding on defense. Nobody should be able to glide backwards at the same speed as a streaking forward. In hockey, if you stop moving your feet, you get burnt. Gliding is something you should use only to force someone outside or to eliminate passing and shooting lanes.
- offer 2 sets of controls for auto deke and one for FULL control. There is nothing more frustrating than 'skilled' auto dekers who exploit a newbie game feature. It's absurd and there just isn't enough defensive control to effectively limit their success rates. You should be able to full control your stick handling and dekes should you choose to. These auto dekes were added for the new and casual gamers, but what about those who competitively play and don't want these auto dekes controlling your actions with the puck?
- backhand breakaways are so incredibly hard to execute in real life, yet they are the bread and butter of almost every offensive online player. These goals need to be buffered hardcore. Backhand shots are the least accurate and least successful of all shots. They shouldn't be so effective.
- board pins need work. You should be able to come into a board pin and jam at the puck. Also nobody should be able to explode away from the boards after being pinned, with the puck. It never happens in real hockey.
- find a way to add the ability to swat at opponents sticks. It's an every play occurrence in real hockey, where the defender lays his stick over the offensive player, or gives it a swat, quick whack, etc. It happens far more than poke checking.
- stop making the AI forwards skate towards you for an extra second after you gain possession. Any skilled player can exploit this AI weakness and make online play a total nightmare.
- increase the ability to pick up loose pucks. It's crazy how difficult it is to pick up loose pucks at random times, watching your player swoop 3 times after a loose puck but your opponent can pick it up with ease.
- for the love of God PLEASE MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO ADJUST YOUR DEFENSIVE COVERAGE AND FORWARD STRATEGIES LIKE BEHIND THE NET, CRASH NET at times other than right before a face off. Why in the world do you have less than 3 seconds to make this adjustment?
- why is changing players on ice so incredibly hard whenever your in the defensive zone and under high pressure down low? Why does the game simply not respond to player switches at these moments?
- give EASHL players the opportunity to switch to their opposite wings if the position is available. Give the defense the same opportunity. Make it possible to switch from wing to center in the event your center drops connection, or quits, or flat out sucks at face offs and your opponent is phenomenal at face off tie ups and the winger is good at rushing into the dot and flying to the slot for the guaranteed goals.
There are so many small tweaks the devs could make that would make the online experience so much more fun, user friendly and salvageable for when everything has gone wrong (dropped connections, afk players, leggy connections or just a genuine **** whooping all because your center or Dman, or winger is struggling)
All good suggestions.
lmao
Indeed. very good.
Instead of EXACT or RELAXED. Just let us pick. 5's and 4's clubs dont mind playing each other but do not want to play 3's and 2's clubs.
Please stop feeling the need to protect the lower skilled players from the top players. Currently I believe you can play as low as a DIVISION 5 club when you are in DIVISION 1. Until the community has grown to the point that there is a big playerbase this only punishes everyone. It is just a game...if noobs run into a great team they can back out or quit, but protecting teams only inspires people to remake their clubs and increases matchmaking times.
The early days of EASHL...any team could match up against any team...and the mode still continued to become more popular...
For example. theres times were theres a pass Straight cross crease that i want to take away, But also therees a pass towards the high slot. i always Defer to cross crease 9/10 times but that opens up the high slot, If i had the ability to move my stick into a lane i could essentially depending on how good my positioning is cover 2 lanes instead of being forced to choose.
I agree with this completely, extrmley realistic. Toronto still has to play teams like the Pens/Hawks ETC even though there not as good. sometimes you just face a team whos better than you. it happens.
1.) Bring back a full skill stick and get rid of auto dekes. This should be a 'must' in NHL 18. I want full control over my player's stick. I'll toe-drag if I want (holding a bumper to initiate it) and all the other useless auto deking. Can't tell you how many times I've been thrown into a toe-drag when I just wanted to go to my backhand. Bring back the old system. Eliminate the "impossible dekes," if needed. They were fun to master, but not all that realistic. Main point is to get 100% control of the stick again.
2.) Captains and assistant captains back in EASHL. Pretty self explanatory here. Not sure why it was taken out in the first place, and totally mind blown it hasn't been added back in.
3.) More logos and uniform choices in EASHL. Also, with uniform choices, more breakdowns for setting up your color scheme on your jersey. There is definitely a better way to describe that, but basically what I mean is that (for example): The striping for the waist area of the jersey should be separate from the arm striping.
4.) I know we have "goalie stances," now but some different skating styles would be a cool addition to choose from. It would give every player a different look. Maybe some players like to bend at the knees more. Some are more upright. Some are choppy skaters, some long strides. Stuff like that which could give each player a different look.
5.) More realistic celebrations. I don't like NBA, NFL, etc. etc. celebrations in a hockey game. More celebrations we see IN HOCKEY would be cool.
This list, besides point 1, is definitely more to presentation aspect of the game. I figured stuff like getting the AI to play better, fixing the skating more, and getting their servers in order are self explanatory and not really new points.
These. Particularly the wack the stick idea. Also, create loose pucks again. Poke checks don't move the puck AGAIN this year. Remove the bubbles when hitting somebody. I know you're an enforcer and you're getting hit by a two-way forward, but if you're lined up, that puck should at the very least pop loose. Ya know, if you do a windmill deke or a "loose puck deke", and you get hit, the way the puck pops out looks a lot more realistic. Why they can't implement the physics for regular hits that match this blows my mind. If you get lined up now, the puck just stops stuck under the forward so he can get up and get it right back again. I remember in the beta, this didn't happen and they were proud about how they invested time into it so that it didn't. But now, hitting is right back to NHL 13 (or 14 or 15 or 16).
Give AI defense the ability to poke check somebody that's on a breakaway rather than just staring at him skating behind him. Allow AI goalies to not look like complete tools on every breakaway.
Tone down the ridiculous tips/deflections where pucks are pre-programmed to hit the guy 8 feet wide of the net.
Make stick tie ups easier to get into.
Fix shooting animations. They're god awful and unreleastic.
Tone down shot accuracy, speed of passing, pass reception ease and goalie reflexes (so the game looks like hockey, instead of NHL 2k9).
Fix goalies in general. Clipping, you shouldn't have to have still feet to make a save, the goal post bubble, the goalie interferences, poor rebounds, poor reaction times to said rebounds, maybe make a penalty to goal line goaltending (maybe some type of penalty that works on a distance to the net in relevance to where the shot is taken in coordination to how close the puck is to the goalie) so that goaltenders are forced to challenge shooters.
Allow us more control of skating off the puck (and slowed skating with the puck) so we can actually turn our skaters in the direction we want them to turn).
So what does all of this do? Hold players accountable and gives skill back to the game. Good scoring chances are now created, and not gifted randomly. Players will have to be open to receive passes, no more skating into players offensively, but rely on keeping the puck away from sticks. Good one timers will go in (as they should if not anticipated by the goalie), more realistic goals, more realistic looking rebounds, more goal diversity, ugly goals looking like legit ugly goals. Shots will look less arcadey, rather than everything being a snipe. The game will look like hockey again!
This is a great post but I don't believe EA has the capabilities to make those type of changes to the AI. Right now, with many users dumping money in to HUT I really believe there is no incentive for them to make drastic gameplay adjustments.
The defensive side of the game would make a huge improvement. If they could sort out the board pins, improve poke checking options and puck reactions, that alone would help a lot in combating the unrealistic super human keep-away players.
I'd like to see the full skill stick back for offense, tied in with more falling over/fumbling for the loopers and guys who hold the puck back behind their skate. Simple mechanics for now would help.
EA tried making the game more accessible in a competitive way for the casual gamers, but it really alienated the players who take it semi-serious and those who are hardcore. It wouldn't be hard to offer another set of controller settings for the hardcore guys. I get why they did it, but they are what, 3-4 releases into making the game more accessible to newcomers and the fan base has become hostile and online gameplay participation has to have decreased and haven't realized it was a mistake.
1. I agree with entirely, slap passes are sometimes best used by d-men looking to hit a forward for a one timer in the offensive zone. Ray Bourque was great at the slap pass.
2. This and maybe also give the player the ability to catch the puck or knock it down with his glove onto the ice in front of him. Having this would allow for a little more open ice play which isn't exactly a bad thing, especially in the EASHL where defense is just a suggestion.
3. I agree, though I do not see it often enough for it to be bothersome.
4. If I follow correctly, you want the puck to act realistically to blocked shot situations. Nothing wrong with that at all really. I have the same gripes.
5. I don't think as a whole poke checking needs to be fixed, I like the risk/reward balance, I personally use very look effectiveness settings on franchise mode so it does not become an over used or overpowered technique. What I would love is to be able to have the ability to do a sweep check where you move your stick in I think it's a 45 to 60 degree sweep, it could be pretty effective on the PK or on 2 on 1 breakouts. Ideally having more control of your stick would make defense more balanced.
6. I haven't played the game so I refuse to hop on board and bash the game
The more defensive control & flexibility will force everyone to be more creative. Less puck possession capability will force people to be much more creative to create scoring chances.
It's beyond frustrating & lame as you enter the top 500 in VS and no opponents utilize dump ins, cycling or grinding things out down low. They carry it in along the boards, drop pass back to the trailing Dman into the zone & begin their superhuman dance into the slot , pull back & wait for the goalie twitch and shoot top far corner.
I avoid the high percentage goals on a regular basis, until I've had a bunch scored on me by someone who refuses to play competitively. This game is fun, intense & high energy when your opponent plays a solid, tough game without the go-to goals.