Is it worth having a high rated team.
I have a team rated 91 when I play against players with silvers or low golds I get ripped. So I tried my 80 overall team won 5 straight. I know EA wants competitive but they should adjust AI skill to even the overalls out. I suck at poke checks and stick lifts with my 91 team, my 80 overall I’m a poke checking stick lifting fool.
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Great question. I feel the better my team gets the worse they play. When I had a low 80s team my passing percentage was 80-85% when my team was around an 85 my passing percentage was 75-79% now my team is a 90 overall and my passing percentage is around 65-70%. I’m losing more games with my better team despite playing the same types of opponents I’ve been playing all year. My ranking hasn’t changed so my match ups haven’t really changed. It’s bizarre.
Are we to be told this is all in our heads again? Gimme a break here.
Why is my high rated team playing worse than my lower one? The higher team can't skate! This is ridiculous.
i've been testing this for a couple weeks with highest ratings vs unlocking syngergies and nothing has worked until mixing the levels and only using specialty golds and then only those i picked up in sets or buying the game.
i changed up my lineup by starting 58 Goalie Dustin Wolf and 87 Billy Smith on the bench (my highest rated G). this kept my GOA higher than going with another silver or bronze to unlock a team synergy.
took out base PK Subban, Erik Karlsson and Blake Wheeler who i had on the Blueline to activate BE and replaced them with 2 ToW Silvers and Bronze Ian Walker. my other 3 a ToW Burns and and the Morgan Rielly and Tyler Myers Thanksgiving cards from challenges and sets.
my FWDs included the Gretzky and Lefluer from buying the game and Legends Probie and Chicken Parm and Alumni Howie Morenze. the rest were silvers and bronzes and ToWs when possible.
i think that turned on PP, CS and BE and instead of trying to make lines like real life with a playmaker, shooter and grinder i made all the lines with the same type of player and changed strategies to match. grinders to the net, overload for playmakers and shooters behind the net.
i really do think the AI worked harder to cover zones in the D-zone and breakouts when i forced a turnover. the one bad thing was my bronze players got blown up alot and suffered a ton of injuries. but they'd get rid of that puck and connect on a pass or even score a goal before they go limping off.
next up i'm going to test subing players out rather than extend the contracts for non-legends and sub specialty cards for other specialty cards. but only Legends get new contracts for the next week or 2.
We are told this, if we weren't told this EA wouldn't sell those crazy packs.
Silver goalie and bronze back up... I was flying, scoring, and broke a losing streak.
I will always run a mixed lineup
I've played this game for decades. .. this is the way to go.
No disrespect, but I want to control the players I'm familiar with.
I play this game to enjoy the stars and to put aside the stress of everyday life. But if you're telling me a mixed line-up is the way to go.....alright, no problem.......but damn.
all good.
The easiest and surest way to get an immediate advantage. Buy this is hardly the case in HUT especially in divisions 10 - 5.
Guess I’m in the minority of this topic.
I didnt have the problems with high rank versus mixed rank until I hit 6th. It took me 5 seasons of holding to get to 5th. Once I hit 5th it’s the mixed bag. I know I’m not great and won’t challenge #1 but look at the top 100 leaderboard there are a good number of 80-90 rated teams. There is one team in top 25 rated 79. Where I think the biggest boost comes is in the poke checking and stick lifting. When i face a mixed team lower rank it seems they never get called and they spam the x and R1. I try 1 poke check whistle. I have said it it’s like your difficulty is set to superstar and theirs is rookie. I had and 89 Moog last night give up 11 goals on 14 shots. He stayed right in the middle of the net never flinched. 4 goals game from blue line slap shots, not even we’ll set up ones just normal pass and blast. And it seems when it’s that way my AI defense is afraid of the puck or carrier.
After some beginners luck in Division 10 and 9 I hit the roof in Division 8 and got relegated with just one win all season; then the same in Division 9 so back to Division 10 a few weeks ago. Since then I've won both the Division 10 and 9 championship and now I'm back in Div 8 to see how I fair with a better team than I had before and more experience of the game.
I don't buy this idea that gold rare and silver teams are better than mine where most of my top three lines have speed and acceleration of 98 or 99 (thanks to having BU activated) and shot power and accuracy over 90.
What I can totally appreciate is that there are many players out there who can get more out of a lesser team than mine because they have played the game longer (in some cases a lot longer than me), and younger players with much better eye to hand coordination than an old man like me.
If I sold all my 90-94 rated players I could easily make a team of base gold rare and silver players. I could also easily make 3-4 million coins when I sell them, but what would I spend them on - apart from better players...
Edit: I just would like to point out that the majority of players I have to unlock burner are all primarily free:
Gartner 91 (Milestone) +1 BU
Moog 89 (Milestone) + 1 BU
Hrudey (Legend Set)* +1 BU
O’reilly 85 (Seasonal Challenge) +1 BU
Dale Peterson (Head Coach) +3 BU
The above are all attainable at virtually no personal cost. Hrudey* can be built by doing gold collectibles, (only gold collectibles needed) daily. He’s also one of the cheapest legends on the auction house, should you feel the need.
The last 3 you need for BU can essentially be your 4th line if you can’t find any decent. Most players have HUT Cover McDavid for example. Seguin & base Gilmour are also good cheap viable BU cards.
I lucked out on an 82 TOTW Ben Bishop BR for the 2/2 rare re-roll (free Sakic Milestone completion step). He’s such a joy as a starter at 6’ 7” for my BR lineup. Just make sure to keep all shots at the perimeter (& or tight in close). Hrudey, once again, with his 3 insane synergies, plays a vital backup role.
I feel the game compensates for its self one way or another. I've played guys with much better teams than mine and I can catch them on breakaways, knock them down or deke their pants off.
It's kinda crappy you play hard to earn packs, play the market, complete the achievements and your stuck getting beat by someone with a pure CHL Team.
At the same time, it's nice to know someone who drops 100's of dollars every week/month on packs isn't going to come in an steamroll you everytime.
It would just be nice if EA found a better way to balance the match ups or team skill levels.
-Oh well
But i've also been on the other end where someone who has a lot of success with a team like this and walked all over them, ie a opponent last week was 34-3 with a low rated team and my team just walked all over him. His players were slow, pulling their feet out of mud every time they took a pass...
some say its connection, some say synergies... there's no real answer, this question has always been brought up since ive been on this form 8 years ago.