As far as I know, the canal rink with the most extreme ice surface shadows has been removed out of the Drop in 3v3 and Drop in 6v6 rotation for over a month.
In the last patch, the art team had attempted to lessen the shadows as the high level direction was to keep that rink in the game if possible.
You wouldn't see an art director just turn off shadows in the game but on the gameplay side, we are obviously looking out for player experiences beyond just the immersion pieces generated by the environment so we had asked for them to improve the shadows and when that didn't work as well as we had hoped, we asked for them to go further and remove that rink from the rotation.
So as many of you have speculated, some changes are quicker and easier than others but updating art requires a patch, where as removing a rink from the rotation is quicker to do -- other than getting the green light to do something like that.
The rink would still remains in Threes and Ones as it is part of the progression but I believe the main ask from most of you was about Drop In anyways.
Out of curiosity, knowing how the bulk of the community feels about what happened to drop in, are you folks going to address this in 21, or are we still stuck in with a mode that we really don't want?
I doubt it. This was the big thing for NHL19. If you turn your back on it after 2 years you're admitting to a big mistake and heads may need to roll etc. Whereas if you just say there are mixed results and spin the numbers into your narrative then your big idea 2-3 years from now can be going back to arenas for dropins and you're still a genius.
This is year 2 of it. Last year we had 1 rink for drop ins. We all asked them to roll it back, and instead they made it worse. I don't get it. They know how unpopular the choices were.
Go take a look at social media and you will see alot, and I mean alot of people enjoy the whole CHEL thing and 1800 items to dress up your avatar.
I hate it by this point, but sadly, those that hate it seem to be a minority.
i wouldn't believe "social media" too often. anyone that thinks there's any validity behind it or trusts anything in social media at this point is insane. most areas of WoC are dead. i've never met anyone that plays this game that goes online to discuss this game in any fashion short of league sites, discord and twitch.
This move clearly didn't bring in the casuals that they were hoping for. So, change it back... at least for 6's. Or give us the option to choose what kind of drop-in format we want to play. If people are worried about fragmenting the community further, they can add 3 options in matchmaking. Search for Classic Drop-in, Clown Gear Mode, and No Preference for people who just want to play. This change should never have been forced on us.
This move clearly didn't bring in the casuals that they were hoping for. So, change it back... at least for 6's. Or give us the option to choose what kind of drop-in format we want to play. If people are worried about fragmenting the community further, they can add 3 options in matchmaking. Search for Classic Drop-in, Clown Gear Mode, and No Preference for people who just want to play. This change should never have been forced on us.
I think having a vote system for the "map" you want to play in would speak volumes about what the community wants. You either vote Casual or Arena. Boom, that simple. Would drastically change it up and add variety.
For even more wow factor, take maybe the top 3 clubs and put their arena in the "map rotation" as a reward and display the club name on center ice. So 1 random EASHL arena and 3 club arenas and 3 outdoor rinks. Seems like a decent choice for a year or 2, no? For the arena games, maybe have 4 or 6 random uniforms instead of always the Hammerheads vs the Lions or whatever it is. Can change up the cycle of available uniforms once a month.
This move clearly didn't bring in the casuals that they were hoping for. So, change it back... at least for 6's. Or give us the option to choose what kind of drop-in format we want to play. If people are worried about fragmenting the community further, they can add 3 options in matchmaking. Search for Classic Drop-in, Clown Gear Mode, and No Preference for people who just want to play. This change should never have been forced on us.
I think having a vote system for the "map" you want to play in would speak volumes about what the community wants. You either vote Casual or Arena. Boom, that simple. Would drastically change it up and add variety.
For even more wow factor, take maybe the top 3 clubs and put their arena in the "map rotation" as a reward and display the club name on center ice. So 1 random EASHL arena and 3 club arenas and 3 outdoor rinks. Seems like a decent choice for a year or 2, no? For the arena games, maybe have 4 or 6 random uniforms instead of always the Hammerheads vs the Lions or whatever it is. Can change up the cycle of available uniforms once a month.
its really simple... i don't care what it looks like outside of the boards, its about the ice surface.
the ice should be completely consistent and look exactly the same all over, just like club/hut/vs. The fact that it doesn't tells me they they think drop in 6s is a joke mode basically to be made fun of but definitely not to be taken serious. Makes sense that they included clown gear to go with the mode.
This move clearly didn't bring in the casuals that they were hoping for. So, change it back... at least for 6's. Or give us the option to choose what kind of drop-in format we want to play. If people are worried about fragmenting the community further, they can add 3 options in matchmaking. Search for Classic Drop-in, Clown Gear Mode, and No Preference for people who just want to play. This change should never have been forced on us.
I think having a vote system for the "map" you want to play in would speak volumes about what the community wants. You either vote Casual or Arena. Boom, that simple. Would drastically change it up and add variety.
For even more wow factor, take maybe the top 3 clubs and put their arena in the "map rotation" as a reward and display the club name on center ice. So 1 random EASHL arena and 3 club arenas and 3 outdoor rinks. Seems like a decent choice for a year or 2, no? For the arena games, maybe have 4 or 6 random uniforms instead of always the Hammerheads vs the Lions or whatever it is. Can change up the cycle of available uniforms once a month.
You would already be voting by choosing a matchmaking option. I wouldn't want to be dropped into a lobby and then have to play with ODR and clown gear because people in that lobby voted for it. People would just back out of the lobby. The whole point is to allow players to play the way they want and to match up with people who have the same preference as you.
Nobody cares about the top clubs except for the few teams competing for those spots. So, I wouldn't want to play in their arena. I would prefer to choose one of the real life teams like the habs and everybody have the same uniforms. EA could even upgrade the old drop-in format by allowing people to play in the home team's arena and have the associated presentation that they have already built for the other modes. If it is a team that they only have the uniforms for, then they can use a generic arena like we had in the old drop-in.
> @Mr_Darklighter said: > Ya know we shouldn't be forced to play club just to get a clean distraction free sheet of ice to play on. Keep the outdoor stuff fine but news flash EA... just because it is out doors does not mean a rink is blue... and then to make away jerseys grey... what were you thinking. > > At the very least remove the canal map from rotation. For the love of god why has this not been addressed?
I was not a fan of the outdoor rinks in drop-in during the beta.
> @Mr_Darklighter said:
> Ya know we shouldn't be forced to play club just to get a clean distraction free sheet of ice to play on. Keep the outdoor stuff fine but news flash EA... just because it is out doors does not mean a rink is blue... and then to make away jerseys grey... what were you thinking.
>
> At the very least remove the canal map from rotation. For the love of god why has this not been addressed?
I was not a fan of the outdoor rinks in drop-in during the beta.
> @Mr_Darklighter said:
> Ya know we shouldn't be forced to play club just to get a clean distraction free sheet of ice to play on. Keep the outdoor stuff fine but news flash EA... just because it is out doors does not mean a rink is blue... and then to make away jerseys grey... what were you thinking.
>
> At the very least remove the canal map from rotation. For the love of god why has this not been addressed?
I was not a fan of the outdoor rinks in drop-in during the beta.
> @Mr_Darklighter said:
> Ya know we shouldn't be forced to play club just to get a clean distraction free sheet of ice to play on. Keep the outdoor stuff fine but news flash EA... just because it is out doors does not mean a rink is blue... and then to make away jerseys grey... what were you thinking.
>
> At the very least remove the canal map from rotation. For the love of god why has this not been addressed?
I was not a fan of the outdoor rinks in drop-in during the beta.
Any word on if we can use normal arenas and gear next year? Isnt there way it can just be skinned? Like people can see what they want to see but nothing changes fundamentally from the gameplay. Like old school computer games. I'd have my own character skins that only I could see, the only way other people could see them is if they had the same one downloaded. This just be possible with a bit of work. Then everyone can be happy.
Replies
i wouldn't believe "social media" too often. anyone that thinks there's any validity behind it or trusts anything in social media at this point is insane. most areas of WoC are dead. i've never met anyone that plays this game that goes online to discuss this game in any fashion short of league sites, discord and twitch.
I think having a vote system for the "map" you want to play in would speak volumes about what the community wants. You either vote Casual or Arena. Boom, that simple. Would drastically change it up and add variety.
For even more wow factor, take maybe the top 3 clubs and put their arena in the "map rotation" as a reward and display the club name on center ice. So 1 random EASHL arena and 3 club arenas and 3 outdoor rinks. Seems like a decent choice for a year or 2, no? For the arena games, maybe have 4 or 6 random uniforms instead of always the Hammerheads vs the Lions or whatever it is. Can change up the cycle of available uniforms once a month.
its really simple... i don't care what it looks like outside of the boards, its about the ice surface.
the ice should be completely consistent and look exactly the same all over, just like club/hut/vs. The fact that it doesn't tells me they they think drop in 6s is a joke mode basically to be made fun of but definitely not to be taken serious. Makes sense that they included clown gear to go with the mode.
You would already be voting by choosing a matchmaking option. I wouldn't want to be dropped into a lobby and then have to play with ODR and clown gear because people in that lobby voted for it. People would just back out of the lobby. The whole point is to allow players to play the way they want and to match up with people who have the same preference as you.
Nobody cares about the top clubs except for the few teams competing for those spots. So, I wouldn't want to play in their arena. I would prefer to choose one of the real life teams like the habs and everybody have the same uniforms. EA could even upgrade the old drop-in format by allowing people to play in the home team's arena and have the associated presentation that they have already built for the other modes. If it is a team that they only have the uniforms for, then they can use a generic arena like we had in the old drop-in.
My set up with 10 year old lg TV lol
Hmmm, yea, I can clearly see you definitely need a new girlfriend LMAO!
> Ya know we shouldn't be forced to play club just to get a clean distraction free sheet of ice to play on. Keep the outdoor stuff fine but news flash EA... just because it is out doors does not mean a rink is blue... and then to make away jerseys grey... what were you thinking.
>
> At the very least remove the canal map from rotation. For the love of god why has this not been addressed?
I was not a fan of the outdoor rinks in drop-in during the beta.
Dude the canal rink is long gone.
@Murphdawg1
It was removed from the January 30th update.
World of CHEL
----
- Turned off Canal outdoor rink from EASHL Drop-in 3v3 and 6v6
Now we just need to turn off the rest of them and add in some generic club rink and everyone can finally be happy.... well happier