So when are we getting any trailers?
The hype and information available for NHL 25 is the worst I've seen in 5 years. No beta and no trailers except for 1. What we have been shown in these trailers is terrible, especially regarding the new graphics 'overhaul'. In the small clip they showed of the new players they couldn't even showcase it correctly, stamkos didn't even have half his visor rendered in! ( I'll attach a Screenshot) I don't even know why this is a marketing point anyway, the game is played at a overhead angle and we can't even see the players face. If presentation is going to be a big seeling point (for the 3rd time in 5 years mind you) you may as well show us something. EA_Aljo told us we were getting a trailer but it looks like we're just getting a blog. 1 period of gameplay that's it. That's all I want to see. So far we are paying 70 dollars for a scoreboard and some new animations which could be an update by the way. This is genuinely a slap in the face to the NHL community from a billion dollar company. For the love of God please wait till this on sale for 20 bucks during the holiday. This is not a 70 dollar game.
Why you should lower your expectations for NHL 25
I’ve seen a lot of people saying things like “I think NHL 25 could really be a good game”. For your own sake, please lower your expectation. If you think about it, what do we even know about NHL 25? We do know we’re getting new game presentations, but only in rivalry games. Also, these presentations won’t be realistic, which is the only thing the community asks for. We do know player AI is getting an improvement. However, as seen in the gameplay deep dive, the AI players are still just skating around with no plan on the ice and it’s all just a big mess. Some people want an updated franchise mode, which actually will be coming this year, allegedly. We are less than two weeks from release day and still no news about the “new” franchise mode, which probably will just be a slight change in the menu. I don’t know what you think, but I’m pretty sure we can expect the same cutscenes in Be A Pro. For how long have they used these cutscenes? 5 years in a row maybe? These are just some of the reasons why you should lower your expectations on NHL 25. Myself, I won’t be buying the game. If we all don’t buy it, EA will get the wake-up call necessary to develop a game that is actually ok to play.
Some "good" X-Factors do literally nothing. (Proof)
Ankle Breaker and Puck On a String animation comparisons. Linked above is a quick short I made comparing two animations that you would expect to work with the respective abilities, based on the ability descriptions. A loose puck deke with and without Ankle Breaker, and a Toe Drag with and without Puck on a String. For the comparisons, both builds have 90 deking, the clip on the top screen has no deking Superstar or Zone abilities, and the bottom screen has the Zone ability. I then overlay them as best as I could to show that the animations start and stop at the same time. This isn't the only test I've done, it's just the only easy to consume comparison I've created, but I went through and counted frames for multiple different animations with multiple different deking attribute breakpoints and it was consistent that the only thing that seemed to affect animation speeds was the deking attribute itself, and not the X-Factors. With Puck on a String I tested just simply moving the puck from backhand to forehand, same frame values regardless of X-Factors. My assumption for a while now about Ankle Breaker is that if it does have an affect, it only has an affect on CPU Players, but I'm not really sure how to test that. If that is the case, it being included in World of Chel is pointless for like 99% of scenarios. As for Puck on a String, I have no idea if this does anything online or offline, in both the online Free Skate and the offline Team Practice I saw zero difference in deking speeds with or without the abilities, this seems like it's probably a bug. One more thing I noticed about another ability some people think is really good, Shutdown, is that it doesn't seem to behave how you'd expect based on the World of Chel Description. The World of Chel Description says it helps in 1-on-1 situations. However, if you go into the Create-a-Player it says it helps defend rush chances. I tested in Free Skate and in the Pro Am (I haven't tested this in actual online games yet), but it seems how it works is that Shutdown will pretty much always activate if the puck is NOT in your Defensive Zone. Once the puck is carried into your Defensive Zone, it will continue to activate for a few seconds, regardless of how many players are near you or in your own zone, but after that few seconds pass, it doesn't seem to activate again until the puck is cleared. This leads me to think it was designed with the Create-a-player description in mind, to defend rush chances. If that's the case, a simple update of the description in World of Chel would at least fix any confusion. Anyway, hope this helps shed some light on some things that I think might be bugs that could have gone under the radar and can lead to some tweaks and confirmation that abilities are at least helping in some way/doing something akin to what their description says.
Franchise questions
What additional access will we have to edit our franchise experience in NHL 25? Really hoping for the ability to edit strategies, player positions and players attributes in general. Bought every version since 2001 and want full control back. The other EA titles do it? Why not NHL?NHL 25 CHEL and Franchise/Season
Just asking for CHEL customizations to not be so tedious with have to edit appearance and name for home, away, and alternates. Cool to have the abilty, but not needed especially for player name and info. Should have apply to all option for some of those things. Also can we just forget about junior and semi pro stadiums for clubs. It is the worst grind to unlock pro stadiums in 24. Just make them all available or have the loot boxes just give you different variations and historic rinks and jawn. CHEL coin were also pointless and was a pretty crappy system to use. I would recommend drop that. As for Franchise and Season mode, would definitely listen to the community on this one. I dont play these modes like i use to. My friends and I use to love doing seasons on the same team. Real players and real teams against the AI with updated rosters. This would be cool to do online with up to 6 players on the same team working through season to season and even going through fantasy drafting to create our ideal team. It would be a cool option rather than CHEL.
Regarding the survey
I got an e-mail with a survey about NHL 24. It was quite frustrating to be honest. Might be a slight exaggeration to say 75% was about World of CHEL, but it felt like it. How come there aren't any surveys with more questions about Framchise Mode? I expressed it in the survey as well, that you are kind of wasting your time asking me about World of CHEL. I have tried it, but I am a Franchise-player and no matter what is done to World of CHEL, it simply isn't Franchise Mode. Savvy? World of CHEL can be amazing for all I know, but with days only being 24 hours long, I will never have time for it and answering the survey won't improve it. I bet there are many of us here who are FM-players and who would have plenty to add to a survey about Franchise Mode or Be a Pro. Just something that hit me and that I had to get of my chest. It felt so pointless to answer the best and worst (and more!) things about WoCHEL when I've started the mode once, simply because I all I want to do is to do is to edit my roster and play Franchise Mode. Ove' rant out! 😅
(EASHL)you need to stop removing the eashl ranking at the end of the year. (CR)
we still have 14 days until the 25 came out... and playing without ranking(CR) removes the competitive aspect.. the game is already death , and without the ranking it makes it even more... while currently there is a hut champs which continues... (which is weird) maybe take into consideration for the next nhl to keep the eashl rankings rolling until the next one?! because without the CR there is no longer competitive aspect and it's very boring. We pay for it , we should be served until the end of the game. If I can give an idea for next year, we should have a last playoff run for the last week of the game, that would give interest to the players
Is NHL 25 finally going to fix the handshake line?
EA_Aljoby any chance are you able to pass this along or maybe you might have an answer already. Will nhl 25 finally fix the handshake for playoffs. What I mean is that during the handshake line it doesn’t look authentic. Both teams have their equipment off no matter what round the playoffs are in. Is there a way we can finally fix that where the losing team actually keeps the right equipment on during the handshake line cutscene please and thank you
