Team Builder in NHL 25
The addition of team builder to NHL 25 would be incredible. For many years, I have spent countless hours in the creation zone, creating hundreds of teams and thousands of players. Team Builder is far superior to the NHL creation zone. The creation zone has barely been updated since 2017 (maybe even longer?) and Team Builder would be a fantastic solution and a welcomed feature. This is something that benefits both online and offline players. Thanks EA.
The State of EANHL
As a staple elite rank player in WOC for about 5 years now & a big user of the offline modes I have a good understanding of how genuinely bad this game is. Offline modes are shoved to the side so EA can prioritize HUT. All gaming companies focus on what makes them additional money, understood, but there are bugs in these offline modes that are game breaking. There’s a bug in BAP for the past 3 games now where the entire game freezes during a coach interaction. And that’s it. Your be a pro is officially ended. I discovered this bug in both NHL 23 and 24. Reported it to the EA forums with video evidence. The reply I received was “this will continue to happen and hopefully we can fix it next game but for now, make sure to avoid quick closing/resuming your game” and when I told them that simply wasn’t good enough for the price point & people agreed, the community managers locked the post to stop further dialogue between the players. EANHL absolutely loves to take features out of games then add it back a few years later. Not only does this distract from other issues that need to be talked about, they commonly promote these things as being new, which is false advertisement, as is the promotion of the conversation system in be a pro, as when it first came out they marketed it as creating a way more diverse experience. Instead, my coach is telling me to go out there and swing momentum. After the game is done and I’m walking down the tunnel… There has been a cosmetic bug in the game for 4 (maybe 5) years now, where in WOC dressing room you will have on the teams uniform that you just played or are about to play. This is not a big deal but also shows the genuine carelessness and “doesn’t matter, they’ll give us their money anyways” attitude that is very readable. Repeated face off bug in WOC has also been in the game for 4-5 years now, where the game starts, resets to the faceoff seconds later, and does that 5 times before ending the game. Similar to the cosmetic bug (but obviously worse as it affects the playing of the game directly) this shows how EANHL really does not care about the product they’re putting in the store. Name a sports game that wouldn’t have this bug removed by the next game update, or AT LEAST the next game. I’ll wait… The menu is OVERWHELMINGLY slow for a game released in 2024. The loading times have improved. But navigating the menu itself, ESPECIALLY in franchise mode I’ve noticed is VERY slow and buggy. I click on a player to see their stats and have to wait 5 seconds before I can even start to move to the stats tab. They only change the menu & general game layout every 3 years when they release annually. Don’t need to elaborate there. The gameplay itself is below average. And it’s very easy to tell why as someone that’s played at a high level for a very long time - this game is aiming to be casual friendly, which is a HORRIBLE direction for almost any game to take as the dedicated players are usually the really good players. This argument is easily supported by the release of total control, as it makes moves that are supposed to take SKILL and IQ to set up & execute & makes it easy and accessible for anyone to do, even if you just loaded up an EANHL game for the first time. You dumb down the ceiling for skill, which means you allow luck to play more of a factor in the game. I have read a study that hockey is indeed the luckiest sport, but how many times in real life do you see teams out shoot their opponents by 15-20 shots and spend the entire game in the offensive zone and still lose by 2-3 goals? There are simple things that can be implemented to stop major issues. Picking up pucks requires skill IRL, especially when contested. You don’t have some magnet in your blade. Yet, in EANHL it seems like one game you do and the next game you wouldn’t be able to pick up a soccer ball with your blade if you tried. A dead by daylight styled skill check to all players within reach of the puck would be an amazing add. It doesn’t take a genius to know that just putting your player in position and HOPING that the game gets the puck for you isn’t sustainable and simply isn’t good enough. Again, price point. Franchise mode power play roles are still bugged after multiple years NEW BUGS: Player can’t line change in BAP and just skates into the boards & is penalized for a poor line change. Shot clock commonly reads the incorrect shots in all modes. The game commonly fully crashes in BAP mid game after simming to your next shift. I will add more new bugs to this post in the comments as I discover them, that’s if community managers don’t lock my post to stop meaningful dialogue between the players who have been ripped off. I’m sure there are a lot more problems in HUT as well even though they prioritize it so heavily, but I refuse to play that mode as it only encourages the company to not care about the rest of the game WHILE promoting gambling to children in a very cruel way (having them buy packs in hopes of drawing idols). In conclusion, if you genuinely support EANHL and their products, you’re either a HUT main with not much experience in other modes, or a mid/below mid player that benefits from EA’s constant pursuit of a casual friendly game. Thanks for the read!
Inability to Edit Player Attributes
Now that the game is out, it is officially confirmed that we once again do not have the ability to edit generated players attributes, potential, bio, etc. This is extremely disappointing and I will once again not be buying the game because of it (along with the grey silhouettes). I understand that not everything can be updated from year to year but this is something that every other sports game does and something that EA's College Football 25 was able to implement via patch. The NHL series' franchise mode is the most restrictive out of any other major sports game and at this point, it seems like it is not oversight or inability, but rather a deliberate game design decision. If possible, is there any way to confirm that the developers have any plans on adding this feature to the game? Any sort of comment from EA on this would really help those of us who are expecting this feature to temper our expectations moving forward.
Can the NHL 25 pressure Meter icon be turned off?
Does anyone know if the pressure meter icon can be turned off this year? It totally kills the immersion and realism in franchise mode to have that arcade style icon in the middle of the zone, and then the boards flash when it goes “full pressure”. I don’t think I will buy the game this year if it isn’t possible to turn it off. Last year I played 3 games in my Franchise Mode and then came to the realization I couldn’t play anymore with that silly arcade look. Please EA make it an option to turn the icon off! Please!!!
Editing player ratings/Player customization in offline franchise mode
Will this finally be the year where we get Player customization in franchise mode? Every madden for about the last decade or so, we’ve been able to edit player ratings, attributes and other things like physical traits and positions. Will we finally be able to get this feature in NHL 25’s offline franchise mode? It’s long overdue.
Franchise Mode Issues
There are a tone of great updates but I have already found a couple of issues that should be patched. Maybe before official release? 1. If you start a Franchise mode with Owner Mode off, sometimes you do not get the option to discuss things with the head coach. 2. The AI of CPU General managers was said to be improved and they are supposed to target players based on team needs. However, I have experience several occasions league-wide, where teams are just dropping their prospects (even though they have tons of roster reserve spots left). Starting a new Franchise mode with a custom roster also does the same thing. If they do not have contract, it is very possible the prospect (created or not) will be dropped regardless of reserve counts. 3. Season Goals and X-Factor goals for players are extremely limited with only a few different X-factors offered and no variety for stats. Maybe this should depend on player type or attributes? Even if it was RNG, it would provide more variation. 4. The trade value of prospects is crazy. I get offered 4th Round picks for my top 6F prospects constantly. Is it not possible to get these values to be reciprocated properly? 5. The Franchise Hub is fun. But some instances of easy information just isn't there. Such as playoff series counter not seen anywhere during playoffs for your present series. Rather than (last 10 games) wouldn't the current series counter be more relevant? Curious on EA's thoughts here and if these kinds of fixes are patchable?
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.
What Full Presentation Means and Why We Need It
Ok first off, I am an offline, GM mode only player. And I have to say I like some of the improvements made this year. The graphics are better, there are finally some new goalie masks, and with some tweaking I think I have the gameplay settings in a good place that feels both fun and authentic. However, all of this only makes it more obvious that we need FULL presentation back in this game. What do I mean by full? I don't think it needs to look exactly like you're watching on TV, I think it needs to feel like you're actually at the game. Longer introductions - players skating out of the tunnel, fans cheering, every team having the same advanced projections that only a few do in this game. Also, no one hands out glowsticks, there has to be something else they can be doing. Or the option to use the ones that were made for create-a-team. Goalie spotlights at the start of the game, showing them clearing their crease and their stats.Longer and more frequent cutscenes in between whistles. Fans reacting, players skating around or to the bench. Not like a TV timeout, just what they actually do before the puck drops again. The crowd actually following the game. And not every game is a sellout. 32 authentic goal songs. I've never seen a single person say they liked the soundtrack since like 2006? That money could go toward making this happen instead. Or if you don't want to do that, can we at least pick our own goal song like you can for created teams? The ones in use right now are not great. Skating back into the tunnels at the intermission. 3 stars of the game afterward, even if it's being shown in the background as the broadcasters are signing off. All of this skippable for those who aren't interested, but for all of us who have been asking, this would make a world of difference. Every other sports franchise is moving toward this. There have been multiple 100 page plus threads on this forum about it. It's been in the game in the past. I understand why it was removed but that was 3 years ago now. And somehow, the already short cutscenes feel even shorter this year, like they tried to cut an extra half second off. Every game has good graphics now so the new trend is immersion, making it feel like you'rethere. Except in the case of NHL. Which is why we continue to make lengthy threads about the subject year after year. But it doesn't have to be that way. I don't know about anyone else butthat's what I mean by full presentation, and some of this should not be an impossible ask because it was either already in the game or does not seem hard to add into the game. Offline/franchise got some love this year and I am grateful for that. But since the question always comes up what we mean by full presentation, here you go. P.S. This is not related but the Utica Comets are now abbreviated UTC, not UTI, for reasons. Ok thanks.Edit Players In Franchise Mode
Hey EA! Thank you for the improvements that you have made to Franchise mode, so far I am enjoying it. One question I have is why don’t we have the ability to edit players on other teams anymore? Franchise mode would be so much more fun if we still had the creative freedom to edit players on other teams for things such as positions, player type, etc. An example of how I would use this is in my Franchise mode after doing a fantasy draft…. Columbus has 6 80+ overall LD, and no 80+ overall RD. In real life the coach would still play the 80+ LD on the right side, but in the game they have 2 of the LD scratched, and they are playing a 77 overall RD. If I could edit the players then I would add RD as their secondary position that way they wouldn’t be scratching their good players. This is a simple fix, can you please let us edit players again?
