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.
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.
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 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?
Still no news regarding Presentation and Franchise Deep dives...
The game is out in 11 days, and we still have nothing to care about. I understand they delayed the Gameplay trailer due to the tragedy, but it almost makes me feel like EA had nothing to show anyways. I will not be buying NHL 25, unless its goes on crazy sale and there is new stuff. I stopped buying NBA2k and Madden every year. Looks like its definitely time to just stick to NHL 24 or maybe go back to an older one on PS4.
Franchise Mode Initial Thoughts
In my opinion, the conversation system is one of the best additions to franchise mode, I think it will be great for everybody as I actually don’t think you have to use it if you don’t want to. Unfortunately most, if not all of the core problems with franchise mode still exist. AI GM’s are still pretty terrible and there are still no NHL coaches to hire, so you are stuck with what you are randomly given. Since this is still an offline mode after all, I still think we should be able to edit everything to our liking. The new menu setup is cool, but I think team standings need to be present somewhere on there, maybe make the game day matchup info smaller. I also always find myself clicking R3 to view player info before initiating a conversation, but that takes me to the stats central page. Should be able to view player info from there in order to quickly view what they should work on. The NMC/NTC are a great addition, combined with the conversation system is awesome in my opinion. Dare I say it even made a little bit of sense when asking players to waive or expand their clauses. One big problem I found is when a player is injured you cannot start a conversation with them and therefore are not able to ask them to waive. Became a problem at the trade deadline. It would also be nice if there was some more back and forth when a player rejects an offer instead of just the pop up that we have also had. Most players still do not sign until around July 4 either which rarely happens anymore. I don’t think there were any negative impacts on a player when they didn’t reach their goals, in fact once you set them, there wasn’t really any mention of them at all after that. Being able to switch or add a secondary position is cool, but I didn’t have any luck successfully switching anybody’s player type, despite asking almost every player. I like the fact that I can lock any player into any spot in the lineup I want, will certainly help for those that sim most of the season. I just wish we were able to get the coach to change more when it came to specific strategies, especially with the lack of replacement coaches still available. From the short time that I’ve played so far, I would say this is probably the best addition to franchise mode yet, I still think they probably need at least a full year to improve on everything else that’s been a problem in the mode for years.
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.
Sliders in franchise
Am I the only one that finds the slider set doesn't stick when saved both in the main menu when I exit the game and then start up another time and also in franchise mode after one game played back to the franchise menu and they've reverted to standard nhl25 sliders. This is on a xbox series s.
