Something changed in the gameplay...
I've seen a few post here and on Reddit that I couldn't agree more with. Since the last update about a week ago something definitely changed in the gameplay. I've seen your awnser on a thread that no tuning has been made yet but something feels way off. -The game seems faster than at launch. We're back to skating a straight line to burn off defender and score. Previously it wasn't required or even that possible. Passing and teamplay was a priority. -Passing feels off. It's like the power of the passes had been tuned down or something like that. They don't connect as well anymore. -There's way more puck interceptions (even when players/cpu are NOT facing the puck, like they intercept the puck from behind) -There's also way more pokecheck from behind. You're on a half breakaway and someone pokecheck you from behind making you loose the puck. That wasn't like that at launch. -There's also way more bumps and hitting. From behind as well. How can someone have enough speed skating in the same direction as you to hit you from behind and make you fall on the ice?? It's ok for bumps and hitting to be in the game, the problem now is that everytime you get touched a little bit, it's like you have only 3 in balance and your character falls on the ice and glide for 10 meters.. Hitting players doesn't seems to be slower than small and fragile players like at launch. -The aggressiveness, hitting and pokechecking of CPU really needs to be tuned down. In squad battle and moments, there extremely too aggressive, they intercept ALL passes, they're on you before you have the chance to do litteraly anything, they will win every puck battle, will always be first on loose puck, will pokecheck you 12 times a second and will block every shot you do.. All that combined with the things I've mentionned earlier. That wasn't like that at launch and I can assure you that it's not a skill issue. -Also, the menus seems to be slower for some reasons. So yeah, I don't know what changed, but it feels off, and playing the game right now feels very frustrating. I loved the game at launch, it actually was the best gameplay you've done in years. Not so much nowadays.
Matchmaking In WoC
There are a lot of unbalanced matchmaking going on this year and it’s really putting a damper on the game. I understand that the game will have a larger pool of players to match make with in the coming months but it’s currently wrecked. Very rarely will you be placed in a match with players that are near you in skill level. Meaning the discrepancy between your team and your opponents teams ranking points are MASSSIVE. This forces teammates to often quit the game because they can’t keep up with that play style. The largest gap I’ve seen so far was 13,000 RP. That’s totally unrealistic and unreasonable. I’ve never even had one game where everyone was within the same rank.
Threes Eliminator Uniforms
EA_AljoThe uniforms in threes eliminator are glitched when playing as a club. When playing drop-ins, it uses my customized casual skater. However, when playing as a club, it uses my pro skater, but it doesn’t use my club’s uniform. It also doesn’t use my customized causal skater, (which it did in NHL 24) but rather it uses default Nighthawks and Ice Breakers casual gear. This glitch also puts my purchased character in the default gear, which looks bad and isn’t how it looked when I purchased it. Please fix this and either change it to be like NHL 24, or 23, which used my clubs uniform. (Like in 3v3 and 6v6 EASHL) If you need pictures or evidence, I can attach one, or watch any threes eliminator gameplay when playing as a club.EA_Aljo
Goalies need a massive buff or abilities need a massive downgraded
I am so sick and tired of these goalies in this game man from online head 2 head, franchise, and most importantly world of chel. If you say this is the best of the best of hockey why are the goalies biting at the easiest deeks or overreaching for a savable goal or not even reacting. It makes me sick to my stomach when the pro AI get one shot one goal on Swayman a top 5 goalie in the NHL on my franchise as well. And every goal that happens no matter what is ability goals…. Close quarters, beauty backhand, one tee, make it snappy, thunderclap. Like no matter what the situation is it feels like if one of those abilities activate for someone it’s 95% chance it’s a goal. Fix your game EA my world of chel team was division one last year with Chel cups to back it up.
Skill Based Matchmaking?
We are a team of silvers in WOC and routinely get matched against platinum/blues or purples, both in 6s and 3s. No surprise we get smoked. We should NOT be matched up against these kinds of teams with 25,000+ RP when we’re barely hanging onto 17,000. Can we get some skill based matchmaking in here? Here’s ONE example in the pic… unreal. We’ve been paired against two different teams with the top rankings possible tonight.
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!
We lack the computing power for Mouthguards... this is getting frustrating.
You know not everyone wears there mouthguards incorrectly, right?Why is the only option to wear it wrong. Make it so helmets can be sitting on top of your head, not strapped too. Sometimes people do that, so it should be the only option. Untied skate laces as well. And you are telling me you just lack the ability to put a visor on a Jofa helmet? You can't because you don't have the power, the the know how, or the technology doesn't exist. If you listen to anything I've said. MOUTHGAURDS GO IN YOUR MOUTH.