EA NHL Gameplay Fixes

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@Tonyferelli @NugeTV @MCDONALD l19l

 

When forwards head out of their zone on the breakout they skate with two hands on their stick.

For whatever reason they skate slow as fuck, fix that please.

I have a general problem with acceleration in this game; it's really frustrating when it feels like your player is stuck in the ice.


Secondly, this is really fucking annoying; take the seamless pickups and throw them into a bowl of dog shit and feed it to a fucking bear.

Like seriously, they're awful.


PS; Puck pick ups still aren't good.

 

That might be more of a fatigue thing, meaning your hammering turbo a little too much, though I could be wrong. I am just going on how the situation is when that happens to me.

I will agree on puck pickups. I do like how you can't missile launch passes and the guy receives it every time, but some of these animations/pick ups are really just flat out broken.

 

Game Mode: NHL Series

Gameplay issue: Everything

Fix Recommend: Stop doing the whole "community has a voice" it has produced the worst NHL game

 

Contrary to popular belief this game is the most realistic to actual hockey. Not sure if some of you ever played hockey but it's not all perfect amazing plays.

 

It's also not oh I had the puck knocked off my stick 3 times but the force allowed it to come right back to my tape every time, just like it allows me to automatically defend an area that is the exact length of my wingspan just by standing there.

 

No and I agree with you there are improvements needed it's not perfect but it's the closest nhl game to acutual hockey

 

Except it isn't, this skating engine functions like it was motion captured by sled hockey players. Poke checking from horrible body position gets rewarded. Goalies will make automatic saves on shots they have no business saving, and than 10 seconds later get fucked over by a backhander from the half boards that hits them in the chest and goes in. You'll fire the same pass 3 times and get 3 different results based on what the game feels like doing to you.

In real hockey when I miss an open net it's because I suck, in real hockey when I bobble a perfectly placed pass it's because I suck, in real hockey when I skate past the puck and don't pick it up it's because I suck, in real hockey when I get caught from behind it's because the other person is a better skater not because my legs forget how to work because the puck is on my stick. So much of this game is defined by things that the user cannot control, which is the exact opposite of real hockey.

Even if it was realistic, that doesn't have any bearing on whether a game is fun to play or balanced enough to be competitively viable.

 

What your describing is called RNG, there will never be a game that doesn't have RNG involved.

 

I will settle this arguement. This game is a pile of horse shit and cow shit combined. Stew wins

 

Hes saying theres too much RNG, there should be less which is absolutely true.

 

I fully agree as well, which means we need some things fixed but we shouldnt have a game where every open net is scored, goalies make basic saves, and every pass is picked up. That's not realistic either.

But we do need to cut down on the mistakes but not rid them fully.

 

1.) Game Mode: General Gameplay

Suggestion/Gameplay Name: Defense Acceleration/Top End Speed

Gameplay issue: View: Races for the puck on icing calls are non existent anymore due to the fact you won't beat the defense down the ice no matter where he is in relation to you. I came out of the penalty box last night in a club game, and went after a puck my team iced. I was a full two lines ahead of the d-man when I started skating for the puck. The game magically slowed my guy down, and gave the d-man a crazy boost to catch him up to where I was at. He ended up beating me down the ice for the icing. What's the point in skating after a puck if they can catch you from 2 lines away no matter what the situation is. The same can be said about breakaways. The game does not reward a good breakout pass that springs a forward for a breakaway (not to a person cherry picking two lines away, but the skater that makes a good cut to get behind the D-man). I would be interested to see a statistic that shows the number of breakaways in this game to date compared to games past. I would almost wager new servers for LG that there have been a reduction in breakaways by over 30+% compared to past versions of this game.

Gameplay Solution: I actually don't think the skating should be changed for the d-men, but increased on the offensive side to match the current skating for D. You can decrease it slightly to give a small advantage to the D, but the skating for the offensive d-man is the best skating in the game. Many of the side issues that people have could be fixed by increasing player skating ability/speed. It takes WAY too long to get your player moving in any direction when moving around/stopping to change directions. The increased slider for skating would solve many of the gripes people have about the skating engine (play an offline game with the skating sliders up all the way... the skating is flawless for the most part). Under no circumstance should you feel like you are using a CHL player in OTP/EASHL. The increase in speed would allow forwards the ability to see a breakaway go all the way to the net where a shot can still be taken instead of being caught by 2 d-men at the top of the circle when they are a line away, yet still give the d-men a chance to catch the skater if they are relatively close.


2.) Game Mode: General Gameplay

Suggestion/Gameplay Name: Seemless Puck Pick Ups

Gameplay issue: There are too many animations to actually make this work, and those random animations make the game unplayable at times. NHL 15 was the worst about this (xbone), but this game is almost just as bad. The game decides what you are going to do, and there isn't a damn thing you can do to stop it. My biggest gripe about the animations are that they force the player to skate towards the net when the animation occurs. Every time you bobble the puck in the offensive zone, your guy tries to pick up the puck again and skate towards the net. Because your guy never really gains control again, they become stuck in 4 or 5 back to back animations that lock your skater from doing anything else including a one touch pass or shot. I also can't count the number of times where I stand on the boards not moving, get a pass from the d-man or forwards, and then watch my guy skate aimlessly off the boards out of my control. Even worse, the animation will take you offside at the blue line because it launches you into the zone despite the fact I never touched by thumb stick.

Gameplay Solution: Remove these out of the game completely. The number of times it helps is significantly less than what it would have been without the animations in the game. By getting rid of it, I think you would give more control to the skater again to allow him the opportunity to do what he is trying to instead of watching him miss the puck completely, or skate the complete opposite direction that the pass was given. Who knows.... your guy might actually pick up the puck like he is supposed to. It just causes more harm than good, and needs to be removed to give the game a more user controlled feel again.

3.) Game Mode: General Gameplay (more geared to EASHL than VS/HUT)

Suggestion/Gameplay Name: Puck control

Gameplay issue: Players seem to lose the puck in this game at an alarming rate. Simple toe drags and spins cause the put to shoot of your stick (albeit in the right direction) way more frequently than what they should. There isn't a competent player above the Bantam level that cannot complete a simple toe drag when there is minimal to no pressure on him. Why does my player who is supposedly in the NHL lose the puck in open ice when I try and drag the puck.

Gameplay Solution: General puck control for both offense and defense needs to be increased to match the skill level of an actual NHL player, not relative to a guy in the juniors. To fix the toe drag, remove it from the right stick motions and re-assign it to a "lb" deke. I find this game forces the backhand jump/toe drag relative to the direction your player is facing way more than it should. I watch my guy get forced into these two dekes all the time when I am skating East/West while trying you use the right stick to manual deke. Then because my guy has the hands of a PeeWee hockey player the puck goes flying off his stick to the other team. You can decrease its effectiveness if you want (similar to the old 2-touch dekes in the past) but the frequency you lose the puck on the most basic deke in hockey is ridiculous.

4.) Game Mode: General Gameplay

Suggestion/Gameplay Name: Passing

Gameplay issue: This is horrific in this game. Passes go where they want, when they want to. You can attempt to make the same pass over and over, and not replicate the same pass twice it seems. The kids from the local youth hockey house program can make a better pass than what a player in this game can. Passing to the d-man is almost impossible as well. It's gotten to a point where @TheLastRecluse5 and I actually celly a completed pass because the game won't let us connect. The D to D pass is so bad that nobody even considers it an option any more. Completing a 15 foot pass to the open man is damn near impossible for the d-man to the wing crossing into the neutral zone, and has caused less passing to occur as the struggle is real to just exit your own end with a good breakout. Passes also take too long to happen. This current version of the game has the longest pass time to actually take place in its present animation. Cross ice seam passes generally open and close within a few seconds. Players normally pick up on a missed assignment, and re-correct their position to account for the guy who is wide open. Making a pass to that guy on the drop of a dime is impossible compared to past games. The pass comes off his stick so slowly that the other defender has time to turn his body to get his stick in the lane. The pass does't move very fast either, so if they don't correct their position, the animation has enough time to break up the play. Making a pass to the weak side defenseman in the offensive zone (or a pass to the weak side wing from the point) was a lethal play in every game until this one. The game rewards the defending team by allowing them enough time to re-position themselves due to the slow pass. It is a play that happens all the time in the NHL, and should be able to be replicated in online play.

Gameplay Solution: First and foremost, the passing speed/response time needs to drastically increase. Passes are picked off at an unrealistic rate due to the length of time it takes for a pass to occur. Increasing the response time to make the instant pass, and increasing the speed of the pass to penalize a team that's out of position would be a great start to making the game more creative from the offensive standpoint. I also think there needs to be an increase in the slider for pass assist. I absolutely hate that it needs to be in the game, but passes don't go where they are intended, and you miss wide open passes more than you should. This doesn't need to happen at the rate it used to in NHL 9/10/11, but there needs to be a balance to allow intended passes to get to the person in front of them. Receiving a pass was significantly better when there was some pass assist added to online play. Again this doesn't need to be to the extreme, but an increase of pass assist is needed to allow the game to play properly.

5.) Game Mode: EASHL

Suggestion/Gameplay Name: Build Variation

Gameplay Issue: If you aren't going to allow for personal customization of the builds, then there needs to be more of an advantage/disadvantage to each build you take. Everyone ultimately defaults to the Power Forward because it allows you to skate like a sniper would, pass and control the puck like a playmaker, and hit like a grinder. That is completely unrealistic. Making the builds have more distinctive traits would force people to decide how they want to play.

Gameplay Solution: Two ideas here, first is go to a FIFA style progression system where completing tasks yield a desired outcome. If you want better passing, then you have to get more assists in the game. If you want better shooting, score more goals. Need to deke better, go into arena mode and complete the moves in there to perfect them in order to pull off the higher skilled deke's. Don't allow the user to dictate where the points go, but allow the user to perform tasks that reward them with an increase in the attribute that correspondes with that task (i.e. passing, shooting, dekeing, poke-check, hitting). This would allow for customization of height and weight again as that is the only variable the user has the ability to change. The more tasks you complete, the higher your attributes will be (goes back to where you complete alot of games to get xp, but it takes that many games in order to achieve that goal. The alternative is create more of a distinct difference between the builds. If a guy picks a 6'6 power forward, he shouldn't have the agility of 5'11 sniper, nor the speed. A playmaker should have hands like Datsyuk, and a two way should play the way Bergeron does in this game. There aren't enough distinguishing factors to differentiate the classes as a whole, and you can prove it by playing a game as an enforcer. It's quite comical as the game allows you to do more as an Enforcer than a Sniper/Playmaker.




Just a few off the top of my head. Sorry for the novel lol.

 

Yes, all those things should happen because it's a fucking video game.

 

Who cares about realism? It's a video game. I miss open nets all the time in Fifa and it doesn't piss me off, because it's normally when I either hilariously misaim my shot or put too much on it and sail it into the upper decks. If the game is going to limit our control and force us into such automation it's pretty crucial that these things work at a significantly higher rate.

For all I care they can give us some type of control feature where you put your stick on the ice to intercept or receive a pass. At least this way when a pass sails right through the guy it was aimed to it's his own fault. At least if defenders allow a forced pass through it's because they didn't have their stick down, or the forward was able to bait them into moving out of position or poke checking. Same with one timers, make them 100% manual instead of being able to hold up. Start introducing more shit that players can read and react to instead of trying to automate everything and players might actually enjoy the game.

 

I fully agree i think were arguing the same side just different angles lol.

 

when your player opens up in the neutral zone for no reason and it causes you to miss passes

 

EA Gameplay fixes my ass. At this point the only fix is to break your disc nicky G style , wait for NHL 17 and pray to the gods that someone with half a brain and some hockey knowledge creates a game that works.

 

@Dave Littman

 

I think the best option is to encourage 2k to start making a game again. Competition is the only cure for this disease.