* New * NHL 21 Launch Date News! When Will You Get The Game?

please please please push back the start of S15 by 1 or 2 weeks and run a 4-4-4 or 3-3-3-3 (6 week) schedule for S15. Then back to normal after that

Having bidding starting on launch weekend will be a nightmare for multiple reasons.

1. There's no time to scout players on this new game - meta's change (most) games and therefore some players will rise and fall with this new game
2. If someone doesn't pre-order the game or go out and buy it on launch day, they won't be able to comfortably sign up without the risk of taking a ban if they don't get the game in time
3. I want to grind the game on launch weekend and get lost in the hype of a new game, not be focused on scouting/bidding/LG related things that take away my gaming time
4. Having the 2 week holiday break right before playoffs will not be that good - it would feel like a whole new season and would hurt the teams that were hot to end the season

 

We need some love for the west coast people that play LG. My availability is crap due to the first game starting at 5:30 when most of us will just be finishing work. We should have some later games at least on weekend game days.

 

This sounds horrible. I'm not sitting around for 30 minutes to wait for a team to show up.

 

4 games in one night is too much time commitment in one block from an MOC perspective.

And sadly no, teams and lines can't just MOC themselves. Substitution decisions and ECU retrieval aren't always as simple as they sound, let alone getting 6 idiots to hop in a party together

 

Don’t like the early games myself but like the sound of a 3 game a night schedule like on Sundays in CHL

I would like that in CHL rather than further expansion. Seems like the owner/manager pool is already watered down in the C

 

Im gonna start off by saying that I am biased as I cannot play the late games as is (10:30 in AHL, 10:00 or 11 in NHL) because of work in the AM. If the only benefit is that people can play NHL level on both consoles, I do not see the point. I dont play Xbox, but there are a number who currently play PSN AHL and Xbox NHL. How often would these guys actually schedule games on both consoles each night? I probably could have done some research, but would guys really want to play 3+ games a night, splitting on different consoles? If they were, I would imagine that their games are starting close to the "forfeit" territory especially with overtime and games with tons of stoppages, postponing already late game times further.

Another thought was why would AHL game times be later than NHL game times (And this one is a bit of a stretch)? There is currently a risk for ECU players in the 9/10 NHL games if they are scheduled for AHL that night. The risk being the NHL game going late, forcing the AHL team to ECU as well. Flipping the schedule would make all 3 NHL a risk for AHL ECU's if they are scheduled same-night.

 

Need to move bidding up a week at the least. Can't have it starting when tons of players won't even have the game installed yet.

 

I like the idea of a shortened season but playing 3 games in 1 night is already a little rough. I can’t even imagine having to play 4 in 1 night (you know some managers would schedule like this). I know we try to limit the number the number of game days but a 3-3-3-3 could work. Games would be Sunday through Wednesday.

 

Honestly having Bidding 2 days after it's initial release is a horrible Idea as mentioned before. Your talking about throwing everyone into the lions den where players will only have 2 days to play the game or may not even have the game yet which could drastically reduce the amount of sign ups at the time creating a massive late sign up situation. I get this is unprecedented times and need to keep the league in somewhat cycle making due with the current global events. Another factor too is as mentioned by @l Bossy l x 22 is bugs/glitches etc that we have no idea if it will be a problem giving no time for EA to fix the situation as the season starts. Also how will teams be able to scout for players who improved by NHL 21 or gotten worse in 2 days? that is a managerial nightmare and if we are able to return to our normal jobs how will the players even have the time to squeeze in scouting games or have the time to practice with the new game? I agree with Bossy of shortening the season because playing out a full season on a new game with barely two days of having it then going right into bidding then barely 2 weeks we start the new season would be a set back for LG in terms of skill which for players it changes per title. I propose because this is a unique situation treat it like an NHL lockout half season going to 5/6 weeks then playoffs. This would allow a delayed start to allow adequate time to learn the game, work out any bugs etc and allow the managers of all leagues to scout vs being forced to blind bid or do something completely stupid which can ruin new players or current players experiences because they are not use to the game yet until 3 weeks after the games release.

I propose NHL bidding start on November 1st- 2nd
AHL Bidding start on November 5th- 6th
CHL Bidding start on November 9th-10th
Opening Night will be November 15th
Season- Nov 15-December 23 (6 weeks)
Holiday Season December 23rd-Jan 3rd
Playoffs 1-4 Jan 3rd-Jan 26
This time line still fits into the rest of the cycle and will not hinder the Winter season proposed. I think a shorten season will benefit everyone from E-show/NHL to the CHL and allow EA to correct any issues before it becomes an issue, allows players to have time to get the game and have time to play it, allow management more time for scouting since we are in a new release and presumably the last of Xbox one/PS4.

@LG McDonald

 

Also maybe a extreme Idea but what about delaying using NHL 21 until the winter season and continue using NHL 20 for this upcoming season? it would keep the current schedule on track as if the game was being released in September like usual, we get a full season and allow everyone plenty of to have the new game in time for the Winter season along with getting adapted to it.

@LG McDonald

 

Will EA Access members still get the pre-game trial?

 

Don’t like the idea that that bidding starts 2 days after the game comes out.

 

So will new gen Xbox and the Xbox one be in the same legauer different

 

If the current season ends around last week of august and the upcoming season start 2 months after, what about playing a World cup tournament for NHL/AHL players and WJC for CHL players until the launch of NHL 21? This is just a proposal because the off season between S14 and S15 will be really long and I know it's not your fault, but I think you guys will lose a lot of sign ups just because of it.

Also you talked about the stage 2 of expansion process, does it have a thread where we can see how it's gonna be setted? Like will you guys dissociate the ECHL from CHL or you will just add new ECHL teams ant that's it?

Thank you.

@LG McDonald

 

What if they push back the date? And having the draft after bidding is a bad idea. Ahl like there Nhl bid send downs, and ideally the dp we already know that we want up in Nhl so we don’t bid on certain positions because of this