I recently interviewed Perrilyzer1, Goaltender for the inaugural EASHL Champion Purple Cobraz, to get his thoughts on NHL over the years and on eSports. LG: First off, How long have you been playing the NHL Series, and the EASHL in general? Perri: NHL series probably since NHL 96 on my uncle's sega genesis. Even spent some time on PC versions of NHL 2001 and 2004. EASHL Ive been playing since it all started in 09. I only took 1 year off when the EASHL didnt follow next gen (NHL 15). I couldnt justify spending money on a 360 game after i had already purchased the xbox one lol LG: That's Understandable. What NHL year has been your favorite and why? Perri: 09 would probably top my list but its very close. 09 was obviously the first year of EASHL and when something is new it has that affect. My PCz team won it all as well so it holds a soft spot for me, but the overall competitiveness of the league and the rivalries that brewed were what made it so great. Of course, years like NHL 10 and 11 are a close second because the league had a similar feel, and I had also started with the Collateral Damage guys who I continue to keep close friendships with to this day. LG: I remember those days very fondly, both teams were very solid squads and both teams had some great rivals! Who would you say were some of your teams biggest rivals back then and do any players from those teams still currently play? Perri: For PCz, definitely Shammers and Dream Killers. I don't think anyone from those original squads still plays consistently, but I know Keapps was a DK member and hes still quite active. CD had a bit of a rivalry going with Shammers as well but Tri City Threat developed into more of a competition after we played them in the NHL 10 playoffs. They have some guys who still play every now and then. LG: Those rivalries produced some great games! Are you planning on participating in LG's E Sports league? And if so, whats one thing you think they have to do to make it a sustainable success? Perri: I am planning on participating. It seems like there's a lot of skepticism from the community about how sustainable Esports will be, and that all stems from the way the game has been played. Skill needs to matter more and a human player's ability to affect the outcome needs to be increased in order for the game to be played competitively. Esports is an exciting concept to any gamer, and as long as the community keeps interest we can build on that. Hopefully EA has heard the pleas of its gamers and hopefully NHL18 is a game that can bring the community back to its roots. LG: I wholeheartedly agree! As far as the league goes do you have a team for E Sports? And if so whats the roster looking like? Perri: As far as we stand right now, I've got a team who's core consists of a CD reunion of sorts (likely under a different name). There are a few CD guys who haven't enjoyed the more recent NHL gameplay, so the beta will be the test if they decide to join or not. I'm not sure how public everyone wants the roster to be right now but I do know that myself, SJUSoccer9, and Nuge are a part of it. There are a couple others who have committed to us as well but just in case I'll leave them anonymous. The rest of the usual CD guys are pending approval of the gameplay, I think lol. With what we've been discussing I'm certain we will be competitive in the Esports tournaments. LG: As one of the original elite goalies in the NHL series, what relatively new goalies do you see potentially making a name for themselves in E Sports? Perri: Im not as familiar with the community as i used to be, so im afraid to drop some names in case they arent as new as I think lol. But Jonez is a guy who has been getting some attention in the LG scene for NHL17. People are already familiar with him so he may nor necessarily be making a name for himself but Im curious to see if his recent LG success will translate over to Esports. I honestly havent seen him play much outside of LG but his stats were pretty good with the Sharks. Thank you to Perri for agreeing to do this! Be on the lookout for more content as the start of LG's eSports series gets closer.
i know this is comment is going to rattle the older players but this gameplay just did not look fun back then. it honestly appears like the trapping and dumping in was much more prominent as no one seemed to be able to break the puck in. obviously much less auto animations and stupid bullshit that the current NHL throws at us but still.
To each their own. I do enjoy some aspects of the new gameplay as well - gotta look at each year as a completely different game. I think most of the older players just dislike the inability for individuals to make an impact. Trapping and Dumping isn't the biggest complaint of the new gameplay, its mostly the turds and deflections that are more random and less skill/human dependent.
Another big complaint about recent games is goalies can be in perfect position and still let a squeaker through. In 09, and more so 10, if a goalie was in perfect position, they'd make the save. I think a lot of this has to do with how slow game speed has become. It used to be a lot faster and players were flying around all the time so goalies didn't have as much time to get into position. Now a days goalies have a lot more time to anticipate where players are gonna go so EA had to compensate for it. TL;DR make the game speed faster and if a goalies in position allow them to make the save every time.
