* New * NHL21 EASHL Gameplay Changes/Updates

When a player go’s on a puck protect its near impossible for a defender to bump him off the puck, it is not realistic in fact it’s far from it. you should have to have a massive build to defend a puck protect.

 

When a player is on a puck protect it’s near impossible for a defender to bump him off the puck it’s not realistic. As a defender I shouldn’t have to go a massive build to even get close to knocking the player off the puck it’s super fake when you go in for a hit and your player just bounces off the guy or just plain go’s around the guy quiet irritating

 

They made it so 61+ ping is considered fair now. The servers are the same as 20.

 

Bc its a beta

 

I've been seeing this happen a lot too

 

Has the random falling been looked at as well? My guy randomly falls on his own sometimes with nobody around me

 

im alone to find my player Slow ...and the game in general boring?

probably because i suck in the beta haha

 

I like everything about it right now from a playmaking forwards perspective. Passing feels really good, cuz i know how to aim and when to pass.

Weve encountered a resync glitch where a guy was hit on the faceoff win and it resyncd the faceoff.

Goalie coming off the ice has worked great.

Sometimes ill get a weird glitch when doing the michigan that makes my guy drift into the board for 10 seconds or so. Speaking of the michigan its too hard to do atm and would be useless in game. For the amount of time and set up you need behind the net to try it, it should be easily countered for how awkward the move is even without it being so difficult.

The marathon man being gone is fantastic from a competitiveness standpoint. Its made people really consider when to expend energy.

Ive played a little hit of defense and have had success at poking the puck effectively when playing well positionally.

Ive got no real complaints as far as things go right now.

 

Defense is incredibly difficult and not fun due to the many things already mentioned in this thread but mainly:

- Positioning is pointless, passes will still almost always go right through / past you

- Turning around takes 10 minutes so you feel like you can never cross the red line as one of the tiny wingers will already be straight lining past you the second the other team gets the puck back

- Said tiny build forward will be invincible to any hit / bump / incidental contact. I have also seen numerous times where you do happen to knock the puck away with the skill stick or incidental contact but the puck miraculously pinballs right back onto their stick as they are skating full speed and your dman by this point is out of the play

- Because turning is so bad / slow, you have to use a smaller / lighter build to not get burned yet even a 6’0” 187 TWF build (the best balance I’ve been able to find so far) is still too slow to keep up with forwards yet also somehow not big or strong enough to knock them off the puck

I feel like Dmen are basically left in a no mans zone with builds due to defensive mechanics being nerfed so much, whereas forwards have all sorts of different build options that are effective.

From an LG perspective, D was already one of the more difficult / thankless positions to play but if 21 stays how it’s seen in the technical test, it’s only going to get far worse.

 

Agree to disagree I think D in 20 was so piss easy that nobody is used to actually having to make a play on D anymore lol. Can't just stand in front of guys anymore . They will buff the interceptions in front of the net. Always like this in the beta .

 

I am not a D but have played a lot of D in the Beta and actually enjoy it a lot. Hits feel great pokes are awesome. People complaining about the speed need to respect a fast skater and watch the gap... like real hockey. Seen some terrible positioning by D who just watch the puck get burned and complain about the game ...

 

If you haven't been a full time Dman and are just messing around with D in the beta of course you wouldn't understand what I posted above. That's like if they completely changed the faceoff mechanics for 21 and after playing C for the first time ever I posted about how great I thought it was. This is all about habits / muscle memory / tendencies that become ingrained from playing the same position exclusively and how hard it is when they screw with the engine.

The change for forwards is literally just hold up on the left stick all the way down the ice so I wouldn't complain about that in the same way as I am about what they've done to the defensive side of the game.

 

I understand why they made the changes they did to skating, and I love how easy it is to break/beat the trap now, but it's brutally unforgiving for defensemen. There's a good reason why it seems like most d-men are using a small PMD or TWF (or even playmaker) build on D. It just feels clunky and unresponsive even with small builds. I feel like a happy medium could be something between NHL 20 skating and this beta's skating.

Also yeah, pass interceptions need to be buffed in front of the net. So many forced passes going through guys. I'm using a TWF with 93 def awareness and it does nothing.

 

Your team constantly flashing on the scoreboard needs to stop, I know who the hell I picked. If it wants to blink for delayed penalties sure but from start to end of the game showing me who I picked by obnoxiously flashing is just seriously unnecessary. I think I preferred having Snoop take up 1/8th of my screen.

Injury whistle is brutal, just had one called while on a breakaway. Needs to be fixed for situations.

Stick lift needs a slight buff. It's in a bad state atm.

 

I like the feel of the game defensively in terms of going for hits, pokes, interceptions etc. and it’s been rewarding when you anticipate a play to pick it off or cut off a guy for a hit - that’s excellent. I think once guys adjust to being more active on defence they’ll be more comfortable and really happy with it.

Skating wise, lateral movement without the puck is a little slow, and using the right stick for dekes is just a touch slow as well. It feels like using the RS to position a stick better for a pass adds two real time seconds to a pass rather than 1, so that could be a touch faster.

Other than that the more I’ve played the game and gotten used to it it’s been really good especially relative to the last ones

 

Just waiting for the year we can stick handle and skate with the puck at the same time.

 

Pros- it feels like they have tweaked the breakout passes, poke and stick lifts seem to land more without taking a pim,

Cons- Puck pickups are garbage, intercepts are sporadic, if you are a defenseman doing anything around your own net just forget it, fowards speed boosts along the boards are OP, the transition onto backskating needs to be quicker

 

Could not agree with this more. Well said. It's very challenging to play D in 21.

 

I agree to some extent on passes going through opposition but this is a fine line. Because the puck pick up is soooo charged up in 20, guys just use tall builds with a ton of reach and shrink the ice down by intercepting everything regardless of if they’re even looking in the right direction or making the correct read. I think the puck pickup/interceptions did need toned down a bit but I would have to play more to make a final decision on if it was tuned down too much. I did notice but wasn’t nearly as aggravating as some are making it sound on here. All in all I think it’s a good start to a solid game but very similar to 20 in a lot of ways which isn’t necessarily a bad thing imo

 

Its hot garbage. Attributes still mean nothing at all. Its absolutely ludicrous I have 94 speed and 95 agility, full energy on a breakaway and get caught by a d man with at best 88 speed. Also, why in gods name would I build my guy to have 94 puck control when even the slightest brush and its off my stick. Its not even hockey at this point.

It should also not take 3 seconds to turn around. Im not sure what they did to overall agility and turns but holy Jesus, it feels like skating on sludge, not ice.

Fix the puck pickups and puck physics in general. No reason the puck only moves forward in the slot and D men cant pick it up to even clear it. Also, since we are on the topic of pucks in the offensive zone, fix that goal line force field that just stops rolling pucks dead on it. You cant poke at it, bat a stick at it, sticks just go right through it.

Bring back touch icing since this damn game doesn't even know what constitutes as icing anymore. Pretty sad when i have a step or 2 when out-hustling an opponent to a free puck and the whistle blows for icing.

I also found it hysterical that even though CR is gone (thank god) the "cr glitch" is still a thing. We cant fix that after 3 years?

Other than that, nhl 20.5 should be a hit -.-