NHL 18 NOT at EA Play this Year

[mikeq672]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I don't think the producers are concerned at all. And I don't think they care about those survey's whatsoever. They know there are 850K worth of sales year after year regardless of how it plays. Without any competition, they can poop in a box and it'll still sell the same. The last time EA showed any incentive and innovation was when 2K was kicking their butts and they were forced to reclaim their market share. The skillstick killed 2K and once they were firmly back in the #1 spot, they moved all the best people who resurrected the NHL series to other projects and handed it off to a group that is satisfied to play connect the dots year after year.

The lack of competition and dedication to UT modes is ruining sports games. Every major sports has only 1 company make the game with no competition and its a shame because every game is stagnant or getting worse. Ironically the one exception Id make is Madden, because people got fed up with their **** and stopped buying the game. They received a ton of backlash but they game seems to be back on the right track. NHL seems to be where Madden was a few years ago where they continue to recycle garbage because people buy it but eventually that will stop and the game will either die, or theyll actually dedicate some resources to fix the trash theyve been selling. The Show has been a mess this year and seems to be stuck in a pretty big rut but all they care about is DD(theyre version of HUT) and getting packs out.

[actionhank]

It's disappointing to say it, but after the past 4 years of watching EA take 4 steps back and 1 step forward, I've finally gotten to the point where I just don't even really care to see what they're doing.

I've hoped for the same things for the past few years it feels like, and nothing really seems to change. When something does get added to offline play, it feels like something that was only done once it showed a benefit to the online team side of things. The create-a-team feature gave you a decent level of customization, but you're stuck using comical logos from a very small list. Then the team names themselves are all almost a joke. I can't pick "Fox" as a team name, but I can pick "Fear the Beards" and the "Deke and Destroy". Yeah, that's fun if I want to pick a goofy online team with my friends and rock pink skates and purple visors...but what if I just want to create a real team in the United States or Canada? You can relocate, but that doesn't matter either. You're just a new team in a far away place, playing a schedule against your old division. Move from Tampa Bay to Seattle? Cool. You'll still be playing in the East, you'll just have to suspend belief that your team is flying across the US constantly to play in a division that has extra teams, while you physically have home games on the West coast.

The player creation has been the same stagnant process of decent equipment customization paired with absolutely awful face and player model changes. If they want to see an example of how to really do player models, check out MLB's The Show. Just look at the work being done with the Create-A-Players over in their Roster forum.

The sharing in the game has never been available. We had a brief time on the PS3 and Xbox 360 where you could use a rather complicated work-around to get your rosters in the game, but it was definitely not for the less technically inclined player, and it certainly wasn't EA sanctioned.

Then there's the on-ice AI that's ranged from useless to downright harmful in the game. They've added more sliders but at some point you're just changing how quickly the AI make mistakes on the ice.

I hate to say it about the game, but it's gone steadily downhill since the online play has become the focus, and it's really disappointing to see. Hockey's a sport that I've adopted and moved ahead of all other sports in life. But as my enjoyment of the game has gone from casual fan to watching every night of the playoffs, and even learning to play myself, EA's product has steadily declined, only making brief little jumps back in terms of improvements, that sadly can't offset the things that never get fixed or just downright got removed (anyone remember being able to create plays so your teammates weren't just standing around?).

I'm hoping I'll catch some random mention on another forum of how EA has really done a complete 180 with the EA series, but I worry it's just going to be another year of promised features with no real affect on the game (looking at you, player morale) and a glorified roster update with inaccurate players that I can't fix. As I've said for the past handful of years, I really hope this year is the year that EA proves me wrong...

[pslieber]

Quote: Originally Posted by actionhank

It's disappointing to say it, but after the past 4 years of watching EA take 4 steps back and 1 step forward, I've finally gotten to the point where I just don't even really care to see what they're doing.

Unfortunately, I'm not far off. I'm fortunate that a terrific OS member created an EASHL team for several of us to play with, but the flaws inherent in NHL 17 are damning.

The AI never runs plays and/or does mirror D to offensive movement, there's auto goals galore based on certain deke combos, fighting is broken, players get stuck in glitches along the boards. And online, it's needle in haystack searching to find a proper opponent.

Last, and as you pointed out, the infantile options make this the most troll friendly game I've ever played. I'm a hockey obsessive, and it's hard to have fun playing this.

I didn't see the thread alluded to above, but it's clear why there's vitriol.

[Moose24x]

The thing that really kills me is how much they could make things feel significantly new and different just by having 3 or 4 different "stances" (so to speak) for skaters just so that not all players on all teams move and behave exactly the same. Just some upright skaters, some crouched low skaters, some guys with a kind of wild sloppy stride, etc. Just making not all players look and feel identical would be huge.

[sweetjones]

Quote: Originally Posted by pslieber

... I'm a hockey obsessive, and it's hard to have fun playing this...

I've felt like this for the past 4-5 years. This game is so frustrating. I cant even watch the cut-scenes cause the game is so irritating.

[csamuelsvt]

Quote: Originally Posted by sweetjones

I've felt like this for the past 4-5 years. This game is so frustrating. I cant even watch the cut-scenes cause the game is so irritating.

How they don't have a simple 5 man goal celebration is one of the perfect examples of what is wrong with this game. One of the basic things like this does not exist in the NHL series.

And honestly, i don't want to hear the reasoning as to why they have difficulties doing it. Get it done. Seeing 2 people celebrate and the other 3 standing around doing nothing and then warping to the bench is just so so bad.

I could go on and on. It PAINS ME to see my favorite sport not being replicated in video game form. No game is perfect, but look at Madden. They are finally turning it around. The NHL series needs new leadership. I think i've opened up 1-2 packs in my life. The focus should be gameplay then worry about everything else, not HUT.

End rant.

[hawley088]

i dont even know how you guys play this game offline, I only play eashl with a few friends and we all hate this game deep down, but its something to do lol

[Södy]

Offline is actually better for me since I have sliders to work with.