NHL 16 Video and Details - Be a GM Player Morale

[Don Jon]

Yea.... This was kind of weak. Adding to the disappointment is nba 2k's developer diary from yesterday. I have hopes that all my favorite game modes will be that in depth, but there is such a gap between what nhl is offering and that I just don't know anymore.

This game went from a must buy during the lightning playoff run, to a no buy after hearing what they're offering.

[Hammettf2b]

Quote: Originally Posted by AdamJones113

So... from the EA Forums... (EXCERPT) There are four basic ‘Morale Types’ that feed into a player’s Morale, but we only surface the ‘Overall Morale’ to the user. Each Personality type takes % of ‘Team Performance Morale’, and % of ‘Management Morale’ etc to come up with their Overall Morale. Certain Personalities will be happier if the team is winning, and won’t put much stock in the makeup of the locker room. Other personality types will put more priority on locker room harmony morale, and care less about the decisions that a Team may make in who it signs, releases, or sends down to the AHL etc. Above is a C# tool example of two different player types being presented with similar scenarios, and how their 4 morale types feed into their Overall Morale. The example player on the left is ‘Happy’ with the Team’s Performance, but ‘Unhappy’ with his Individual Performance. He has ‘Neutral’ morale overall, which means he is unlikely to get any boosts to his ratings in the situation he is in. The player on the right of the picture has ‘Amazing’ Team Mate and Management Morale, overall he is ‘Happy’ and he will likely receive some boosts to his abilities as a result. Managing the various morale values of all your players will be a key to victory in NHL 16. NHL 16 also introduces ‘Team Meetings’ into the mode, which allows the user to interact the team based on almost 30 different key events that can happen to a team in a season, such as being on a winning streak, losing streak, facing off against a heated rival, or facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Finals. Each of the Team Meetings (and the speech you chose to give to the players based on that meeting) will impact the players on the team based on their personality type and the situation.

Like what I'm seeing from this, but am very skeptical on how it actually plays out in the game.

[mkilcNYR]

Really the only thing I'm excited for is that I can play as my AHL affiliate. Which I can also do on my old 360 with NHL 14. Idk, this is relegated to my "Maybe Buy In December" list. And that's a maybe. If EA doesn't feel comfortable doing player morale then they don't have to. MLB The Show and Madden don't have it and they're both still good playable games. I say that because this seems more like it was thrown in there to appease fans who play 2K and are used to/like a player morale system. I have huge concerns over player morale (like what if my 1st round draft pick is BFF's with a 6th round draft pick who is underperforming and shouldnt even be on my AHL affiliate. If i cut him for good business sense will my star now hate me and play worse?) which currently is making me a wait and see buyer before pulling the trigger

[bwiggy33]

How is this going to actually negatively or positively affect a game? Is the negative affect going to have the same effect where the CPU all of a sudden turns god like and ping pong passes all over the ice only to score? If it's actually done properly it could be really good, but I just don't think this is actually going to do anything to the actual gameplay except for force unnatural abilities.

It's so depressing seeing NBA 2k get all of these new additions to their GM mode, and NHL has player morale and that's it. I understand the budgets of the two games but still, it's very annoying. Also the ratings, by god are they awful. There is just no separation at all.

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

How is this going to actually negatively or positively affect a game? Is the negative affect going to have the same effect where the CPU all of a sudden turns god like and ping pong passes all over the ice only to score? If it's actually done properly it could be really good, but I just don't think this is actually going to do anything to the actual gameplay except for force unnatural abilities. It's so depressing seeing NBA 2k get all of these new additions to their GM mode, and NHL has player morale and that's it. I understand the budgets of the two games but still, it's very annoying. Also the ratings, by god are they awful. There is just no separation at all.

Honestly (and I could be completely wrong) I don't buy the budgets of development team. The whole thing just seems like a lack of focus on anything offline, or not benefiting online gameplay.

AI, roster sharing, Be a GM. All things that have been largely ignored for years. While they have completely revamped the way EASHL plays, and have daily updates and Facebook posts about HUT. I get that they're going where the money is, but to completely ignore an entire demographic of your fan base is just absurd to me. EA would be better off selling the online portion separately, and giving another team a shot at handling the offline gameplay. As someone else mentioned, things like EASHL aren't even NHL related. They could make that it's own, independent game mode, and people I'm sure would still toss $15 to play it.

[onlybygrace]

I'm the one who mentioned that they don't even care about the portion of their game actually related to the NHL. They are trying to build their own kingdom and practically completely ignoring the portion of the game that bares the league's trademark.

It's disgraceful, unprofessional, and borderline unethical to piggyback off the NHL and only focus on the EASHL, HUT, portion of the game.

I've pretty much lost faith at this point.

[Moose24x]

I've said it before. Why don't they just make an online game called EASHL? The EASHL has NOTHING to do with the NHL. Unlike ultimate team, it doesn't even use NHL players. The game, however, is called NHL and, like you said, the parts of the game that actually require that trademark get by far the least attention. How about just making a separate, maybe downloadable, component for your damn EASHL and actually put forth a respectable effort in representing the NHL license that they must have exclusive rights to.

[headzapp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moose24x

I've said it before. Why don't they just make an online game called EASHL? The EASHL has NOTHING to do with the NHL. Unlike ultimate team, it doesn't even use NHL players. The game, however, is called NHL and, like you said, the parts of the game that actually require that trademark get by far the least attention. How about just making a separate, maybe downloadable, component for your damn EASHL and actually put forth a respectable effort in representing the NHL license that they must have exclusive rights to.

I was just thinking the same thing earlier. I like NHL. I like playing with NHL teams and want the game play as close to real life as possible. I liked what NHL 15 was. I bet with the right sliders this year it will be even better. (Any word if the sliders for the sticks to not pass through players is still in?)

I'm not bashing EA, but what if another company came in and said we are making the most realistic sim hockey game ever, and EA can just push their EASHL and HUT modes. Imagine a MLB The Show version of NHL.

Sorry if that's jumping off the subject of the thread. I can't wait to get this years game and get my gm on.