NHL 11 News Post

NHL 11 Gameplay Fixes Addressed

05:04 PM - May 3, 2010 by Steve_OS

EA Sports have posted an NHL 11 blog, discussing some of the gameplay fixes that will be addressed in the game.

Quote:


	"Hi all, thanks for joining me for this blog on Gameplay Fixes. A little bit of a disclaimer before I get too far into it is that if you�re looking for info on NHL 11�s features, this isn�t going to be the place for it. This blog is to help identify some of the communities frustrations in NHL 10 that the dev team have worked on to ensure get cleaned up for NHL 11. The bugs I�m going to be addressing were all from the producer community chat that took place late March. During that chat session we didn�t have time to answer all the questions, so the dev team thought it�d be a good idea to let the community know our progress with cleaning up some of your issues."

Game: NHL 11Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 36 - View All

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# 1 Qb @ 05/03/10 09:31 PM

Did anyone else read this? Not a ton of specific information, but I caught this nugget:

Quote:


	We have reworked the poke checks a little bit, and without going into too many technical details, each player has their own “stick check” attribute which will effect poke checks and stick lifts.

Excellent.

# 2 plaidchuck @ 05/03/10 10:10 PM

Hmm odd.. I never experienced some of the "bugs" listed there like players freezing in a wrist shot or the CPU not going after the puck on icing.. and so many players are underrated??? So many are overrated in the game based on the ratings!!!

# 3 06woz @ 05/03/10 11:43 PM

They were hesitant about the AI. Meaning it's either greatly improved or not touched.

# 4 Vikes1 @ 05/04/10 12:25 AM

Great to get some news about '11'!

The thing that caught my eye was about improving the AI controlled defense, for the cpu and User. Hopefully it will be quite a bit more aggressive.

Imo, it's a pretty good sign that EA Canada, right outta the gate, starts it's hype about '11', by talking about gameplay. And fixing issues people had with last years game. Can't wait for more info.

# 5 tyler289 @ 05/04/10 12:27 AM

I hope they incorporate locomotion into the engine this year. It's far too easy to stop and change directions or whatever, especially for the computer.

# 6 plaidchuck @ 05/04/10 08:42 AM

Agreed the only reason everyone spams the poke check is because of all the gold glove/gold skate heroes who have their balance and puck control through the roof and can't be knocked off the puck.. hence the constant poke checking... Making the poke check effective has actually made people play a more team game and pass more.. now if they changed the ratings and made checking better/more realistic then there wouldn't be so much of a need for it but it is what it is.

# 7 SinisterAlex @ 05/04/10 10:41 AM

I think they maybe altering the poke check due to the new slider setting they said they would be adding for stick lifts and poke checks. I don't exactly remember what it said.

But I'm really interested in the fix for the defensive AI, should be interesting.

# 8 Qb @ 05/04/10 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Str80uttaChicag0


	I just hate when people complain about the pokecheck. It is very effective now as it should be. I can average 2.46 PPG since the latest tuner and Im not complaining about the

Quote:

Originally Posted by plaidchuck


	Agreed the only reason everyone spams the poke check is because of all the gold glove/gold skate heroes who have their balance and puck control through the roof and can't be knocked off the puck.. hence the constant poke checking... Making the poke check effective has actually made people play a more team game and pass more.. now if they changed the ratings and made checking better/more realistic then there wouldn't be so much of a need for it but it is what it is.

I think chuck is on the right track. People are going to do what's most effective and right now, it's poke-checking (for the most part). The mention of a new approach to the "stumble issue" when a check or bump doesn't knock over the puck carrier means we might see more realistic player interactions.

Hopefully they can balance puck control/balance/deking with checking/bumping/poking/lifting. As it stands now, it's good to OK in some situations, but poor in others. I know from my hockey-playing days -- granted I was no dangler -- it was easier to control the puck the closer it was to you and the less you moved it. It often seems the opposite in NHL10; if you deke all the way to one side or back & forth quickly, you're practically untouchable (with ratings playing some part).

I think some of it can be addressed through tuning. I mentioned before that puck control at zero loosens things up quite a bit offline, including players losing the puck when deking too drastically or even when making sharp turns (usually lower-rated players). To me that says lowering puck control globally is a good place to start. However, when you factor in the variety of situations that affects, you start to see it's more complicated than a simple tuning adjustment.

Man, I'm going to have a blast talking shop at community day. And maybe I'll actually learn enough about how the game really works under the hood to know what I'm talking about for once.

# 9 Qb @ 05/04/10 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Str80uttaChicag0


	I agree with you. The problem is that if you make the game more realistic I.E. lowering puck control globally like you said, there will be many whiners.

No doubt. I started to type something to this effect, but decided it wasn't worth it. I think most of us realize there are different expectations within the gaming community. As such, the NHL team (and really any sports game dev team) are forced to walk a fine line in balancing gameplay.

# 10 danphilibin @ 05/04/10 08:51 PM

I hope they improve puck physics in NHL 11. If you watch a real hockey game, the puck doesn't just glide around on the ice all the time. It pops up, turns over, rolls on its side, basically anything - especially along the boards. In NHL 10, 99% of the time the puck is either in the air or flat on the ice. Makes gameplay feel just a little bit scripted.

# 11 mkharsh33 @ 05/04/10 10:14 PM

they should just tune the game with two options: arcade or simulation. make the first for the whiners who want a bunch of button mashing (blades of steel, or whatever) and then the second mode for people like us here who want the hard core stuff.

i really like the game as is, but until shot totals for the CPU climb it's nearly unplayable once you get the controls down and hone your skills...

# 12 ManiacMatt1782 @ 05/04/10 10:22 PM

can they make online ranked as playoff hockey instead of the damn shootout.

# 13 Flyermania @ 05/04/10 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkharsh33


	i really like the game as is, but until shot totals for the CPU climb it's nearly unplayable once you get the controls down and hone your skills...

I agree 100% with this. They can add all the leagues they want, but until this issue is addressed the offline aspect of the game is all but worthless.

# 14 akula @ 05/06/10 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danphilibin


	I hope they improve puck physics in NHL 11. If you watch a real hockey game, the puck doesn't just glide around on the ice all the time. It pops up, turns over, rolls on its side, basically anything - especially along the boards. In NHL 10, 99% of the time the puck is either in the air or flat on the ice. Makes gameplay feel just a little bit scripted.

for sure, I would love to see knuckle shots , ie if a pass gets deflected it might roll onto its side, which could then be slapped and become a knuckler which while hard to aim, would also be hard for the goalie to stop

# 15 Vikes1 @ 05/06/10 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danphilibin


	I hope they improve puck physics in NHL 11. If you watch a real hockey game, the puck doesn't just glide around on the ice all the time. It pops up, turns over, rolls on its side, basically anything - especially along the boards. In NHL 10, 99% of the time the puck is either in the air or flat on the ice. Makes gameplay feel just a little bit scripted.

+2.

I think this is a big one for NHL '11'. The puck physics imo took a nice jump from '09' to '10'. And I'm hoping the same thing happens for '11'. With hopefully ever increasing lifelike puck physics [and hopefully player as well] would go along way towards the less perfect play we have now. Ie...more strange bounces of the puck, pucks jumping over sticks, etc.

For me anyway...the NHL game is so dang close to unreal good. If we could just have a bit more of an organic feel to this game...I'd be in video game hockey heaven.

# 16 armi5718 @ 05/07/10 12:57 AM

So much needs to improve in this game. There needs to be a FIFA 08 switch to the actual gameplay because as of right now the entire NHL game is animation based. Get real body interaction and collision detection implemented. I'm sick of the checking animations primarily. A player taking an odd semi-erect posture and then shoving with two hands at about neck height is not a hit. It's not how they teach you to hit. No one hits like this besides 13 year olds in rec leagues. Lets get this game on the right track like FIFA did in 08 and start making bodies react to eachother without checking animations.

# 17 Tikker @ 05/08/10 10:45 PM

they really just need to up the aggressiveness of the defenders by about 200%

# 18 DJ @ 05/09/10 12:12 AM

Good to see some early news on NHL.

What I'd like to see is more discrepency between teams' play styles. Right now offline, most of the games against the CPU play out the same way. There's really only a couple of teams that I can think of that actually play close to their real-life counterpart.

Give each team more of its own identity and I think that will help make the game feel less scripted.

Aside from that, I'm good with some tweaks to dump-and-chase and checking (still too powerful). I'm a casual fan and player but I really enjoy this series.

# 19 Vikes1 @ 05/09/10 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tikker


	they really just need to up the aggressiveness of the defenders by about 200%

I agree Tikker.

That's one of the main things game play wise, I hoping for with '11'.

Being able to skate from end to end on nearly every rush up ice just isn't very realistic. If nothing else...I'm hoping maxing out the aggression sliders will do the trick with this years game.

# 20 kestrel @ 05/09/10 05:55 PM

Hopefully the issues that have prevented me from continuing my Be A GM are corrected: scouting assignments during the playoffs freezing the game (found a way to work around this, but it shouldn't be there), my free agents not signing (nor rejecting offers) until right before the next season begins (again, I've worked around it by waiting until right before the next season begins, but it I shouldn't have to), the off-season free agent pool only being populated by my free agents after that 5-day exclusive period, and (ultimately), not being able to sign any free agents during the next season as it freezes the game (I can get around this by not signing any free agents at all, but I have holes to fill). I assume that since these issues weren't addressed in a patch and have more-or-less been ignored (I'm not the only one experiencing them), they will be corrected in NHL '11.

I haven't played NHL '10 much since I've been frozen out of my Be A GM. I like Be A Pro, but I was really getting into Be A GM.

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