NHL 10 Roster Update 7 and Tuner Set 1.03 Available, Post Impressions Here

[matt2053]

Quote: Originally Posted by Redshirt_EA

If you've ever played around with Gameplay Settings it is a bit like changing those, except instead of a few dozen things that can be tweaked there are a couple of thousand. In previous versions of NHL all these values are tuned only before the game ships and could only be updated with a full title update (patch). With NHL10 we can update the tuning values with an update on the servers. A tuning update is much more limited that a patch, but has the benefit that it can be turned around fairly quickly (testing is the main time involved) compared to a title update. The main reason we want to update the tuning is to deal with online exploits. It is impossible to anticipate or test for all possible problems (the game probably gets 100 times* more play within a day of release than during all of development and testing) so having the flexibility to deal with things after the fact can help a lot. So online is the main impetus behind wanting tuning updates, but it also gives us the changes to address offline play to some degree. *pulled that number out of the air, don't quote me on it.

Many people here have been claiming they experienced significant gameplay changes after the previous roster update. Would you mind clarifying whether or not a roster update could bring very noticeable gameplay improvements for those who download it, whether or not they even use the rosters?

EDIT: Ps I just played three games with the tuner v1.03 and it seems fantastic!

[wsu_gb23]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeymayhem

hey ws_gb23 what sliders are you playing with cause I played LOTT and it was a gong show. I made some up and it seems better but not exactly on the money

I use flyermania's superstar sliders. I have ai learning at 2, CPU goalie reaction at 0 and HUM goalie reaction at 3.

[Juiceman612]

Random thoughts about 1.03: Interesting that I'm not really seeing much change offline. I've put in 5 games so can't form too much of an opinion yet. I'll have to keep playing and see if anything changes. I noticed that the CPU stick lift is pretty harsh on all-star hardcore. I also tried it on some customer sliders I use (lord of the rings sliders tweaked a little) and cpu stick lift still seemed pretty bad (at two clicks towards the right).

I did notice Phaneuf blasted one clean by Luongo which probably wouldn't have happened before. Outside of that goal the other goals I scored were mostly deflections. I lost two games 2-0, won one 2-0 and another 3-0. I'm not sure why I'm not sure why I'm not seeing more goals. I think I scored more before 1.03.

The CPU goals were all believable though. Nothing weak, which was satisfying to see.

1.03 with all-star and default setting there is too much tick-tack CPU passing as well. Move default setting to hardcore and it seems to be a lot better.

Verdict is still out on 1.03 for offline for me. Haven't played enough games but if anything there is better CPU time of possession. That is a definite change I see. CPU just seems harder. Your passes have to be very quick in the offensive zone or you'll give it up.

Played a few more games. Experimented with sliders a bit. I honestly don't see anything different with goalies offline. If anything, I'm having a harder time scoring goals and seeing less variety of goals (yet more clean shots from the point going in). I don't know...I was ok with how things were going with my sliders on 1.01. Might stick with that after a few more experiements with 1.03. Call me crazy, but I can hardly tell the difference from pro, all-star, and superstar. They all seem similar except on superstar the CPU is way too fast even with the accel and game speed tuned down.

[Redshirt_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by matt2053

Many people here have been claiming they experienced significant gameplay changes after the previous roster update. Would you mind clarifying whether or not a roster update could bring very noticeable gameplay improvements for those who download it, whether or not they even use the rosters? EDIT: Ps I just played three games with the tuner v1.03 and it seems fantastic!

No, the roster update can't really make that big a difference. It only changes player attributes and they generally wouldn't change drastically.

[b3organ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Juiceman612

Verdict is still out on 1.03 for offline for me. Haven't played enough games but if anything there is better CPU time of possession. That is a definite change I see. CPU just seems harder. Your passes have to be very quick in the offensive zone or you'll give it up.

My thoughts also. Passes have to be more precise and you have to make them quicker. Winger-dman-passing by cpu still present at allstar but maybe it has lessen. And 1st line cpu-controlled dudes try to make new kind of passes to free team mate and even try to shoot from other places than from the point.

So far so good. Good job J.& Co.!

[Vikes1]

I've played four off-line games now with 1.03. [All-Star hardcore]

Overall I'm pleased with this new tuner. What I seem to be seeing is...

1. The cpu seems to turn the puck over a bit more now. Which imo is very welcome. Some of the "perfection" with the cpu play, seems toned down...at least some.

2. The goalies didn't seem to be quite as robotic. I scored a few goals...but still pretty tough for me. Better that though, than the opposite.

[Juiceman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vikes1

... 1. The cpu seems to turn the puck over a bit more now. Which imo is very welcome. Some of the "perfection" with the cpu play, seems toned down...at least some. 2. The goalies didn't seem to be quite as robotic. I scored a few goals...but still pretty tough for me. Better that though, than the opposite.

These two points are about what I've seen too. It's still plenty hard to score offline. CPU powerplay seemed pumped up too. One game my CPU defenders kept getting penalties and then the CPU team went 4/4 on the PP that game. I honestly was out of place on 1 goal. The other 3 it just wasn't happening. I hope that was an anomaly.

I've tried a bunch of settings all-star default, all-star hardcore, pro hardcore, and superstar hardcore. I always max the attribute effects and change nothing else. And what I see overall is really not much difference across all levels of play. Mentioned it before, but I'll experiment a few more games (logged 10 so far) and then go back to 1.01 with custom sliders as I was getting good competitive games with that and a huge variety of goals - more so than what I'm seeing on 1.03 so far.

[Choneen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Redshirt_EA

(the game probably gets 100 times* more play within a day of release than during all of development and testing)

I was thinking of this the other day. You should release the NHL11 demo with a team practice mode (because an OTP practice mode WILL be released, right?!? =p ). I'm sure a ton of glitches would be found before the game is released.