What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

[Splitter77]

I ask because I was playing all-star with personal settings on hardcore. Games stats were pretty much perfect, but i couldnt win. It was really frustrating.

Then i made 2 switches. I put both mine and cpu acceleration to 1 click, and switched from hardcore to normal.

After that switch, I win games at about an 80% clip, not only that, but I outshoot the cpu by a 2-1 margin now, and my attack time is almost doubling theirs, while before it was pretty even.

[JezFranco]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Some slider change don't they...? Makes the game less forgiving on hardcore (like less pass assist etc).
You can start a game on hardcore, and check the slider settings. Then start another one with normal, and check the sliders again if you want to see exactly whats the difference.

[Splitter77]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

i dont think the sliders do change. When i switch from hardcore to allstar my sliders were the same. Thats whats confusing me right now.

[MacBradley]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Some slider change don't they...? Makes the game less forgiving on hardcore (like less pass assist etc).
You can start a game on hardcore, and check the slider settings. Then start another one with normal, and check the sliders again if you want to see exactly whats the difference.

This is actually a huge misconception; I'm pretty sure anyway. CPU Aid changes the way teammates behave to make up for users not playing hockey right. It appears they treat the player similar to an AI player with CPU Aid at Normal (maybe default, not sure), but on Hardcore they assume the player wants to do everything. An example; if the other team is crossing the blue line without much space, on Normal the AI will close in and pressure the dump, but on Hardcore they won't because they expect the player will switch to that D-man and do it themselves if they want that D-man to leave position.

Personally, I find Normal CPU Aid to be the most balanced, without giving the CPU an advantage.

[Rogie Vachon]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

This is actually a huge misconception; I'm pretty sure anyway. CPU Aid changes the way teammates behave to make up for users not playing hockey right. It appears they treat the player similar to an AI player with CPU Aid at Normal (maybe default, not sure), but on Hardcore they assume the player wants to do everything. An example; if the other team is crossing the blue line without much space, on Normal the AI will close in and pressure the dump, but on Hardcore they won't because they expect the player will switch to that D-man and do it themselves if they want that D-man to leave position.

Personally, I find Normal CPU Aid to be the most balanced, without giving the CPU an advantage.

That`s how I see it too,.....IMO,hardcore might be a better setting for EASHL or OTP,or with 5 guys playing offline together as a team.

If you want your cpu teammates to play the team game,then I think normal is the better choice.

[JezFranco]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Ok, there might be 2 sides to it...

I think that when you start a match or season an Chose Style; Hardcore, Normal or whatever, that that affects the sliders and the actual game style.
But there is also a second setting that is "CPU Aid" isn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm at work and not entirely sure here...

Thre reason I thought it's the way I describe it, is because I choose Harcore as default when I started my season. But as soon as I fiddle with one slider, it changes to "Current".


Anyway, here's the official notes about the styles when they were introduced in NHL 10.

http://www.easports.com/blogs/inthecrease/post/slug/so-you-think-youre-hardcore

When playing in Hardcore Mode, the first thing you’re going to notice is that the gameplay is slightly slower but that there is greater differentiation between the high and low end players. All the attributes are that much more important in this mode as player’s strengths and weaknesses are really accentuated. If you try deking back and forth on a breakaway with a 4th liner, there’s a good chance that the puck is going to roll off his stick.

Another thing you’re going to notice right away is that players accelerate much slower in certain situation as momentum plays a bigger part in the skating. Good luck trying to start and stop as an effective offensive weapon.

(Another reason why offline gamers experience players falling down in different ways?)

We’ve also completely removed all checking assistance in this mode so you have to be more selective about your hits and line the players up correctly.

The one other major point that I want to mention for Hardcore Mode is that it defaults to our Precision Passing system where there is no pass assist at all (similar to saucer passes) so the puck will go exactly where your left stick is aiming. You can also control the power of your pass by how long you hold down the right trigger to power up your pass.

[Taku]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Game style is just a preset for the sliders. CPU Aid is a different setting, no idea what it does exactly.

The description of CPU Aid setting is: "Adjust the level of cpu aid for gameplay settings. Hardcore means no cpu help. Casual means the cpu will make up for user mistakes."

How will the cpu make up for (what kind of) user mistakes? Is it the opponent cpu punishing on hardcore or is the cpu helping me when im doing mistakes on casual?

I haven't played on cpu aid hardcore for a long time so i really cant tell what it does but maybe thats the reason im enjoying the game so much?

[Splitter77]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Game style is just a preset for the sliders. CPU Aid is a different setting, no idea what it does exactly.

The description of CPU Aid setting is: "Adjust the level of cpu aid for gameplay settings. Hardcore means no cpu help. Casual means the cpu will make up for user mistakes."

How will the cpu make up for (what kind of) user mistakes? Is it the opponent cpu punishing on hardcore or is the cpu helping me when im doing mistakes on casual?

I haven't played on cpu aid hardcore for a long time so i really cant tell what it does but maybe thats the reason im enjoying the game so much?

I wish we could get a definitely description of what the cpu helps out with.
One thing i can say is that the game is much more enjoyable on normal instead of hardcore. I had been playing on hardcore since i bought the game.

It seems as though the cpu hustle isnt better than yours in normal mode. That is what i notice most. In hardcore mode, hal gill catches up to ovechkin, this doesnt happen in normal mode.

[Qb]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

I've long wondered about the CPU Aid setting as well. Taku is correct that "hardcore" is an option for both game style (slider presets) and CPU Aid. Once you change sliders, the game style changes to "current", so unless you're playing with a default game style, I don't think it matters too much. However, I think CPU Aid is something that affects gameplay beyond our slider settings.

In the past, I always went with hardcore for CPU Aid. I've starting playing more offline this week, logging about 10 games in a test season and some exhibition games. I switched it up and tried both normal and default. I have to say, it appears AI teammates do help out more as you move down from hardcore. Played several games on default last night and saw some good things -- D-men making plays on the puck carrier, reacting to loose pucks, and seeming more useful & responsive in general. It could all be in my head since I don't play as much offline as I'd like and perhaps I'm just knocking the rust off.

But I'm going to the source to see if I can get us an answer...

[JezFranco]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

But I'm going to the source to see if I can get us an answer...

You're the man!

I've never really bother to think about it in that the CPU aid could mean more helpful teammates.

I gotta switch tonight and see "what's in my head".

[Double-J]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

When I tried to play on hardcore (all-star), it just seemed to make my AI teammates play ridiculously bad, particularly with pass reception. So I turned it back to normal.

[Al_Tito13]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Here's what I think about it. I've done a lot of testing, trying to get a good gameplay that I like and changing almost every sliders.

Like it's been said before in this thread, the game style only serves to change presetted sliders values and give you a baseline to work on. When changing only one slider to your liking, the game style change to current.

However, the CPU Aid is the one that is important. From what I've seen, when on hardcore, the CPU doesn't help you with your puck control, shots, passes, pass receptions, skating, sharp turns, etc. I'm not talking here about your CPU teammates, but directly the players you're controlling. The first thing I noticed when changing the CPU Aid to hardcore was the looser puck and the more difficult pass receptions compared to normal. I think this give a more realistic feeling to the game and also probably makes your sliders work better. For example, if you have pass reception ease at 0, but have the CPU helping on receptions, this seems a bit contradictory. Same with every other sliders too. Your CPU teammates probably also don't help you as much or don't do the job for you, like many people said before. I noticed a bit of a difference in that department too.

At the end of the line, it comes to what you are more comfortable with and what you think is the best for your needs. Most people seem to play on Normal, I was one of them, but I now play on Hardcore and I like it.

[Qb]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

Tito, you touched on one of my concerns dropping down from hardcore. I didn't want to sacrifice the "sloppy" feeling of loose pucks & missed passes and gravitate back to the squeaky clean feeling of past versions. But I'm not really seeing this playing default or normal and, in fact, at times it almost seems the CPU is less perfect... maybe because my team is more "active". As far as passing ease, I use fully manual passing (no assist), so I miss & fumble plently of them since I rarely make a perfect pass.

I sent a PM to Redshirt, so hopefully we'll have an answer in the near future.

[Vikes1]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

I've drove myself half crazy switching back and forth between hardcore and normal.

As Qb mentioned...I also prefer the sloppier play of the hardcore setting. But for me, the hardcore setting in it's pure form was beyond my skill level. So after much screwing around with the sliders here, there, and everywhere...I was able to pretty much get the sloppy play of hardcore, on the normal setting by way of the Pass assist slider.

In my experience, the difference between having the pass assist slider set from 3 to 2 is nearly amazing. And I'd nearly swear it affects both Hum/cpu. Set at 3, the passing is clean as a hospital. But at 2...wow, dirty as a dump. So in short...I pretty much get hardcore type play on the normal setting with the pass assist slider set at 2.


But I also have a few other sliders set at 0, to help along the sloppy play. Such as....cpu pass acc, pass reception ease.

[Double-J]

Re: What is the difference between playing in normal or hardcore??

In my experience, the difference between having the pass assist slider set from 3 to 2 is nearly amazing. And I'd nearly swear it affects both Hum/cpu. Set at 3, the passing is clean as a hospital. But at 2...wow, dirty as a dump. So in short...I pretty much get hardcore type play on the normal setting with the pass assist slider set at 2.

Has anyone else found this to be the case? Because I'd love to have it so long as both the HUM and CPU would have trouble. It seemed to me when I lowered it it would end with my team playing like the Keystone Cops and the CPU playing like the Canadian Olympic Team.