NHL 13 Wishlist

[infinityBCRT]

So, as all seasoned sports game vets know, EA has already started to lay down the foundations for NHL 13, so its important to get our feedback out to them as soon as possible on NHL 12 so our input can actually make a difference to next year's game. I'm hoping a mod can sticky this thread so that all of us can keep our feedback directed towards next year's game here (whereas game breaking glitches should probably stick in the Bugs and Glitches Thread)

Link to NHL 12 Wishlist

[infinityBCRT]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I've had a couple of burning issues on my plate the last little while for the NHL series in general.

1. Had a few friends over last night and we were playing NHL 12. One of them hadn't really played these games serious since the days of NHL 94 on Genesis and NHL 95 on PC. I had to turn on NHL 94 controls for him. That being said it still wasn't that easy for him because checking was completely different. It would be nice if there was a way to turn on an NHL 94/Arcade mode where Check = Charge/Turbo to allow people who aren't serious gamers to still have fun with the game.

2. Theres no way to make a game thats both realistic gameplay and realistic stats with only 5 minute periods so they need a way to adjust it to people's tastes. I know the Casual/Default/Hardcore option kinda does this but I think it needs to be taken a step further to be a full slider like so:

[Super Arcadey/NHL 94 gameplay]->[Realistic Stats for 5 mins/Arcade]->[Realistic Stats for 10 mins/Pseudo-realistic]->[Realistic Stats for 20 mins/Realistic gameplay]

There are some who like realistic stats at 5/10 mins, other people who like realistic gameplay at 5/10 minutes with stats which would be reduced from a normal game. This type of system would help please everyone's gameplay style, plus throwing in the arcade mode would let casual players have fun with the game.

3. As we get older and lead more demanding lives, the game needs to be more flexible to our needs. I like the Sim Intervention stuff and Quitting to Sim options but I'd like it to go a step further. Sim intervention needs to be allowed during a game as well. So say for example I'm leading 3-0 in the first, I'd like to do simulation but be able to intervene again if the score ever gets close.

And saved games is a feature that must be added back. Theres so many times where I'm waiting for an EASHL friend or Online League opponent to finish up with their game. If there was the ability to save a game in progress and they were playing offline, they would easily be able to save their game in progress if it was an offline game and then jump into an online game with me.

Also, if they were playing an online game, I could also jump into an offline game for a bit, and then save my progress when they were done playing their online game.

4. In the past few years, difficulty of Pro was too easy for me and All-Star was too hard. This year I find All-Star to be perfect for me. But I'm sure there are others that find it to be too hard. Instead of having these 4 or 5 fixed skill levels I think it should just be a difficulty % slider between 0 to 100. Let people decide how hard they want it. Maybe keep in Rookie, Pro, All-Star, etc, but then add a "Custom" option which lets you set it between 0 and 100.

5. I have a brother who doesn't live in the same city as me anymore, and it annoys me that I can't play the same game modes with him online that I could offline. Even if there was an option to allow xbox live party members to act as a 2nd,3rd,4th controller on my system that would be enough for me. I also find it kinda silly that I can't play co-op with him online at all. There needs to be co-op modes. As competitive multiplayer gamers get more hardcore, co-op is increasingly becoming the space where casual players like to play.

In offline mode, people can even play Ranked Vs games with multiple people on the same console, but I can't do that at all online with a friend in any type of mode. I'd also like to see mixing and matching options there. Say for example, I have a group of 3 people on one console and a friend online, I'd like to have it let me play 2 vs 2 with one of the players being from xbox live.

6. Customization, customization, customization. Its about time people have the option to use custom sliders, custom rosters & custom teams in unranked online modes. Again, comes down to giving the same experience online that you can have offline.

Overall I still think EA did a great job in the year they had to develop the game. Its funny that a few years ago I was moaning about the skating engine, and while I still think its an issue (and hardcore fans will eat EA alive if NHL 13 doesn't have a better one ), that's not the thing that I want to get addressed the most. Outside of any money goals (wrap around the net seems to be bad this year). The features I'm looking towards getting are ones that solve user experience problems.

[Suntan Superman]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I'd really like an overhaul of the presentation, and menu system

[infinityBCRT]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I'd really like an overhaul of the presentation, and menu system

Thats one thing I didn't mention in my big list but yes.

The changing of the goal celebrations was an awful move. NHL 11 looked a lot better. I think they need to move to getting NBC/TSN licenses now for the game and using McGuire/Emerick/Edzo for US games and Miller/McGuire or Cuthbert/McGuire for Canadian games.

Also think that the menu system is slow. Too much time between transitions. And the Media Hub still wasn't fixed.

Finally something I didn't mention was historical teams. I think EA should try to work with the NHLPA and older players to put together some DLC for classic players. like $5 DLC to get players who were drafted in the 60s & 70s, $5 for players drafted in the 80s & 90s, and $5 DLC for players who were drafted before the 60s. That way we can get classic teams in the game with some of the real players from the league. Put in randomly generated players in for players you couldn't get the rights to, and then let us edit them ourselves.

[gopher_guy]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I think it's fairly obvious that presentation needs to be overhauled.

I think they need to change the commentators (Not that I dislike Thorne and Clement, but that people will still feel it's stale if they are in the game), and completely change the in game presentation. Everything from the colors to the fonts to the animations. Make it look like a TV broadcast! In BeAGM, show the conference standings every once in a while! Show relevant things happening in the season, and have the commentators talk about it!

[jaiman]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

Full blown presentation (A.K.A NBA 2K), which includes a custom option for the broadcast camera! There is no excuse for NHL 13.

[canucksss]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

BaGM need a tons of love:

1. Have an option for 82-60-41 games per season - you dont like to sim everytime and you cant play that much games specially if you're working and raising family.

2. Have realistic fatigue throughout the season (no matter if its less than 82 games/season), specially for goalies.

3. as mentioned before, better presentation. just an idea, say you enter the SC and lost, at least have a dramatic ending for the defeated team ... like having a scene in their locker room. and if you win, let the champagne bottle open up instead of generic on the ice picture with the CUP,... its boring after seeing this animation for several years now.

4. Have a coach mode - i know, i know, EA have lots of modes that need improvement why create another one. similar to BaGM except you cannot play as the players but you can assign lines, recruit players etc.

5. if you're team is playing poorly let the crowds react by low attendance or something

6. for goodness sake, change the animation wherein if you go to the bench and you always see the back up goalie leaning back and seems talking to someone.... and no hockey sticks at the background just towels.... ive seen this since i was in college...sheeze change it.

thats it for now i guess

[misch13fRoyale]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

-REAL TIME PRESENTATION!!!!!! madden does it... talk to those guys!!! the whole cutting to player skating a circle on the ice that has nothing to do with the location of the upcoming face off, is just lame!!!(and i know alot of people will be asking for this!!!)
-maybe a second or so longer on the cut scenes that show stats or a milestone reached by a player.
-of course, GLITCH FREE please. most people let it sit and collect dust, until things are full speed, or they return it, to the point where gamestops or what not, start warning you about the game.

anyways, enough ranting for me. Still love the game

[TDKing]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

Here's my list, pretty much the same as the last 2 years! A mod should just merge in all of NHL12's wishlist since most of those were ignored anway.

1. Customizable season length in BeAGM mode. 20/42/82
   
2. Online BeAGM with customizable season length and all of the options that are available in offline BeAGM like salary cap, free agents, RFA’s, trading etc… Add in a nice web based interface.
   
3. Ability to have an online Co-op franchise with a max of 6 friends at one time on the same team.
   
4. Battle for the cup, Playoff and Tournament modes should be available as online Multi player modes! (I DON"T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS ISN"T IN ALREADY).
   
5. Ability to use our own slider settings online. ( in the above requested online modes and quick games).
   
6. Better differentiation in players. I know there is a slider but I can’t use my sliders online.
   
7. GET RID of 1st person fighting.
   
8. Online Communities like Madden (Should of had it this year!!!!!)
   
9. All the other various AI and Gameplay fixes that the other guys are sure to post here.

I want to be able to play all modes against my friends ONLINE with custom sliders. I don't like to play the CPU and refuse to play against randoms. Is that so hard to understand ? What does ea have against playing friends online? I purchased 12, and it will be the last hockey game I get unless the options I want are in the game. Little tweaks won't cut it anymore! Time to UPGRADE the game!

[infinityBCRT]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

-REAL TIME PRESENTATION!!!!!! madden does it... talk to those guys!!! the whole cutting to player skating a circle on the ice that has nothing to do with the location of the upcoming face off, is just lame!!!(and i know alot of people will be asking for this!!!)

That is a great suggestion-- but if they go full-time realtime presentation, expect the cutscenes to take a step back for a year or two like Madden did before finally looking up to snuff. But yes, real-time presentation with TV only cameras would be a great addition. I mean hell, they had realtime stuff between plays on NHL 95 PC.

Here's my list, pretty much the same as the last 2 years! A mod should just merge in all of NHL12's wishlist since most of those were ignored anway.

1. Customizable season length in BeAGM mode. 20/42/82
   
2. Online BeAGM with customizable season length and all of the options that are available in offline BeAGM like salary cap, free agents, RFA’s, trading etc… Add in a nice web based interface.
   
3. Ability to have an online Co-op franchise with a max of 6 friends at one time on the same team.
   
4. Battle for the cup, Playoff and Tournament modes should be available as online Multi player modes! (I DON"T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS ISN"T IN ALREADY).
   
5. Ability to use our own slider settings online. ( in the above requested online modes and quick games).
   
6. Better differentiation in players. I know there is a slider but I can’t use my sliders online.
   
7. GET RID of 1st person fighting.
   
8. Online Communities like Madden (Should of had it this year!!!!!)
   
9. All the other various AI and Gameplay fixes that the other guys are sure to post here.

I want to be able to play all modes against my friends ONLINE with custom sliders. I don't like to play the CPU and refuse to play against randoms. Is that so hard to understand ? What does ea have against playing friends online? I purchased 12, and it will be the last hockey game I get unless the options I want are in the game. Little tweaks won't cut it anymore! Time to UPGRADE the game!

Yup, this is a lot of the stuff that I want too. One thing though about Online Be A GM-- if they go that route I'm hoping they also keep an option for playing games out of order/flex scheduling. I think its dumb in Online Leagues currently that who sends the invite decides who is the home team. But I do appreciate that you can play games in any order because the schedule is kinda like an arbitrary limitation as real sports teams do it because they know thats when they are available for a game. Its much more complicated when you're dealing with real people and the easiest way to handle it is to let games be played when two owners are available. But they also need to give commissioners tools to deal with delinquent GMs, such as forfeiting games, deducting points, removing draft picks, replacing them with another GM (without losing the team's progress), allowing the other team to play against the CPU instead, etc. Would also be nice to choose to have CPU teams in online Be A GM or not and to choose the conference/division alignment and customize the schedule completely (like how many games in division vs out of division vs out of conference). Also should allow teams to have up to 6 players, would definitely solve a lot of the scheduling issues as well.

Also thought for an online league using fixed scheduling (games have to be played in order) there should be a system in place on how it schedules games... for example

- Home team & Away team are given "X" amount of hours to get together to play a game
- After that, Home team is given "Y" amount of hours to start a game against the CPU, if Home team starts a game, Away team can jump in the game in progress at any time to avoid the Home team trying to cheat by avoiding Away team to play against CPU
- After that, both teams are given "Z" amount of hours to start a game against the CPU, if one team starts a game, other team can jump into the game in progress at any time
- After that, the game is simulated

All time periods would be customizable. The ability to jump into games in progress would have to be added and if you're disconnected from a game you should be able to rejoin it in progress as well.

Also to be fair TDKing, A LOT of what I said in my NHL 11 wishlist (and in that wishlist I specifically noted that I know this stuff can't be implemented for 11 because its too hard to do physics in such a short time) was implemented in NHL 12. Dunno if I'm psychic or they listened, but I went back and checked and what they did is what I wanted.

Online Co-op Playoff mode would be awesome. Getting together with my friends to try to win a Stanley cup is something I haven't been able to do since NHL 94.

[gangeli]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I also wish you could play online coop. Sometimes it's nice to play
with your friends, instead of against them.

Also, if i'm playing an online unranked game against someone on my friends list, we should have the option for one of us to pause it as many times as we want, and as long as we want.

I can understand having limits for ranked games, but unranked vs friends?

[Suntan Superman]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I would like coaches to matter.

[canucksss]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

Here's my list, pretty much the same as the last 2 years! A mod should just merge in all of NHL12's wishlist since most of those were ignored anway.

1. Customizable season length in BeAGM mode. 20/42/82
   
2. Online BeAGM with customizable season length and all of the options that are available in offline BeAGM like salary cap, free agents, RFA’s, trading etc… Add in a nice web based interface.
   
3. Ability to have an online Co-op franchise with a max of 6 friends at one time on the same team.
   
4. Battle for the cup, Playoff and Tournament modes should be available as online Multi player modes! (I DON"T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS ISN"T IN ALREADY).
   
5. Ability to use our own slider settings online. ( in the above requested online modes and quick games).
   
6. Better differentiation in players. I know there is a slider but I can’t use my sliders online.
   
7. GET RID of 1st person fighting.
   
8. Online Communities like Madden (Should of had it this year!!!!!)
   
9. All the other various AI and Gameplay fixes that the other guys are sure to post here.

I want to be able to play all modes against my friends ONLINE with custom sliders. I don't like to play the CPU and refuse to play against randoms. Is that so hard to understand ? What does ea have against playing friends online? I purchased 12, and it will be the last hockey game I get unless the options I want are in the game. Little tweaks won't cut it anymore! Time to UPGRADE the game!

great suggestions... but if i may, could i suggest not to those colors..its hard to read, specially for me... im old hahahahah.

[TDKing]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

great suggestions... but if i may, could i suggest not to those colors..its hard to read, specially for me... im old hahahahah.

LOL... it is hard to read but I'm to lazy to change it cause I'm probably older than you

[infinityBCRT]

Re: NHL 13 Wishlist

I would like coaches to matter.

I'd also pay for DLC for real coaches. What I've actually wanted them to do is release like a hardcore edition for $90 which includes historical players/teams, real coaches, real referees/linesmen, the real NHL broadcast partners, all the real arenas, and is also T-rated and has blood.