NHL 25 Launching 4 Nations Face-Off Integration Tomorrow - Patch Notes

[Steve_OS]

NHL 25 patch 1.4.0 is set to release tomorrow, January 22, at 1:00 PM ET. The...

Written By: Steve Noah

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[wrv2]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steve_OS

NHL 25 patch 1.4.0 is set to release tomorrow, January 22, at 1:00 PM ET. The... Written By: Steve Noah Click here to view the article.

Is it expected that they will be dropping a roster update tomorrow also to go along with 4 Nations features?

[KvltBear]

Surprised there hasn't been more reaction to this patch. Really good AI changes in my opinion, at least from a cpu vs cpu perspective. Players in the offensive zone seem to be much better about getting into position to make plays. D-men now properly play forwards skating in down the wing. I'm noticing a new dumping behavior of flipping the puck to the opposite corner, which used to happen only in penalty kill situations. However, unfortunately, it is rare. But it seems to be happening in 5v5 now.

Also noticing the AI dumping for line changes significantly more frequently than before. Which might be my favorite change as I found it infuriating how they'd keep redlining guys out there for prolonged shifts.

[13whitebread]

LETS GET IT ON!!!!!

[KvltBear]

I'm really souring on this update. Feels like there is just no flow to the game now. It's almost as if the CPU is even more hyperactive than before. Constant skating directly into hits, flinging the puck all over the ice in an out of control manner, never setting up in the zone to cycle or anything. The powerplay is hopeless now. Only goals are off faceoffs or a rush back up the ice. It's simply impossible for them to set up and score normally like a real life powerplay. The last tuner set it was at least occasionally possible. The only time the CPU is effective at forechecking is on the penalty kill where you'd think they have five extra guys out there. It's ridiculous. Why can't they successfully forecheck on dumped pucks during 5v5 like they can in penalty kill?

Also there are numerous situations where you can tell the new "designated player to retrieve the puck" logic falls short. Often when the puck is loose you'll see guys closest to it ignoring it or skating away to their assigned area because the player model assigned to get the puck, is not the closest one to it. Obviously this is silly since in real life everyone rushes to go after a loose puck. A lot of times defensive players will ignore a loose puck to stay in their assignment and it results in the offensive team having extended zone time when they shouldn't.

Whenever the puck bounces behind the net when all players are in front of it...it's like the AI freaks out and can't calm down enough to skate around the net, they just try to skate through it and then stutter as they get stuck on it. It takes way too much time for the simulation to have them skate around. Looks bad.

Hope they release another update soon, would be very unfortunate if this is the way the AI is for an extended period of time.