How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

[RaychelSnr]

Overhaul The AI

In a year where FIFA 16 and NBA 2K16 both made tremendous improvements to their on-field/on-court AI, it's sad to see NHL 16's CPU skaters still aimlessly wandering at times.

AI teams still struggle to gain possession inside the offensive zone, mostly due to poor decision making coming through the neutral zone. On many shifts, they will either hesitate and zig-zag around the red line before launching a futile dump attempt, or they'll skate the puck in a straight line down the side boards where you can easily crush their oncoming forward with a check.

Read More - How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

[northmen24]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

All they need to do is read these boards and maybe hire a couple of us who break the game down.

Put in a slider system more like madden (a scale of 0-100 instead of 0-6 or 4) also expand the sliders like they were in the 2K series below is sliders from NHL 2K5

General:

All-Star
Game Speed: 2
Period Length: 10 Minutes
Penalties: On
Fighting: 1
Speed Burst After Fight Win: Off
Puck Friction: Full
Ice Friction: 0
Freeze Puck Time: 4
Goalie Freeze: 0
Glass Break: 0
Net off Moorings: On
Pinning: On
Offsides: On
Icing: Auto
2 Line Passing: Off


Advanced:

Manual
Manual
Manual
Manual
Referee: All
OT: 10 min OT, 5 on 5 SO
Clock: Accelerated
Clock Type: Auto
Last Minute Real Time: On
Penalty Time: OFF
Roughing: Full
Elbowing: Full
Cross Checking: Full
Boarding: Full
Charging: 25
Interference: Full
Slashing: Full
Hooking: Full
Tripping: Full
Spearing: 17
Penalty Shots: Full


CPU/Human

Goalie: 1/1
Offense: 6/4
Defense: 6/4
Speed Burst Effect: 1/2
Speed Burst Time: 4/5
Speed Burst Recovery: 14/12
Fatigue Effect: Full/Full
Fatigue Recovery: 6/6
Fatigue Time: Full/Full
Hitting Power: 5/3
Shot Accuracy: 5/5
Pass Accuracy: 0/8
Pass Speed: 5/5
Pass Interceptions: 5/5
Rebound Distance: 5/5
Shot Blocking: 6/6
Puck Retention: 0/0
Puck Control: Full/0
Goalie Anticipation: 0/0
Goalie Cover Depth: 5/5
Goalie Saves: 0/0
Goalie Wraparound: Full/Full

Audio Presentation:

Menu Music Volume: Full
Menu SFX Volume: 30
Commentator Volume: Full
Announcer Volume: 30
Crowd Volume: 21
Chants Volume: Full
Arena Music Volume: 24
Arena SFX Volume: Full
Arena Horn Volume

THATS HOW YOU DO SLIDERS

[Tsuki]

TEAM STYLES/SIGNATURE PLAYER STYLES/PLAYER SEPARATION.

^should be priority number one. It is sad that the NHL franchise will be the last to attempt to establish this into their gameplay.

Right now every player moves/shoots/checks etc the same regardless of overall. My biggest gripe is that in 2k if I attempted a triple double with brian scalebrine I would actually have problems doing so based on his animations given to him by his ratings, and in NHL I can go in with any scrub and pull a hat trick easily.

I suggest that the NHL series could be the first game to actually "hide" player overall, and just rate players on their core abilities with a GOAL of trying to re-create how each individual player actually plays. Badges like in 2k something just try something different jeez.

[joshdm21]

I think MLB the show sets the standard for a franchise mode...for example id love to be able to hire coaches and have there systems change how my team plays and the players I(theGM) need to have on my roster. also would like the sim stats to be more realistic. im a huge offline franchise player and the nhl16 be a gm mode is average at best.

[TDKing]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

Player separation !!! And Bring back GM connected with custom season length and league sliders. Shorter seasons for offline and online.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[AdamJones113]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

What an article jyoung! I sincerely hope you passed this along to the developers, because this is a fantastic list with the priorities in the right order.

What can I even add? Perhaps effective sliders and more of a community (this community's) influence. Wish I could have written something like this for my packet. I focused a little more on gameplay, but this article brought up some excellent points.

I hadn't really thought about it much, but having played a Madden CFM this year really made me pine for GM Connected. An OS GM Connected would be amazing... assuming the gameplay is improved and less robotic, which you adroitly placed before all.

Great work.

[Dazraz]

Great list. Why are we still suffering lag on Menu Screens with today's technology. Madden is the same. Why can't EA sort. MLB The Show & NBA 2K have far more detailed Menus & they are really slick.

[Simple Mathematics]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

Absolutely fantastic article. I agree with every single point in there. EA needs to see this. Please send it to them if you haven't already.

[Nickflyers]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

100% Agreed! Allow us to customize OUR BAGMs.

• Allow us to edit ANYONE's ratings during a BAGM
• Allow us to CREATE OUR OWN DRAFT CLASSES(and share them) ala 2k Series
• Dynamic Rivalries
• Coaches(NHL 2k5 had this, geez)

Basically combine NHL's gameplay w/ 2ks Franchise mode = Happy hockey fans

[Vikes1]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

Yep, great list!

[Money99]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

Fantastic article Chris!
Not sure where to begin as you basically hit every nail on the head. I’m not even sure there’s anything to add really.
(The one thing I’d love to see is separate ratings for each position. Several NHLers play more than 1).

Perhaps the best way to add to this list is to simply agree and highlight the areas that I feel need the most work.
And certainly, in my mind, the biggest issue this series faces (and has faced for decades) is the lack of real player separation and differential.
Playing an 82-game season feels like playing 82 exhibition games against the same team and players.
Admittingly, I didn’t purchase NHL16 this year, but it sounds like it’s no different than NHL15, 14, 13… which I did own.

The sad part is, the list you provided has basically been the same wishlist NHL fans have been clamoring for, for over a decade now.
I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
This series is what it is. It won’t matter how many new and powerful consoles hit the market. It won’t matter how often these points are raised.
You can set your watch in what you can expect from the NHL series;
- No player separation
- Dumb AI
- No neutral zone pressure
- CPU cheats/boosts/tilt – whatever you want to call it.
- Super shallow franchise mode/options
- Limited sliders

It’s really sad to think that at one time, the NHL series outsold Madden.
Contrary to what the developers and producers believe, you CAN make a realistic hockey game and make it fun for the masses (see NHL2K5 - which outsold NHL2005).
At the very least, with the proper sliders, you should be able to provide a game that fits everyone’s tastes.
But it all starts with player separation (which affects the CPU too!!!!!) and a deep, robust and engaging Franchise mode.

[jake19ny]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

This article is spot on sadly my personal feeling is EA does not care about offline gamers nearly as much as online and HUT. The lingering offline issues, remaining bugs from last year in offline mode, lack of attention to detail in the offline modes, and the recent tuner debacle, all support my theory.

[Vikes1]

Re: How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

I agree with Money99. Imo too, NHL is what it is....take it or leave it. I'm guessing this is pretty much the way of things for possibly the next several years. On-line play seems to carry the greatness attention. Sadly, at the expense of off-line.

[brandon27]

Spot on writeup. I don't necessarily agree with adding Legends to the Franchise mode. I guess if it's an option, then sure. Why not?

I'd also want to see the sliders completely changed, on the 0-100 scale, broken down more like the list in a reply here previously.

Season length is a big one too. Now that the period by period sim feature is back though, I'm not too concerned, sometimes I enjoy simming through to the 3rd period, then joining the game to try and have a big comeback win or something like that.

I think NHL 16 is my last EA NHL until the AI is completely overhauled for all the reasons mentioned in this piece though. The AI's offense is the same thing over and over, and as much as they want to deny it, the ice definitely tilts at times. It's just not enjoyable to play in its current state, there's too many things that happen in hockey every shift, that aren't even close to replicated properly in the game.

To me, the AI is the biggest step to revitalizing franchise mode, simply because it will actually make people want to play through a season.

[GlennN]

Agree completely with drastically increasing player separation. Also agree with other folks that we need to be able to edit within BeAGM, including incoming draft classes, and they need to make the sliders work better. I would add to that list, the player search feature has to come back (and improve). We need much better stat tracking (so the player card has year by year stats for the entire careers, how obtain, all-star teams made, cups and awards won, etc.).