NHL 17 Q&A #2 - Collisions, AI Improvements, New Goalie Cam, No Roster Sharing & More

[DJ NEO]

I've got bad and good news.

So there will be no roster sharing in 17.

There are some bigger plans in the air for future tho. Like sharing sliders, created teams, arenas, jerseys and rosters of course.
Just not this year. Sorry for bad news guys.

[Honni]

Quote: Originally Posted by DJ NEO

I've got bad and good news. So there will be no roster sharing in 17. There are some bigger plans in the air for future tho. Like sharing sliders, created teams, arenas, jerseys and rosters of course. Just not this year. Sorry for bad news guys.

Thanks for asking the dev team for us. I'm also pretty sure that I won't buy this years game, main reason for me is the missing roster sharing function, too.

While it sounds nice that they're at least talking about sharing all the different stuff for next years game, I'm not really sure that they're actually considering it to put this in. The fanbase wanted this for years and every time they're saying 'We are looking into it for future iterations' or something like that. I've come to a point where I just don't believe EA anything. I hope they get some market competition in NHL video games so they're forced to deliver a better product. This franchise fell off a cliff a long time ago.

[jake19ny]

Not defending EA but I remember DJ saying how much smaller the dev team is as opposed to the other sports games and I suspect it's a matter of not being able to get everything done they would like so they pick what they feel they can do in time and leave out what they can't for next year. That said its hard to understand why we were able to share rosters on last gen and it's available in every sports game around on current gen but this one. I say that without having any idea how this stuff works mind you.

I thought NHL 16 was an improvement over 15 so I'm curious to see if 17 is a few steps closer to what I'm looking for and judging by DJs early impression it is. I understand everyone's frustration with the process and I share much of it with you but it is what it is. I still think they are actually trying.

Also....Thanks DJ for the updates and your commitment to the sim community.

[Honni]

Quote: Originally Posted by jake19ny

Not defending EA but I remember DJ saying how much smaller the dev team is as opposed to the other sports games and I suspect it's a matter of not being able to get everything done they would like so they pick what they feel they can do in time and leave out what they can't for next year. That said its hard to understand why we were able to share rosters on last gen and it's available in every sports game around on current gen but this one. I say that without having any idea how this stuff works mind you.

I already thought about this two years ago: why do the dev teams of Madden and NHL are not working together to create something that's even better, I mean it's both EA Sports? As I said, Madden has a deeeeeep franchise mode. It's great to play this while the NHL Be A GM is pretty lame for a long time now. They are trying to replicate stuff now it seems, but wow it's effin' slow.

When they are finally bringing us the option for roster sharing (which I still hope for), there will be new console generations shortly after. And I hope they won't cut this again to present it two years later as "new feature" aka front net battles. Those were in already in the game years ago... NHL 14 or what?

[jhawk826]

Quote: Originally Posted by Honni

I already thought about this two years ago: why do the dev teams of Madden and NHL are not working together to create something that's even better, I mean it's both EA Sports? As I said, Madden has a deeeeeep franchise mode. It's great to play this while the NHL Be A GM is pretty lame for a long time now. They are trying to replicate stuff now it seems, but wow it's effin' slow. When they are finally bringing us the option for roster sharing (which I still hope for), there will be new console generations shortly after. And I hope they won't cut this again to present it two years later as "new feature" aka front net battles. Those were in already in the game years ago... NHL 14 or what?

Its not that simple as they're both EA Sports. You can be part of the same company, but have a completely different process of working. The NHL series is done by EA Canada. The Madden series is done by Tiburon which is based in Florida. Being located in different places much less a different country proves to be a very difficult process. I work from NYC with people in LA and Dallas regularly. There are a number of hurdles you face including time zone differences and communicating with one another. Now imagine working on a project such as a video game which involves a rigorous amount of coding and testing while trying to meet strict deadlines. This is why it isn't as easy as saying they are both EA Sports.

[Caniac94]

Quote: Originally Posted by DJ NEO

I've got bad and good news. So there will be no roster sharing in 17. There are some bigger plans in the air for future tho. Like sharing sliders, created teams, arenas, jerseys and rosters of course. Just not this year. Sorry for bad news guys.

Well thanks for asking DJ. Looks like the typical EA response "we'll consider this later" which pretty means they're not going to add it in. It'll probably get added back in just before the next generation of consoles and be claimed as NEW and a big selling feature. Not worth spending a dime on this game.

[Simple Mathematics]

To be fair, roster sharing was never actually a feature in an EA NHL game. We were just able to do it because it was possible on the previous consoles. Until somebody cracks the code of the new consoles, we won't be able to share the same way we did as the previous generation.

[Honni]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

To be fair, roster sharing was never actually a feature in an EA NHL game. We were just able to do it because it was possible on the previous consoles. Until somebody cracks the code of the new consoles, we won't be able to share the same way we did as the previous generation.

That's true, but roster sharing in Madden flourishes. So it works for companies to make it an official feature. There are thousands of roster files and they're pretty awesome because a thousand times more accurate than the stock rosters.

I remember using your Revamped Rosters. Those were the days I enjoyed the NHL series the most. I can't believe that EA is not realising that a lot of potential is being wasted here. But hey, they want to sell their product year after year and when you don't have new features, the roster update is somewhat of a selling point for guys like me...