Rosters Wishlist

[DJ NEO]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lofton

This is the kind of passion we need on the EA team. Why EA hasnt hired you Simple Mathematics yet. I know you would do this **** for free. One thing ive been wanting is to be able to turn off retired jerseys numbers. So i can recreate old school rosters. Another thing, give us the chance to change generic cyberfaces too other faces on the menu, at least we can try and make them look like there counter part. When re-creating a team, give us the tools to use current and old school jerseys, so i can make the whalers, nords, thrashers

One can only dream I guess..

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dougie_G_93

One thing that always bothers me. EA never gives a legitimate reason for prohibiting roster sharing. Why? I can't think of 1 legitimate reason really. The biggest problem the NHL series has is there is no competition for EA. Which means they can do what they want, and deliver inferior products because they keep making money. The greatest gift I have received regarding rosters was Artems nhlview, which now with the xbox1 is obsolete

I think you might be seeing roster sharing a bit more simply that it likely is.

When you break down roster sharing into what it is, it gets a bit more complex (though as other games have shown, still very doable).

To share rosters, you would preferably have them be easily edited and changed in the game. Ignoring the potential wishlist for played editing, let's say you make your dream roster and want to upload it. EA will have to create and maintain some hefty servers across the US and possibly the world to store the data and maintain it. That's not to say they don't have those already, but they're going to need to focus just on the roster sharing. This allows the rosters to be saved on your Playstation/Xbox and then uploaded to their servers. This all requires a lot of work just to get this to happen.

Now, once it's there, it's only as useful as it is accessible. So in the game EA would need to create a way to let you search through their potentially massive database (people uploading multiple rosters, tons of their own, and people who just accidentally toss up junk rosters for no reason) and find the file you want, through whatever means.

Then they've got to create the interface to get that roster and all of it's information smoothly from their server to your console. Again, none of this is impossible. The Show has been doing it for years, and they do it for rosters too.

But, at the same time you've got to realize it's an entirely new money pit, and an entirely new area of the game that has to be thoroughly tested after it's been researched, designed, and built into the game. That potentially takes resources from other aspects of the game, or forces them to invest in more developers/system admins to get it done. Again, not saying it's impossible, or that it couldn't be done. I just want people to realize there's more to it than just saying "We have shared rosters now" in a way that works smoothly.

An alternative to that would be to allow users to save their custom rosters, and then put them on a flash drive, and then load that saved roster, similar to the work-around method that the Revamped Roster team used years ago, but that's still effort and money that would need to be spent, just less overhead spent on maintaining and creating servers to house the data.

As for the original post, it's great as always, Simple Mathmatics. I love pretty much every idea posted.

I think that better customization and sharing could really open the floodgates for improving the gameplay. EA's core is pretty solid. Admittedly, I get frustrated with the way the AI handles things, but hockey is a complicated sport with a lot of complex ways to handle any given play. It's improving, and that's a good sign.

But in my opinion, the players themselves are still some of the biggest issues. There's just no personal investment in the franchise for me, because it's a bunch of generic looking and playing guys on the screen, in a world that's seemingly just me by myself. Trade deadline, free agent day, the team surging in the standings, it's all pretty...meh.

Ratings changes would be a huge blessing for the game. As it stands now, and as you mentioned, everyone just plays too close together. There's not really a ton of difference between someone like Ryan Reaves and a player like Tarasenko. They both hit relatively the same, and they both shoot relatively the same. When I jump into the game and I'm circling around the ice, I don't see guys like Ovechkin or Seguin sneaking behind the defense and finding the open ice to setup the one-timer. You don't see guys like Jay Bouwmeester using their skating to close the gap on forwards and angle them into the boards, and you don't see players like Burns really using their mobility and shooting to dominate offensively at the blue line.

Every team just plays relatively the same, and while you're noticing players because of their name or number, and sometimes their appearance, in my opinion, a lot of the teams and individuals on the team all seem the same. I never really notice that I'm playing against a specific line, because they don't really seem more threatening, or more physical. They all just tend to do the same basic things.

[JaoL]

Before I read the whole OP.
I believe this is the way to go

Quote:

OPTION 2 – Scale the ratings as follows: NHL = 50-99 KHL = 35-65 SHL = 30-60 AHL/Liiga = 20-55 NLA/Czech Extraliga/DEL = 1-35

But I would not go as low and rate the European leagues below 50 overall.
I mean really do you actually believe our players are that much worse than NHL players?

I believe ratings for NHL 60 - 90 overall.
1st liners anything between 80 - 90
2nd liners 70 - 80
3rd liners 65 - 75
4th liners 60 - 70

Same goes for Defense top D 80 and so.

Only players that hit 90+ should be Crosby, Ovechkin and a couple more but not as many there are now. Because their skill level are not even close.

AHL Ratings
45 - 65


SHL, Liiga, DEL etc
Ratings from 45 to 70

I mean Top Players in SHL and Liiga could easily compete with NHL players for spots. So their ratings shouldn't be much different.

ECHL and Minor Affiliate teams
30 - 50 overall would suffice. Top talent hitting 50 overall or something.

[Moose24x]

The problem is actually how the attributes are set up to begin with. If AHL/CHL are 45-65, all of their attributes have to be fairly low/mediocre. The problem is, a lot of kids in the CHL already have an NHL shot or NHL skating or vision or hands. Often a combination of many of these things. Those are the areas EA rates players in. The issue with them not being NHL ready is often strength, poise, etc. and those areas either do not have enough impact on ratings on their own, or don't grow enough as the player gains experience. A CHLer of late 1st round pick caliber may already have stick handling, decking, passing, shot accuracy, speed, agility, etc. to play in the NHL. These areas may increase a little over the next few years of their development, but usually not leaps and bounds. What they're lacking is often strength and body weight as well as experience and maturity. Players should get heavier, get stronger and gain poise and awareness as they gain NHL experience. Instead player progrsssion seems like random attributes just increase for no reason.

[AdamJones113]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moose24x

The problem is actually how the attributes are set up to begin with. If AHL/CHL are 45-65, all of their attributes have to be fairly low/mediocre. The problem is, a lot of kids in the CHL already have an NHL shot or NHL skating or vision or hands. Often a combination of many of these things. Those are the areas EA rates players in. The issue with them not being NHL ready is often strength, poise, etc. and those areas either do not have enough impact on ratings on their own, or don't grow enough as the player gains experience. A CHLer of late 1st round pick caliber may already have stick handling, decking, passing, shot accuracy, speed, agility, etc. to play in the NHL. These areas may increase a little over the next few years of their development, but usually not leaps and bounds. What they're lacking is often strength and body weight as well as experience and maturity. Players should get heavier, get stronger and gain poise and awareness as they gain NHL experience. Instead player progrsssion seems like random attributes just increase for no reason.

Completely agree. I elaborated on this a few years ago when I did a thread about revamping the rating system (link has the pics/examples):

Quote:

The current iteration has six rating categories: Physical, Defense, Shooting, Puck Skills, Skating, Senses. I am proposing that ratings instead be divided into two categories, Tangibles and Intangibles. Tangible ratings, such as Speed, Passing, Wrist Shot Power, etc, are subject to the above fluctuation and will regress as a player gets older. Intangible ratings, such as Defensive Awareness, Discipline, Poise, etc, remain constant throughout a season and will only increase, at the end of the season, unless the player suffers a serious concussion or head injury. The Intangible ratings will increase as a player plays more games in the NHL:

Quote:

I think that potential has improved on the next-gen versions. Provided that playing a player on the NHL team or a lot of minutes in the AHL will raise their attributes (see Intangibles, above), potential doesn't have a lot to change. But here is a an attribute that works well as a measure of potential and well as a comparison between NHL players and players in other leagues. The rating is how well a player's skills translate to the NHL. A player whose skills fit well into an NHL team—such as a sniper, or a hard-hitting defenseman, will have a higher grade. The grade encapsulates all of the player's stats, tangible and intangible. Therefore a player with a higher grade will have a better chance to become a good NHLer whereas a player with a lower grade will have a worse chance. Yet this rating includes another modifier: how ready the player is for the NHL. If they are ready or nearly ready, the grade will be coloured green; if they still have work to do, the colour will be yellow, and if they are far from NHL ready, the grade will be coloured red (white for an NHL player)

[Jatt96]

Agree with the 60-90 NHL ratings.

By far one of the most weirdest things is that Turning Off Retired Numbers is allowed in season mode, but not an option to be turned off in Franchise Mode, what the hell is that BS?