Rubber band effect(?)

[NinthFall]

How can anyone claim that NHL 18 doesn’t have it? It’s painfully onvious each game you play. And that difficulty model is so old, so boring, like watching a hollywood romcom full of cliches. EA has even banned discussions regarding this topic from their own forums. You can lie to yourself, but not to us. Thankfully we can edit the gameplay via sliders for FM, but HUT still remains cancer. Wish they’d just listen to the players instead of being so ignorant regarding this issues that has fans raging and complaining literally every year.

[jake19ny]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

This is going to sound like typical bash EA rubbish but I’m at the point I truly believe it. EA NHL now cares about one thing and one thing only....how many HUT packs they sell. Judging by people’s teams, despite a multitude of legitimate complaints, people are spending more money than ever. As long as poor souls and the ignorant pour their hard earned dollars into this mode nothing else will see improvements. This years release proved that to me.

[MizzouRah]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Even editing the game play via sliders does not fix the AI players on your team who constantly leave players open in the slot, skate into each other and do other non-hockey basic defense type plays.

I've said this before, but the actual game play has become predictable and stale in this series.

[jake19ny]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Even editing the game play via sliders does not fix the AI players on your team who constantly leave players open in the slot, skate into each other and do other non-hockey basic defense type plays.

I've said this before, but the actual game play has become predictable and stale in this series.

In addition to the issues you mentioned, which are yearly issues, NHL18 also added AI teammates that freeze after face offs for a few seconds and ignore passes coming their way as if it’s an open skate instead of a hockey game. It’s really sad how this game has failed to progress and in many areas has taken a few steps back....but again I think it’s by design. Spend as little as possible on production and rely on cash cow HUT.

Bottom line: when NHL 14 on a last gen console was a better hockey experience than a game released 4 years later on current gen it means a) they are not even trying or b) they are inept

[BlacknBlue]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

It is abundantly obvious that for online play the person(s) with the lower credit rating will benefit from an algorithmic boost in each game. That boost seemingly impacts both team’s AI and human players, resulting in an advantage for the lesser “skilled” team.

This has been evident for years now, and is likely in place as a safeguard to ensure that lesser talent continues to purchase the product each year and play the game.

[MizzouRah]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

In addition to the issues you mentioned, which are yearly issues, NHL18 also added AI teammates that freeze after face offs for a few seconds and ignore passes coming their way as if it’s an open skate instead of a hockey game. It’s really sad how this game has failed to progress and in many areas has taken a few steps back....but again I think it’s by design. Spend as little as possible on production and rely on cash cow HUT.

Bottom line: when NHL 14 on a last gen console was a better hockey experience than a game released 4 years later on current gen it means a) they are not even trying or b) they are inept

Yep.. we can go on and on about the lack of innovation for the offline/franchise community of players. I keep going back to NHL Legacy on my x360 as it just plays a much better game of hockey to me and much less frustration.

[NinthFall]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

It's like if you have a lead, you just know the CPU is going to score. There's nothing you can do to stop it from happening. I start most of my games by scoring a couple and then let in a couple so that it's always a tight game until the end, sounds like it's been planned that way... hmmm. So much fun.

If this happened often I'd be fine, it's quite common, but it happens about 95% of the time, which is not very realistic or fun. It's like every time I have a lead, I get that bored look on my face because I just know they'll score soon and as soon as they score, it's not even a beauty, it's some easy cheap pass that rolls in the net and I'm there like yep... was waiting for this.

[BlacknBlue]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

It is also why the game plays differently in play now mode than it does in a franchise mode. Or if you notice how if you go into settings and adjust one slider and then move it back and save them it will reset the algorithms. The same happens if you exit the game completely and restart it.

But online is the worst. Nothing like completely outplaying your opponent and having the game keep them in it because of scripted bounces and overpowered AI help.

I have tons of screenshots from games where the stats read a 2-1 loss and I outshoot my opponent like 29-3 with time on attack 12 minutes to 1 and the goals scored against were just when they barely got it over the blue line and panicked and flicked it on net and my goalie goes into some dumb animation and it trickles in. Meanwhile, I am cycling low, high, feeding back-door one-timers, and getting constant breakaways and odd-man rushes, only to see an OP AI goalie have no push-off and go post-to-post multiple times and rob my players.

The speed boost if the most obvious and then the puck pickup and handling boost is the next, too. You finish the game and check your opponent's record and see that they were new or awful and because you have a high rating or rank you get screwed. But god forbid they let the better player succeed because they are more likely to buy the product again than a guy that can't accomplish anything each year.

Heck, I see people put down the controller when they are losing 4-0 rather than quitting the game, only to see their AI pick up a loose puck and stand there with it and I cannot poke it from them or knock them off the puck. How is that fair?

[actionhank]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Yep.. we can go on and on about the lack of innovation for the offline/franchise community of players. I keep going back to NHL Legacy on my x360 as it just plays a much better game of hockey to me and much less frustration.

I tried booting up NHL17 and just enjoying the World Cup of Hockey mode...and I just couldn't do it. Got through 2 periods before frustratedly turning it off. The AI is just brutal to try and babysit.

[Chiefaho]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Just said this in another post, but I think the "Rubber Banding", "Comeback AI", "Scripting", whatever you want to call it is due to just god-awful game design. The EA NHL team should really be ashamed of themselves for putting such an awful product out each and every year.

[jake19ny]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Just said this in another post, but I think the "Rubber Banding", "Comeback AI", "Scripting", whatever you want to call it is due to just god-awful game design. The EA NHL team should really be ashamed of themselves for putting such an awful product out each and every year.

Sadly I don’t think they are ashamed but rather proud. They continue to make the sales they see as acceptable while making a killing in HUT card sales all while releasing an unfinished product lacking any innovation and minor meanigless additions. It’s been said a lot but it’s clearly evident that since HUT was introduced the rest of the game has seen little attention.

[actionhank]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

It is also why the game plays differently in play now mode than it does in a franchise mode. Or if you notice how if you go into settings and adjust one slider and then move it back and save them it will reset the algorithms. The same happens if you exit the game completely and restart it.

But online is the worst. Nothing like completely outplaying your opponent and having the game keep them in it because of scripted bounces and overpowered AI help.

I have tons of screenshots from games where the stats read a 2-1 loss and I outshoot my opponent like 29-3 with time on attack 12 minutes to 1 and the goals scored against were just when they barely got it over the blue line and panicked and flicked it on net and my goalie goes into some dumb animation and it trickles in. Meanwhile, I am cycling low, high, feeding back-door one-timers, and getting constant breakaways and odd-man rushes, only to see an OP AI goalie have no push-off and go post-to-post multiple times and rob my players.

The speed boost if the most obvious and then the puck pickup and handling boost is the next, too. You finish the game and check your opponent's record and see that they were new or awful and because you have a high rating or rank you get screwed. But god forbid they let the better player succeed because they are more likely to buy the product again than a guy that can't accomplish anything each year.

Heck, I see people put down the controller when they are losing 4-0 rather than quitting the game, only to see their AI pick up a loose puck and stand there with it and I cannot poke it from them or knock them off the puck. How is that fair?

Stuff like that isn't really rubberbanding or anything like that...it's bad programming. The AI suffers from it a lot too. I've accidentally unpaused the game only to see my player standing still with the puck, and the AI doing nothing to get it. The AI in this game is just bad. There's been so little improvement to their basic skills. The poke checking seems entirely random sometimes, the AI player movement seems like it's cheating...but in actuality, it's just poorly programmed so players move in ways that are completely unrealistic.

[actionhank]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Sadly I don’t think they are ashamed but rather proud. They continue to make the sales they see as acceptable while making a killing in HUT card sales all while releasing an unfinished product lacking any innovation and minor meanigless additions. It’s been said a lot but it’s clearly evident that since HUT was introduced the rest of the game has seen little attention.

I think there should be an important distinction made between EA's NHL team, and EA as their bosses. Like any job, there's only so much you can do. In my job, for instance, I might think that X software is terrible, or Y is a bad way to setup a server..and I can make my arguments known. But at the end of the day, when my bosses say "We're going this way" my choice if I don't like it is to suck it up and do it to the best of my ability, or find a new job.

I imagine EA's NHL team is in a similar spot. With how HUT and similar modes are marketed around all of EA's series, I wouldn't be shocked to find out that EA's marching orders are to maximize things that increase certain demographics (kids, less serious gamers, online games, etc) and keep them playing. For EA, it's all about what makes them the most money. EA the company likely doesn't care much about hockey, unless it's making them money (Just look at how they've handled the whole Battlefront issue...).

I'm sure EA's NHL team love hockey, and I am willing to bet a lot of them would love to change huge parts of the game. I know I work with servers every day that I would love to tear down and start fresh on. But, at the end of the day, I get my marching orders from a higher power. So I'm stuck with it.

[MizzouRah]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Agree with above... my job is the same in the IT field. I have ways I can improve things.. but when the big boss says, this is how we are going to do this or that, we say OK boss.

In the end, they have to make money and HUT does that for them, so they spend significant time on that mode.

The bad part is.. they don't have the resources that say, Madden or FIFA has so they can only do so much. It just frustrates many of us who want a good offline, franchise mode.

[jake19ny]

Re: Rubber band effect(?)

Agree with above... my job is the same in the IT field. I have ways I can improve things.. but when the big boss says, this is how we are going to do this or that, we say OK boss.

In the end, they have to make money and HUT does that for them, so they spend significant time on that mode.

The bad part is.. they don't have the resources that say, Madden or FIFA has so they can only do so much. It just frustrates many of us who want a good offline, franchise mode.

What’s sad is it doesn’t appear they spent much time on HUT either. That mode has seen little in innovation or improvements just like the other modes. They just release a half finished game that’s more like a patch and collect the HUT dollars. Guess I cant blame them but it’s awful for real NHL fans. I feel like the NHL should be angry that EA represents their sport so poorly.