The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

[Steve_OS]

Ahead of the release of NHL 19 on September 14, EA surprised everyone by dropping a...

Written By: Kevin Scott

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[Peter_OS]

I had fun playing the beta. one on one and 3s drop-in. But is it enough to warrant a purchase and full price at $59.99US?

Going to give the EA trial a go and see if it's any good. The new hitting and skating mechanics are nice, but how will the AI fair in-game and in season/franchise mode is the biggest concern i have with the game.

[Gleebo]

will there be any team or player differentiation, that's what this game (and Fifa, and Madden for that matter) has sorely missed.   In the NHL game each team plays/attacks/defends the same way and the games become stale and boring.

[Money99]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

I had fun playing the beta. one on one and 3s drop-in. But is it enough to warrant a purchase and full price at $59.99US?

Going to give the EA trial a go and see if it's any good. The new hitting and skating mechanics are nice, but how will the AI fair in-game and in season/franchise mode is the biggest concern i have with the game.

For whatever reason the game plays a lot differently in Franchise Mode compared to Play Now.
I’d probably buy the game if it weren’t like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[scagwi]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

I'd buy it if it were available on PC like Madden and FIFA.

I'm not buying a PS4/XB1 just for one game though unfortunately.

Looks like another year of NHL Legacy on PS3 for me!

[mkharsh33]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

For whatever reason the game plays a lot differently in Franchise Mode compared to Play Now.
I’d probably buy the game if it weren’t like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

THIS!

I get so frustrated playing this game as it depends on what mode you're playing as to what the various sliders do. It's frustrating. I tried so hard with 18 to get it to play right. Plug one hole, open 10 others. I think my hockey gaming days are just over...

[Fiddy]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

I don’t play a ton of play now, usually just franchise games etc.

I’ve noticed last few years guys saying games play different in play now compared to franchise or even season mode.

What are you guys noticing that is different?

[jake19ny]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

My 5 biggest take aways from the Beta:

1) Skating light years better and it improved the AI in SOME areas. The poking is right where it should be after the tuner but we all know how the tuner game goes. Without being able to play offline yet I do feel the skating has to make that mode better.

2) Goalies received no love again. Same money goals we all learned 8+ years ago still work.

3) Promised player separation is non existent again. Give us a roster share and we will fix this for you.

4) Ones was fun but I was already getting bored with it during the Beta and a new toque or pair of jeans isn’t going to change that. Time would have been better spent working on the actual real game of hockey.

5) EASHL is a bumbling cluster F in the street clothes.

I’m on the fence. I think I could do an offline season based off what I saw but I’m not sure I have the patience to deal with the radical changes that happen every time a tuner or patch is released. Fix 1 thing mess up 3....a roster share would go a long way I’m swaying me into buying.

[Vazione]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

I would pay $19.99 tops for NHL 19. I was very, very disappointed in the Beta and honestly, the direction this series has gone.

[2khockeyguy]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

... as people played more and more games, they gradually grew accustomed to the nuances of when a poke was appropriate ...

Sorry, that is false. What happened is this, people stopped using the poke-check button completely. Players adapted to instead hitting everything that moved since body checks became the over-powered defensive weapon in its place. There is a happy medium somewhere when it comes to poke checking and hitting, but IMO they haven't found a good balance yet. It is much better than NHL 18, but too many times undeserved penalties are given to legit poke-check attempts.

[jake19ny]

Re: The Five Biggest Takeaways From the NHL 19 Beta

Sorry, that is false. What happened is this, people stopped using the poke-check button completely. Players adapted to instead hitting everything that moved since body checks became the over-powered defensive weapon in its place. There is a happy medium somewhere when it comes to poke checking and hitting, but IMO they haven't found a good balance yet. It is much better than NHL 18, but too many times undeserved penalties are given to legit poke-check attempts.

Exactly. That’s the biggest problem is that EA doesn’t tweak anything they radically change it. Overall the problem is two fold. 1) Your computer AI teammates are brain dead so you over compensate with desperate pokes. 2) EA eventually caters to the whiners who don’t know how to play so the game becomes an over the top poke fest hit fest. The tuner they released for the BETA was excellent. It balanced the poke appropriately based on where you attempted the poke from but eventually they will tune it to make the cry babies happy and once again everyone will spam poke.