A guide to player LOCK

[PernellKarl076]

THE REASONS WHY I PREACH PLAYER LOCK

To each their own, you might agree or disagree, but I’ll tell you why I love player locking 😀

The reasons why I’m preaching Player LOCK 🔒 is that the game and especially the AI plays much, much better. Just for this, it’s worth it a 100 %

For me player locking is a way of life, lol ! You get to do your part on a very fast team sport. Every little decisions you do count… Should I pinch here ? Should I stay back to cover this guy ? Should I call for a line change here ? Can I keep the puck a little longer to give my teammates time to change ? Do I have time myself and is it safe to go for a change here ? Do I go for a huge hit here and leave myself exposed if I miss ? If they block my shot here at the point, can they go on a breakaway ?

Also never asking for a pass brings another level of authenticity to all of this. In what league or team have you ever played in, that when you ask for a pass, your teammates immediately pass it to you ? This makes no sense to me…. Put yourself in a good position and they will pass it to you and you’ll feel grateful they did 😀

On top of having 0 pass assist…. You really have to AIM your passes and wait for your teammate on the other end of it, to be in the best disposition to receive it… It feels REAL 😀

You also get to be a MAJOR part of your teams success. Your own play gets to dictate the outcome like never before especially when playing on D… You have to give every little bit of attention and add all the little details to your play, to your game. Something you just don’t or can’t do when you play as the whole team IMO… Just try it for 1 or 2 games and you’ll probably never look back after that 😉

For the people already in the player locking business 😆, don’t be afraid to chime in and let me know if I missed something here…

I just know that since I adopted this way of playing the game, is when I started being more interested in playing the game instead of watching one… I mean YOU GET to play with Crosby, Malkin and friends 😀 What more can you ask for ?

Thanks and let me know if I converted only one of you 😆✌️

[voodoo_magic]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

Some great points.
I'd add, you don't have to worry about changing to the wrong player and I know for me that was sometimes frustrating.

One thing I generally do before a game is I find it easier to shoot with LH shot players so I change the lines to have the position I'm controlling have all 4 lines or 3 for defence to all LH shots if possible.

Like mentioned, making a great play defensively, or especially scoring the goal when player locked is so much fun. It's fun pressure since you might get a few or only one good chance to score in a game.

PK, I think we see the same difference in our AI when player locking. I don't know if my cpu plays as well when I switch, maybe because I pull the new player out of the position the cpu was going to and it messes up the calculations or something.

The game isn't perfect but one area that somehow really shines is your player lock team mates especially on offence.

I think in years past we would be lucky to get 2 goals from them and you often felt like you had to do it yourself but at least in '23 if you play your position and play a good team game there can be lots of offensive chances.
One caveat is team strategy has an impact so the ootb default may not get you these results that some of us see.

[phillyfan23]

A guide to player LOCK

Ive been playing player lock more and more and its been great. It definitely feels more like real hockey and a team sport. You dont have as much influence in the outcome if you control the whole team, but its a great experience. 80 percent of the game is played off puck so this mode represents that to a tee.

Playing as a good player with lesser linemates is much harder than if you're a decent rated player with 2 all star linemates. I played as Gretzky's winger yesterday and had many more scoring chances than usual.

Playing defense is very stressful haha, you make a bad decision, and all hell breaks loose.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Fiddy]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

Well, the Karlsson trade sucked me back to this crappy game. LOL

I had a franchise I started with the last regular season update they had done with the Pens. I simulated the entire season and the Pens missed the Playoffs by a point just like in real life. Fantastic. I wanted to see if I could get that to happen and I did. I stopped at July 1st so I could see what they would do in the off season and try to replicate it. I did just that.

I was able to make all the signings and even the trades they just pulled off all while being 3m under the cap.

I'm using my own sliders and player lock. Simming 2 periods and playing the 3rd! PK, love your setup and dedication but not having the roster to go with your sliders is a no go for me. Meh.

I'm using an averaged out slider set, took all EA's (Traditional, Competitive, and Full Sim), and came up with an average set.

Let's see how far I get positioned locked and on Superstar. LOL

Let's Go Pens!

[PernellKarl076]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

Like mentioned, making a great play defensively, or especially scoring the goal when player locked is so much fun. It's fun pressure since you might get a few or only one good chance to score in a game.

Hey Voodoo ! Nice to see your take on PL🔒… Yeah, the part I took from your quote is exactly it ! Last night was trailing 2-1 late in the 2nd period and our team was on a Penalty Kill. I was playing D and one of our forwards cut a pass in our zone and I jumped on the loose puck and put on the afterburners and went on a breakaway and scored…

An opportunity like this happens maybe once a game, but man when it does, there’s no better feeling in my opinion 😀

Ive been playing player lock more and more and its been great. It definitely feels more like real hockey and a team sport…..

….Playing defense is very stressful haha, you make a bad decision, and all hell breaks loose.

Hey phillyfan23 !! Nice to see that you are a new recruit in our madness 😆

Yeah, I’m playing mostly on Defense nowadays and man, when you make one blunder, you can feel the repercussions fast 😉

Well, the Karlsson trade sucked me back to this crappy game. LOL

I'm using my own sliders and player lock. Simming 2 periods and playing the 3rd! PK, love your setup and dedication but not having the roster to go with your sliders is a no go for me. Meh.

I'm using an averaged out slider set, took all EA's (Traditional, Competitive, and Full Sim), and came up with an average set.

Hey Fiddy ! Very nice to see you back playing the best game on earth 😉😀

I guess you are on PS5 right ? That being said, my sliders do a wonderful job on their own, it’s just that the gameplay won’t be as tight and the players won’t play as great defensively and the DMen will return to their zombie mode, lol ! But I guess you are in that boat anyways 🤔

But yeah, you can give the sliders a try if you want, I’ve dedicated lots of hours just on these sets 😉

[Fiddy]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

Hey Fiddy ! Very nice to see you back playing the best game on earth 😉😀

I guess you are on PS5 right ? That being said, my sliders do a wonderful job on their own, it’s just that the gameplay won’t be as tight and the players won’t play as great defensively and the DMen will return to their zombie mode, lol ! But I guess you are in that boat anyways 🤔

But yeah, you can give the sliders a try if you want, I’ve dedicated lots of hours just on these sets 😉

No, I'm on Xbox. I thought your set up was on PS5! LOL.

[PernellKarl076]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

No, I'm on Xbox. I thought your set up was on PS5! LOL.

😳

Just tell me why you were thinking that ? So it can help me and I can make adjustments somewhere I might have missed 😆

But, If you have a next GEN XBOX, you need to try that whole setup 😀 The Setup is in my signature, just there, below this 😉

[Fiddy]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

😳

Just tell me why you were thinking that ? So it can help me and I can make adjustments somewhere I might have missed 😆

But, If you have a next GEN XBOX, you need to try that whole setup 😀 The Setup is in my signature, just there, below this 😉

No idea why I thought that honestly. lol

Error on my end..

[esmeet7]

Re: A guide to player LOCK

I'm relatively new to NHL, coming back to 23 last year after 20+ years away. I really enjoyed the Career Mode, in part, because of player lock.

I'm trying player lock in Franchise with 24, and I love this style of play. I have one issue, and that is with executing line changes. When I call for a line change for my half (i.e., defense), I often can't see the bench, so I skate my locked player off the screen and hope I hit the right spot on the bench. I often miss the right spot, take too long, or otherwise screw up the change because the CPU doesn't take over my guy and change him for me (like it did in the Career Mode).

Am I missing something about line changes with player lock? Is there a better way to get your guy off the ice and changed out? Is there a way to yield control of your guy so he skates directly to the bench for the change?