Exclusive NHL 12 Producer Blog: Revamped Be a Pro Mode

[ChaseB]

Operation Sports is happy to bring you an exclusive look at the changes that are being made to NHL 12's Be a Pro mode. EA Canada developer Gurn Sumal will be detailing these changes to the mode and how they should improve the career mode in NHL 12.

Hey I’m Gurn Sumal, the NHL 12 game modes producer, and I’ll be giving you the goods on our completely revamped Be a Pro mode where we want to see if you can "Be The Next Great Legend." If you’re familiar with Be a Pro mode, you’ll know that the mode was introduced in NHL 09. NHL 12 features the most significant changes to the mode since it was introduced, and if you’ve read my Be a GM blog, you’ll see how the all-new sim engine now allows users to intervene a sim at any point in time during the course of a game. This spawned what we like to call "Earn every shift" and makes Be a Pro mode a much more satisfying and realistic experience.

Folks who have previously played the mode should be sure to check out the end of the blog, as the developers are clearly trying to add a bit of persistence to the year-to-year release of the NHL series.

Read More - NHL 12 Producer Blog: Revamped Be a Pro Mode

[N1ghthors3]

Was hoping for a bit more information, but pretty cool nonetheless. Extremely glad it is not mandatory to do all 4 years in the CHL. Cool feature with the profile carry over, but I think it'd actually be cooler if you could transport your BAP character from 11 to 12 and continue their career from whatever year you left off at. Not too sure if that's really what there getting at or if it just uploads your stats & may unlock certain boosts.

[GrandMaster B]

Glad we don't have to play all 4 years in the CHL

[plaidchuck]

Re: Exclusive NHL 12 Producer Blog: Revamped Be a Pro Mode

Sounds good, hopefully there will be more "intrigue" during the actual seasons (trades, salary, etc).

[BaylorBearBryant]

Sounds good as always. Love what the devs do with the NHL series. Much happier with them right now than I am with the guys at NCAA Football.

[davel]

will you get to sign a contract with montary value ?

[Merfner]

Looks so f'in amazing.

[Tatguy80]

If the AI is improved over last years, I will be spending alot of time with my pro.

[mikko1995]

Re: Exclusive NHL 12 Producer Blog: Revamped Be a Pro Mode

My question is do you start in CHL for the 2011-12 season or be elgible for the 2011 Draft? Would be cool if we got to start from the 2007-08 CHL season and play against guys like Tavares, Stamkos, Doughty, Schenn's etc.

[FBeaule04]

It's really looking good on paper. The fact that last year BaP was ruined by the AI is making more cautious about having a strong reaction.

Like Tatguy80 said, if the AI is playing better, I will have a strong % of my time playing with my pro. Especially knowing I can start at 16 years old with the Quebec Remparts.

It's looking pretty good...hope that the AI will follow.

[N1ghthors3]

Sounds good as always. Love what the devs do with the NHL series. Much happier with them right now than I am with the guys at NCAA Football.

Couldn't agree more. Always loved NCAA Football games, but this years disaster has turned me off for any future games. Can't wait for NHL 12 now.

[SGMRock]

NCAA and Madden have always been my hold over games to keep me busy until NHL came out :P

Why are you guys saying NCAA was a disaster this year? Because of all the bugs? I will say the game is not bad but it has a ton of bugs, more than I remember from previous games. I think the QA guys were busy having long lunches or smoking some weed out back while on breaks. They sure missed a lot of stuff that players found in the first week.....

[N1ghthors3]

Yeah it's strictly the bugs. The gameplay & features are great, but how can you enjoy it with all the freezing & glitches happening? lol. NHL is my #1 game, but NCAA is a nice change of pace during the summer (like you said, a holdover) when the EASHL & other leagues slow down.

[Qb]

Re: Exclusive NHL 12 Producer Blog: Revamped Be a Pro Mode

Good to hear they are fleshing out BAP mode with the CHL playing a larger part (and customizable). The sim to next shift aspect will really help the mode. I asked them last year about ice time concerns (too much) and Gurn stated it all revolved around not being able to sim ahead in a game with sim engine. The new one and Action Tracker could make this a much more interesting experience... less down time and no more 30 minutes of ice time as a rookie.

I wonder if this stuff will also carry over to our online characters for EASHL/OTP:

In addition to the all-new upgrades in Be a Pro, we’ve also updated the Performance Tracker. The Performance Tracker has six rankings, but now each ranking has three levels so your amateur ranking, for example, will now have Amateur 1, Amateur 2 and Amateur 3. With a total of 18 stages in your Be a Pro development, it will lessen the gaps between level-ups.

New this year in Be a Pro mode will be Profile Migration. In NHL 12 you will now be able to bring over some of your stats including goals, assists, games played, etc. from your NHL 11 Be a Pro character’s profile so you can compare what you did from last year to this year. You will also get free boosts based on your Be a Pro stats from last year:

Smaller "gaps between level-ups" could help online, as the jump from pro to legend is always a tough time for our team since we don't rack up games at a fast pace. Getting more points along the way might make it more tolerable when playing the guys who somehow play 150 games in the first week or two.

[toadiev]

Re: Exclusive NHL 12 Producer Blog: Revamped Be a Pro Mode

My question is do you start in CHL for the 2011-12 season or be elgible for the 2011 Draft? Would be cool if we got to start from the 2007-08 CHL season and play against guys like Tavares, Stamkos, Doughty, Schenn's etc.

Just start at the NHL level maybe if you want it to be current season.

The truth is I really want to play a CHL career with current players and move up that way. Tired of everyone hoping they back date it that is pointless.

The ability to play a real career in the CHL is awesome and I can't wait.

Biggest complaint about the CHL part is the fact they included the 15 year old exceptional exemption rule. 1) will it only apply to the OHL, the only league to have such an stupid rule. 2) Really for a rule that has been used once why include it at all. CHL players start at 16, 15 year olds play Midget, not even JR A. However that being said it will be easy for me to get past that because I can just adjust my player to 16. Hope they don't flood the leagues with 15 year olds in the next seasons.

I like how EA has made the job of getting to the NHL a challenging journey. I may even tank my first training camp to return to the WHL. It will feel like an accomplishment to get there and if the sim ahead works like the show it won't drag on too long for those who want to move into the NHL portion. I could play 4 seasons of the show in a reasonable period of time (I don't simulate games).

For the guys about the new NCAA game, I don't get it what are the problems. I have been playing it for a week and I love the game so much fun.