Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

First let me start by saying, I want this to be a constructive and positive thread... Plenty of other threads to bash EA around... Anyone on Operation Sports is welcome to contribute if they wish to.

I'm really enjoying my time with NHL20 this year and if this guide can turn only one pessimist around, then I'll be happy, lol !

Ok, now time for the nitty, gritty... One of my pet peeve of EA's NHL throughout the years have been the ''under the hood'' stuff happening while playing offline. The feel of something scripted... Especially when turning to All-Star and Superstar levels to have a better challenge... I truly want a challenge, but not at the price of feeling cheated. Have the feeling of no matter what I do, there’s something under that hood that will make me lose or throw my controller across the room, lol !

With tweaking and tinkering time and time again, I was able to get the game I've always wanted. Well very close to it...

SLIDER SETS

I strongly suggest a good slider set. Plenty of good ones on the slider page, *cough* there's even one by me *cough*, lol ! If you love the game out of the box, good for you, but it's not for me... Not even close... I really started loving the game once I found the best setup possible...

STRATEGIES

This one is very important... The game plays way better once you adjust strategies before a game, before a season... I also advise in my set to put ''cpu strategy adjustment” at 0 and everything that can make the ''under the hood'' stuff disappear... I strongly suggest to do this for both teams in play now or for every team in season mode. For the ones that don't know, you can control each team before the start of a season.

Here are my suggestion...

- Go into EDIT LINE AND STRATEGIES

Offensive Lines:
- Move the carry/dump by a few clicks to the right. (This will make the AI dump the puck a bit more)
- in the cycle/shoot slider, move this all the way to the right 10 out of 10 for every line (The AI is pass happy once in the zone, and this helps them shoot more.)

Defensive Pairing:
- in the hold/pinch slider, put it at 9 out of 10. The AI will pinch more and be more aggressive.
- Again put the Cycle/Shoot slider all the way to the right.

Team Strategies:
Suggested but you can leave as is. I tried these suggested by HipNotiiC_x and it played well...
- Forecheck: Weak side lock
- Trap/Forecheck slider: 4 out of 6
- Offensive Pressure: Standard
- Defensive Pressure: Contain Puck

You can leave the other settings as is for each team to get more diversified play.

A great guide on Strategies can be found here: a tactics strategy guide for nhl 20

BE A PRO

I use to love that mode..... 5 years ago.... Since then, it's pretty much the same and EA hasn’t put much effort into this, I grew tired of it.

But here's a very cool twist to that mode. Make yourself a player and put him on your team of choice. You can play him whenever you want and I also suggest player lock. You'll get way better realistic stats and ice time, like it's suppose to be :)

You want to be on that wave of the powerplay ? Be my guess, you are the coach, the GM and the owner, lol ! You won't finish the game with 12 hits, 9 shots and 29 minutes of ice time !

For people who don't know, you also have coach feedback in the pause menu, even when you don’t play Be a pro. If you play position lock, it gives a pretty good idea what you're doing right and what you're doing not so great at, lol !

KEEPING IT FRESH

I play a season with the Rangers now. I often play position lock on LW and never ask for a pass, it's more realistic and it plays better. But sometimes I feel like controlling the whole team... In another game, I feel like I should play Dmen.

That way it keeps the game fresh and interesting :)

If you love hockey and put a few ideas in this guide to the test, it might do the job for you. At least it has done wonders for me :)

I'm not in big on Franchise mode, so any suggestions or advise if you wanna contribute is welcomed.

Thanks for reading and feel free to add your 2 cents !

—————————————————-
PernellKarl076 Slider Set for NHL 20

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

Keeping it fresh,
commentary- I enjoy it but keep it mostly off and use it for Saturday games, rivalry games and all of the playoffs to lessen the repetition.

alternate jerseys- There are tons so use them once in a while. Have a 90's month where everyone wears a jersey from the 90's.

crowd volume- I have it a bit too low during the season but turn it up by 1 or 2 for the playoffs.

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

I do the same things you are, lol ! James Cybulski is perfect for playoff games but needs to be off for meaningless games... So I turn them off once in awhile.

Alternates and retro jerseys are often use and there are awesome ones out there, Rangers winter Classic, a few Jets alternates and who can forget the Whalers and Nordiques ones to name a few :)

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

Thanks for the shoutout! I have been loving offline NHL as of late. We really need a big AI change in the near future to truly get a great hockey game, but as you mentioned, there's a lot we can do as users to make a better experience overall if you're willing to put in the time.

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

During the season where can I check to see how many season tickets remain to be sold?

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

I like your positive attitude PernellKarl076!


Keep it up mate! :D

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

LOL, thanks !

I mean it's much more easier to bitch and complain... I'm having a great time the way my game is setup right now. Way, way more positives than negatives...

Re: Guide to make the most out of NHL20 offline
 

Just want to say after trying default settings for the past 4 months going back and forth from all-star and pro,pro is too easy and all-star is too hard.Just tried your sliders and I think I found a happy medium.Had to put it to pro and upped the pass assist to 30. Also put goalies to 45 from your 25 with AI difficulty and cpu difficulty to max. Also adjusted periods to 5 minutes.Finally having a harder time winning and more trouble scoring. Awesome sliders,thanks for saving the game for me.