NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

[RaychelSnr]

The folks up at EA Canada are nearing their goal as NHL 09 skates towards its September release. They are undoubtedly working very hard since they have a hard act to follow considering how well NHL 08 was received by most gamers. Also, with such high expectations, it's no surprise that the OS community has tons of questions when it comes to NHL 09. Due to this fact, we here at Operation Sports felt it was important to get the NHL developers to answer some questions from the Operation Sports community. So every Friday, until NHL 09 releases, OS will be running five-question-Q&A sessions with NHL 09 developers. This is the second Q&A session we have had thus far. Enjoy!

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

I was very satisfied with these answers. Nobody here was expecting franchise to get an overhaul or anything, but I'm pleased they did some tweaking, and mainly fixed that issue with all rookies looking the same.

[mudtiger]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

I was very satisfied with these answers. Nobody here was expecting franchise to get an overhaul or anything, but I'm pleased they did some tweaking, and mainly fixed that issue with all rookies looking the same.

I was prepared for the worst, but the answers satisfied me too. If the game plays mostly like last year with more neutral zone play, better defense, and better player progression, I'll be happy with it.

[kt-od]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

To whom this may concern,

Can someone please ask in your next interview with EA:

-When can long-time customers of NHL expect a revamped online client that supports balanced and fair ladder leaderboards? A client that closely resembles the 2002 Battle.net client for Warcraft III would be sufficient even being out-dated

-When can long-time customers of NHL expect post-release patch support for the entire year that would address hockey realism tweaks, in-game exploit removal & online client exploit removal?

Many thanks.

There's a questions thread for this. You can post it there

[SaintPatrick33]

First Thanks Chase and Andy for making these questions happen great info to make choices by.
On my questions I didnt think anything much would change from 08 but its seems like they are trying .
But its clear EA s main focus at least this year is for getting online going which I totally understand from a business standpoint .
And while they did add enough in dynasty to keep rosters from changing when you start a dynasty theres still no way to update it with real time transactions , rosters ect .
So unfortantly this solid game is a Cant buy for me as I dont play online.
Its amazing why they would ever take these simple functions out that were basic in last gen like control all rosters /All teams option to play all games in a season mode like they never exsisted ?
OPTIONS are GOOD and the more their are will allow all gamers to be happy !
Well 2k9 will still have all these options like play all games be all teams and total roster control in season mode so my choice is simple but I would have love to have 2 NHL games this year , well maybe next year ?

[Qb]

Good stuff. Like BP said, I wasn't expecting a franchise overhaul either. Hopefully they truly did fix the generated rookie problem as well as fleshed out the CBA-related stuff (RFAs, roster limitations, etc), toned down retirement with more regression before they hang it up and above all, made sure it's stable. Too many freezes in 08 after finishing a game and I had one dynasty corrupt as well.

I feel bad that my stats question made it through, as overall the sim stats weren't too bad. It was just a few areas that were wonky like uneven plus/minus distribution, specialty teams and to a much lesser degree, team GF/GA (overall simulated scoring was just a tad too low).

[ChaseB]

If you guys want a certain type of question for next week like how we did Dynasty this week, just vote in the questions thread and if it's resounding I'll go that route.

[Qb]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

Unfortunately, even online will be bad if they intend to run the EASHL with the same online client and match-making system they have used since 2003. All indications are there have been no changes to it.

The online NHL client is the core of the online community. Without a sold design, there will be cheating and poor matching which completely unbalances the leaderboards.

You may be right, but I really don't know much at all about that stuff. When I play online, it's mostly with friends in custom games and I had little to no issues with lag/disconnect/etc. I'm not much for the leaderboard/ranked stuff, but if that's your thing, I hope it is improved...

*****

Now, what type of questions can we come up with for next Friday?

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

First Thanks Chase and Andy for making these questions happen great info to make choices by.
On my questions I didnt think anything much would change from 08 but its seems like they are trying .
But its clear EA s main focus at least this year is for getting online going which I totally understand from a business standpoint .
And while they did add enough in dynasty to keep rosters from changing when you start a dynasty theres still no way to update it with real time transactions , rosters ect .
So unfortantly this solid game is a Cant buy for me as I dont play online.
Its amazing why they would ever take these simple functions out that were basic in last gen like control all rosters /All teams option to play all games in a season mode like they never exsisted ?
OPTIONS are GOOD and the more their are will allow all gamers to be happy !
Well 2k9 will still have all these options like play all games be all teams and total roster control in season mode so my choice is simple but I would have love to have 2 NHL games this year , well maybe next year ?

So you get your single season mode keeping in mind there will be routine roster updates and thats still not enough? Not that you were going to buy it anyway since you seem to have quite the 2k hardon going on in the first place.

[ohyeahbaby123]

I think we should go game play, as in asking questions about neutral zone play and stuff like that.

[SaintPatrick33]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

So you get your single season mode keeping in mind there will be routine roster updates and thats still not enough? Not that you were going to buy it anyway since you seem to have quite the 2k hardon going on in the first place.

Ok one more time I start a dynasty with lets say the bleu , blanc and rouge Les Canadiens de Montreal with all options off and real time rosters which are fine to begin with .
Then in real life Eddie the Eagle comes back from europe to Chicago , Then Chara gets injury for the big bad bruins and Jeremy Roenick gets waved by SJ all in first week how do I make those transactions without continually having to restart my Dynasty Have you even read my threads ? or are you just bitching ? what is what your major malfunction soldier ??? LOL just kiding .
But ask yourself one question why would they add 2 things turn off trades and waviers instead of just adding total roster control ??????
Seems kind of backwards to me but its their game and I would have loved having .
One more time I have no problems with its gameplay accept lack of sliders and cheap scripted cpu goals but some say that bug is still buzzing in 09 ?
I just call it like I see it and unlike some of you I base mine on FACTS not opinions.
Me and a few others even Started a control all rosters thread but well we just fell short .

Ps Ronnie Hobbs at GCHD is working on his NHL09 preview as we speak so you guys should have more good info enough even though it doesnt seem much changed ?

[Flyermania]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

One more time I have no problems with its gameplay accept lack of sliders and cheap scripted cpu goals but some say that bug is still buzzing in 09 ?
I just call it like I see it and unlike some of you I base mine on FACTS not opinions.
Me and a few others even Started a control all rosters thread but well we just fell short .

Ps Ronnie Hobbs at GCHD is working on his NHL09 preview as we speak so you guys should have more good info enough even though it doesnt seem much changed ?

I disagree with the lack of sliders. More doesn't always mena better...2k has a ton of sliders, but unfortunately most of them have a placebo effect for tweak-a-holics and they don't impact the gameplay one bit. As far as the "cheap scripted goals", I don't see it in 08, but then again I took the time to learn how to play defense in the game.

Oh, and you are merely stating your OPINION on things. It's no better than anyone else's.

Your comment on NHL 09 not having may changes is ridiculous. Take off your 2k glasses and try to look at things objectively for once. Or better yet, quit trolling the EA forum. All you seem to be interested in is taking pot shots at EA's title while trying to fluff up 2k's game. That's great if you like 2k. Move on.

[Eddie1967]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

I disagree with the lack of sliders. More doesn't always mena better...2k has a ton of sliders, but unfortunately most of them have a placebo effect for tweak-a-holics and they don't impact the gameplay one bit. As far as the "cheap scripted goals", I don't see it in 08, but then again I took the time to learn how to play defense in the game.

Oh, and you are merely stating your OPINION on things. It's no better than anyone else's.

Your comment on NHL 09 not having may changes is ridiculous. Take off your 2k glasses and try to look at things objectively for once. Or better yet, quit trolling the EA forum. All you seem to be interested in is taking pot shots at EA's title while trying to fluff up 2k's game. That's great if you like 2k. Move on.

Your one to talk about moving on. 2k's sliders don't effect the gameplay? Please talk about never learning or taking time with the game. As I recall EA's game didn't have individual sliders and 2k had sliders for everything you could imagine and yes they did effect the game and I know because I'm still playing it which you never did. And let's be honest you do the same thing in the 2k forum all the time. Your opinion is no better than anyone else's. All you seem interested in is taking pot shots at 2k'S Title while trying to fluff up EA's game. That's great if you like EA. I would like EA's offering to be good this year just for a change of pace, no one is biased we just want both games to be good.

[Eddie1967]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

First Thanks Chase and Andy for making these questions happen great info to make choices by.
On my questions I didnt think anything much would change from 08 but its seems like they are trying .
But its clear EA s main focus at least this year is for getting online going which I totally understand from a business standpoint .
And while they did add enough in dynasty to keep rosters from changing when you start a dynasty theres still no way to update it with real time transactions , rosters ect .
So unfortantly this solid game is a Cant buy for me as I dont play online.
Its amazing why they would ever take these simple functions out that were basic in last gen like control all rosters /All teams option to play all games in a season mode like they never exsisted ?
OPTIONS are GOOD and the more their are will allow all gamers to be happy !
Well 2k9 will still have all these options like play all games be all teams and total roster control in season mode so my choice is simple but I would have love to have 2 NHL games this year , well maybe next year ?

Well unfortunately that seems to be the way of EA's games, take out things or not improve on what's already there. Granted they added some things that were missing last year like separate line changes and a few other items but 2k seems to make it as realistic as possible from the beginning and then improve on that. Here's hoping for 2 great games.

[Qb]

Re: NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

Look, can we please stop with the EA/2K crap? EA does this, 2K does that... We've all heard it a million times. It's pointless, tiring and just downright annoying. Once the games come out & we have some real cold-hard stuff to compare, then maybe we can constructively compare the two games, but at this point it's worthless...