NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

[Money99]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

Man am I terrible...lol

I am playing on Pro with normal sliders and it's just like the demo for me...

It seems like the only person who tries to ever go after the puck on my team is me as the others just let whoever has it skate around all they want. They can just breathe on whoever has the puck for me and it's an automatic turnover yet I can probably hit them with the zamboni and they keep it about 90% of the time.

Also I hardly have 1 second to breathe since it seems like the CPU always has the most extreme forecheck on at all times. And I am convinced the goalie for the other side is an android sent from the future to stop all my shots...and find John Connor

I know most of this is just simple frustration with trying to learn a new series and can be somewhat adjusted with the sliders but sheesh....agitating

It's not you. This is how the series has been for several years now.
Your CPU teammates are incredibly passive. The only way to make it slightly better in previous versions was to change your defensive strategy to 'high pressure'. They'll be a bit more aggressive on the point-men, but really, it's not nearly effective.
What also stinks is that, like Gagnon39 stated, the CPU is perfection. They never miss a pass, deal with bouncing pucks, and they have a 6th sense as to where the rebound, or deflected pass/shot is going to go.
I've seen games in NHL09-12 where you try to pass up ice, it hits a stick and deflects right to a player who jumped into a hole like he had precognition of where it was going to end up.

Based on yours and Gagnon39's initial impressions, I know I shouldn't buy NHL13.
The negatives you mentioned have been in the game for a long, long time and I simply can't deal with them anymore.
I have no interest in paying $70 for a game that will only frustrate me and have me selling the game after 4 weeks or less (NHL12 lasted 4 days in my house).

I'm still going to rent because I'm a hockey nut, but seeing some of the vids, and playing the demo myself, I still see the CPU make ridiculous, blind, backhand, 3-line passes that go tape-to-tape. And from 5th or 6th dmen no less.
That's EA's way of compensating for poor AI and to present an artificial challenge.

[Rules]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

Just played a full game on All Star using hardcore settings and penalties maxed out. Played very aggressive and NOT ONE SINGLE PENALTY was called.

Hope that is not a problem. I will play a few more tomorrow but that was my biggest complaint last year was the lack of penalties being called.

[goblades26]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

For some reason we can't change a player's default jersey number in the edit player menu anymore. Kind of sucks, because in GM mode for cpu teams after guys get called back up for the regular season many default to the numbers in their player profiles. An example of this is last year Nathan Horton always defaulted to #16 after the pre-season.

Does this mean we cannot edit height, weight, cap hit and most importantly waiver status? (They have waivers wrong every year... 2 way does not make you ineligible, and I get the eligible players fixed every year)

[Gagnon39]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

It could just be me i guess but it sure feels to me that the cpu on allstar and above have a serious boost advantage. They just seem first to every puck, first to react, rebounds find them first, pinball here and there right to them every time...

It's very frustrating

Man, I have to completely disagree with you on that. Make sure you're "hustling" to the puck. With Patrick Kane I hardly ever get beat to a loose puck. He's crazy fast. You've got to play good positionally. I've yet to play on anything but Superstar and I've only lost one game.

[Broncos86]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

I've discovered that board play matters more behind the net. As a defender, you need to pin the forwards or else you will get burned.

[Kamasutra]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

I've discovered that board play matters more behind the net. As a defender, you need to pin the forwards or else you will get burned.

I play almost exclusively as a defender online and I agree, you need to mark your man and poke check the heck out of the puck, now more than ever. Pretty good all in all.

@money99 for my part I don't play offline, but always online, so I don't really care about how the default ai plays since I prefer to face human controlled players.

Likes:

- The weightedness of the players: you feel that constantly and momentum plays a key role this year. You feel much heavier and that translates into everything from player movement & skating to puck handling to passing. Everything has more weight thus enhances the realism. Seems to me the early release has that fine-tuned and a bit more pronounced than the demo

- Larger rink?: To me immediately apparent coming from NHL12, the size of the rink is superb. There's soooo much space to skate into and frees up the play. It makes it a big more difficult for a defenseman to cover all that ground but it's great for the offense. By contrast, if I go back to playing nhl12, the rink feels tiny and constricted.

-Graphics: To me a big improvement, crisp, sharper player models and the added animations are superb. Much better in-game transitions and for once I don't mind watching the cutscenes. NHL12's anim/presentation looks cartoonish by comparison.

- The pace of the game: slower, better. Whereas before you can rush up and down the ice in a matter of a couple seconds, now in an online game it takes a bit more skill and patient buildup to do so. There's plenty of mid-ice battles for the puck and you have to work your way back to the offensive zone. Big improvement and closer a good dose of realism.

- Menus: sharper, better layout, and fluid transitions. The layout of the menus has slightly changed but for the better.


Dislikes so far:

- The lobby (waiting for a game to start) now has a 3 minute waiting time instead of the usual 1m30. (minor dislike)

- The fatigue factor is exagerated and needs to be toned down. By the middle of the 1st period players were struggling to get up and down the ice, by the 3rd period, every single player was on life support. Of course ppl need to adjust to the new skating system and stop abusing the boost, but even with that in mind, the rate at which fatigue accrues is simply overdone.

- Lighting/shadows: not a big fan of the lighting but I'm getting used to it. In the end this will probably be a much better fit than NHL12's extra bright lighting and colors and overdone reflections. Seems things have been toned-down but that's not a terrible thing.

Overall: Big difference from the demo obviously since I couldn't play online, I wasn't at all convinced by the demo and left lukwarm by the experience.
But the 6v6 online games have completely changed my outlook and I'm now eager for the next game and the next... just like I was in nhl12.


As for the servers, no complaints here. As good as they were in nhl12, no freeze no lag (so far).

[Gagnon39]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

Just played a couple more games. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but I'm definitely going to be playing on Superstar. I've I just lit up the Avalanche 6-3 on Superstar with 14 minute periods. I still feel like the game's a tad bit fast and there's not enough loose pucks. I'm probably going to bump up the poke check effectiveness slider and the pass interception slider. Ideally, I'd like to be able to play 20 minute periods with realistic stats but that's never going to happen until we have FAR more board play and a less accurate CPU in regards to passing.

[thedudedominick]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but an OTL in the EASHL is only counting as a regulation loss.

[mkharsh33]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

Won't restate a lot that's been said here, but LOVED seeing the goalies play the puck wisely behind the net. Finally...

Lack of penalties is disheartening... but overall a GREAT game. Will need some slider tweaks, but that's expected.

[Broncos86]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

CPU teammates are WORTHLESS in the defensive zone. Utterly, completely, without question WORTHLESS.

Edit: I just watched the CPU skate AWAY from a loose puck because it was a forward who was out of position. It valued being in position over getting the puck.

[infinityBCRT]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

Be a Pro seems to be a little screwy

- Its not always asking me to sim to my next shift (especially when I come off the ice while the play is still going on)
- I'm never seeing a sim end up in me jumping into the play on the fly. Its always me coming on at a faceoff. Maybe its a coincidence though I'm only in my first game right now.
- Sometimes trying to sim to next shift makes it just say "Sim Pending" and nothing happens till the play ends

edit: I see that you can press Y to bring up the menu if its not coming up. And I finally saw an on the fly change after a sim to shift which was nice. Still feels like it doesn't happen often enough?

[SlyBelle]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

I am so disappointed with the game and it is sad because only has to do with penalties. Just finished an overtime game and had "1" total penalty called the entire game, even with maxed out sliders.....that is absolute crazy. I am not sure how others can enjoy the game with one of the most important aspects of hockey so completely off base. I just can't figure out why they can't correct this since same as last year. I also saw again where the CPU did not pull their goalie down by 1.

I hate to say this but this might be the first time I cancel my pre-order.....the rest of the game plays nice, but I can't sell myself on any plausible reasons we can't get realistic penalties in the range of 6-7 per game...such a shame.

[Nittany]

I have played about 10 EASHL games so far (man is tough going back to Amateur after having a legend 3 card!). Anyway, the biggest thing to get used to is SKATING. You can no longer stop on a dime. And talk about the turning....you really have to account for making a WIDE turn just to go back up ice the opposite way. It really is going to take some time to get used to. The game is speed is incredibly slow. Not sure if that's b/c everyone has barely any attributes or not.

The main thing that I am concerned about is AI teammates. We only have 3 to 4 guys on our EASHL team so we have to rely on the CPU. NHL 12 was awful. Horrible passes...easy breakaways...poor AI. So far, I haven't seen too many odd man rushes and the CPU D seems to guard the open winger. The one thing I am dying to see is the end of game AI. If you are down by 1 goal and the other team is on the PP....the AI shouldn't dump the puck. That drove me nuts. How basic of AI is that really....

Anyway, the jury is still out. They really didn't do too much to EASHL. Same menus, choices...I was hoping to see some playoff changes (maybe 7 game series). Oh well. After logging over 1500 games in NHL 12....I am ready to start again.

Just my thoughts.

Nit

[Broncos86]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

I am so disappointed with the game and it is sad because only has to do with penalties. Just finished an overtime game and had "1" total penalty called the entire game.....that is absolute crazy. I am not sure how others can enjoy the game with one of the most important aspects of hockey so completely off base. I just can't figure out why they can't correct this since same as last year. I also saw again where the CPU did not pull their goalie down by 1.

I hate to say this but this might be the first time I cancel my pre-order.....the rest of the game plays nice, but I can't sell myself on any plausible reasons we can't get realistic penalties in the range of 6-7 per game...such a shame.

I just had a game where there were 9 penalties in the game, it was nuts. I'm not seeing a penalty issue. 7 games in, and I'm seeing decent penalty calls.

[SlyBelle]

Re: NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

I just had a game where there were 9 penalties in the game, it was nuts. I'm not seeing a penalty issue. 7 games in, and I'm seeing decent penalty calls.

Would love to know your settings and how. Between a handful of games this year, the demo, and last year game, not seeing that at all. How were calls distributed between CPU and you?