First off, I just want to say that nobody wants to enjoy this game more than I do. I absolutely LOVE hockey. I eat, sleep, and breathe Red Wings and enjoy watching other games when I can. I started playing the NHL series back in 2009, and have played them a lot since. EA has definitely made some major improvements in the series the last few years, and I absolutely LOVE the new skating engine.
However, every year, it seems the game is really good at release, and then the gameplay gets more and more "arcadey" with each tuner update. I'm not dumb. I understand that the measure of success of a game is its sales. And I also understand that most people buy this game to play it online, so naturally, EA must put their needs ahead of the offline game (me). Unfortunately, most people who buy this game want to skate up and down the ice, shooting and hitting everything that moves. Us offline gamers that want a sim game, are often left in the dark.
With all that being said, this game has several problems that need to be addressed. I just can't enjoy the game with all of the problems right now. I've tried using all different tuners. 1.04 certainly provides more penalties than any others, but the game feels too arcadey and not organic enough for me. I've also tried multiple slider combinations with each tuner. No matter which tuner or slider adjustments I make, these problems still exist:
1. Goalies making ridiculous cross-crease saves. This is really my #1 complaint. Goalies are much better this year in general, but this is a huge problem in my mind. If I get a 2 on 1 and get the pass across to my teammate, the goalie should be able to make the save maybe 2 out of 10 times. However, its the exact opposite. The goalie uses superhuman reflexes to slide over and make the save 8 out of 10 times. That's just insane.
2. CPU taking penalties. I understand this was a big problem with the game upon release and tuner 1.04 made it much better, but there are still improvements to be made. I'd love the CPU Penalties slider to be more useful, as most people around here play with it maxed anyways and STILL don't see enough penalties. This ties into my next point.
3. CPU poke checking/stick lift frequency. The CPU doesn't stick lift or poke check nearly enough. They just try to hit you 9 out of 10 times. This is another thing that was not in previous iterations of the series. The CPU actually poke checked and stick lifted a fair amount. This also ties in with penalties. Most of the penalties that you see against the CPU are BS interference calls away from the play. If the CPU poke checked and stick lifted more frequently, I'm sure more penalties would be called.
4. CPU shot selection. The CPU seems to like to skate into the zone and take a slapshot from about 50 feet. This is ok every once in awhile, but not nearly every time the CPU enters the zone. If they don't take that shot, they will pass the puck about 3 times and then a defenseman will take a slapshot, even if there is a ton of traffic in front of the net and the shot has 0 chance of getting through. I'd like to see the CPU cycle the puck in the offensive zone more often.
5. CPU pressure. When on the PK, the CPU forechecks WAY too hard. Once they dump the puck down the ice, there shouldn't be a CPU player chasing it down. Sit back on the blue line and try to prevent me from entering the zone. Related to this, it's way too easy to enter the offensive zone. I can literally just carry the puck into the zone at will. The defense should apply a little more pressure in these situations and try to stand me up at the blue line or when I'm barely in the zone.
I know not all of these things can or will be addressed. These are just some things that I really would like to see fixed. I know that most people who play this game (the online crowd) wouldn't like a lot of these changes, so here's an idea. You could make as many of the changes that you can listed above and put them in tuner 1.08, then release tuner 1.09 without the changes at the same time (and maybe including some changes that need to be made for the online game). This way, the online people would still have the game that they enjoy, and us offline gamers can finally be given something to make the game more sim. Please make this happen EA!
However, every year, it seems the game is really good at release, and then the gameplay gets more and more "arcadey" with each tuner update. I'm not dumb. I understand that the measure of success of a game is its sales. And I also understand that most people buy this game to play it online, so naturally, EA must put their needs ahead of the offline game (me). Unfortunately, most people who buy this game want to skate up and down the ice, shooting and hitting everything that moves. Us offline gamers that want a sim game, are often left in the dark.
With all that being said, this game has several problems that need to be addressed. I just can't enjoy the game with all of the problems right now. I've tried using all different tuners. 1.04 certainly provides more penalties than any others, but the game feels too arcadey and not organic enough for me. I've also tried multiple slider combinations with each tuner. No matter which tuner or slider adjustments I make, these problems still exist:
1. Goalies making ridiculous cross-crease saves. This is really my #1 complaint. Goalies are much better this year in general, but this is a huge problem in my mind. If I get a 2 on 1 and get the pass across to my teammate, the goalie should be able to make the save maybe 2 out of 10 times. However, its the exact opposite. The goalie uses superhuman reflexes to slide over and make the save 8 out of 10 times. That's just insane.
2. CPU taking penalties. I understand this was a big problem with the game upon release and tuner 1.04 made it much better, but there are still improvements to be made. I'd love the CPU Penalties slider to be more useful, as most people around here play with it maxed anyways and STILL don't see enough penalties. This ties into my next point.
3. CPU poke checking/stick lift frequency. The CPU doesn't stick lift or poke check nearly enough. They just try to hit you 9 out of 10 times. This is another thing that was not in previous iterations of the series. The CPU actually poke checked and stick lifted a fair amount. This also ties in with penalties. Most of the penalties that you see against the CPU are BS interference calls away from the play. If the CPU poke checked and stick lifted more frequently, I'm sure more penalties would be called.
4. CPU shot selection. The CPU seems to like to skate into the zone and take a slapshot from about 50 feet. This is ok every once in awhile, but not nearly every time the CPU enters the zone. If they don't take that shot, they will pass the puck about 3 times and then a defenseman will take a slapshot, even if there is a ton of traffic in front of the net and the shot has 0 chance of getting through. I'd like to see the CPU cycle the puck in the offensive zone more often.
5. CPU pressure. When on the PK, the CPU forechecks WAY too hard. Once they dump the puck down the ice, there shouldn't be a CPU player chasing it down. Sit back on the blue line and try to prevent me from entering the zone. Related to this, it's way too easy to enter the offensive zone. I can literally just carry the puck into the zone at will. The defense should apply a little more pressure in these situations and try to stand me up at the blue line or when I'm barely in the zone.
I know not all of these things can or will be addressed. These are just some things that I really would like to see fixed. I know that most people who play this game (the online crowd) wouldn't like a lot of these changes, so here's an idea. You could make as many of the changes that you can listed above and put them in tuner 1.08, then release tuner 1.09 without the changes at the same time (and maybe including some changes that need to be made for the online game). This way, the online people would still have the game that they enjoy, and us offline gamers can finally be given something to make the game more sim. Please make this happen EA!
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