Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

[bigwill33]

First off, this isn't a thread about the missing game modes and what not. That stuff we all know and want, obviously.

This is a thread that lists things that perhaps have been excluded from the NHL series over time that were once part of it, or things that you would like to see included that help with the emersion. The little nuances that are not completely important, but help to really put a game over the top.

I'll start.

• Hats on the ice for a hat-trick
  
• Zamboni(s) cleaning the ice
  
• Out of town scoreboard
  
• Out of town highlights - especially during GM mode!
  
• Breaking the glass
  
• Players going into the benches
  
• Dynamic team entrances -like the oil derrick in Edm or the Shark mouth in SJ
  
• Team traditions -like octopus on the ice for Detroit
  
• Custom sounds -have to get the consoles to include it first
  
• National team authentic uniforms
  
• Olympic/Canada Cup/World Cup mode
  
• Updated player stats in real time in GM/Season mode
  
• More stat overlays in general
  
• Dynamic loading screens that show match-ups, team history, a stadium shot, overall record, hot and cold players etc. Anything besides the controller layout
  
• Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony on opening night when the cup was won the prior season
  
• Team that the player played for along with the year in the stat history for each player

• 3 Stars presentation on the ice
  
• Listing awards won in the stats page for each player
  
• Awards ceremony
  
• User profile stats -where the complete stat history is compiled for each user and their profile, kind of like an all-time coaching stat compilation

That is what I can think of from the top of my head right now. Please feel free to add to this list. Hopefully it will get noticed and one day we can have all of these things back in the game.

Kind of sad to think that almost all of these things were in EA's own NHL series at one point and have disappeared over the years for some reason or another.

[canucksss]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

• Hats on the ice for a hat-trick
  
• Zamboni(s) cleaning the ice
  
• Out of town scoreboard
  
• Out of town highlights - especially during GM mode!
  
• Breaking the glass
  
• Players going into the benches
  
• Dynamic team entrances -like the oil derrick in Edm or the Shark mouth in SJ
  
• Team traditions -like octopus on the ice for Detroit
  
• Custom sounds -have to get the consoles to include it first
  
• National team authentic uniforms
  
• Olympic/Canada Cup/World Cup mode
  
• Updated player stats in real time in GM/Season mode
  
• More stat overlays in general
  
• Dynamic loading screens that show match-ups, team history, a stadium shot, overall record, hot and cold players etc. Anything besides the controller layout
  
• Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony on opening night when the cup was won the prior season
  
• Team that the player played for along with the year in the stat history for each player

• 3 Stars presentation on the ice
  
• Listing awards won in the stats page for each player
  
• Awards ceremony
  
• User profile stats -where the complete stat history is compiled for each user and their profile, kind of like an all-time coaching stat compilation

Excellent points...I just hope that EA will not over-do some of them

In addition to your lists, here are some of my points:

- Goalie Fatigue

- Animated coach - like for bad calls of ref, i'd like to see their reactions....

- When team sucks, expect less people in the arena or have more opponents on wearing opposing jersey. I remember 2-3 years ago in Coyote's arena, there were many Canucks fans wearing the jersey...almost 50% of the arena.

- Doc and his partner should have like 3-5 sets of suits/ties...its just bothersome having these two wear the same shirts for the 82 games + playoffs in a season.

[meep316]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Go back to the HUT interface of NHL 13. This one is an abomination.

[bigwill33]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Dynamic attendance would be cool. Would be nice to see fans leave during a blowout, or people heading towards the exits after an empty net goal to ice the game.

I also forgot to add proper Group Celebrations!

And those blimps that fly around during intermissions.

Team Mascots.

Pyro or indoor fireworks for special occasions

Retired players that come back out of retirement or go play overseas, perhaps come back and coach

Real life coaches that are on the benches

Winter Classic mode and stadiums

Create a jersey/mask/pads with an online editor using real graphics so we can put our own uniforms in the game and goalie gear.

Milestone updates, say a player is going for 50 goals in 50 games, or mention 1000 career points etc.

Injury updates during the game where it says what the injury is and whether you would like to make them return etc.

Updated standings and league leader overlays during franchise play

[half-fast]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

I'd like to see a revival of the breakaway cam, or an option to use it anyway.

[pbbm]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

• Dynamic loading screens that show match-ups, team history, a stadium shot, overall record, hot and cold players etc. Anything besides the controller layout

This is what I want most of all.

Other than that, I'd like to see the Action Tracker/ability to watch a game while simming in GM mode back.

[Rhinoboy50]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

KHL

Real international jerseys

Canadian television commentators not named Jim Hughson.

CHL arenas.

[Yeats]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Canadian television commentators not named Jim Hughson.

Danny Gallivan! Spin-O-Rama! A scintillating shot!

Ooops, showing my age there, sorry.

[csamuelsvt]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Dynamic attendance would be cool. Would be nice to see fans leave during a blowout, or people heading towards the exits after an empty net goal to ice the game.

I also forgot to add proper Group Celebrations!

And those blimps that fly around during intermissions.

Team Mascots.

Pyro or indoor fireworks for special occasions

Retired players that come back out of retirement or go play overseas, perhaps come back and coach

Real life coaches that are on the benches

Winter Classic mode and stadiums

Create a jersey/mask/pads with an online editor using real graphics so we can put our own uniforms in the game and goalie gear.

Milestone updates, say a player is going for 50 goals in 50 games, or mention 1000 career points etc.

Injury updates during the game where it says what the injury is and whether you would like to make them return etc.

Updated standings and league leader overlays during franchise play

I swear Rammer said either during E3 or after that they were working on definitely having 3 man celebrations in and that we'd see those and they were "working" on full, 5 man celebrations...

I thought we'd at LEAST have 3 man celebrations. It seems the tech is there because all of the team goes over to celebrate, however the closest one to the goal scorer celebrates, meanwhile the other guys just drift off.

Also, custom music is HUGE. I can't imagine being a Dallas Stars fan and scoring in this game and you hear the Detroit Red Wings goal horn :brick wall:

[ManiacMatt1782]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

With as much big stuff thats missing, it's ginna be a couple years before any of this little stuff even gets looked at. This is what we should be focusing on to get them to add, instead of tryting to get the game we already had back to intact.

[actionhank]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

My list is kind of a thing of stuff that was/is in, but could use a major overhaul.
I would love a lot of what The Show has in so many game modes.

*Coaches: From what i can tell in The Show(I haven't messed with them a ton) but in Franchise mode the coaches have their own attributes, but even more uniquely, they're real people. They usually have decent likenesses as well. It would be a lot better than the "Insert Generic Coach" we have now. I want to see Hitch not smiling at all behind the bench when i finally take the Blues to a cup victory in game.

*The Ability to Edit Players (On the Fly): Another thing i like about The Show is the ability for me to edit my players as my Franchise progresses. I can alter attributes and equipment as the season goes on. EA has (had?) progression for players, but maybe i think someone is having a great season, or worse still, a slumping season. I want to be able to go team-to-team and edit players. That's half of the fun of playing while the real season goes on. The ability to edit player models mid-season would be nice as well. I know there's a lot of work that goes into making accurate rosters and players (The Revamped team has done a great job, and it takes a lot of them a lot of their free time to get it right.) so i don't expect EA to hit the nail on the head every time, but i also don't like being handicapped by my own game in what I can do with my season.
The entire created player interface could be drastically overhauled. We've essentially been using the same one since 07, and it's showing it's age. Even if they couldn't give us something like GameFace (Ice Grills?) to get player face scans into the game, the ability to edit all of the small details of player models (Faces, headshapes, eye/ear/mouth/nose size, placement, all sorts of stuff...again, like in The Show) would do a lot for getting more uniqueness in the game.

*Celebrations: The game feels so stale when something happens. If i score a goal with 10 seconds left to tie it up in Game 7 and sent it to OT...it feels just the same as when my 4th line grinder puts the 4th goal of the night against an AHL goalie in preseason. Show the bench lighting up, have the players run and jump in a pile, just give me something besides whatever boring "i scored" animation decides to play.

*Unique Players: I don't know that unique animations have ever really been in the game, but it would do so much to break up the monotony of every player looking the same on ice. That and a player editor that actually lets us edit things so that Kane doesn't just look like a shortened version of every other player model with a unique face model.
If we had different skating animations that would help differentiate between players, and unique shooting animations would be great too (Seeing Phil Kessel lean into one of his quick wristers would always be nice).
But, the one position who could benefit from a major overhaul are the goalies. Unique stances, saves, play types, everything would make a nice touch. More animations for when a goalie gives up a crucial goal or makes a big save would be great. If there was a way to get into your lines and see what players were getting tired, who was hot/cold (That would be nice to see come back) and for goalies in particular, their confidence. That would add a whole new level of challenge. Do you leave your backup goalie in when he's getting shelled because you had to sit 2 of your top defenders after back-to-back games who are tired, because he's given up 2 early goals and his confidence is getting low, but your starter is tired from the night before?

They could do so many little things to make the game so much more exciting and engrossing. I would love to actually have to worry about my goalie getting lit up, because i've got a big game coming up the day after. Or putting a 3rd line winger on my first powerplay because he's been red hot that week, and can't miss on his shots. Anything to break up the "Well, i'm not really editing the lines because there's a need to...just because i want them to be semi-accurate."

*Dynamic Trade Value: I'm not sure if this is in game, but i don't know that i've ever really noticed it either. But, a nice thing would be dynamic player value in terms of contracts and trade value. If i have a 3rd line winger who's scored 30 goals in a season, has a low dollar value contract, and is on his last signed year, his value should go up. If i have a guy with a massive contract with a lot of years left who hasn't scored in 2 months, his value should dip down. Then you can take gambles on cold players, and get into bidding wars for hot ones.
Even better would be revamped contract talks. If a guy has a hot season, he's going to want more money. If he has a cold season, you should be able to talk his price down. Another perk would be if other players affected their value. Say you've got a rookie goalie playing backup who stole the starting job and outplayed your starter, maybe that makes him want to leave and he tells you he wants a trade, or maybe that allows you to say "Look, you're under-performing. How about a year at 2 million to prove yourself."

Just please, EA, make me care about the games.

[bigwill33]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Great list, actionhank! I can get behind everything that you have mentioned here. In other games it is exciting to go and play a certain team because of their star players. They look and behave differently. They bring a certain skill set and dynamic playing experience to the table. Something the NHL series has been lacking for years. The NHL is a league of star talent and then role players to compliment them. The NHL video game is just cookie cut talent and some players have more speed or a harder shot, but they all skate the same way and move the same way and the goalies are probably the worst for this.

ManiacMatt, you hit the nail on the head, unfortunately. This should be what we are worried about at this stage in the game with NHL, but it is not. It is my hope that the development team (or the next one that may come in) is able to tackle everything to make the most complete game ever in the shortest time ever. It likely won't happen, but that is about what it will take for me to really get behind the NHL series again.

[sweetjones]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

And those blimps that fly around during intermissions.

Wow. Faceoff 99 had this.

[bigwill33]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Wow. Faceoff 99 had this.

I actually saw a blimp in NHL 15 during the pregame at Columbus when the players were skating around on the ice. It wasn't moving or anything, but that is what made me think of it.

[hawkeyekid]

Re: Little things that you would like to see put back into the NHL series

Probably stupid, but I would love National Anthems before playoff games. At least the last 20 or 30 seconds.