[spidertour02]

I've played a couple of Be A GM games with the new tuner, and I have a few observations.

(1) Goalies are definitely more sluggish going from side to side, making it easier to score on cross-crease passes and breakaways. I haven't gotten into a shootout with the new tuner yet, but I would assume that it's easier to score there as well for the same reason.

(2) Because of (1), goalies also have a harder time recovering from desperation saves. This goes both ways -- I've had a goal for and a goal against because of the resulting open nets.

(3) Players are much less aggressive with hits, unless it's called for. Hit power appears unchanged from the last tuner, but they don't go for them nearly as often. Players seem to jostle and nudge rather than trying to truck people. The current balance is much cleaner.

(4) There is a lot more stick activity. Both my AI teammates and the CPU opponents were doing more poke checks and stick lifts, with varying levels of success.

(5) As a consequence of (4), there are more tripping and interference penalties. In my last game, there were 3 penalties a side.

(6) I feel that passing may have been tweaked a bit because I noticed both teams with more open lanes. This may be a result of the toned-down hitting. The CPU passing also seems a little less accurate than before -- they missed a few easy ones in my games.

EDIT: A couple more ...

(7) The CPU takes a lot more shots now. I've actually been outshot by the CPU in 2 of the last 3 games, which practically never happened before this tuner.

(8) This may be a coincidence, but I've had two injuries in the last three games with the new tuner -- after only one injury in the previous 37.