My credentials : I played every single EA Sports NHL games since it's infancy on the Sega Genesis. I played through the years on SNES, PC, XBOX, X360 and Xbox One. I played goalie since it first became an option. I was a division 1 goalie for NHL 13/14 with a GAA of 3.00 and Save % of .085. I wasn't the best goalie but I was good enough.
I played 6 games last night and my first impression was not very good. I understand that EA wants to change the position to be a more skilled based position. I applaud that effort but I think the problem lies in the execution not the intention. If you want to incentivizes the community to play goalie, you have to make human goalie better than AI goalie. Otherwise there is almost no incentives at the highest level to do so. In the past 2 years that I played at the highest competitive level, team would have their goalie quit in the middle of the game if they were losing. At 80% of the time, I always end up facing an AI goalie. A strong penalty needs to be imposed to the opposite that have their goalie quit on purpose. That's besides the point. Let's move on to why goalie are a mess.
Control Scheme :
The new control scheme is really a mess. You need to hold LT (X1 platform ) at all time if you want to move normally and release the trigger to more in bigger strides. It should be the exact opposite.
Left bumper is the hug post. That's not too bad but you have to be in the exact position to work otherwise it doesn't work. You end up in a really bad position and leaving a big gap. It's very difficult to move in the crest and hug the post to defend against the wrap around. The second you are a little too far in your protected zone, you are screwed. I was struggling last night to consistently hug the post like I wanted. It makes it even more difficult because most of the time I have to hold LT and Left Bumper and move the left stick. It's a little crowded for me to do everything with just 1 hand. hence my complaint about the movement control.
Right stick : It's actually not bad but since people like to snipe top corner. You really need to be aggressive on the shooter to make it work and you leave yourself very vulnerable. It's hard to remove last years habit with the anticipation skill. This will require time to get used too.
General movement
I mention in the earlier paragraph how the control scheme really mess with your movement. In the action, it gets even more difficult. I experience many times where my goalie would pivot/rotate instead of sliding from left to right. It left the goal totally open. Other team member had the same event happen to them. While the AI goalie slide right and left like it's second nature, the human goalie doesn't. I understand I am not supposed to stop all one timer but the AI goalie does consistently. We need more fluidity when sliding or at least on part with the AI counterpart.
Goalie build
I played as butterfly and hybrid goalie last night. There was not noticeable difference between the two build. I didn't feel like one build or another was better to fit a specific style. I think it's related to the jerkiness of the goalie movement makes almost impossible for goalie build to really make a difference.
At the end of the night. I was fairly discourage. It was a scoring fest. I am sure I can improve overtime but in a competitive world, there is no such thing as time to improve. You either good from the start or you get discarded. I don't see any real competitive team using an human goalie in a foreseeable future. They are still way too difficult to master and they are not better than AI goalie. I know I've made that point several time but it's very important one. You have to incentivize player to do so. As long as there is not penalty for human goalie quitting in the middle of the game. This abuse will go on and on. I've already seen it 3 times out of 4 last night.
The difficult of playing human goalie this year will drive most casual to just give up playing that position. It will be even worst in drop-in as most player have little to no patience if a human goalie doesn't stand on his head and stop every single puck. It will be a nightmare. I am hoping that Sean and his team are reading this post and see what is the outcome of their decision.
I played 6 games last night and my first impression was not very good. I understand that EA wants to change the position to be a more skilled based position. I applaud that effort but I think the problem lies in the execution not the intention. If you want to incentivizes the community to play goalie, you have to make human goalie better than AI goalie. Otherwise there is almost no incentives at the highest level to do so. In the past 2 years that I played at the highest competitive level, team would have their goalie quit in the middle of the game if they were losing. At 80% of the time, I always end up facing an AI goalie. A strong penalty needs to be imposed to the opposite that have their goalie quit on purpose. That's besides the point. Let's move on to why goalie are a mess.
Control Scheme :
The new control scheme is really a mess. You need to hold LT (X1 platform ) at all time if you want to move normally and release the trigger to more in bigger strides. It should be the exact opposite.
Left bumper is the hug post. That's not too bad but you have to be in the exact position to work otherwise it doesn't work. You end up in a really bad position and leaving a big gap. It's very difficult to move in the crest and hug the post to defend against the wrap around. The second you are a little too far in your protected zone, you are screwed. I was struggling last night to consistently hug the post like I wanted. It makes it even more difficult because most of the time I have to hold LT and Left Bumper and move the left stick. It's a little crowded for me to do everything with just 1 hand. hence my complaint about the movement control.
Right stick : It's actually not bad but since people like to snipe top corner. You really need to be aggressive on the shooter to make it work and you leave yourself very vulnerable. It's hard to remove last years habit with the anticipation skill. This will require time to get used too.
General movement
I mention in the earlier paragraph how the control scheme really mess with your movement. In the action, it gets even more difficult. I experience many times where my goalie would pivot/rotate instead of sliding from left to right. It left the goal totally open. Other team member had the same event happen to them. While the AI goalie slide right and left like it's second nature, the human goalie doesn't. I understand I am not supposed to stop all one timer but the AI goalie does consistently. We need more fluidity when sliding or at least on part with the AI counterpart.
Goalie build
I played as butterfly and hybrid goalie last night. There was not noticeable difference between the two build. I didn't feel like one build or another was better to fit a specific style. I think it's related to the jerkiness of the goalie movement makes almost impossible for goalie build to really make a difference.
At the end of the night. I was fairly discourage. It was a scoring fest. I am sure I can improve overtime but in a competitive world, there is no such thing as time to improve. You either good from the start or you get discarded. I don't see any real competitive team using an human goalie in a foreseeable future. They are still way too difficult to master and they are not better than AI goalie. I know I've made that point several time but it's very important one. You have to incentivize player to do so. As long as there is not penalty for human goalie quitting in the middle of the game. This abuse will go on and on. I've already seen it 3 times out of 4 last night.
The difficult of playing human goalie this year will drive most casual to just give up playing that position. It will be even worst in drop-in as most player have little to no patience if a human goalie doesn't stand on his head and stop every single puck. It will be a nightmare. I am hoping that Sean and his team are reading this post and see what is the outcome of their decision.
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