NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

[Steve_OS]

Sportsnet has posted their hands-on preview of NHL 17, going over customization, franchise mode, EASHL, Be a Pro, gameplay, HUT, visual on-ice training, World Cup of Hockey, Draft Champions and much more.

NHL 16 introduced a more refined way for forwards to get to the in front of the net for tip-ins, screens and such, but there wasn’t much you could do as a defender. NHL 17 looks to correct that by introducing all new animations and moves defenders can do when trying to shut down a guy trying to cause havoc in front his goalie such as stick lifts and little shoves.

Goalies are experiencing an even bigger change as they now better reflect the fact that some NHL netminders are a lot bigger than other and as such the sprawling, acrobatic saves aren’t necessary unless they’re caught out of position. Instead, you’ll see more positional saves and animations that involve raising the shoulder to cover off the small gaps of the net.

[ttrobbins84]

Can we call this what it actually is? This is a paid advertisement. Props to the first comment on that page for calling it out. Typical EA "hands-on preview". Talking points handed to the journalist to put out to us. I have little to no excitement for this game.

I loved this part of the preview, "The best example of this is in the NHL 17’s Franchise Mode. Replacing the Be A GM mode from pervious iterations, this new one will play exactly the same as before, with one key difference, the element of owners." Glad I was sitting down for this breaking news. EA keeps everything the same and makes one small change? You don't say?!

Everyone has their own opinion, but I love playing franchise modes and only a little online play. I'm sad to see that the trend has been going away from paying attention to modes for the guys like me. Maybe there aren't many of us out there? I love games like Out of the Park and Franchise Hockey Manager, just sucks because there are times I'd love to just jump in and play some of or all of the games. The lack of depth in a franchise mode for these games sucks.

Anyone see EA responding constantly saying that fans have only been vocal about roster sharing this year? This may be wrong for me to fear, but I do fear that they will continue to ignore the majority of our requests and the sales will decline. Their team being one of the smallest could get eliminated and then we are left without any hockey for years to come. Keep in mind, this team is saying that barely anyone played connected franchise which is why the won't touch it. The real reason is because the mode was so unplayable that people never tried, there was no point. I remember that if you were even able to finish one season, good luck getting to the next. I could keep going, but I doubt anyone read this far and if you did I'm sorry, I'm done now. :-)

[jcas007]

Will you be able to adjust the lenth of the season or do you have to play entire season in franchise mode

[Quietlife]

Will you be able to adjust the lenth of the season or do you have to play entire season in franchise mode

You're asking for a level of customisation that's never going to happen.

[Rufio2031]

Can we call this what it actually is? This is a paid advertisement. Props to the first comment on that page for calling it out. Typical EA "hands-on preview". Talking points handed to the journalist to put out to us. I have little to no excitement for this game.

I loved this part of the preview, "The best example of this is in the NHL 17’s Franchise Mode. Replacing the Be A GM mode from pervious iterations, this new one will play exactly the same as before, with one key difference, the element of owners." Glad I was sitting down for this breaking news. EA keeps everything the same and makes one small change? You don't say?!

Everyone has their own opinion, but I love playing franchise modes and only a little online play. I'm sad to see that the trend has been going away from paying attention to modes for the guys like me. Maybe there aren't many of us out there? I love games like Out of the Park and Franchise Hockey Manager, just sucks because there are times I'd love to just jump in and play some of or all of the games. The lack of depth in a franchise mode for these games sucks.

Anyone see EA responding constantly saying that fans have only been vocal about roster sharing this year? This may be wrong for me to fear, but I do fear that they will continue to ignore the majority of our requests and the sales will decline. Their team being one of the smallest could get eliminated and then we are left without any hockey for years to come. Keep in mind, this team is saying that barely anyone played connected franchise which is why the won't touch it. The real reason is because the mode was so unplayable that people never tried, there was no point. I remember that if you were even able to finish one season, good luck getting to the next. I could keep going, but I doubt anyone read this far and if you did I'm sorry, I'm done now. :-)

ttronbbins, you are certainly not alone. There are thousands and thousands of players just like you that are ignored in every EA title. I wish online never existed in sports gaming, and HUT type modes are holding back sports titles from really blossoming into something next-level. I'm not going to say this was a paid review because I'd just like to think it not true. With that said, I did skim through it as it was a very predictable read.

Honestly, maybe cutting the NHL team is exactly what we need...not like I'll miss playing it because I don't play it anymore anyway. Sucks that this used to be one of the brightest EA titles.

[jyoung]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

Anyone see EA responding constantly saying that fans have only been vocal about roster sharing this year?

The community has been very loud in their disappointment with the way EA's handled this series' rosters ever since the transition to the current generation of consoles.

Because of user-created roster editing/sharing tools, EA's inaccurate ratings, small ratings scale, and infrequent updates weren't much of an issue on the previous generation of consoles.

But once the community lost access to those user-created editing/sharing tools on PS4/XB1, EA's poor handling of the rosters has been magnified. Either EA needs to hire someone who can make good official rosters (like how NBA 2K hired Mike Stauffer), or EA needs to give the community tools that can correct their mistakes.

[Moose24x]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

Franchise mode being "exactly the same" with one key difference, which is that I now have to worry about hot dog prices, is actually probably my biggest disappointment. How about a better trade deadline or just better contract negotiations and waivers logic? I don't even WANT to set ticket and concession prices and handle finances. I actually hope there's a way to ignore that crap without being penalized because I genuinely have ZERO interest in wasting my time with it. Who even asked for that feature? I really hope I can just ignore that stuff or set it to auto, because if I can't play a mode where I just manage the roster, I'm going to be pissed. If I'm forced to do the totally worthless concession prices in order to just manage a team, it's going to be very annoying.

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

The community has been very loud in their disappointment with the way EA's handled this series' rosters ever since the transition to the current generation of consoles.

Because of user-created roster editing/sharing tools, EA's inaccurate ratings, small ratings scale, and infrequent updates weren't much of an issue on the previous generation of consoles.

But once the community lost access to those user-created editing/sharing tools on PS4/XB1, EA's poor handling of the rosters has been magnified. Either EA needs to hire someone who can make good official rosters (like how NBA 2K hired Mike Stauffer), or EA needs to give the community tools that can correct their mistakes.

This is pretty much the perfect summation. It's worth noting that EA never really officially supported the sharing of rosters, clever folks in the community just found a way to save rosters to a flash drive, overwrite the meat of the roster with improved rosters, and then essentially save the old roster with the new ratings inside of it, essentially tricking the game into thinking the old roster was the same.

Since the move to next gen, this trick no longer works, and we're stuck with EA's continued release of poor rosters that come out way too infrequently.

[Simple Mathematics]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

The community has been very loud in their disappointment with the way EA's handled this series' rosters ever since the transition to the current generation of consoles.

Because of user-created roster editing/sharing tools, EA's inaccurate ratings, small ratings scale, and infrequent updates weren't much of an issue on the previous generation of consoles.

But once the community lost access to those user-created editing/sharing tools on PS4/XB1, EA's poor handling of the rosters has been magnified. Either EA needs to hire someone who can make good official rosters (like how NBA 2K hired Mike Stauffer), or EA needs to give the community tools that can correct their mistakes.

If the EA NHL team ever wants to hire someone to handle their rosters, I will gladly take that job.

And by the way, to all the people out there who are asking/pleading for roster sharing - thank you. I have seen either my name or the Revamped Rosters name thrown around a lot too and I am extremely grateful. I genuinely love editing rosters and I love getting every single rating accurate and it feels great to get a positive response from everybody.

[kariya05]

Of course they don't allow roster sharing. It's been the same game since NHL 09. If they allowed roster sharing no one would have a reason to buy it each year.

[DJ NEO]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

Of course they don't allow roster sharing. It's been the same game since NHL 09. If they allowed roster sharing no one would have a reason to buy it each year.

yeah, there actually can be some truth in this statement.
Maybe a huge part of reason why there is no PC version of this game.

Imagine if community keeps adding rosters and visual updates (jerseys, ices etc) every year themselfs FOR FREE.

What (new) would left from the game?

[iam31yearsold]

Game looks like it will be a waste of time.

NHL13 + revamped for another year,

[Simple Mathematics]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

yeah, there actually can be some truth in this statement.
Maybe a huge part of reason why there is no PC version of this game.

Imagine if community keeps adding rosters and visual updates (jerseys, ices etc) every year themselfs FOR FREE.

What (new) would left from the game?

If they innovate enough, people will still buy the new game.

[ozcore]

passing on this year as well. no roster sharing which has been asked for years and mlb the show has it already for 3-4 years. pathetic EA. I'm not dishing up more dough for just revamped rosters. EA should be ashamed of themselves for fooling peoples every year.

[Smirkin Dirk]

Re: NHL 17 Hands-On Preview (Sportsnet)

So as an offline franchise gamer these are the 3 improvements I can see.

1. Something about net battles.
2. New goalie animations.
3. Being able to control food prices that stopped being interesting in Madden at least 3 years ago.

There is no...
1. Improved board play
2. Shareable rosters.
3. Team and player differentiation.
4. Neutral zone improvements
5. Making playing defense more varied and interesting.