NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

[BruinsHockey08]

I really really like what I read for Franchise mode, it looks like there will be more to do. I wish there was more done to roster management but I guess that will have to wait. I'd also like to manage the coaching staff, doesn't seem like it is in the cards though.

With that said here are a few things I really liked starting with Franchise, and then other odds and ends from there. I will try to keep it focused and on point so I don't lose anyone trying to read it.

If you decide to be a heartless owner and relocate your team, the commentary team will be aware of the move and discuss the pending transition and subsequent fan reaction during the broadcasts.

This could be really interesting, I would probably find a lot of amusement in this, but I am kind of a special person who finds great pleasure in virtual agony.

All of your decisions affect the overall team status. If you start making a profit and your owner is happy, he gives you more money to spend in your operating budget and on player salaries as well.
You can always spend to the salary cap, but the owner may not want you to. If you overspend past your budget outlines on contracts anyway, should you fail to meet the owner expectations, his judgment will be much tougher.

I like how profit and team performance appear to make a difference in how much money you get. It could make things very tough as a GM. It could very well change the way a team is budgeted for. And it is realistic too, you hear about how Ottawa doesn't spend all of it's cap space because (I think) of the value of the Canadian dollar, so this is cool and it could make keeping a great team on the ice even tougher.

An organizational status hub page reports how your decisions have played out in terms of revenue, fan temperature, and ownership satisfaction.

I am curious how the fans react if they get super pissed off at your decisions. You can bet that I will be checking into this. Maybe I can ruin the Maple Leafs or something.

In fact, EA has surfaced tuning sliders for most gameplay settings so players can tweak to their liking. The new sliders are the same ones the developers use to tune the game, ranging from 0 to 100. They now allow players to alter settings of everything from the speed of passes and how much players bobble passes to the frequency that specific penalties get called.

I don't think this can be talked about enough, it could revolutionize the way the game plays, for the better too. We'll see how it plays out. This could make the game so much more fun offline at the very least. And it could in the future make online leagues more customizable if EA ever decides to try a GM Connected type mode down the line.

Everyone who played the past two NHL games has a story about landing a successful check that knocks the player to the ground, only to have the puck be shielded by the downed player, which allows the checkee to recover possession before the checker has a chance to win the puck. EA thinks it finally found a solution to this. When you hit a player away from the puck direction, the puck can come free now and keep going. That should cut down the number of times we see this frustrating circumstance occur.

Thank God!!! This is so annoying.

That is about it, the only negative I took out of this was that there was NOTHING about Be a Pro, that to me is disheartening for those who play that mode. I was hoping it would be more like the live the life mode that EA had going for it on the PS3 before the console shift, pissing people off with interview answers were the best thing to happen to that mode. It let you have a little personality, which was great.

[actionhank]

Re: Game Informer - 68 Things We Know About NHL 17

Thank god.



I don't get why so many people are upset over the new franchise stuff. It's atleast something to do instead of the very bare bones roster management.

It's not that their exactly made about the new stuff, more frustrated that the old stuff hasn't been given any love in a while.

My personal frustration is that EA often adds features, but the features aren't fully fleshed out and don't really add much. The Morale thing seemed like it would be cool, but it doesn't really seem to affect anything at all in game. If my guys are happy or sad, it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not going to have a star demand a trade. I don't have to worry about guys not wanting to sign with me because I trade players a lot, or because we're frequently in the league basement. Similarly, there's no real excitement to any of the out-of-game action. The trade deadline, the free agent signings, all of it just feels pretty flat.

So, I'm not really mad they added something new. More frustrated they're expanding the mode before it really works that well.

That aside, I'm eager to see how the sliders work. Sliders in this game have been a source of frustration for a while. Some seem to work opposite of how we expect them to, and others don't seem to change much at all. It will be really nice if the new sliders can get the AI to miss on some passes, and maybe make it a bit more worth your time to pay attention to who's on the ice.

As it stands now, it doesn't really matter if my shutdown line is out on the ice, because my 4th line grinders work just as well on the defensive end of things. They can send out Malkin and Crosby, but I don't need to worry about getting Steen and Stastny out there, because the faceoff is likely a toss-up, and the defensive side of things won't matter much.

Better sliders could mean that Crosby is going to be lethal with his passing, while their 3rd line center might not be so dangerous, instead of the current mode, where every line can make laser passes all day with the AI controlling them.

[mkilcNYR]

The slider addition is nice and I'm a fan of greater price control like in NBA 2K but I only like it because the GM mode itself is fully fleshed out and the rosters are good. Everyone on all teams play the same whether they are on the 1st, 4th, or in the AHL. I just don't see sliders having that much of an impact when all the players are rated so close to each other. I would want to see greater roster customization and flexibility before I buy another NHL game

[BlacknBlue]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

While I like them seemingly addressing the hits with the players falling on the pucks and getting back up without losing possession, I fear that it will be "fixed" by just having more of the puck squirting out to the next closest teammate, like it currently does.

Pay attention to when you hit a cpu player that has the puck, around 7+ times out of 10 the puck will instantaneously go to the next closest cpu player. It almost works better than a pass for them.

And one of the biggest issues playing against the CPU remains the unnatural movements/skating, especially in the neutral zone. Never in my life of playing and watching hockey have I seen players race up the ice and stop and then backpedal and move the way the CPU can in the neutral zone. Looks like basketball players half the time.

[spoofrice11]

Anyone know more about how creating teams will work?
I just want to be able to replace teams with my created teams and not have to be a city I don't like until it lets me move the team in the future.

It needs to be like MyLeague in NBA 2K16 where you can upload images and then replace teams in the League. (One thing 2K16 needed was though to be able to create your team before starting your Franchise and being able to use your logo/jerseys/stadium instead of having to create all of that after you start and re-doing it if you want to start over.

I am trying to decide on if I want to get NHL or Madden this year and was leaning towards NHL, but that could get me to change my mind.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

Anyone know more about how creating teams will work?
I just want to be able to replace teams with my created teams and not have to be a city I don't like until it lets me move the team in the future.

It needs to be like MyLeague in NBA 2K16 where you can upload images and then replace teams in the League. (One thing 2K16 needed was though to be able to create your team before starting your Franchise and being able to use your logo/jerseys/stadium instead of having to create all of that after you start and re-doing it if you want to start over.

I am trying to decide on if I want to get NHL or Madden this year and was leaning towards NHL, but that could get me to change my mind.

Don't count on it being anything like NBA. NHL is a much smaller budget title. Expect the team relocation to be somewhat like Madden's has been for years.

As far as created teams, there is no info yet. Last gen you could create a team from any city you named and replace whatever team you wanted in GM mode with. It was a functional, if barebones, implementation.

[BruinsHockey08]

Don't count on it being anything like NBA. NHL is a much smaller budget title. Expect the team relocation to be somewhat like Madden's has been for years.

As far as created teams, there is no info yet. Last gen you could create a team from any city you named and replace whatever team you wanted in GM mode with. It was a functional, if barebones, implementation.

Even if it is like Madden, is that a bad thing? I don't think so. I haven't done anything on NBA for relocation so I can't sit here and say how good or bad it is, but the relocation option is very appealing to me.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

Even if it is like Madden, is that a bad thing? I don't think so. I haven't done anything on NBA for relocation so I can't sit here and say how good or bad it is, but the relocation option is very appealing to me.

Agreed on Madden. I really like it, and I'm looking forward the feature (however it is implemented) in NHL.

[MavsUCCB]

I still miss custom music, my 360 had about 900 30 second clips ready to go for breaks in the play and it always made franchise mode a little bit more fun as I didn't hear the same 20 songs every game. Also replaced the menu music with the classic NHL video game music as well so I had a nice NHL 94-95-96-97-98 feel when messing around with my roster.

[sooner1074]

The most complete article I've read about NHL 17 to date. This is jam packed with information.

I love how the article pointed out things we've been requesting for years and called EA out on it like the SHARING ROSTER or OVERHAUL PLAYER RATINGS.

Really wish they threw some more love toward Franchise mode seems like they just did BeAGM and added moving teams/finances. Is that what we really wanted? Sure it will be nice for a year or two but how about more attention to scouting, drafting and developing players which is what the mode is all about in the first place?

Overall can't complain too much from such a small dev team. I just think this entire NHL franchise needs a shakeup from a new team. Madden went through one in recent years and it appears they are on the right track while this one is starting to become stale. Rammer and his squad keep rehashing the same stuff as in previous gen titles.

[spoofrice11]

Don't count on it being anything like NBA. NHL is a much smaller budget title. Expect the team relocation to be somewhat like Madden's has been for years.

As far as created teams, there is no info yet. Last gen you could create a team from any city you named and replace whatever team you wanted in GM mode with. It was a functional, if barebones, implementation.

Thanx for the response, but I hope that isn't the case on having to wait.
There are some logos/colors of teams I think are ugly. So if I want to get rid of the Devils and/or another team or 2, I have to play a year or 2 with them 1st (isn't that how Madden works? I haven't got a game for a few years).
Why wouldn't we just be able to get rid of them from the start and use our created teams at the beginning?

[mikeq672]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

So essentially all this game did was add build a team in for franchise and EASHL, added net battles back in that were already a thing a few years ago, and updated some rosters, which will have everyone grouped together but everyone already plays the same anyway so whats it matter.

[Money99]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

Agreed on Madden. I really like it, and I'm looking forward the feature (however it is implemented) in NHL.

Me too.
I like how I may have to play a full season before relocation, which should affect attendance.

Madden's always had a much deeper franchise mode and I'm glad the NHL series is finally getting some love in that regard.

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

Me too.
I like how I may have to play a full season before relocation, which should affect attendance.

Madden's always had a much deeper franchise mode and I'm glad the NHL series is finally getting some love in that regard.

I hope it actually affects the way they have the divisions. It's going to be frustrating if you do something like move the Coyotes to Hartford...only to have them still play in the Pacific division.

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 17 - More Details on Gameplay, Franchise, EASHL & Much More (Game Informer)

I really hope they adjusted the way 3 on 3 works with the AI.

The AI pretty much play like they do when it's 5 on 5, but they should be playing much more cautiously without the puck, and more aggressively with it. It would be nice to have a setting to how aggressive you want them to be.

Additionally, it would be nice to see guys try to get open, not just try to move a predetermined distance away from you when you have the puck. Their handedness would really come into play on this.