Hey everyone. I want to start a rosters wishlist for the EA NHL series. I have included a ton of my own ideas of which I will continue to add to as I think of more. I want everyone else's ideas too so I can include those in the original post. Please do not be shy - the more ideas the merrier.
- Ratings Separation
- A larger amount of separation between player ratings would allow superstar players to feel like superstars, while also making the 4th liners feel like 4th liners. Right now, there is a really large chunk of players between 80 and 84 overall. This has a negative effect on Franchise mode because some players rated between 80 and 84 will get stuck in free agency due to the large surplus. A full ratings scale of 1-99 would be amazing.
- There are many leagues in the game of varying talent levels. I think these leagues should be handled in one of two ways:
- OPTION 1 – Scale the ratings so a player who is an 80 OVR in the AHL would become like a 60 OVR in the NHL. This would allow for even greater player separation than Option 2; however, it may be more confusing since the conversion rates between leagues would probably be an “under-the-hood” type thing.
- OPTION 2 – Scale the ratings as follows:
- NHL = 50-99
- KHL = 35-65
- SHL = 30-60
- AHL/Liiga = 20-55
- NLA/Czech Extraliga/DEL = 1-35
Roster sharing - Roster sharing would take a huge burden off of the EA devs. The community could keep the rosters updated themselves with how they see fit. The options here are endless – you could have the Revamped Rosters, all-time rosters, old school rosters from a specific season, rosters from a different league that is not in the game (like the KHL), completely custom rosters with fictional players, and much, much more. This would add to the game’s replay value immensely.
- If possible, there should be a way to transfer a roster from NHL 17 to NHL 18, from NHL 18 to NHL 19, and so on. This would save an incredible amount of time and frustration that comes along with roster editing. So rather than re-inventing the wheel every year, we could just fine-tune the rosters and make them even more accurate.
Change overall formula - Right now, the formula EA uses to determine a player’s overall is a bit strange. If you take a look at my Revamped Rosters Google Sheet, an approximate overall formula is in there that is similar to what EA uses. For example, for forwards, the attribute that carries the heaviest weight is defensive awareness. I know it is important to be a two-way player in today’s NHL, but I would think offensive awareness would mean a little more for a forward than defensive awareness. You can find other strange instances like this within the overall formulas and I think EA has to revisit this.
Creation Zone changes - The number of created players and created teams needs to be heavily increased. This would help in making custom rosters – especially for old school rosters or for making a new league like the KHL. It would also help create all prospects that are not in the game (like college players).
- Unlock all categories in edit player. Nothing should be grayed out. Nothing should be “under-the-hood” like those hidden traits and attributes we discovered towards the tail end of the last-gen games. Everything should be editable.
- Ability to edit player heads.
- Greater face customization (like the WWE 2k series) if possible.
Roster Editing - Full roster editing should also be available in Franchise Mode. Let us have complete control over Franchise Mode so we can make it our own world.
- Give us the ability to trade draft picks in player movement screen prior to starting a Franchise Mode. It is incredibly frustrating when editing the rosters to reflect all of the latest trades, but you cannot trade draft picks. So let’s say the Blues traded a player for the Rangers’ 3rd round pick – currently, we could move the player to the Rangers but we could not move the draft pick to the Blues. So it makes things pretty unfair for the Blues when starting a Franchise Mode.
- Give us a player search function. It is extremely frustrating trying to find a player you are searching for when you know they are in the game but you do not know what team they are on.
New skater attributes – they all have to actually have to have an effect. Some of the attributes in the current game do not seem to have an effect on how the player plays (i.e. awareness, poise):
PHYSICAL: - Speed – affects the top speed a player can reach.
- Acceleration – affects how quickly a player can reach their top speed.
- Agility – affects how shifty a player is. This includes turning radius, lateral movement, and precision skating.
- Strength/Balance – affects a player’s ability to stay on his feet when being body checked, pushed, or harassed in front of the net.
- Stamina – affects how quickly a player becomes fatigued. Fatigue should have an effect on attributes. The more a player is fatigued, the more their attributes should drop. DO NOT overdo this though – just a slight impact would be cool.
- Durability – affects how injury prone a player is.
- Board/corner play – affects how well a player can win the puck in board play and play down in the corners.
OFFENSIVE: - Shooting power – affects how hard a player can shoot.
- Shooting accuracy – affects how accurate a player can shoot.
- Passing – affects how accurate a player can pass.
- Shoot vs. Pass Bias (slider) - a slider for how often a player will opt to shoot the puck versus pass to a teammate. Players like Alex Ovechkin will be reliant on the shot, while players like Joe Thornton will be reliant on the pass. Players in the middle will have a nice mix of both passing and shooting. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale.
- Vision – affects how quickly a player can find an open man.
- Puckhandling – affects how hard it is to stick lift/pokecheck this player.
- Pass Reception – affects how often a player will cleanly receive a pass. Also affects how often a player will cleanly get off a one-timer.
- Deking – affects the types of dekes a player can perform. The higher the rating unlocks different moves the player can do. This would eliminate grinders and enforcers doing spin-o-ramas.
- Offensive positioning – affects how well a player gets into proper position in the offensive end. This will have a large impact on powerplays.
- Screening – affects how well a player can screen the goalie and provide deflections on incoming shots.
DEFENSIVE: - Forechecking – affects how much a player forechecks.
- Bodychecking power – affects how hard a player can hit an opponent.
- Stickchecking precision – affects a player’s ability to poke check/stick lift a player. The higher the ability, the less likely a player will trip/slash his opponent.
- Bodycheck vs. Stickcheck Bias (slider) – a slider for how often a player will opt to throw a body check versus a stickcheck. Players like Radko Gudas will have reliant on the body check, and players like Duncan Keith will be reliant on the stickcheck. Players in the middle will have a nice mix of bodychecking and stickchecking. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale.
- Puck Moving – affects how quickly a player can move the puck out of his zone/out of danger.
- Crease Clearing – affects how well a player can battle with a player who is attempting to screen his goalie.
- Reach – affects the distance a player can reach to stickcheck an opponent.
- Shot Blocking – affects the likelihood and the skill of a player blocking a shot.
- Pinching – affects how often a player will pinch on the offensive attack.
- Defensive positioning – affects how well a player gets into proper position in the defensive end. This will have a large impact on penalty kills.
MENTAL/MISCELLANEOUS - Faceoffs – affects how often a player will win a faceoff.
- Fighting – affects how skilled a player is at fighting.
- Fighting Frequency – affects how often a player will get into a fight. You can keep the current “never, rarely, sometimes, and often” ratings; however, there should be MANY more players listed as “never” than there currently is.
- Agitating – affects how well a player can get under opponents skin. This will have a large affect post-whistle. A player with a high agitating skill will cause opponents to take more penalties against him like roughing, slashing, elbowing, crosschecking, etc.
- Discipline – affects how often a player gets a penalty.
- Consistency (slider) – affects how often a player will play to their full ability. A lower consistency rating means that there will be games when the player how a modifier on his abilities that causes them to decrease. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale.
- Determination – affects how hard a player will try/skate. A player with high determination and forechecking will constantly be right in your face when you are in your own zone. A player with high determination and high shooting ratings will constantly be looking for shooting lanes.
- Center (slider) – affects how well a player can play center. A player who is placed at center and has a low center rating will have his attributes decreased. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale. A player whose position is listed as “center” will automatically have a 10 in this category.
- Left Wing (slider) – affects how well a player can play left wing. A player who is placed at left wing and has a low left wing rating will have his attributes decreased. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale. A player whose position is listed as “left wing” will automatically have a 10 in this category.
- Right Wing (slider) - affects how well a player can play right wing. A player who is placed at right wing and has a low right wing rating will have his attributes decreased. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale. A player whose position is listed as “right wing” will automatically have a 10 in this category.
- Left Defenseman (slider) - affects how well a player can play left defenseman. A player who is placed at left defenseman and has a low left defenseman rating will have his attributes decreased. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale. A player whose position is listed as “left defenseman” will automatically have a 10 in this category.
- Right Defenseman (slider) - affects how well a player can play right defenseman. A player who is placed at right defenseman and has a low right defenseman rating will have his attributes decreased. This probably only has to be a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-99 scale. A player whose position is listed as “right defenseman” will automatically have a 10 in this category.
- Potential Peak – this should be a number or range of numbers that is the maximum overall a player can reach. This should change slightly over time in Franchise Mode based off of performance/production. So if a prospect originally had a Potential Peak of 50-60 but is tearing it up in the juniors, maybe his Potential Peak could increase to 60-70.
- Potential Accuracy – this should be a letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F. A means that the player is guaranteed to reach his Potential Peak. C means there is a 50-50 shot of reaching his Potential Peak. F means that the player will most likely not reach his Potential Peak.
Player Traits – these can replace the current “player types” in the game. A player can have multiple traits (do NOT put a limit on the number of traits a player can have). Traits should have different levels – perhaps gold, silver, and bronze. They should be determined based off of the combination of attributes that player has. Player traits would sort of give a quick glance at what a player is skilled and/or lacking at.
FORWARDS: - Sniper
- Playmaker
- Offensive Forward – this is a hybrid of sniper and playmaker when a player is skilled in both passing and shooting categories
- Defensive Forward
- Two-Way Forward
- Goalie-Screener – a forward who is skilled at fronting the net and getting deflections
- Power Forward – a player who is good along the boards and in the corners. These players are also good at shielding the puck and are proficient at performing power moves.
- Checking Forward – a forward who loves throwing body checks
- Forechecker
DEFENSEMEN: - Offensive Defenseman
- Stay-At-Home Defenseman
- Two-Way Defenseman
- Puck-Mover – a defenseman who can move the puck along the boards and out of his zone quickly
- Shutdown Defenseman – a defenseman who is skilled at crease clearing
- Powerplay QB
ALL SKATERS: - Agitator
- Enforcer
- Shot Blocker
- Long Reach
- Dangler
- Speedster/Slow
- Minute-Muncher
- Physical/Finesse
- Strong/Soft
- Perimeter Player
- Playoff Hero/Playoff Choker – this would increase/decrease a player’s attributes during the playoffs
- Powerplay Specialist
- Penalty Kill Specialist
- Leader – gives slight attribute boosts to teammates in critical moments.
- Good/Bad Locker Room Guy – increases/decreases the team’s chemistry as a whole.
- Consistent/Inconsistent
- Disciplined/Undisciplined – a player who rarely/frequently takes penalties
- Ironman – a player who rarely gets injured
- Injury Prone
- Versatile – a player who can play multiple positions proficiently
- Streaky
- Clutch
GOALIES: - Hybrid
- Butterfly
- Athletic – a goalie who relies on his agility and recovery time to stop the puck.
- Blocking – a goalie who relies on squaring up to the shooter and likes to stop pucks with his chest.
- Good/Bad Puckhandler
- Aggressive/Passive
- Consistent
- Inconsistent
- Ironman
- Injury Prone
- Good/Bad on Breakaways
- Quick glove/blocker
- Weak glove/blocker
- Weak high/low
- Big – a big goalie who relies on his size to stop the puck
- Playoff Hero/Playoff Choker
- Good/Bad Locker Room Guy
Confidence/Mojo (only in Franchise/Be a Pro Modes) - I am stealing this idea from Super Mega Baseball’s “mojo” rating. This essentially would act as hot and cold streaks within Franchise Mode. If a player is playing well/poorly, his attributes would get temporary increases/decreases.
- Depending on what the player is performing well/poorly in, the associated attributes should be temporarily increased/decreased. So if a player has 3 goals in 3 games, his shooting ratings would receive temporary increases. If a player is only winning 40% of faceoffs, his faceoff rating would be decreased. If a player’s Corsi against rating (yes, these advanced stats should be tracked in the game) is very low over the past 5 games, then his defensive attributes should receive a boost.
- A player could theoretically receive temporary increases in some attributes and decreases in other attributes at the same time. For example, if a player is performing well defensively but is in a goal scoring slump, his defensive attributes would be increased but his shooting attributes would be decreased.
- If a player performs well/poorly for a significant amount of time (say, 10 games), their attributes would receive permanent increases/decreases.
Line Chemistry - Good chemistry would give slight attribute boosts to all players on the line. Bad chemistry would give slight attribute decreases to all player on the line.
- This has to be brought back to Franchise/Be a Pro modes.
- Line chemistry should start out with a base rating. So let’s say you start out having a sniper, a playmaker, and goalie-screener on the same line. This would yield a pretty good chemistry to start out – say a 7 out of 10. This chemistry score can improve the longer these players play on the same line together IF AND ONLY IF the line is performing well.
- If a line is performing badly and the players are left on the same line, the chemistry score can decrease.
Invisible Traits/Attributes (Franchise/Be a Pro Mode) - Drafted players should have missing traits and attributes that eventually show up the longer they are in the league.
- Traits/attributes of younger players should be color-coded – red, yellow, and green. Red means that the rating is inaccurate, yellow means somewhat accurate, green means very accurate.
- Pro scouts should be able to unlock these traits/attributes. You can also unlock traits/attributes of players on other teams for trading purposes.
More Frequent Roster Updates - This would be very nice. If they give us roster sharing, I would not be so much concerned with attributes. I would be more concerned about getting all of the rosters accurate in a more timely fashion – this includes AHL, CHL, and Euro leagues. It would be really nice if EA can somehow improve the deal they have with the NHLPA so we do not have to wait until a player plays his first game in the NHL in order to be included in the game.
Fictional College and Russian Rosters - If roster sharing happens, this would be huge because we could edit the rosters to include the real-life players. We should be able to edit the teams like we can in Pro Evolution Soccer so we can give the teams their proper logos, uniforms, colors, etc.
More Real Face Scans - EA NHL is lacking in this department. I want EA to set a goal of getting 50% of the NHL scanned. After that, then go for 75%, etc. I think this really helps immerse the gamer into the game. There was nothing quite like a few years ago seeing Ryan Reaves’ skin tone being as dark as a tuxedo.
Face Gen - In Franchise/Be a Pro modes, face gen would help the immersion in the game. Face gen would give us pictures of the in-game models of the players for those players who do not have their picture in the game. This would really help when you’re 10 years deep into a Franchise mode and you have a bunch of those silhouette pictures.
Ratings Based off of Stats - All ratings should be based off of statistics. Numbers do not lie. If a player only scored 15 goals last year, I do not want him to have a 90 in shooting accuracy.
- When I do the Revamped Rosters, I do as many attributes as possible based off of real-life stats. I put the ratings into a bell curve. This makes it so a larger chunk of players are rated in the middle rather than extremely poor or extremely good. This allows the superstars and the scrubs to stand out even more.
Player Development (Franchise/Be a Pro modes) - Player development in Franchise/Be a Pro modes should be largely based off of production.
- A player’s potential should predict how a player is going to produce. How a player is actually performing should alter that potential as well as their attributes.
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