Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

[TheBuddyHobbs]

There wasn't much to really inspect from gameplay in the beta, but I enjoyed it enough to get suckered in. I know I'm part of the problem, but I love hockey and love hockey games. So with all that out of the way. What's holding the series back that's not related to gameplay?

Presentation - It seems like it wasn't touched enough yet again. Still have to reserve some right as we haven't played the full game, but let's be honest, they don't have a great track record. Commentary has been stale for so long. Can we get some better and more authentic celebrations please?

Goalie mask - How about better customization? Goalies love their mask and other equipment. The fans do too. Especially when they are with a new team. At this point, I would settle for 10 pre-set goalie mask per NHL team. That would be at least enough satisfaction.

MULTIPLE team control - For the love of hockey Gods this is always a top request and we still never get it. It looks like we can have a 32 team league so now was the perfect time. We didn't get it though. Huge opportunity missed.

Community downloads - Another top request, the ability to download community rosters, teams and sliders. We've had this in Madden for years. Why don't we have this in NHL 18? This would be a game changer especially because of the new expansion option.

So as far as things outside of gameplay, go. Multiple team control and community downloads had no reason not to make the cut. EA missed a massive opportunity this year. Multiple team control and community downloads made too much sense because of the new expansion option. Had they done these things I truly believe they would of had the biggest sales since hitting the PS4 and Xbox One generation.








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[jonapaloma]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

I would say money.

[jake19ny]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

You pretty much nailed it,

Presentation.- This series fails to capture the excitement of an NHL game. The intensity just is not there and it could be replicated through better presentation. instead its the same old commentary that all to often does not even accurately reflect whats happening in your game or season. For instance your goalie could be 10-2 with a fantastic GAA and SavePct and during the same old pre game skate they discuss how poorly he is playing. Instead of fixing this and addressing stale commentary they went ahead and recorded new corny commentary for their arcade 3 on 3. No five man celebration is inexcusable at this point. Lastly and a big one....scoring the winning goal of game 7 of the season and scoring the winning goal of game 7 of a playoff round feel and sound the same.

Goalie Masks - We can create and customize a mascot, arena, and uniforms but are still wearing many of the same, poorly designed masks for almost a decade. you can now create an expansion team and design everything for your new team but your goalie will skate out wearing another teams mask or a plain one. Also inexcusable.

Multiple Team Control - I assume you mean in franchise because in season mode you can, and I do control all the teams.

Community - This one puzzles me. On last gen consoles we had the ability to share rosters (No thanks to EA) and customize arena music and goal horns. 4 years into next gen and still not an option.

All the things above are achievable and most if not all have been a wish of the community for a long time and instead EA invest its time and what little money apparently, and gives us arcade 3 on 3. That speaks volumes.

[Money99]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Complete integration between all the various leagues like FIFA has.
Why can't I be a GM for an OHL team?
Shouldn't I be able to take my BAP to Europe?

[Drakar]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Story mode like FIFA and Madden
Why can't I do the training session to improved my player instead of just picking some option in a menu ?
There is bug in this the netcode that exist for years (loop at faceoff)
Menu speed
Goalie quitting in EASHL - very little penalty.
New audio commentary ?

[ddhex27]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

-Stagnation of gameplay presentation (rehashed play by play audio, cutscenes)
-Monetization from HUT microtransactions

[DJ]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

A lot of things. Budget, resources are not there for this game.

They still haven't added in 5-man celebrations, or show players slapping five with teammates on the bench.

Commentary is largely unchanged and overall stale.

I could go on, but we all know the gameplay issues with money goals, no neutral zone play, iffy penalty system, goalies with bad AI, etc.

[13whitebread]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

You hit the nail on the head yeah let's waste time implementing 3 vs 3 new commentary and 5 man goeal celebration could of been added instead of 3 vs 3 boring

You pretty much nailed it,

Presentation.- This series fails to capture the excitement of an NHL game. The intensity just is not there and it could be replicated through better presentation. instead its the same old commentary that all to often does not even accurately reflect whats happening in your game or season. For instance your goalie could be 10-2 with a fantastic GAA and SavePct and during the same old pre game skate they discuss how poorly he is playing. Instead of fixing this and addressing stale commentary they went ahead and recorded new corny commentary for their arcade 3 on 3. No five man celebration is inexcusable at this point. Lastly and a big one....scoring the winning goal of game 7 of the season and scoring the winning goal of game 7 of a playoff round feel and sound the same.

Goalie Masks - We can create and customize a mascot, arena, and uniforms but are still wearing many of the same, poorly designed masks for almost a decade. you can now create an expansion team and design everything for your new team but your goalie will skate out wearing another teams mask or a plain one. Also inexcusable.

Multiple Team Control - I assume you mean in franchise because in season mode you can, and I do control all the teams.

Community - This one puzzles me. On last gen consoles we had the ability to share rosters (No thanks to EA) and customize arena music and goal horns. 4 years into next gen and still not an option.

All the things above are achievable and most if not all have been a wish of the community for a long time and instead EA invest its time and what little money apparently, and gives us arcade 3 on 3. That speaks volumes.

[WeirdViper]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Presentation -
Goalie mask -
MULTIPLE team control -
Community downloads -

if i am totally honest out of what you mentioned the only one that really impacts me would be downloads

as far as commentary goes... im usually either playing with friends so we are talking not listening to the game, or im listening to music or sometimes watching a twitch streamer as i play

goalie masks... again minor for me, it be cool but nowhere near a top priority

the whole "control all teams" doesn't interest me at all, one thing I like with franchise is realism... and if you can just jump around and make trades as you want and control everyone... its not as fun

the idea of roster sharing would be amazing, I am insane about trying to have accurate rosters/players so if i could find someone else that does it too... and just be able to download their roster it would give me a lot more free time lol

I would love for them to put some time into be a pro... rather than just play games and progress your skills... give some type of story to it

obviously work on the scouting... something as simple as give us 3-4 scouts we can send out at a time rather than just one

work on the AI GM's so trading is harder, and they don't consistently run into cap issues within a couple years

I know a lot of people don't like them at all, but I would love injuries to play a bigger role... if you have a player get a serious leg injury... maybe it causes his speed to permanently drop a couple points. And the potential (although rare) of career ending injuries.

the ability to actually hire/fire staff... every other sports game has it... makes sense to have actual head coaches u sign, scouts, trainers, etc

and (if done right) some form of actual player personalities... an aging vet on a bad team demands a trade, a young top prospect not getting playing time refuses to sign (u could make all this an option so if people dont want it involved they can turn it off)

[13SM13]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

From what I've seen of 18, the menus are similar to 17. I think they are due for an upgrade.

Just a collection of relatively small details that add up. Between HUT and franchise I spend about half of my time in the menus if not more.
Navigating from point A to point B feels draining - there seems to be a lag between each screen and some times selecting an option can be unresponsive.

Other small details like selecting a team in the trade screen (holding R2 and scrolling with the left stick) or in other screens where teams are stacked alphabetically are just strange - a simple, efficient selection is all I want here.

These kind of things stack together - for example, to edit a team's shootout lineup I currently have to navigate through the menus to edit lines, select the team from the alphabetically sorted stacking, hold L2 and select "Extra Lines", then hold R2 and select "shootout".

Reorganizing the menus for efficiency would be a good addition to the foundation of the game.
Addition of some functional time-savers like MLB the Show's team selection wheel (where you can quickly jump between teams regardless of how they are sorted) would also be a welcome addition.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Yes, I don't care if they have to downgrade the aesthetics of their menus in favor of something they can optimize and isn't laggy or just plain slow.

[sfpxgalaxy]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

The interface is not even beautiful. It's slow because it's just badly coded.

[GoDucks1224]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Based on what I played in the EA Access trial, the menus seem a lot smoother this year. Quicker. Am I in the minority here? But the game is just too similar to NHL 17 (and 16) in my opinion. I bought the game every year till last year, and I'll be passing again. Even with Vegas being new and fresh. The same issues with the AI playing horizontal hockey far too often, not knowing how to play defense, AI offense being based around five hole one timers (seriously like 75% of the goals they score on me are five hole one timers). The AI just seems very one dimensional on both sides of the ice and the game has gotten stale.

[piffbernd]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Coop franchise mode, customization, full 31 team control in franchise mode. I really don't understand EA. They could have thing what Fifa, Madden or NBA live have and put in the other game.

[spoofrice11]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Customization & Options!

In NBA 2K, you can create teams using Logos you or other make. You can Re-align teams, play any game you want, even if you don't control the team, you can create draft classes, and if you want after you start your franchise, you can edit the players.

This NHL game feels so limited & shallow after playing NBA 2K.