[Al_Tito13]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

Played my first game with these in my Sharks franchise. It was Opening night against the Ducks. I'm using 10 minute periods and the CPU difficulty at 0. I won 3-2. It was an absolutely awesome game. There was nothing cheese at all and not one instance of the CPU zipping the puck around crazily or anything else wonky. I'm not sure if that's the sliders or not, but it felt good. I had one great goal and two flukey goals that were something you could see in hockey from time to time. They didn't feel staged or any of that, just natural. The first goal I took a shot with Meier from the slot but Getzlaf was right on him so it was actually pretty decent defense. He put stick on stick but the puck took a weird direction and fluttered up and just got over Gibson's blocker side shoulder. It was super cool and just one of those "it's hockey" type goals. The second goal I scored was also with Meier. This was a play I just got by the defense with Thornton and I passed one back door for a tap in. Henrique was left covering Meier so not what you'd want if your the Ducks. The third goal I took a shot that was stopped by Gibson and Josh Manson was attempting to kick the puck to his stick to clear the rebound. Karlsson put his stick in between Manson's skate and blade of his stick which deflected it in the net. All of those times where pucks in those situations may go right through a stick, didn't happen. Pretty sweet to see. I'm thinking a lot of the fortunate type goals I had in the game are truly due to the sliders and fact that EA actually focused on better stick and body contact with the puck. As for stats I really wish I would have looked at the final ones. Both teams were in the 71% range for passing accuracy. Shots were about high 20's to low 30's. It's actually amazing, the first 6 minutes of the game there were no shots for either team. It was due to the sloppiness and also the pressure the CPU and myself applied. I don't think I've ever seen that in an NHL game where there are no shots at all for that long. I only have three things I saw that could possibly be looked at after one game. First is big hits. There were a ton of those. This may just be the game, but I would say there were about 10 instances where guys got absolutely tattooed. Second, is possibly think about making puck control a little bit better. I thought at times guys like Perry and Silfverberg lost the puck just a bit too easily when stick handling. I didn't check their rating for that category though so possibly it's low and that's why. This should not be drastic though, only a tick here or there if it's decided to be done. It's in no way a severe issue at all. The last suggestion is the board effect for guys who are picking up the puck or just running into it themselves. There were a few times where it seemed a tad too much. Again, not severe, it'd just be a tick or two. Overall though a very good first game. I'm going to mow the lawn and then go right back to playing game two in LA. Super fun though and very impressed with this game. Hopefully that mindset sticks for me. I'm legitimately thinking about purchasing this on Day 1 for the first time since NHL 14.

Great review! Also good to see you're loving the game with the sliders.

As for your concerns, I would suggest you to try (and for anybody with similar ones):
- Hitting Power lowered to 40 (5 clicks down)
- Puck Control increased to 5 (5 clicks up)
- both Board Effect sliders lowered to 15 (5 clicks down)

Hope you'll continue to enjoy the game as much!