First let me start by saying, I want this to be a constructive and positive thread... Plenty of other threads to bash EA around... Anyone on Operation Sports is welcome to contribute if they wish to.
I'm really enjoying my time with NHL20 this year and if this guide can turn only one pessimist around, then I'll be happy, lol !
Ok, now time for the nitty, gritty... One of my pet peeve of EA's NHL throughout the years have been the ''under the hood'' stuff happening while playing offline. The feel of something scripted... Especially when turning to All-Star and Superstar levels to have a better challenge... I truly want a challenge, but not at the price of feeling cheated. Have the feeling of no matter what I do, there’s something under that hood that will make me lose or throw my controller across the room, lol !
With tweaking and tinkering time and time again, I was able to get the game I've always wanted. Well very close to it...
SLIDER SETS
I strongly suggest a good slider set. Plenty of good ones on the slider page, *cough* there's even one by me *cough*, lol ! If you love the game out of the box, good for you, but it's not for me... Not even close... I really started loving the game once I found the best setup possible...
STRATEGIES
This one is very important... The game plays way better once you adjust strategies before a game, before a season... I also advise in my set to put ''cpu strategy adjustment” at 0 and everything that can make the ''under the hood'' stuff disappear... I strongly suggest to do this for both teams in play now or for every team in season mode. For the ones that don't know, you can control each team before the start of a season.
Here are my suggestion...
- Go into EDIT LINE AND STRATEGIES
Offensive Lines:
- Move the carry/dump by a few clicks to the right. (This will make the AI dump the puck a bit more)
- in the cycle/shoot slider, move this all the way to the right 10 out of 10 for every line (The AI is pass happy once in the zone, and this helps them shoot more.)
Defensive Pairing:
- in the hold/pinch slider, put it at 9 out of 10. The AI will pinch more and be more aggressive.
- Again put the Cycle/Shoot slider all the way to the right.
Team Strategies:
Suggested but you can leave as is. I tried these suggested by HipNotiiC_x and it played well...
- Forecheck: Weak side lock
- Trap/Forecheck slider: 4 out of 6
- Offensive Pressure: Standard
- Defensive Pressure: Contain Puck
You can leave the other settings as is for each team to get more diversified play.
A great guide on Strategies can be found here:
a tactics strategy guide for nhl 20
BE A PRO
I use to love that mode..... 5 years ago.... Since then, it's pretty much the same and EA hasn’t put much effort into this, I grew tired of it.
But here's a very cool twist to that mode. Make yourself a player and put him on your team of choice. You can play him whenever you want and I also suggest player lock. You'll get way better realistic stats and ice time, like it's suppose to be
You want to be on that wave of the powerplay ? Be my guess, you are the coach, the GM and the owner, lol ! You won't finish the game with 12 hits, 9 shots and 29 minutes of ice time !
For people who don't know, you also have coach feedback in the pause menu, even when you don’t play Be a pro. If you play position lock, it gives a pretty good idea what you're doing right and what you're doing not so great at, lol !
KEEPING IT FRESH
I play a season with the Rangers now. I often play position lock on LW and never ask for a pass, it's more realistic and it plays better. But sometimes I feel like controlling the whole team... In another game, I feel like I should play Dmen.
That way it keeps the game fresh and interesting
If you love hockey and put a few ideas in this guide to the test, it might do the job for you. At least it has done wonders for me
I'm not in big on Franchise mode, so any suggestions or advise if you wanna contribute is welcomed.
Thanks for reading and feel free to add your 2 cents !
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PernellKarl076 Slider Set for NHL 20