NHL 16 Video - EASHL Beta Final Impressions

[RaychelSnr]

While the NHL 16 beta has been over for about a week now, I wanted to take one more look back at the return of EASHL and provide some more thoughts on how it feels at this point. Glenn and Jayson did great work talking about their thoughts on the beta while it was going on so I tried to steer clear of many of their points. That being said, I wanted to provide a couple more positives and negatives that stood out to me after combing through hours of footage.

If you can't see the video above, click here.

[The Visualizer]

Nice work on the video Chase

I agree with pretty much everything you mentioned. The only thing I somewhat disagree with is your opinion on how well EASHL players should be able to handle passes. I actually like some of the "randomness" of not being able to receive some passes. I think maybe the opinions against this are primarily due to a lot of us being conditioned to expect to make the same passes without issue that we have made in past NHL games. I like the fact there seems to be a little randomness even on simple passes as that kind of thing happens from time to time even to world class players.

Your other points were right on the mark about the inconsistency of being able to cleanly "intercept" hard shots more frequently then you can receive good passes, this def needs to be addressed and if so it will help out the play in front of the net that you spoke about. The last part of this particular topic you talked about may be the most disappointing to me with regards to difficulty picking up loose pucks since they are advertising it as a feature with "seamless puck pickups". I played about 25 games of the beta and I thought the game took a noticeable step back in this area as your visual evidence showed with players skating around pucks at a standstill and not reaching to pick them up. Hopefully this is addressed sooner than later as the overall gameplay in EASHL is much improved IMO.

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Visualizer

Nice work on the video Chase I agree with pretty much everything you mentioned. The only thing I somewhat disagree with is your opinion on how well EASHL players should be able to handle passes. I actually like some of the "randomness" of not being able to receive some passes. I think maybe the opinions against this are primarily due to a lot of us being conditioned to expect to make the same passes without issue that we have made in past NHL games. I like the fact there seems to be a little randomness even on simple passes as that kind of thing happens from time to time even to world class players. Your other points were right on the mark about the inconsistency of being able to cleanly "intercept" hard shots more frequently then you can receive good passes, this def needs to be addressed and if so it will help out the play in front of the net that you spoke about. The last part of this particular topic you talked about may be the most disappointing to me with regards to difficulty picking up loose pucks since they are advertising it as a feature with "seamless puck pickups". I played about 25 games of the beta and I thought the game took a noticeable step back in this area as your visual evidence showed with players skating around pucks at a standstill and not reaching to pick them up. Hopefully this is addressed sooner than later as the overall gameplay in EASHL is much improved IMO.

I think there is certainly a case for random non-pickups on passes here and there still. I think what I noticed though was that it happened more on standard ones going up the ice more than anything else. Now, maybe that's because those are the passes you make the most or because people are skating away from the puck up the ice, but it was just an observation. Either way, the bigger point was the inconsistency between the hard shots being picked up vs. basic passes, which you touched on in your second paragraph.

Thanks for the feedback!

[HypoLuxa13]

Good commentary, helps to further explain the experience for those of us who didn't get into the Beta.

[joshtree14]

It should be the opposite. Blasts from the point should be deflecting of sticks and slow passes should be picked up

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by joshtree14

It should be the opposite. Blasts from the point should be deflecting of sticks and slow passes should be picked up

Yeah I think that's a fair.

Also, looking at the footage there is a case to be made that even in general shots from the point are hitting bodies and dying rather than being a bit more alive. Diving and just getting in front of shots as a defender maybe doesn't have lots of "unlucky" drawbacks based on how the puck usually reacts when hitting or grazing off a player.

[Diehardfan]

What I'm still not seeing is the proper defensive coverage. Next time you watch a real game, look and see how the two defensemen communicate....it's always one chases the puck and the other covers the front of the net.I'm still seeing the front of the net left unattended a lot of the time.