EA Sports NHL 17

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

I'm one of the best players in the world in case you were wondering.

We weren't, but thanks for letting us know, like, ten times.

Anyway. As of yesterday, I'm updating my "gameplay gripes" list:

1. This is infuriating - when the goalie stops the puck on his pads, your AI d-man goes back and tries to pick it up, and pokes it into your own net. This happens all the time. It's happened to me at least a dozen times. This absolutely must be patched.
2. There are still some easy ways to score. It's somewhat too easy to just skate down the wing and hammer a slapshot from a terrible angle and have it leak through the goalie. I played a guy on the weekend who tried this on every rush.
3. Similarly, skating to below the circle and cutting across the net is an insta-goal. This isn't as bad because it's pretty easy to defend as long as you don't accidentally poke check it into your own net, but it shouldn't be an auto-goal. The goalie should at least stop them sometimes.
4. Really bugs me how on won offensive zone draws, the opposition's wingers can usually get to your d-man before he has time to do much of anything with the puck. That's nowhere near realistic.
5. Faceoffs - maybe this is just because I'm nowhere near as good as Calgaryblood at this game, so correct me if there's some way to deal with this... but is there an effective counter for people who just tie up every single faceoff? I end up playing games where I win the first few draws, the other guy realizes "okay, this guy isn't useless at faceoffs" and he just ties up every single one. I then end up having to respond in kind or I'll lose them all.
6. Passing is still reliably terrible. I frequently try to pass to one person, I'm pointing the damn stick right at them and it's the obvious pass (guy's wide open in front) and the AI will assume I'm trying to go to the point or something. Really obnoxious. I'd be okay if guys just missed passes occasionally, though.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

We weren't, but thanks for letting us know, like, ten times.

Anyway. As of yesterday, I'm updating my "gameplay gripes" list:

1. This is infuriating - when the goalie stops the puck on his pads, your AI d-man goes back and tries to pick it up, and pokes it into your own net. This happens all the time. It's happened to me at least a dozen times. This absolutely must be patched.
2. There are still some easy ways to score. It's somewhat too easy to just skate down the wing and hammer a slapshot from a terrible angle and have it leak through the goalie. I played a guy on the weekend who tried this on every rush.
3. Similarly, skating to below the circle and cutting across the net is an insta-goal. This isn't as bad because it's pretty easy to defend as long as you don't accidentally poke check it into your own net, but it shouldn't be an auto-goal. The goalie should at least stop them sometimes.
4. Really bugs me how on won offensive zone draws, the opposition's wingers can usually get to your d-man before he has time to do much of anything with the puck. That's nowhere near realistic.
5. Faceoffs - maybe this is just because I'm nowhere near as good as Calgaryblood at this game, so correct me if there's some way to deal with this... but is there an effective counter for people who just tie up every single faceoff? I end up playing games where I win the first few draws, the other guy realizes "okay, this guy isn't useless at faceoffs" and he just ties up every single one. I then end up having to respond in kind or I'll lose them all.
6. Passing is still reliably terrible. I frequently try to pass to one person, I'm pointing the damn stick right at them and it's the obvious pass (guy's wide open in front) and the AI will assume I'm trying to go to the point or something. Really obnoxious. I'd be okay if guys just missed passes occasionally, though.

you may want to turn down/off pass assist to see if that helps.

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

[B]5. Faceoffs - maybe this is just because I'm nowhere near as good as Calgaryblood at this game, so correct me if there's some way to deal with this... but is there an effective counter for people who just tie up every single faceoff? I end up playing games where I win the first few draws, the other guy realizes "okay, this guy isn't useless at faceoffs" and he just ties up every single one. I then end up having to respond in kind or I'll lose them all.

Backhand > Stick Lift... Tie up > Backhand... Forehand > Tie up... Stick lift > Forehand

I generally go backhand, and if I see them on their forehand, I"ll stick lift, and if they go backhand, I'll push up. That normally wins ~80% of my draws.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Yeah, when multiple people keep telling me to learn the skill stick because It's better it gets kind of annoying. I don't need to learn a new style, I'm one of the best players in the world in case you were wondering.

[ClubFlames]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Gripes list

You need to try Hybrid controls and that should solve all your problems. You will instantly become one of the best players in the world. Who knows, maybe EA will include you as a Legend in the game next year.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

If he doesn't make that his avatar he's missing a grand opportunity.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

I was thinking more along the lines of Kevin Lowe's, "So I think I know a thing or two about winning." If someone could photoshop Kevin Lowe's face on that, it'd be perfect for puckluck.

[Finny61]

It's so bad - LUCAS

[AcGold]

It's the blendspaces that make the game really bad. The animations do not connect fluidly and that's the purpose of blendspaces. Everything else is secondary to that imo, the game just looks janky when in motion.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by AcGold

It's the blendspaces that make the game really bad. The animations do not connect fluidly and that's the purpose of blendspaces. Everything else is secondary to that imo, the game just looks janky when in motion.

Are you playing on PC? I didn't know it was released there.

[The Coppernian One]

The main modes that I play are Be A Pro and Franchise (Be A GM). Still so many things left unfixed.

I enjoy the gameplay for the most part. Still have issues with some of the coaching and assessment (I'm the lone defender back on a 2-1 and I'm losing "experience" because of an odd-man rush?). In Franchise mode I find it ludicrous that the owner has a profit of $43 million an I can't get a couple hundred thousand to make arena upgrades. The whole arena budget is just gimmicky.

My biggest beef right now is related to the draft. How has an arena budget been added and the scouting system is still left as is? The whole scouting bit is ridiculous. Why can we not have a team of scouts that we can invest in instead of one guy that covers the planet.

Not that it matters because the game crashes to the main Xbox One home screen whenever I try to do the draft anyway. It will autodraft, but crashes every single time in manual. Anyone else finding this? Looks like a number of people online (both XBone and PS4) have this going on but I haven't found any solutions.

[Yamer]

I think the NHL series has run into a wall, and it's clear the developers do not have a clear vision of what the games should be. It's been a long time coming, but this is the year they have clearly demonstrated that their thinking is about 5 steps ahead of their feet.

Everything just feels so...unpolished. From the front end, to the features, to the gameplay. It just feels like a beta game.

On the one hand it's clear they want to strive for realism, but given their investment into the base physics of the game and their roadblock with AI it feels like 2 games mashed into one. This is about the 5th or 6th year in a row where it is clear they have invested absolutely nothing into the artificial intelligence.

Handling the puck is an adventure because they don't know what they want to do with the physics. At one time a tap in the left direction makes the player step left, yet in another under pretty much the same circumstances the player just holds his stick to the left and it's an easy knock-away for the CPU. The loose puck thing is so frustrating. If I am within 2-3 feet of any player it is an automatic block, poke-away, or turnover. I need at least 5 feet of clearance around my player to make a play. And if the puck is knocked loose near a CPU player there is no way I'm coming away with it. Puck detection and pick-up is atrocious.

And what the hell is vision control? I thought it was to reorient your player towards the puck/play, but it's clearly just the "skate backwards" button.

And yet again the challenge of single player comes in the form of "what you can do vs. what the CPU decides it wants to at any given time". The physics aren't consistent, and the CPU never pays for its mistakes. You're reduced to nutting the CPU through sliders to level the playing field and make it realistic for both sides, at which point the poor AI for the CPU can't be compensated by disparate programming and the "challenge" is gone.

The additions to Franchise mode are neat for about 5 minutes, until you realize they have done nothing to improve the core of the mode. It's the exact same game as last year, only with ticket prices and relocation. And relocation is only interesting if you give us a robust customization experience. NHL 17 is bare bones at best.

Just like last year, I'll play this game when I'm bored, but I'm not aching to get home and invest in the EA NHL experience. The best thing they can do, and something they should have done after the NHL 15 debacle, was shut it down for a year or two, wipe the team clean, and rebuild.

It's too bad EA has taken the Oiler approach to building a franchise.

[Yamer]

While I'm whining:

Board Play: get rid of it till you figure out how it works. If I'm more than at a 90 degree angle to the boards, you should not be able to pin me. This has been broken forever.

Net Front Battles: a fancy gimmick for interference. Take it out. It's dumb, and it has been introduced poorly.

Interference: No more finishing your check. All called for interference.

Player Switching: This has broken since NHL 15. I would love to know the logic behind the player switching. Every time I switch player on defence it seems to randomly switch to whoever. It should be the player closest to the play, as it was before next-gen. Fix it.

Scouting: Seriously, what is the point of even having it? It's useless as is.

Ferland: Sour grapes, eh there Vancouver? His name is Furr-lend, not Fair-land. You had it right for 2 years. Take your lumps like grown ups.

Sorry CP, just needed to vent. I wouldn't spew so much if I didn't care and see the potential that is just sitting there.

[calgaryblood]

I'm returning this piece of garbage game and I guess the Xbox as well as this is pretty much the only game I played.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

I'm returning this piece of garbage game and I guess the Xbox as well as this is pretty much the only game I played.

Why is it the best players in the world always leave the game early.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

New annoyance: why are the replays of disallowed / under review goals unskippable? They take at least 60 seconds to get through and no one wants to watch that super slow mo crap. I had three in one period yesterday and it was the most frustrating thing ever.

[Iceman57]

I'm loving this game and believe it to be a thousands times better then 16, lol. There are of course still some game play issues in EASHL but when you're having fun playing with friends, the issues can for the most part be overlooked. I only started playing HUT in the last few weeks that i owned NHL 16 but I'm having a lot of fun with it in 17 as well. Playing against either the comp or online is fun, winning currency to use to bid on players is a blast but by far the best is the new Draft Champions mode. To be able to play with the likes of MacInnis, Bossy, Clark or even Bure (so many breakaways) in a quick mini four game tournament is just the best. I just started a Franchise mode and so far its been super cool. Sure its a gimmick but setting ticket, food and parking prices takes me back to when i used to play Madden. Assigning promotional nights and then having the game actually show you a Gio bobble head, i think is pretty dam cool. Every game is going to have its flaws sure but i feel NHL 17 gives you the ability with game play sliders to control almost everything and fine tune the experience to the way you want to play the game. I'm super happy with the improvements this iteration of the game has made and probably the most important for me is I'm having a blast playing the game.

[AcGold]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Are you playing on PC? I didn't know it was released there.

Do you know what a blendspace is? After working with them I'm now certain it's why these NHL games suck, the blendspaces create janky animation transitions. I mean... go ahead and argue that if you can or if you just want to cook up some lazy rhetorical jab that works too.

Have I played the game? Yes. Did I buy it? Hell no.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

New annoyance: why are the replays of disallowed / under review goals unskippable? They take at least 60 seconds to get through and no one wants to watch that super slow mo crap. I had three in one period yesterday and it was the most frustrating thing ever.

It's been like this since the disallowed goals were brought in but yes very annoying.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by AcGold

Do you know what a blendspace is? After working with them I'm now certain it's why these NHL games suck, the blendspaces create janky animation transitions. I mean... go ahead and argue that if you can or if you just want to cook up some lazy rhetorical jab that works too.

Have I played the game? Yes. Did I buy it? Hell no.

Side note you forgot to add and incorrectly use "obtuse, dismissive and logic" in that paragraph.

You are quite easily the most condescending and ignorant poster on this board. I know what blendspacing is I asked you a simple question because I wanted to know if it was on PC. Where did I ask or refer to belndspacing in my response? All you did was took my simple question and used it as a reason to attack me like a child.

Do us all a favour and grow up; your consistent "tall tales" and know it all attitude is wearing thin. It might be time to look in the mirror.

Originally Posted by AcGold

You take lessons from the ball and chain nagging league?

That was a needed comment to a question. You realize that asking what format you play the game on is not nagging right? Again just an example of you being a child.