NHL 10 Community Day

[Joborule]

http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/news/NHLCommunityDay

I'll be attending the NHL Community Day event taking place on May 8th to provide NHL 09 feedback and give them my comments on the upcoming NHL 10 game still in development along with others. I went to the Madden NFL 10 Community Day earlier this month, and it was a beneficial experience for both the developers and the community members since we can impact the final build of the game thanks to our feedback. So hopefully the same can be applied here.

If you have issues with the game (including your Chelios rating issue Dobbles) that you want me to bring up the developers. Post what you would like me to ask in this thread. I`m assembling a report on what I felt was wrong with the game this year and what has to be addressed for 10.

[Cliche]

It'd be great if they made faceoffs a minigame itself, and you can actually practice it as a mini-game elsewhere.

While the face-off ratings were ok, and a bit random at times, the lack of being able to shoot off the face off, or even push it ahead, takes away that fine granularity of realism that's inherent in the game.

[Staypuft]

The only two gripes I can think of off the top of my head are the effectiveness rate of stick lifts (I'm sure there are times when a person is actually strong on their stick, and it does not get lifted over their head)...actually also with stick lifts, the player that gets their stick lifted just stops skating...I'm not a huge fan of that. I'm ok with them losing immediate control of the puck, but they should at least keep skating.
Also, with diving, it's ok when the person actually gets the puck, but having your player stumble almost every time a stick contacts skate is frustrating, especially with a player 5 feet behind you, ruining your breakaway.

Thanks for the opportunity Jobo!

[jschick88]

A line brawl would super cool like ice hockey in Nintendo. Now that was the best.

[valo403]

I only really play BAP, and most of my issues are outside of actual gameplay. It amy be a bit late in the build for any of this, but here it is anyways:

- Start the BAP mode with a tryout period. I think the NCAA Football 09 model is great. You play a few high school playoff games is that one and are scouted. For NHL maybe set up a memorial cup style tournament for your player to play in. No need to include actual junior teams or players, just create a way to actually have your players ability judged.
- After the tryout games potentially add a few mini games in which to prove yourself. The current mini games would probably be sufficient. The better you do, the more your draft stock climbs.
- Have an actual draft. I think it would be pretty cool to have your BAP player sitting there on draft day waiting to see where they wind up. If you didn't do well in the tryouts/mini games maybe you slide late in the draft or even miss completely
- Assign star rookies to the NHL from the start. I guess a lot of top picks don't play in the NHL right away, but it would make sense for the top guys who are rated above the NHL roster players to start the season with the big club.
- Make the BAP contracts more realistic. Model them after the actual rookie salary structure to start, depending on your draft position. Once you hit free agency have the offers actually relate to your ability/stats. Currently you can put 180pts and get offers under 1mil.
- More interaction with the coaches and GM's. Add the ability to demand trades, ask to be moved to a different line, ask for the team to make moves etc. This mode has the potential to have an incredible amount of interaction that would make it incredibly fun to play outside of the games themselves.
- More transparency in regards to the other moves your team and other teams make. It would be nice to get an idea as to who your team is signing and for how much, who other teams are signing, and just generally what's going on in the trade and free agent market. Currently the information is hard to figure out and rather limited.
- International tournaments. This ones a bit of a reach as its asking the tournaments themselves to be created, but it would be cool if your BAP player could be selected for the Olympic team or asked to play at the worlds if you get bounced from the playoffs.
- Common sense needs to be applied to some of the computer decisions in terms of free agency and trades. I watched the Flames trade for Backstrom, giving them 2 top goalies for the majority of a season. I also had Kipper benched for the playoffs once in favor of a rookie with an 81 rating who was terrible every game.

I'm pretty clueless as to what is possible in these games, but they seem to be able to do anything so those are just some ideas. I'd essentially love to see the GM and coaching depth of Eastside Hockey Manager combined with the game play of the NHL series. If that were to happen the possibilities would be endless.

[Russic]

I love this series and my main wishes are that they'd implement features from the old days.

- I realize fully that there is a large push to get more focus online, but a season mode hasn't been implemented since 06. Can we please have it back?

- (edit) contracts that are reflective of point production or accomplishments rather than the player ratings. A player with an 88 rating will always be paid a huge amount compared to a player in the high 70's even if the player in the 70's scores 100+ points and the higher rates player scores nothing.

- I really liked the BAP mode, but the inability to control anything killed it for me. Anytime I found a great line to be on I'd just get shuffled off of it. I'd love to see a system where you could request to stay on a line or request a certain type of trade.

- I loved the cup celebration in 06 or 07 where the camera pans to each player and recaps their stats. Little touches like that really drove the experience home.

- speaking of stats, Im happy they brought back the goal display after a player scores, but could we please get assist displays as well for the goal scorer? I liked keeping track of upcoming point milestones. Speaking of those ....

- remember when a big deal was made of getting a first goal, or scoring 50 in a season? I think it would be great to see different animations for different career milestones.

- I actually adore the gameplay and would like to see very little variation from what we have now. Perhaps minor AI tweaks, but not much beyond that.

- I don't know what wonderful crack the makers of skate 2 got into when they developed their replay editor, but I'd love to see a complex replay editor like that. Don't get me wrong, they behave somewhat similarly but skate has the ability to do on-the-fly zooms and camera changes. Very slick if you take the time to learn it.

Thanks for doing this Jobo, I'll write more if I think of it. In summary i'm actually concerned the gameplay will change too much. I'd rather they kept most if it the same and just focused on presentation.

I'll personally provide you a pie stuffed with gold coins if you comment on twitter while you're over there.

[jar_e]

Add goalie interference and 4 minute minors for high sticking if blood.

[browna]

Some good ideas here, I don't usually go into all modes to see some of things Russic says used to be in there, but a lot of his ideas to bring back are good.

All in all, better visual crowd dynamics are....after all these years of playing hockey, even the more advanced EA series, between periods or when you see replays, you still have multiple duplicate people in the crowd, different colored shirts.

Even moreso, when goals are scored, the crowd still acts no differently...one guy stands and claps, 3 rows up, so does another, while many clap in the seats (just as they do during intermissions)....some guys wearing the team's jersey that score sits motionless, while beside him the guy wearing the jersey of the team gets scored on, stands and claps...makes no sense.

[CMPunk]

I want the goalies to have their custom masks...or be able to create your own goalie mask

Double Minors would be nice as well as having 5 minute majors handed out during EASHL games

[iggypop]

Ah man, I just wrote a long response and when I clicked Submit it kicked me out. Stupid not being on your own comp. Whatever, here goes again:

I only play online, as I have never got into BAP, so this critic only pertains to online play.

-The wrap around-far post shot is too effective. If you need a goal, this is the play; time and time again you will score off this play. And along with that comes guys who abuse it. Often you play a guy who literally use this play on every rush, and no matter what you do, over an entire game they are going to get a few of them to go in. It's so frustrating, but there’s relatively little you can do about it.

-Fights don't happen enough, and I think it’s due to people not realizing you want to fight. They need to bring back a "hit O to fight" or something like that, as trying to detect someone slashing somewhere on the ice is often too hard.

-Like browna said the crowd needs to improve. I especially think that there needs to be way less retro jerseys in the crowd. When they flash to the crowd, there is often 6-7 guys wearing retro within a single section. This just isn't realistic and it has always bugged me

-The loading (blank ice) screens need to improve! When you’re in the middle of playing and it goes to a loading screen, all of a sudden the benches are empty and there is no one on the ice? This makes no sense. Maybe it isn't realistic to have players still skating around, but at least fill the bench’s and even have a still image of players lining up for the draw. Maybe I'm just getting picky, but this has always been my biggest pet peeves of NHL year after year

-The poke check is too effective. Once you play this game enough, you realize that if you want to be good at D all you need to do is mash on the stick check, and some guys mash on it like it's going out of style. To deter this, stepping up and taking the body needs to be more rewarding. Personally I love stepping up and hitting, but late in a close game, you have to go with works, and that is the far too effective lame poke-check.

-Shoot-out finishes have no emotion. If you win or lose in a shoot-out, you really don't care. Maybe this relates back to the crowd. Either way, this needs to improve as shoot-outs are very exciting in real life, but so boring in this game.

-Bring back the 5 minute majors for boarding! Taking this penalty was easily the most exciting/funny thing about this game.

That's all I can think of; and that folks is my longest post ever on CP.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

I want the goalies to have their custom masks

I believe the only reason they dont have custom masks is because the mask painters are claiming they own the rights to the design and that they should be compensated for it being in the game.

[Lucifer]

When the Flames make the playoffs in the game, they should have the entire crowd wear red, except for the fans for the other teams.

They should also have the Stanley Cup playoff logo on the ice, as well as Stanley Cup final patches for the jerseys. Those are two small things that bugged me. Oh yeah, and make the Stanley Cup celebration a bit more better. They also need to bring back the raising of banners to the rafters at the start of each new season for the team that won the Stanley Cup. They don't do this in the PS3 version of NHL '08 or NHL '09.

[InSutterWeTrust]

Bring the coaches and assistant coaches into the game, dont just use some made up looking guy behind the bench. In Madden they have most of the NFL coaches, except for a couple, but you have the option at the end of the season of firing your coaches and coordinators and hire available coaches. I would love to see that option brought into NHL 10.

Maybe update some of the areans, The saddledome updated our jumbotron what 2-3 years ago? and they still have us using the old one.

A couple years ago they had broken sticks, I wouldnt mind that bring brought back.

Have the option to create a draft when you create a dynasty.

[koop]

Fantasy draft.

[Swayze11]

Id like to see goalie interference but I could see some major issues with putting this in. By issues I mean bugs or cheats.

[Human Torch]

For EASHL:

Team practice mode.

Hear other team's voice chat with option to mute.

[lambeburger]

Originally Posted by jar_e

Add goalie interference and 4 minute minors for high sticking if blood.

When I used to play the NHL 2K series, being able to Ville Nieminen the opposing goalie was my favorite part of the game. That's the only thing i miss about it.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by browna

Some good ideas here, I don't usually go into all modes to see some of things Russic says used to be in there, but a lot of his ideas to bring back are good.

All in all, better visual crowd dynamics are....after all these years of playing hockey, even the more advanced EA series, between periods or when you see replays, you still have multiple duplicate people in the crowd, different colored shirts.

Even moreso, when goals are scored, the crowd still acts no differently...one guy stands and claps, 3 rows up, so does another, while many clap in the seats (just as they do during intermissions)....some guys wearing the team's jersey that score sits motionless, while beside him the guy wearing the jersey of the team gets scored on, stands and claps...makes no sense.

+1

It does bug me that when you score a big goal the crowd more or less doesn't react any differently.

I can't believe I forgot about ps3 custom soundtracks. I 100% EXPECT it to be in there, but dammit I want confirmation!

[Igottago]

-How about a proper fighting system? The fighting was hysterical but atrocious in 09. Its never really been done right.

- Playoff mode - why did they ever get rid of this? I used to love having a best of 7 battle against my brother or friends without having to go through a season or dynasty. This should be an essential mode.

Overall, the game is sweet but its time to bring more dynamic into presentation and in atmosphere (as some have metioned above). Little things can go a long way. Different arenas should feel different, crowds should be more reactive to certain situations, playoffs should feel different than regular seasons. Even something as simple as having the stanley cup patch on jerseys in the finals.

It would be great (although Im not sure if possible) if the game could recognize key events of a season and the commentators could talk about those points, giving some rivalry games and whatnot a bit more of a different feeling than the standard game.

-And if you're going to have classic jerseys, have classic jerseys! Why no 1989 style vintage Flames jersey? 2k used to have pretty much every jersey in the book covered.

[FurnaceFace]

I play dynasty mode on the PC for the most part so not sure if this is consistent across the board but:

- Contracts
- I hate being limited to 3 years max. There should be more variables for signing a player longer term
- Allow structured contracts for variable pay from one year to the next like in real life.
- There doesn't seem to be consideration for the age of the player in the contract or skill rating. For example I'm around 2015 and Iginla is late 30s and his rating is still up near 90 and to sign him it's 12m a season or something similar. For a guy in the twilight of his career that seems out of whack.
- There should be some more interaction from the player/agent when you submit the contract request. They should be able to come back with a counter offer if they don't like it. In Football Manager the player will indicate they are unhappy with the $ or term which gives you something to go on.
- If the player has sat in Free Agent land for half the season they should be more willing to pull a Sundin and sign for the back half of the year and their cap hit should reflect this. I've seen players like Thornton of Crosby sit for an entire year because they want a 13m salary. Their demands for a one year deal should reduce as the season wears on.

Trading
- Let me see the total salaries for each team. It bothers me when I want to trade with a team and I only get back a message saying that will put your team, or the other team over the cap. The message should be "trading that player puts you over the cap by x" or "the other team has rejected your trade because that puts them x over the cap". Guess I'm lazy and don't want to do math.
- Build up some "suspense" for the trade by having to submit the trade offer and then wait a virtual day or so for an email to come back. Football Manager works this way and it adds something.
- Another "this is how Football Manager does it" comment: have the option to setup the trade offer as negotiable or final offer. so it's not just so binary. Also be able to inquire about a player and receive an email back with what the other team would want in return.

Off season
- I would need to confirm this but I recall the computer controlled teams still follow the salary cap, which they shouldn't, so trades are more difficult in the off season. All teams should be able to go over the cap in the off season, they would just need to trim come the season opener.


That's it for now.

EDIT: One more thing which drives me up the bend. Attendance. I've been playing as The Kings, and have been in the playoffs, cup final, and won the cup the last three years however my attendance is less than Quad Cities. I would think the attendance should adjust depending on how the team plays.

thanks.