NHL 15 Thread

[Red John]

Haha this is going to be the biggest PR disaster ever for Ea sports.

Its as if they're actually trying to see how bad they can make a game on purpose and still be profitable.

No wonder they were voted the worst company in America two years in a row.

[Hockeyguy15]

I'll buy it but only because I don't really play EASHL or Connected GM.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Red John

Haha this is going to be the biggest PR disaster ever for Ea sports.

Its as if they're actually trying to see how bad they can make a game on purpose and still be profitable.

No wonder they were voted the worst company in America two years in a row.

They were voted the worst company in America two years in a row because there is a large segment of the population who's whininess is only surpassed by their inability to follow current events and recognize real problems.

[Diemenz]

^ well put.

My favorite game is NHL. This change to EASHL will make me return my preorder. I think it is a major mistake for EAs team to make this decision (if it is indeed removed) but I'm still going to buy FIFA and battlefield.

My only worry is that NHL is already EAs lowest selling current sports franchise (correct me if I'm wrong as tiger woods or some fishing game might be lower), this type of PR and strong opposition isn't going to help development money for NHL 16.

[bubbsy]

confirmed.... eahl not in game, otp not either but will be patched in.

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news/201...=1408485281283

here are the game modes that will be available on the next gen versions:

• Be A Pro
• Be A GM
• Online Versus
• Hockey Ultimate Team
• NHL Moments Live

ummm, where's season mode? i used to like simulating the nhl season when the flames were an actual competitive league (updating other rosters as trades, etc, were taking place in the real world). i guess i wouldn't this year with the flames likely sucking again, so jumping right into be a gm

[Kipper is King]

Hmmm, I'm a little surprised that they can patch in OTP, but not EASHL. Even if there's no new features, having set teams in EASHL is nice.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Red John

Haha this is going to be the biggest PR disaster ever for Ea sports.

Its as if they're actually trying to see how bad they can make a game on purpose and still be profitable.

No wonder they were voted the worst company in America two years in a row.

Over-dramatic much?

[Diemenz]

This game has become a no reason to buy for me with this news.

OTP is pretty useless and the fact that it's "patched in" and the NHL series has a history of patching issues 3-4 months after they are apparent scares me about a release date for OTP.

Upside is my preorder is super easy to return/exchange for destiny. I'll miss the Fata crew however.

[Diemenz]

Fully read EAs press release and was hoping someone could explain for me something.

How can the gameplay on OTP where normally 12 players connect to a single host and those players are spread thoughout the world be ok enough to add to the game. However the gameplay on EASHL when normally 4-8 players connect to a host in their geographic location and in most cases those players are in the same geographic location has gameplay not good enough to be released. I'm not being facetious I'm asking a real question.

[dobbles]

hey, does that mean multiplayer gm mode is out? or is that just counted in the gm mode section? i have never played it but me and a buddy were wanting to do it on the next gen when we were both on the same platform.

[secol]

otp will be stupid without EASHL because it will be actual teams. ugh.....i'm probably going to skip on nhl on ps4, not happy with ea right now. sucks to be us cause there is no alternative lol,

[Human Torch]

Q&A

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/10149094.page

[Chill Cosby]

Why wouldn't the people who wanted to play EASHL and only EASHL just but it on the Xbox/PS3?

Seems like a pretty simple solution if that's all you play the game for.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Fully read EAs press release and was hoping someone could explain for me something.

How can the gameplay on OTP where normally 12 players connect to a single host and those players are spread thoughout the world be ok enough to add to the game. However the gameplay on EASHL when normally 4-8 players connect to a host in their geographic location and in most cases those players are in the same geographic location has gameplay not good enough to be released. I'm not being facetious I'm asking a real question.

Can't speak for the developers, but EASHL is a whole game mode in itself that stores a lot of data, with each user having unique player information that's stored on the server. Same deal with the club information. There's more work that has to be done creating EASHL than getting OTP in since most of the information needed to set up a game is already on hand.

[Red John]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Over-dramatic much?

Not really.

This has been the worst release so far for the NHL series.

EA pretty much delayed releasing any gameplay videos as long as possible because they knew they hadn't improved anything.

Then the whole EASHL thing. EA is famous for randomly removing things from the game just to introduce them as "new" features in later games but removing EASHL is huge - that's a pretty big demographic of NHL series buyers.

The fact that EA kept quiet about it so long was suspicious and even kept bar-down from releasing vids of NHL players playing the game.

They were voted worst company in the country for a reason, to suddenly assume that everyone is just "whiny" is hilarious but par for the course for the EA fanboys on here.

Look some people are still going to enjoy the new game and that's fine, but to blindly defend EA and pretend they're doing a great job is just silly.

If 2K sports was smart they'd go on twitter today and announce they're developing a hockey game for next year. EA NHL series is ripe for the picking.

[Chill Cosby]

Originally Posted by Red John

Not really.

This has been the worst release so far for the NHL series.

EA pretty much delayed releasing any gameplay videos as long as possible because they knew they hadn't improved anything.

Then the whole EASHL thing. EA is famous for randomly removing things from the game just to introduce them as "new" features in later games but removing EASHL is huge - that's a pretty big demographic of NHL series buyers.

The fact that EA kept quiet about it so long was suspicious and even kept bar-down from releasing vids of NHL players playing the game.

They were voted worst company in the country for a reason, to suddenly assume that everyone is just "whiny" is hilarious but par for the course for the EA fanboys on here.

Look some people are still going to enjoy the new game and that's fine, but to blindly defend EA and pretend they're doing a great job is just silly.

If 2K sports was smart they'd go on twitter today and announce they're developing a hockey game for next year. EA NHL series is ripe for the picking.

Seriously, why would you enter this thread if you hate EA and don't enjoy the NHL series?

What a waste of your time. Life doesn't go on forever you know, spend your time on something you enjoy.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Red John

Not really.

This has been the worst release so far for the NHL series.

EA pretty much delayed releasing any gameplay videos as long as possible because they knew they hadn't improved anything.

Then the whole EASHL thing. EA is famous for randomly removing things from the game just to introduce them as "new" features in later games but removing EASHL is huge - that's a pretty big demographic of NHL series buyers.

The fact that EA kept quiet about it so long was suspicious and even kept bar-down from releasing vids of NHL players playing the game.

They were voted worst company in the country for a reason, to suddenly assume that everyone is just "whiny" is hilarious but par for the course for the EA fanboys on here.

Look some people are still going to enjoy the new game and that's fine, but to blindly defend EA and pretend they're doing a great job is just silly.

If 2K sports was smart they'd go on twitter today and announce they're developing a hockey game for next year. EA NHL series is ripe for the picking.

Because internet goofballs are idiots?

2K is smart - they don't make NHL games.

EA's NHL series is consistently rated highly and consistently sells well. Do people not remember what happened to the 2K series at the beginning of last generation? There's a reason why they stopped making games. They couldn't invest enough money into it to make a good game and have it still turn a profit. So they cut back production values, and the games ended up being awful and then the line was officially canceled.

Your post neglects the entire business side of games industry, and has been reiterated numerous times by a number of equally ill-informed people who very simply don't understand game development.

Don't like the game, don't buy it. Face the reality that no other company is willing to do what EA does for hockey fans though. Why? Because the financials just don't add up.

[Red John]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

Seriously, why would you enter this thread if you hate EA and don't enjoy the NHL series?

What a waste of your time. Life doesn't go on forever you know, spend your time on something you enjoy.

You're right, we should never criticize anything that we care about.

Have purchased every EA game since NHL 99 so please don't turn this into "you hate EA."

However it's sad to see something that you care about and spend time on, go down the tubes so quickly. Remember how exciting NHL 07 was with the switch to PS3/360...the game kept getting better most years and NHL 11 was a solid realistic game.

Then you had NHL 13 being borderline unplayable.

NHL 14 was a huge disappointment and most consumers were willing to give EA a free pass on it as it was the last year with the current gen and the assumption was that they were focusing on revamping everything in NHL 15.

So expectations were a bit higher this year (rightfully so after paying $60 for a roster update last year) and so far we have zero gameplay and AI improvements, zero be a GM improvement, and the removal of one of the most popular modes. But at least we have jerseys that flap in the breeze

Next time anyone criticizes the Flames or a decision they make, we should all shut down this forum and tell CPers to "spend their time on something they enjoy." because being critical just means we're all haters and don't enjoy hockey.

Yeesh.

[Red John]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Because internet goofballs are idiots?

2K is smart - they don't make NHL games.

EA's NHL series is consistently rated highly and consistently sells well. Do people not remember what happened to the 2K series at the beginning of last generation? There's a reason why they stopped making games. They couldn't invest enough money into it to make a good game and have it still turn a profit. So they cut back production values, and the games ended up being awful and then the line was officially canceled.

Your post neglects the entire business side of games industry, and has been reiterated numerous times by a number of equally ill-informed people who very simply don't understand game development.

Don't like the game, don't buy it. Face the reality that no other company is willing to do what EA does for hockey fans though. Why? Because the financials just don't add up.

The amount of money that EA NHL makes off of HUT alone is incredible. The absence of a real competitor plus the fact that this game is very profitable allows EA to get away with mediocre games. Remember, this is a game that still has players playing with generic ratings (ie players with 83 in every attribute), a few canucks fans making ratings and not allowing users to upload and share their own rating sets, and has a majority of players still playing with generic faces.

"Realistic player faces" has been touted as a feature in this game since NHL 2000...still have the box. Go check. The fact that most players are generic 15 years later is incredible.

With a system similar to HUT, it's not inconceivable to think 2K or another company could put out a profitable game but that's probably just wishful thinking on my part. Back to hoping that EA will eventually listen to their consumers when "improving" their games instead of spending their time on useless stuff like flappy jerseys but with each year that hope wains a little more. Ah well.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Red John

Not really.

...

This has been the worst release so far for the NHL series.

Yeah, that's being over-dramatic. You haven't even played it, FFS.

We're not EA fanboys, but you have a really selective memory if I've ever seen one.

I've owned every EA NHL game from 1995 to current except 2012 and 2014 when I got really bored of the presentation and decided to stop buying them yearly, sort of like AutoCAD releases. However, what's important is that I remember and owned the games when they transitioned to the 'next-gen' platforms in their day.

They always lose features in their first year as a next-gen game. Why? Because for the first time in a long time, they have to re-work the actual guts of the game. Remember when NHL '07 was released on Xbox 360? It was the first game to use the current engine. NHL '07 for PC, PS2, and Xbox used the old game engine. The next-gen NHL '07 was missing a LOT of stuff. As it matured through '08 and '09, the game got back to par with the previous gen and then started adding on new features.

Same thing this time around, though not nearly as bad. NHL '15 won't have a lot of stuff that the last-gen consoles will, because the next-gen hasn't had seven or so years of development in which to add features.