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Old 09-14-2017, 10:02 AM   #41
northcrunk
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Anyone receive a return user puck bonus for HUT? I had almost a million pucks in HUT 17, but haven't received any pucks for HUT 18. Just packs. Is it supposed to be this way or are pucks coming upon release?
There is no puck bonus. You can get max 5 gold packs. Baconcountry got 5 and I would imagine he would have hit the max requirements. I barely played any HUT last year and got 4 packs.
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Old 09-15-2017, 09:12 AM   #42
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Sure if the company operates on a "this team generated this much money and are profitable so let's invest in them". Unfortunately most companies operate by saying "thanks for the profits. Now what group is going to give us the best ROI if we invest more in them?" And the NHL series is going to lose that battle almost every time.

You aren't going to cut that team because they reliably bring in a nice baseline income but if it is a limited growth market you aren't pouring much extra money into it. And it is limited growth compared to other franchises they have or new franchises they can develop...or at least that is clearly the determination they have made.

Read earnings reports from EA and you'll see things like Battlefield had more than 21 million new players join...a 50% increase over the previous incarnation at this point. 21 million players for Fifa 17 including 12 mil who did the new game mode Journey (that type of numbers engaged in a game mode makes extra sales now and moving forward). Fifa Mobile had a base of 95 million players. NBA Live mobile 70 million players. SIMS active users increased 33% year on year. No matter how perfect a NHL game the resulting sales just can't match the growth of other EA and EA Sports properties. So they don't see the money.
Seems to me you are taking a pretty simplistic view of how large companies work. Having worked in multiple billion dollar software companies myself, business units are always looking for ways to improve their balance sheets. In my experience even though corporate leadership often prioritizes the large money making ventures, if a smaller business unit has a plan to increase revenue and profitability, then they get what they need to make that happen.

I'm not sure I've been around any corporate exec who takes the attitude you describe above of "lets just keep this small revenue stream trickling along", but more like "this quarter is the most important quarter ever, what can we do to squeeze out every single dollar of revenue we can?!?!?!?!"

So to me, the burden lays on the EA Vancouver team for not innovating or trying to be better. And to dovetail into something else that just popped up, there is always the argument about minor graphics enhancements occurring. The retort is always that "there are separate teams for that" but I think after 20 or so years, that the producers of the game have shown they are unable to do both. So maybe they should cut their budget and investment into chewing on mouthgaurds and put it into AI that can figure out how to stop the cross crease pass or short side top shelf backhand. (examples may be outdated, I haven't played in a few years)

I guess bottom line for me is this: a big reason I am even a hockey fan is because of NHL94. While Canadians may take for granted that the EA series is just support for a sport everyone already knows about, there are lots of places where creating a quality product can make a difference. They were able to do it in the 90's with several good games and also in the mid 2000's when the skill stick came along and brought a lot of fresh blood into the series. If the EA Vancouver team could actually improve their product, maybe they could bring in another wave of new fans and make the game enjoyable for everyone.
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Old 09-15-2017, 09:18 AM   #43
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There is no puck bonus. You can get max 5 gold packs. Baconcountry got 5 and I would imagine he would have hit the max requirements. I barely played any HUT last year and got 4 packs.
I got 6 packs. Plus 4 for the pre-order.
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Old 09-15-2017, 02:53 PM   #44
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Can anyone confirm if the game is 4k or not? (Madden looks sooooo good in 4k HDR.)
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Old 09-15-2017, 06:32 PM   #45
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Seems to me you are taking a pretty simplistic view of how large companies work. Having worked in multiple billion dollar software companies myself, business units are always looking for ways to improve their balance sheets. In my experience even though corporate leadership often prioritizes the large money making ventures, if a smaller business unit has a plan to increase revenue and profitability, then they get what they need to make that happen.
In my experience of working in a company with about 100,000 employees spanning multiple business units and divisions in those business units and currently going through budgeting yet again I can assure you that is how they think. It's a constant internal competition for money and for good reason. And the money goes to the biggest returns.

Also, for big multinationals if you have a business that has positive cash flow after paying the corporate taxes to your corporate masters it is business they are more than happy to keep around. It does not mean you'll get investment money if the ROI is lower than other areas though.

And I'm not saying the studio can't do better because I'm sure they can but there is little need to do anything more when no matter what you put out you are going to sell the same number of copies.

Anyways, my wife once again bought the it for me. It's OK. Have to play with the sliders as apparently I'm a penalty waiting to happen. But it has pretty much the exact same issues it's had for decade.

Last edited by ernie; 09-15-2017 at 06:35 PM.
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Old 09-16-2017, 11:36 AM   #46
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Here's my short review of Online VS. All I've been able to try so far.

The Good:
- The matchmaking system is soooo much improved. You pick your team, your jersey, edit lines all before searching for an opponent. Once you match you don't even get to see the other guy/team, the game just loads. That saves a ton of time waiting for dipstick who's not paying attention over there in the lobby. When you're ready, you're ready. One thing that could be viewed either way I guess is you won't be able to adjust your team choice based on the opponents team choice but it's a fine trade off for me as I'm getting sick of waiting for peabrain (usually an Oiler) to realize it's time to press X.
- The new defensive stick positioning is great. It really helps take away lanes and force opposing forwards on the rush to go a certain way.
- Poke checks seem more effective, at least until they tune it back to a guaranteed tripping penalty .
- The game now allows you to choose if you want to skip a review. It puts a little "hold x" in the bottom corner, and doing so does a wrap around the X icon and the play skips. This is smart as you can back out of accidentally skipping the review by releasing X before the circle completes.
- Mike Smith seems like a beast.

The middle:
- The AI may be better but I'll need more than a 5 game sample to be sure. I've been pleased by players getting open in the opposition's zone, skating to positions to create a cycle, and half of the time (sadly half is an improvement) somewhat back checking.
- I'm still seeing AI guys standing in the neutral zone and the opposing passes going right through them, or they just lazily put their stick out to the side and miss the puck. Perhaps my lines were tired is some instances though.
- One timers are much harder to pull off. Positioning is way more critical. The receiving player has to be in a glide, and the timing is more challenging. At times the player just receives the puck and stands there. Other times he delays it into a wrist shot. I'll have to practice this until they change the tuner, and then I'll have to practice it again.
- Slap shots from the point have also changed. Only a really quick pull back and shoot works. Anything slow and the player just doesn't shoot. So you can't pull back and time/position your actual shot. It has to be one super quick motion, which doesn't seem realistic in all cases.

The bad:
- The Oilers. They're dominant in this mode. Relentless fore check and every McDrool shot is magical. 100% shooting percentage. Seems unsustainable but EA says no.
- Talcum on the back end saves everyyyyyyyyyyyything. I put up 34 shots on a guy that were ridiculous opportunities and Talcum Powder saved their butts every time.
- Ryan Nothing-Happens has a 200 MPH slap shot with a laser sight to the top corner from the blue line.
- Lucic and Letestu outskate Gaudreau on the back check and lay huge hits from a distance

Does it matter?:
- There's a Team Canada training camp (mostly useless for experts) that shows step by step how to do the more complex skill dekes.

Last edited by topfiverecords; 09-16-2017 at 11:41 AM.
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Old 09-16-2017, 06:07 PM   #47
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Any changes to Be a GM? Did they make any improvements to the career stats menu? Annoys the hell out of me that they never show stats for all years and total them up.
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Old 09-16-2017, 06:23 PM   #48
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The last one I owned was Legacy for the 360. I like playing GM mode and then simming the games but I actually like to watch the games, I move the controller setting to computer and just watch the game. With Legacy this was terrible, one night your team would blow out the other team and the next game you would get blown out. It was just so bad, AI players doing the stupidest things with the puck. Has this improved any? Like if I buy this new version can I sim and watch games and will they actually be decent to watch?
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Old 09-17-2017, 10:32 AM   #49
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Bought it for the first time in a few years, graphics are great, gameplay is junk. Do you guys have a good game slider setup to make this thing somewhat realistic and fun?
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Old 09-17-2017, 11:13 AM   #50
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I don't understand the ####ing scouting in this game. At 6th overall I draft a guy that my scouts say is ELITE [HIGH] then the season starts and hes Top9 [MED]

What the ####?
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Old 09-17-2017, 02:51 PM   #51
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I don't understand the ####ing scouting in this game. At 6th overall I draft a guy that my scouts say is ELITE [HIGH] then the season starts and hes Top9 [MED]

What the ####?
Are you playing as the Canucks by any chance? If so, that's pretty realistic.
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Old 09-17-2017, 08:16 PM   #52
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I don't understand the ####ing scouting in this game. At 6th overall I draft a guy that my scouts say is ELITE [HIGH] then the season starts and hes Top9 [MED]

What the ####?
Is there more than one scout yet?
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Old 09-18-2017, 07:28 AM   #53
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Played a lot of NHL 16, skipped 17 and just got 18. My son and I have been playing, and having fun with NHL Threes. Not sure if that was new this year or in 17 but we like it. Playing the circuit has been fun so far.

Haven't delved too much into much else, but seems good so far. As usual, some tweaking of Advanced Game Settings is required for a good experience.
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Old 09-18-2017, 01:51 PM   #54
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In NHL Threes you can play as the mascots.
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Old 09-18-2017, 04:47 PM   #55
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Is anyone else also not hearing people on mics when they play eashl? My mic works and I can see the icon that people are speaking but I hear nothing
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Old 09-18-2017, 09:09 PM   #56
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This game absolutely sucks. I took a two year hiatus and it's just as shot as before with a bit better graphics. Slow as absolute hell. Why are these games so slow? Can't control passing at all, AI is still clueless, and for someone who only really likes online versus like me, the game is no fun at all. Pokecheck, Pokecheck, Pokechek, that's all that occurs. Christ, I won a clean face off on a PP in the offensive end and somehow they are still able to get out there and pokecheck before I can even get a slap shot from the point off. First guy to miss a pokecheck on a cross crease pass wins the game.

Why do I left myself get fooled? This series hasn't improved in a decade.
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Old 09-18-2017, 09:12 PM   #57
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Is there more than one scout yet?
Do I get more than 1? Can I fire mine?
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Old 09-18-2017, 09:33 PM   #58
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Anyone with an Xbox One really needs to get EA Access even if you don't want to commit the whole year. You get to play the game for 10 hours before deciding if you want to buy it so no buyers remorse.

I didn't hate the 10 hours I got to play but I'm glad I didn't buy it on release this year and will gladly wait a half a year to play it on EA Access.


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Old 09-18-2017, 09:34 PM   #59
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Just lost 0-1 in OT. Somehow Chara caught Gaudreau three 4-5 times from behind on a breakaway and was able to easily pokecheck the puck away...... man I hope they fix some online tuners soon.
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Old 09-19-2017, 09:19 AM   #60
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I think the game is awesome.

The gameplay is the best a hockey game (simulation) has ever been. There are plenty of modes to dive into (HUT and Be A GM are where I'm spending my time right now). Awesome flow to the gameplay where puck possession and making plays is actually rewarded.
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