NHL 19: Wish List

[Five Alarm Fire]

I just want a fun Be a Pro mode. They've done a good job with the other game modes, just make Be a Pro worthwhile in terms of:
- Ratings upgrade system, it's too slow and there's not enough control for the user. This is a video game, no need to make it so realistic. There's no need to limit player growth, there's no online element to the mode.
- A storyline may be a bit much, but at least make the mode more immersive. There needs to be an incentive to keep playing.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Be a Pro Mode - At least half ass it. At this point, they aren't even doing that. Its dull, boring, etc.
Be a GM Mode - Get rid of morale. Dumbest thing ever, next to arena upgrades that is. Fix scouting. Add in more depth for player development. Also, for the love of god, fix the contract demands. I should not have a 75 overall player ask for $1.1 million for 1 season and upwards of $9 million for 7 years. Locking up players early on is a risk/reward thing IRL. Let saavy GM's reap the rewards of locking up players early but also be stuck with bad contracts when they don't pan out. Makes things interesting.

Also, after a 62 win season and winning the Stanley cup with a team that is a 94 overall, when I try to sign a player in Free Agency, the response should never be that my organization isn't in a winning position or however they phrase it. Ridiculous.

 

[sandviper]

1) EA needs to quit focusing on HUT and build a real game. This money grabbing crap has to stop. EA needs to put out a legit product or lose the NHL license!

2) Get rid of Arena Operations in franchise mode...It's pointless

3) Get rid of Morale in franchise mode - Again, it's useless.

4) Adjust the scouting for franchise mode. It's not consistent. I send a scout somewhere for 3 weeks and get the same result as sending a scout to the same place for 6 weeks.

5) EA has to spend an appropriate amount of time on the rosters. I like their new ratings system but assigning legitimate potentials and getting positions correct is a must. They also need to get rid of the labels. Make overalls actually mean something. Maybe I'm missing a slider setting but far too often I've seen 82 overall players produce at a higher level than a 90 + overall player.

6) Add Historic Teams and Players - In NBA 2K, you can input historic teams into a franchise mode or add legends to teams for franchise mode.

7) File Sharing - Just like in NBA 2K, let the users create rosters, uniforms or whatever.

8) Go back in time to start your NHL franchise (1970 or later). I would personally love to start a franchise in 90's and change history for the next 25 years. EA would also need to incorporate legitimate draft classes starting from 1970. This most definitely wouldn't be available for NHL 19 but it could exist for NHL 20.

9) Fix the AI in EASHL. The inconsistency is abysmal. The AI is rarely in the right position, especially on defense.

I'm sure there are a ton of other things that can be added. It is just a video game and it's not going to be perfect or 100% realistic but EA can still give us a better product.

Agree with your points, but especially #8 and #6 (and #7 but more the other 2).

 

[ThatSaid]

I have a ton on my list, but let's start with a hustle mechanic that doesn't break one controller every month.

 

[CBJx614]

A lot of good stuff has been covered, so I'll keep it simple.

Why tf do we still not have the ability to hire/fire coaching staff, training staff, scouting staff, etc.

Who your coach is should drastically effect how your team plays. I don't care if they have to make up coach names for every team. It' s a huge part, I just really don't have faith in the current development team

 

[GiuDiSta50]

Franchise mode:
- Triangular trades
- 3-way contracts
- Affiliations with European leagues
- PTOs, ATOs, CBAs
- Minor league roster control
- Ability to sign KHL stars
- Play Winter Classic during the year (and Stadium Series, and Classic Heritage)
- All-Star Weekend (with voting from fans (like NBA and MLB have been doing for the past 1000 years))
- AHL and ECHL all-star weekend
- Send players down to play for the WJC
- Talk to your players and negotiate roles for better morale
- Assign player training
- Training camp, rookie camp, and pre-season team sheets so your season lines and lineup are not f***ed up, and you don’t have to decide who stays and who leaves
- AHL and ECHL pre-season games

Be a Pro Mode:
- Bring back Live the Life Mode

Live the Life:
- Ivan Hlinka, U18 World Juniors, U20 IIHF World Juniors, World Championships, WCH, and OG.
- European prospect
- Talk with manager, and discuss roles, contracts, place, future in team, etc.
- Pee-Wee to pro
- High school hockey (if your player takes the option)

 

[Patrik Barkov]

National teams both men and juniors would be so much fun in franchise and especially be a pro

 

[IceManCat]

FROSTBITE

This more than anything else.

 

[Frosty415]

Re do the damn engine and be a pro

 

[OregonCanuck]

-World jrs
-Hire a coach
-More customizable options with roster controls
And expansion mode where you can EDIT the roster

 

[Duckhugs]

Starting Be a pro in Europe or an american system instead of just Chl

 

[itsjustsurvival]

Literally just fix the engine and AI.

 

[filip85]

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I want them to bring back customized EASHL players. I'm sick of being told what build I need to use... I want to build my own players' stats like it used to be back around NHL 14.

 

[saskriders]

I want them to bring back customized EASHL players. I'm sick of being told what build I need to use... I want to build my own players' stats like it used to be back around NHL 14.

My friend an I were talking about this the other day. We thought that bring back custom players for EASHL, but keeping the current system for drop-ins, would be the ideal solution.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

My friend an I were talking about this the other day. We thought that bring back custom players for EASHL, but keeping the current system for drop-ins, would be the ideal solution.

My solution to this would be to keep the stock player classes as they are now, and also give players the choice to build up their own character which would start at a very low Overall. The customized characters would be marginally better, so that there's an incentive to building your own character, but players who don't want to play 150+ games to build up their character to max don't get absolutely blown out of the water.

So for example, let's say the current Two-Way Forward build is an 82 Overall, then a player who built his own character would be able to get a two-way forward to maybe 85-86 Overall, but would also have to play about 120 games before you can reach 82ish overall.

Stats would track seperately between points scored with a created character and points scored using the stock player types.

EDIT: This also adds more of a sense of worth when playing drop-in games for people who don't play much club.

 

[nilssont]

Less types of cards etc in HUT. There are 29 different types of cards ffs. Gamemode is ruined.
Not gonna happen, nooo not gonna happen.

 

[Bluesguru]

Players being close to their real life counterparts. Unique animations, specific celebrations, different skating styles..... Basically you can recognize who it is even without even looking at the name or number.

Attributes having a great impact on what a player can do. Weak skaters are slow, bad shooters shoot wide or to the logo a lot. This also means that there is a clear separation between players and that you can do much more with a star player.

The ice wearing down during the game, especially in arenas where it is most common. This also affects all the physics in the game like the puck bouncing around or players falling down and so on.

The possibility to create you're own tactics for each specific line and situation. Those tactics clearly show how a team plays on the ice and also affect how the team performs even when you sim a game. A deep system.

Simming a game changed from a random luck generator to actually reflect how good the teams really are.

Making trades made 5 times more difficult and the AI GM mechanics completely altered to a hardcore mode.

GM online.


I could write a few pages really but it just goes to show what a weak game NHL 18 is and how little effort EA puts in it. I also do not expect any of these examples addressed in NHL 19, instead it will be a new paint job aimed to fool as many as possible.

This is well said and spot on. I like the game, think its improved a lot, but these are my sentiments exactly. Perfecto!

 

[Nickmo82]

-World jrs
-Hire a coach
-More customizable options with roster controls
And expansion mode where you can EDIT the roster

I can't remember what sports game it was, but I remember playing a game where each coach had specific benefits/negatives they would confer onto their team... such as +2 skating, or -2 def. awareness or whatever. I think that'd work well. Force players to tailor their playing style to fit certain coaches "systems".

AV could be +10 breakaway, -10 all defensive stats.

 

[ek93]

I can't remember what sports game it was, but I remember playing a game where each coach had specific benefits/negatives they would confer onto their team... such as +2 skating, or -2 def. awareness or whatever. I think that'd work well. Force players to tailor their playing style to fit certain coaches "systems".

AV could be +10 breakaway, -10 all defensive stats.

I was just thinking about this. I played a little MVP Baseball 2005 the other day because I haven't played it since my childhood, and even that game's owner mode has manager/hitting coach/pitching coach hiring, and the different hires have different attribute effects on how the players in your organization develop. Crazy that MVP 05 has it but we can't get it in NHL 18.

 

[WTFetus]

My solution to this would be to keep the stock player classes as they are now, and also give players the choice to build up their own character which would start at a very low Overall. The customized characters would be marginally better, so that there's an incentive to building your own character, but players who don't want to play 150+ games to build up their character to max don't get absolutely blown out of the water.

So for example, let's say the current Two-Way Forward build is an 82 Overall, then a player who built his own character would be able to get a two-way forward to maybe 85-86 Overall, but would also have to play about 120 games before you can reach 82ish overall.

Stats would track seperately between points scored with a created character and points scored using the stock player types.

EDIT: This also adds more of a sense of worth when playing drop-in games for people who don't play much club.

I'm okay with attributing your own stats, but any grinding or "play X games to get full stats" is a huge No in my book. Again, adding the whole "pick-up-and-play" style to EASHL where there's no grinding is the best thing they've done in years.

I personally have 0 complaints with the current pre-set builds.

 

[sexydonut]

Availability on PC and Nintendo Switch

KHL teams

Every throwback jersey

 

[Soedy]

I can't remember what sports game it was, but I remember playing a game where each coach had specific benefits/negatives they would confer onto their team... such as +2 skating, or -2 def. awareness or whatever. I think that'd work well. Force players to tailor their playing style to fit certain coaches "systems".

AV could be +10 breakaway, -10 all defensive stats.

ESPN NHL 2k5 had coaches don't know which effects they had though. They definetly have different star ratings.

 

[Hagstrom]

Something like they're done with FIFA with The Journey would be enough to bring me back to the series

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I'm okay with attributing your own stats, but any grinding or "play X games to get full stats" is a huge No in my book. Again, adding the whole "pick-up-and-play" style to EASHL where there's no grinding is the best thing they've done in years.

I personally have 0 complaints with the current pre-set builds.

And that's perfectly fine, that is exactly what I'm trying to address. Cater to the way each customer wants to enjoy the product. You enjoy using pre-set builds, so in my ideal situation, you have that option to use your pre-built class.

I enjoy building my own character through grinding, and I think that grinding through games should be rewarded with having a marginally better character. (2-4 Overall points better, nothing crazy).

I'm partially shocked that they ever removed it because there used to be micro-transactions in there. You actually used to be able to buy/unlock a particular player type to play with that gave you a mediocre character build without having to actually grind it out. They also had $1-$2 player equipment slots you could buy/unlock as well. I was shocked that EA would actually remove a microtransation.