Be a Pro Mode

[Pikesburgh]

I believe that is the aggression slider.

It works to a degree. I have aggression for both sides set at 95, but I'm still given easy zone access. Still having fun nonetheless. I refuse to cheat the CPU so it makes it more realistic.

 

[Kcoyote3]

Two things about this mode:

One, being a goalie in BAP is ****ing impossible. You will never hit your saves in the A category. Ever. I played an entire season and managed to get myself drafted in the 3rd round. Positioning and team play from spamming "pass" every ssave you make make it semi-possible to get A's.

Saves? Nah. Save percentage will hover around .820 and you'll let in about 3.1 GAA.

So that was a giant waste of time.

So I said, screw it I'll be a TWF RWer, play solid in all zones and it'll be fun.

Played every single game of one season. Led the league in points with 140, including 72 goals. Finished +65. Our team only lost like 6 games.

I'm now about to start the playoffs and my agent informs me I'm likely to go somewhere in the second round.

Amazing. I have the highest overall score playing in the WHL and just outscored the nearest person by 70 points and I'm going to be a second rounder because getting defense up to an A is impossible in a 10 minute period, and playing every single game with 20 minute periods is something a madman would do.

What the **** did I just spend all this time for. I'm going to complete the playoffs and then get drafted #50th overall or some **** because my defense is a B-/B in their impossible to please system. Or my team play caps out around a B+ because it is impossible to hit that many people in a 10 minute period.

Insane.

 

[Shad]

Anyone have any tips for improving plus/minus as a defenseman? I am very good at shutting down the opposition, however my line can't score unless I'm driving the play, but when I drive the play it results in goals against. Is it just a matter of picking my spots?

 

[Pikesburgh]

Anyone have any tips for improving plus/minus as a defenseman? I am very good at shutting down the opposition, however my line can't score unless I'm driving the play, but when I drive the play it results in goals against. Is it just a matter of picking my spots?

Let me find/test my old sliders. For some dumb reason I changed them up a lot because my +/- was a + every game. Was like a +14 in 11 games so I wanted to make it harder. I'm noticing the same thing now.. I'm in Juniors though so the squirrely play by my teammates is worse than in the NHL. I'm a F in the NHL and having a blast. Haven't played in the NHL yet as a d-man so I'm not sure if my sliders will work the same in the NHL. At one point my line would score multiple times a game and I was racking up a pretty realistic number of points. Hopefully I can get back to that.

 

[Pikesburgh]

These are some of the key sliders I've used that I had success with. Not sure if it still applies but try them out. I only listed the ones I changed a lot vs what the defaults were. I can list them all if you want the full list, I'm just listing the ones that affect shooting/scoring chances.

SHOOTING:
One Timer Accuracy CPU: 27/100
One Timer Accuracy HUM: 30/100
Shot Accuracy CPU: 37/100
Shot Accuracy HUM: 40/100
Shot Power: Up to you.
Slap Shot Accuracy CPU: 33/100
Slap Shot Accuracy HUM: 36/100

PASSING:
Pass Accuracy CPU: 37/100
Pass Accuracy HUM: 40/100

CPU learning and CPU difficulty work well around 2/6.

 

[Merya]

I'm in need of a comprehensive guide for the "be a pro mode", mostly for explaining some things, rather than any optimization. Not basic stuff, but like things as why not deke in every faceoff if you want to maximize exp. (started as 15yr old) Yeah I guess at high levels this "problem" disappears, but still.

 

[Pikesburgh]

I just made an AI breakthrough. If you push the right stick in a specific direction, and call for your teammate to shoot, he will shoot exactly where you aim. Try it. I tried it 15-20 times one game. I hold the stick down, it's a low shot. Up, high shot. To the right, it goes to the right. It has helped me so much in BAP.

 

[JFA87-66-99]

I'm about to start a career with the Saginaw Spirit, starting as a 15-year old, 6'2-193, playmaking center. My goal is to build my player up slowly and eventually get drafted 1st overall in 2019. I was thinking of creating a fellow 2019 draft eligible player in Alex Turcotte but not sure what rating to give him to start. My guy is a 53 but do teammates improve in be a pro mode and if they do how fast do they improve. Would be cool if these 2 could get drafted #1 and #2 in the draft.

 

[GiuDiSta50]

Take off Be a Pro Simming Penalty, and they just reduce it, still putting me down lines!

 

[Lyons71]

Just picked up 17 for $10 on XBL. I only play be a pro. It is now impossible to be a dman in be a pro. My partners are sooo bad. They give away chance after chance and force me to cover 2 men at the net every play. Skating is smoother and sliders are nice, but the AI seems worse.

Had to switch to a winger for be a pro. (Center is too easy to dominate once you're good at faceoffs)

The one major difference I have a problem with is now it's nearly impossible to get my discipline rating up. Only one (penalty-free) game out of dozens I have gotten the +70. What gives? I can't ever call for the puck either now? Sigh

 

[grinco]

BaP is the only game mode that I play on NHL (got tired of HUT really quick and don't have enough patience for franchise).

My player is now 27 years of age so I don't know if he will grow anymore as the potential is showing 'exact'.

Playing left wing on Detroit Red Wings, 98 overall, winning the trophies every year.

There have been a few crazy things that happened during the seasons. For example on the last one we were soaring through the regular season. However two games before it ended somebody on the opposing team pushed me a little and my player went flying. That little push resulted in a 83 day injury so I missed the playoffs completely.

Also what bothers me is that there seems to be really low activity regarding the trading and signing of free agents. On Detroit the players are getting really old really fast and because of producing well they don't have any promising draft picks that would be on the rise. Would be nice to see some blockbusters to improve or make the team a little bit younger.

Also I noticed the same thing in BaP that happens in GM or Franchise mode. Doesn't matter what rating a certain player has but for some reason that player will produce and do well. I think it was the Islanders that had a 83 overall TWF with a 'Low Top 9' potential and he had over a PPG during the regular season. Granted he was playing with Tavares and Dal Colle (who was only 85 rated though) so he had good buddies to play around. Arizona also had a 'High AHL' potential goalie who did outstandingly well while only being like 81 overall or so.

The game mode needs a lot of tweaking and I feel like a little more to do. After all you are only playing with one player and you can only play games. It needs more depth and possibilities to build the experience more to your liking. How to do this is something that I don't know because it is hard to do something to BaP without making it seem really pretentious or repetitive.

Anyway after the NHL 16 BaP disaster this was an improvement even though we had seen everything done before. If EA doesn't do something to fix and improve BaP it will be clear that they do not listen to a quite large portion of the fan base and they only want to continue improving HUT for economical purposes

 

[MillanDynasty]

BaP is the only game mode that I play on NHL (got tired of HUT really quick and don't have enough patience for franchise).

My player is now 27 years of age so I don't know if he will grow anymore as the potential is showing 'exact'.

Playing left wing on Detroit Red Wings, 98 overall, winning the trophies every year.

There have been a few crazy things that happened during the seasons. For example on the last one we were soaring through the regular season. However two games before it ended somebody on the opposing team pushed me a little and my player went flying. That little push resulted in a 83 day injury so I missed the playoffs completely.

Also what bothers me is that there seems to be really low activity regarding the trading and signing of free agents. On Detroit the players are getting really old really fast and because of producing well they don't have any promising draft picks that would be on the rise. Would be nice to see some blockbusters to improve or make the team a little bit younger.

Also I noticed the same thing in BaP that happens in GM or Franchise mode. Doesn't matter what rating a certain player has but for some reason that player will produce and do well. I think it was the Islanders that had a 83 overall TWF with a 'Low Top 9' potential and he had over a PPG during the regular season. Granted he was playing with Tavares and Dal Colle (who was only 85 rated though) so he had good buddies to play around. Arizona also had a 'High AHL' potential goalie who did outstandingly well while only being like 81 overall or so.

The game mode needs a lot of tweaking and I feel like a little more to do. After all you are only playing with one player and you can only play games. It needs more depth and possibilities to build the experience more to your liking. How to do this is something that I don't know because it is hard to do something to BaP without making it seem really pretentious or repetitive.

Anyway after the NHL 16 BaP disaster this was an improvement even though we had seen everything done before. If EA doesn't do something to fix and improve BaP it will be clear that they do not listen to a quite large portion of the fan base and they only want to continue improving HUT for economical purposes

It does need a lot of tweaking, but also a lot of expansion, as there’s a **** load of room for it.

It needs more attention to details, more cutscenes (like the milestone celebrations), the game mode needs to make you feel like you’re building a name, a reputation for yourself, around your teammates, your organisation, and the entire league. Fans need to have an extra jump in their step when your Pro is on the verge of an important milestone. For example, having 893 goals in your career, needing one more to tie Wayne Gretzky’s all time record. The commentators should talk about it, the fans should cheer and encourage the player to break that milestone. Instead, it’s regarded as just ‘one other goal’ by the game and it’s really hard to get invested when it’s that bland.

Remember, this mode supposedly lets you play up to 25 years with the same pro, and even if you coast by the seasons pretty fast like I’ve been doing with mine, it still takes a heck of a lot of time. I’ve had mine since February and my pro is only just 30. I still have a good 12-13 seasons left to play with him and the only reason why I keep going is because I’m imaginative and try to piece the missing pieces in my head about what’s going on in this guy’s head. At least with Live the Life in NHL 14, albeit it was uninspired and primitive, the interviews and situations at least helped bring your character to life a bit more, make you feel like this guy is more than just a hockey player. You could be an arrogant *****, or a selfless leader. They really should have built from that, instead of bringing everything down back to 2001.

To keep it relatively short, I feel like EA should put in the effort to make your character’s career something special. We need to bond with that player the same way we bonded with protagonists like John Marston, Gordon Freeman, etc. The reason you feel attached to these characters is that you spend an insane amount of time along them, as they (you) make their journey through the game. They need to make you feel that way. What it means to be an NHL hockey player. The better you are, the more power you yield, for better or worse.

/rant

 

[JFA87-66-99]

I'm about to start a career with the Saginaw Spirit, starting as a 15-year old, 6'2-193, playmaking center. My goal is to build my player up slowly and eventually get drafted 1st overall in 2019. I was thinking of creating a fellow 2019 draft eligible player in Alex Turcotte but not sure what rating to give him to start. My guy is a 53 but do teammates improve in be a pro mode and if they do how fast do they improve. Would be cool if these 2 could get drafted #1 and #2 in the draft.

So I just finished my first season with Saginaw. We came in 4th overall in the OHL and lost in the second round of the playoffs. My player started at a 53 overall and finished at 68 overall (I played every game). Led the Ohl with 63 goals and 73 assists, 136 points. Also even though we lost in the 2nd round, I still led the playoffs in scoring too with 15 goals, 11 assists. My player won OHL mvp, scoring title, rookie of the year. But for some reason my guy won the overage player of the year despite being 15 years old. But here's the thing that has me kinda mad. My teammates didn't improve at all. I created John Beecher and Alex Turcotte to get drafted with my player in 2019. I made them both 52 overalls with elite high and medium potential. They both scored 30 plus goals this season and came in 3rd and 4th overall in scoring in the league. I was hoping there ratings would improve so I can make a run at the Memorial cup but there both still rated 52 overall while my player is a 68 overall. Very lame.

 

[MillanDynasty]

So I just finished my first season with Saginaw. We came in 4th overall in the OHL and lost in the second round of the playoffs. My player started at a 53 overall and finished at 68 overall (I played every game). Led the Ohl with 63 goals and 73 assists, 136 points. Also even though we lost in the 2nd round, I still led the playoffs in scoring too with 15 goals, 11 assists. My player won OHL mvp, scoring title, rookie of the year. But for some reason my guy won the overage player of the year despite being 15 years old. But here's the thing that has me kinda mad. My teammates didn't improve at all. I created John Beecher and Alex Turcotte to get drafted with my player in 2019. I made them both 52 overalls with elite high and medium potential. They both scored 30 plus goals this season and came in 3rd and 4th overall in scoring in the league. I was hoping there ratings would improve so I can make a run at the Memorial cup but there both still rated 52 overall while my player is a 68 overall. Very lame.

That's very lame indeed. I remember in NHL 14 how we could influence our teammates' overalls (even overage players in the 27-33 range) by making them have career years with our pro. Now you could have a 1000 point season and no one will move one overall.

 

[suprafastcelica]

Just picked up 17 for $10 on XBL. I only play be a pro. It is now impossible to be a dman in be a pro. My partners are sooo bad. They give away chance after chance and force me to cover 2 men at the net every play. Skating is smoother and sliders are nice, but the AI seems worse.

Had to switch to a winger for be a pro. (Center is too easy to dominate once you're good at faceoffs)

The one major difference I have a problem with is now it's nearly impossible to get my discipline rating up. Only one (penalty-free) game out of dozens I have gotten the +70. What gives? I can't ever call for the puck either now? Sigh

Try goalie. It's fun and frustrating.

 

[haveandare]

Anyone else always get picked 1OA when you start at the memorial cup?

Last two times I made forwards, one C one RW, simmed every memorial cup game hoping that’d fix this - still went to the devils first overall. I like the randomness of the draft to determine team but I don’t want to be on the devils specifically.

 

[SaKuu11]

Every year i hope that Ea makes big chances for BaP mode. And again its same boring mode than last year. I have played 12 games now with my enforcer. I am playing pro difficulty and sliders are that kind that i dont score a much. I must work really hard to get goal. Dallas drafted me on first round.

Dallas started season with five game losing streak. I was not playing good. Taked lot of penalties and my defence playing was not good.
So what coach did to turn team direction??? NOTHING!

And here is that big problem on Be a pro mod. Coach dosent chance lines. He only chance lines when someone get hurt or chance line where i am playing... up or down. Why he didint shake team when we got losing streak. I was playing badly so let me sit coupple of games and get someone from Ahl to play on my spot. Just do something!! Its so f***ing boring to play with same line and players all season.

 

[BenchedGuy]

Anyone have any suggestion on when a good time to request a trade? I got drafted 3OA starting from the Mem Cup and have played 25 games and I guess I am not seasoned enough to ask for a trade.

 

[MillanDynasty]

^ I really miss the days of Live the Life where you could insult the city straight out of the draft and get traded to a better team. And then you could do it again during preseason.

Really convenient. Who wants to play for the goddamn Coyotes and Panthers seriously?

 

[Jadenb]

I actually really like BaP this year

-You’re teammates are smarter than a potato this year and you can actually rely on them to make good hockey plays

-Request trade feature is very good especially if you get drafted by a small market team (Panthers, Coyotes, Avalanche) You can ask for a trade to your preferable destination

-Finally, not everything is your fault, if I’m covering the point I only get bad line defense instead of missed assignment. Offsides same thing. It’s just harder to mess up if you do what you’re supposed too

 

[JasNic616]

I wish lines and lineup changes were more realistic. How often in the real game do lines stay consistently the same all year, barring injury of course. Especially on the power play. Same lineup, 3 forwards and 2 defensmen. Most nhl teams go with 4 forwards on most pp opportunities these days so this is something I wish they would integrate.

 

[plaaplaa72]

Yeah, the lines tend to be very weird.

I was the top scorer in the OHL, but i was still playing on the 2nd Powerplay, and i was given like 30 seconds of PP time per 2min PP. And the 1st PP center was a winger, like what the hell, i am thr top scorer in the league as a center, and the AI decides that a winger is the best possible option for the 1st PP center spot?!

But then i simmed one game which we lost 8-2, and the coach dropped me down a line for not having good enough statistics, (even though i had 12 points in the last 5 games) and a couple games later they put me back on the 1st line, and at that point they decided to put me on the 1st PP. I dont understand

 

[JasNic616]

I have found the game to be much more enjoyable if you focus on (on All-Star, being comfortable in Pro mode) these crucial sliders...
Checking: Lowering the AI poke check accuracy by 8-10 points, poke checking power by 10-15 points and stick lift effectiveness by 10-15 points. Then they're not gods on defense, only much better than you and your teammates.

Shooting: Then you increase your wrist shot and slap shot accuracy by 10-15 points (you actually hit what you aim at more often). I don't bother with the one timer, I never ever hit those anyway. If you do, do the same here, 10-15 points.

Skating: Increase your speed and acceleration by 5 points compared to the computer (then they don't magically always burst past you disregardless of how fast they actually are). It's more even.

Then you ease your way into learning how to play with a team with collective Downs syndrome. Once you learn how to keep away from all AI players and find your spots and cycling moves, you start learning how to play on your difficulty by easing up the sliders back to original settings by about 3-5 points each step when you feel more comfortable.

I can now play on All-Star settings when I originally wanted to throw the controller out the window. My team is actually helping me in scoring and we're actually battling for a playoff spot. I'm half a season in and these settings saved the game for me.

The career mode is still horrendeously bad compared to anything else, but it's all we got and I love this play mode and I love hockey. I feel like a masochist trying to make this work. **** you EA for completely neglecting this play mode for 6 years or so.

Last game I had to quit and simulate the game, because the KeyBank Center logo was right in my face whenever I entered the offensive zone. Thank you EA. Yes, I play on classic view because I actually want to see where the heck my teammates are (even though you often can't see your defensemen at the blue line and once and then when you feed it back to them in the offensive zone, they've gone off for a line change. Or, they just refuse to receive your pass and look like Bambi on ice).

The flow of the game is good, scoring feels great, goalies move more natuarally and that's great. But the exp system is laughably bad (have they even thought it out in their own minds, I don't even bother to ask if they playtested it), you still get a ton of goals against automatically by just stepping on the ice and EA's definition of difficulty is "your robotic team is bad, your opponents play great(er)". And yeah, your line is still being 90% of the team in Be A Pro mode, still 6 years later. Great.

Seriously, the AI for the EA games is laughable and I don't think they've improved it in 10 years. If they've tried to do so, I've not noticed any improvements whatsoever. It's still the same and they still try to mask how bad and robotic it is in the same ways. It's just more aggressive and obnoxious, yet still as positionally robotic, regardless of how good the player in hand actually is. Crosby or Kane will still be as extremely predictable as Dominic Moore on the 4th line. Yes, the AI defense is much better and their offense is just as ridiculous as it has always been (the Soviet teams in the 80s would look in shame at the AI passing game).

I was drafted by Colorado in the 16th round after winning the CHL scoring race by a mile on Pro, am now ranked 87 in NHL on All-Star and play center between Landeskog and MacKinnon. I'm comfortably leading the league in points (42G, 50A in 45GP, +20, 58PIM, a **** ton of turnovers, 168 hits and about a 12% shooting percentage). The team has barely crept up in 8th place in the western standings. I'm about 45 games into my first NHL season. I've played almost every game, and yes, the NHL simulation engine is horrible. I could do a better job with 150 lines of code and I'm not even kidding. I bet their randomization engine doesn't even have any normal distribution.

Your faceoff, stamina and offensive awareness ratings will reach 99 in no time. So will your wrist shot accuracy. Your skating, endurance and other key settings will take forever, whatever you do. Just an awful, extremely broken exp system that they even recycled(!!!) several games in a row now.

You're basically forced to put all your exp in power skating and agility/ balance. Yes, soo much of a "choice" in this and the occasional point in sprints to not let your endurance sink too low, when you get a big hit on you once or twice every game, pretty much regardless of how you move on All-Star.

Yes you can. If you've played the game, you know exactly which areas I - and other people - mean where nothing has changed, and in which areas it has actually gotten worse. It's not mutually exclusive, because both statements are not hollistic statements, they are separate statements concering separate areas.

The flow of the game itself is obviously better, but the Be a Pro mode? They're not even trying. It's a locked position on one player where they have just scaled down the option of doing - or viewing - anything to an absolute bare minimum. It's just like playing the game in safe mode, nothing else.

It's much worse than 5 years ago, as an example, and even then it was bad. In franchise mode, you can even price the seats and invest in hot dog stands. What choices do you have in Be a Pro Mode? Do you want to sim or play the next game to infinity? You can't even check the standings in the NHL when you play in CHL (not that it matters, as it's basically impossible to be picked 1st anyway). You can barely check the injuries of teammates for crying out loud! You can't interact with anyone, you can't check anything (not even opposing teams' lines), everything has gotten from minimum to laughable. To top it off, their simulation engine for AI games is still crap.

As previously mentioned, check out the career mode in the 2K NBA games. 4-5 years ago, they were infinitely better than EA has ever even been close to. They're not even on the same planet. It's an insult to 2K to compare the games in this mode. I don't even like basketball and I still bought their games because of their actual career mode.

2K: Actual practices, an actual draft, conversations with your agent, life choices affecting things, interviews with the media, talks with the GM, talks with the coach, talks with opponents, talks with rivals, talks with teammates, choosing sponsors, etc, etc, on and on and on... always improving, year after year. Always a new angle, always a new story. It's very well done.

EA: "Do you want to sim or play the next game?". Shoot me.

Until EA actually cares about the career mode, I'm done with them. It's like EA has designed the career mode in the same standard as the NHL.com website: for a four year old with a smart phone.

I agree with not being able to check other teams lines or scores for that matter(unless I'm mistaken). I need more stats!

 

[Duke16]

TOP PROSPECT KYLE DUQUETTE COMMITS TO THE QMJHL'S CHARLOTTETOWN ISLANDERS
Age: 17 | LW Playmaker | 6'2" 215lbs

Draft Year: Charlottetown Islanders
5GP: 0G 2A 2PTS
10GP: 1G 3A 4PTS
15GP: 1G 3A 4PTS
20GP: 1G 4A 5PTS
-Projected to be Drafted 7th Round
25 GP: 1G 6A 7PTS
30GP: 2G 6A 8PTS
-Projected to be Drafted 6th/7th Round
35GP: 4G 7A 11PTS
40GP: 4G 10A 14PTS
-Projected to be Drafted 5th/6th Round
45GP: 5G 11A 16PTS
TPG: Not Invited To Play
50GP: 5G 14A 19PTS
-Projected to be Drafted 5th Round
55GP: 5G 17A 22PTS
60GP: 6G 20A 26PTS
68GP: 8G 20A 28PTS
-Projected to be Drafted 5th Round
Round 1: 6GP 0G 3A 3PTS
Round 2: 7GP 1G 5A 6PTS
Round 3: 7GP 2G 1A 3PTS
Playoffs: 20GP 3G 9A 12PTS
-Projected to be Drafted 4th Round

Drafted: 4th Round #117


Draft +1: Charlotte Islanders
Missed First 3 Games For NHL Pre-Season
5GP: 3G 6A 9PTS
10GP: 4G 12A 16PTS
15GP: 5G 13A 18PTS
20GP: 5G 17A 22PTS
25GP: 6G 18A 24PTS
30GP: 9G 23A 32PTS
35GP: 9G 25A 34PTS
40GP: 10G 30A 40PTS
45GP: 10G 35A 45PTS
50GP: 13G 36A 49PTS
55GP: 14G 39A 53PTS
60GP: 14G 44A 58PTS
65GP: 16G 45A 61PTS
Round 1: 5GP 3G 4A 7PTS
Round 2: 5GP 0G 0A 0PTS
Playoffs: 10GP 3G 4A 7PTS

 

[vHAB]

Like many others I really look forward to EA revamping this game mode. I love playing Be A Pro but some new features are long overdue now. NHL 14 just happened to be the one NHL game I didn't buy in the last 10+ years so I didn't get to try Live The Life but it seemed like they had the right idea there, just deeper and more immersive.

That being said I'm having a lot of fun with it this year so far. They've made some tweaks that make it much less frustrating to play than the past years' versions IMO. CPU teammates are no longer unbearably stupid and the grading system isn't as harsh. I played one season of junior with Moncton in the QMJHL mostly just playing the 3rd period of games and simming quite a few as well. I finished with 121 points in 68 games, but had a tough playoffs with only 15 points in 18 games and out in the 3rd round. I was drafted 7th overall by the Habs which happens to be my favorite team so that was pretty cool. I'm about to play my first preseason game with them.

This thread is pretty dead (still using last year's thread?) so I assume there aren't many people playing this game mode this year so just wanted to share my experience in case anybody else wants to try it out. I recommend turning all the human penalty sliders WAY down it makes it a lot more fun.