NHL 17 Information Thread II

[BogsDiamond]

https://www.easports.com/nhl/news/2016/nhl-17-world-cup-of-hockey

"For the first time in EA SPORTS NHL history, play for national pride in this full International Tournament Mode."

First time, really?

That's EA's M.O.
They absolutely love it when new consoles come out so they can offer a stripped-down version and tout "First Time Ever" every year when they slowly add in all the old features.

I'm seriously leaning towards picking up PES or FIFA instead of NHL17.
This series is moving at a snails pace. I was setting hotdog prices in MVP2004.

 

[Oscar Acosta]

Thanks, I couldn't find this info.

So there's your answer. Why did EA make Madden and FIFA so much better and not NHL?

Answer: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

It's an excuse not an answer as it outsells MLB the Show but has 1/50th the features and quality. No to mention they can take modes from other games in the EA world as seen with draft champions and put it in NHL they don't even have to do all the legwork themselves. MLB does it all on their own in a small studio and blows them out of the water.
It's the fact they have a terrible development team and the series directly correlates with the year Rammer took over as lead and the game has gone downhill hard since. Mascots and playoff beards as reasons to promote a year? That's ridiculous.

You could give a team of modders the same tools, budget and time and they would absolutely knock it out of the park.

 

[Trap Jesus]

The attention to detail/laziness is downright comical in the ratings. Exhibit A:

NHL 16 Toews:

NHL 17 Toews:

So outside of losing 1 point for offensive awareness (GOOD JOB, EA!), everything is the same except for:

Plummeting by 10 in faceoffs (14/15 Toews: 56.5%; 15/16 Toews: 58.6%)

Dropping 2 in shotblocking (14/15 Toews: 16 blocked shots; 15/16 Toews: 38 blocked shots, with 1 less game played)

Just complete and utter nonsense. They are randomly throwing numbers up with zero thought into them. It's like they thought there should be some type of adjustment made for Toews' down year, but they took it away from him in a completely nonsensical way. Not that it affected his overall at all.

 

[bleedblue1223]

That's actually hilarious.

 

[Malkinstheman]

One small addition that would really improve BAGM is negotiating in free agency. Basically you give a contract to a free agent and hope he takes it. Theres no negotiating no back and forth. At least ask me if i want to match the offer or something. I can only send an offer to one guy and by the time he replies everyone else is gone. If I send offers to everyone my last resort could reply early meaning my top choice has to reject because of lack of cap. Contract clauses would be great too.

 

[SPV]

Do we know if you can control all 30 teams in the new franchise mode? I'm thinking I might take the time to do a roster overhaul in the first few weeks the game comes out; but if I do that and I can't control all 30 teams, they could change the lineups radically

 

[BogsDiamond]

Do we know if you can control all 30 teams in the new franchise mode? I'm thinking I might take the time to do a roster overhaul in the first few weeks the game comes out; but if I do that and I can't control all 30 teams, they could change the lineups radically

I don't believe so. You can in a Regular season mode, but not Franchise.

 

[vannzee]

I see that in Madden they put the Atlanta Falcons stadium that opens next year in the game. Basically in franchise mode their stadium switches from the Georgia Dome this year to the new one once you reach year two of the franchise.

Any word on if the Red Wings new arena, Little Ceasars Arena, will similarly be available?

 

[Shrimper]

I see that in Madden they put the Atlanta Falcons stadium that opens next year in the game. Basically in franchise mode their stadium switches from the Georgia Dome this year to the new one once you reach year two of the franchise.

Any word on if the Red Wings new arena, Little Ceasars Arena, will similarly be available?

This being NHL I'll say no.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

I see that in Madden they put the Atlanta Falcons stadium that opens next year in the game. Basically in franchise mode their stadium switches from the Georgia Dome this year to the new one once you reach year two of the franchise.

Any word on if the Red Wings new arena, Little Ceasars Arena, will similarly be available?

I'd say NHL will more likely be similar to the Rams in Madden. They give them the Coliseum and after one year they switch to a new generic stadium where the teams logo isn't to be seen anywhere besides midfield and their are Madden logos everywhere. Also, the new stadium carries over the Coliseum's poor attributes and there's nothing you can do about it.

I'd say that's far more likely to be seen in NHL.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I'd say NHL will more likely be similar to the Rams in Madden. They give them the Coliseum and after one year they switch to a new generic stadium where the teams logo isn't to be seen anywhere besides midfield and their are Madden logos everywhere. Also, the new stadium carries over the Coliseum's poor attributes and there's nothing you can do about it.

I'd say that's far more likely to be seen in NHL.

Ha, as a St. Louis guy, that's awesome.

 

[izzy]

One small addition that would really improve BAGM is negotiating in free agency. Basically you give a contract to a free agent and hope he takes it. Theres no negotiating no back and forth. At least ask me if i want to match the offer or something. I can only send an offer to one guy and by the time he replies everyone else is gone. If I send offers to everyone my last resort could reply early meaning my top choice has to reject because of lack of cap. Contract clauses would be great too.

Yeah, very irritating. Especially when their reasoning is that you aren't a contender even if you did just have a decent playoff run and young players are getting better.

 

[Deku]

Yeah, very irritating. Especially when their reasoning is that you aren't a contender even if you did just have a decent playoff run and young players are getting better.

My favourite part about when they give that excuse is that 90% of the time they go and sign with some bottom-feeder or non-playoff team, because those are the only other teams with cap space.

 

[Shrimper]

Don't know if this was posted, seems to have put on their twitter just today.

 

[AIexisLafreniereNYR]

The only 90+ players should be Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, Doughty, Karlsson, Price, Benn.

And Crosby should be the highest at 92-93. IMO. It's way better when getting an 87 rated player is a massive pull, like FIFA. Guys like Thornton, Voracek, Pacioretty, Couture etc.. should be in the 86 range for me.

I'm assuming you forgot Henrik there right?

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Why would they create a WCOH mode and leave out the ability to choose who makes the team?

Add in some form of chemistry, and that could actually make it fun.

Theyve had international tournaments in the game forever and nobody touches them because there isn't much to them. Let me guess, they took it out of next gen, brought it back with a new name, and all ofna sudden it is considered a new feature?

 

[PensFan12]

Don't know if this was posted, seems to have put on their twitter just today.

I believe that is a month old. They may have just reposted it for some reason.

 

[The Lewler]

Cancelled my pre-order today.

Underwhelmed, not worth the $90 at this point to me.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Yeah, very irritating. Especially when their reasoning is that you aren't a contender even if you did just have a decent playoff run and young players are getting better.

In one save file lucic was a free agent and wanted around 6.3m on a two year contract. I had a crazy amount of cap space and needed to get above the floor so i gave him 14.5 x 1. He rejected my offer because I didnt give him the term he wanted

 

[BogsDiamond]

Why would they create a WCOH mode and leave out the ability to choose who makes the team?

Add in some form of chemistry, and that could actually make it fun.

Theyve had international tournaments in the game forever and nobody touches them because there isn't much to them. Let me guess, they took it out of next gen, brought it back with a new name, and all ofna sudden it is considered a new feature?

Bingo. That's EA's recipe for success.
Wait for next-gen consoles to come out, remove all the features just so you can claim "ALL NEW" every year until the next-gen consoles come out 7 years from them.

The NHL series has basically just been recycled a half-dozen times over the past 25 years.
Has the Franchise Mode ever had any meat to it?
NHL2K5, a game that is 12 years old, had signing bonuses, performance bonuses and dynamic budgets.
NHL2K10 also had those blogs at the start screen so you could see all the news around the league; which players were on a hot streak, who was cold, injuries, trades, etc.
It made you feel like you were part of something larger than yourself.

Playing all these other sports games, it makes you realize how little work is put into the NHL series in comparison.
Someone here pointed out that SCEA, which develops MLB: The Show, has a similar sized team and yet that game's polish destroys NHL's. Same with their franchise mode.

 

[bleedblue1223]

In one save file lucic was a free agent and wanted around 6.3m on a two year contract. I had a crazy amount of cap space and needed to get above the floor so i gave him 14.5 x 1. He rejected my offer because I didnt give him the term he wanted

He clearly wants security for his family and doesn't want to relocate.

 

[Nicky Santoro]

The attention to detail/laziness is downright comical in the ratings. Exhibit A:




So outside of losing 1 point for offensive awareness (GOOD JOB, EA!), everything is the same except for:


Just complete and utter nonsense. They are randomly throwing numbers up with zero thought into them. It's like they thought there should be some type of adjustment made for Toews' down year, but they took it away from him in a completely nonsensical way. Not that it affected his overall at all.

I really really really have a great solution for this that would make this game so realistic. Hire a kid/man who really really knows his hockey and sees the game like no one else. He will know every player in the NHL to the tee. Like a canadian boy from Alberta. A guy who knows hockey way better than Bob Mckenzie, etc... Pay him 7k for the summer and let him rate every NHL player perfectly.. If kane is 94, let him be 98 offence awareness and maybe 81 def awareness. Lets have every player in this game play EXACTLY like their self. I want this game to be 100% accurate, unlike now.

It'll only cost EA about 80 CD's in price (7k) to pay this guy and now we'll have a great accurate game. Right now, every player plays exactly the same and it's boring. Now we'll get 4th liners rated 77 who are great at killing powerplays and will score 3 goals all yr instead of 37 goals.

They can interview 2000 kids for the job and EA will test them and they'll take the best for the job and pay him 7k. That's like 600/wk to stay home and do hockey stats... It's not hard to do.

now we'll have a very fun realistic game, unlike now.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I really really really have a great solution for this that would make this game so realistic. Hire a kid/man who really really knows his hockey and sees the game like no one else. He will know every player in the NHL to the tee. Like a canadian boy from Alberta. A guy who knows hockey way better than Bob Mckenzie, etc... Pay him 7k for the summer and let him rate every NHL player perfectly.. If kane is 94, let him be 98 offence awareness and maybe 81 def awareness. Lets have every player in this game play EXACTLY like their self. I want this game to be 100% accurate, unlike now.

It'll only cost EA about 80 CD's in price (7k) to pay this guy and now we'll have a great accurate game. Right now, every player plays exactly the same and it's boring. Now we'll get 4th liners rated 77 who are great at killing powerplays and will score 3 goals all yr instead of 37 goals.

They can interview 2000 kids for the job and EA will test them and they'll take the best for the job and pay him 7k. That's like 600/wk to stay home and do hockey stats... It's not hard to do.

now we'll have a very fun realistic game, unlike now.

I mean, that's not realistic at all.

 

[Beville]

Pretty sure NHL HITZ had a better franchise/gm mode than this game...

What was the 2K game with Roenick on the front? That game was the don.

I might buy it later in the season (ie next year) for cheap, just cos I've not had the games for a while... But FIFA is definitely the priority this year, again.

 

[SPV]

I still have really high hopes for the 100 points sliders. I'm going to waste a lot of my initial time editing the rosters.

I figure I'm going to try to make a radical difference between players in several attributes. Hopefully between that and the sliders I can make a real difference in game play. Not sure how it will be affected on overalls, or with prospects from the draft, but figure it's worth a shot.

As bad as 16 was, I played hundreds and hundreds of games. I'm sure I'll do that same this year, so maybe I can make it better for myself at least.