NHL 24 Discussion

[belair]

yes they did. believe me, i know how to hit in 24, it's just that it's lame as shit compared to 23, 22, and every year that came before it.

As someone who rarely hit in previous iterations of this game, I average five or six a game in high division 6v6 club matches. Hitting is ridulously easy and quite OP.

The issue this year is that missed hits leave you out of position, hence the anticipation part of my post.

I don't know what to tell you. The hitting was one of the biggest improvements they made in '24. And the community seems to agree.

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

I don't agree with making 'regular hitting' more difficult to pull off than a hip check the way it currently is. But I'm used to it.

 

[FerrisRox]

yes they did. believe me, i know how to hit in 24, it's just that it's lame as shit compared to 23, 22, and every year that came before it.

The hitting is enormously improved and it certainly hasn't been "nerfed."

I don't agree with making 'regular hitting' more difficult to pull off than a hip check the way it currently is. But I'm used to it.

Regular hitting is definitely not more difficult to pull off than a hip check. For the first month or so, yeah, hip checks were way too common, but that has long ago been addressed. To get nailed by a hip check now you need to pretty clueless and essentially skate into one or be trying to squeeze by on the wall, just like in a real hockey.

 

[belair]

I think a big 'skill gap' issue is that a lot of people still want to play a straightforward rush game, but the game for years has been leaning towards a more east-west approach.

Hits need to be timed and angled appropriately or they'll miss. '23 had a ridiculously OP'd Truculence perk that was abused to the point where it was removed from competitive play.

If that's the 'easy' hitting that people are complaining about losing, hate to say it, but your perfect version of the game is worse.

 

[Faceboner]

Can they bring back stick curves and flexes please?

 

[Dale Gribble]

The goalie quality from game to game is also not consistent.

Some games the goalie looks like he doesn't even know the sport, and the next game they're stopping every cross crease tap in.

Yup, this is easily my biggest issue with the game. User goalie are generally worse than the CPU goalies who can play unreal most games.

Also, find it odd how a Goalie rated in the 70's generally plays amazing against my teams.

 

[Faceboner]

Yup, this is easily my biggest issue with the game. User goalie are generally worse than the CPU goalies who can play unreal most games.

Also, find it odd how a Goalie rated in the 70's generally plays amazing against my teams.

Same with franchise you can have an 82 overall goalie win the vezina and cup but once their stats get a boost they do worse makes no sense

 

[belair]

Same with franchise you can have an 82 overall goalie win the vezina and cup but once their stats get a boost they do worse makes no sense

I find that the created goalies always have poor poise and it results in average to below average stats, even with guys at 88-89 OVR and a $10m+ ask.

It's obvious they haven't gone in an audited this game mode in nearly a decade. Tons of repetitive things dating back several versions.

 

[Faceboner]

I find that the created goalies always have poor poise and it results in average to below average stats, even with guys at 88-89 OVR and a $10m+ ask.

It's obvious they haven't gone in an audited this game mode in nearly a decade. Tons of repetitive things dating back several versions.

And yet they find a way to take away good features just to rehash old ones I imagine we will have *new* goalie and player physics like in nhl 14

 

[TMLegend]

This franchise is in the toilet. Just the fact there's a battle pass in EASHL shows what EA thinks of the franchise and who they're catering it towards. This used to be fairly decent hockey game even as recently as 19/20 in my opinion but the current iterations are so horribly imbalanced it plays more like an arcade game than a hockey sim at this point.

X-factors are a mixed bag, while I appreciate how they make players more unique, some of them are pretty broken(close quarters, big tipper, truculence) and the offensive ones just turn games into RNG fests essentially. There's a pretty big part of me that thinks the game would be in a better state competitively if they were never introduced in the first place.

I also think defense in general is in a pretty sorry state these days. The slowdown that comes from poke checking or using your defensive skill stick is amongst the dumbest things I've ever seen. Stick lifting is okay I guess, but even if you're in perfect position you're still gonna pick up random slashes here and there. Hitting is whatever, watching 5'7 snipers going for hip checks in the corners is irritating as hell to me though.

That's just the gameplay stuff, I could go on another rant on how clunky and laggy the menus are, or how much of a bad state be a pro or franchise mode is in.

With the way the franchise is trending it wouldn't shock me 5-10 years from now if the EA NHL series is completely dead in the water. The vast majority of the user base is not happy with the product right now.

 

[Gaud]

I play hut and find this year's installment more fun than previous (less rage quits).

However, my AI is definitely more stupid than my opponent's (i play SB) and i think this is on purpose to make it more "challenging" and to make the win dependent on you.

I just like to chill out and play hockey and grind on HUT according to what i need in challenges (more games, i shorten periods; more wins, i lessen difficulty, etc). It is VERY clear to me that difficulties are no indication of what you are about to face.

I'd rather they make the AI the same so that you are the reason if you lose; they would have to make the game harder to win, but the play would be even and you could accurately adjust your level of difficulty.

As it is, Ill beat a team 20-0 on superstar, but will sometimes struggle to win on semi-pro because their goalie is in god mode and mine cant stop a beachball thrown backhand from the blueline by a silver player. I rage at those. Typing this just made me peeved lol.

Sometimes there will be a comedy of "errors" where my players are suddenly braindead (im not talking with the pressure meter) - passes hit skates and arent caught, multiple checks cant seem to knock players down or away from pucks, D stay at the blue line, everyone is being outskated by silver players, my goalie gives out rebounds for every god damn shot, etc.

I litterally tell everyone within range "Just give them the goal so i can play again", and it usually happens. Often, this is immediately followed by a goal from me. Or ill have a game that the puck just wont go in, then the 3rd period, nothing gets stopped.

 

[Jakk123]

This game is so bad it makes me sad. It all feels so random. One year, they make hitting OP while pokechecking is useless, next year it's vice versa. This year, apparently midgets can do hipchecks.

What the f*** are those one button dekes supposed to be? Seriously? I hope next year they add one button scoring so I can just score goals automatically and not bother with the game's terrible mechanics. Just how out of touch are the people making these decisions? Some of those x-factor abilities are totally OP, others are completely useless. The game was better without them, it's just another gimmick and visual clutter. Also, what the f*** are those slow menus? What year is it?

I'm so tired of getting used to the game's mechanics only for them to randomly change the next year. I feel like this should be a subscription game that continuously evolves with smaller adjustments to the mechanics.
I so wish some other studio would make a hockey game again. Unfortunately it's a small market and with the way it's going, I wouldn't be surprised if even EA stops making NHL games in a couple of years.

 

[Dale Gribble]

Same with franchise you can have an 82 overall goalie win the vezina and cup but once their stats get a boost they do worse makes no sense

I pretty much exclusively play Franchise Mode, and can confirm.

I don't recall where I read it or saw it from, but I remember seeing that each season we're supposed to adjust the goalie sliders, as the AI supposedly gets better over time and it easier to score. Seems about the same when I try to score, but my goalie get progressively worse each season.

Easily my biggest grip about EA NHL the last few years. My second being confused as to what EA Developers think Interference is...

 

[Ceremony]

The bulk of my experience is in Ones games but I would definitely say there are times where the game simply decides you're not scoring on a particular chance, regardless of the state the goalie is in at the time.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

The bulk of my experience is in Ones games but I would definitely say there are times where the game simply decides you're not scoring on a particular chance, regardless of the state the goalie is in at the time.

Did you win 1?

 

[Ceremony]

Did you win 1?

Oh, you'll know when I win one.

 

[Ceremony]

I'm actually -alright- at this mode. I flit between a TWF, DNG and SNP build depending on what it seems like the sweaty boys I lose to use. I've been to finals with all of those builds (and PWF) and one of two things happens. Either the other two guys are just good and have a close match I can't get into, or it's a cagey game that ends up in overtime where it gets even cagier and then I get a chance and I still don't win. I'd say about half of those finals at least have gone to OT and I still haven't managed to finish it.

About the only solace I have is that I genuinely don't get angry. If someone just dominates and wins, fine. If the goalie pulls out bullshit saves on me then pulls a Georgiev on someone else I usually burst out laughing at how ridiculous it is. Just keep trying, I guess.

 

[Ceremony]

 

[savebyrichter94]

And this one will last a lifetime!

 

[Ceremony]

I actually played really well in all the tries I had last night. First time I went out in the second round on a deflection that I didn't even notice. I watched the replay and the video back several times and I'm still not convinced. Next time I had the beating of a guy with a Ones Global Tournament Champion jersey on in the first round, the other guy in the game was a complete f***ing dunce and got in the way of me twice when I was trying to defend and cost goals.

The winning run I just played and it worked. I seemed to be the fast, aggressive, physical, well-positioned player I can never get near. I used my sniper build and was up against two pretty skinny looking danglers in the final, so I think I had an advantage there. I got in a few hits and my poke checking had been great all night, and it worked here. I scored the goal to make it 3-2-0 with 13 seconds to go and those 13 seconds weren't the longest of my life, the final 2 seconds when the other guy came out of the right corner while I was praying for the clock to stop were the worst.

Maybe because I've (had to) put so much time into this mode but I think it's probably the purest form of gameplay you'll have in an NHL game. I've seen just about every player type be dominant in games so I think it actually is balanced, even if it can feel frustrating 99% of the time. Now to head to single player, turn the difficulty down and get several months of frustration out.

 

[LG18]

I can't wait until the day when we stop hearing people pretending that there's "ice tilt."

They literally made it a game feature called ''sustained pressure'' and thought we'd be dumb enough not to notice. Nice try but people with half a brain saw through the BS they were trying to feed the consumer.

I'm so glad I waited until it went on game pass. This game isn't worth a single penny.

 

[BruinDust]

Also, what the f*** are those slow menus? What year is it?.

The sheer fact that the menus from EA NHL games from 20 years ago are superior to what they have today is truly pathetic. NHL 2005 on PC puts the menus of recent games to shame.

I remember playing HUT on NHL 14 on PS3 and getting into these fierce bidding wars over players. But the menu mechanics made the bidding fast and furious and really was a lot of fun. Then the next gen NHL games came out like NHL 15 and 16 on PS4, and the menus were completely revamped and bidding wars in the auction house were beyond painful. Probably done on purpose.

 

[Soedy]

The menus are the worst. Why they are as laggy as they are is not understandable. If you can't make them work snappy, remove all these effects and go for a cleaner look.

 

[RiverbottomChuck]

The games will continue being bad until one company doesn’t have a monopoly on NHL Hockey video games. Giving EA exclusive rights to anything should be seen as essentially a death sentence, the only question is how long will everyone keep dropping $60 on what boils down to roster updates.

 

[TMLegend]

The games will continue being bad until one company doesn’t have a monopoly on NHL Hockey video games. Giving EA exclusive rights to anything should be seen as essentially a death sentence, the only question is how long will everyone keep dropping $60 on what boils down to roster updates.

I don't believe the license EA has is exclusive for the NHL series.

It's my understanding that any developer could jump in and make a NHL game if they wanted to, they just don't want to.