NHL 16 Poke Checking

[Anenthran]

So, I decided to write this here just to see how many people agree with me on this.

A couple of days ago, EA released a gameplay update, which increased the amount of penalties from poke checks (and apparently other penalties too) a lot. 24 hours later, they released a new gameplay update which completely overruled the previous one. During that 24 hours, the game was actually good. I absolutely loved the fact, that there were penalties from poke checks. It's true that people took about 10 poke penalties per game, but I myself got used to the new engine, and learned to play with it without taking a load of penalties.

My question is, why the hell did EA change it back to what it was? For a brief moment, the game was somewhat realistic. You couldn't just spam poke check until you got the puck, or it resulted in a penalty. Which is absolutely the way it should be. Now (and before the first update), 1 vs 1 versus is unplayable again. You don't have to do anything else than just spam poke check until you get the puck, and it works 9 out of 10 times. It actually feels even worse than before, there have been even less tripping penalties from spamming poke than before.

I'll never understand, why this was done. I'm sure that there were a lot of complaints from players who rely only on spamming poke, that they suddenly started getting penalties from a ridiculous style of play, but this is still unbelievable.

Don't tell me I'm the only one who feels this way?

[EA_Barry]

Interested to read more opinions on this...

[mikeyflex]

The issue is this, its an exploit that users are using. There should be a risk-reward roll of the dice with poke checking. I'm not talking about a simple penalty. How about consecutive poke checks slows your skating down, or the possibility of losing your stick since you're extending the stick and there is a likelihood of losing the grip. Its too easy to recover from a deke or puck carrier skating around you in this game. It is way too glaring for my taste. Watch real hockey, a player who dekes around a defender is gone to the races, in this game, you turn around and you're right there to recoup. Totally unrealistic and simply does not happen as much as it does on here.

[TheKraken18]

You shouldn't be able to spam the poke check like most people do. The game really lost its integrity with how people spam the poke and on top of that they let the AI play defense for them but that's another issue. If you spam the poke too fast your player should slow down and or the poke loses its effectiveness. So many games I have been in my own end and I try to break out and the other player uses the AI to close in on me and than spams the poke. I wouldn't care about the AI problem if not for this poke check being over the top.

[mikeyflex]

You're preaching to the choir. It has become the defacto on playing this game. The worst part is some of these players think they're good!! AI's doing all the work. Makes you wonder if they truly test their product or listen to the community when it comes to these issues.

[rhikuhytti295]

I bought 50€ ps plus for this game, and what do i get? Broken piece of *. I bought the game and the plus because i wanted to play hut. It was first normal. I beat 10th division and moved to 9th. Thats when everything went wrong. I have played nhl for 10 years, 10 * years. At some point in hut i have always made it to the 1st division but not in this one. Im against players who have team full of gold players when i have two. The pokecheking is so ridicilous. Just when you think that you got past defenders, but noo there comes d mans 3km long hockey stick and the puck is gone. And those freaking breakaways. No matter how hard you try to dangle the goalie will always make a save. And when my opponent goes to breakaway he shoots in the glove of niemi every * time and from there it bounces to goal. If ea wont fix these huge problems i will stop buying their products for good...

[Joonatan8888]

EA , NHL 16 HUT is basically unplayable because of the pokespam and random turnovers in general. It is impossible to cycle the puck or have puck possession because you will get pokechecked or just out of nowhere lose the puck like your players are junior hockey players.I guess it's the new "seemless puckpickups" whitch is a horrible thing and should be removed from the game or atleast toned down.You are not able to deke the defenders or pass the puck because it will get somehow intercepted even when there is a clear passing lane.Every game that i play in nhl 16 HUT i can't get throught the neutral zone and out of my defensive zone because of pokechecks and random turnovers that shouldn't happen.So basically every game i have like 2 penalty minutes and 1-3 goals and my opponent has 5-15 goals and 10-20 penalty minutes.In the real NHL no team would win a game with 10 goals scored while being shortedhanded.I hope you fix your game so i can enjoy my 60€ game.

by the way my record in hut is 45-64-7

and my lines at the moment are:

palat 85- o'reilly 86- kucherov 85

perron 85- turris 87 (A)- Hornqvist 85

boedker 85- kadri 84- grabner 83

cogliano 84- nielsen 84- clutterbuck 82

hamhuis 87 (C) - ekblad 86 (A)

sekere 84 - jones 85

bouwmeester 84 - niskanen 84

lehtonen 86

niemi 85

i think i have a pretty good and stacked team and i would consider myself and elite level nhl gamer, but i just can't enjoy nhl 16 hut because of the pokecheckspam and random turnovers. i do enjoy other gamemodes witch i sometimes play like: be a gm,be a pro,online shootouts,online versus games,eashl. 

Solution: the effectiveness of the pokecheck should be toned down so you would be able to have atleast some kind of puck possession/cycle, people would notice they dont get the puck by spamming the pokescheck and would have to go on the penalty kill for tripping and get scored on so they can learn that they shouldn't spam the pokecheck.

[mikeyflex]

Just to add to what I've already stated. Users don't see taking a penalty as really hurting their game play. I think this has created a domino effect with the game play. How many times have you been on a Power Play and the penalty killers (in my experience 8 out of 10) skate out of the zone and go on the offense. This is why users have no fear taking tripping penalties. They know (experienced players who know how to exploit) that being shorthanded in this game is not a true disadvantage. In my opinion, the fatigue engine is not existent. When penalty killers are on the ice for long periods of time what happens? They stand around, and don't skate as much. This has never been properly implemented nor has the community made a big fuss about it. There is no true fatigue engine in this game. Skaters left on the ice for minutes at a time don't get tired. EA needs to start there, all the other issues will fall in place. Users will think twice before pokechecking to take a penalty. With a real fatigue engine, power plays will feel more like they do in the NHL. Users on the PK will think twice after being on the ice too long to casually skate from their own zone and go on the offense since they can hardly move. Just one persons opinion.

[Joonatan8888]

i got niemi from the returning user bonus packs and i was like "nice i got a starting goalie" NOT . niemi is 85 and plays like 75 he is garbage every game he lets 5-10 goals...get rid of him quickly!

[tallguy22]

A good defender uses the stick checks to his advantage, period. "Spamming" should be what the game used to have on '12-'14 where you could contextual pike check by holding the stick out and sweeping the stick out front. Novice players carry the puck in front of them. If you do this and the guy poke checks 5000 times it shouldn't matter because you aren't puck protecting and he has every right to have his stick anywhere he wants as long as it is legal.

With the'17 beta, the stick lifts are happening fun behind without penalty. If you understand the distances and your handedness when stick checking, spam until you are blue in the face. The new engines slow your player because you aren't concentrating on your stride. EA kudos for that. But I have absolutely no problem with a gliding backward defenseman poke checking repeatedly while an opposing forward tires to do 20 "And 1" video moves without passing or dumping the puck.