Feedback + Wishlist [ Edited ]

[TTZ_Dipsy]

In no particular order...

HUT

- Would love a "Dismiss (Never show again)" option for various screens/prompts to save a little bit of time. Some examples include new HUT promotions (a dedicated tile in the main HUT HUB makes more sense to me), and "You have no packs to open". 

- For HUT, please mark packs with red lettering if you have insufficient funds (Greyed out with a scrolling message also works well).

- If EASHL can award HUT packs, I think it's only fair HUT and other modes be able to offer Chel bags. No need to really focus on single modes at a time, there is always a tiny bit of overall progress each time.

- Please swap random HUT number changes to a single "change your number to anything you want" card in HUT - It's bloatware of the umpteenth degree. *Same for celebrations*

- FIFA has an option to rebuy quick sold cards (you know the ones, super rare cards people didn't actually have in the first place or don't have the heart to admit they goofed and binned so they blame it on a younger slibling), maybe that can get added to NHL down the line? Not nearly as bad a problem as other titles but it's something to consider.

Chel

- There are a LOT menus to go through in Chel and they have been a tad stuttery the last few years; I'm hoping things will be different with next-gen versions but I highly doubt the rest of my team will snag new consoles in time... they don't deserve it but if you have some sort of trick to make things faster for older gen too that'd be alright I guess...

- At least one more primary logo (a secondary logo, if you will...), another secondary mark for your jerseys and 1 or 2 more team colours to use at out leisure. My team makes full use of the alternate jersey but it's a major pain in the butt since we have two different colour schemes going on

- Please change how jersey colour tweaks work; it's been nasty for years and requires multiple presses to open the wheel where real team colours are situated - Eye drop, bucket, multi-select, and "apply to X (including home/away/alternate/all)" options would work wonders

- Please go back to monthly playoffs in EASHL. This month-on, month-off approach doesn't really make much sense to me and seems to just benefit teams who can play lots of games.

I wouldn't mind a larger bracket (random matchmaking) where you'd essentially have to win 16 games (1 mulligan per round maybe?) for a special cup and banner - fewer teams winning this way to promote skill and wins, and people wouldn't have to worry about matchmaking late if it was random.

- Custom attributes for EASHL, please. I prefer the illusion of choice over shoe-horned builds that just don't work on teams with fewer human players. This can lead to meta builds, sure, but we already have those.

- Please add mascot celebrations to EASHL - Fin and Hawky Hawk are God-tier emotes that work perfectly with my created character's canon personality when streaming.

- This is really stupid but we joke our mascot is a real bird, is it possible to make it so you can't see the human inside the suit where the mouth part is? We could just say Squanchy ate the poor guy but regardless, seeing a random dude at certain angles breaks the immersion of mascots anyway.

- Please add more ways of earning team exp for teams with fewer human players in EASHL. I see you added some club finals badges which are super good, but I think there is room for more like penalty kills, no penalties, low shots against, time on attack etc. etc.

I see player progression allows for 30 badges in all categories, please make it at least 30 for club progression as well (honestly, I think it'd be fine if you just made it like "unlimited" (100ish)).

I think it's great you added goalie progression but it's just a waste of space for most clubs - Can players also get things like pass %, no offsides, fighting in aid of hurt teammates, intimidation of opponents, great coach feedback (A's or higher) and total hip checks? This would be a great incentive to really get into the thick of it.

[EA_Blueberry]

@TTZ_Dipsy Thanks for kicking off a wishlist post.

We're going to sticky this at the top of the board and share this list with the development team.

Please keep replies to this thread to your most highly desired features and in a list type format.

Thank you for being a fan of the EA NHL franchise!

[subnauticalman88]

BAP

- Put the Junior Season back in 

- Fix the AI GM's and their constant roster turnovers

- Fix your overall scaling ie a goalie that consistently posts sub .900 sv every season, should not become a 95ovr by his 5th season

- Put the AHL back in

- Put being demoted to CHL/AHL back in

- Injury tracker ie explain injury, how long you'll be out, etc (just put back in the injury screen from previous games, why was this taken out?)

- Remove/rework the awful story, a defenseman that scores 1 goal in 4 games, in the smallest sample size ever to base a draft position off of, should not go 1st or 2nd overall

- Trade activity tracker

- Fix the still buggy conversations/challenges

- Scale back the handholding ie you should not be getting first line minutes if you get two 5min fighting penalties a game, with no points

-Why are we only ever offered 2 year contracts?

-Ability to negotiate/decline contracts, let us set the term/value of contract we are looking for, what kind of team we want to play for, etc

-Give BAP a salary cap. The insane star studded rosters are so unrealistic

Franchise Mode

-Fix the trade values for real this time

-Fix the awful AI GM's and their mindboggling stupid logic

-Put the ability to edit player position/style back in, so we can work around the awful chemistry system

-Fix the chemistry system. Why are TWF/TWD useless in every single scheme? Make it adaptable. If players have x gp together, let them build chemistry

-Fix the coaching system. Why are coaches completely unable to adapt? If they acquire McDavid, Crosby, Ovi etc, but they don't fit their scheme, too bad? thats stupid

-Allow us to edit coaches schemes

-Give us the ability to entirely edit players, that way we can fix mistakes you make. It's an offline game mode, who is it going to hurt if we want to edit things, play the way we want, or even just cheese it by making everyone a 99ovr?

-Fix the trade deadline gimmick, if you're working on a trade and you get an incoming trade, it interrupts and ruins all the progress you've made in adding assets, etc

-Allow us to force/veto CPUvsCPU, and PLAYERvsCPU trades. Sure some people will cheese it, but who will it hurt? Let us play the game how we want. I want it to be realistic. And for years, every instalment we get further away from having a realistic functioning FM

-For the love of hockey, fix the game breaking prospect development bug. This bug on its own, makes the game pointless to play. Throw in all the other bugs, even worse.

-Allow us to reposition the scoreboard. It's so simple. Let us have it on top, or bottom.

-Up the speed of the info of who scored & assisted on the goal on the scoreboard. The faceoff happens before you can read you got the assists.

-Fix the issue, when a player gets injured and you substitute a player, it doesn't apply to all lines, IE FWD who is on 3rd line, and 2nd PP, on the "defense" slot, the 2nd PP "defense" slot will not be filled by the new substituted player

-Fix the AI GM's not trying to sign their RFA's, especially their high ovr, star RFA's. If they can't sign them, try to make room, or trade them.

-Fix the seller, buyer, etc status, because a team like Tampa Bay should not be selling off their stars like Point, Kuch, Stamkos, simply because they had ONE bad season

-Have team overalls be a factor into their success, ie in the first year of FM, teams like Detroit, Buffalo, Senators, Ducks, shouldn't be at the top of the standings, and teams like Tampa Bay, Golden knights, Capitals, etc shouldn't be at the bottom. Yes this happens sometimes in real life, but the game makes this consistent. And then eventually you get every single team being "good" and every division has teams missing the playoffs despite going with records like 42-29-11 or whatever

I know I definitely forgot some and left some out. But here's a starting point.

[mrbrewskisays]

@TTZ_Dipsy I'd really love to see the NHL 94 Rewind available for the Switch...if not the entire NHL '21 package. Just not much hockey on Switch and NHL 94, would be a huge boost. Also think small screen size would play well with the 16 bits.

[Beauts90]

I don't really touch online, so I won't comment on the original post as I wouldn't have much to say. 

As far as @subnauticalman88 list goes though. This is a great list and is exactly in tune with what we have all been saying here about the offline modes.

[davehoehn970]

Without further listing the bug fixes we all want/need, my addition to the "wish list" is a better way to clear the zone.  In the NHL, players use the boards, the glass, chip the puck, and flip pucks high to get them out of the zone.  As implemented in game, these moves nearly always result in icing or a puck-over-glass delay of game penalty.  The last thing you want in these situations is a defensive zone faceoff, as one of the CPU's greatest "cheats" is to score off of a won faceoff.  I refer to this as a "cheat" for two reasons:

1. Your AI teammate positioning when losing a faceoff is laughably bad.
2. The CPU can pass and shoot (one timer) faster than any possible human reaction.

Without diving deeper into discussions on how the CPU covers/protects the slot (which is via blatant holding/hooking/interference, not a "stick/body tie up") vs. what your controls will actually allow you to do, or how your AI teammates "cover" when you control a player "out of position" (sorry, your responsibility is actually covering the guy wide open in the slot, not skating yourself out of position because you think I'm out of position), we need better control over the methods to get the puck out of the zone.  These shouldn't be 100% successful (guys in the NHL do ice the puck, too), but as currently implemented, these methods have a near-0% success rate.  Many NHL players are also really good at sending the puck down the ice just far enough to not be icing, as well.  Maybe a way to do this is with a different slider for "clear speed", for example, instead of just relying on "pass speed"... trying to bounce a puck off the boards and out, for example, is a lot different of a maneuver than trying a bank pass to a non-existent up-ice teammate.

Of course, that would also lead me into discussions on why change player is on the same button as pass, and other multi-function buttons...

tl;dr  wishlist: better way to clear the zone

[sportball_punker]

@TTZ_DipsyGreat post. I would love to see reworking the menu for quicker navigation in HUT as well. I also noticed choice packs you have to select the card with (X) and then confirm with and then you have to verify again. That's a bit Overkill, I'd vote remove the select with (X) and let (A) work, them verify

- Allow choosing Jersey and Logo directly from the my team screen. Right now you have to search the cards which is frustrating, especially when you accidentally change your jersey.

- Smarter Line changes, I have had many folks skate off the ice during a break, or better yet lost the puck in my own end near the blue line then skates away? Or one player who never leaves the ice, even if I'm controlling the luck at offensive blue line or in my own defensive end they won't leave the ice. Another one is leaving the ice when the pass is going to them.

- AI tie ups, interference and holding. Sometimes they get called but it's pretty rare. I'm constantly seeing AI cut off my folks and bump into them and not get an interference call. While you can hit a guy very near the puck, and it be interference.

- If you choose to not open a pack, allow us to use B to close that menu.

- Add a send to set button for cards. If it can be sent to more than one set, give options. That would be fun. Or a fill out at the highest level for that tier of sets. For example the team builder, rather than go through every team just fill everything, or if you snag a player allow to send to sets.

- Eliminate single card pack animations. Just make them go to your inbox rather than a pack animation.

- Trade in options for coaches, masks, numbers, and celebrations. Just a trade 4 for 1 random one or something.

- A rare drop, or monthly trade in to convert one untradeable card to a tradeable one. Like the 30 monthly for icon/gold but make it 50 or something to convert one card.

- when you hit end of HUT Rush, have a reward if you keep going, so you can keep playing and reel benefits but not necessarily as good as initial perks but randomized so it's not the same for everyone always. Like 5k coins, 2 player packs, monthly rewards and and maybe randomly pull a sick pack.

- change how face offs are handled. Rather than * hour center if he swipes early, allow a second chance or boot them for another player, like it is in real life. If they swipe early it's not like the other team automatically wins. If you spam a face off just warn it as a faceoff violation then throw a penalty. I find it frustrating if the game glitches and my guy moves at the beginning of a faceoff and then I'm crippled for the faceoff. Also maybe some quicker puck drops.

- Allow filtering in HUT search of a single OVR. For example 86-86 range. 

- Less buggy objectives in HUT Rush. Like needing 11 wins for the 10 win objectives and others not registering at all.

- Make non-monthly collectibles tradeable again, regardless of how you earn them.

- I pretty much agree with everything else in the OPs post.

[tyler0979]

I have an addition that I think will help Franchise mode run better. Allow us to set the “best lines” function to a lineup that we want. That way when we use the best lines option it goes back to the lineup that we want instead of the computer generated best lines option. 

[Chickenspear93]

General:

1) Custom music in menu/arena for offline modes. Not a fan of any recent music included in the game, EA soundtrack is getting boring. Would like to put my own playlists in/customize Goal/Intro music for franchise mode.

2) Custom create-a-team logos, at least for offline. 

3) Goalie logic... I suggest the developers look at goaltenders in real life to determine what goalies do in certain situations, like coming out of the net to get the puck when opposition PK clears the puck/dump-ins/pucks near the crease.

4) On the goalie topic, how about have them move cross crease more efficiently. A real goalie would push, slide, and plant in position in one fluid motion, while the game has them slowly inch over in many choppy movements, like he's trying to walk/shimmy on his knees, even with all the goalie reaction settings maxed out. They only should shimmy, when tracking the puck out high, and even then, on their skates so they retain control, and react more efficiently. I feel this would make a dramatic improvement in save%, and make it a bit more difficult to score on cross slot plays. Here's a video link with one of the best goalie coaches in the world, Ian Clark, working with Thatcher Demko, and Braden Holtby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1q1cW7PXXA  

Franchise Mode:

1) Turn off roster limits for the duration of the preseason so we can quickly sub players in and out of the lineup, without having to do roster moves, and fix the AHL lineups every time. Could set a deadline of the day after final preseason game to send down those who don't make the cut.

2) Make a few NHL head coaches available for hire in the offseason. There's always a number of head coaches without jobs in real life.

3) Stop making my top end high minute guys ask for more icetime when it is impossible to do so.

4) Add NTC/M-NTC/NMC into contract negotiations, and have that play into trade negotiations as well/request a player to waive his clause/submit list of no trade teams in the case of a M-NTC.

5) Those NCAA/Russian prospects/draft picks, if you can't add them in a roster update due to legal arrangements, could you add equivalent players under a different name in their place? Or add the last names to the play-by-play announcement list so we can create them/add something like the 'microsoft sam' program.

Be A Pro:

1) Bring back Junior seasons. As it is now, it's too easy to be the number 1 overall pick. Also, this way a couple seasons would pass with a different order of teams with the higher picks, not just NYR being the de-facto #1 pick.

2) Add view team/line strategies both in the BAP menu, as well as showing adjustments in-game.

3) Improved GM trade/signing logic. Not trading rising star players in their low-mid 20's for 30+ year old vets. eg: Höglander + Demko for E. Staal.

4) Add a franchise mode type message center to view trades, injuries, etc... rather than having to wait 5 mins for the ticker to show it.

5) Add the training reminder back in the game. Didn't know you had to stop offseason simming on Sundays in order to select training. Made me miss the entire first offseason of training.

6) Fix in-game simming engine between shifts. Not a chance in hell they scored 2 goals in 2 seconds.

7) Game situation coaching... Maybe use a timeout near the end of a close game, put the best offensive players out for the last minute when you're down a goal instead of the 4th line plugs.

8) Have teammate AI actually check opponents on the rush/engage in net battles in our zone, as the opposition does to my team in theirs.

9) Better teammate AI logic with the puck. eg: making a breakout pass/chipping it off the glass and out, not making a non-sensical deke (or 3) at the opposing blueline to either give up possession, or put linemates offside (btw, FIX THAT -7.5 TEAMPLAY FOR OFFSIDE!!!)

[Beauts90]

@davehoehn970 

There definitely needs to be better tools for defensemen when it comes to moving the puck out of the zone and up the ice. I’ve always wondered if different players or player types should have different advanced moves. So instead of having a deke that they don’t have the skill to pull off, the combination would result in a different action that would be more suited to their play style. I’m actually not sure if I would prefer this method compared to what we have, but it would add more separation between players and some of the tools could make for different ways to play the game as well.