My game/update suggestions

[aidemannen9]

Here are some of my suggestions for the game. Feel free to add your suggestions or feedback on my ideas. Hopefully the EA Community managers listen to us and not just the online players as of lately..

1. Why can’t you switch teams during a Franchise Mode? Yes, it’s fun to build a dynasty, but sometimes there are new generated players in draft you want to “manage” and I just can’t see why this can’t be added? FIFA games from 2006 had this feature. 

2. Camera angles are very important in Franchise Mode. Apparently all the topics on here aren’t enough feedback, but removing something (True Broadcast) AFTER release almost feels illegal. Surely you can just add this back as another angle again?

3. You presented the 1-3-1 PP strategy ahead of release, but I’m yet to see my team ACTUALLY setup in this formation in game. I’d like to see AI perform more realistically here. You should be able to slow the tempo down, setup your PP strategy and go for it. This is not the case now. 

4. Goalie equipment - still can’t edit your own goalie masks? You keep adding weird equipment options in CHEL, but this is an idea that has been up for many many years. 

5. Add an option to increase the amount of shots the AI take if you play as goalie in BAP: Having a good save % is almost impossible considering you always get like 10 shot faced against you. 

5. Outdoor games.. You can play outdoor games online, but surely it can’t be difficult to add this as a standing option for offline players? Also gives the Franchise Mode players some extra depth. 

6. Managers in Franchise Mode have real avatars in menus, but generated players don’t? You can see their faces in game, so it shouldn’t be difficult to add their faces in the menus as well?

7. In real life players are really good with their backhand shots and I feel that this should be implemented more realistically. Having the “Beauty Backhand” X-factor shouldn’t be necessary if you want to score great goals with your backhand. 

8. Add more X-factors in the future. Would be fun if there were even more in the future. Some examples:

- Bat it in: Better at basically scoring volley goals. 
- Edge work: Being able to skate sideways like Crosby/Kaprisov and set up team mates. 

- Splits: Quicker and more efficient split saves for goalies.

9. Why can’t you choose which players you want in the All Star teams? You should be able to create your own rosters from each division. Same with international teams. 

10. Player reactions. Scoring an OT winner and your teams mates are skating around like it’s an icing? This is one of the worst things that has to be updated in some way. 

[VeronicatheCD]

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@aidemannen9 wrote:

6. Managers in Franchise Mode have real avatars in menus, but generated players don’t? You can see their faces in game, so it shouldn’t be difficult to add their faces in the menus as well?

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This should be doable at this point, but it would come with a cost.  I assume you mean coaches - and there are about 300 of them in the game at any one point.  300 * 10kb (no idea if this is the right file size for a pic, just guessing) is only about 2.93 mB.  But at any point you can have 48 NHL teams with 20 players a piece and 48 AHL teams with 26 players a piece, a draft class of 1000, maybe 400 unsigned players.... that's (48*20 + 48*26 + 1000 + 400) * 10kB.  That's 36,080 * 10kB.  In turn that is 351.76 mB.  That would be for each saved game in franchise or be-a-pro.  So if I had 3 BAP saves and 6 franchise saves, that is an extra 3.09 gB in game save storage space.

If they're only 2 kB a piece, then it's only 633 extra mB.  If they're 50 kB each, then it's 15.46 gB.

Now, you could add processing to have the game manually construct the face each time it comes up, which would save you that storage space, but it would weaken performance.  You could have it do all the faces when you first load the game which would add loading time - not sure how long.  You could narrow down the space so that only the top 300 ranked in the draft class and top 100 free agents have pics along with those on the NHL teams alone which would be cutting it down - but it still adds up with a lot of saves.  Perhaps only the user's team should have it?

But with the give and take, they probably don't want to just make huge saves for people for that.  Perhaps if it was optional?

@EA_Aljocan you find out just how big each computer generated picture is?  Shouldn't constitute a trade secret to figure out how much extra save space this would eat up.

[aidemannen9]

@VeronicatheCD I understand it’d take up more space, but NHL 23 is currently 44 GB on my PS5. I have The Division 2 on 115 GB so an extra 10-15 is no problem. Although you’d argue that it’s better to use that for more important things.

[VeronicatheCD]

@aidemannen9 Nope. I'm simply making it clear that there is a cost to that in disk space and it is more than people would think. I would argue that it ought to be an option you should have to turn on when starting the mode to generate all those faces and perhaps some options on which faces to generate since there would otherwise be an uproar, but I think it would be a good addition to have that. I've suggested it before.

[VeronicatheCD]

@VeronicatheCD Mind you that the team responsible for making it happen will be aware of it. They will be much more receptive to someone asking for it if they want it even while they are aware of it than if they assume you don't realize that cost.

[Fergplay]

Agree on all of this. 

the post goal reactions need lots of work. Currently players top on a dime, celebrate in the crease, and bump into each other. 

celebrations really need to occur away from the net. I see the scoring team bunch up right by the net way too often. 

[tiekhere]

Definitely on board with the splits for the goalie, though not just as an X-Factor or Zone Ability. I only play BAP, and only as a goalie, and when my guy goes into the splits to make a save, he then just sits there and I can't move him. I have to release all buttons on the controller and allow him to stand up on his own again before I can move him to make any follow up save, by which time, the puck is usually already in the net. A more fluid transfer from a split save into the next save is needed. An Zone Ability on top of that would also be cool though.

As far as shots go, I don't really have a problem getting shot at, but I have noticed that point shots are very rare. Defenders for both teams, mine and the CPU will much more often take a pass at the point and skate into the slot where they then stripped because there are already 5 guys crowding the high slot. The defenders in the offensive zone need to take more point shots. This will allow for both more tips and more straight on saves, and far fewer goals going in off a broken play because you're out of position after the puck squirts weirdly out of the scrum that the defender nonsensically skated into. It's also much more realistic.

[FugitiveMeat]

Online 6v6

• It would be awesome if you were actually rewarded as a good defender even when you lose from play on teams with terrible goaltending and forward play. It would be amazing if you could eliminate CPU players purposely passing me into bone crushing hits that can't be avoided. For CPU goalies even if it's just cosmetic we need to be able to switch to the back up after they start the game giving up 2 goals on 1 shot against (that is not a typo). How are we still not able to switch loadouts during intermissions? Can we finally program in a goalie animation where they simply just put their glove down on the ice and thus forever stopping the cross crease pass glitch? Lastly, please update the game and remove the glitch where players who are holding the right stick to a side with the puck drifting bounce off of body checks and skate through players unfazed keeping puck possession it is so insanely tilting the ice to the offensive side that it is a horrible joke. All too frequently you'll watch a 5ft player cruise through multiple hit animations on their way to a goal.  

[FugitiveMeat]

Also can we fix pokechecks? It plays into the theory your game has magnets when you successfully poke as a defender yet the puck immediately goes to either one of the former Puck handlers teammates or miraculously stays with the former Puck handler hovering around them until they're able to regain possession. 

[10026436]

@aidemannen9 For the playoffs, I'd love to see views of outside the arena during tailgate parties where fans are reacting to the game.