BAP Wishlist - Updated

by ccleme20
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Original Post

BAP Wishlist - Updated

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Apprentice

I have been an avid Be A Pro player since NHL 09. While NHL 22 definitely has seen some improvements there's also multiple things that can improve moving forward. Here are my suggestions (for what it matters).

 

UPDATED March 2022 - Updates in RED

 

Be A Pro

  • CHL: Please bring back the CHL. I loved how in NHL 20 I could really develop with a couple years in the CHL after being drafted. It felt like I had to something to play for. I understand EA wants this experience to always have the player be the next Connor McDavid, but let us decide our role. Many times in NHL 20 I would play a year in the CHL and grind out for a 2nd round pick. This felt more real to me and I miss it! 
  • More Contract Offers PLEASE: The 1-2 contracts at the end of your current contract cycle is asinine. If I am scoring 10 points a season, sure. However if I am netting 65+ points I should be getting multiple offers ESPECIALLY when my RFA status is up. Madden gives us tons of offers in the offseason..shouldn't be that hard to replicate in NHL.
  • Completely Overhaul Teammate AI: After playing for months on countless different slider sets the AI for the players team needs to be seriously overhauled. No matter who is on my line, literally doesn't matter if it's McDavid even, they CONSTANTLY turn the puck over and are completely useless. I have set sliders to 100 for "human" just to test this and they are still useless. What is the point of this game mode if your teammates gingerly skate the puck in and immediately just run into the opposing AI and turn the puck over? Has anyone at EA actually seen a hockey game before? Ever heard of puck cycle? Because it does not exist in this mode. one of two things happen. Your AI dump the puck and it's a turnover 99% of the time, or they skate past the blue line and turn it over. I understand the aspect of needing a challenge and I am not advocating that we make our team unstoppable, just make it better! I cannot count the times I have fought for a position to be wide open and my AI does nothing to get the puck to me. It's either intercepted or they fall down after skating into someone. I have set the sliders to ZERO for the opposing team on so much before and it's still an issue. Just make them smarter already. 
  • Pre-Game Skate / Practice Mode: I am not a game developer and therefore have no idea the amount of work it takes to make a game, however I don't see why we can't have a more immersive environment with be a pro. Taking part in pre-game skating and off day practices would add SO much more detail to the mode that seriously lacks it. If you don't want to do it, just make it skippable, easy enough for everyone. Preparation leading to the actual game is a large part of a players life, so why not incorporate that in the game. 
  • Better Prospect Development: I don't know how many times I see my team draft first-second and beyond round prospects and we never see them in the lineup, even years after being drafted. Usually the AI GM will always sign some overpaid free agent that's 38 years old taking up roster spots for younger breakout players. While I know this certainly happens in the NHL it seems to be severely over-utilized in Be A Pro. I once had three WHOLE lines of 35+ players all signed in FA. All of our prospects just rotted in the minors. Unless your team drafts 1st overall you just never see prospects grow. 
  • More Immersive Draft: In franchise mode you can see what team drafted what player. Why can't we see the same in Be A Pro? I would like to see a more expanded draft where I can actually see what player was chosen by which team. Again, you can simply sim the draft if you don't care. This shouldn't be hard to add on for Be A Pro. 
  • Contract Negotiation: This is arguably the most frustrating aspect of Be A Pro in my opinion. There is zero customization with contracts. We see bridge deals with RFA's all the time in the NHL, we see players with no trade clauses, bonuses for performance, extension years, etc. This needs to be desperately added for Be A Pro. Even something as simple as stating the term I want for my next contract would be a nice start. However you just get two offers every two-three years? That's not likely. Especially since EA wants your player to be the next star. Also, add the RFA into the process. If I am just finishing up my ELC I can't just sign with anyone without my current team denying to match the offer. The game treats you like a UFA after just three years? 
  • Revamp the "Salary Perks": I don't mind the salary perks mainly because it's a good way to add perks to your player. However the amounts for items is laughable. I believe a 10 speed bike is $22,000? C'mon EA haha at least make the perks realistic. Who pays $30,000 for a team barbeque as well? I'm sure Jordan Belfort in his hay day spent more than that on a party, but we are making just a handful of millions, no one is spending $30,000 on a dinner party especially if that perk is only good for 5-10 games. I know the salary means absolutely nothing in this game, but this is an opportunity to have your salary mean something with more meaningful transactions. The system is good, but make the prices realistic. 
  • Make the Be A Pro cutscenes optional: When NHL21 introduced Be A Pro cutscenes I was initially stoked about it. However after about 20 games I was over it. There's no context to these and frankly it just ruins immersion worse than if it wasn't in the game at all. It's the same repeated nonsense. Make this optional to turn off. I have actually gone back and played on 20 before just to avoid the annoyance of teammates asking me to go to jazz concerts every other game or my agent asking if I want to help the homeless 15 times a year. I do like how 22 at least adjusted the points you earn to make it more slowly progressive, but unless EA adds TONS of more situations it's just boring. 
  • Better yet just remove the cutscenes altogether - So I have been playing BAP for months now and I have compared the mode to Madden. Just take out the cutscenes altogether. it is SO MUCH easier to get through a season in Madden because we can generally skip all these annoying cutscenes. I don't know why these are mandatory in NHL. It's literally the exact same thing over and over again. It's become such an annoyance and it literally means nothing. If Madden can do it, then NHL can.
  • Revamp Management, Brand, & Teammate Likeability: These hardly mean anything. I have had Management at negative 1,000 before (and this was nearly impossible to achieve) and it meant nothing. I asked for a trade and was told "not at this time". If my likeability is at -1,000 the AI GM should just trade me without me even asking haha. I tried to have a negative effect and it was alot of work.  The game is just set to make your likeability off the charts green. Not every player is the "golden child" of a team.
  • Create A Team: I've never understood why we can't create a team and use that team in BAP. When setting up the league we should have some customization. If I want to add a team and move around teams in the division then I should be able to. This isn't a huge perk, but it would be kind of cool to see your BAP player skating with the team you spent some time creating. 
  • Powerplay Improvements: I will say that NHL 22 has slightly increased the gameplay, in my opinion but I cannot count the times I have tried to quarterback a PP just to pass the puck to an idiot teammate that either immediately turns it over or shoots from the worst possible spot on the ice. Powerplays are about strategy. Most teams (again, MOST) will cycle the puck and look for good shot opportunities. I feel like on the PP your teammates just either dump the puck for an immediate turn over or skate it in and immediately shoot. I am finding that I have to call for the puck CONSTANTLY on the PP just to get a feel for a real experience since my AI teammates cannot do it. 
  • Updated Goal / Stanley Cup Celebrations: This is overdue for too long. Just update the goal/Stanley Cup celebrations already. I have yet to ever see one player celebrate a goal while his teammates just stand in one spot with their hands up. It cannot be difficult to have all players huddle right after the goal. I know sometimes we do see this, but not too often. Also, why can my player STILL not skate with the cup? I know once you hit Captain status you will get the Cup, but let me skate with it manually. Just update it all already.
  • Realistic Trades: It never fails. Year after year my team trades our first round pick for again an aging player on a 1 year contract. I have played some seasons with awful teams and we end up with a top 10 pick just to watch them trade it for a terrible player with only 1 year left. Makes absolutely no sense. Trades in this game (AI-wise) are just a free for all. Hardly any of them are evenly done. If my team is finishing bottom 10 we should be trading our first rounder for AT least two lineup players and other picks, not just for someone like Duncan Keith. 
  • Add the All-Star Game / Winter Classic: Why is all-star game appearances on my milestone tracker but I never get to play in them? Again, just make it skippable but at least give us the option to play in it. Also if I am on a team with a Winter Classic why can I not play it in BAP? Playing this mode year after year can get boring quick, add something different to break up the mundane seasons. 
  • Option to shorten seasons: This honestly may be my biggest request. Playing a full 82 game season is mind numbing. Usually I sim the away games and play the home games or vice versa, but once you hit the first line it can take awhile just to play one game. Let us customize the season length. If I want to play a 56 game season then let me. While this isn't super realistic (minus COVID hockey) it should still be an option for BAP. Games would be more meaningful from the start in my opinion. I can change the playoff format but not the regular season? Makes no sense. 
  • Make the overall environment more realistic: Crowds. Update the crowd big time. I know this seems like a minor thing but my God the crowds need to be updated so badly. If my team is ranked 32nd in the league then my stadium should not be sold out for every home game. If I am playing for a smaller market team (Arizona, Florida, Buffalo) then my arena should not be sold out every game. Obviously if we are a top team that wins the cup every few years then sure, but I have played some season with horrible teams and I feel like I am playing in front of a game 7 crowd every home game. It would just add to some immersion to see empty seats for bad playing. Again, a minor adjustment but it would add to the overall feel. Also the actual crowd member characters have been the exact same for years now. 
  • If Madden Can Do it, So Can You: I have played "Face Of The Franchise" lately and I cannot believe the same company makes NHL as Madden. Madden definitely has it's faults, but the "Be A Pro" aspect is MUCH better. There's no 1-2 contracts at the end of your current contract..you have 10+. WHY CAN NHL NOT DO THIS. You can skip cutscenes, WHY CAN NHL NOT DO THIS. It is literally the SAME company making the games. NHL has so much work to do to even come close to being a great game. I love hockey so much and I continue to play this game because it's my only option, but for the love of God please attempt to improve this mode moving forward.

I feel like I just rambled for an hour, but I feel these would GREATLY improve the game mode. I just hope that EA is at least considering some BAP overhauling since we have had almost the exact same BAP for years now with just cutscenes added. I also realize EA focuses way more on online play, but offline players still pay for the game so we shouldn't be on the back burner every year. Simple adjustments can make this mode a lot better. I realize that 90% of these will likely never happen because let's face, unless EA makes BAP a micro transactional game mode they aren't going to make it as good as it could be. Maybe if they eventually have paid add on's to BAP we'll see some big improvements but until then it's just a pipedream.

Message 1 of 59 (11,293 Views)

Re: BAP Wishlist

★ Apprentice

Great post. EA should add all that stuff and the ability to choose a specific player on a current roster. If we want to use a current all-star or an all-star in junior we should be allowed to do that. Another benefit to that would be players who enjoy gaming can use their own player without having to create another version of themselves. 

Message 2 of 59 (11,224 Views)

Re: BAP Wishlist

★★★★★ Guide

One thing that ALWAYS bothers me about Be A Pro is the fact that you're always drafted in the draft that has just gone by, and keeps the results of that same draft bringing in the duplicate draft picks (if Owen Powers was in the game, Buffalo would have had him AND the created player that went first in my draft as I went to Seattle). I want to see EA get rid of the duplicate draft, and allow us to either be drafted in the 2022 draft, competing with those drafted in 2022 (redoing the draft order in the process) , or start our Be A Pro in our draft year for the 2023 Draft in NHL 23

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Re: BAP Wishlist

[ Edited ]
★ Apprentice

@ccleme20Awesome and well thought out post. Some things I’d like to see are;

1. Free Skate/ Practice with your player. While I would like your idea better, all they would have to do is add your BAP player to the roster of that team. Go into Training mode and pick your scenario. Granted it’s not the same having to control all of the other players but at the very least you could free skate. I only play WoC and BAP and it’s jarring coming from from my WoC character to my BAP scrub. I’d like to be able to go into free skate to see what shots and dekes I can actually pull off compared to my WoC skater.

Back to your idea, I played UFC 4 this year. It was the first UFC game I’d ever played. What hooked me was the career mode and training camp. I liked that I actually had to practice the skills I wanted to level. That would be a nice addition to BAP. Maybe not as in depth becuase of how long seasons are but something more than what we have.

2. Team / Teammate AI. I wouldn’t care that we can’t select strategies IF every coach/team had variations or personality but no matter what team you play on it’s the same. Dump the puck in the offensive zone or turn to the boards and wait to be pinned in either zone. Opposing AI will cycle the puck while AI teammates let them but the second you enter the offensive zone, you get rushed by the entire team.

Either give each team unique game plans / strategies or let us choose these in the AI section of the slider menu. They already exist for franchise and HUT so implementing in BAP shouldn’t be hard?

3. The option to restart a game. Man this one sucks in all modes. WoC Pro-AM and BAP are the worst since it takes so long to get back into the game. I try to take my lumps as they come but sometimes the AI does some really dumb stuff that I’m not willing to either take a loss over or spend the next 30min playing. The AI has improved but adding a restart option to the game menu would be awesome.

4. I love the addition of abilities but the unlocks have to be reworked. I like having things to grind for but play 5 years on the same team? I don’t like simming games but it looks like I’m going to have to start unless they change some of these.

5. Give us more to do off ice if we want. Mainly with the salary perks, trading/contract options and social media stuff. And we need more lines / commentary that can span a career.

 

6. With the NHL series being an annual release, I would LOVE to be able continue my BAP career in the latest release. There’s no way you’re getting far into any career without simming a ton before the next NHL installment. Let us transfer our player to the new version   .

As far as EA not working on something that lacks micro transactions, they improved a ton with WoC and EASHL this year and I’m kinda surprised they didn’t add micro transactions for hockey bags and cosmetics. It wouldn’t bother me if they did but they aren’t monetizing either of those any more than BAP.

Message 4 of 59 (11,164 Views)

Re: BAP Wishlist

★★★★ Apprentice
@Neolink78 Awesome suggestions! I 100% agree with the AI teammates for sure. I have messed with the gameplayer sliders some and I do believe it's a *tad* better this year but it's still pretty bad. I was drafted by the Blue Jackets and you'd think with a winger of Patrick Laine I'd have a decent skater with me on the top line. Nope. He is about as bad as our worst player haha constant turnovers and maybe shoots the puck 2 times a game...unrealistic. I would love each team to have it's own "identity" and the AI to play to that strategy.

Your idea for free skate would totally work too. Like you, I want to practice my deking with MY player and his skillset. I'm horrible at deking to begin with (I can't remember the thousands of different combinations) so I would like to be able to practice it with my players abilities.

Off ice activities is a MUST. I like how they at least added some off-ice stuff but as I said a BIG part of a players life is off-ice activities. Hopefully this get more broad as the years come.

As much as it would infuriate me to make BAP a micro transactional mode I would likely break down and buy add on's IF they made the mode that much better. Most games I play now do that anyway so it would just be the norm. BAP also isn't the most popular mode so I understand why they don't sink alot of time into it, but it could be a more popular mode IF they did. Great suggestions though!
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Re: BAP Wishlist

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Apprentice

@johum2886Yes, this is maddening haha I haven't noticed if this year's game does that (I was drafted late first round) but last year I went to the Kings and they had Byfield (I think) drafted in the same spot as me. Who wouldn't love two #2 picks haha but c'mon.

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Re: BAP Wishlist

★ Apprentice

I forgot to add - I really want to see AI increase or decrease stats based on their play. If not league wide then at least on your team. Lines shouldn’t just shift based on my play or if one of our D-men keeps mishandling passes, finding a replacement becomes a priority before the trade deadline. 

 

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Re: BAP Wishlist

★★★★★ Guide
@ccleme20 only reason it isn't as apparent this year is because there were so many NCAA/NTDP guys drafted high. Anaheim still would have two #3 picks in the 2021 draft (Mason McTavish and either the players Be A Pro or a created guy in the draft)
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Re: BAP Wishlist

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Novice

I would like to add I just had my player injured for 29 games. And there was nothing, no doctors visit, no indication of how long I was going to be out, what the injury was, nothing. Just a throw away line when I returned from Ray Ferraro about how I just returned from injury. I remember this being in previous editions of BAP. Why take it out? 

 

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Re: BAP Wishlist

★★★★ Apprentice
@stevenchutter Yeah the information on injuries. trades, free agent signings, call-ups, and such is lacking big time. It started with 21. You have no idea how long you're injured unless you get lucky and catch it on the ticker that scrolls but even then you rarely ever see it. No idea why they took that out lol
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