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How EA Can Bring Fans Back to NHL's Franchise Mode

Overhaul The AI

In a year where FIFA 16 and NBA 2K16 both made tremendous improvements to their on-field/on-court AI, it's sad to see NHL 16's CPU skaters still aimlessly wandering at times.

AI teams still struggle to gain possession inside the offensive zone, mostly due to poor decision making coming through the neutral zone. On many shifts, they will either hesitate and zig-zag around the red line before launching a futile dump attempt, or they'll skate the puck in a straight line down the side boards where you can easily crush their oncoming forward with a check.

In the few moments throughout a game where the CPU teams do setup their offense, they'll display inhuman speed and accuracy while slapping ping-pong passes around the perimeter until they can squeeze a one-timer pass through bodies/limbs/sticks to a forward who's camped near the crease. This cheap scoring tactic produces more goals than it should in NHL 16 because defenders don't have a tie-up move that can take away a forward's stick (on last-gen's game there is a tie-up move). Most matches I play against the AI see them producing one or two goals from 10 to 15 shots in less than five minutes of offensive zone possession. That's not a style of hockey I want to play against one time, let alone 82 times a season.

CPU skaters also show no urgency or desperation whenever their net is empty in the final minute of a game, allowing you to skate the puck out of your defensive zone and into their offensive zone like they still had a goalie backing them up. You can add an extra 20 to 30 goals onto your season total in NHL 16 just from the CPU's complete incompetence during empty net moments.

Defensively, the CPU is just far too passive in all situations. Even on "Superstar" difficulty, you can carry the puck end-to-end and deke around the offensive zone with minimal resistance from the computer's defense. Getting high-percentage scoring chances is as simple as skating into the center of the slot and shooting stick side. There's little incentive to work the puck around the point or dump it in behind the net and risk a turnover when you can just as easily skate to the “hot spots” and blast wrist shots past the CPU goalie all season long.

This has been the case for such a long time in the NHL series that I have to believe it's a design decision at this point. If EA doesn't want to make offense realistically difficult to generate because they fear it would upset their core user base, then at least give offline folks some functional sliders for “neutral zone pressure” and “defensive zone pressure.” A toggle option for stick physics would be nice, too, so that sticks can finally become solid objects immune to clipping. Fans have requested solid sticks forever, but it has not made it into the game yet because EA claims their internal testers did not like playing with that setting turned on. I don't see any harm in letting offline players decide for themselves whether or not they would prefer to play with realistic stick physics.




Take Be A GM Back Online

If EA Canada is not capable of fixing the AI issues, a potential workaround is letting human players replace the AI skaters in an online franchise mode. The company did exactly that when they debuted GM Connected inside NHL 13, but they also failed to address any of that mode's initial oversights in subsequent seasons on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Six humans versus six humans has been the optimal way to enjoy EA's hockey games since the EASHL appeared in NHL 09, but unfortunately, fans still cannot bring their online friends into franchise mode matches on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One -- maybe next year?

Offer Shorter Season Lengths

With an average completion time of 30 minutes per game, it will take you roughly 41 hours just to reach the end of NHL 16's regular season. And if you make the playoffs, it will take at least another eight hours of ice time before you can claim the Stanley Cup.

Simulating games (and inevitably injuring some of your key contributors) is not an acceptable solution for reducing this large time commitment. Especially when sports games have been offering multiple season lengths as far back as the Nintendo Entertainment System. There's no excuse for the forced 82-game schedule in NHL 16. It needs to become flexible next year.

Make The Menus Faster

Basic, repetitive tasks like making line adjustments and moving players to/from the minors also take up too much time in NHL 16 thanks to the game's slow-to-respond, slower-to-load menus. This is not an instance of EA's designers preferring form over function either because most of Be a GM's screens are bare and muted. Hardcore hockey fans love to tinker with every aspect of their team, but it should never be as mentally frustrating and fatiguing as it is in NHL 16.




Add Retired Legends To The Free Agent Pool

EA Canada is already paying licensing fees to put retired legends like Mike Modano and Pavel Bure into Hockey Ultimate Team, so why not let these hall of famers be used in other game modes?

I'd estimate that less than five percent of HUT users will ever be able to afford a single Gretzky or Lemieux card, so currently, all that licensing money is being wasted on athletes that most consumers are not able to use. Give offline players an option to put these GOATs into the free agent pool à la Madden NFL, and it will become money well spent.

Enable Online Roster Sharing

Roster editing was one of several features that EA rebuilt for NHL 16, but without the ability to share customized rosters online I can't see many people using this tool in its current state. Games like MLB 15: The Show and NBA 2K16 make it incredibly easy for the community's top roster creators to distribute their work, so why can't we have a similar upload/download service in NHL 17?

Allow Created Teams & Relocation/Expansion

Some people who play NHL 16 tend to avoid the franchise modes because they don't have a home team to root for. Designing new franchises or relocating/rebranding existing teams is a great way to get those types of users invested in a long-term franchise mode. It would also let people re-create classic teams since EA does not seem interested in licensing a large roster of retired athletes.

Create More Separation In Player Ratings

It's no wonder why every team in NHL 16 feels and plays the same when the majority of the league is clumped into an incredibly narrow 80 to 93 ratings range. One of the biggest reasons why NHL 94 was such a great hockey video game was that it used a wide ratings scale that went from 29 (Greg Smyth) to 100 (Mario Lemieux).

In that Sega Genesis classic, anyone who picks up a controller can immediately tell whether they're controlling a stud like Teemu Selänne versus a slug like Stu Grimson. They can do this without knowing much about hockey or needing to pause the game and check some arcane ratings table. NHL 17 must significantly widen its ratings range if the game is going to have any noticeable difference between controlling a fourth liner and a superstar.




Bring Back Hot/Cold Streaks

Another feature from NHL 94 that kept games from feeling repetitive was the randomized hot/cold streaks that impacted a couple of players' attribute ratings each night. Slumps and spurts are a part of every NHL season, but they don't truly exist inside NHL 16's season modes.

Instead of using intangible concepts like “locker room morale,” temporary attribute boosts/losses should be based on how well your players are performing on the ice. The game already has a sophisticated method of judging players' performances thanks to the Be a Pro and EASHL modes, so just use those grades to determine who's on hot/cold streaks throughout a season.

Add Live Goalie Injuries & Goalie Fatigue

Backup goaltenders are nothing but a wasted roster spot in NHL 16's season modes because your starting goalie won't fatigue at all from one game to the next, and he can never get injured during live gameplay (only during simulated games). You can use your starter in all 82 games without encountering any issues on the ice, which completely eliminates the strategy of having to plan your backup's starts throughout the season.

Make Goal Celebrations More Realistic

EA Canada's own FIFA games are great at triggering appropriate group celebrations during key goals. Scorers in NHL 16, however, remain stuck with a small selection of unrealistic two-person interactions. Celebration animations and cutscenes are something that occur frequently in franchise mode, and these moments should feel exhilarating, not empty and artificial.

The stat overlays should also be showing a player's season-long goal total, instead of displaying his single-game goal total.


NHL 16 Videos
Member Comments
# 1 northmen24 @ 10/21/15 04:47 PM
All they need to do is read these boards and maybe hire a couple of us who break the game down.

Put in a slider system more like madden (a scale of 0-100 instead of 0-6 or 4) also expand the sliders like they were in the 2K series below is sliders from NHL 2K5

General:

All-Star
Game Speed: 2
Period Length: 10 Minutes
Penalties: On
Fighting: 1
Speed Burst After Fight Win: Off
Puck Friction: Full
Ice Friction: 0
Freeze Puck Time: 4
Goalie Freeze: 0
Glass Break: 0
Net off Moorings: On
Pinning: On
Offsides: On
Icing: Auto
2 Line Passing: Off


Advanced:

Manual
Manual
Manual
Manual
Referee: All
OT: 10 min OT, 5 on 5 SO
Clock: Accelerated
Clock Type: Auto
Last Minute Real Time: On
Penalty Time: OFF
Roughing: Full
Elbowing: Full
Cross Checking: Full
Boarding: Full
Charging: 25
Interference: Full
Slashing: Full
Hooking: Full
Tripping: Full
Spearing: 17
Penalty Shots: Full


CPU/Human

Goalie: 1/1
Offense: 6/4
Defense: 6/4
Speed Burst Effect: 1/2
Speed Burst Time: 4/5
Speed Burst Recovery: 14/12
Fatigue Effect: Full/Full
Fatigue Recovery: 6/6
Fatigue Time: Full/Full
Hitting Power: 5/3
Shot Accuracy: 5/5
Pass Accuracy: 0/8
Pass Speed: 5/5
Pass Interceptions: 5/5
Rebound Distance: 5/5
Shot Blocking: 6/6
Puck Retention: 0/0
Puck Control: Full/0
Goalie Anticipation: 0/0
Goalie Cover Depth: 5/5
Goalie Saves: 0/0
Goalie Wraparound: Full/Full

Audio Presentation:

Menu Music Volume: Full
Menu SFX Volume: 30
Commentator Volume: Full
Announcer Volume: 30
Crowd Volume: 21
Chants Volume: Full
Arena Music Volume: 24
Arena SFX Volume: Full
Arena Horn Volume

THATS HOW YOU DO SLIDERS
 
# 2 Tsuki @ 10/21/15 05:02 PM
TEAM STYLES/SIGNATURE PLAYER STYLES/PLAYER SEPARATION.

^should be priority number one. It is sad that the NHL franchise will be the last to attempt to establish this into their gameplay.

Right now every player moves/shoots/checks etc the same regardless of overall. My biggest gripe is that in 2k if I attempted a triple double with brian scalebrine I would actually have problems doing so based on his animations given to him by his ratings, and in NHL I can go in with any scrub and pull a hat trick easily.

I suggest that the NHL series could be the first game to actually "hide" player overall, and just rate players on their core abilities with a GOAL of trying to re-create how each individual player actually plays. Badges like in 2k something just try something different jeez.
 
# 3 joshdm21 @ 10/21/15 05:26 PM
I think MLB the show sets the standard for a franchise mode...for example id love to be able to hire coaches and have there systems change how my team plays and the players I(theGM) need to have on my roster. also would like the sim stats to be more realistic. im a huge offline franchise player and the nhl16 be a gm mode is average at best.
 
# 4 TDKing @ 10/21/15 05:43 PM
Player separation !!! And Bring back GM connected with custom season length and league sliders. Shorter seasons for offline and online.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 
# 5 AdamJones113 @ 10/21/15 06:44 PM
What an article jyoung! I sincerely hope you passed this along to the developers, because this is a fantastic list with the priorities in the right order.

What can I even add? Perhaps effective sliders and more of a community (this community's) influence. Wish I could have written something like this for my packet. I focused a little more on gameplay, but this article brought up some excellent points.

I hadn't really thought about it much, but having played a Madden CFM this year really made me pine for GM Connected. An OS GM Connected would be amazing... assuming the gameplay is improved and less robotic, which you adroitly placed before all.

Great work.
 
# 6 Dazraz @ 10/21/15 06:50 PM
Great list. Why are we still suffering lag on Menu Screens with today's technology. Madden is the same. Why can't EA sort. MLB The Show & NBA 2K have far more detailed Menus & they are really slick.
 
# 7 Simple Mathematics @ 10/21/15 10:18 PM
Absolutely fantastic article. I agree with every single point in there. EA needs to see this. Please send it to them if you haven't already.
 
# 8 Nickflyers @ 10/21/15 10:33 PM
100% Agreed! Allow us to customize OUR BAGMs.

  • Allow us to edit ANYONE's ratings during a BAGM
  • Allow us to CREATE OUR OWN DRAFT CLASSES(and share them) ala 2k Series
  • Dynamic Rivalries
  • Coaches(NHL 2k5 had this, geez)


Basically combine NHL's gameplay w/ 2ks Franchise mode = Happy hockey fans
 
# 9 Vikes1 @ 10/22/15 12:18 AM
Yep, great list!
 
# 10 Money99 @ 10/22/15 08:56 AM
Fantastic article Chris!
Not sure where to begin as you basically hit every nail on the head. I’m not even sure there’s anything to add really.
(The one thing I’d love to see is separate ratings for each position. Several NHLers play more than 1).

Perhaps the best way to add to this list is to simply agree and highlight the areas that I feel need the most work.
And certainly, in my mind, the biggest issue this series faces (and has faced for decades) is the lack of real player separation and differential.
Playing an 82-game season feels like playing 82 exhibition games against the same team and players.
Admittingly, I didn’t purchase NHL16 this year, but it sounds like it’s no different than NHL15, 14, 13… which I did own.

The sad part is, the list you provided has basically been the same wishlist NHL fans have been clamoring for, for over a decade now.
I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
This series is what it is. It won’t matter how many new and powerful consoles hit the market. It won’t matter how often these points are raised.
You can set your watch in what you can expect from the NHL series;
- No player separation
- Dumb AI
- No neutral zone pressure
- CPU cheats/boosts/tilt – whatever you want to call it.
- Super shallow franchise mode/options
- Limited sliders

It’s really sad to think that at one time, the NHL series outsold Madden.
Contrary to what the developers and producers believe, you CAN make a realistic hockey game and make it fun for the masses (see NHL2K5 - which outsold NHL2005).
At the very least, with the proper sliders, you should be able to provide a game that fits everyone’s tastes.
But it all starts with player separation (which affects the CPU too!!!!!) and a deep, robust and engaging Franchise mode.
 
# 11 jake19ny @ 10/22/15 09:12 AM
This article is spot on sadly my personal feeling is EA does not care about offline gamers nearly as much as online and HUT. The lingering offline issues, remaining bugs from last year in offline mode, lack of attention to detail in the offline modes, and the recent tuner debacle, all support my theory.
 
# 12 Vikes1 @ 10/22/15 09:44 AM
I agree with Money99. Imo too, NHL is what it is....take it or leave it. I'm guessing this is pretty much the way of things for possibly the next several years. On-line play seems to carry the greatness attention. Sadly, at the expense of off-line.
 
# 13 brandon27 @ 10/22/15 11:25 AM
Spot on writeup. I don't necessarily agree with adding Legends to the Franchise mode. I guess if it's an option, then sure. Why not?

I'd also want to see the sliders completely changed, on the 0-100 scale, broken down more like the list in a reply here previously.

Season length is a big one too. Now that the period by period sim feature is back though, I'm not too concerned, sometimes I enjoy simming through to the 3rd period, then joining the game to try and have a big comeback win or something like that.

I think NHL 16 is my last EA NHL until the AI is completely overhauled for all the reasons mentioned in this piece though. The AI's offense is the same thing over and over, and as much as they want to deny it, the ice definitely tilts at times. It's just not enjoyable to play in its current state, there's too many things that happen in hockey every shift, that aren't even close to replicated properly in the game.

To me, the AI is the biggest step to revitalizing franchise mode, simply because it will actually make people want to play through a season.
 
# 14 GlennN @ 10/22/15 02:13 PM
Agree completely with drastically increasing player separation. Also agree with other folks that we need to be able to edit within BeAGM, including incoming draft classes, and they need to make the sliders work better. I would add to that list, the player search feature has to come back (and improve). We need much better stat tracking (so the player card has year by year stats for the entire careers, how obtain, all-star teams made, cups and awards won, etc.).
 
# 15 desperado462 @ 10/22/15 02:18 PM
I agree about editing player attributes during a season. There is NO REASON to not have this. Too many times players that are a 74 in the game should be up around 78-80 by the middle of the real NHL season as they may begin to "break out" in real life. We should be able to adjust these ourselves to keep up with the real world without having to start BEAGM all over again.
 
# 16 DJ @ 10/22/15 02:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vikes1
I agree with Money99. Imo too, NHL is what it is....take it or leave it. I'm guessing this is pretty much the way of things for possibly the next several years. On-line play seems to carry the greatness attention. Sadly, at the expense of off-line.
Great article and I'm in agreement with many of the long-time posters (Money, Jake) here. And yes, Vikes, unfortunately with the NHL series, you have to choose to either accept the game for what it is or save yourself the frustration and not play it.

It's a sad truth for hockey fans and offline gamers, but we've been making these suggestions for years now and nothing changes.
 
# 17 JG1986 @ 10/22/15 03:08 PM
Yeah, I decided that was it for me. I'm not going to bother with the series anymore. It just is not worth the frustration; watching your skaters wander aimlessly, laggy menu screens, no customization, and awful AI. Traded it in for a used copy of MLB The Show and voila, haven't even thought about NHL since. I don't want to have this attitude about the game, but I have no choice. The entire game/staff needs to be overhauled.
 
# 18 ericromain @ 10/23/15 01:16 AM
I really want to play a franchise or season mode, but I want the rosters to always match real life. I hate how today you start a season and within a week the rosters are out of date, and 3 months in they're completely off.

Great article. They mode needs an online component. I hate playing AI offline, and i hate the team shallow team management of HUT. If only they could combine human opponents with the immersion of BaGM.
I agree on the menus, they are infuriatingly annoying.

I wish the stats were more detailed. I don't think they've expanded on them in a decade.
 
# 19 Therion7 @ 10/23/15 08:32 AM
Not displaying the Season total when your player scores a goal is horrible.

The season totals gets displayed at other times during the game if the player is highlighted so why not at the most important and interesting time? It boggles the mind. It's the bare minimum! It's Season Mode! Not 82 successive exhibition mode which is what it feels like.

Online is all about progression so why not pay a bit of attention to make offline feel like you're progressing through a real NHL season with real NHL stats being peppered into the actual game rather than lost in a sterile, clunky off-ice menu interface?

If the player who has notched a point on a play is in the top ten of points in the league, the game should be displaying a small window showing these league leaders and where that player is in it. Minimum stuff really. Wouldn't it be great to also have the records listed if you approach them? If you're not allowed to display certain player names, fine. Just show us the record stats. We'll know who achieved it!

I'm a progammer myself and all of that is so, so simple and cheap to do. It is beyond frustrating. Yes, the NHL team might be a small team but I don't think that is a valid reason to not add little touches like this that actually add so much to the game. We're talking a bit of polish here - it's a week of work for two people maximum and the biggest chunk would be where to place the thing on screen. Replace the NBC logo for a few seconds, goddamn! They don't have scores around the league, so they only have to worry about the two teams on-ice when doing a simple integer sort after a goal. Easy! Hey, I quite like the mascots but I'd have immersive stats over them any day of the week!

It's poor in 2015 to not have something like this in a league's flagship game. It's their only console game, so the NHL should be getting a bit more involved because it seems EA aren't doing too much to enhance the league's reputation by delivering a stellar title. If I didn't feel intimidated by the huge amount of controls listed for NBA 2K16 I'd give that a try because it looks so immersive. And you know what? I'm not a basketball fan right now, but I like sports games and have played basketball games in the distant past and enjoyed them. Who's to say that getting to grips with NBA2K16 wouldn't give me more of an interest in following the actual league itself? Video games can have that kind of power. It's a cruel irony that hockey delivers a pedestrian console experience.

Stat rant over.

I'm also increasingly annoyed at how you can see the ice completely and instantly clear of players for a few frames just after the final buzzer before the end of game cutscene starts. Total immersion killer. Why the game was allowed to ship with that sort of nonsense is a mystery.

QA must have picked it up and someone must have said "No, that's fine like that". It's not though. It looks absolutely amateur. Shift the camera to point at the scoreboard or something if you need to disguise what's going on. That wouldn't be too hard as the game does have a a dynamic camera system.

I love hockey, and I've loved and loathed certain years of this franchise. This year? I only like it. It could and *should* have been so much better. It should not have shipped with framerate stuttering, it should have had penalty sliders that work as expected out the box and it should have had a whole raft of offline improvements.

I get some enjoyment from playing 16 but a lack of competition is slowly killing this series. The last title I really had a great time with for months was NHL 11. Expectations were lower but I loved the custom music, had some good goal variety and the goal celebrations were better. I could forgive the samey AI and other foibles. Scoring was rewarding, player separation was easy to fix and I could freshen it up with new tunes now and again. 5 years later? Is the offline game on a new powerful console any better at all? Is it more immersive? More involving? More customisable? More rewarding?

It's none of those things. Strip the shinier graphics away and you find that the game has all of the same old problems in the AI department; foibles now magnified because as the visuals approach realism, identical behaviour becomes much easier to recognise and less forgiveable. All of this exacerbated by areas where the game really is a downgrade. That makes me a little bit sad.
 
# 20 Money99 @ 10/23/15 10:32 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Therion7
If I didn't feel intimidated by the huge amount of controls listed for NBA 2K16 I'd give that a try because it looks so immersive. And you know what? I'm not a basketball fan right now, but I like sports games and have played basketball games in the distant past and enjoyed them. Who's to say that getting to grips with NBA2K16 wouldn't give me more of an interest in following the actual league itself? Video games can have that kind of power.
I can attest to this.
Like you, I'm not a huge basketball fan.
But after purchasing NBA2K12 and 13, I started watching more games, paying attention to the league and even listening to the NBA channel on XM during my commutes.

The game was so good, it made a fan out of me.
Baseball and hockey are still my main loves, but I would say I'm at least a casual NBA fan now.

Some things I'd love to see in Franchise Mode:
- wrap-up show
- out of town highlights
- Expansion/relocation
- arena modifications
- uniform alterations - even create a 3rd jersey
- BaGM includes running European teams and CHL teams.
- Getting FIRED as a coach and having to interview for a new job - which may also include having to work in Europe, AHL or CHL.
- Full stats and stat overlays showing season and career stats for players.
- 5-man celebrations
- AMPED playoff atmosphere.
 

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