NHL 09 Patch Update From David Littman

[Splitter77]

the goalies are too good post patch.
alot of you 360 guys arent gonna like that.
the goal variety isnt as good as pre patch

[akula89]

are you sure its the goalies that are better? more likely, it's the increased sensitivity on shot aim.. same end result however, I suppose. sadly EASHL games are 1-0, 2-1, 2-0 PRE PATCH.
this could get ugly!

[nyr30]

Pre patch i had been playing BAP as an offensive D-man and i was really enjoying it but since the patch has been out i have went back to playing LW so i could get more involved but since i have done this i am noticing more and more that the AI is still as dumb as hell, Definitely not as bad as before because before the patch the game was hard to enjoy when the quirks were happening.

When playing Defense you can cover the AI because you can see when your defensive partner is going to let the CPU waltz in on goal so it gives you time to get the poke check or hit in but when playing as a frontman you can see just how stupid your CPU teammates are, They just back of all the way till they are right on top of the goalie so it means you have to pull yourself out of position which if you do it to much screws your stats up, it also affects how deep you play in your half of the ice because you have to play really cautious because you just cant trust your Dmen.

On the offensive side your CPU teammates still seem uncapable of finishing high percentage chances, it seems no matter how easy you make the chance the CPU stills hesitates long enough to let the goalie get back in position, i am playing as a Power Forward and my stats after 3 games look like this 1G 4A 5PTS +5 while my team are (1-0-2-0). the difference i see between the CPU team and my CPU teammates is really noticeable, the CPU team are still more decisive, dont just stand around and just make better decisions with the puck.

An example of my CPU teammates is, i had the puck in the CPU teams zone near the corner boards and i fed a pass back to the blueline as 2 Dmen closed me down and as i was about to make my way to the front of the net to look for the tip in(hopefully) but before i could move the CPU had passed me the puck back while i had was still covered by the two Dmen, needless to say i was stripped of the puck and my team stats affected. its just stupid things like this that bugs me because it is really a great game since the patch but for me the AI still needs a lot of work to make it feel like the CPU and User are on an even playing field.

At least the patch has gotten rid of the cheese goals for online play, those were just unbearable.

[original6]

Quote:

An example of my CPU teammates is, i had the puck in the CPU teams zone near the corner boards and i fed a pass back to the blueline as 2 Dmen closed me down and as i was about to make my way to the front of the net to look for the tip in(hopefully) but before i could move the CPU had passed me the puck back while i had was still covered by the two Dmen, needless to say i was stripped of the puck and my team stats affected. its just stupid things like this that bugs me because it is really a great game since the patch but for me the AI still needs a lot of work to make it feel like the CPU and User are on an even playing field.

Ugh, I was really hoping this would not be the case post patch. I still haven't seen many comments on goalie fixes either, which concerns me. If they're still doing split saves when the cpu passes from point to point, the game might be a lost cause for me. We'll see......I'm still patiently waiting for the 360 patch. In the meantime, I've got GHWT to keep me busy.

[nyr30]

Quote: Originally Posted by original6

Ugh, I was really hoping this would not be the case post patch. I still haven't seen many comments on goalie fixes either, which concerns me. If they're still doing split saves when the cpu passes from point to point, the game might be a lost cause for me. We'll see......I'm still patiently waiting for the 360 patch. In the meantime, I've got GHWT to keep me busy.

Hey 6

The goalies in my opinion are much improved and they dont do the split desperation save half as much as before the patch, They seem to stay up a lot longer as well where as before they would go down a couple of seconds before the puck left the shooters stick.

Dont get me wrong the AI is definitely better than pre patch but its not what it should be but the game is more enjoyable there is no doubt about that. its just the difference in CPU team to my team that at times can be annoying, it becomes a lot more tolerable when you get the amount of penalties that i am seeing now.

I deleted my BAP season and everything else apart from my rosters that are up to date and started again by going back to being an offensive Dman to try cover the AI sloppyness, hopefully thats me going to be able to play a full year now because of the messing around i do before starting a season.

It seems extreme but i went to a site that randomises what you type i put the teams in alphabetical order and before i randomised it what ever team came up at #23(my bday) i took.

I ended up with the St Louis Blues, it will be tough because Peoria look brutal. i think that once you have played it the first time you will notice a big difference and enjoy it.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by MattyAction

I dont get why people are having such a hard time drawing penalties. (Even pre-patch) I'm usually good for about 3 or 4 power plays a game on 8 minute games on all star. It seems to me that people who arent drawing penalties are the ones firing wristers and one timers as soon as you cross the blue line.(giving up possesion of the puck) I try to work the puck deep, shield the puck, protect the puck and drive to the net as much as possible. If you work the puck around and put the cpu in bad positions, they usually commit lazy penalties. I really cant believe how many people dont get penalties called. I just find it weird, because Ive never had too many problems with this.

That may be true to some degree, but in the end, this still is a video game, like it or not, which means something like penalties has to be tuned to the ways people actually play the game. In the NHL (or ANY level of hockey), if you have the puck and see an open opportunity to advance towards the net or take a decent percentage shot, you're going to take it. What you're advocating is basically to ignore open chances at the net, and skate around with the puck so that the computer players would actually have time to be frustrated. But all that's really doing is trading one exploit for another.

I thought the frequency and authenticity of penalties called in NHL '08 was just fine...pre-patch '09 was not fine, and most people would agree that it was broken, so I'm glad it's being addressed.

[tgalv]

i don't purposely draw penalties and i don't have a huge problem with it playing on superstar. i get "outpowerplayed" by a bit but i just accept it as part of the game. i do trip and hack the computer more often, and i also don't pointlessly move the puck around around like the cpu does at times, so i think it sort of evens out. and each powerplay is mostly in real time, not accelerated clock. i don't think a bunch of people take that into account when they say "waah i only get 2 PP's per game" which would be like at least 6 if playing 20 minute periods.

[bad_philanthropy]

I'm not usually one to get impatient about things, but has anyone heard any rumblings regarding the 360 patch yet? Anything? Anyone?