NHL 09 Patch Released (360/PS3) -- Impressions here please

[tabulaRasa]

Well that´s all good if you play the CPU, but online in ranked games this patch really shows it´s shortcomings, sure the penalties are up, the stick lift is less super effective.

But the checking is worse (big teams are getting a boost because heavy hitters are playing like it´s old school NHL ala New jersey 2001), the AI plays alot more automatic for bad players (plays better cover and pokes etc)

Scoring is pretty much based in between the circles. And the new craptacular aiming if you are outside the space in front the goal and between the circles really forces you to focus alot more attention to abuse the middle alot.

Also shooting superclose to the goalie seems to be the new flavour after the patch, were goalies fumbles like morons.

After the patch there´s alot of odd bumping and loosing pucks too, way more than before , don´t know why but it sucks.

And before some morons come and say : It´s only because you loose now. No it´s not I have 15 game winning streak , and I´m ranked in the 1000s but the game is way more lame now, despite the fixes, because they added alot of poop in the patch.

This patch mostly benefitted players who can´t play anything but collapse D and only can defend between the circles. And players who need the AI to play more for them. Players using check heavy teams also benefitted by this (which makes this game feel more like the NHL in 2001 than the new NHL based on skill and flair).

Patch playing CPU and little thumbs up, patch playing ranked online BIG THUMBS down. Talk about craptacular.

[bad_philanthropy]

I really hope we get another small patch to fix the cpu AI and also to finally get the "Always Up" control fixed properly. I know it's unlikely but just throwing it out there if anyone from the NHL dev team is perusing the boards looking at the patch feedback.

[marino13]

I am really liking the patch on superstar. I put shot accuracy and shot power to five and the cpu was scoring. I was never great on scoring before so my goals per game are about the same. I played ten games yesterday and the cpu averaged anywhere from 1-5 goals a game. The best thing about it for me is the cpu scoring against me in the first minute almost every game with the one timer is gone now.

I guess if you are not happy with it you can always delete the patch.

[Qb]

I only got to play two EASHL games last night, so my impressions are limited to that and I can't comment on the CPU AI difficulties BP & some others are reporting obviously. Placebo effect or not, the overall gameplay felt different to me. Perhaps it was just the teams we played, but it seemed that I was able to carry the puck a little better (my guy is a PWF, so my puck control isn't too great). I'm thinking part of it was that the two teams weren't big stick-lifters as I can only remember it happening to me a few times.

But the other side of it was the apparently toned down checking. EA said that they wanted to decrease hits (or big ones anyways) from guys who aren't "known for hitting" and they seemed to have done just that. I saw fewer successful hits along the boards on the puck carrier when he went wide (more bumps & stumbles). I still crushed some guys when I had a good run at them and saw others do it a few times as well, but not nearly as many as before, especially when the checking player was flat-footed (skated?) or at an awkward angle to the check recipient.

Holding vision control in front of the net to avoid checking when going for rebounds or in close one-timers seemed to work well, thank you very much. Although my one teammate uses the alternate control scheme and he said that he still often poke-checked when he wanted to shoot, but I obviously can't be sure that he was holding L-trigger. I spend a lot of time in front of the net, so I was already used to doing it to get in position for scoring opportunities, making it second nature to do it for rebounds now.

Picking the corners is definitely harder now and while I think it will be an improvement in the long run, it will take some adjustment. I missed the net or limp-wristed some shots into the belly pad on several occasions that I thought were a bit unfair. Again, I use vision control a lot to square up to puck as I play RW as a left-handed shot (you might have seen Keith Jones talking about it during intermission of the Pens/Wings game last night in reference to Sykora, Hossa, etc) so I'm usually in a good body position when I shoot. Like I said, I think there will be an adjustment period and the change is probably for the better.

I have only one concern after last night -- I think people now think that they can't score on an outside shot, so offensively everyone is looking for cross-ice/crease one-timers (including my teammates, frustrating!) rather than putting the puck on the net. Definitely better than cheese wristers, money goals or whatever you want to call them, but it could get old quickly. Hopefully it's just part of a feeling out process. I made a living in front of the net scoring garbage goals in the EASHL prior to the patch, so needless to say I'll be reminding my teammates to shoot a little more often...

Looking forward to playing some offline games and eventually starting a dynasty. The fixed separate line changes alone has me more enthusiastic about single-player and increased CPU penalties will be good as well. I'm not looking forward to having to go through the whole slider tweaking process again, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with what I was using anyways...

[catcatch22]

Online felt ok to me however I do agree that on superstar in dynasty the AI can't score. You really have to boost the AI shot accuracy or they won't score.

They can't even score cheap ones against me like they used to. In 2 games I gave up 1 goal and it was a fluke luck one at that. Plus you can still score with the cheap "dangle" goals out in the slot if the goalie is screened. Screened shots go in alot now, more so than I have ever seen.

The AI does'nt try to comeback if you know what I mean. Once you get the lead it's like it has nothing left. It definitely feels too easy.

[kerosene31]

Only played 2 offline games, but noticed a few things:

(I played as Buffalo vs Montreal) on all star.

-I got a lot of rebounds. I actually got a nice realistic rebound goal. These were rare before the patch. I'm not sure if they tweaked this or if it is just a product of the less accurate shooting. I actually get goal mouth scrambles now, rather than just a shot, save and a whistle every single time.

-The one timer fest is cancelled! Finally the game isn't dominated by one timer after one timer after one timer after one timer.

-Shooting is amazing. If you are in good position, you can still score, but you can't beat goalies from way outside in bad position. It is hard to describe, but everything just felt much more realistic.

-Defensive line change bug fixed - this irritated me more than penalties.

-Powerplays! Lots of them! When I drive in on net sometimes the CPU will take me down very realistically to prevent a goal but will take a minor penalty.

-The flip dump is actually effective now as far as I can tell. The Sabres aren't much of a dump and chase team so I didn't use it much, but it isn't so easy to automatically clear it against the CPU.

-Overall I really enjoy the game now. I'm not sure what else was tweaked but the whole thing just "feels" better. I'm glad I restarted my franchise. At one point, my disappointment with 09 was causing me to not play offline at all, but now I will get a franchise going for sure.

-I did not have problems with the CPU scoring on all star, but I was playing a weak defense (Buffalo) against the Habs who are good. My first game I got blown out 4-2 (although I was out of practice and hadn't played in a bit). The next game I won in OT 3-2. I won the draw and Vanek broke in on a partial breakaway and buried a nice wrister past Price. Nice to see the shooting tweak didn't hurt good shooters in good shooting position. I had a wrist shot goal from Roy too from a good spot in the slot.

I'll have to play some other teams to see if I have problems being scored on. The Sabres D is not very highly rated in the game, so that could be part of it. I'll take a lack of scoring to get rid of all the CPU cheese that was out there before the patch.

Overall I love it. It feels like a new game to me. I didn't try online yet, but will soon.

[Steven547]

Sorry to hear about your problems online, but yea, I'm talking offline. I pretty much stopped playing online because of some people acting like little rude kids. So I can't really defend or critique your qualms about online. For me though, offline, I think the loose pucks are better. In the real NHL there are a ton of loose pucks in a game. My only issue is the lack of shooting by the CPU. However, I originally had AI Learning at 0. I notched it up to 1, and now Detroit had 30 shots against me instead of barely reaching 20.
I do think another patch would be great to put a final "fix" to a few more issues, especially the ones you mention with online play. I also think the goalies still flop way too much.
I had originally changed all butterfly goalies to hybrid and left the stand ups alone, but now I think the best way is to just make all goalies "stand up". Is it realistic? No. Will it eliminate the constant "sliding into 2nd base effect" by the goalies? I hope so!

[Steven547]

I'm enjoying it more. The gameplay feels more "realistic" in a way. However, I feel that the penalties against my team have dropped to almost nothing, and the CPU is around 4 per game. Also, the goalies still drop down too quick (stacking the pads?).

But I do like the loose pucks I see a lot of now. I think this patch just strengthened the effect of the sliders. Shots were very low by other teams, but I raised the AI learning to 1 and suddenly they shot more....so, we'll see...more testing ahead before hawks dynasty starts.