NHL 16 Q&A Update - Gameplay Videos Coming This Month

[Steve_OS]

The NHL 16 team continues to answer questions about the game at their Ask EA page. The Q&A is copied and pasted below for easier reading. Other Q&A sessions have been posted here in the same fashion.

Will there be contracts in HUT?

HUT contracts remain unchanged in NHL 16.

With the EASHL player type builds, how are you planning on keeping all builds viable and not just have everyone gravitate towards ply or snp? For example, why would someone be a grinder? Also will player size be attached to player types?

Hi Casey, thanks for your question. The player classes are tuned with feedback from members of the community as well as hours of testing during development. Even though the classes are balanced with unique strengths/weaknesses before launch, our intention is to constantly monitor game data and review feedback from our fans to continuously tweak the builds. We will continue to listen to player feedback post launch and rectify any balance issues players may be facing.

Will boosts be returning to Ultimate Team?

Hi Jamie, good question! Training items will still be available in HUT but we are making one change in that training duration items will no longer be available. This means that training boosts can still be applied but are only good for one game.

How many mascots are in the Game?

The NHL officially have 27 mascots and every single one of them will be in the game.

Will the Coyotes new jerseys be featured in NHL 16?

The new Arizona Coyotes uniforms that were announced at the NHL Entry Draft will be in the game.

Will the Carolina Hurricanes home (PNC Arena) be in NHL 16?

The PNC Arena home of the Carolina Hurricanes will be in NHL 16.

Will u be able to grow a playoff beard in be a pro this year?

Yes. In NHL 16 you have control over what facial hair you currently have (both style and length) and/or what beard you would grow if you set yourself to clean shaven during the season and only grow during playoffs. Make it all the way to the cup final to see it in all its glory.

Will there be one-touch passes!?

Yes. You can press pass before you receive a pass to quickly pass it along to another teammate. This works well for give and go's and moving the puck around quickly on the powerplay.

Will the New York Islanders be located in Brooklyn?

Yes, we have Barclays Center in NHL 16, complete with all of its unique architecture.

Will the Rangers goal song be in the game?

In NHL 16 we will have the Rangers goal song, the crowd will chant along with it as well.

When will we see NHL 16 gameplay?

You'll get to see some gameplay this month (July).

I'm actually schooling for online programming, is there any chance you guys are looking for any new interns or maybe some new young workers?

We're always looking for new talent. Check out http://careers.ea.com/ for all job postings.

What about possibility to change jersey numbers in rosters?

Yes. We know that our fans wanted this…it was a late addition but we were able to get this in.

Why did you elect to put Kane and Toews as opposed to letting your fans vote on the cover like in previous years?

As you may have saw with our E3 trailer, the theme for NHL 16 is all about playing as team or ‘Play Together. Win Together.’ With the return of team based modes like Online Co-Op, OTP, EASHL, our team came up with the idea of putting a winner from the Stanley Cup Champion on the cover. We actually signed players from each of the 16 NHL teams participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but with Chicago, both Toews and Kane expressed interest in sharing the cover if the Hawks won the Cup. Given the team focus for NHL 16 we felt it was good fit and something we decided to agree to. We may elect to return to a cover vote or experiment a new cover selection process in the future, but with NHL 16 we’re happy with where things netted out. For the first time, we have teammates and one of the best duo’s in the league on the cover.

How is NHL 16 compared to NHL Legacy? Same cover?

NHL 16 and NHL Legacy Edition are two separate products with two separate covers. It's important that we make that distinction since NHL 16 continues to build on the 'next gen' foundation leveraging the power of the new consoles whereas the Legacy Edition is specific to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and does not have the same new features of NHL 16.

Will there be an option to turn off the On Ice Visual Trainer?

Yes there will be an option to turn it off.

Is there a new training mode in NHL 16 ? With more details and tutorials ?

There is a new training mode in NHL 16 which we're calling the Visual On-Ice Trainer. The great thing about this feature is that it gives you hints on both controls and some of the basic rules of hockey all during gameplay. For me personally, the best part about this feature is that it adapts as you play continuously progressing you to more and more complex moves so that both new and experienced fans will benefit.

[AdamJones113]

Honestly... I've defended this game and EA more than most recently, but this Q&A was sheer proof that EA is picking softball questions (note EA, not necessarily the devs). Answering the PNC Arena question when the info was just released? Pointless. That last one? C'mon.

Hopefully more Q's will be answered soon. There were some good ones in here and good on the devs for answering those.

[giantsharks]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steve_OS

Why did you elect to put Kane and Toews as opposed to letting your fans vote on the cover like in previous years? As you may have saw with our E3 trailer, the theme for NHL 16 is all about playing as team or ‘Play Together. Win Together.’ With the return of team based modes like Online Co-Op, OTP, EASHL, our team came up with the idea of putting a winner from the Stanley Cup Champion on the cover. We actually signed players from each of the 16 NHL teams participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but with Chicago, both Toews and Kane expressed interest in sharing the cover if the Hawks won the Cup. Given the team focus for NHL 16 we felt it was good fit and something we decided to agree to. We may elect to return to a cover vote or experiment a new cover selection process in the future, but with NHL 16 we’re happy with where things netted out. For the first time, we have teammates and one of the best duo’s in the league on the cover.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this or maybe I'm being too harsh but this comment enrages me and has nothing to do with the way the cover was chosen. They say "As you may have saw with our E3 trailer, the theme for NHL 16 is all about playing as team or ‘Play Together. Win Together.’ With the return of team based modes like Online Co-Op, OTP, EASHL...." This comment leads me to believe that their focus and marketing is going towards modes that were in previous versions of the game. They shouldn't act like they've made some huge improvement by putting this stuff back in the game. I know its early to tell but it feels like any other year and as someone who plays offline, this does not bode well.

[King_B_Mack]

Quote: Originally Posted by AdamJones113

Honestly... I've defended this game and EA more than most recently, but this Q&A was sheer proof that EA is picking softball questions (note EA, not necessarily the devs). Answering the PNC Arena question when the info was just released? Pointless. That last one? C'mon. Hopefully more Q's will be answered soon. There were some good ones in here and good on the devs for answering those.

Kinda hilarious that they answered that question and I've sent in asking them about the United Center quite a few times since they've started the Q & A and I haven't seen it answered there.

I think someone here said they finally answered someone on Twitter about it? Just hilarious to me that they're ignoring it in the actual Q & A. If it's not in, just answer the question in the Q & A and be done with it. You can say it's not in and then keep working on trying to get it in before it's too late to add it. Then if you do get it now you have a new announcement you can pat yourselves on the back about or deliver a little surprise to people when they fire up the game and it's there.

[ericromain]

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

Kinda hilarious that they answered that question and I've sent in asking them about the United Center quite a few times since they've started the Q & A and I haven't seen it answered there. I think someone here said they finally answered someone on Twitter about it? Just hilarious to me that they're ignoring it in the actual Q & A. If it's not in, just answer the question in the Q & A and be done with it. You can say it's not in and then keep working on trying to get it in before it's too late to add it. Then if you do get it now you have a new announcement you can pat yourselves on the back about or deliver a little surprise to people when they fire up the game and it's there.

It was worse in NHL10, they never said anything negative in those Q&A chats.
At least now they throw us a bone with the no changes to HUT type responses.

[canucksss]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steve_OS

The NHL 16 team continues to answer questions about the game at their Ask EA page. The Q&A is copied and pasted below for easier reading. Other Q&A sessions have been posted here in the same fashion. When will we see NHL 16 gameplay? You'll get to see some gameplay this month (July). [[/i]

For goodness sakes, dont let the dumbs play in your gameplay. Have someone play vs mode, player vs AI and AI vs AI to see if there's vast improvement in gameplay. Particularly: NZ pressure. And please dont put in the easiest game mode!

[bigwill33]

Most of these Q&A's do absolutely nothing for me. I couldn't care less about HUT and already know most of the other stuff being "asked" and "answered".

But a few quick things from this one grabbed my eye.

The one-touch passes. Thank goodness! But they have touted this before and it never really worked right. I am really hoping that it finally is in the game and that it works the way it should.

Gameplay videos this month! Finally! The game releases in exactly 2 months. The demo should be out in a month and half, the game should be gold and final in about 5-6 weeks, and we should have our hands on the early access in less than 2 months. About time we some gameplay. Here is to hoping that it isn't hype trailers, or cut-up highlight stuff. We want raw, unedited gameplay. Maybe take a page out of SCEA's book and do some live streaming, human vs. human or human vs. cpu. Or even OTP/Club. I want to see what this game really looks like.

Finally, Even though the classes are balanced with unique strengths/weaknesses before launch, our intention is to constantly monitor game data and review feedback from our fans to continuously tweak the builds. We will continue to listen to player feedback post launch and rectify any balance issues players may be facing.

This last part really frightens me. EA has never, NEVER, followed up anything post launch when it pertains to adjusting things for the better with the NHL series. Their 4 roster updates each year and broken tuner sets (with notorious problems like bouncy pucks) should speak volumes about the track record here. Not holding my breath on this one.

And how come nobody ever asks important questions, like; can I finally poke check while having the change lines/edit formations window up? Did they fix or address the phantom and wonky goaltender interference calls? Any changes to the amount of pauses in OTP/EASHL/Online? Why is there a need to have 3 or 4 pauses per team, per game, that last 45 seconds each? Can we hold a player's stick up during a stick lift or finally pin their stick down to tie-up a man during a loose puck scramble or oncoming pass attempt? Any talk of allowing us to import our own logos or faces into the game?

You know, stuff that actually makes a difference. Not whether Iceburg will be dancing in the isles at Consol Arena, or how curly my beard will be in the 5th game of the Conference Finals. Those things are great, but really? That is what gets asked and answered here?

And for the love of god, who cares about a video game cover!!!??? It is 2015, get over what artwork is on the front of the damn box by now! It has absolutely no impact on anything whatsoever.

[spidertour02]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

The demo should be out in a month and half

I highly doubt that there will be a demo. EA seems much less inclined to release demos now that EA Access is a thing. (As an observation, demos seem to be going the way of the dodo in general.)