NHL 16 Patch 1.04 Available Now For Xbox One & PS4, Full Details Included

[bingyp]

Just played with the patch for the first time, two games of HUT offline seasons.

Immediately noticed the game is much faster, maybe two clicks faster than before. Hitting seems higher powered and shooting is a little harder.

In short arcade overdose. Not enjoyable to me.

One thing I have noticed is that, after a goalmouth scramble, the ai defender will turn and take the puck into his own goal, puck and stick just going undetected through the goal. I hoped that would be picked up. It hasnt. Happened in my first game. Ai defender collects the loose puck, spins into the goal, puck and stick going through goal and sometimes goalie, skates away merrily with no goal being called. Happens both for and against.

This was EA's chance to sort the game out. History shows this is the last patch we get. So much is left undone - collision detection, penalties, abysmal ai, the list is long and yet never seems to get shorter. The same issues plague the game year after year yet all EA can concentrate on is fluff like 9000 spectators and mascots.

They even seem to remove what works and introduce what doesn't. I much prefer NHL 11. If anything it is 5 years ahead of 16. The ai is better, there are penalties, board play is far better, we can edit and share rosters, 5 man celebrations, 3 stars on the ice, more involved and varied commentary.

After this patch, I see little from 5 years of "development" except the slightly prettier graphics. To my mind, taken as a whole, the game is worse.

[TheBuddyHobbs]

New patch, 5 minutes at default All-Star/Hardcore sliders except max penalties and game speed at 1.

Carolina (CPU) New Jersey (User)

[AdamJones113]

Poor patch gameplay-wise, in my opinion. EA did a poor job of diagnosing the problems with the previous gamer, and, as a result, changed the wrong things. Playing on AS/Hardcore default.

Here's an example. In the previous iteration of gameplay, CPU passing was tic-tac-toe. Why? Because they could snap a pass off without powering up and without regarding the rules of physics. If you were driving a defender (who had the puck) into the boards on the forecheck, he was able to snap off a behind-the-back precision pass to a teammate. But EA diagnosed the problem as being with the reception of the puck, and make the puck harder to pick up (good) but also made the puck pickup animations long and drawn out. The CPU super passes, also doable by humans, is still there. That's not good.

Problem #2. CPU teammates are now incredibly passive. Through several games, I have not seen them attempt to body check an opponent. You may say, good, this is more restraint on their parts. But the situation I refer to is when my CPU teammate is RIGHT NEXT TO A PUCK CARRIER, and yet does not move a muscle. Same with the CPU driving into my offensive zone. My CPU teammate makes no move to push the puck carrier out of his lane. This problem of driving animations has been discussed at length, so I will not dig further into this particular example.

Maybe I'm saying that most AI-addressed issues in the OP were addressed poorly. Or maybe this game isn't what it could be.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by jake19ny

looks I wont get to use the 3rd jerseys. This roster update is missing tons of players still and there is nothing worse then having a guy called, play well, and then not have him in the game. I spent countless hours creating over a hundred guys not in the game and completing each teams AHL roster. I don't have the energy to do it again so I'm S.O.L. on the new jerseys. Will never....and I mean never understand why they stopped using a jersey code instead of stupidly placing it in a roster update. Like the lack of tuner choice mystery, it goes unanswered...

To be fair, NBA 2K also introduces uniform updates in roster updates as opposed to using code slime they did in the past, so the NHL team isn't alone here.

[RevisIsland24]

They need to fix Dop ins with friends option. Only puts you in a private game. It's also an easy way to boost.

[RevisIsland24]

Drop in* with friends is broken.

[Elite49]

Those asking about the new Uniforms not being in already made GM's or modes, they are. No need to restart, at all. Just download the new rosters then make sure they are active in the settings. Been using Avs Alts since the patch.

[pm83]

Thanks to PS4's option to download updates by itself I also got 1.04 patch and I must say that I'm really disappointed. I used my own slider set and game was really different. Players were much more passive and I could easily walk in front of the net. One thing which I was really happy earlier was that Defense was rock solid. Now it's all ****ed thanks to 1.04. I was very satisfied earlier with my slider settings combined with first patch and liked how game played offline. Now it's all ruined.

Thank you EA for being such a bull**** company to cater for online fans, once again. I have no other option than delete NHL16 and start new adventures with no-patch & out-of-the-box-tuner.

Edit: Tried this game with no-patch and just wow, there's no option to put Icon OFF. I also used my custom rosters and goalies didn't wear any gloves. Seems like I have to play with patch after all. May I say again that this is BS!