NHL 16: Be A Pro Mode's Biggest Problems

[srenaud11]

This is a nice glitch. I started out by picking the NHL team I wanted to play for instead of working my way through the minors. I settled on the Flyers. After the preseason my player was to be sent down but an injury kept him in the NHL. (Although I was averaging a goal and 3 assists per game). My player was leading the league in goals 58, assists 109, and points 167. With 20 games left in the regular season my player was rewarded by being sent down to the minors. Other than that I really love this game.

[LLH777]

This is a very long post, folks, much to cover. I love Be a Pro, it's the only mode I play. It was great fun in NHL 16, at least in the beginning. I still play it, but it's kind of stale now. It think it's because this mode feels incomplete to me. I kept thinking as I played this year's installment how this mode could have been so much better.

Below is a rundown of problems I noticed and ideas for improvements that came to me while I played through this year's iteration. I didn't list these in any particular order. I just wrote them out as I thought of them.

I'm curious what my fellow Be A Pro enthusiasts would add to this list in terms of how this mode could be greatly improved in the future:

Give me the incentive to want to play for 20 seasons in the NHL. Right now, it feels as if I am playing a "single player" mode as opposed to a "career" mode. In the beginning, improving my players attributes kept me interested. Once my player gained a respectable level in all his attributes (upper 80s or lower 90s overall), I felt there was no reason to keep playing. It became a grind. There was nothing to play for. Winning the cup and my player reaching milestones in his career didn't feel very rewarding (see below).

Bring back the ability to adjust strategies on the fly. For instance, give me the option to increase or decrease my team's defensive pressure. This could be done in NHL 14 via the D-pad. I miss not having this option in 16.

Give my player the option to ask for a trade.

Give me some competent AI. This is a big one! If only I could rely on my teammates to make responsible decisions on the ice. Instead, I found myself having to compensate for and baby-sit my teammates, especially on defense. This is the NHL, for goodness sakes. These players are supposed to be the cream of the crop, but they don't play like it sometimes.

A few examples: 1) My defensemen oftentimes circle behind the net when they should be passing the puck up the ice for a breakout. This especially infuriates me when my team is on the power play, because they are wasting precious time. And I can't count how many times they lost the puck behind the net or passed it to an opposing player from behind the net. 2) My teammates don't play the body and are not nearly as aggressive in our defensive zone as they should be. They hang back and allow the offense all kinds of time and space to set up plays. By contrast, the opposing team is all over me and my teammates when we enter their defensive zone. 3) I can't count how many times my player was left on an island by himself in the offensive zone, trying to generate on an effective forecheck. His teammates were hanging back in the neutral zone, or worse, they had skated all the way back in my defensive zone. It's nuts! I can't help but wonder how any of this got past QA.

Add female pronouns. As a woman in real life, I would LOVE to play as woman in the game but, aside from having very few faces to choose from, the use of male pronouns ruins it for me. I cannot become immersed in the game as a female player when I'm constantly being referred to as "He."

Bring back "Play as a Legend." I wouldn't mind playing as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, but give me the option to play as some of the greats of old. The one and only Ray Bourque, for instance. Or the incomparable Ron Francis. And let's not forget the ladies! Bring back Cammi Granato, Hayley Wickenheiser and add Hilary Knight to this mode!

Bring back the All-Star Game. This one's a no brainer!

It would add a great deal to this mode if your pro's accomplishments are acknowledged and documented throughout his career. Otherwise, it feels like a single player mode where you are just playing an endless schedule of games. Some ideas:

Announce it when my player reaches milestones in his career. Make mention of the fact my player has reached 50 goals in a season. When my player wins his first Stanley Cup and his first Conn Smyth, announce it! When my player plays his first game in the NHL, announce it!

Speaking of the latter...I thought Eddie and Doc were announcing my player during the game intro of his first NHL game, only to find out they were talking about someone else. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing and it was such a letdown for me! (*See the end of this post for a detailed account of what I experienced.*)

Include my player in the group shot when his team wins the cup. Allow him to hoist the cup. My player won three Memorial Cups and one Stanley Cup and in every instance he was nowhere to be seen in the group photo (there was an empty space where I believe he was supposed to be) nor was he available to raise the Stanley Cup. He raised the Memorial Cup during his third season in the CHL because he was the captain, but in the other two seasons he was absent, even though he led his team and the entire OHL in virtually every category.

Add a trophy case where every award you win throughout your career (in the minors and the NHL) is displayed.

Add ways to make it feel as if my player is making a name for himself in the NHL. Akin to NHL 14 - a player's likeness on a billboard at the beginning of his career, his likeness on the cover of an NHL video game.

Display season stats for my player throughout his career, during the regular season and in the playoffs. Did my player score as many goals this season than he did last season? In NHL 16, I cannot make season to season comparisons because the stats are reset at the beginning of each new season.

Display in-game how many goals my player has scored so far in the season. This should have been a given across the board in all modes. I can't believe this wasn't included.

More customization options in terms of appearance. The ability to change hair color, for instance.

Allow us to import our face into the game.

Bring back season and in-game expectations and award XP if my player meets them.

As a coach, don't just tell me to do something, tell me HOW to achieve it. The On-Ice trainer isn't sufficient, imo. And there's no in-game manual to refer to. If I want to refresh my memory about what button or skill stick to use, I have to look it up online.

Create a more robust off-ice training system. Do you remember the instructional content available when you fired up NHL 10 and played it for the first time? Show me how to deke, how to win faceoffs, how stick lift and then allow me to try my hand at it. Why not incorporate something like this into Be a Pro's off-ice training? Give my player the option to choose and participate in drills every week to improve various aspects of his gameplay. The current system leaves a lot to be desired and if I am new to this franchise it teaches me nothing.

Allow ALL my player's attributes to be increased or decreased by on-ice play. With the exception of Endurance, all my player's skating abilities (Speed, Agility, Balance and Acceleration) can only be raised through off-ice training and the increases are paltry in comparison to how much XP my player is able to accrue in-game in all other areas. And just like coach's expectations, tell me how these attributes can be raised. How does one raise Poise and Aggression? There's nothing in the game telling you how to do this.

Allow more ways for my player to increase Offense, Defense and Team Play. Defense is especially hard to raise. I will play sound positional hockey, my team will earn a shutout and yet my Defensive Expectations score is C+ or B- at game's end. There aren't enough ways to raise this expectation's score. I rarely poke check or stick lift, because they are so ineffective and oftentimes result in penalties. Shot blocks are nearly impossible to accomplish. When my player is in his defensive zone, award him for getting the puck out of the zone, for winning faceoffs in that zone (if he's a center) and for playing sound positional hockey in front of his goalie.

Make simulating between shifts more realistic. Case in point: My player wins a face-off in the offensive zone, the puck goes back to my defenseman, he shoots the puck at the net and the goalie catches or freezes the puck. In that space of time, my player is on the ice for 3 or 4 seconds. He's got all kinds of energy left, his meter is almost fully green. If I play a game where I don't simulate in between shifts, my player is allowed to stay on the ice, take another face-off and play until his energy meter bleeds down to yellow. But, when I simulate between shifts in a game, he's called back to the bench immediately after the goalie freezes the puck (after spending three or four seconds on the ice). It makes no sense and doesn't take full advantage of my player's skills and abilities during crucial points in the game.

This also applies to simulating between shifts... Make it so everyone on my team scores, not just players on my line. If I don't sim between shifts, other players on my team will score. Otherwise, virtually all the scoring comes from my player's line.

What would you like to see added to (or removed from) Be A Pro Mode in the future?
__________________________________________________ _____

This is a detailed account of what I experienced when my pro took to the ice to play his first game in the NHL.

A bit of background: My player started out as a 15-year old and played three seasons in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit. He didn't miss a single game (none were simulated). He lead the league in virtually every category possible (most goals, most assists, most hits, best plus/minus) through all three seasons. He won every award imaginable in the league, led the Spirit to three consecutive Memorial Cup wins, and was poised to enter the league with an overall rating of 91. Suffice to say a lot of time and effort went into getting my player to this point.

Much to my delight, he was drafted by the Washington Capitals, 22nd overall in the first round. I was so pleased! Aside from having the opportunity to play alongside Ovie, I thought it was pretty cool my player played for the Spirit and then was picked up by the Capitals - two teams with the same theme! It seemed as if destiny had smiled upon him.

I was so pumped when he was about to play his first regular season game in the NHL. During the introduction, I heard Doc and Eddie talk about "a player who is playing his first game in the NHL" and I thought, "Oh, boy, they are talking about MY player!" Instead, when the camera cut to ice level, it was someone else who didn't have nearly the rating my player had (he had 70 or something) and most likely didn't have the distinguished career my player had in the minors.

I was so disappointed my player wasn't acknowledged during one of the most important moments of his career. I couldn't believe it! If there was thing I will remember many years from now about this year's installment of the series, it will be this moment...

[jhawk826]

To keep it short, everything the RTTS mode of the MLB: The Show does right, this game does a complete 180. It isn't fun and there isn't an incentive to play an entire season much less a month.

[ChiTownBluesFan]

Three more things that contribute to wrecking your in-game Defensive score for 'bad-line play' due to clearly being programmed by someone who's never actually played a game of hockey (all this happened in one game):

* A goal scored during the second period (long change) just after you step on the ice? Bad line defense.
* A SHG given up when the other team shoots the puck down the ice from their own zone, takes an odd bounce to come in front of the net, and the goalie - with no one around them - stick handles the puck into his own net. Bad line defense.
* A missed pass along the ice from the other teams own zone that somehow gets through the five hole. Bad line defense.

Look - I realize these kinds of things happen during an actual game. But I don't think anyone in their right minds would describe the problem on these goals as 'bad line defense'. Well, OK, maybe the first one, but that'd really be the previous line, or 'bad line change' issue for the previous line.

They really REALLY need to fix how ratings are done in-game.

[Bach Patu]

Quote: Originally Posted by schlitz73

I can only take a faceoff when the game goes to OT so I'm stuck with that suggestion for ages apparently since I can't even figure out how to do a tie up and win.

What I do with ALL my players is take off AT THE DROP OF THE PUCK !!!

The drawback is TIMING IS CRITICAL here because if the center loses the faceoff completely, you've GOT to get back in position & focus on (In your case) the LWer & do whatever you have to do to get the puck away from HIM should it be passed to him

THEN there's also the risk of taking the body on someone & getting them hurt (Which might result in either you getting in a fight AND/OR getting a GM & thrown out by the ref)

Hope this helps

Cheers

[Bach Patu]

Quote: Originally Posted by srenaud11

With 20 games left in the regular season my player was rewarded by being sent down to the minors. Other than that I really love this game.

Think THAT is weird ??

My Capitals LW (Admittedly a female) was sent down to Hershey IN THE MIDDLE OF POSTSEASON !!!

She finished er Rookie season there when Hershey took home the title

I didn't think that could be done.....

I'm PRETTY SURE it IS NOT in the REAL game EA !!!

Cheers

[Mitchrapp]

Playing well on offense and getting 3 assists but only a b+ so essentially you fail (need a-). What real life coach or GM gets upset after a 3 point game.

Needing a 'B' on offense as a defensive defenseman but only needing a C+ on defense. Makes zero sense.

With 8 minute periods it's just too hard to get those offensive grades.

[Fiddy]

Last few years (except this one) I would create my player just like my EASHL one and add myself to the main roster. Basically would create my player as a borderline 2nd liner, but mainly as a 3rd liner. Insert myself on the Pens 3rd line and start a franchise. I would player lock the position my player plays (yes you control the others at that position). I just found it more interesting having control of what goes on and not get sent down because of how the game is programed.