NHL 17 Q&A #2 - Collisions, AI Improvements, New Goalie Cam, No Roster Sharing & More

[Simple Mathematics]

If EA would give us roster sharing, then I think the Revamped Rosters would be the equivalent of the OS Full Minors rosters for The Show. All OS rosters seem to get insane amounts of downloads and I would love to see what the Revamped Rosters could get in NHL.

Also, what is the point in adding the ECHL if we can't use it in franchise mode?

[ttrobbins84]

They won't put roster sharing in because no one wants nor asks for it. Duh. They over rate sooo many players. It's so frustrating to see it, and then their updates throughout the season are weak and forums are filled with frustrated fans.

It may just be me, but this Q&A is feeling more and more like deja vu. I was leaning towards buying it, because it's the only game out there. Now I'm thinking I'll just stick with 16. I wish there was some competition in the market to drive them to do more every year.

The ECHL not being integrated means that they probably will rarely get used. I may be wrong there. I was super excited about ECHL being in the game, and now I don't care.

Each year, lots of hope and it seems like it ends the same. A game that feels like it's on the right track, but just not quite there. I'd die for an NHL game to be featured like a FIFA/NBA 2K game as far as franchise mode goes.

Do we know if the world cup is integrated into franchise? I didn't see it, or could have missed it.

[Moose24x]

I've never really understood how people were getting excited over ECHL inclusion (unless they personally have and follow an ECHL team they specifically have been wanting to play as) because, even if it WAS incorporated in franchise mode, the ECHL would have such a minor actual effect. First of all, if you follow hockey closely, not very many prospects spend a lot of time in the ECHL. It's not a development league like the CHL or NCAA, nor does it produce young draft eligibles like European top leagues. It most often sees goalies who may have an NHL future and is otherwise populated by players a notch below AHL quality or who are being crowded out of an AHL roster spot. I'm not saying that's its exclusive function, but that is the reality. The ECHL is hardly an essential addition and wouldn't have a large impact on franchise play anyhow.

The time it took to code all of the ECHL teams, record dialogue for ECHL play and figure out where on the rating scale these ECHL players should fall all could have been devoted to significantly more meaningful and much more frequently asked for improvements. Really, any other improvements would have ultimately been preferable. Ditto World Cup. As I'm sure it will be stand alone only and not integrated into franchise play, it is just trying to capitalize on the buzz that the World Cup may be generating right around the same time frame as the game's release. In no way does it actually make the game better and the (likely minimal) time it takes to include it, the jerseys, new commentary, etc. would have simply been better spent elsewhere.

That said, I'm not angry that it is included or anything. And due to the relative ease with which it probably was included (probably part of the reason it is; what can we include with minimal effort but hype as a big selling point?) I realize that it's not as if it was included at the sacrifice of anything major. I just personally would rather see even a small handful of more minor improvements, like better forechecking and breakouts or just having players occasionally tossed from the face off circle, than I would have the ECHL. Like I said, if you're actually a fan of an ECHL team, I see why you'd be happy. If you just want the best NHL game (and make no mistake, the game is called NHL 17, not HOCKEY 17) than I would rather they cut all the excess BS and just improve the damn game.

[Toewsface]

Q - What improvements did you make this year?
Honest A - Well, surprisingly very few. All of the previous year's glitches are still here and we're touting features that we had several years ago as new features.

Q - And what about rosters this year?
HA - Despite years of our fans pleading for roster sharing or sensible ratings, we've decided to ignore all of that. As always, our rosters will be completely unusable trash where every 4th liner is indistinguishable from Mario Lemieux and we won't enable any way for you to correct it yourself without the user investing tens of thousands of hours of work. And of course, that work won't mean a hill of beans because you can't share it with the community and our player progression system is thoroughly broken.

Q - Can you tell us about the addition of ECHL in this year's addition?
HA - Well, we added them, but you can't actually use them in our new, super awesome Franchise Mode tm because why would we want such basic functionality.

Q - And what improvements have you made to goalies in this year's game?
HA - We're going to tout a new system, but really the goalies are going to let in the same exact goals as they have in the past 8 years editions. But we added a few new animations that we're really excited about.

Q - How have you captured EA's slogan, "If it's in the game, it's in the game."
HA - Well as you know, none of our programmers have ever actually watched a hockey game so we're really hoping that our idea of what hockey is like is as close to real life as possible. When your player hits the shuttlecock, we're sure you'll feel like you hit a homerun!

Q - You don't really have any respect for your customers, do you?
HA - Of course not, we're EA and they'll shell out $60 for the same garbage with minor, wholly inaccurate roster changes that we won't release until mid-December every year.

[Rufio2031]

I remember when NHL was one of the better titles EA had to offer. It has been absolute garbage for 4+ years now with no real signs of improvement. Looks like it's going to be the exact same yet again. At least it seems the community is finally realizing it. They can't even get passed creating a passable menu system for crying out loud. But EA doesn't care, they're putting hardly anything into the title and still getting sales.

The whole stick on stick paragraph is such crap and a great example of how EA is NOT in the game. I like how they want to reward defensive positioning by faking incidental contact. Because every Hockey fan knows the best way to get the puck loose from the puck carrier is by accident/luck. Basically, if you're close to someone they'll "more intelligently" randomize the puck coming loose. Only to be instantly re-gained by the AI team of course; followed by them skating right through you as their stick clips through the core of your body all while NOT losing possession of the puck.

[jake19ny]

I went to the EA Ask page and read all the questions. Someone asked about custom goalie masks and of course that's not in the game. Roster share and gameplay are way more important but it's annoying that they haven't updated and only added a few new masks over the 6 years. You can infer by his answer that it's going to be the same this year too. Again not a top priority but come on get a little creative with the goalie masks. Besides old shoe, some are downright lame.

PS. ROSTER SHARE ALREADY!!!!! Geez

[Freakywwe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Toewsface

Q - What improvements did you make this year? Honest A - Well, surprisingly very few. All of the previous year's glitches are still here and we're touting features that we had several years ago as new features. Q - And what about rosters this year? HA - Despite years of our fans pleading for roster sharing or sensible ratings, we've decided to ignore all of that. As always, our rosters will be completely unusable trash where every 4th liner is indistinguishable from Mario Lemieux and we won't enable any way for you to correct it yourself without the user investing tens of thousands of hours of work. And of course, that work won't mean a hill of beans because you can't share it with the community and our player progression system is thoroughly broken. Q - Can you tell us about the addition of ECHL in this year's addition? HA - Well, we added them, but you can't actually use them in our new, super awesome Franchise Mode tm because why would we want such basic functionality. Q - And what improvements have you made to goalies in this year's game? HA - We're going to tout a new system, but really the goalies are going to let in the same exact goals as they have in the past 8 years editions. But we added a few new animations that we're really excited about. Q - How have you captured EA's slogan, "If it's in the game, it's in the game." HA - Well as you know, none of our programmers have ever actually watched a hockey game so we're really hoping that our idea of what hockey is like is as close to real life as possible. When your player hits the shuttlecock, we're sure you'll feel like you hit a homerun! Q - You don't really have any respect for your customers, do you? HA - Of course not, we're EA and they'll shell out $60 for the same garbage with minor, wholly inaccurate roster changes that we won't release until mid-December every year.

This really isn't necessary

[ttrobbins84]

Moose in regards to my ECHL comment, I am disappointed it isn't in franchise mode for the reason of depth of control. Being able to progress ECHL players to maybe help the AHL team. I wanted this for the same reason The Show includes single A. Many MLB players never get the call, but just having that control to help your farm system grow and see your affiliates do well is what I was excited for.

I think it shows with several of their titles that they insist on rebranding stuff they've done before and call it new. EA knows that they can package together a game, and it will be purchased. They have no competition to be concerned about, so if you are wanting your NHL/NFL fix you're stuck with them. It's sad that you see the same questions asked for YEARS, and they don't address them. They yearly say that the fan's input is key to them. Then why if you explore questions asked over the last several years, have the customer's requests been ignored?

Needless to say I went from being excited for September to now I don't care when it comes out. I'll wait and see what the reviews say, and when most likely I hear it's a clone of 16, I'll have saved myself $60.