NHL 11 News Post

NHL 11 Blog: EAUHL - The Biggest Online Dynasty Ever

12:00 AM - August 5, 2010 by Steve_OS

Rammer has just posted another NHL 11 blog. This one discussing the recently announced EA Sports Ultimate Hockey League.

Quote:


	"Let me start by saying that we heard all of the feedback and read all of the wishlists after NHL 10 hit the shelves. We know that our fans (ourselves included) want an online dynasty so Andy, Litty and myself started to brainstorm the best way possible to take online dynasties to completely new level. Our goal was to make the BIGGEST ONLINE DYNASTY MODE EVER (The working name for this mode up until February was the Global Online Dynasty but we figured the acronym might be a bit of a sticking issue so we ended up changing it). We looked at the success that Madden has had with their online dynasty and also looked at how successful our approach to taking Online Team Play to the masses has been with the creation of the EASHL. We also knew that we had somewhat neglected players that only play Versus or Be A GM offline. With that in mind, we decided to create the EAUHL (EA SPORTS Ultimate Hockey League) where every user can be a GM in a single league competing against the rest of the world in monthly seasons. The key being that you can play a game in your dynasty whenever you want with full leaderboards, trophies and monthly championships. To create the biggest online dynasty mode ever in a single year was going to be a huge undertaking as we didn�t have any of the infrastructure needed to bring this mode to life. Luckily, our FIFA friends were working on Ultimate Team and we were able leverage a lot of their technology (ie. Card system for managing players, screens, auction house etc). Because we were able to leverage FIFA�s tech, it allowed us to spend more time really focusing on the execution of the online dynasty elements that are crucial to this mode."

Game: NHL 11Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 36 - View All

NHL 11 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 jack1535 @ 08/05/10 12:15 AM

This looks sweet. I wonder what the prizes will be if the NHL is helping.

# 2 The Visualizer @ 08/05/10 01:01 AM

I could care less about this trading cards and dynasty leaderboards nonsense, it's good that we have more "gameplay" options, but I just hope they put as much effort and emphasis into improving the offline and hopefully online "Be a GM" or "Dynasty" modes.

# 3 onlybygrace @ 08/05/10 01:04 AM

I'm excited to hear about the huge announcement for the offline Be-A-GM players like myself.

# 4 acidraindrops08 @ 08/05/10 02:32 AM

I'm blown away... To those complaining, this is truly groundbreaking for the entire sports gaming genre... Did you just read the same thing I did??? If you're upset, or disappointed, check in with me in a few months. I think you'll be deeply invested in you're Utilmate Team...

# 5 BlueNGold @ 08/05/10 03:38 AM

That was a great blog. The salary cap, tournaments and preseason were the best parts of this news. Also looking forward to the big Be A GM announcement.

I still want a true online franchise/dynasty like Madden though!

# 6 milesizdead @ 08/05/10 04:51 AM

Sounds good, an excellent mode to spend time with while waiting for club games

# 7 The Visualizer @ 08/05/10 05:09 AM

Re-read the blog, checked out the video again and I'm warming up a bit to this new mode. I've had FIFA and Madden the past couple years but have never tried Ultimate Team and have two questions relating to NHL11's implementation of it.

1) After you setup your team, train and everything do you actually play games with them or is everything simulated?

2) If you do play games, who would you being playing each game against in NHL11 during your EAUHL Season, the CPU or online randoms?

# 8 BlueNGold @ 08/05/10 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Visualizer


	Re-read the blog, checked out the video again and I'm warming up a bit to this new mode. I've had FIFA and Madden the past couple years but have never tried Ultimate Team and have two questions relating to NHL11's implementation of it. 1) After you setup your team, train and everything do you actually play games with them or is everything simulated? 2) If you do play games, who would you being playing each game against in NHL11 during your EAUHL Season, the CPU or online randoms?

You play the games and I'm guessing it's similar to an online ranked match.

# 9 SinisterAlex @ 08/05/10 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlybygrace


	I'm excited to hear about the huge announcement for the offline Be-A-GM players like myself.

This

I'm looking forward to this announcement as well.

# 10 tabulaRasa @ 08/05/10 06:03 AM

So this is not an online dynasty...?
Cards...hmm..,

# 11 tabulaRasa @ 08/05/10 06:05 AM

Not impressed give us a real Dynasty online instead. Real dollars contracts, no cards, and cards are just there so they can make money of DLCs....

# 12 Choneen @ 08/05/10 08:37 AM

I don't understand what he means when he writes that the demo is the preseason..

"Preseason - the EAUHL preseason is the demo where you will earn card packs in the full version based on how well you do in the demo (demo available mid-August)"

# 13 Qb @ 08/05/10 09:56 AM

Some thoughts on this... I didn't spend much hands-on time with HUT at the community event, as I wanted to check out GM mode improvements -- have I mentioned there were quite a few? -- squeeze in a few games, and continue my ongoing discussions with Nate, Gurn, and Jason about improvements/additions for NHL11 & beyond. Also, with all that HUT entails, I was afraid I'd get lost in the mode, as it's quite involved and I'm not too familiar with it's counterparts from FIFA & Madden.

However, a lot of the other community reps did spend a few hours playing around with it, so keep an eye out for their hands-on impressions. Luger33 might've been one of them, so perhaps he'll be kind enough to share with us here. Some other people/sites of possible interest include Shake and Bako from the EA boards, Graeme from the IGN boards, Ed from the HF boards and more. I'll try to contact the group via email to see who has some good info for us.

For those disappointed with HUT as an "online dynasty", I can see your point. It's not a typical online dynasty; however, it does offer a deep team-building experience -- I believe any player from any league is in play -- across both online & offline play. Some people may not care for the fantasy aspect, but having such a huge pool of players certainly makes for some interesting possibilities. Managing your team looks to be quite involved, as it not only requires you to put talent on the ice, but also to balance player development, salary and career length to keep a competitive team on the ice.

There are some cool possibilities -- have a young stud who isn't fully developed for your end of the month playoff push? Perhaps you deal him to someone for a highly-rated vet near the end of his career... Or maybe you prefer to stick with youth in an attempt to lock up as many high potential players on long-term lower paying contracts. I think the elements that make for a great online dynasty are there, so I'd suggest keeping an open mind towards the mode. I know most of my time will be spent in the EASHL, but HUT will definitely get at least a test drive by me.

PS - As mentioned, I dug pretty deep into GM mode and I'm curious to see what the big announcement is. I know there was one thing that had me grinning from ear to ear when I saw it, so perhaps it's...

# 14 scooteristkai @ 08/05/10 10:44 AM

From what I�ve read in the other thread and what QB said right here, I think you�re right QB! How often do read "don�t judge the final product by its demo"! And here people are complaining about a mode (an additional one btw), just because they are thinking EA did not adress areas of the game that need improvement (offline GM f. e.).

I, for myself can�t wait until you have the OK to share what you already know about Be A GM improvements Qb!

# 15 PBlast @ 08/05/10 10:47 AM

Would someone kindly copy the article and PM it to me? Work has the link blocked, thanks!

# 16 Money99 @ 08/05/10 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BooShay


	Uh couldn't they just given us BEaGM online? This is not what I asked for

I was hoping for this as well.

Also, please someone correct my ignorance if I'm wrong, but didn't you have to pay real money to get better upgrade cards in Ultimate Team Madden?

So unless you want nothing but bronze cards, you'll be paying actual cash to receive silver and gold cards.

While this mode sounds very addicting and fun, I would have preferred a free online BeAGM or even an online BAP mode where you and a handful of friends could compete in the same online BAP world.

# 17 Qb @ 08/05/10 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	Also, please someone correct my ignorance if I'm wrong, but didn't you have to pay real money to get better upgrade cards in Ultimate Team Madden? So unless you want nothing but bronze cards, you'll be paying actual cash to receive silver and gold cards.

I believe you can purchase packs or cards on the auction block, but you also earn funds to "buy" packs by playing the game. Let's face it, as long as people are willing to pay, microtransactions are here to stay...

# 18 plaidchuck @ 08/05/10 12:31 PM

Like I've said, it all sounds great in theory.. but if at the end of the day the league is flooded with little kids who shelled out mommy and daddys money for all "gold" players (I can already see a team now with Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Stamkos, the Sedins, etc) then it will be useless to me, as I have neither the inclination nor the money to spend on that much DLC. And that brings up another problem, what will people do who are severely outmatched in quality of players? Glitch.

Believe me I'm glad they've put so much in this year, but this frankly has bad written all over it. I would have rathered they held this back another year and just perfected BAGM offline.

# 19 Money99 @ 08/05/10 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I believe you can purchase packs or cards on the auction block, but you also earn funds to "buy" packs by playing the game. Let's face it, as long as people are willing to pay, microtransactions are here to stay...

I understand that. But this means I'll never be able to compete in the "Elite" level (not that I could anyway).

Anyway, I'm done poo-poo'ing this feature. Even though it's not for me, it sounds very fun, immersive and deep.
I'm sure it'll be a huge success.

One thing I'm wondering is if you can play with 6 guys on your EAUHL team?

# 20 narwhale @ 08/05/10 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plaidchuck


	Like I've said, it all sounds great in theory.. but if at the end of the day the league is flooded with little kids who shelled out mommy and daddys money for all "gold" players (I can already see a team now with Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Stamkos, the Sedins, etc) then it will be useless to me, as I have neither the inclination nor the money to spend on that much DLC. And that brings up another problem, what will people do who are severely outmatched in quality of players? Glitch. Believe me I'm glad they've put so much in this year, but this frankly has bad written all over it. I would have rathered they held this back another year and just perfected BAGM offline.

The article did mention a salary cap, so I don't think anyone will be able to have that many superstars even if they can afford them.

« Previous12 Next »

More Links

NHL 11 Blog: EAUHL - The Biggest Online Dynasty Ever